Tag: fandom

An X-Files Tour of Vancouver

Vancouver was the filming location for the first five seasons of The X-Files, the second movie, and the latest season. I had a late flight out on Sunday, so I wanted to spend some time getting to know the city as an X-Phile.

I relied on moviemaps.org, and pinned locations that were within walking distance of our hotel. On our last day, Tammie, Thomas, and I walked around the city, and occasionally stopped so Tammie could take dorky photos of me standing in front of various X-Files filming locations.

Orpheum Theater from Young at Heart
Vancouver Art Gallery from multiple episodes, including Conduit and Young at Heart
Christ Church Cathedral (foreground) was under construction, used in Conduit
Channeling Sad!Mulder in front of a picture of Christ Church Cathedral
Scully’s apartment exterior from Squeeze
Channeling my inner Scully – “Mulder, it’s me.”
Alleyway from Founder’s Mutation
Sidewalk from opening scene of My Struggle

Not on the list was the Vancouver Aquarium (used in Fearful Symmetry), which we passed during a tour of Stanley park, and Brix & Mortar restaurant, which was one of our group dinners. I couldn’t figure out which episode it had been used in, though.

Cates Park was the only location that was significantly out of our way, so we hailed a taxi from Gastown, and I paid a cab driver named William (!!!) an inordinate amount of money to haul us there, keep the meter running, and take us back to the city. The things I do for fandom.

Tammie made me make faces. I think this was supposed to be skeptical.
I am not entirely sure what I was doing here.
Arch Alley from Home Again
Ovaltine Cafe from Jose Chung’s “From Outer Space”
It was really fucking cold.
Two very tolerant colleagues in the rain at Cates Park.
Log at Cates Park from Home Again

By this time, it was pouring rain — not cute, drizzly Vancouver rain, but pissed-off, stormy, blustering rain — and we got soaked during the scant five minutes we spent at the beach, all for a shot of the iconic log from Home Again.

Tammie and Thomas have my eternal gratitude for accompanying me on this spiritual journey of sorts. I can tell they were also moved by my unending devotion to this godforsaken show:

“Caroline, we hate you.” – Actual quote from my teammates as we stood in the pouring rain. I don’t think they meant it.

WORTH IT.

one day!

  
We’re only one day from new X-Files episodes, and it has me feeling nostalgic. I’ve written about this before, but it’s hitting me full force being so close to the revival.

I can’t help but feel lucky that I get to experience this again; the excitement, the anticipation, the highs and lows. It’s a treat to have something that was so influential in my childhood come to life, and still mean as much to me today as it did when I was 14.

I’m grateful for the chance to relive the joy of being a fan. It’s easy to forget — when you’re an adult doing Very Important Adult Things — how crucial it is to play, to revel, to be unabashedly excited about something.

Even if the revival sucks, I can’t walk away feeling disappointed, because the experience is more than the new episodes; it’s the sum of everything that came before it, and that will come after it.

I’m just thankful I’ll have birthday cake on hand so I can mitigate the inevitable emotional damage with food…

On fandom, and being a fan, and The X-Files

Given the upcoming X-Files revival, I’ve spent a lot of time on Tumblr (way more than I’d care to admit as an employee of their indirect competitor), reading fanfic, and generally being a fangirl. It has me thinking about fandom, and my experience as a fan in the early years vs. my experiences as an adult.

In which I write long, rambling thoughts on fan-things instead of working on my book, beware the spoilers