xFile999

W: Gilligan D: Bole

Chaney and Dallas-Fort Worth, TX

Mulder and Scully have a lot to answer for after their investigation into the exsanguination of several cows (and one tourist) leads to the death of a teenager. At least until his body reanimates, that is.

Bad Blood starts with all the classic X-Files elements: a nighttime chase, victim screaming for help, a brutal murder with a stake through the heart. Except it's Mulder doing the staking, and the teeth are fake.

Welcome to a Gilligan vampire parody. This idea was rooted in an episode of the Dick Van Dyke Show where Rob and Laura Petrie (remember those names - there will be a quiz later) have an argument and each tells a neighbor their side of the story. I haven't seen the episode. I hope they kiss and make up.

Gilligan saw this as a unique method of telling a story while gaining insight on M&S and how they perceive one another. (And how they perceive they are being perceived they are being perceived...you get it.) Quite a bit has been written on it over the years for any writers or psychologists that might be interested. I'll just say their insecurities and dysfunctional communication are highlighted by the hyperbole.

Some criticize the passive-aggression between the partners and Mulder's lack of remorse over Ronnie's (un)death. But most, including GA, love this episode. She chose it to show her younger kids so they could see her in TXF. It turns out that it gave them nightmares. (But I'm sure it could have been worse...) WatchMojo's Top X-Files Episodes in 2024 had Bad Blood at #8.

Luke Wilson, the youngest of the three Wilson brothers -- all working in Hollywood, was in the movie Home Fries (1998) around the same time, the script also written by Gilligan. Incidentally, the coroner, Brent Butt, was then a local Vancouverite who goes on to considerable renown on the small screen north of the border.

I love the exaggerated enthusiasm of Mulder with his endless parade of exsanguinated cow slides, inexhaustive list of vampiric traits, and energetic containment of Ronnie in his coffin. (That's close enough to mechanical bullriding that I'm checking it off his Things To Do in Texas wishlist.) The crew cut one wall off of Ronnie's RV to be able to maneuver the cameras before they remembered it was a rental. Oh shi...!

I wish DD had some real boots and a western shirt for the RV standoff with Sheriff Hartwell. (But then I think of that gag reel of DD laughing over the Sheriff's name and can't take them seriously.) That's not to mention the irony of going on a 'stake-out' with a vampire in the first place. Groan.

I have a hard time taking the glowing green vampire eyes seriously, too. They put fluorescent stickers on their eyelids to create the effect, and sometimes, they look...wonky. Also, for those not paying attention, none of the Chaney vamps have fangs. I guess that's not part of their 'thing', just an affectation by Ronnie. (I can't blame him.)

No wonder GA likes this episode! She gets to do a little bit of everything. In addition to 'typical Scully', she is cranky, whiney, unenthusiastic, distracted, smitten, flirtatious, a smartypants, a pathologist, a provider, a sharpshooter, solves the case, and (arguably) is appointed Sheriff of Chaney, TX (population: 2).

MSR: Scully is gorgeous in the field and sharp and sleek in the office. Holy hell, Mulder! He does give her time with the Sheriff, but only before and after harping on his flaw(s?) endlessly. Sure, he wants her to be happy, and he knows he will never measure up, but he can't actually want her to be with anyone else. (I love that his headcanon of whiney Scully 'does it all for you, Mulder!' because part of him really does think that, but not in a good way.)

P.S. Mulder is really making himself at home in Scully's room. This is beyond a cheese tray. He's comfortable. This has been happening. Maybe nothing has changed in their relationship, but he has invaded her personal space just as fully as he does in conversation. Hoo boy!

P.P.S. Scully at the cemetery (pic 9) with her rain-frazzled hair reminds me of PilotScully! She's so cute and happy! And I adore the boot mug the Sheriff gives her to drink out of and drug her (which isn't right, but the mug is fab. I hope she has it as a souvenir to go along with the badge).

Fanfic: So, I recently got back from a trip of my own...to Texas of all places. The X-Files serendipity continues. Alas, I did not meet up with any law enforcement or vampires. (No boot mug, no badge.) As it was, it did give me extra time to read.

