The X-Files

The X-Files is a popular American television series created by Chris Carter. The show first aired on FOX in 1993, and ended after a nine-year run on May 19, 2002. The X-Files was one of the network's first major hits, and its main characters and slogans ("The Truth Is Out There," "Trust No One," "I Want to Believe") became pop culture touchstones, simultaneously tapping into and inspiring a plethora of conspiracy theories, paranoia about the U.S. government, and belief in the existence of extraterrestrial life.

In the series, Fox William Mulder and Dana Katherine Scully are two FBI agents tasked with investigating the titular "X-Files." These cases, marginalized by the FBI, often involve paranormal phenomena. They are called the "X" files because while the subject matter was originally kept under "U" (for "Unexplained"), a number of other subjects begins with U, and it was decided to switch the files to X (a much less-frequently used letter). Mulder is the "believer," believing in aliens and the paranormal, while Scully was the skeptic, initially assigned by her departmental superiors to debunk his unconventional work and contain its profound implications.

As the show progressed both became embroiled in the same larger conflicts (termed "the mythology" or "mytharc" by the show's creators) and developed a close and ambiguous friendship — which some fans, known as "shippers," saw as more than platonic. The X-Files was declared by TV Guide to be the second greatest cult TV show of all time, behind Star Trek.

Cast of characters

Main cast

|align="center"|1993–2002

Actor/Actress	Character	Years On Show
David Duchovny	Special Agent Fox William Mulder	1993–2000 - Duchovny was a recurring character in Season 8 2000-2001 and only appeared in the series finale in Season 9 2001-2002.
Gillian Anderson	Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully M.D.
Mitch Pileggi	Assistant Director Walter S. Skinner	1994–2002 — ''Pileggi was credited as 'Also Starring' before being added to the main credits in the final season
Robert Patrick	Special Agent John Doggett	2000–2002
Annabeth Gish	Special Agent Monica Reyes	2001–2002 — ''Gish was credited as 'Also Starring' in season 8, before being added to the main credits in the final season

Recurring guest cast

|align="center"| 1994–2001, 2002 — Lea was credited as 'Also Starring' from season 5

Actor/Actress	Character	Years On Show
William B. Davis	C.G.B. Spender, aka The Cigarette Smoking Man	1993–2000, 2002 — Davis was credited as 'Also Starring' from season 3 through to season 7.
Nicholas Lea	Alex Krycek
Chris Owens	Jeffrey Spender	1998–1999, 2002 — Owens was credited as 'Also Starring' He also guest starred as the Young Cigarette Smoking Man in 1996 and 1997, and played The Great Mutato in the 1997 episode 'The Post-Modern Prometheus
Mimi Rogers	Diana Fowley	1998–1999 — Rogers was credited as 'Special Guest Star'
James Pickens, Jr.	Assistant/Deputy Director Alvin Kersh	1998–2002 — Pickens was credited as 'Also Starring' during the final season.
Jerry Hardin	Deep Throat	1993–1996, 1999
Steven Williams	Mr. X	1994–1997, 2002
Laurie Holden	Marita Covarrubias	1996–2000, 2002
Tom Braidwood	Melvin Frohike	1994–2002
Dean Haglund	Richard Langly	1994–2002
Bruce Harwood	John Fitzgerald Byers	1994–2002
Don S. Williams	The First Elder	1995–1999
John Neville	The Well-Manicured Man	1995–1998
Adam Baldwin	Knowle Rohrer	2001–2002

Plot and Mythology

Fans commonly divide X-Files stories into two categories: "Mytharc" ("mythology") episodes, which concerned the ongoing tale of a governmental conspiracy regarding the extraterrestrial, and stand-alone episodes (sometimes called "Monster-of-the-Week" episodes), which dealt with unusual creatures and situations relating to the paranormal, generally being unrelated to the series mythology. Several installments also explored the relationship between Mulder and Scully, while some episodes focused on popular supporting characters such as Walter Skinner or the Lone Gunmen.

