"Would you believe we're going to sleep together in seven years?"
Looking back at the very beginning of the “X-Files” is an interesting experience. In more than a few ways, it’s a return to simpler times. After the passing of nine seasons, of course, quite a bit of baggage begins to accumulate, and not just in terms of the mythology. So it is nice to return to a time when there was very little in the way of controversy.
Watching the pilot episode of any series is an exercise in frustration, if only because there are normally just as many elements that never worked or never return as there are “classic” elements. In the case of the “X-Files”, this is not nearly so evident, and that makes viewing the episode a pleasant experience. Sure, the character of Fox Mulder is played just a tad more over the top than in the series proper, and there’s that come-and-go accent that Scully is sporting, but everything else is pure gold.
Just from the point of view of the later mythology, this pilot episode presents all of the essential elements that we would come to know and love. Cancer Man is right there, presiding over the introduction of Dana Scully to the X-Files with a visibility that is quite shocking in retrospect. We have the requisite abductions, the implants that appear to be communications and tracking devices, the mention of tests and elimination of evidence, and the introduction of the running theme of government conspiracy. More than that, we have the first mention of the disappearance of Samantha Mulder, which lies more or less at the center of the mythology for the next seven seasons.
It’s also interesting to note just how little is explained in this episode. The events have become so familiar, and the explanations repeated so many times, that it ought to be obvious what was happening. But even now, nine years later, there is an unmistakable lack of closure to the case.
The timestamp tells us that this is early March 1992, but that would quickly be retconned to early March 1993 for the purpose of the series. After two years with the FBI, Agent Dana Scully is called before Section Chief Blevins, as well as an unknown smoking man. It appears that an agent with a highly regarded reputation within the VCU named Fox Mulder has developed a “consuming devotion” to the X-Files, cases that have been designated as unexplained. Scully is being assigned to debunk Mulder’s work on the X-Files, though not in so many words.
Upon meeting Mulder, it is apparent from the very beginning that he is aware of her role on the project. He has already selected a case worth investigating out of the most recent batch of “shelved” files, involving what appears to be a series of unexplained deaths in Bellefleur, Oregon. All of the bodies exhibit strange markings with an unidentified organic protein marker. Mulder believes that this same evidence, found on the most recent victim, will also be found on the previous victim. Driving into the area, they run into a patch of road where the electronics in the car begin to act strangely. Mulder calmly marks that spot with an “X”, and they continue to the cemetery.
As the victim’s body is being exhumed, the county medical officer, Dr. Nemman, shows up and objects to the fact that his findings are being questioned. There is a confrontation, but ultimately Mulder and Scully get their way. The casket is literally dropped in front of them…after rolling down a hill and cracking open…and a distinctly inhuman corpse is found inside.
Scully examines the corpse, which Mulder contends is possibly alien in origin. Scully determines that the body is likely to be some form of mutated mammalian remains, but she also finds an unknown metallic object lodged in the nasal cavity. As the agents investigate further, they determine that the victims all share another connection: they were being treated for some form of mental illness at a local psychiatric center. Two others from the same graduating class as the four recent victims, Billy Miles and Peggy O’Dell, are still alive and residing at the clinic. Peggy cannot walk, and Billy is in a state of waking catatonia.
When Mulder requests that Peggy be given a physical exam, the young woman begins flailing about wildly. Her nose begins bleeding, and as the orderlies struggle to calm her down, Mulder and Scully notice that she also has the strange marks on her lower back. When Scully confronts Mulder on whether or not he knew that the marks would be there, he tells her that his theory involves alien abduction…and that she is not ready for that kind of truth.
Mulder and Scully visit the location where the latest victim had been found in the nearby forest, but they are soon turned away by a local police officer. Mulder and Scully leave, and Scully points out to Mulder that the soil in the forest had some odd, almost ashen properties. Without warning, the electronics in the car begin to go crazy, there is a brilliant flash of light, and it is suddenly nine minutes later. The possibility upsets Scully, but Mulder is exultant.
Back at their hotel, Scully notices that there are bumps on her lower back, and she runs to Mulder to have him check for the strange markings. After Mulder takes his good ol’ time confirming that the marks are simply bug bites, they settle in for a little heart-to-heart. Mulder tells Scully about the disappearance of his younger sister Samantha, when she was 8 and he was 12. It tore the family apart, because there was no evidence to follow, nothing to trace. In the years that followed, Mulder went to England for college, and was promptly recruited into the FBI upon returning to the states. His “natural ability” to develop behavioral profiles in criminal cases eventually led to a freedom to pursue his own interests. That’s when he came across the X-Files.
Before long, Mulder explains that soon after he began investigating the unsolved and unexplained cases, it was clear that there was a larger government cover-up at work. His allies in Congress have been able to help him continue despite the efforts of others within the government trying to keep those secrets buried. He insists that his sister was the victim of alien abduction, based on regression hypnosis sessions, and that the government is aware of such things. Scully seems less than convinced, but their discussion is interrupted with news that Peggy O’Dell is dead.
