30 July 2007

Season 6: Dreamland II (6X05)

Written by: Vince Gilligan, John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz
Directed by: Kim Manners

Still trapped inside Man-In-Black Morris' body, Mulder manages to evade the brig when his fellow MIB cohorts discover that the flight data recorder Mulder tried to give Scully was a fake. They come to the conclusion that Mulder was trying to run a scam on the FBI. Mulder plays along and the MIBs are relieved, but still want the original flight data recorder back. Mulder waffles, but tells them he has it and that he'll return it.

Meanwhile, Scully is put on suspension and Morris (in Mulder's body) tries to ease her pain by inviting her to his house for a home-cooked meal. Suspicious at first, she agrees. But when she gets there, she finds an immaculate apartment and an actual bedroom she never knew Mulder had. Things are just a bit too weird. She confronts Morris about the switch and he comes clean, further explaining that he has no idea how to switch back.

A reluctant Morris accompanies Scully as she reveals to Mulder that there may not be a way to reverse this process. But somehow, one of the MIBs discover that the time warp is snapping back, reversing time in the process. He positions Mulder and Morris in the right time at the right place and their personalities are returned to the rightful bodies. Their memories of the past few days are rewound as well and no one remembers a thing. This perplexes Mulder when returns home to find a spotless apartment.

Notes:
This is the first episode that we see Mulder's bedroom. The question where Mulder slept was discussed rather vivedly in the past on the Internet.

Fletcher comments that Saddam Hussein is really a dinner theatre actor named 'John Gillnitz'. The name is a combination of the writers names: John Shiban, Vince Gilligan & Frank Spotnitz.

Scully says to Mulder-in-Morris's-body, "I'd kiss you if you weren't so damn ugly" which is what Zira (Kim Hunter) said to Charlton Heston at the end of Planet of the Apes.

The "mandroid army' scoffed at by Fletcher is a sly flashback to the season 3 episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space".

Quotes:
Morris (as Mulder): Baby...
Scully: 'Baby' me, and you'll be peeing through a catheter.

Scully: Agent Mulder has become AD Kersh's new golden boy. He's been tasked with returning the flight data recorder that he and I stole. The son of a bitch confesses to Kersh even more than I do to my priest. I'm just tagging along for the ride.
Mulder (as Morris): What do you mean, "just tagging along"?
Scully: I'm out of the Bureau. I've been censured and relieved of my position.
Mulder (as Morris): No. You can explain it to them like you explained it to me. You have the data. You can make them understand. You can get your job back.

Mulder (as Morris): Hey, Chris. Hey, I like the, uh...The, uh... The nose...
Christine: Ouch! As if.
Mulder (as Morris): Terry. Buddy. Hey, Terence. Sorry. How's it going?
Terry: Mom says she's taking out a restraining order on you.

Morris (as Mulder): You hate me now, right? Dana, I'm sorry I narced on you to Kersh, but I...I was scared you were going to lose your job.
Scully: You did the right thing, Mulder.
Morris (as Mulder): I did?
Scully: I've been telling you for years you should play more by the book, haven't I?
Morris (as Mulder): Hey, it's the new me.

Highlights from ''Dreamland I & II''

Episode Number: 122
Season Number: 6
First Aired: Sunday, December 6, 1998
Production Code: 6X05

Season 6: Dreamland (6X04)

Written by: Vince Gilligan, John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz
Directed by: Kim Manners

Mulder drags Scully deep in the Nevada desert to meet a "source" who supposedly works at Area 51 and is going to give Mulder proof positive of the government's experimentation with alien technology. Unfortunately, before they can rendez-vous with the informant, they are stopped by other Area 51 officials who tell them they must turn around.

As Scully tries to haul Mulder back into the car, a UFO flies overhead. It emits a massive heat ripple which switches the personalities of Mulder and Morris Fletcher, one of the Area 51 officials. Unbeknownst to anyone other than Mulder and Morris, Morris (who now inhabits Mulder's body) climbs back into the car with Scully, leaving Mulder (who is now in Morris' body) with the Area 51 goons.

Entrenched behind the walls of the mecca of UFO lore, Mulder tries to untangle the mess he's found himself in. Morris, on the other hand, is just happy to be given this new life as a single FBI agent; he doesn't lift one finger to try to reverse the situation.

Mulder tries to prove to Scully that he is not Morris, though Scully is skeptical at best. He tells her he will give her scientific proof via a flight data recorder which was recovered from another plane that crashed during test flights at Area 51. Unfortunately, Morris (aka Mulder) gets wind of Mulder's plan and informs A.D. Kersh. Kersh then orders Scully to set a trap for Mulder. The Area 51 police arrive and capture Mulder. And as Scully watches the MPs drag off this man who looks like Morris Fletcher, but claims to be Mulder, she wonders if there may be any truth to the odd turn of events.