Below is a list of episodes that concern the mythology of The X-Files in broadcast order. Some fans have even gone so far as to write up the entire storyline of the show, including all important dates. ^*

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

Note: The episodes Renascence, Resonance, and Reckoning from the game Resist or Serve fit into the mythology, having an unknown placement somewhere in the seventh season.

Legacy

The X-Files directly inspired numerous other TV series, including Strange World, Burning Zone, Special Unit 2, Mysterious Ways, Carnivàle, Dark Skies, Freaky Links, The 4400, Lost, Chronicles of the Paranormal, and Supernatural.

The influence can also be seen on other levels: television series such as Alias have developed a complex mythology that brings to mind the "mytharc" of The X-Files. In addition, many procedural dramas feature a Mulder-esque lead with a supervisor similar to Skinner or Kersh. Some of these procedurals, such as NCIS, also feature a quirky technogeek similar to the Lone Gunmen characters. 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.

Influences

Television

Chris Carter listed television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales from the Darkside and especially The Night Stalker as his major influences for the show. Actor Darren McGavin who played Carl Kolchak in Kolchak: The Night Stalker appeared in two episodes of The X-Files as Agent Arthur Dales, a character described as the "father of the X-Files." Carter also mentioned that the relationship between Mulder and Scully (platonic but with some sexual tension) was influenced by the chemistry between John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Mrs. Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) in the 1960s British spy TV program The Avengers. The early '90s cult hit Twin Peaks is also seen as a major influence on the show's dark atmosphere and its often surreal blend of drama and irony. David Duchovny had appeared as a cross-dressing DEA agent in Twin Peaks.

In the late 90's, The X-Files were lampooned on an episode of The Simpsons. The episode revolved around a strange occurrence in Springfield, with Mulder and Scully coming to investigate and working closely with Homer Simpson.

Film

Several feature films have also influenced The X-Files. The producers have cited All the President's Men, Three Days of the Condor, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Thing, The Boys from Brazil, The Silence of the Lambs, and JFK as influences on the series. Gangster movies such as the Godfather trilogy are also frequently referenced in the show's conspiracy plotlines, particularly concerning the Syndicate. A scene at the end of the episode Redux II (5.03), for instance, directly mirrors the famous baptism montage at the end of The Godfather.

Awards

Over the course of its nine seasons, the show was nominated for 141 awards, winning a total of 61 individual awards from 24 different agencies, including the Emmys, the Golden Globes, the Environmental Media Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The X-Files also won a Peabody Award in 1996, during its third season.

The show earned a total of 16 Emmys; two for acting, one for writing, and 13 for various technical categories. In September 1994, The X-Files won its first award, the Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Graphic Design and Title Sequences.

Peter Boyle later won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of the title character in the third-season episode "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose". In the same year, Darin Morgan won the Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Drama Series for the same episode. "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" was one of four highly-acclaimed episodes Morgan wrote during his short time on the show's writing staff. In 1997, Gillian Anderson won the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series award for her portrayal of Agent Dana Scully.

Throughout its run, The X-Files also won Emmy awards in the following technical categories: Graphic Design and Title Sequences, Cinematography, Sound Editing and Mixing, Art Direction, Single Camera Picture Editing, Makeup, and Special Visual Effects.

History

Seasons 1–3

Two of the most highly-regarded writer/producers were Glen Morgan and James Wong, whose contributions to the first two seasons, such as the first season Episode "Beyond The Sea," were exceptionally popular and influential. They also returned for the first half of the fourth season. Prior to coming to The X-Files, they had worked extensively with David Nutter, Rob Bowman, and Kim Manners on a number of shows produced in Canada for Stephen J. Cannell. The duo also had an important role in hiring John Bartley, the cinematographer who gave the show its early dark atmospheric look, and who won an Emmy Award for his work on the show.

In the first two seasons, Morgan and Wong introduced some popular secondary characters, such as The Lone Gunmen, the Scully family, and FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner. Their first episode for the show was "Squeeze", featuring the elastic Eugene Victor Tooms. This episode became the template for the popular "Monster-of-the-Week" episodes that became a mainstay of the series over the next nine years.