"Impossile Delilah" by Aloysia_Virgata (yes, the title is misspelled in AO3)

"Things That Can Wait" by Baroness_Blixen

"Detoured: Bad Blood" by lots_of_oranges_ outside

"Bad Blood" by Only the Inevitable Chapter 110 of "All Eyes Lead to the Truth"

"Magic Fingers and Sunflowers" by ATTHS_TWICE *post-episode S9 E19-20 (newbies may want to hold off until they have watched the entire original run)

"Oxytocin and Dopamine" by clokkerfoot

I saw this on fb and stole it only to share with this community. Idk anything more about the details, but hate seeing another loss, even if txf was only a small part of his repertoire.

Tagged by @mamuscript -- Thanks! I'll give it a whirl.

Last film you watched in the cinema?

Sing Sing during a film festival. Otherwise I'm pretty content watching at home these days.

Film that always makes you cry?

Schindler's List

Film you know every single word to?

FTF (duh), possibly the LOTR movies, but it's been a while

Favorite 2000s teen movie?

I was a teen in the 80s, which equals John Hughes. Take your pick. For 2000 sticklers, I'll take High Fidelity.

Most embarrassing "guilty pleasure" film?

I loved the Romancing the Stone and the Jewel of the Nile movies. I'm sure they would be uber-cheesy today.

Film that changed your life?

Little Miss Sunshine

Favourite movie snack?

Peanut M&M's mixed in with the popcorn so the chocolate gets all melty.

Your go-to movie quote?

"What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the hula?" Timon, The Lion King

The most overrated film ever?

Wicked

Favourite director?

Lately I've been on a Guillermo del Toro kick. The colors and textures in his palettes. The aging of his sets. The lighting. I finally saw The Shape of Water and it's so well defined. The tiles in the lab, the windows in the apartments, it's all greens and damp and echo-y and lush. I watched that movie with all of my senses. Fabulous.

The first movie you remember seeing in theatres?

The Jungle Book

Horror, comedy, or romance?

Given a choice, I'll take suspense/drama. Sci-fi/Horror if it's done well.

The ultimate "Top 10" favorite movies of all time?

This is hard. No particular order.

Fight the Future

Little Miss Sunshine

In the Name of the Father

The Lion King

LOTR trilogy (I have a fondness for Fellowship in Particular)

Silence of the Lambs

Guardians of the Galaxy

Schindler's List

The Princess Bride

Mystic River

xxxxx

And now it's your turn! Apologies in advance if I tag anyone who has already gotten this.

W: William Gibson & Tom Maddox D: Bowman

Washington, DC; Fairfax County, VA; North Platte, NE

Mulder and Scully follow the backtrail of Donald Gelman after his death in a mass shootout. Gelman, a computing pioneer, had created and unleashed a sentient AI on the internet.

William Gibson and Tom Maddox, friends and cyberpunk science fiction writers, were interested in writing an X-Files episode. It was an exercise in patience, taking more than a year to come to fruition, largely due to the busy schedules of CC and Spotnitz, needed for the rewrite to script.

Once things were underway, Kill Switch still took 22 days to film (as opposed to the average eight). It became the most expensive episode from the original run to be filmed in Vancouver. Rob Bowman made a quip about the difference in budget for creating effects in a novel versus on film. They must have done something right, though. Gibson and Maddox are back with another episode in Season 7. This is the second of three times M&S face off against malicious AI. (The first was Ghost in the Machine in S1, and the third is in Season 11.)

This is one of my favorite Scully episodes. She is annoyed from the start by being called out in the middle of the night to what appears to be a non-X-File by a cryptic Mulder (although they arguably arrived together...). "Mulder, that's evidence."/"I hope so." Her disdain for Esther is immediate and gives her great lines. "Were you the bass player?" (Which is maybe a reasonable question considering that Esther has been hiding out in a shipping container and wants to rid herself of her physical form, so what IS the deal with the Skeletor makeup? Right. Invisigoth.)

Scully and Esther are pretty evenly matched. Both are smart and capable, and ultimately, both manage to handcuff and escape from the other. And it appears that some(one?) is actually out to get her. "Right. Death from above." It's only once Scully sees Esther's grief for David that they are able to work together for their men.

