The X-Files (1998) | Sci-Fi Saturdays

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I want to believe…that this film is better than it is.

As the first feature film for this franchise, The X-Files–sometimes subtitled “Fight The Future”– creates a claustrophobic web of conspiracy theories, espionage, and alien abductions. It highlights the characters and situations from the television series of the same name, while advancing the story as only a big screen feature could do.

First Impressions

The trailer opens with a boy falling into a hole where he discovers a skull, and some sticky black tar. The narrator reminds audiences that there are conspiracies too vast to be uncovered, as something happens to the boy causing his friends to run away. A number of big explosions, chase sequences, and large set pieces showcase some of what’s to come, along with the stars of the series, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. What new conspiracies will they uncover in their first feature-length movie? It’s time to open The X-Files.

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

The Fiction of The Film

Two neanderthal men investigate an ice cave in North Texas, in 35,000 BC. They encounter an alien creature, which kills one and infects the other with a black tar-like substance. In the present day, Stevie (Lucas Black) falls into a hole outside his North Texas suburb and is also infected by the black goo. Firefighters show up to rescue him just before black helicopters and men in hazmat suits arrive and seal off the area, extracting the boy and four firemen. In Dallas,  across the street from the Federal Building, FBI Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), on regular assignments and no longer investigating the X-Files, discover a bomb in a building housing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). SAC Michaud (Terry O’Quinn) stays behind to disarm the bomb as the building is evacuated, but he chooses to let the explosive detonate instead.

In an inquiry, Mulder and Scully are blamed by Director Cassidy (Blythe Danner), not only for the death of Michaud, but also for the deaths of three firefighters and a boy. The two Agents are separated, and Mulder is approached by Alvin Kurtzweil (Martin Landau), an obstetrician and author of crackpot conspiracy theory books. He confirms what Mulder already suspects, that the other dead bodies were planted, and the explosion was a cover to hide their deaths. Mulder and Scully find a body of one of the firefighters in the morgue that has been jellified, and infected with some kind of virus Scully has never seen before.

The Cigarette-Smoking Man (William B Davis) meets with Bronschweig (Jeffrey DeMunn) in Texas presiding over the fourth firefighter who hosts an alien embryo in his chest. CSM hopes to try the latest vaccine against the parasite, but the creature escapes and kills Bronschweig. The other men hastily bury the site. At a meeting of a covert group of powerbrokers in London, known as The Syndicate, the Cigarette-Smoking Man informs the Well-Manicured Man (John Neville) and Strughold (Armin Mueller-Stahl) that Mulder is closer to the truth. They agree to take him out.

Back in North Texas, Mulder and Scully, ignoring orders from their Director, Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), continue their investigation and discover a new playground where just days before was a containment unit. A group of young boys indicate that a group of white tanker trucks left early that day. Driving off in the general direction, the two FBI Agents discover a lone corn field and two giant inflatable domes in the middle of the desert. Inside they are attacked by a swarm of bees, and narrowly escape. Scully returns to Washington DC just in time to be reassigned to Salt Lake City, but quits the Agency in protest. Mulder visits her later that night to tell her how much she has meant to him over the past five years. They are about to kiss when a bee that was caught in her coat collar stings her. She goes into immediate shock.

She is taken by men in an ambulance, and when Mulder pushes them for the name of the hospital they’re taking her to, one of the “paramedics” shoots him. Luckily he was only grazed by the bullet. With the help of the trio of conspiracy enthusiasts known as The Lone Gunmen, he is able to escape the hospital. The Well-Manicured Man stops Mulder (after killing Kutrzweil) and offers Mulder the means to save Scully. He provides coordinates of her whereabouts, and a vaccine which must be administered within 96 hours, before killing his driver and blowing up his car, with himself inside.

Mulder heads to the coordinates, which are a remote base in Antarctica. Inside he finds hundreds of pods with infected individuals, each gestating an alien host. He frees Scully and injects her with the vaccine which contaminates the entire biosystem, forcing the aliens to escape. The Agents make it back to the surface as a giant flying saucer emerges from under the ice and flies away. After a partial recovery Scully is again before an inquiry board presenting evidence to back up her wild conspiracy theories. But even as she does, other evidence is shown being destroyed. Corn fields burned and bone fragments from the morgue “disappearing.” A cover story in the newspaper indicates a HantaVirus outbreak was responsible for deaths in North Texas. In Tunisia, the Cigarette-Smoking Man meets with Strughold at another cornfield in the desert to let him know the X-Files have been reopened.

“I’m the key figure in an ongoing government charade, a 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 and it reaches down into the lives of every man, woman, and child on this planet.” – Fox Mulder

History in the Making

Hot on the heels of the big screen adaptation of Lost in Space, The X-Files hit movie screens in the summer of 1998, smack in between seasons 5 and 6 of the television show. This was a big change for the way that TV shows usually made the jump to film. Of course, many older television series, like Lost in Space and Star Trek, and non-genre adaptations like The Brady Bunch and Starsky and Hutch, usually followed many years after their cancellations. Even with more recent series, like Star Trek: The Next Generation, film was seen as the “next step” after a successful run on television. The X-Files tried something else instead.

