Nerds rejoiced earlier this week when it was announced that The X-Files was making its triumphant return to the small screen. Fox announced that series creator Chris Carter and stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were returning for a six-episode event series. I don’t really know what an event series is, but it sounds exciting.
Even though it sounds exciting, I may not watch The X-Files. I never really watched The X-Files when I was younger, mostly because it scared me too much. I was scared of alien abduction in the 1990s and, if I’m honest, it still freaks me out. I’m glad that I’m married; perhaps the aliens will abduct Alycia instead of me.
The X-Files wasn’t the only show I avoided because I was afraid. Here are some others shows I didn’t watch because I didn’t want the nightmares that came along with them.
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an incredible television show. I can say that now because I obviously got over my fear of Rod Serling’s anthology series. However, when I was younger, the theme song would always give me chills. Most of the episodes weren’t even scary, but there was no telling when a gremlin, a pig face or the devil would show up. I still remember the first time I saw “Terror at 20,000 Feet,” one of The Twilight Zone’s most iconic episodes. When Shatner pulled back the curtain, revealing the gremlin’s face, I almost lost it; my dad said that I turned as white as a ghost. After that face haunted my nightmares for a few days, I never wanted to watch The Twilight Zone again.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
I’ve obviously gotten over my fear of The Next Generation. I watched the show religiously from its fifth season on and will still watch an episode now and then. TNG is definitely my favorite Star Trek series and probably my favorite television series of all time. However, when it debuted in 1987 on my sixth birthday, I wasn’t ready for Klingons, Ferengi and especially the Borg. The Borg still make me a little queasy, but I was able to conquer those fears and grow to love the Enterprise-D’s journey through the stars. I’m glad I did because no show shaped my childhood more than The Next Generation. And along with Star Wars, TNG solidified my standing as a nerd for life.
V
Here’s a show that I never actually got around to watching. I would watch almost anything that was on the Sci-fi Channel when I was younger, before it became the Syfy Channel. That is how I am so familiar with the original Battlestar Galactica and why I am so confused by The Prisoner. However I could never fully commit to V. I liked the idea of a human resistance fighting aliens, but I couldn’t pull my hands away from my eyes when the lizard faces came out. Looking back the masks were terribly fake looking, but my nine-year-old brain didn’t care. Maybe V is why I still don’t like lizards today.
I did actually see the first X-Files movie, but even that had a little too much alien activity for me. I’m not planning on watching The X-Files’ return. Mostly because I’ve got too many other shows to watch, but a small part because I don’t need any bigheaded, long-fingered, abduction happy aliens in my life.
What television shows were you nervous about watching?
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