They also helped to establish the show's fledgling "mytharc," which was initially established as a government plot to cover up anything pertaining to the existence of extraterrestial life, and Mulder's attempts to discover the fate of his sister, who was abducted some years previously. As the show went into its second and third seasons, it confirmed the existence of extraterrestial life within the show and suggested that a shadowy sub-governmental group known as The Syndicate — one of the members being the Cigarette Smoking Man — were in co-operation with these aliens, in order to allow them to colonize Earth, which would be achieved via use of the so-called Black Oil.

Seasons 4–6

Over the course of the series, the show established and built upon the mytharc that grew in complexity and prominence as the show progressed. The Syndicate's co-operation with the colonisers was proven to be a ploy, as they were secretly attempting to develop a vaccine to the Black Oil, which was shown to be an agent which would allow for the transportation of alien beings, and which would be spread through bees come the time for colonisation. However, another alien faction was proven to exist, and these rebels opposed the colonists, and hence the Syndicate for their co-operation with them. Consequently, the rebels destroyed the Syndicate. In addition to this, there were a few turns of events involving the ever-deepening bond between Mulder and Scully, including her contraction of cancer, and the interaction between the two characters. Whether they "should" or "should not" consummate their relationship was a matter of immense debate among the fan community for several years, and is still subject to scrutiny, since even after abundant hints, Carter refuses to substantiate whether the two characters ever had sexual intercourse. Initially filmed in Vancouver, Canada, the show was later relocated to L.A. in 1998, at the start of the sixth season.

The X-Files: Fight the Future

In 1998 the series produced a motion picture, The X-Files (also known as The X Files: Fight the Future). It was intended as a continuation of the season five finale "The End" (5x20), but was also meant to stand on its own. The season six opener "The Beginning" picked up where the movie left off.

Seasons 7–9

The final three seasons were a time of closure for The X-Files. Many characters within the show were written out, including the Cigarette Smoking Man and Mulder's mother, and several plot threads were resolved, including the fate of Mulder's sister, a long running plot device within the show. Following a contract dispute with Fox, David Duchovny quit the show after the seventh season.^*. This contibuted to uncertainties over the likelihood of an eighth season. To accommodate for this, Mulder was abducted at the end of the seventh season. With both Duchovny and Anderson's involvement reduced, the show's eighth season introduced two new X-Files agents, John Doggett and Monica Reyes (played by Robert Patrick and Annabeth Gish). It was Chris Carter's belief that the series could continue for another ten years with new leads. This was not to be the case, however, as over the course of the final two seasons, Doggett and Reyes did not provide the ratings boost Chris Carter had hoped.

The show completed its ninth and final season with the two-hour episode "The Truth", which first aired on May 19, 2002, finishing third in its timeslot in the Nielsen ratings. The show ceased production at the end of the ninth season—on a cliffhanger, though Carter knew that this would be the final episode.

The future of The X-Files

Plans for another movie are announced periodically but have yet to come to fruition. While Carter, Duchovny and Anderson have all expressed their desire for involvement, there is still no script and no official shooting schedule. According to Bowman, director of the first film, and producer Frank Spotnitz, the plot for a second film would most likely be a stand-alone story, rather than focus on the alien conspiracy storylines.

DVD releases

Season		Episodes	Originally aired	DVD release date		DVD cover
Season		Episodes	Originally aired	Region 1	Region 2	DVD cover
	1	24	1993 – 1994	May 9 2000	November 6 2000