Kill Switch is high tech, a perfect fit for the Gunmen, who obviously worship Invisigoth. Mulder has the good sense to refrain from drooling in front of Scully. His AI nurses give him additional distractions. Nurse Nancy is a reference to the XXX movie of the same name (1991), made famous by Paul Reubens (aka Peewee Herman), who he was arrested while at a show.

MSR: Scully shows up to save him even in Mulder's AI fantasies. 3D-CGIScully was commissioned from a freelance computer artist and who rendered her nude. (I suppose they should have specified.) For her part, GA was pleased with the scene. "I happened to be in good shape at the time and was just raring to get in there and be taking those half-naked nurses out with some karate chops." Mulder was directed to be impressed by her, but DD complained, "I've lost my arms. Why would I care about Scully's karate?" Because it's Scully, and she is saving you.

Okay, so KarateScully wasn't saving him, but SharpshooterScully was saving him at the same time. Which is doubly impressive.

Fanfic:

"166 Words: Consequences" by Devin

"Human Behaviors" by poppycurls

"Cling to me" by Baroness_Blixen

W: Stephen King

Stephen King is among my favorite authors. But when I learned that he was writing an episode of TXF, I wasn't especially excited. He has written about fear, and that which scares us the most is generally unseen, unknown, limited only by our imaginations. The more we define it, the less power it has over us. Typically, that does not translate well to the screen, particularly given the limits of special effects at the time.

My expectations for Chinga were not all that high, and they were satisfied. It's fine for what it is. I hate the Hokey Pokey song, and the doll feels redundant by the end, but the msr is amusing. I knew CC was credited as a co-writer, focused on writing Mulder and Scully, but not much more than that.

So I was surprised on my rewatch. I read, as usual, the most recent version of the script on Boggsfiles.com. Then I started reading through X-Files Wiki, etc. for tidbits and came across a quote from Kim Manners that started me down a...tangent. "I was very excited to be able to direct a Stephen King piece, and when it was all said and done, there was very little Stephen King left in it. The nuts and bolts were his, but that was really one of Chris' scripts."

Color me intrigued. I wanted to know what was changed or cut. So, I went back to Boggsfiles. There are three scripts under Chinga. The most recent I had read and it was close to what aired. From what I can tell, the second is the Stephen King version of what aired (before the CC edits). I've referred to it in my regular episode blog.

Then there is Draft Zero, entitled 'Molly'. I found some old remarks on Reddit about this one being 'more like Firestarter than Chucky' and 'CC wanting something creepier.' I can't speak to any of that. But I read it. And it's pretty cool.

If you're interested, I encourage you to read it, but I've attempted a synopsis.

xxxxx

Scully heads to Maine on vacation to visit her college roommate. The 'incident' in the grocery store is similar but a quirkier 'dancing sickness' that even Scully succumbs to (until she knocks herself out). The vision in the freezer is different, too.

Mulder flies up to join her on the investigation. He wants better footage of the image in the freezer.

.....

Time to go talk to the Turners. They confirm a secondary 'presence', Molly. She is not sweet like her sister and gives them a demonstration. Also, there are other operatives observing the Turner house. They are making plans to kidnap Polly.

Scully goes to Jane's house and finds a note referencing the Whiting Institute, home for the Adams and the Eves. So we start getting an idea of who might be interested in this autistic little girl.

.....

Mulder conceives of an elaborate strategy to lure the goons into chasing them. They pull off a switcheroo, giving Molly to the MIB while Melissa and Polly escape and go underground.

Molly ends up in Whiting Institute but can't survive for long without Polly. And poof! She disappears.

.....

xxxxx

Could this invisible 'extrusion' have been pulled off effectively? Who knows. But I love that SK is bringing the Litchfield Experiments and Whiting Institute back from Season 1. I like the idea that Polly's autism makes her mind work differently enough to create that twin duality. And you know I like M&S walking on the beach at sunset, getting mistaken for honeymooners. The absolute best part?

No Hokey Pokey.

W: CC & Stephen King D: Manners

Ammas Beach and Schoodic Lake, ME

When Scully heads to Maine 'to get out of [her] head for a few days,' she becomes embroiled in an investigation that requires her to rely on her paranormal instincts.

