In wonderful, absolutely freakin’ wonderful news, Netflix appears to be in the process of uploading HD widescreen versions of The X-Files – starting with the first 13 episodes of the first season.
So, as of right now, all episodes up to “Beyond the Sea” are streaming in their new aspect ratio.
The show originally aired in 4:3, but as creator Chris Carter pointed out in a reddit AMA last year, they “considered HD all along.”
“I’m imagining that they’ll be released in 4:3. When we began filming the show in 1992, we actually (except for maybe the pilot) considered HD all along. And so there was image and opportunity to expand and modify the aspect ratio. But the fact is these are all decisions made by 20th Century Fox, which I’m occasionally consulted on,” he said in responses to a question about a blu-ray release.
HD X-FILES IS SO PRETTY pic.twitter.com/8aPedQBBlw
— Meg Otto (@meggyva) April 24, 2015
@nostalgiclily Here's another screenshot re: X-Files HD. The frames are so much sharper/more detailed. pic.twitter.com/om21bkzEyu
— Lily Kane (@nostalgiclily) April 24, 2015
No word on when Netflix plans to update the rest of the show, but one redditor says that it was only episodes 1-3 that were in HD a few hours ago – so it looks like Netflix is just making its way through them.
I’ve reached out to Netflix and will update accordingly.
[h/t The Verge]