The X-Files
The X-Files intertitle
Format	Science fiction, drama
Created by	Chris Carter
Starring	David Duchovny Gillian Anderson Robert Patrick Annabeth Gish Mitch Pileggi
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	201 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	43 min (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel	FOX
Picture format	4:3 (original broadcast) 16:9 (DVD seasons 5–9)
Original run	September 10, 1993 – May 19, 2002
Chronology
Related shows	The Lone Gunmen
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

See also: History of The X-Files

The X-Files is an American Peabody and Emmy Award-winning science fiction television series created by Chris Carter, which first aired on September 10, 1993, and ended on May 19, 2002. The show was one of the American FOX network's first major hits, and its main characters and slogans (e.g. "The Truth Is Out There," "Trust No One," "I Want to Believe") became pop culture touchstones. The X-Files is seen as a defining series of the 1990s, coinciding with the era's widespread mistrust of governments, interest in conspiracy theories and spirituality, and the belief in the existence of extraterrestrial life.^[1][2]

In the series, FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are tasked with investigating the "X-Files": marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder plays the role of the "believer," having faith in the existence of aliens and the paranormal, while Scully is a skeptic, initially assigned by her departmental superiors to debunk Mulder's unconventional work. As the show progressed both agents were caught up in a larger conflict, termed "the mythology" or "mytharc" by the show's creators, and developed a close and ambiguous friendship which most saw as romantic more than platonic.^[3] The X-Files also featured stand-alone episodes ranging in tone from horror to comedy, in which Mulder and Scully investigated uniquely bizarre cases without long-term implications on the storyline. These so-called "monster of the week" episodes made up the bulk of the series.

The show's popularity peaked in the mid-to-late 1990s,^[4] leading to a theatrical feature film in 1998. In the last two seasons, Anderson became the star as Duchovny appeared rarely, and new central characters were introduced: FBI Agents John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish). At the time of its final episode The X-Files was the longest running sci-fi show ever on American TV, a title since lost to cable's Stargate SG-1.^{[citation needed]} The show was declared by TV Guide to be the second greatest cult television show^[5] (Star Trek being number one) and the 37^th best TV show of all time.^[6] In 2007, TIME magazine included the show on their list of the "100 Best TV Shows of All Time."^[7]

Cast of characters

Recurring guest characters

Main article: List of recurring characters from The X-Files

Episode types

The X-Files is considered unique in that it combined continuing serial drama elements, such as those often found in miniseries and soap operas, with individual standalone episodes that did not require a viewer to understand the show's history prior to watching.^[3] Due to these differing episode types, fans as well as the show's producers commonly divide X-Files episodes into two categories:

• "Mythology" or "Mytharc" episodes told the tale of a governmental conspiracy revolving around extraterrestrials.
• Standalone or "Monster-of-the-Week" episodes dealt with paranormal creatures and situations, while generally being unrelated to the series mythology.

Anatomy of an episode

An episode begins with a "teaser", which typically presents some mysterious event that sparks the plot and tells the audience what Mulder and Scully will be investigating during the remainder of the episode. Mulder and Scully themselves appear only rarely in the opening teaser. Exceptions include some mythology episodes as well as personal episodes, where they often appear or provide voiceovers. Teasers vary in length — most are several minutes long, but some are under one minute. Still others are well over five minutes and contain multiple scenes.

The teaser is followed by the opening theme sequence, which was written by Mark Snow, and credits (the only exception being the pilot episode). The theme sequence ends with a tagline, usually "The Truth Is Out There", but other phrases have also appeared (see below).

In original airing, a break for commercials appeared after the teaser and theme sequence. The X-Files follows the U.S. network television format, with commercial breaks dividing each episode into four "acts" following the teaser. Each act is approximately 10 minutes in length.

In German television, each episode started with the opening theme sequence and credits (with the tagline replaced by the episodes name) followed by the teaser and the episode.

Mytharc episodes

Major mythology episodes were typically presented as season premieres and finales each year, as well as several times throughout most seasons. They made up about one third of the total episodes, and often occurred as two-parters.

Below is a list of episodes that tell the mythology story, according to The X-Files Mythology DVD series released in 2005. They are listed in original broadcast order, the same order in which they appear on DVD.

