The 1990s TV series The X-Files returns with a 6-part miniseries starting January 24th. One enduring icon from the show that’s still popular all these years later is the poster that hangs in the background with a flying saucer and the phrase “I Want to Believe.” We have quite a few t-shirts centered around the idea at the NeatoShop. I first became aware of it from a hilarious 2007 Fark thread, but it was only later that I found out where it came from. For those who watched the show, it’s a classic. Where did that poster come from?
Within the world of the show, the origin story of the "I Want to Believe" poster is that Mulder bought it from a head shop on M Street in Washington, D.C. The poster is ever present in the pitiful basement office to which the supernaturally focused X-Files are assigned. It makes its first appearance in the pilot, and lasts the whole nine seasons. The poster also appears in the 1998 X-Files movie, Fight the Future, as well as the horrendous abomination that was the 2008 movie, cruelly also titled I Want to Believe. I want to believe that this movie was never made. But there's no need to talk about that.
The actual idea for the poster came from X-Files creator Chris Carter. He talks about how the poster was born, and we also hear about why it connected with so many people in an article at Atlas Obscura. -via Digg