Original artwork, not a still
The UFO poster in Mulder's office, The X-Files
I want to believe.
— The X-Files ‧ 1993
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Mulder's creed in four words, and the show's whole tension: he wants proof of the extraordinary while Scully asks for evidence. Because the poster sits at the edge of the frame, it works as a character note without a word of dialogue. Fans still use the phrase for any hope held against the odds, and a UFO over trees is shorthand for the series.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for The X-FilesShow the scene
The poster hangs in FBI agent Fox Mulder's basement office from the pilot of The X-Files: a flat, stylised UFO above a field of trees, with the words printed in the white border. In the story, Mulder bought it from a head shop on M Street, and it watches over every case he and Scully take. The first copy is destroyed in the 1998 office fire ("The End"), and near-identical replacements go up on the same wall. The slogan later became the title of the second feature film, The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008).
Sources (1)
- X-Files Wiki: "I Want to Believe" posterHistory sectionReference checked
Context reviewed