• Season 1: Pilot, Deep Throat, Fallen Angel, E.B.E., The Erlenmeyer Flask^[8]
• Season 2: Little Green Men, Duane Barry, Ascension, One Breath, Red Museum, Colony, End Game, Anasazi^[8]
• Season 3: The Blessing Way, Paper Clip, Nisei, 731, Piper Maru, Apocrypha, Talitha Cumi^[8][9]
• Season 4: Herrenvolk, Tunguska, Terma, Memento Mori, Tempus Fugit, Max, Zero Sum, Gethsemane^[9]
• Season 5: Redux, Redux II, Patient X, The Red and the Black, The End^[9][10]
• The X Files: Fight the Future (feature film)
• Season 6: The Beginning, S.R. 819, Two Fathers, One Son, Biogenesis^[10]
• Season 7: The Sixth Extinction, The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati, Sein und Zeit, Closure, En Ami, Requiem^[10]
• Season 8: Within, Without, Per Manum, This is Not Happening, Deadalive, Three Words, Vienen, Essence, Existence^[10][11]
• Season 9: Nothing Important Happened Today, Nothing Important Happened Today II, Trust No 1, Provenance, Providence, William, The Truth^[11]

"Unofficial" mythology episodes

Certain X-Files episodes were omitted from the official mythology DVD releases, even though many fans consider them to be part of the mythology. The following is a list of those episodes:

• Season 1: Conduit
• Season 2: Sleepless
• Season 3: Avatar, Wetwired
• Season 4: Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
• Season 5: Christmas Carol, Emily
• Season 6: The Unnatural

Other episodes

Episodes not part of the mythology were usually considered standalone "Monster-of-the-Week" episodes, dealing with paranormal beings or situations apart from the mythology storyline. Several installments also explored the relationship between Mulder and Scully, while still others focused on supporting characters such as Walter Skinner or the Lone Gunmen. Chris Carter said he "wanted to avoid the 'monster of the week' syndrome,"^[12] so even standalone episodes sometimes involved aliens and government conspiracies, to afford a sense of continuity even during breaks from the main mythology.

Non-paranormal episodes

Nearly every episode of The X-Files involved supernatural or science fiction themes in some way, even if the paranormal plot elements themselves were at times only backdrops for character-driven stories. Nevertheless, there were a small number of episodes that could be viewed as a break from the show's central theme, involving the bizarre or horrific, without being "paranormal" per se. "Irresistible" follows the exploits of a necrophile serial killer.^[13] Other examples could be "Home" and "Hell Money".

Idea and pilot

California native Chris Carter, who had previously met with limited success writing for television, was given the opportunity to produce new shows for the struggling FOX network in the early 1990s. Tired of the comedies he had been working on,^[14] inspired by a report that 3.7 million Americans may have been abducted by aliens,^[15] and recalling memories of Watergate and '70s horror show Kolchak: The Night Stalker,^[16] Carter came up with the idea for The X-Files and wrote the pilot episode himself in 1992. He initially struggled over the untested concept — executives wanted a love interest for Scully — and casting. The network wanted either a more established or a "taller, leggier, blonder and breastier"^[17] actress for Scully than the 24-year-old Gillian Anderson, a theater veteran with minor film experience, whom Carter felt was the only choice after auditions.^[18][19] Nevertheless, the pilot with both Anderson and David Duchovny was successfully shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in early 1993, and the show was picked up for the Friday night 9:00PM slot on the American fall TV schedule. Carter started a new company called Ten Thirteen Productions, named after his October 13th birthday, to oversee The X-Files.

Mulder in his basement office, now on display at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum.