Notes:
As noted, Dreamland is the nickname for Area 51, the Air Force base near Groom Lake, Nevada which is reputed to be the US Government's base for conducting experiments with alien technology. "Dreamland" actually stands for "Data Repository Establishment and Management Land".

This episode has less than 10 takes. One of the things that makes ''Dreamland'' special it's that is has some really long shots, the one with Scully's walk inside the FBI is a 10 minute, 29 second long scene!

One of the signature backstage moments of the entire 6th season occured during a particularly bleak morning at the distant Lancaster location during the filming of the two-parter. David Duchovny emerged from his trailer and said, "When is this show moving back to Los Angeles?". Within days, dozens of X-Files insiders were wearing T-Shirts emblazoned with the exact same question.

The scene in which Mulder encouters his own reflection - as Fletcher - in Morris' bedroom mirror is a near-recreation of the famous mirror scene between Groucho and Harpo Marx in the classic 1933 comedy ''Duck Soup''. This scene was also reenacted by Harpo and Lucille Ball in a famous 1955 episode of ''I Love Lucy''.

The man-in-black Morris Fletcher is named after Michael McKean's son, Fletcher McKean.

The scraggly desert gas station had to be built from scratch.

Quotes:
Mulder: Milepost 134. Two miles to go.
Scully: I'm all a-tingle. So, Mulder, this supposed clandestine source who's contacted you. How do we know that he's not just another crackpot, whose encyclopedic knowledge of extraterrestrial life isn't derived exclusively from reruns of Star Trek?
Mulder: Because of where this particular crackpot works. Groom Lake. Area 51. Where the military has conducted...
Scully: ...for the past 50 years, classified experiments involving extraterrestrial technology.
Mulder: It's all our questions. The proof that we've suspected but never been able to hold in our hands. That... that proof is here.

Terrence: Yo, Dad.
Mulder: Hey Terry.
Terrence: Not Terry.
Mulder: Chris?
Terrence: Terrence. Terry's for wusses.
Mulder: (mutters) And Terrence isn't?

Scully: Mulder!
Morris (As Mulder): Hey... Hey, Dana. How's it going?
Scully: Mulder, where have you been?
Morris (As Mulder):Oh, sorry, I just got a little lost on my way in.
Scully: You got lost.
Morris (As Mulder): I'm just a little, you know, little lost in my head.
Scully: Yeah.
Morris (As Mulder): Yeah. One of those days. Yeah.

Joanne: Morris! What about Chris?
Mulder (as Morris): Chris?
Chris: You said you'd give me an answer today.
Joanne: Her nose. You said you'd give her an answer about her nose.
Mulder (as Morris): Um . . . I think . . .
(Chris gives him a little girl look.)
Mulder (as Morris): I think she's a little young for plastic surgery don't you think?
(Chris cries again.)
Joanne: Oh, for God's sake, Morris... a nose ring! She said she wants a nose ring!
Chris: I hate you! I wish you were dead.
Mulder (as Morris): Well, my work here is done. Have a nice day.

Mulder (as Morris): I'm Mulder. I'm really Mulder. I switched bodies, places, identities with this man Morris Fletcher the man that you think is Mulder, but he's not. Of course you don't believe me. Why was I expecting anything different? Your full name is Dana Katherine Scully. Your badge number is... Hell! I don't know your badge number. Your mother's name is Margaret. Your brother's name is Bill Jr. He's in the Navy and he hates me. Lately, for lunch, you've been having this six-ounce cup of yogurt, plain yogurt, into which you stir bee pollen because you're on a bee pollen kick even though I tell you you're a doctor and you should know better.
Scully: Look... Any of that information could have been gathered by anyone.
Mulder (as Morris): Even that yogurt thing? That is so you. That is so Scully. Well, it's good to know you haven't changed. That's somewhat comforting.

A clip from ''Dreamland''

Episode Number: 121
Season Number: 6
First Aired: Sunday, November 29, 1998
Production Code: 6X04

26 July 2007

Season 6: Triangle (6X03)

Written by: Chris Carter
Directed by: Chris Carter

Thrown out of his dingy by a ferocious storm in the Sargasso Sea, Mulder is fished out the ocean by hostile sailors. When he regains his wits, he realizes he's boarded the "Queen Anne", an English luxury liner that disappeared in the 1930s during World War II.