Despite being unable to walk, Peggy O’Dell was struck dead by a truck after running out of the forest. Her watch shows the same time as the unexplained bright light earlier in the evening. When Mulder gets word that the altered corpse has been stolen and the autopsy lab has been trashed, the agents return to their hotel. They find the building in flames, and all of their evidence with it. Just when it seems everything is lost, Dr. Nemman’s daughter approaches them, asking for protection.
Theresa Nemman explains that she is also one of the recurring abductees. She has the marks, and during their conversation, she begins bleeding heavily from the nose. Dr. Nemman and the police officer from the forest arrive to take Theresa away, and the agents discover that the officer is Detective Miles…Billy’s father. Scully speculates that they were the ones who destroyed the evidence and their hotel rooms, but Mulder isn’t so sure.
Returning to the cemetery, they find that the graves of the other two victims have been exhumed. In the first of what will be dozens of amazing leaps, Mulder concludes that it was Billy Miles that killed the four victims. He claims that when time appears to stop, Billy is controlled by the alien abductors to commit these acts against the other abductees. When they return to the psychiatric center to check on Billy, Scully finds the strange soil material on Billy’s bare feet. Scully makes the connection, and begins to believe Mulder. But Mulder points out, and rightfully so, that Scully is the one who needs to write a scientific report backing the claim. So they return to the forest to retrieve another sample of the soil.
When they arrive, they find that Detective Miles is already there. They hear a woman’s screams in the distance, and run to investigate. Detective Miles knocks Scully to the ground, and then goes after Mulder. When the screams get louder, and a strange sound begins emanating in the forest around then, Miles and Mulder run to stop Billy. Billy holds Theresa in his arms, surrounded by the light, and then there is the sound of something leaving at supersonic speeds above them. Billy and Theresa are alive and well, and Mulder notes that the marks are gone. Scully, of course, saw nothing.
More than a week later, Billy Miles is given regression hypnosis therapy, and he describes how all of the victims were taken to a testing place. After the tests were done, Billy had been instructed through the implant to eliminate the others. Blevins watches the entire session, but later reminds Scully that her findings have no evidence to support them. She produces the implant from the exhumed corpse, which she had kept in her pocket and therefore survived. As she leaves, she notices the smoking man entering Blevins’ office.
Mulder calls Scully later that night. There is no case on Billy Miles. They agree to discuss it in the morning. At the same time, the strange smoking man from Blevins’ office places the implant in a container within a huge storage facility, which is revealed to be somewhere within the Pentagon.
Perhaps the best thing about this pilot is the immediate level of chemistry between David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Even while so many of the other players in the episode don’t quite mesh, the interaction between Mulder and Scully clicks right from the beginning. Granted, some moments are better than others. The best moments come when Mulder slips into the more subtle madness that will come to define him in the series, rather than the more animated moments.
But as a mythology buff, I truly enjoy how much we’re given here, and how they make sure we don’t know it. With Cancer Man front and center, it’s clear that this case was chosen specifically as a test for Scully. The conspiracy wants to see what she can do with something that is very close to revealing the details of a large part of the Syndicate operation: the testing of the command/control implants, and the effects of the eugenics program on human subjects.
For instance, the implants themselves are simply a precursor to the implant that Scully will eventually get, and we get a very good look at how controlling they can be from the very beginning. Why they never used this aspect of the implants more often, I don’t know. But from the start, it’s clear that having an implant is not a happy discovery.
Equally as important, we see the first overt evidence that the testing performed on the subjects, presumably as part of the hybridization/eugenics phase of the Project, results in massive biological mutation. It’s mentioned in passing, but there is even mention of the molecular protein markers left within the tested tissue. These concepts would come back in a very nasty way in “Anasazi” and “Tunguska/Terma”, as evidence of the larger plans of the conspiracy.
In fact, the events of this episode seem to make more sense out of the later “super-soldier” phase of the conspiracy. For instance, we know that the kind of experiments and mutations seen in these victims were also common in the other eugenics programs run by former German and Japanese scientists. According to the later mythology episodes, those experiments came to fruition just before the Persian Gulf Conflict. It makes sense, then, that once the eugenics program was ready to move forward to the next level, the test subjects would be eliminated, which is what we see here. Of course, the survivors are used again in the later phase of the Eugenics Project, so there is a consistency in that as well.
Of course, there is one other big mythology aspect of this episode, which involves the effects of the unknown aircraft on spacetime and electromagnetic fields. The idea that the motive forces used to fly the UFOs effect spacetime and electronics was unfortunately wasted on “Dreamland”; it could have been used in much more interesting ways. But here we get the basics, and the effects of UFO technology are immediately explored in the next episode, “Deep Throat”.
