- Season 6 [1998-1999] -
6X01: The Beginning
-
Aliens
(James Cameron, 1986)
Continuing from the movie
Fight the
Future, the mythology with chest-busting alien creatures
continues, with imagery that immediately brings “Alien” and “Aliens” to
mind.
-
D.A.R.Y.L.
(Simon Wincer, 1985)
Same with
3X09: Nisei, the
point-of-view angles, the medical equipment and the doctors in the
examination scenes are very similar, more so in this episode since the
one experimented upon in the head is a child.
6X02: Drive
-
Speed
(Jan de Bont, 1994)
This episode is an X-Files take on the film, by writer Vince Gilligan’s
admission. In the film, a terrorist puts a bomb on a bus and it must
keep moving above 50 miles per hour in order to prevent the bomb from
going off. This is similar to the way Patrick Crump (Bryan Cranston)
has to move west, at a growing speed on top of that, in order to
prevent his head from blowing up. The film is referenced in the
dialogue by Mulder: “
If you stop
moving, you die? I think I saw this movie.”
6X03: Triangle
-
The Wizard of Oz
(Victor Fleming, 1939)
The 1939 scenes with Mulder in the past at times feel like a dream, in
part because of the fact that Mulder keeps coming across familiar faces
in odd roles (Scully as a passenger, Kersh as a worker, Skinner,
Spender and the CSM as Nazis). This is similar to the way the three
people Dorothy meets in her fantasy world (the Scarecrow, the Tin Man
and the Cowardly Lion) all have the faces of three farm workers she
knows from her “normal” life. "Oz" is referenced in the dialogue too,
in the closing scene in particular: Skinner replies "
Right, me and my dog Toto" (Toto
was Dorothy's dog), and Scully comforts Mulder by saying "
I want you to think to yourself 'there's
no place like home'" (a line used by Dorothy when she returns in
Kansas). The 1939 adaptation with Judy Garland of
the 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum is of course the best-known version of
the “Wizard of Oz” story -- Mulder's boat is named "Lady Garland".
-
Rope (Alfred
Hitchcock, 1948)
The episode is special in the experiment it made in using long takes,
essentially one long take per act, thus following the characters in
real time and in a confined space (the ship, FBI offices). In this way,
it is modelled on Hitchcock’s film, which experimented with the same
technique, clocking at 80 minutes and 10 shots, with the film taking
place in real time in a confined space (an apartment) -- the fact that
“Rope” was based on a theatrical play (Patrick Hamilton, 1929)
undoubtedly helped with the concept. So as to increase the impression
of a long take in real time, Hitchcock tried to disguise transitions
between shots by panning over objects and changing the focus or with
objects quickly crossing the frame (a jacket, a piece of furniture) and
editing two shots together; the episode used similar guidelines (the
darkness of the machine room, the camera entering through curtains).
The limiting element in both film and episode was the length of film a
camera magazine could handle (about 10-12 minutes, which is a bit more
than the length of an episode act).
-
Casablanca
(Michael Curtiz, 1942)
Continuing with the references to old movies, Triangle’s story could
have been inspired by “Casablanca”, a story set in 1942 at the
beginning of World War II (the same era as the episode, 1939) and
dealing with resistance against the Nazi menace. The relationship
between Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and (Ingrid Bergman) is set against the
background of Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a Czech leader of the resistance,
being searched by the Nazis in Vichy-controlled Morocco, and Rick being
led to choose whether he will deliver Laszlo to them or not. This is
similar to the search by the Nazis in the episode for the nuclear
scientist and the Nazis forcing Mulder and “Scully” to deliver him to
them.
-
Titanic
(James Cameron, 1997)
How not to think of “Titanic” when considering scenes happening on an
early 20th century boat? Back when this episode was made, “Titanic”’s
huge commercial success about a year before was still fresh in
everybody’s memories. Notably, 1939-Scully’s dress is very similar to
Rose’s (Kate Winslet) red dress from the movie.
