In June of 1998, I graduated high school. Throughout those four years of teenage angst, I enjoyed two subjects more than the others. On one hand, I loved making art to a point that I managed to schedule my senior year with three periods spent in the art room. On the other, I loved science classes, astronomy and biology in particular. I think the reason I veered toward those science classes was, in large part, because of The X-Files.
The Geena Davis Institute did a study on the cultural implications of The X-Files in 2018 on how Agent Scully’s background in biology and medicine and her work in the FBI – all male dominated fields – effected young women choosing careers in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). This was called The Scully Effect and while I plan on discussing this in a larger capacity when I get to the new seasons released in 2016, I’m touching on it now for how it impacted me in high school. The study found that women and girls who watched the show regularly were 50% more likely to choose a STEM field, or at least think about choosing one. I certainly did. While I eventually chose an art career, I came very close to going into microbiology or zoology during my senior year of high school. As an adult, I’m still drawn to fields in science and I have Agent Scully bringing her scientific background to her work on the X-Files to thank for that.
I know you’re wondering why I’m bringing this up. Well, the answer is that I could not wait to move off to college at the end of the summer in 1998. The X-Files movie happened to be released on June 19, 1998 and gave me something to think about other than the two month wait until I moved to the big city (Minneapolis where I still live today). The local theater in my tiny farming community of a town only had two decidedly small screens and one of them was dedicated to the movie I wanted – no, needed – to see. The X-Files had been burned out of existence at the end of season five and I needed to know how they were going to fix this for season six.
Because it was a feature length film, it was allowed to have a much larger budget than the standard X-Files episode which meant they could hire additional acting talent that included Martin Landau, Blythe Danner, Jeffrey DeMunn, and Terry O’Quinn. Sci-fi nerds know that O’Quinn would go on to star in Lost and Jeffrey DeMunn in, among other things, multiple Frank Darabont projects including the first adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist and the first two seasons of The Walking Dead, both with X-Files alum Laurie Holden. Those projects, Lost especially, existed because shows like The X-Files had become so popular in the mainstream. But more on that later.
The X-Files movie, with the tagline Fight the Future, was directed by series regular Rob Bowman and was filmed in the summer of 1997 but was not released until a year later in 1998 after the end of season five. It picks up some of the loose ends from previous seasons, like the alien virus carrying bees we’ve seen multiple times throughout the show, and the film gives us clues as to how long the virus has been around.
It starts with a couple of cavemen during the last Ice Age around 35,000 B.C. who encounter extraterrestrial lifeform. One caveman dies whilst the other is infected with the black oil virus that keeps popping up in the show. Fast forward to what is now 1998 North Texas where a boy falls into a hole where these cavemen died. He is also infected with the black oil. Soon, the area is crawling with firefighters and a team of men wearing hazmat suits. Firefighters who enter the underground cave end up dead. The men in hazmat suits extricate the bodies and remove them from the area.
Meahwhile, Mulder and Scully investigate a bomb threat in Dallas. Neither seem too happy with their new assignments now that the X-files are closed. Mulder goes into a break room to buy a soda from a vending machine only to find that it’s not a vending machine. It’s the bomb they are looking for, just in the wrong building. Mulder finds the lock on the breakroom door locked and must call Scully who gets an evacuation going. Agent Darius Michaud (O’Quinn) stays behind to disarm it but has no intention to disarm. He’s there to make sure it goes off.
It’s discovered that a boy and several firefighters were still in the building when it blew. After Mulder and Scully are pulled before a review board supervised by A.D. Jana Cassidy (Blythe Danner) and are blamed for the deaths, Mulder is confronted by Alvin Kurtzweil (Landau) who informs him that the bombing victims had actually died in North Texas and were placed in the building with the bomb so their deaths would look like an accident. Scully visits the bodies in the morgue and finds evidence of the black oil alien virus.
The Cigarette Smoking man arrives in North Texas to inform Dr. Bronschweig (DeMunn) to administer the vaccine to the last remaining firefighter and burn him if it fails. Instead, the alien growing inside the firefighter gestates and escapes the body, killing Bronschweig when he tries to capture it. By the time Mulder and Scully arrive, the hole has been covered and there is a playground in its place. The friends of the boy who died send Mulder and Scully in the direction of where the men in hazmat suits went. They encounter a train that leads them to a cornfield surrounding domed buildings containing hidden bee hives. A swarm chases them outside and they escape.