Created by Chris Carter, and serving as his breakout series, The X-Files was a huge hit on television. It was seen as something different when it premiered on FOX, just seven years after the channel was created, as it  filled a niche for a horror/sci-fi drama. Inspired by previous television series such as The Twilight Zone and Kolchak: The Night Stalker, the show combined police procedurals with monster-of-the-week storylines, as well as a larger conspiracy arc about aliens, shadow governments, cloning, and other strange goings-on. Its lead characters, Fox Mulder–a believer in the paranormal and aliens–and Dana Scully–a scientifically trained doctor focused on rational explanations–created a duo that worked great together to solve many of the mysteries on the show. As the series went on, the two became closer, eventually developing a romantic subplot. Mulder’s beliefs would influence Scully, and her rationalism would even rub off on him at times, making him question his penchant for being headstrong.

Besides the lead characters, which audiences really responded to as being realistic in the face of strange creatures and mysteries, the show created a plethora of fun and interesting secondary characters. Assistant Director Walter Skinner is the duo’s apparently always angry boss. His no-nonsense attitude always seems to put Mulder and Scully at risk of being reassigned. But viewers slowly realize that he is here to protect them and allow them to do their work, eventually becoming an ally of the X-Files. He is in contrast to a character only known as Cigarette-Smoking Man, or sometimes Cancer Man. This shadowy, unnamed character is often seen in the background of first season episodes, smoking, lurking and later involved in a shadow government conspiracy that goes deeper than Mulder, or anyone else, suspects. Finally a trio of conspiracy enthusiasts, collectively known as The Lone Gunmen (after urban legends regarding Lee Harvey Oswald), serve as comedic elements for the series, as well as stars of their own short-lived spin off series. Byers, Frohike, and Langly represented the extreme sub-culture of conspiracy theorists, often treading on stereotypes of fanboys and early internet denizens. Together, these characters help lead Mulder and Scully into uncharted territories and new mysteries.

Genre-fication

The X-Files as a franchise made its mark by taking on what has been termed as the Monster-of-the-Week format. Each episode, Mulder and Scully would be investigating another strange occurrence, which turns up in the FBIs X-Files casebook. Most of the time, these stories would be culled from urban legends and myths–such as chupacabras, a mothman, or the Jersey devil. Carter’s original premise for the show stemmed from inspiration by The Twilight Zone and Kolchak: The Night Stalker. While the former was a series of unrelated episodes, each dealing with strange occurrences often with twist O. Henry style endings, the latter may not be as well known by audiences. Carl Kolchak (portrayed by Darren McGavin) was a reporter that followed up on strange cases which often involved sci-fi or paranormal plots. His origins begin in 1972 with a television film called The Night Stalker, in which he is embroiled in an investigation of an apparent vampire in Las Vegas. Of course, no one believes him, yet his boss believes in him, and allows him to continue the case. The success of this telefilm led to 1973s The Night Strangler, and eventually one season (20 episodes) of his own show, Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

While Kolchak as both a character and a series inspired the basis for The X-Files, a series of other conspiracy films from the 70s and 80s would also fuel the subplots and machinations of the show. Hangar 18, which also starred McGavin, is about a cover-up of a UFO encounter with the space shuttle, and the men trying to uncover it. A number of 70s films, while not science-fiction related, deal with the cover-ups and conspiracies that a larger force is at work to control the planet. These include Capricorn One and Three Days of the Condor. Sci-fi films from the 80s began to show further government involvement to cover-up experiments gone awry, including The Blob and The Philadelphia Experiment. Much of this mistrust of government stems from political scandals originating with Watergate, proving to many that the government is often not working towards the public’s best interest.

Real-life urban legends were also showcased. Conspiracy theorists’ ideas that aliens have been visiting the Earth for centuries, or that the halls of the American government are cover for a group of men controlling history behind-the-scenes, were fodder for various underground ‘zines and message boards on the burgeoning internet of the 90s. And while there may be some theories based on actual events, such as the assassination of JFK, or the Apollo moon landings, most conspiracy theories involve complex notions of large groups working in concert to subvert the system for their own goals.

Societal Commentary

Conspiracy theories, once part of fringe element, often originate with proponents ascribing malicious (and conspiratorial) intent behind events that can also be seen as accidents, misinterpreted natural phenomena, or the confluence of bad decisions. Proponents of theories often link superfluous facts together with an emotional conviction to draw biased (or inconclusive) realizations. While films and television shows of the 70s, 80s, and 90s could portray elements of different theories as evidence of crazy people on the fringes of society, current theories take up a much larger space in society. The advent of the internet, and specifically social media, has led to the instantaneous sharing of many crackpot ideas about lizard aliens running the government, mass hoaxes, and the concerted efforts by those in power to control the political national agenda.

