X-Files: Case Closed

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,/ Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

– Shakespeare's "Hamlet"

I Want to Believe.

– UFO poster on Mulder's office wall

AFTER Nine seasons of "The Truth Is Out There," this Sunday we finally learn just what that phrase means when Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) returns for the two-hour series finale of "The X-Files" (Fox, 8-10 p.m.). Will the space aliens get us or not?

Maybe it was all a dream – so much of the series took place at night and so many of the monsters looked like the ghastly conjuring of nightmares.

This show was not designed for everyone. But whatever "The Truth" (as the final episode is named) reveals, "The X-Files" has had a real impact on television history and, indeed, on cultural history as well. The experts say so, the loyal fans are adamant, and the evidence is everywhere.

"Stylistically, virtually all the dramatic series not on the Big Three [networks] have been influenced by it," says Sidney Sondergard, a professor of English who also specializes in the study of science fiction at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.

"The Sopranos," "Oz," "Six Feet Under," and other shows have "reconceived" the way they tell their stories, Mr. Sondergard says. They get into them much faster. "The catalyst often comes even before the titles, a la 'X-Files.' By the time the [opening] credits are over, you have all the backstory you need."

Indeed, one could argue that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," "Dark Angel," "Alias," "The Agency," and "Roswell," to say nothing of other cult (and occult) shows of the recent past, have been inspired by the mysterious "X-Files," including its dark humor.

Even on the major networks, most of those dour crime dramas that came after "X-Files" ("CSI," "Third Watch," "24," "Crossing Jordan") owe much to the experimental form of "The X-Files" from its earliest episodes.

"CSI is a clear descendent of 'X-Files' – all this interest in forensic medicine," says Jeanne Cavelos, author of the fascinating book "The Science of The X-Files."

"X-Files" has a distinctive look, but it also experimented. One episode was shot in black and white; the story was The Elephant Man meets Frankenstein's Monster – with a comic twist.

Last Sunday, the show took a sentimental turn with the story of a man who needs only to think of something to make it happen – so he thinks up the "Brady Bunch" household because he is lonely.

When unwelcome visitors intrude, he inadvertently levitates and then catapults them through the roof. Agent Doggett (Robert Patrick) figures the whole thing out, remarking sardonically that he is "finally getting the hang of this job" – now that the series is ending. It was one of many in-jokes throughout the years, placed strategically to please loyal fans (or amuse the writers).

Then, too, "X-Files" helped pioneer the "stand-alone episode" and "comic" episodes woven into the season-long drama, says Horace Newcomb, author of "TV: The Most Popular Art Form" and director of the Peabody Awards, which honor the best programs on TV. "It was important, too, because it was serialized science fiction – and science fiction had not done very well on networks before it."

But "X-Files" was not the "Twilight Zone" or "Outer Limits" – in which the viewer willingly entered into another "dimension."

"We were always supposed to be dealing with the real world – 'X-Files' took that device from film noir – accept that extraordinary things happen there," says Jim Farrelly, professor of English and media studies at the University of Dayton in Ohio.

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