Brought before the ship's captain Yip Harburgh, Mulder tries to explain that the war is over and that the boat has been caught in some kind of time warp called the Devil's Triangle for the past 50 years. But he captain and crew have very different feelings, as the reality of the moment tells us that the liner has been captured by Nazi soldiers. The Nazis believe that the boat is carrying "Thor's Hammer", which they assume to be an atom bomb. When Mulder accidentally reveals that "Thor's Hammer" is the scientist who can make an atom bomb, the Nazis steer a path for Germany, hoping to use the atom bomb technology to win the war.

The atom bomb scientist on board is traveling with a woman who looks identical to Scully. Mulder enlists the aid of the Scully look-alike, telling her she must turn the ship around and save the future. If she doesn't, the Germans will win the war, and ultimately, Mulder and Scully will not exist. The Scully look-alike is confused, but Mulder is in a hurry, he's got to get back to his own history. Realizing he may never get another chance, he gives the Scully look-alike a deep kiss, for which she repays him with a "special" kiss of her own - a right hook to his chin. Mulder jumps overboard.

Meantime, the Lone Gunmen approach Scully at FBI headquarters and inform her of Mulder's disappearance. She enlists the help of Skinner to get information from the Navy's satellite tracking system to find the missing ship.

Racing to the spot where Mulder disappeared, the Gunmen and Scully find the ship and rescue Mulder. At the hospital, the Lone Gunmen, Scully and Skinner visit Mulder. He tries to explain all that happened, but they downplay it as a dream. They all wish him a speedy recovery and leave. It is then that Mulder feels a bruise on his face given to him by one of the Nazis. And he realizes it wasn't a dream after all.

Notes:
A strange tagline change this time: 'Die Wahrheit Ist Irgendwo Da Draußen', German for 'The Truth Is Somewhere Out There'.

Taking advantage of the recent move to Los Angeles, many of the ship scenes were filmed on the Queen Mary, a luxury liner built in the 1930s that was (and still is) a tourist attraction in Long Beach Harbor.

This is one of Gillian Anderson's favorite episodes.

Every time Scully gets in and out of the elevator, there is a cleverly disguised cut because the elevator is actually stationary. However, in the scene where Scully isn't getting reception on her cellphone, every time the elevator rises to a new floor, the crew had to very very quickly switch the set, the extras, the props, and everything. According to Chris Carter, this led to funny shots where sometimes the doors would open too early and reveal crew members scurrying about with pictures in their hands and such.

Chris Carter was inspired by an MTV video of the band ''Semisonic'' for the split-screen shot of character walking through the split screen (where past Scully and present Scully cross paths).

Although this episode is well-known for being a series of four one-offs, Chris Carter says in the episode's commentary track that there are actually 34+ cuts used in the episode, hidden in pans or darkness.

This episode was aired in letterbox format, the same height-to-width ratio used for big-screen motion pictures, to get more action into each frame.

Many of the costumes used in this episode were ex-Titanic costumes from the Fox wardrobe department.

The first four acts of this episode are each comprised of one very long, continuous shot (called a one-off) and the fifth is split between two series of one-offs, employing a split-screen. Such long one-offs are very dfficult, considering an entire set must be constructed, all the lines must be said correctly, and the camera movements must be continuous (and usually handheld). Some cuts are hidden in whip-pans and when the screen goes dark. These are some of the best, and longest one offs on television - from one commercial break to the next. Chris Carter intended this as an homage to the Hitchcock thriller ''Rope'', which used a similar technique.

In this episode we see the first of 4 on-screen kisses between Mulder & Scully in 9 years, although it is Scully's past life.

Toward the end of the whole sequence with Scully in the beginning trying to find information on where Mulder is, she is running out of Fowley and Spender's office and going around the corner toward the elevator. She slips and almost falls. It's quite obvious, you can hear her slip and also see Gillian Anderson's arm shoot out to catch herself. She's quite lucky that she didn't fall because if she had, since they filmed the entire episode in real time, they would have had to start back at the very beginning of that scene and done it all over again.

Quotes:
Scully: I want you to do me a favor. It's non-negotiable. If I don't get it, I'll shoot you.
Spender: You okay, Agent Scully?
Scully: No, I'm not. I'm a gun ready to go off so don't test me, Spender. Don't even think about trying to weasel me.
Spender: What is it that you need?
Scully: Navy AWACS SLAR 100 K swath. South-southeast of Bermuda. I am looking for a boat, maybe a ship. 1939 luxury liner.
Spender: 1939?
Scully: Don't ask too many questions. I don't care what you do or who you do or who you have to grease, I need that information and I need it now. Are we clear on that?
Spender: Crystal.
Scully: And, Agent Spender, if you're not back in a hurry I am going to hunt you down, and so help me God... (she clenches her hand in a fist).

Mulder: The war's over! Let them take you to Germany! They make nice cars.

