The X-Files

Production Locations: Vancouver (Canada), Los Angeles (United States of America)

Language: English

Runtime: 42 min.

Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery

Episodes: 218 in 11 Seasons

Special episodes about Remote Viewing: Episode 1 (total 140) in the 7th Season (The Sixth Extinction – Part 1)

Years: 1993-2002, 2016-Now

Original Release Date: 10th of September 1993 (USA) on FOX

Director: Kim Manners, Rob Bowman, David Nutter, Chris Carter, R.W. Goodwin, Tony Wharmby

Writer: Chris Carter

Music: Mark Snow

Production Company: Ten Thirteen Productions, 20th Century Fox Television

Cast:

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, Robert Patrick, Annabeth Gish, William B. Davis, Chris Owens, Tom Braidwood, Bruce Harwood, Dean Haglund, Nicholas Lea, James Pickens jr., Don S. Williams, Steven Williams, Jerry Hardin, Brian Thompson, Peter Donat, Dean Aylesworth, Rebecca Toolan, Shelley Adam, Laurie Holden, Chris Owens, John Neville, Mimi Rogers

Production:

Chris Carter, R. W. Goodwin, Howard Gordon, Frank Spotnitz, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, Kim Manners, Glen Morgan, James Wong, Michelle MacLaren, Michael W. Watkins, David Greenwalt

Storyline:

The X-Files follows the careers and personal lives of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). Mulder is a talented profiler and strong believer in the supernatural. He is also adamant about the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life and its presence on Earth. This set of beliefs earns him the nickname "Spooky Mulder" and an assignment to a little-known department that deals with unsolved cases, known as the X-Files. His belief in the paranormal springs from the claimed abduction of his sister Samantha Mulder by extraterrestrials when Mulder was 12. Her abduction drives Mulder throughout most of the series. Because of this, as well as more nebulous desires for vindication and the revelation of truths kept hidden by human authorities, Mulder struggles to maintain objectivity in his investigations.

Agent Scully is a foil for Mulder in this regard. As a medical doctor and natural skeptic, Scully approaches cases with complete detachment even when Mulder, despite his considerable training, loses his objectivity. She is partnered with Mulder initially so that she can debunk Mulder's nonconforming theories, often supplying logical, scientific explanations for the cases' apparently unexplainable phenomena. Although she is frequently able to offer scientific alternatives to Mulder's deductions, she is rarely able to refute them completely. Over the course of the series, she becomes increasingly dissatisfied with her own ability to approach the cases scientifically. After Mulder's abduction at the hands of aliens in the seventh season finale "Requiem", Scully becomes a "reluctant believer" who manages to explain the paranormal with science.

Various episodes also deal with the relationship between Mulder and Scully, originally platonic, but that later develops romantically. Mulder and Scully are joined by John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) late in the series, after Mulder is abducted. Doggett replaces him as Scully's partner and helps her search for him, later involving Reyes, of whom Doggett had professional knowledge. The X-Files ends when Mulder is secretly subjected to a military tribunal for breaking into a Top Secret military facility and viewing plans for alien invasion and colonization of Earth. He is found guilty, but he escapes punishment with the help of the other agents and he and Scully become fugitives.