6X05: Dreamland II
-
Duck Soup
(Leo McCarey, 1933)
The scene where Mulder-as-Fletcher dances and moves in front of the
mirror, with the reflected Fletcher (Michael McKean) following his
every exact move, is a direct lift (down to individual moves) and
homage to the Marx Brothers’ “Duck Soup”, where Groucho and Harpo Marx
pretend one is the other. The difference with the episode is that they
are different characters, whereas in the episode we are supposed to see
Mulder’s reflection in the mirror; the scene, however, was shot with
both actors Duchovny and McKean doing the same choreography
simultaneously.
The scene
on
YouTube.
6X06: Terms of Endearment
-
Rosemary's Baby
(Roman Polanski, 1968)
Any episode centering on pregnancies and demons immediately reminds one
of “Rosemary’s Baby”. The plot of the film is very similar to the
beginning of the episode: a woman is pregnant and has worries and
nightmares that a demonic presence might actually be responsible for
the baby. The episode progressively moves away from the film, turning
the demon concept on its head and making the demon the hero we are made
to feel sorry for. The film is even mentioned in the dialogue by
Scully: “
I saw Rosemary's Baby on
cable the other night”!
In the film, Rosemary (Mia Farrow) is given a drink that would help the
pregnancy, made of “a raw egg, gelatin, herbs... along with some other
things”, in a glass that looks like milk -- a drink Rosemary later
refuses because she thinks it’s doing her harm. This is very similar to
the episode, where Laura is given a milk she thinks is a “herbal sleep
aid” but actually contains the poison mandrake.
-
Suspicion (Alfred
Hitchcock, 1941)
Moreover, the drink Laura (Lisa Jane Persky) is given in the episode is
shown, very menacingly, glowing greenly in the dark while her husband
is carrying it to her bedroom. This is lifted exactly from Hitchcock’s
film, where the husband brings a glowing glass of milk to the wife, who
is suspecting her husband of plotting against her.
-
The Hidden
(Jack Sholder, 1987)
The way the demonic (?) spirit transfers from body to body in the
episode, a “breath” of light coming out of the host’s mouth, is similar
to the way one of the aliens in “The Hidden” jumps from host to host;
this happens in a hospital. In the episode it happens twice, one in a
jail and once in a hospital as well.
6X07: The Rain King
-
The Wizard of Oz
(Victor Fleming, 1939)
“Wizard of Oz” references are of course obvious with the setting of the
episode in Kansas, the rainbow at the closing of the episode, and the
“children’s tale”-like tone of the episode overall.
6X08: How the Ghosts Stole Christmas
-
The Haunting
(Robert Wise, 1963)
The episode is an X-File on the classic horror trope of the haunted
house, and there are many examples to mention: “The Amityville Horror”
(Stuart Rosenberg, 1979) and its many sequels, “House on Haunted Hill”
(William Castle, 1959), in some ways “Psycho” (Alfred Hitchcock,
1960)... But we can mention “The Haunting” specifically not because of
its tone (not comedic at all!) but because of the way that in the film,
similar to the episode, characters are drawn to linger in the house
even if they know that it is doing them harm, and some characters end
up killing each other.
-
Beetlejuice
(Tim Burton, 1988)
However, the most direct story inspiration is certainly “Beetlejuice”,
in
which a young but deceased couple haunt their house and its new
occupants, and even bring in a freelance “bio-exorcist” ghost to scare
the new occupants away for them. The tone is dark comedy and the goal
of the couple is the same as the old couple in the episode.
-
Death Becomes Her
(Robert Zemeckis, 1992)
In this dark comedy, two rival women (Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn) drink
a magic potion that makes them immortal. One shoots the other and
leaves a large gaping hole in her belly, but she doesn’t die. This
uncanny bodily feature is the same as for Lyda (Lily Tomlin) in this
episode; Maurice (Edward Asner) had a bullet hole through his head.