Mulder: Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me that you haven't been able toget accurate compass readings. That navigation's been a real bitch.It's because you've been caught in something called "The Devil's Triangle."I can show you on the chart here. It goes fromBermuda down to Puerto Rico and back up to Florida. The Queen Anneis stuck here on the Eastern edge of it. You've been caught in some kind of time warp. In some kind of limbo dimension and now you've popped out the other side into 1998.
Sailor 1: 1998?!
Sailor 2: This man is mad.
Sailor 3: Let him tell it to the fishes.

Mulder: Scully?
1939 Scully: I suggest you get your Nazi paws off me before you get one in the kisser.
Mulder: Scully, it's me, Mulder.
1939 Scully: Oh, you speak English, do you? Well, how'd you like to see the stars on the American flag? (holds her fist in front of his face)
Mulder: I'm not a Nazi.
1939 Scully: Oh, sure. You just look like one, right?

Skinner: You're out of line, Scully.
Scully: No, sir, you're out of line. I'm sorry, but I'm coming to you for help and I've got nowhere else to go. I would hope that after everything that we have been through that you would at least have the courtesy and the decency and not to mention the respect to listen to what I have to say. Now, all I need is information. You don't have to do anything else. Look, sir, if you know anybody at the Office of Naval Intelligence it would be of great help.
Skinner: I could lose my job, my pension, I could even be subject to legal action. Use your head, Scully. It'll save your ass.
Scully: Save your own ass, sir. You'll save your head along with it.

1939 Cigarette Smoking Man: Frag ihn, wie viele personen er sterben lasst. (Ask him how many people he will let die?)
1939 Spender: How many lives are you willing to sacrifice?
Mulder: None.
1939 Spender: Then you have the answer. Er weigert sich ihn zu nennen. (He hesitates to name him.)
1939 Cigarette Smoking Man: Schiess nochmal. (Shoot again.)
1939 Scully: Stop! This man has no answers. You're killing innocent people to learn that he knows nothing!
1939 Spender: Shut up. Shut up and move away.
1939 Scully: Listen to me, you little weasel...
1939 Cigarette Smoking Man: Wir haben unseren naechstenpassagier, eine dame. Richte die waffe auf sie. Schiess sie... Wenn er die frage nicht beantwortet. (We have our next passenger, a lady. Aim the weapon at her. Kill her, if he does not answer the question.)
(1939 Spender aims gun at 1939 Scully's head.)
1939 Spender: (to Mulder) Answer the question.
Mulder: I'll answer the question.
1939 Cigarette Smoking Man: Beantworte die frage. (Answer the question.)
(Mulder points down to the first man killed.)
Mulder: That man is the scientist.

Mulder: You saved the world, Scully.
Scully: Yeah... You're right. I did.
Frohike: What kind of drugs is he on?
Langly: I want some.
Mulder: No, no, no.... The Queen Anne... I found it. You were there with Thor's Hammer. I told you you had to turn the ship around and then I jumped overboard.
Scully: Yeah, I bet you did. The boat that you were on was busted into a million pieces. And as for the Queen Anne it was nothing more than a ghost ship.
Mulder: No, no, no. You and I were on that ship, Scully. In 1939.
Skinner: Get some rest, Mulder, 'cause when you get out of here I'm going to kick your butt but good.
(Skinner and the Gunmen leave the room.)
Mulder: I would've never seen you again. But you believed me.
Scully: In your dreams. Mulder, I want you to close your eyes and I want you to think to yourself "there's no place like home."
Mulder: Mmm. Hey, Scully.
Scully: Yes? (Long pause. They look deeply at one another.)
Mulder: I love you.
Scully: Oh, brother...

Highlights from ''Triangle''

Episode Number: 120
Season Number 6
First Aired: Sunday, November 22, 1998
Production Code: 6X03

24 July 2007

Season 6: Drive (6X02)

Written by: Vince Gilligan
Directed by: Rob Bowman

Via a live news report, a high-speed car chase comes to an end in the Nevada desert. Assuming it to be a kidnapping, the female passenger is pulled from the vehicle and placed into the protective custody of a police vehicle. The driver, Patrick Crump, is pushed to the asphalt and handcuffed. The woman in the police car begins violently banging her head against the car window. As the news chopper catches all of this on film, the woman's head explodes, sending a spray of blood across the window.

The agents get wind of this bizarre car chase as they're doing scut work in Idaho. Mulder coerces Scully into taking a detour by Elko, Nevada on a hunch that this may be an X-File. Once there, however, Mulder manages to get himself kidnapped by Crump, who has escaped from the police.

