Pilot

Created by Chris Carter, The X-Files ran from 1993 until 2002.  There were 9 seasons, 202 episodes, 2 movies (just read that they are talking about a 3rd movie!!!!!), and inspired the spin-off The Lone Gunmen and numerous comic books.

The Pilot episode of the X-Files aired, Friday September 10, 1993.  It starred Gillian Anderson (virtually an unknown at the time) and David Duchovny (who had just completed his role on Twin Peaks and was starring in a show called The Red Shoe Diaries, could this have been the precursor for Mulder's porn addiction??)  As with most pilots, the infamous theme song was nowhere to be found, but Mark Snow was already hard at work creating it.

The episode starts with a dead girl in the woods, then cuts to a room of older men (wow, I had forgotten that the Cigarette Smoking man was actually in this episode), and introduces FBI agent, Dana Scully, (Is it just me or did she look like she was auditioning for the role of Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs?  Only 2 years late, and what was up with her clothes?  Her jacket looks like she had lost about 200 lbs and hadn't bought new clothes yet...) a skeptical, medical examiner being assigned to work with Fox "Spooky" Mulder (who we learn earned the nickname Spooky because of his paranormal beliefs) in order to debunk his pet project, the X-Files.  Mulder's snark is first experienced through a closed door.  "Sorry nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted."  (Yep, I'm in love!)

Their first case is to travel to Oregon to investigate the aforementioned dead girl and a couple of other previous murders that were of a suspicious nature.  Once in Oregon, we get the first hint of supernatural forces when we experience a cheesy green flash, the car loosing power, and the loss of 9 minutes.  We also get the first shots of Mulder eating his ever present sunflower seeds.  The teams discover that the dead girl had some sort of metal implant up her nose, and had 2 spots on her lower hip. ("mysterious puncture wounds", which Mulder explains has happened multiple times, and that's how he knew it was possibly an alien abduction) They exhume another body who's death was similar, only to find that it wasn't a human body.  ALIEN? No, Scully likens it to an orangutang.  Hmmm, I smell conspiracy...  It is shortly after this discovery that we are introduced to a couple of characters that will eventually show back up in the X-Files universe:  Theresa Newman, the town's medical examiner's daughter (Sarah Koskoff comes back 2 more times in the show) and Billy Miles, the sheriff's son, a "veggie"  in a coma (Zachary Ansley has a total of 5 appearances as Miles) 

Being threatened in the woods by the sherriff, strange dirt, a mosquito/implant scare, another loss of time, and a power outage (I'm always fascinated with motel/hotels in TV shows, Supernatural has the BEST, but in this episode both Scully and Mulder end up with candles after the power goes out, where did they come from?  What motel supplies candles?) leads to a nice interaction between Mulder and Scully where we learn the reasons behind Mulder's obsession with aliens; Dr. Heitz Werber (Jim Jensen, squee...showing my uber-geekiness, he's Rev. Archie Skinner on Gilmore Girls. And will make another 2 appearances in the series) has helped Mulder remember that his sister, Samantha was "abducted" when he was a child. (I know that we have several Samantha centric episodes, but did we ever learn what really happened to her?)  There is a call from Theresa, who is scared that she's next after Peggy O'Dell, a paraplegic who was with Billy at the hospital,  is found dead in the street. (She had walked out of the woods) Now back to the motel, which is on fire, and the loss of all of their research...  This leads the team to believe that Billy is somehow behind the deaths, SPOILER, he kinda is.  Showing my twisted-ness, one of the best lines in the episode comes when they are back at the hospital, investigating Billy, and Mulder asks the nurse if she noticed Billy was gone the night before.  Her response was that it wasn't her ward, "not my aisle of the produce section" soon after, Scully finds more of the mysterious dirt on Billy's feet.  Later, back in the woods, Billy has Theresa in his arms, there are bright lights, and then Billy wakes up from his coma, he and Theresa are unharmed.  Billy later reveals that they were abducted years before and the implant in his nose gave him the orders to bring the others to the woods.  Sadly the files from that revelation had disappeared.

Back in DC, Scully is again in front of the room of men, where she gives her report,  and reveals that she had had the implant in her pocket when the motel burned down.  Concluding that "Mulder believes we are not alone"  The last shot is of CSM carrying the implant into a hidden Pentagon location, showing that there are already 4 other implants in their possession and 1 more empty slot.  And if I remember correctly, and will eventually get to, this comes into play later in the series.  (it's been a while since I've watched most of the episodes)

That's it for the Pilot.  Hopefully you have enjoyed reading this, and will continue on with my though my journey.  Until tomorrow.

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