Culture Re-View: Why is 12/22/12 the most important fictional date in pop culture?

Adriana Lima
By Adriana Lima 3 Min Read
origin 1Mulder and Scully uncover the truth about one of TV’s top fictitious dates: 12/22/12 ©Fox

December 22, 2012: The colonization of the planet by aliens should have started exactly 10 years ago today… in The X Files, that is.

In the season 9 finale of The X-Files TV show (and the final episodes at the time, titled “The Truth” – aired May 19, 2002), the date had been set.

Everything the imaginary FBI agents Mulder and Scully were trying to uncover had come down to one date: 12/22/12.

This was the date the conspiracists had set with an alien race for colonization to begin.

origin 1Scene revealing the truth in the final episodes of The X Files Season 9Fox

Spoiler alert: It didn’t take place, in fantasy or real life, as many predicted the end of the world due to the Mayan calendar ending in 2012.

But we’re still here, and as of the show’s 2016 season 10 revival, aliens had yet to invade Earth.

The new seasons of The X Files gave fans renewed hope that the mythology arc would be concluded and that the failed colonization would be explained. Series creator Chris Carter got over it and wrote himself out of an apocalypse angle by including a scene in the season 11 premiere that explained why colonization didn’t happen: the aliens canceled their colonization plans because they “didn’t have any interest in a warming planet with endangered resources.”

In essence, the Earth has become too spoiled by its inhabitants to be colonized.

Food for thought…

You can expect a load of X Files coverage from RockedBuzz via Euronews Culture next year, as the beloved and hugely influential TV series turns 30 in September 2023.

Time flies when the truth is out there.

Also on this day:

Game over

origin 1Samuel Beckett Getty Images

1989: Samuel Beckett, the reclusive Irish writer whose plays shaped contemporary theatre, dies aged 83 in Paris. He wrote “Waiting for Godot” and “Endgame” and won the Nobel Prize in 1986.

Open the gate

origin 1Brandenburg Gate reopens after nearly 30 years – 1989AP Photo

1989: Berlin’s most famous landmark, the Brandenburg Gate, reopens after nearly 30 years, with crowds pouring through the former border point between East and West Germany.

The 200-year-old gate epitomized German unity until Hitler’s defeat at the end of WWII. It later became one of the most powerful symbols of the division of Germany and Europe during the Cold War.

Goodbye, Joe

origin 1The Greenville News Reports Death of Clash Frontman Joe Strummer – 2002 The Greenville News – AP

2002: Joe Strummer, frontman of The fightdied at the age of 50.

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