Mulder realizes that Crump is in a considerable amount of pain and that the only way to ease the pain is to drive west. Scully investigates the Crumps home and discovers that an antenna array emitting ELF waves stretches beneath their property. She deduces that an abnormal surge in these waves somehow caused a rising pressure in the inner ear of the nearby inhabitants. Westward motion seems to be the only thing to help the ease the pain of the increasing pressure.

Mulder explains to Crump that Scully will meet them at the end of the highway. There she will insert a needle into Crump's inner ear, hopefully relieving the pressure. But when Mulder arrives, it is too late. Crump has already died.

Notes:
The ELF communications system, Project Seafarer, was not simply invented for this episode. It actually did exist, although not in Nevada. The two antennas were located at Clam Lake, Wisconsin and Gwinn, Michigan. Seafarer was the subject of many protests about the environmental impact of ELF waves. In 1984 a federal judge halted construction and operation of both sites pending further environmental testing, but this ruling was overturned by an appeals court. The US Navy spent $25 million studying the environmental impact and came to the conclusion that any effects were similar to those produced by power distribution cables. Needless to say, many people refused to accept these findings, claiming a government and military cover-up and leaving the whole subject perfect for use as an X-Files story. During the late 1990's, Project Seafarer was increasingly seen to be obsolete as improvements in communications technology rendered the use of ELF waves unnecessary. Seafarer was discontinued and dismantled in September 2004.

Writer Vince Gilligan is a huge fan of Junior Brown, a country music singer/songwriter/steel guitar player. Gilligan put up his own money to fly Brown in from Oklahoma so he could play the part of farmer Virgil Nokes in this episode.

In the shot where Crump throws Mulder's cell phone out of the car, the actor actually threw a real cell phone out of the window.

The X-Files casting director Rick Millikan called in Bryan Cranston for an entirely different role. Due to some miscommunication, Cranston was under the impression that he was going to read for the part of Patrick Crump. He even grew a beard and a moustache. He nailed the role so perfectly that Millikan had no choice but to cast Cranston as Crump.

The American Society of Cinematographers called "Drive" the best-filmed hour of episodic television of the season. Director of Photography Bill Roe received the award.

Quotes:
Crump: Sorry about that Jewish thing. One can't help who he's born under.
Mulder: Is that supposed to be an apology, you son of a bitch?

Mulder: Why don't you bill me?
Kersh: I'll bill your partner instead. You too obviously relish the role of martyr.
Mulder: Okay, so are we done here? Back to the bozo work, investigating huge piles of manure?
Kersh: You can always quit. (Mulder leaves, slams door behind him)
Scully: Sir, Agent Mulder has been through a lot.
Kersh: You apologize for him a lot, I've noticed that about you.
Scully: I'm not apologizing for this. Because of his work, the DOD is shutting down their antennae array in northeastern Nevada. Our participation in this case has saved lives.
Kersh: I don't see you proving that ... Don't misunderstand me, Agent. I don't care if you and your partner saved a school bus full of doe-eyed urchins on their way to sunday bible camp. You no longer investigate X-Files. You are done.

Scully: Mulder. Are you okay?
Mulder: Yeah, aside from terminal cell phone withdrawal. That and I gotta pee.

Crump: What are you doing?!
Mulder: What? What am I doing?
Crump: What the hell are you doing?!
Mulder: I'm composing a sonnet. What does it look like I'm doing? I'm slowing down for a light.

Mulder: Why didn't you tell anybody? Why didn't you tell the police?
Crump: Oh, geez.
Mulder: I don't know how well you recall the last 30 seconds, but your life is in my hands regardless of whether or not you hold that gun.
Crump: It's right here, boy.
Mulder: Just tell me everything you know. That may be the only way I can help you.
Crump: You people put me here!
Mulder: Shut up! I'm guessing we got two or three miles before the roadblock.
Crump: What roadblock? I got rid of the cops.
Mulder: Check your window.
Crump: Oh, God...Man, if we get stopped...

Mulder: Crump? Crump, what else can you tell me about what's happening to you?
Crump: Mr. Crump. You call me by my last name, you say "Mister" in front of it.
Mulder: "Mister." I got you.
Crump: Not Crump - Mr. Crump.
Mulder: I can think of something else I'd like to call you. I could put "Mister" in front of that, too if you'd like.

A clip from ''Drive''

Episode Number: 119
Season Number: 6
First Aired: Sunday, November 15, 1998
Production Code: 6X02

23 July 2007

Season 6: The Beginning (6X01)

Written by: Chris Carter
Directed by: Kim Manners

Mulder and Scully are brought before a review board to justify their re-assignment on the X-Files. The board needs scientific proof of extraterrestrial life. Mulder argues that concrete evidence exists via Scully, who had earlier been infected by an alien virus. When Scully is vague regarding this infection, the board gives the team their final warning - find concrete evidence or else.