With no proof that the bodies didn’t die in the bombing, Scully is transfered to another department. When she arrives at Mulder’s apartment to tell him she plans to resign, she is stung by a bee that had hidden itself in her shirt collar. Mulder calls an ambulance and is shot by the driver who takes Scully away. Mulder wakes in the hospital and is secretly escorted out by the Lone Gunmen and A.D. Skinner. A member of the Syndicate, the Well Manicured Man, picks up Mulder and gives him Scully’s location while they are driving in his car as well as a vaccine for the virus that infected her. After Mulder leaves, this man kills his driver and then allows himself to die in a car bomb explosion so the Syndicate cannot discover his betrayal.
Mulder goes to Antarctica and finds the location of what turns out to be an alien ship buried deep in the show. He finds Scully in a hibernation pod filled with green liquid and gives her the vaccine while she is still hooked to the pod. Scully wakes, but the virus spreads to the adjacent pods and the aliens aboard the ship give case to Mulder as he takes Scully with him. They escape the ship right before it emerges from the snow. Mulder watches it leave as Scully comes to.
At a final hearing with A.D. Skinner and A.D. Cassidy, the agents learn that all evidence from Texas has been destroyed. Scully hands over a vial containing the carcass of the bee that stung her as the only remaining evidence, and states there isn’t currently a division of the FBI that can investigate the case since the X-files were closed. Cassidy and Skinner exchange a knowing look, a hint that the X-files will be reopened.
This film makes it obvious that with more time to flush out the story, Chris Carter can write scripts that are far less convoluted than some of the mythology episodes that run throughout the series. Mulder and Scully’s investigation puts them both in mortal danger, but that doesn’t stop them from investigating. Their tenacity is the reason the Syndicate views them as such a problem. Good for mankind as the agents try to thwart the colonization plans but bad for our protagonists who, yet again, find themselves encountering alien lifeforms. The scene of the alien ship leaving Antarctica from where it was buried in the show is reminiscent of John Carpenter’s The Thing, a point of inspiration that the show used before.
This film was surrounded by secrecy. Carter named it “Project Blackwood” to keep people from knowing what he was working on, but the firetrucks used in the North Texas scenes had “Blackwood County” written on them so fans put two and two together. Carter also had the script printed on red paper to make copying it difficult.
The cultural impact of the series at the time was evident when the film premiered at number one at the box office over Disney’s Mulan and The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, and Laura Linney. Carter’s intention with the movie was to not only make a movie for fans but to also give the series broader appeal by bringing in new viewers. This wasn’t the first time, either. In January of 1997 when the show was airing its fourth season, The X-Files did a crossover with The Simpsons, turning Mulder and Scully into cartoon characters to investigate an alien encounter reported by Homer. While the alien in question turned out to be a drugged and radioactive Mr. Burns, it didn’t stop the hilarious parody The Simpsons made of The X-Files and how great Gillian Anderson, David Duchovy, and Leonard Nimoy were as guest voices on the show.
The film and the series were so successful during that time that networks rushed to find other shows that might fit in with the genre. James Cameron’s Dark Angel, the unfortunately short-lived Firefly, Lost, 24, and Fringe all enjoyed bigger budgets for network television after The X-Files proved its popularity. After the success of Lost after its first season, networks tried to cash in further with Invasion and Surface, though neither gained the traction needed to stay past one season.
In 2013, the surprisingly gory and stylized Hannibal premiered on NBC. The series based on Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter novels ran for three seasons and never really earned the fan base it deserved. Mads Mikkelsen takes the reigns of Hannibal Lecter and Hugh Dancy plays criminal profiler Will Graham. Laurence Fishburne is memorable as Agent Jack Crawford and X-Files alum Gillian Anderson is Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier, Lecter’s therapist and later, his lover. The serial killer cases explored on this show are reminiscent of both The X-Files and Millenium while staying in line with Harris’ novels. The gorier and scarier aspects of The X-Files, especially during the monster of the week episodes, served as inspiration for many.
As for me, I’ve always wondered where I would have ended up if I had gone into a scientific field. I don’t regret choosing art and design as a career because I’m a creative person to my core, but I do sometimes obsess over botany or astronomy when the mood strikes. And I firmly believe aliens are out there. I still have Mulder’s I Want To Believe poster hanging in my office.
I’m starting season six of The X-Files next week. Some of my favorite episodes reside in this season as well as some of the episodes that lead up to the Lone Gunmen getting their own spinoff that aired during season seven of this show.