I’ve always wondered how some of the assumptions about the X-Files came about. Certainly it evolved over the course of the first season, since we have yet to encounter Assistant Director Walter Skinner. But I find it interesting that Scully mentions that she is aware of the X-Files and Mulder from their respective reputations. Why would Scully have heard of the X-Files, if it took a specific action to make sure that Mulder found them? Even after the retcon of the date of this episode, Scully would have been in the academy around the time that Mulder discovered the X-Files, so wouldn’t they have been out of discussion at that point?
Just as interesting is the way how Mulder appears to command some degree of respect for his prowess in this episode. Scully mentions that his nickname came from his uncanny ability to develop profiles in violent crime cases, not his penchant for exploring the paranormal. He is regarded as a prodigy, and if there was some reason that Mulder might have lost respect within the Bureau in the two years since her academy days, one would think that such an incident would have been more fresh in her mind.
Whatever the circumstances, it’s clear at this point that the X-Files are not an assigned duty for Mulder. Blevins makes a point of saying that Mulder is investigating these cases as a side project. Granted, it may have become his duty, if for no other reason than the fact that his superior might not assign him to anything else out of protest at his activities, but it is still only a side venture. Hence, it’s not a department at this point, and that’s an interesting difference from how it’s regarded later.
I would think, then, that Mulder is still officially assigned to the VCU at this point. His duties within the department are likely minimal, giving him more than enough time to work on the X-Files. Whatever he might have worked on before, sufficient roadblocks were placed in his way to keep him from getting too far. But now, about two years into the side project, he’s gotten to the point where someone is needed to keep an eye on him and moderate whatever he might uncover. This makes sense if we’re supposed to believe that Mulder’s work on the X-Files is generally being used within the Syndicate’s disinformation campaign. By assigning Scully to the department, they keep Mulder spinning his wheels, under the illusion he is getting somewhere, while gaining the ability to counter Mulder’s claims with “official” positions.
I like to think that even if this episode takes place in March 1993, or roughly six months before the events of the first season, what happens here is meant to test Scully’s effectiveness and the results of her work with Mulder. They assign Scully as soon as Mulder finds evidence of something critical, and then take the time to determine the overall effect of her presence on the disinformation campaign before assigning her full time.
It’s common for a pilot episode to be filled with exposition and background information, but given that Chris Carter hadn’t even considered planning out where to go with what he was revealing, there was a lot more liberty to simply introduce the characters and let the events play out on their own merits. The result is a far better pilot than most, and a damned good introduction to the elements that would come back again and again throughout the series.
Some other thoughts:
- Damn, Scully looks young, doesn’t she? And hot!
- Ah, the original office layout. How things change over the years…
- I just love these early episodes where Mulder is wearing his glasses. It’s a good look for him, I think.
- “Nobody here but the FBI’s most unwanted…” Gee, that line seems so ironic in retrospect, doesn’t it?
- Maybe Scully could have identified that unknown protein if there weren’t those useless “R” groups! In organic chemistry, that stands for “Radical”, generally something you use when identifying that part of the molecule doesn’t matter!
- “Do you believe in the existence of extra-terrestrials?” Every time I see that, I laugh myself silly. Really, the delivery of that line is truly horrible!
- “The answers are there…you just need to know where to find them…”
- Love Mulder’s reaction to the plane turbulence!
- Was the “salmon with a lemon twist” reference a “Twin Peaks” homage?
- Why would a county medical officer have any jurisdiction over the exhuming of a corpose as part of an FBI investigation?
- “This isn’t official procedure.” Well, I sure as hell hope not!
- So…what triggered Peggy O’Dell’s attack? Was it just coincidence, or a subliminal response to Mulder’s request for a physical exam?
- “I don’t think you’re ready for my theories…”
- Ever notice how Mulder bobs his head whenever Scully confronts him?
- Why didn’t Mulder or Scully notice all of that rumbling when they were running around in the forest?
- “Mulder, is that you?” Yeah, Scully, Mulder is the one making all that noise and causing the big bright light…
- Wouldn’t the FBI have permission to examine the crime scene as a standard part of the investigation?
- I guess Scully was the one who introduced Mulder to touching unknown substances with your bare hands…
- Could Mulder have been more pleased to inspect Scully for strange marks and bumps? I guess he wasn’t too upset about the new partner for long!
- I wonder if Mulder’s natural profiling ability is actually some form of psychic ability in and of itself, making it a lot more sensible when he eventually becomes his own best evidence for the paranormal in later seasons.
- All shippy thoughts aside, if you were Scully, wouldn’t you have run out of that hotel room about 15 seconds into Mulder’s little explanation about the dangers of his work?
- “THIS fits a profile???”
Overall, this is a great pilot for a television series. The characterizations are a little off, and the pacing of the episode itself is a little slow, but the atmosphere and cast chemistry takes shape right from the beginning.