On the sly, A.D. Skinner gives Mulder a lead on a strange case in Arizona that might give him the hard evidence he needs. At the crime scene, Mulder theorizes that the victim was infected by an alien virus and that this virus ultimately produced an alien entity. The entity then ripped away the victim's chest from the inside as it birthed itself. Meantime, the Syndicate is irate that this "situation" has surfaced and is getting so much attention. Cigarette-Smoking Man assures them that he is taking care of the problem. He brings Gibson Praise, the young chess prodigy, to the crime scene in hopes that Praise can divine where the creature has escaped to.

The agents are drawn to a nearby power plant where another murder has occurred. They are met by agents Spender and Fowley who deny Mulder access to the new crime scene. When Mulder and Scully return to their car, they find Praise hiding in the back seat.
Mulder wants to use Praise to find the alien creature, but Scully talks him out of it, explaining that Praise is the scientific evidence Mulder's been looking for. Praise can corroborate everything Mulder's been saying. Scully tells Mulder that Praise needs medical attention and just as they're about to drive him to the hospital, Agent Fowley arrives. Scully continues on to the hospital with Praise, while Mulder and Fowley go to the plant to find the creature.

At the plant, Mulder and Fowley discover evidence that the alien is there. He calls Scully at the hospital to tell her this; in turn, she reveals that Praise has traces of the alien virus in his body - somehow, Praise is part extraterrestrial. While Scully's attention is diverted, Black-Haired Man kidnaps Praise and takes him to the power plant to find and destroy the alien. Mulder catches up with Praise and Black-Haired Man, but it is too late. They have locked themselves inside the core reactor room. Mulder watches helplessly as the alien kills Black-Haired Man. The alien turns on Praise just as the plant's alarms sound and FBI agents swarm the area. Fowley, now seeming to be on Spender's side, approaches Mulder and tells him to back off.

Back at the review board, the panel tells Mulder and Scully to cease all association with the X-Files. They are put on probation and told to report to a new boss, Assistant Director Kersh.

Notes:
This episode marks the first appearance of AD Kersh, played by James Pickens Jr.

The part of Sandy, the Syndicate scientist who unwittingly incubates an alien inside him, was played by longtime X-Files casting director Rick Millikan.

The nuclear power plant was actually a conventional generating facility that ran only rarely at times of extreme power demand. The heat wave that hit Southern California during the filming made that the generators had to be put online. Thus most scenes in the power plant had to be shot amidst noise higher than 100 decibels. Most of the actor's dialogue had to be re-recorded in the studio.

From this episode Chris Owens is now billed under the "Also Starring" heading.

"Homer", sleeping at the helm of the nuclear power plant, was a nod to The Simpsons dad, Homer Simpson; a show which portrayed Mulder and Scully in cartoon form in the episode "The Springfield Files".

In an interview with the LA Times (August 28, 1998), Chris Carter explained that the first thing in the opening teaser of the premiere is a shot of the sun. The camera then pans down to a desert landscape - a scene they would never have been able to do in Vancouver. Carter says that these opening images are a "wink to the audience that we are now in the land of sunshine".

Quotes:
Scully: Mulder, let me remind you once again... What I saw was very little.
Mulder: Look, Scully, that excuse is not going to work this time. You were there and you were infected with that virus.
Scully: Mulder, yes there is a scientific basis for what happenedto me. I was exposed to a virus but as it turns out, Mulder, that virus is not what you thought. Look, I can't identify it, Mulder... I have runthree separate tests - but I can tell you without a doubt that that virus' DNA and proteins are very much of this world.
Mulder: I saw what that virus did. I saw it generate a new being... An alien being inside a human body.
Scully: It attacks and destroys human cells but that is all it does,Mulder. It creates nothing. Look, I don't like telling you this... And Iknow that you don't want to hear it... Not that you can't question meand what I saw but what you can't question is the science.

Skinner: You're wasting your time.
Mulder: You need evidence to justify our reassignment.I've just got to bring it back from the ashes.
Skinner: Nothing you might restore is going to help you, Agent Mulder.It's over and done. Your reassignment on the X-Files has been denied.
Mulder: (angry) How can it be denied? We're the only reason the X-Files were reopened in the first place. There's no other reason to reopen them.
Skinner: I'm not arguing...
Mulder: Well, then, who is?
Skinner: When will you accept that no amount of pressure or reason will bring to heel a conspiracy whose members walk these halls with absolute impunity?
Mulder: Was there a vote?
(Skinner pauses.)
Skinner: Unanimous against.

