Sunday, October 19, 2008

*cue X Files music*




Just as I sat down to watch Family Guy tonight, my Telus cable (and Internet) went out, and I was forced to settle for season 4 of X Files instead. Would you believe the first character to come onscreen in season 4 episode 1 is a Telus repairman in Alberta?!

And speaking of weirdness, I finally noticed that the mysterious alien monster in my all-time favourite X Files episode (so far), "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'", is named not Lord Kimbo as I thought, but Lord Kinbote. I'm positive this is a reference to Charles Kinbote, the whacked-out narrator of Nabokov's Pale Fire (one of my favourite novels). "From Outer Space" is all about how our perception of events can be skewed by our beliefs, desires, and fantasies, meaning that it's pretty much impossible to discern reality from the observations of just one person. And that's exactly what Pale Fire is all about; Kinbote's narration grows increasingly bizarre until you become certain that he's nuts...or is he?

Anyway, it's cool that the writers threw that in there. I'm learning that I seriously underestimated The X Files for far too long.
If anyone finds it strange that I read Nabokov and watch Family Guy...well, that's just how I am. I appreciate Proust and Fraggle Rock in equal measure, what can I say?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should check out Brian Boyd's book on Pale Fire (I forget the title). If Boyd's thesis is correct, and I think it mostly is, then Pale Fire is an even more deeply profound book than you suspect.

tweetey30 said...

I havent seen Fraggle Rock in a long time... I miss that one.. I think the girls would enjoy it too. Do they have it on YouTube by chance..

S.M. Elliott said...

I'll have to check that out, Andrew, thanks! I haven't read much about Pale Fire, just an essay or two by William Dowling. I'd love to get some different perspectives on it. I'd also like to read Boyd's annotations of Ada.

I'm not sure if Fraggle Rock is online anywhere, but you could probably rent it. Z-Kid never liked Fraggle Rock. He couldn't understand why or how the Doozers could build stuff out of radishes.

tshsmom said...

SME's Dad is the proud owner of the complete Fraggle Rock series on DVD. He also has the first season of The Muppet Show. Z enjoys The Muppet Show and still doesn't get Fraggle Rock....or ALF.

S.M. Elliott said...

Hey, what's wrong with aliens who speak perfect English and eat cats?!

tweetey30 said...

I want the Alf series. I miss seeing Alf.. We want to get Project Alf... That is a hiliarous movie...