-
Terminator 2:
Judgment Day
(James Cameron, 1991)
Perhaps less of an inspiration than the previous one, however the
bullet hole through the head is featured in this film too, on the
terminator T-1000 (Robert Patrick, later to become Doggett), and we see
the same shot of a character looking through it as we see in the
episode.
6X11: Two Fathers
-
V (Kenneth
Johnson, 1983) and
V:
The Final Battle (Richard T. Heffron, 1984)
The way the Rebels are presented in this episode and the next are a bit
different from
5X13: Patient X
and
5X14: The Red and the Black:
they
don’t
exactly
change
the
shape of their original face but they
actually have a layer of skin, which can change form, on top of their
normal face. This is similar to the alien invaders in “V”, who have a
layer of artificial skin in order to hide their true horrible and
reptilian appearance beneath it. The scene where Jeffrey tears the skin
off the Rebel’s face and discovers in horror another face beneath it is
similar to the discovery scene in “V”.
6X12: One Son
-
Close Encounters of
the Third Kind
(Steven Spielberg, 1977)
In the flashback scene where the Syndicate first meets the aliens in
1973, the way the aliens are presented, forming a line one next to each
other and coming from a light source behind, is similar to the way we
first see the aliens in “Close Encounters”. The high contrast that is
created from the intense light source associated with UFOs and the
silhouettes of the aliens serves to minimize how much of the aliens we,
the audience, get to see, and also presents the aliens like a superior,
angelic, higher form of life.
-
The Boys from Brazil
(Franklin J. Schaffner, 1978)
The teaser of the episode shows a 1973 photo of the CSM and Bill
Mulder, one opposite to each other, arguing, two strong opinions on
where the Syndicate should head next. The staging is reminiscent of a
shot in this film, where Seibert (James Mason) and Mengele (Gregory
Peck) have opposing views on whether they should abort or continue the
experiments they have been conducting for decades.
6X13: Arcadia
-
Poltergeist
(Tobe Hooper, 1982)
The phenomena in this thriller are explained by a newly dug swimming
pool that rests upon an ancient cemetery, which releases spirits and
demons, in a planned community neighborhood. As a result, coffins and
corpses emerge from under the ground throughout the neighborhood. This
is all similar to the episode, which also takes place in a planned
community; Mulder attempts to dig a swimming pool, breaking the laws of
the community, and the muddy monster of the episode emerges from
underground.
-
The Truman Show
(Peter Weir, 1998)
The absurdly clean houses and streets and the unnerving kindness and
smiles of all the inhabitants of the Arcadia gated community is
modelled on, or parodies, real gated communities. However this is all
very similar to the setting of the “Truman Show”, where the
“artificiality” of the setting and of the people Truman (Jim Carrey)
encounters is a hint to the fake nature of everything around him.
6X15: Monday
-
Groundhog Day
(Harold Ramis, 1993)
The entire episode is an X-Files remake of the “Groundhog Day”, where
the protagonist (Bill Murray) re-lives one day over and over again,
with perfect memory of the repeated days , until he gets one thing done
right (in the film’s case, he “gets the girl”).
When the protagonists wake up again and again, the first thing we see
is the alarm clock (broken or not).
6X18: Milagro
-
Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom
(Steven Spielberg, 1984)
The “Indiana Jones” film features a graphic scene where a priest during
an obscure religious ceremony tears out the heart of a sacrificial
victim, the heart still beating in his hands; the victim is then thrown
in a fiery pit. This is similar to some of the scenes in this episode:
the writer (John Hawkes) (imagines) tearing his beating heart out; and
the writer imagines a beating heart in the middle of a basement
incinerator.
6X21: Field Trip
-
E.T.: The
Extra-Terrestrial
(Steven Spielberg, 1982)
The way the (imaginary) alien is revealed in this episode is very
similar to the treatment of E.T. in the iconic movie: the slow reveal
behind a door or a corridor turn, the angelic glow around the creature,
the amazed expressions with a childlike awe on the people discovering
it.