Board Member: These spacelings, Agent Mulder. They weren't something I saw in ''Men in Black''?
Mulder: .... I didn't see Men in Black.
Board Member: (Mutters) Well, it was a damned good movie.

Mulder: I don't see there's any argument here. You admit yourself that the crime report is a lie.
Scully: Mulder, that doesn't mean that I can just accept your theory.
Mulder: What does it take? For this thing to come up and bite you on the ass?

Gibson: It's not here. Why don't you believe me when you're so afraid of me?
CSM: I'm not afraid of you.
Gibson: You think I can destroy you for what I know, because of what I am. You're thinking you could've destroyed me, too and if I don't find this creature, you will.

A clip from ''The Beginning''

Episode Number: 118
Season Number: 6
First Aired: Sunday, November 8, 1998
Production Code: 6X01

20 July 2007

Fight the Future - The Movie

Writters: Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
Director: Rob Bowman

The X-files movie ''Fight the Future'' continues from the time frame of the cliffhanger final episode of the 5th series. With the X-files out of action after the fire in the basement office.The movie opens back in pre-historic Texas, with two cave men hunting down an alien being in an ice cavern.

In the present, a young boy Stevie falls through the ground while playing with his friends and lands in the same cavern. As his friends peer down from above, Stevie is attacked by the black cancer, which also infects two firemen who attempt to rescue him and a further two firemen who go in after the first two.
Mulder and Scully, un-assigned from the X-files, are inspecting a building opposite the Federal building in Dallas after a bomb threat warning. Scully clears the building when Mulder discovers a bomb which shortly afterwards detonates, destroying the building.

The powers that be in the FBI try to pin the blame on Mulder and Scully for the explosion, and endeavour to spilt the partners up. Scully tells Mulder she is going to quit the FBI. Back in Washington, Mulder is contacted by Dr Kurtzweil who explains that the bomb blast in Dallas was part of a cover up by members of the government.
Mulder later learns that the body of a young boy and three firemen were found in the bombed building, which they thought had been cleared. Adding substance to Dr Kurtzweil claims, given further credence when Scully's autopsy of one of the firemen can not produce a cause of death.
Mulder manages to convince Scully to help him investigate the case as he needs her. They uncover a sinister conspiracy by the shadowy syndicate to aid aliens in there colonization plans. And their part in a planned Armageddon that will affect every man, woman and child on the planet.

But even the syndicate are caught out, as the black cancer has mutated into a virus that affects humans using them to create a new alien life form. A virus for which there is no cure, save for a weak antidote developed by the Russians.
After Mulder and Scully discover the syndicate's secret bee farm in the desert, bees that will be used as carriers of the deadly virus. The syndicate members take steps against them, kidnapping Scully and shooting Mulder. The syndicate infects Scully with the virus and takes her to a secret installation in Antarctica.
Mulder leaves hospital with the help of the Lone Gunman and Assistant Director Skinner and attempts to find Dr Kurtzweil for more information but instead meets the Well Manicured Man, who gives him Scully's location and a small amount of the Russian's antidote shortly before he is killed by a car bomb.

Mulder tracks Scully to the installation in Antarctica, gaining entry via a tunnel in the ice. He stumbles across thousands of cryo-tubes containing people infected with the virus, gestating the new alien life form. He locates Scully and injects the antidote, some of which gets in to the system. Mulder and Scully flee the installation just in time as it turns out to be an alien craft. As they collapse at a safe distance, Mulder watches in awe as the craft flies over head and disappears in to the clouds, moments later Scully regains consciousness.

A helicopter lands at the syndicate's new bee farm in the desert in North Africa, the Cigarette Smoking Man steps out and walks towards Strughold. They discuss the new bee farm and the progress of their plans. The Cigarette Smoking Man informs Strughold that Mulder has become reinvested and poses a threat to them. Strughold retorts, 'He is but one man. One man alone can not fight the future.'. The Cigarette Smoking Man hands a telegram to Strughold, it reads;"X-FILES RE-OPENED. STOP. PLEASE ADVISE. STOP."

Notes:
The movie was shot during the hiatus between the the fourth and fifth season of "The X-Files".

In the special features on the The X-Files: Fight The Future DVD, Gillian Anderson says that when she and David Duchovny were doing the scene where Mulder and Scully are attacked by bees, and Mulder grabs Scully by the wrist, she had bees all over her palm, and was stung severely once David grabbed her hand.

Several actors who have appeared in previous and/or future episodes of the show guest starred in the feature movie: Terry O'Quinn (Aubery, Trust No1) Steve Rankin (Orison), Gary Grubbs (Our Town) and Jason Beghe (Darkness Falls).