Back in S3, DD appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy with (and lost to) Stephen King. King, already a fan of the show, expressed an interest in writing an episode. CC initially offered him a Millennium ep instead, then rejected a script (looking for something creepier), and then rewrote much of what viewers see in Chinga -- to the extent that CC is given 'co-writer' credit.

The bizarre part? The two never spoke. According to King, "...it was really very odd, a very odd experience...I got re-written pretty exhaustively." CC claims that the revisions were largely due to the out-of- character depiction of the MSR, of which we know he was highly protective. Out of character? Or just shippy? (Could anyone else have written Mulder's, "Marry me," line and gotten away with it?)

@dunhamhairograpy has posted excellent excerpts from SK's version of the script. I'll hunt them down and reblog a few. I leave it to you to decide individually. But this feels like a missed opportunity from the King of Horror.

MSR: So, the first thing CC did was separate our duo, which actually becomes the most endearing part of the existing episode. We see how empty Mulder's life is with the X-Files, but without Scully. A major shift that's happened to him over the years.

And similarly for Scully. Eager for downtime, taking bubble baths, reading 'Affirmations for Women Who Do Too Much,' cajoling a dinner out with Chief Bonsaint are her attempts at what she thinks she wants (again). To her chagrin, she is pulled into examining crime scenes, rattling off signs of witchcraft or sorcery, and solving an X-File single-handedly. (While also getting a proposal and definite jealousy/pining vibes from that partner of hers, who is crazy.) She's picked up a few things from him along the way. The truth is she could have disengaged at any time on this case, just as with the X-Files. She chooses the challenge, work, puzzle, paranormal, X-File, and Mulder time and again. There must be a reason for it after all.

Fanfic:

"Eight" by lots_of_oranges_outside

"Detoured: Chinga" by lots_of_oranges_ outside

"Maine" by EndlessConfusion

I caved. I needed to replace my 'personal massager' because it had lost its mojo. I use it on my neck (for real), and it helps with my migraines. I didn't want to pay shipping, so I 'treated myself' like any good phile would and finally brought Scully home. I'm certain this combination of purchases puts me on a (government?) list of deviants and will throw my algorithm into the Season One Mulder era, but I'm standing right here. Owning it.

W: Jessica Scott & Mike Wolleager D: Ralph Hemecker

Coats Grove, MI

Mulder and Scully investigate the death of a man who was suffocated in mud, seemingly by his stepson in retaliation for abuse. But when another father also dies under unusual circumstances, Mulder suspects a deeper-rooted cause.

The Killer Tree Episode. Schizogeny means... something about plant cells. Jessica Scott and Mike Wolleager are new writers to TXF, and this is their only episode, which required many rewrites. Director Ralph Hemecker does slightly better by going on to direct three episodes of Millennium.

Schizogeny has a lot. Lisa Baiocchi is portrayed by Katherine Isabelle, daughter of production designer Graeme Murray. DD gets censored from saying 'Dickweed' to 'Dorkweed.' Two tracks off of Songs in the Key of X appear in one episode. But most notable is Scully's line about Coats Grove getting "400 inches of rain a day." It is a reference to DD's comment on Conan O'Brien regarding Vancouver and the move to LA. (Sound familiar? @randomfoggytiger has recently posted a series on this. Check it out.)

The tangled root system of a plot doesn't help. What could be an empowering message about abuse gets ensnared in the orchard blight and the therapist's own split personality (caused by her own abuse). Meanwhile, corpses are missing from coffins, and an unidentified man keeps popping up with an axe. (Ramirez is actually my favorite part. Fearless-Scully backing as far as possible away from him and then stretching to hand him the evidence bag amuses me so much.)

MSR: M&S have their moments in this one. The look M gives her for her stomach- vacuum theory and her resulting smirk are cute. It's a shame Ramirez shows up when he does because S was enjoying M's display of boyish agility. And with that opening scale of mud, they both know it's only a matter of time before M is covered in it. Sometimes, partners can be hard to love, too.

Fanfic: Obviously

"Muddy Mulder" by Katy_KT_Katie

is low-hanging fruit. But honestly, it's just about the only fruit out there. Blame it on the blight. Thanks for reading!