Until next week, the truth is out there.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Becky Tyler Art and Photography 
In June of 1998, I graduated high school. Throughout those four years of teenage angst, I enjoyed two subjects more than the others. On one hand, I loved making art to a point that I managed to schedule my senior year with three periods spent in the art room. On the other, I loved science classes, astronomy and biology in particular. I think the reason I veered toward those science classes was, in large part, because of The X-Files.
The Geena Davis Institute did a study on the cultural implications of The X-Files in 2018 on how Agent Scully’s background in biology and medicine and her work in the FBI – all male dominated fields – effected young women choosing careers in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). This was called The Scully Effect and while I plan on discussing this in a larger capacity when I get to the new seasons released in 2016, I’m touching on it now for how it impacted me in high school. The study found that women and girls who watched the show regularly were 50% more likely to choose a STEM field, or at least think about choosing one. I certainly did. While I eventually chose an art career, I came very close to going into microbiology or zoology during my senior year of high school. As an adult, I’m still drawn to fields in science and I have Agent Scully bringing her scientific background to her work on the X-Files to thank for that.
I know you’re wondering why I’m bringing this up. Well, the answer is that I could not wait to move off to college at the end of the summer in 1998. The X-Files movie happened to be released on June 19, 1998 and gave me something to think about other than the two month wait until I moved to the big city (Minneapolis where I still live today). The local theater in my tiny farming community of a town only had two decidedly small screens and one of them was dedicated to the movie I wanted – no, needed – to see. The X-Files had been burned out of existence at the end of season five and I needed to know how they were going to fix this for season six.
Because it was a feature length film, it was allowed to have a much larger budget than the standard X-Files episode which meant they could hire additional acting talent that included Martin Landau, Blythe Danner, Jeffrey DeMunn, and Terry O’Quinn. Sci-fi nerds know that O’Quinn would go on to star in Lost and Jeffrey DeMunn in, among other things, multiple Frank Darabont projects including the first adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist and the first two seasons of The Walking Dead, both with X-Files alum Laurie Holden. Those projects, Lost especially, existed because shows like The X-Files had become so popular in the mainstream. But more on that later.
The X-Files movie, with the tagline Fight the Future, was directed by series regular Rob Bowman and was filmed in the summer of 1997 but was not released until a year later in 1998 after the end of season five. It picks up some of the loose ends from previous seasons, like the alien virus carrying bees we’ve seen multiple times throughout the show, and the film gives us clues as to how long the virus has been around.
It starts with a couple of cavemen during the last Ice Age around 35,000 B.C. who encounter extraterrestrial lifeform. One caveman dies whilst the other is infected with the black oil virus that keeps popping up in the show. Fast forward to what is now 1998 North Texas where a boy falls into a hole where these cavemen died. He is also infected with the black oil. Soon, the area is crawling with firefighters and a team of men wearing hazmat suits. Firefighters who enter the underground cave end up dead. The men in hazmat suits extricate the bodies and remove them from the area.
Meahwhile, Mulder and Scully investigate a bomb threat in Dallas. Neither seem too happy with their new assignments now that the X-files are closed. Mulder goes into a break room to buy a soda from a vending machine only to find that it’s not a vending machine. It’s the bomb they are looking for, just in the wrong building. Mulder finds the lock on the breakroom door locked and must call Scully who gets an evacuation going. Agent Darius Michaud (O’Quinn) stays behind to disarm it but has no intention to disarm. He’s there to make sure it goes off.
It’s discovered that a boy and several firefighters were still in the building when it blew. After Mulder and Scully are pulled before a review board supervised by A.D. Jana Cassidy (Blythe Danner) and are blamed for the deaths, Mulder is confronted by Alvin Kurtzweil (Landau) who informs him that the bombing victims had actually died in North Texas and were placed in the building with the bomb so their deaths would look like an accident. Scully visits the bodies in the morgue and finds evidence of the black oil alien virus.
The Cigarette Smoking man arrives in North Texas to inform Dr. Bronschweig (DeMunn) to administer the vaccine to the last remaining firefighter and burn him if it fails. Instead, the alien growing inside the firefighter gestates and escapes the body, killing Bronschweig when he tries to capture it. By the time Mulder and Scully arrive, the hole has been covered and there is a playground in its place. The friends of the boy who died send Mulder and Scully in the direction of where the men in hazmat suits went. They encounter a train that leads them to a cornfield surrounding domed buildings containing hidden bee hives. A swarm chases them outside and they escape.
