Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Audible holds its second launch event for a major new full cast audio product, this time the adaptation of the X Files graphic novels by Joe Harris, which follow on from the events of 2008’s I Want To Believe movie. Greg D Smith was our man on the scene, getting down and spooky with creatures and mystery in the postal tunnels beneath London.

You have to hand it to Audible – they don’t do half-measures when it comes to launching their flagship new range of full cast audio dramas. Much like producer Dirk Maggs himself, Audible clearly believe in the transportative power of the audio drama, and the event on July 12 was another clear marker of how much – to coin a phrase – they want to believe.

We arrived into a room made up to look like an FBI office with ‘files’ scattered everywhere (which made for some interesting reading). IB ‘agents’ were everywhere, shouting out to each other in surprisingly authentic American accents and occasionally stopping to interact with the odd individual – I myself had a 5,000 word report demanded to be on someone’s desk by today. Split into teams, with each being handed a name badge to wear at all times, we were then sat down to have a briefing delivered. Agent Scully was missing, and it was down to us to hunt down clues to her whereabouts. Without further ado, we were whisked downstairs into the IB ‘offices’, starting with an autopsy on fan-favourite, ‘Flukeman’. The makeup and attention to detail was quite something, and the commitment of the actors involved was to be applauded.

Moving from room to room, we interacted with various other agents as we sought out hidden files, keys and opened safes to find the next clue on the trail of Scully, accompanied by appropriate extracts from the upcoming drama itself. By the time we got to the finale, we were in the actual mail rail tunnels themselves, ending up being pursued back out of them by some scary looking guys and gals in hooded robes chanting about stuff that didn’t sound good.

By the time we reached our debrief, we were no closer to finding Agent Scully, but we’d had a hell of good time, and kudos has to go to both the organisers and all of the actors who really threw themselves into giving everyone a great night.

Following the debrief, there was a Q&A session with producer Maggs and well-known UFO expert Nick Pope, formerly a member of the UFO investigations team at the MoD. It was fascinating to hear the thoughts of Pope – often referred to as the ‘real life Fox Mulder’ as he posited on the possibility of life on other planets, but even more so to hear him discuss his own love of the X-Files and the way that the sounds in the new audio drama, as well as the returning cast members, really helped to instantly transport him back the X-Files universe. Asked whether he was a believer or a sceptic, Pope claimed that he’s more on the side of scepticism, but as he tells everyone, sceptics have to be right every day, whereas a believer only has to be right once.

Listening to Maggs talk about his own experience, it was clear that he’s a man thoroughly enjoying his current gig. As someone who has championed the power of audio for many years (right back to his 90s ‘radio movies’ of Judge Dredd, Batman, Spider-Man and Superman) it’s apparent that he’s found a good home with the guys at Audible, and that we can expect many more collaborations between the two. As far as Cold Cases goes, he remained tight-lipped to avoid spoilers, though the odd hint about returning characters was dropped for those paying attention. Asked whether he himself was a believer, Maggs paraphrased the great Douglas Adams himself, in opining that he hoped there was some intelligent life down here, before he would concern himself about whether there was any out there.

Drinks and refreshments laid on as well, this was another excellent event from Audible – the creativity and effort that had gone into the evening was much appreciated, turning what could be a humdrum announcement of new product into a memorable experience. As a long term fan of the X Files, I can only agree with the hashtag that Audible have chosen for this new release – #Istillwanttobelieve.

X-Files: Cold Cases is available to pre-order now at www.audible.co.uk/xfiles