In reality, most conspiracy theories can be linked to prejudice, propaganda, and witch hunts. The proclamation that, for example, the Apollo moon landing was a hoax perpetrated by the government, NASA, and Hollywood might seem ridiculous to most. But conspiracy theorists often point to inconsequential details to “debunk” the reality, or use false-equivalence and emotional responses to attempt to explain the opposite. “That’s what they want you to think,” is a common phrase used by conspiracy theorists to explain away reality. They believe that there’s a reason the government wants the populace to believe in the moon landing, whether for financial or propaganda reasons. In reality, the truth is often much simpler. To use an example from the recently reviewed film Contact, utilize Occam’s Razor when thinking about these ideas. The idea behind Occam’s Razor is that between two theories, the simpler one is often the correct one. Did the United States land on the moon in 1969 after decades of hard work by hundreds of people? Or did a series of organizations create a ruse that dupes the American (and world) public into believing that men walked on the moon?

These ideas are presented to the audience of The X-Files, in both the show and the film. Mulder is often emotionally invested in believing these fringe theories. His history involves his sister being abducted by aliens when they were both very young. That belief drives him to expose the conspiracies he sees around him on a daily basis. He is paired with Scully, who is a rational scientist and medical expert that sees life for what it is. Often a random evolution of events based on decisions by hundreds of people, often without any political motivation. She tampers Mulder’s fervor, often citing equally plausible events to the contrary. The X-Files film does confirm some of Mulder’s long held beliefs: that aliens are real, that his sister was abducted, and that there are men in the shadows pulling the strings. Fans of the show will recognize the moment when Fox sees the UFO depart the ice field as an important moment in the evolution of his character, even if Scully is not conscious to see it as well.

The Science in The Fiction

As with many conspiracy theories, The X-Files tries to find a number of elements of truth to the strange goings on within the film. The film takes examples of conspiracy theories to create potentially plausible reasons for things that happen. The bombing of the FEMA building, based on the 1995 bombing of the FBI building in Oklahoma City, was used to cover up the deaths of individuals by alien infection. The fact that the bodies were located in a FEMA office, rather than a morgue or some other location, leads Kurtzweil to question the motivations of people in power. He tells Mulder (whether correct or incorrect) that FEMAs real power is “it can suspend constitutional government upon declaration of a national emergency.” His implication is that a small government agency, often overlooked in importance when compared to the CIA or FBI, is where the real power of the state lies.

Additionally, the shadowy Syndicate works with a man named Strughold, whose experiments involves genetically engineering corn crops (which he grows in various deserts around the world, presumably for secrecy) to carry an alien virus. Next to these crops he builds giant domed apiaries which help pollinate the crops, and in turn, allow the bees to carry the virus and infect humans when stung. A brilliant idea for certain, except bees do not pollinate corn. That service is taken on by the wind. But these filmic theories, and other familiar tropes of films may be the reasons why so many people believe things that are not real. For example, gas tanks do not explode when shot by bullets or crashed into, or smashing a bottle against someone’s head will–in most cases–will not break the bottle. Critical thinking has taken a back seat in modern times to the repetitive messages from media (both fictional and non-fictional) who purport realities that do not exist. Scientifically speaking, there are usually more obvious answers to questions, rather than resorting to convoluted ideas with more sinister overtones.

The Final Frontier

There is plenty in this film that lacks explanation. Who are the three weird guys in the hospital who help Mulder escape? Who is the strange Cigarette-Smoking Man? And who is he working for? Unfortunately a two-hour film built on the complicated mythology of a television series which has taken five years to build characters and storylines cannot hope to inform new viewers about all the various minutiae. As such it does an adequate job of creating a film by which a viewer with no previous association to the television show could watch, and still be entertained. It also might entice viewers to check out the series, if the subject matter of the film intrigues them enough. For fans of the show, it presented a culmination of elements and character moments from the previous five seasons, moving the overall story of the show in a new direction.

The TV series continued for another four seasons, ending after its ninth in 2002, with a second film, The X-Files: I Want To Believe, being released in 2008. That might have been the end for the franchise, but fan expectations were still out there, and in 2016 two more seasons of the show were created, bringing the total count to 11 seasons, 218 episodes and two films, plus an associated number of video games, books, and comics. The X-Files’ success, overall, captures an interesting time in America when exposure to “the secrets” of how the world works were becoming more easily available to people via the internet. Never before could you so readily find answers to some of the weirdest questions you could think of. Or find people with similar passions. The TV series, and the films, also hit upon the right mix of genres, blending horror, science-fiction, and detective fiction into enjoyable and thought provoking entertainment.

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