With no proof that the bodies didn’t die in the bombing, Scully is transfered to another department. When she arrives at Mulder’s apartment to tell him she plans to resign, she is stung by a bee that had hidden itself in her shirt collar. Mulder calls an ambulance and is shot by the driver who takes Scully away. Mulder wakes in the hospital and is secretly escorted out by the Lone Gunmen and A.D. Skinner. A member of the Syndicate, the Well Manicured Man, picks up Mulder and gives him Scully’s location while they are driving in his car as well as a vaccine for the virus that infected her. After Mulder leaves, this man kills his driver and then allows himself to die in a car bomb explosion so the Syndicate cannot discover his betrayal.
Mulder goes to Antarctica and finds the location of what turns out to be an alien ship buried deep in the show. He finds Scully in a hibernation pod filled with green liquid and gives her the vaccine while she is still hooked to the pod. Scully wakes, but the virus spreads to the adjacent pods and the aliens aboard the ship give case to Mulder as he takes Scully with him. They escape the ship right before it emerges from the snow. Mulder watches it leave as Scully comes to.
At a final hearing with A.D. Skinner and A.D. Cassidy, the agents learn that all evidence from Texas has been destroyed. Scully hands over a vial containing the carcass of the bee that stung her as the only remaining evidence, and states there isn’t currently a division of the FBI that can investigate the case since the X-files were closed. Cassidy and Skinner exchange a knowing look, a hint that the X-files will be reopened.
This film makes it obvious that with more time to flush out the story, Chris Carter can write scripts that are far less convoluted than some of the mythology episodes that run throughout the series. Mulder and Scully’s investigation puts them both in mortal danger, but that doesn’t stop them from investigating. Their tenacity is the reason the Syndicate views them as such a problem. Good for mankind as the agents try to thwart the colonization plans but bad for our protagonists who, yet again, find themselves encountering alien lifeforms. The scene of the alien ship leaving Antarctica from where it was buried in the show is reminiscent of John Carpenter’s The Thing, a point of inspiration that the show used before.
This film was surrounded by secrecy. Carter named it “Project Blackwood” to keep people from knowing what he was working on, but the firetrucks used in the North Texas scenes had “Blackwood County” written on them so fans put two and two together. Carter also had the script printed on red paper to make copying it difficult.
The cultural impact of the series at the time was evident when the film premiered at number one at the box office over Disney’s Mulan and The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, and Laura Linney. Carter’s intention with the movie was to not only make a movie for fans but to also give the series broader appeal by bringing in new viewers. This wasn’t the first time, either. In January of 1997 when the show was airing its fourth season, The X-Files did a crossover with The Simpsons, turning Mulder and Scully into cartoon characters to investigate an alien encounter reported by Homer. While the alien in question turned out to be a drugged and radioactive Mr. Burns, it didn’t stop the hilarious parody The Simpsons made of The X-Files and how great Gillian Anderson, David Duchovy, and Leonard Nimoy were as guest voices on the show.
The film and the series were so successful during that time that networks rushed to find other shows that might fit in with the genre. James Cameron’s Dark Angel, the unfortunately short-lived Firefly, Lost, 24, and Fringe all enjoyed bigger budgets for network television after The X-Files proved its popularity. After the success of Lost after its first season, networks tried to cash in further with Invasion and Surface, though neither gained the traction needed to stay past one season.
In 2013, the surprisingly gory and stylized Hannibal premiered on NBC. The series based on Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter novels ran for three seasons and never really earned the fan base it deserved. Mads Mikkelsen takes the reigns of Hannibal Lecter and Hugh Dancy plays criminal profiler Will Graham. Laurence Fishburne is memorable as Agent Jack Crawford and X-Files alum Gillian Anderson is Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier, Lecter’s therapist and later, his lover. The serial killer cases explored on this show are reminiscent of both The X-Files and Millenium while staying in line with Harris’ novels. The gorier and scarier aspects of The X-Files, especially during the monster of the week episodes, served as inspiration for many.
As for me, I’ve always wondered where I would have ended up if I had gone into a scientific field. I don’t regret choosing art and design as a career because I’m a creative person to my core, but I do sometimes obsess over botany or astronomy when the mood strikes. And I firmly believe aliens are out there. I still have Mulder’s I Want To Believe poster hanging in my office.
I’m starting season six of The X-Files next week. Some of my favorite episodes reside in this season as well as some of the episodes that lead up to the Lone Gunmen getting their own spinoff that aired during season seven of this show.
Until next week, the truth is out there.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
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