The baker's dozen is appropriate for the 90s paranoia-fest, which
stars David Duchovny as Agent Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson as Agent
Dana Scully, the two detectives attached to the titular files — which
concerned all things paranormal. Though it originally aired in 4:3, the
HD version suggests it was shot in widescreen and cropped for broadcast.
Scully's furrowed brow and Mulder's pouty lower lip never looked
better.
The first two seasons of The X-Files were extremely
low-budget; many of the special effects were essentially strobe lights
and tarp. But the special effects were never the point — when you know
you have to create scares on a bare-bones budget, you write tension into
the script. Early episodes like "Ice" work precisely because of the
financial constraints placed on the show.
It's not clear why only the first 13 episodes are being offered in HD.