	2	25	1994 – 1995	November 28 2000	April 30 2001

	3	24	1995 – 1996	May 8 2001	November 26 2001

	4	24	1996 – 1997	November 13 2001	April 22 2002

	5	20	1997 – 1998	May 14 2002	October 14 2002

	6	22	1998 – 1999	November 5 2002	March 17 2003

	7	22	1999 – 2000	May 13 2003	September 22 2003

	8	21	2000 – 2001	November 4 2003	March 14 2004

	9	19	2001 – 2002	May 11 2004	June 7 2004

Miscellaneous

Trivia

At the time of its final episode, it was the longest running sci-fi show in American television history, a title since lost to Stargate SG-1.
The season 8 episode "Alone" has artifacts from previous episodes: in Scully's desk drawer are Queequeg's dog tag (from the episode "Quagmire"), the keychain Mulder gave her (from "Tempus Fugit") and the fused coins (from "Dreamland"). Also appearing in this episode is the character of Agent Leyla Harrison, named for an actual person. Leyla Harrison was an X-Files fan and a writer of fanfiction who died in February 2001. Well-known and well-loved among The X-Files Internet community, writers on the show created the character (a self-professed admirer of Mulder and Scully) to honor her memory.
It was David Duchovny who suggested that Skinner play a larger role, hoping that it would result in some time off for him due to his increasing dissatisfaction with the role.
The theme song was written by Mark Snow. It was released with other songs from and inspired by the show on the 1996 soundtrack Songs in the Key of X.
Much of the season 3 finale, "Talitha Cumi" was inspired by The Grand Inquisitor, including the Cigarette Smoking Man's line "Anyone who can appease a man's conscience can take his freedom away from him."
The show, perhaps to add to the mystique, never displayed episode titles on screen. This was one of the first TV series whose fans disseminated information such as this strictly via the Internet.
The controversial and violent episode "Home", which featured a story about a family that has been inbred to almost proto-human levels of development, was kept out of syndication for three years after its initial airing.
The town known as Gibsonton, Florida in the circus freak-centric episode, "Humbug", is a real town that really is populated with former circus performers.
Creator Chris Carter's birthday is October 13, thus the frequent references to the number 1013 on the show and the reason Fox Mulder's birthday is also October 13. It is also the name of Carter's production company, Ten Thirteen Productions. The number 1121, and especially the time 11:21 PM, also appears regularly on The X-Files, particularly in the early seasons. This is a reference by Chris Carter to his wife Dori's birthday, November 21.
While Mulder believes in extraterrestrial life, and Scully does not (until season 6), the opposite is true of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson (i.e. Duchovny does not believe EBEs exist, while Anderson does).
In "Little Green Men" and "One Breath", Glen Morgan and James Wong wrote opening teasers that used offscreen narration by one of the cast members as a dramatic motif. This technique, never previously used on the show, became a standard device in the teasers for many subsequent Mythology episodes.
The episode "Scary Monsters," named after an album/song by David Bowie, ends with what can be considered an allusion to the film The Man Who Fell to Earth — the audience sees the child Tommy in a chair watching a wall covered with televisions, much like Bowie's character in the film.

Taglines

The phrase "The Truth is Out There" is usually shown on screen at the end of the opening credits sequence. However, over the course of the series, this phrase would occasionally be replaced with something else, especially for "mytharc" episodes.

Trust No One — "The Erlenmeyer Flask"
Deny Everything — "Ascension"
'éí 'aaníígÓÓ 'áhoot'é' — "Anasazi" ("The truth is far from here" in Navajo)
Apology is Policy — "731"
Herrenvolk ("Master race" in German) — "Everything Dies"
Deceive Inveigle Obfuscate — "Teliko"
E pur si muove — "Terma" ("And still it moves" in Italian)
Believe the Lie — "Gethsemane"
All Lies Lead to the Truth — "Redux"
Resist or Serve — "The Red and the Black"
The End — "The End"
Die Wahrheit ist irgendwo da draußen — "Triangle" ("The truth is out there somewhere" in German)
In the Big Inning — "The Unnatural" (a baseball-themed episode)
Amor Fati — "Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" ("Love of fate" in Latin)
Believe to Understand — "Closure"
Nothing Important Happened Today — "Nothing Important Happened Today II"
erehT tuO si hturT ehT — "4D" ("The Truth is Out There" backwards)
They're Watching — "Trust No 1"
Dio ti ama — "Improbable" ("God loves you" in Italian)

Fan terminology

CSM — Cigarette Smoking Man
MoW or MOTW — Monster-of-the-week
OBSSE — The Order of the Blessed Saint Scully, The Enigmatic (a group of fans of Scully who have their own group on the Internet) ^*
Shipper (relationshipper) — a fan who wants Mulder and Scully to get together romantically. Although 'shipper' is a term for any fan who wants to see two main characters of a show romantically involved, the first use in North America could very well have been on the X-Files newsgroup. In contrast, "Noromos" wish for Mulder and Scully to keep their relationship platonic.^*
TLG - The Lone Gunmen

Video games

The X-Files has inspired two video games. In 1998, The Game was released for the PC and Macintosh and a year later for the PlayStation. This game is set somewhere within the timeline of the second or third season and follows an Agent Craig Willmore in his search for the missing Mulder and Scully. Then, in 2004, Resist or Serve was released for the PlayStation 2. This game combines three episodes from season seven and allows the player control of both Mulder and Scully. Both games feature acting and voice work from several members of the series' cast.

