Netflix begins streaming The X-Files in HD

Streaming on Netflix in the US now: HD versions of the first 13 episodes of the greatest TV show of all time. You know, The X-Files.

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, but I’ll take what I can get. Just look at how amazing Scully’s skeptical face is in the pilot:

Or, here, the creepy clones — little girls with a hobby of exsanguination — of “Eve”:

Thanks, Erin!