Carter's idea was to present FBI agents investigating extraterrestrials and paranormal events, but Carter also wanted to deal directly with the characters' beliefs. Carter said, "I think of myself as a non-religious person looking for religious experience, so I think that's what the characters are sort of doing too."^[20] Dana Scully, in addition to being the scientific "skeptic" and a trained medical doctor, was open to the Catholic faith in which she was raised; while Fox Mulder, in addition to being an Oxford-educated psychologist and renowned criminal profiler, was the "believer" in space aliens, derisively nicknamed "Spooky" by his colleagues. Carter said, "Scully's point of view is the point of view of the show. And so the show has to be built on a solid foundation of science, in order to have Mulder take a flight from it... If the science is really good, Scully's got a valid point of view... And Mulder has to then convince her that she's got to throw her arguments out, she's got to accept the unacceptable. And there is the conflict."^[21] Carter also felt Scully's role as the more rational partner and Mulder's reliance on guesses and intuition subverted the gender roles usually seen on television.^[12]

In the pilot episode, Scully is assigned to the X-Files as Mulder's partner, in order to serve as a scientific check on Mulder's belief in the paranormal. In later episodes, it becomes apparent that she was actually set up in that role so that the government conspirators could contain the implications of Mulder's work, which they viewed as a danger to their devious plans. Notably, the powerful shadow government official known only as the Cigarette Smoking Man, or "Cancer Man", appears without any spoken lines in the first and last scenes of the pilot episode — although at that point his ongoing importance to the series had not yet been established.^[22] The "unresolved sexual tension" between Mulder and Scully was also a central underlying theme from the beginning, although they were each given other brief romantic interests in future episodes. Carter thought the show should be "plot-driven," and was quoted as saying, "I didn't want the relationship to come before the cases."^[23] For example, throughout the series, Mulder and Scully, with rare exception, refer to each other in a professional manner by using each others' last names, rather than calling each other by their first names, which might seem more personal.

Scene from the "Pilot," written by show creator Chris Carter. Initial episodes for The X-Files dealt with alien abduction.

Carter's superior at Fox, Peter Roth, brought on more experienced staff members from the start, many of whom had previously worked with him at Stephen J. Cannell's production company.^[24] Two of the most highly-regarded writers were Glen Morgan and James Wong. Their contributions to the first two seasons, such as the episode "Beyond the Sea," were particularly popular among fans,^[25] television critics,^[26] the show's actors, and even Carter himself.^[27] Morgan and Wong also returned for the first half of the fourth season. Prior to their work on The X-Files, Wong and Morgan had worked extensively with David Nutter, Rob Bowman, and Kim Manners on cop dramas such as The Commish and 21 Jump Street. Nutter, Bowman and Manners all became frequent X-Files directors, with Nutter working on many of the darker episodes in the first three seasons. The duo of Wong and Morgan also had an important role in hiring several supporting actors on the show, as well as John Bartley, the cinematographer who gave The X-Files its early dark atmospheric look, for which he won an Emmy Award in 1996.^[28] Bartley left after the third season and was replaced by directors of photography Ron Stannett, Jon Joffin and ultimately Joel Ransom until the end of the fifth season.

The show, which made a big move to California in its sixth season, was originally going to be filmed there in the first place. Carter said, "we originally intended to film the pilot in Los Angeles. When we couldn't find a good forest, we made a quick decision to come to Vancouver. As it turned out, it was three weeks that turned into five years. The benefits of being in Vancouver were tremendous."^[29] The temperate rainforest climate of Vancouver itself was also seen as crucial to The X-Files, allowing directors to create a mysterious, foggy aura,^[30] seen as somewhat similar to that of then-recent TV hit Twin Peaks. Responsibility for casting the show fell to Randy Stone,^[31] who had first recommended both leads to Carter, and to Rick Millikan, who predominately used local Canadian actors.^[32]

Future of The X-Files

Main article: Untitled X-Files Sequel

Plans for another film are announced periodically but have yet to come to fruition. Chris Carter, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have expressed their desire for involvement, Frank Spotnitz was apparently commissioned to write a script in 2006, and the 1998 film's director Rob Bowman has also commented on a second film's status.^[33] However, there is still no script and no official shooting schedule, and it is unconfirmed which cast and crew members would reprise their roles if another X-Files film were to be made. David Duchovny first mentioned his interest in the project in 2004, and as recently as September 2007, he confirmed that a sequel was in the works and that it would be a "stand-alone horror film." Bowman and Spotnitz also said a second film would most likely be a stand-alone story, rather than focus on the alien conspiracy storylines.