X

X-Files made an uncommon alphabet "X" famous than any other in media. during 1999 - 2003 timeframe, Software Giant Microsoft named a new range of technologies using the popularity of X such as XML XPATH XSLT X-Query XSD XPointer XLink and more.

Relationship to other Ten Thirteen Productions shows

Millennium

(see also: Relationship to other Ten Thirteen Productions shows)

In the season 1 "Millennium" episode "Lamentation", Frank Black visits the FBI Academy in Quantico. In the background of one shot, two agents resembling Mulder and Scully are seen walking down a staircase. In reality, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson's photo doubles were intentionally included in the episode as an inside-joke.
Actor David Fredericks plays J. Edgar Hoover in the Season 3 "Millennium" episode "Matryoshka", reprising his role from "X-Files" episodes "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" and "Travelers".
Lance Henriksen and Brittany Tiplady make their final appearances as "Millennium" characters Frank & Jordan Black in the Season 7 "X-Files" episode entitled "Millennium".

Harsh Realm

In the season 7 X-Files episode "Sein Und Zeit", one of the characters is watching Harsh Realm on his TV. He remarks, "I don't know what this is but it's fantastic."

The Lone Gunmen

The key relationship of this show to The X-Files is its starring role of John Fitzgerald Byers, Richard "Ringo" Langley and Melvin Frohike; the "Lone Gunmen" of the eponymous show. Due to it being set within the same "universe" as The X-Files, the show also occasionally featured characters from The X-Files, such as Walter Skinner in TLG's "The Lying Game" episode; Fox Mulder and Morris Fletcher in The Lone Gunmen episode entitled "All About Yves," the show's finale.

With the cancellation of The Lone Gunmen series before a resolution to this cliffhanger could be produced, The X-Files episode entitled "Jump the Shark" — a reference to the television term — served as an epitaph to the show. It featured the Lone Gunmen, Jimmy Bond, Yves Adele Harlow, Kimmy the Geek, plus Walter Skinner and Morris Fletcher, two "X-Files" characters also featured on The Lone Gunmen.

Broadcast history

The first season of The X-Files premiered on September 10, 1993 on FOX. For the first few years of its run, its ratings steadily increased, reaching its zenith in terms of ratings by its fifth season..

Approximately a year later, it started showing in the United Kingdom upon the terrestrial channel BBC2, airing at 21:00. Since then, it has expanded into other countries across the world, either being dubbed or subtitled to accommodate for foreign language viewers. A short time after the United Kingdom started airing The X-Files, Channel 10 acquired to the rights to broadcast it on Australian television, which it did so until the finale in 2002.

References

Paul C. Peterson, Religion in The X-Files, Journal of Media and Religion 1(3), 181–196 (2002).
N.E. Genge, The Unofficial X-Files (New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1995), 228pp.
Brian Lowry, Trust No One: The Official Third Season Guide to The X Files (New York: Harper Prism, 1996), 266pp.
James Hatfield and George "Doc" Burt, The Unauthorized X-Files (New York: MJF Books, 1996), 309pp.
Jeanne Cavelos, The Science of the X-Files (New York : Berkley Boulevard Books, 1998), 288 pp.

External links

c:x-files - a wiki about "the X-Files television series, movie, and related spin-offs"
TXF episodes' transcripts
The X-files Timeline
BBC X-Files Site (Unofficial). The BBC's X-Files section, with information, pictures, interviews, and more.
X-Files Information Archive
X-Files Mythology Guide

Fiction | 1990s TV shows in the United States | 2000s TV shows in the United States | The X-Files

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