When Mulder is in the alleyway by the bar, there's a poster of the film "Independence Day" nearby. Chris Carter hated the film and deliberately wanted Mulder to relieve himself by it.

Exterior shots of the Well-Manicured Man's residence in London were shot at a house in Pasadena that was used as the exterior location of the Wayne Manor in the "Batman" television series.

Allthough there were nearly 300,000 bees used during the shooting of the dome scene, only a handful of crew members were stung.

When the crew was shooting the cornfield scenes, a teenager had managed to get past security and was hiding inside the cornfield. He was able to videotape the actors in the field and the huge white domes. He sold the footage to a local news station and thus revealed some of the key locations for the X-Files movie nearly a year before the movie was due to hit the big screen.

When Gillian Anderson was filming the rooftop scene, she had an allergic reaction to the suncreen used by the make-up department to simulate sweat.

During the first week of principal photography, the second-unit crew was stranded for 2 days on a glacier near Vancouver as bad weather conditions prevented the helicopter, which had taken them up there, to come and pick them up. They spent the night in the ice station set while the temparature outside dropped down to the low twenties.

In order to prevent the crew from making copies of the script and posting it on the Internet, the script was printed on red paper with the name of the owner placed diagonally over each page.

To protect the secrecy surrounding the movie, the project was given the 'code' title "Blackwood" during its production. However, the online X-Philes community quickly found out about the code title and started speculating about its possible meaning. Some ideas were even more out there than others as theories alluding to Edgar Allen Poe and MTV VJ Nina Blackwood were posted on the Internet. They were all wrong however, as "Blackwood" only refers to a fictional town in Dallas where some of the story is set.

Scully's exact address is: 107 E. Cordova St. Apt. 35Georgetown, VA 24026

Quotes:
Scully: Any thoughts as to why anybody would be growing corn in the middle of the desert?

Mulder: Five years together Scully, how many times I been wrong? Never. Not driving, anyway.

Scully: I need this building evacuated and cleared out in ten minutes. I need you to get on the phone and tell the fire department to block off the city center in a one mile radius around the building. Don't think! Just pick up the phone and make it happen!

Mulder: Whatever happened to playing a hunch, Scully? The element of surprise, random acts of unpredictability? If we fail to anticipate the unforeseen or expect the unexpected in a universe of infinite possibilities, we may find ourselves at the mercy of anyone or anything that cannot be programmed, categorized or easily referenced.

Mulder: Awww, I woke you... Did I wake you?
Scully: No.
Mulder: Why not? It's three in the morning...

Well-Manicured Man: Trust no one, Mr. Mulder.

Scully: Why did they assign me to you in the first place, Mulder? To debunk your work, to rein you in, to shut you down.
Mulder: But you saved me! As difficult and as frustrating as it's been sometimes, your goddamned strict rationalism and science have saved me a thousand times over! You've kept me honest, you've made me a whole person. I owe you everything, Scully, and you owe me nothing. I don't know if I wanna do this alone. I don't even know if I can and if I quit now, they win.

Scully: Well, we're FBI Agents.
Kid: You're not FBI Agents.
Mulder: How do you know?
Kid: Cause ya'll look like door-to-door salesmen.

Mulder: A plague?
Kurtzweil: The plague to end all plagues, Agent Mulder. A silent weapon for a quiet war. The sytematic release of an indiscriminant organism for which the men who will bring it on still have no cure! They've been working on this for fifty years! While the rest of the world have been fighting gooks and commies, these men have been secretly negotiating a planned armageddon!
Mulder: Negotiating with whom?
Kutzweil: I think you know. The timetable has been set. It will happen on a holiday, when people are away from their homes. The president will declare a state of emergency, at which time all government, all federal agencies, will come under the power of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA, the secret government.
Mulder: And they call me paranoid.

Mulder: I'm the key figure in an on-going government charade, the plot to conceal the truth about the existence of extraterrestrials. It's a global conspiracy, actually, with key players in the highest levels of power, that reaches down into the lives of every man, woman, and child on this planet. So, of course, no one believes me. I'm an annoyance to my superiors, a joke to my peers. They call me Spooky. Spooky Mulder, whose sister was abducted by aliens when he was just a kid and who now chases after little green men with a badge and a gun, shouting to the heavens or to anyone who will listen that the fix is in, that the sky is falling and when it hits it's gonna be the shit-storm of all time.

Mulder: Whatever you told them in there, Scully, you don't have to protect me.
Scully: All I told them was the truth.
Mulder: They're trying to divide us on this and we can't let them.
Scully: Mulder, they have divided us. They're splitting us up.

''Fight the Future'' trailer

Episode Number: 0
Season Number: 6
First Aired: Friday, June 19, 1998 only in theaters
Prod Code: FTF