'The Lone Gunmen' at 25: the underrated 'X-Files' spin-off that aspired to be 'Mission: Impossible' with geeks

Sci-fi spin-offs can be a mixed bag. " Star Trek: The Next Generation " and " Stargate SG-1 " were so successful that they spawned numerous follow-ups of their own, but efforts to expand the respective universes of " Babylon 5 " ("Crusade") and " Battlestar Galactica " ("Caprica") proved rather less successful. Both were cancelled after a single run of episodes. "The X-Files" spin-off "The Lone Gunmen" — whose final instalment debuted 25 years ago — belongs in that same one-season wonder category, but was rather better than its premature axing might suggest… Like "Cheers"' spawn "Frasier", "The Lone Gunmen" shifted the tone of the source material; it was lighter and more overtly played for laughs than "The X-Files", and it focused on characters who'd started out as supporting players. (Image credit: 20th Century Fox) Conspiracy theorists/investigators John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Harwood), Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood, who also worked as an assistant director on the sci-fi smash's early seasons), and Richard "Ringo" Langly billed themselves, oxymoronically, as the Lone Gunmen. The brainchildren of X-Files legends Glen Morgan and James Wong (who'd later go on to make " Space: Above and Beyond "), the fan-favorite trio had been helping out Fox Mulder's investigations into the unexplained since season 1 episode "E.B.E.". Their presence had subsequently grown throughout the original show's run, and they'd even been granted an origin story in season 5 episode "Unusual Suspects". …