The X-files FAQ : all that's left to know about global conspiracy, aliens, Lazarus species, and monsters of the week

459 Pages·2015·7.01 MB·English

by  Muir

Copyright © 2015 by John Kenneth Muir
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, without
written permission, except by a newspaper or magazine reviewer who wishes to
quote brief passages in connection with a review.
Published in 2015 by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books
An Imprint of Hal Leonard Corporation
7777 West Bluemound Road
Milwaukee, WI 53213
Trade Book Division Editorial Offices
33 Plymouth St., Montclair, NJ 07042
All photographs are from John Kenneth Muir’s personal historical archive.
The FAQ series was conceived by Robert Rodriguez and developed with Stuart
Shea.
Printed in the United States of America
Book design by Snow Creative Services
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Muir, John Kenneth, 1969-
The X-files FAQ : all that’s left to know about global conspiracy, aliens, Lazarus
species, and monsters of the week / John Kenneth Muir.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4803-6974-0 (pbk.)
1. X-files (Television program)-—Miscellanea. I. Title.
PN1992.77.X22M85 2015
791.45’72—dc23
2015016075
www.applausebooks.com
This book is dedicated to my wife, Kathryn, who discovered The X-Files first
and then watched it with me for years, and even on our honeymoon.
And for Joel, my eight-year-old son, who asks, on the way to school, to be told
another X-Files episode, and then another, and another. . . .
And to the memory of Kim Manners, an artist who raised the stakes, challenged
the viewers, and left us far too soon.
Contents
Foreword by Chris Carter
Acknowledgments
Introduction Reopening The X-Files
1. In the Beginning: Television and Film Inspirations for The X-
Files
2. Behind the Scenes: Chris Carter, Writers, Directors, and More
3. The Stars of The X-Files: Anderson, Duchovny, and More
4. Who’s Who in The X-Files: Main, Supporting, and Recurring
Characters
5. Welcome to the FBI’s Most Unwanted: The Pilot Episode
(1993)
6. I’m Not a Part of Any Agenda: The Opening Montage
7. The Old World Falls Away: Season One (1993–1994)
8. Divided and Separated: Season Two (1994–1995)
9. New Voices: Season Three (1995–1996)
10. Constant Change, Constant Challenges: Season Four (1996–
1997)
11. Faith and Doubt: Season Five (1997–1998)
12. Sci-Fi Universe: Season Six (1998–1999)
13. New Perspectives Considered: Season Seven (1999–2000)
14. Sight: Season Eight (2000–2001)
15. The End: Season Nine (2001–2002)
16. “Do You Remember the One Where?” Twenty-Five
Landmark Moments on The X-Files
17. Monsters of the Week: Old Monsters and Myths Made New
18. “Do You Want Children or a Nobel Prize?” Science and
Technology Run Amok
19. Sister Scully and Mulder the Apostate: Christianity and
Religion in The X-Files
20. How We Live Now: Americana and The X-Files
21. America: Open Your Eyes! Serial Killers in The X-Files
22. Lazarus Species: From the Dawn of Time
23. “They” Have Been Here for a Long Time: Xenophobia and
Ethnocentrism
24. “You Are Not Like the Other Kids. You Never Will Be.”
Teenagers and Adolescents in The X-Files
25. One Short Step Away from Proving the Preexistence of the
Human Soul: The Paranormal
26. Fact or Fiction? Ten Times The X-Files Was “Based on a True
Story.”
27. Ghosts in the Machine? Notable Guest Stars on The X-Files
28. The X-Files Feature Films: The X-Files: Fight the Future
(1998), I Want to Believe (2008), The X-Files III
29. The Other TV Programs of Chris Carter: Millennium (1996–
1999), Harsh Realm (1999–2000), The Lone Gunmen (2001), and
The After (2014)
30. The X-Files Unbound: Knockoffs and Rip-offs Everywhere
31. The X-Files: Legacy
Bibliography
Foreword by Chris Carter
As I write this, we are shooting the second episode of the six-episode “event”
series that will air on Fox in late January 2016.
It will be the first time the series has aired on TV in fourteen years, and it will
be twenty-three years on from the airing of the pilot episode in 1993. That period
encompasses about a third of not just my life but the lives of many people who
have come back to work on the show now. The comeback could be viewed
cynically as an attempt by Fox execs to capitalize on The X-Files “brand,”
programming by feather duster, but let me destroy any notion of this from my
side of things. Or our side of things, as is the case.
The show was and is a labor of love, and thus a work of art. It takes a great
many people working in absolute harmony to create something lasting on
television. It is this esprit de corps that makes it all worthwhile. This does not
happen accidentally, and I’d like to make it abundantly clear that while I created
the show, a great many artistic souls have raised that infant idea into the monster
it is today. Beginning with Morgan and Wong, and Gordon and Gansa, in the
beginning, Messrs. Spotnitz, Gilligan, and Shiban in the end, the show was
protean by nature, including the efforts of writers who came and went and whose
contributions are under-sung.
And as you will read in the always impressive and thoughtful musings of John
Muir, the writing is only half of it. We work in a visual medium, and the show
somehow managed to turn that rectangle box we all viewed each week into
something special and often unexpected. The signature qualities of mood and
light and perspective can be attributed largely to production design by Michael
Nemirski in the pilot, to Graeme Murray and Corey Kaplan on the series, but
also to Tom Del Ruth, John Bartley, Jon Joffin, Joel Ransom, and Bill Roe, who
lit and photographed it. All under some of the most talented directors and
storytellers TV has even known: Rob Bowman, Kim Manners, David Nutter, and
R. W. Goodwin. A manager’s dream starting rotation, backed by a bullpen of
long and short relievers who stepped in and stepped up. This is not lip service or
faint praise. These people helped save my life.
In John Muir’s introduction, I’m quoted as saying, “I didn’t understand what I
didn’t understand,” in reference to running the show in the beginning. This is
true, but I’d like to put a finer point on that. “I didn’t know what we couldn’t do”
is more like it. From the outset, we tried anything and everything we could think
of. Met with much resistance, both creative and financial, we managed to do a
great many things simply because our imaginations were wilder than the forces
trying to tame them. That was also not an accident, and people such as Peter
Roth, Ken Horton, Charlie Goldstein, two Jeffs named Eckerly and Glazer, and
also Jonathan Littman came to understand we knew what we were doing and
rallied in support. Executive Producer R. W. Goodwin was often a convincing
voice of reason.
But as I’ve always maintained, none of our good work, artistry, or effort would
add up to much if it weren’t for Mulder and Scully. David Duchovny and Gillian
Anderson brought, and now continue to bring, power and soul to characters who
surprisingly continue to grow. To watch them step back into old shoes and bring
something new has been a joy. They and the characters have grown wiser with
the years, and as I’m often reminded, adversity is the forge of character.
Not just in them, but in us.