Legacy

Television

The X-Files directly inspired numerous other TV series, including Strange World,^[34][35] Burning Zone,^[36] Special Unit 2, Mysterious Ways,^[37] Lost, Carnivàle, Dark Skies,^[35] The Visitor,^[35] Freaky Links, Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, and Supernatural. A few of these shows actually involved former staff of The X-Files behind the scenes — such as Lost, whose current cinematographer is John Bartley; the mytharc-dominated 24, executive produced by X-Files writer Howard Gordon; Six Feet Under, coproduced by X-Files alum Lori Jo Nemhauser; and Supernatural, involving directors David Nutter and Kim Manners, and writer/producer John Shiban.

The influence can be seen on other levels: television series such as Alias have developed a complex mythology that may bring to mind the "mytharc" of The X-Files. In terms of characterization, the role of Dana Scully was seen as somewhat original, causing a change in "how women [on television] were not just perceived but behaved", and perhaps influencing the portrayal of "strong women" investigators^[19]. Many procedural dramas also feature a Mulder-esque lead with a supervisor similar to Skinner or Kersh. Some of these procedurals, such as NCIS, feature a quirky technogeek similar to the Lone Gunmen characters.

Russell T. Davies said The X-Files had been an inspiration on his current British series Torchwood,^[38] describing it as "dark, wild and sexy... The X Files meets This Life."^[39] Other shows have been influenced by the tone and mood of The X-Files, e.g., Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which drew from the mood and coloring of The X-Files, as well as from its occasional blend of horror and humor. Joss Whedon described his show as a cross between The X-Files and My So-Called Life.^[40]

"X-Philes"

As The X-Files saw its viewership expand from a "small, but devoted" group of fans^[41] to a worldwide mass audience,^[35] digital telecommunications were also becoming mainstream. According to The New York Times, "this may have been the first show to find its audience growth tied to the growth of the Internet."^[2] The X-Files was seen to incorporate new technologies into storylines beginning in the early seasons:^[42] Mulder and Scully communicated on cellular phones, e-mail contact with secret informants provided plot points in episodes such as "Colony" and "Anasazi", while The Lone Gunmen were portrayed as Internet aficionados as early as 1994. Many X-Files fans also had online access. Fans of the show became commonly known as "X-Philes,"^[43] a term coined (from the Greek root "-phil-" meaning love or obsession) on an early Fidonet X-Files message board. In addition to watching the show, X-Philes reviewed episodes themselves on unofficial web sites, formed communities with other fans through Usenet newsgroups and listservs,^[43] and wrote their own fan fiction.^[3] As has also become commonplace in television today, episodes never displayed their titles on screen or in TV Guide; the producers disseminated the information via the Internet.^[44]

Unusually for the time, review sites and fan groups were also influential on the producers. Chris Carter claimed to read them: "The show originally [from 1993 to 1996] aired at 9 o'clock on Friday night and at 10 o'clock, I could get on the Internet and see what people thought of it."^[45] Writer-producer Glen Morgan also described how he "would come in on Monday and find all these comments from the Internet that you could directly apply to the next episode... When I started out in television, your only input was if your family called you afterwards, they liked the show... What we found out on The X-Files is that there is an intelligent audience that’s out there who doesn’t want TV to just wash over them. They want to talk about things."^[46]

The writing staff were prohibited from reading unsolicited scripts or fan fiction for legal reasons, but an online fan base and their critiques of the show became crucial to its early survival.^[42] "Beyond the Sea", a 1994 episode which received acclaim, was made (over the objections of FOX executives) partly because "several fans had written messages criticizing Scully's character... they decided the fans had a point" in asking for more depth.^[25] In the episode "E.B.E." from the same period, Deep Throat is "shown to be an unreliable character with questionable motives." According to Morgan, "[the network] thought he was just a guy who should feed Mulder information. We went in with the online comments, which, at the time, were presenting some very challenging, articulate notions about who Deep Throat was and his impact on the show." As a result, FOX aired the episode without forcing any changes.^[46] Fans also paid close attention to continuity: "Early on, people were really talking about themes and character, and then they became overwhelmed by people who were totally focused on plot points," according to Morgan. The writers received instant criticism from Internet fans when 1994's "Little Green Men" gave an account of Mulder's sister's abduction that contradicted an earlier episode.^[46] Writer Frank Spotnitz came up with the idea for the 1996 mythology episode "Apocrypha" when X-Philes at an X-Files convention reminded him of