Mar-19-1999
Filming ‘The Unnatural’
Ephesian

[Original article here]

Friday, March 19, 1999
Approximately 8:30 P.M.
Los Angeles, CA
Reporter: “-EPHESIAN-”

Site: Filming of “The X-Files” (20th Century Fox/Ten Thirteen Productions)

Title: “Shades of Gray” (Episode 6×20) Rumored to be the story of an alien who falls in love with baseball during the era of the Negro leagues set in Roswell, New Mexico.

Tentative Air Date: May 9, 1999

Director: David Duchovny

Cast: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson

SUMMARY: “The X-Files” star takes advantage of his writing and directorial debut to treat devoted fan-addicts of the wildly popular franchise to his playful take on the tender stuff simmering beneath the sleek, polished veneer of the partnership between two of television’s most Special FBI Agents. Duchovny cleverly employs a time-honored Hollywood romance gambit to manipulate Moose and Squirrel.

ADVISORY: Proceed at your own risk. The following narrative contains a small but significant spoiler of a single scene in this episode. I do not mean that it is significant to the plot, as I have no idea its context in the story. By significant I speak in terms of FWM/DKS interaction. It doesn’t spoil the plot but it definitely divulges a marvelous scene. Whether you choose to read it or not is obviously up to you, but it is simply too special for me to even think of not reporting it. And yes, if you haven’t already figured it out and such info figures into your decision-making, this is ‘shippy, not Titanic ‘shippy, but very ‘shippy nonetheless. In any event, “spoiler” is a misnomer here. Nothing could spoil this scene regardless your relationship persuasion. You are advised, though, that you just might enjoy the scene more if you save this to read after viewing the episode during May sweeps.

Please forgive all errors in spelling, punctuation, formatting, and grammar. This thing is too dang long to edit properly and still get it posted before the episode airs. And of course it is very long ’cause I never, ever, do the good stuff short.
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When I arrived at the shoot location, which was a well-lit outdoor baseball diamond on the spacious Cheviot Hills Recreation Grounds, about 20 or so fans (curiously, at least half of whom —both male and female— were auburn-tressed!) had already congregated around the set and were watching DD as he actively engaged in supervising his crew ;^) in setting up cameras, lighting, and other equipment for filming on the baseball diamond. (If you’ve never been to one of these things you cannot begin to imagine the clutter!) The temperature was frigid and he was wearing a navy calf-length, heavily padded nylon ski coat beneath which was visible a few inches of black denim slacks and black athletic shoes.

Everyone’s breath hung in the cold, damp air that had been forecast to bring rain all evening.

Shortly after my arriving, DD stopped prepping and began to devote concentrated time and energy on batting balls thrown at him by a the kid who was to be in the scene or, alternately, that were being hurled from some type pitching contraption—baseball ain’t my game so I really have no idea. Over and over and over he swung on dozens of pitches—hitting them far afield, far a-fly, or hitting nothing at all but innocent wasps. This went on too long for my tastes and severely taxed the limits of my attention span, but later it became apparent to me that this exercise had served to increase his comfort level in face of the balls hurling toward him and to relax his body movements in handling the bat, all to figure into the scene he was prepping to shoot. I didn’t get the impression, though, that he felt particularly burdened by or in any way preoccupied with the pressures of his directorial responsibilities during this extended play period. Based on my observations, I could easily be convinced, even, that he’d managed to forget he was “at the office.”

A skimpy aside, FWIW, is that David’s wife Tea was in the stands with one or two people that appeared to be perhaps family and/or friends. She was so bundled in a huge coat that only her profile and hair was visible. At one point either she or one of the persons with her loudly called DD and he dutifully made his way, bat still in hand, to his wife and her friends (or whomever) from home plate. After a brief moment with them he returned to the plate to resume batting. One of the crew members (I’m sure if I knew anything about this business it would have been clear what role he played, but…) inquired of DD “Is she alright?” to which he replied “yeah.” One can only assume this may have had reference to the pregnancy, but I’ve absolutely no idea.

Like I said, skimpy and FWIW…

At this point I looked up to see the unmistakable “Special Agent Dana Scully” coming toward the set. She was accompanied by one woman lagging some distance behind her. The enormously bulky, extremely padded, very long overcoat she wore —very similar in style to DD’s but in black quilted cotton instead of nylon — did nothing to disguise the shock of flame atop her head and her distinctive Scully-like gait (which, if not coincidentally her Gillian-gait as well, tells me that, along with her hair and make-up, she had already gotten her “Scully” on, too.) Everyone seemed to notice her at once. It was nearly impossible not to.

When DD looked over and noted her arrival, he was ready for them to immediately begin rehearsing their scene. Gillian was obviously wardrobed, coifed, and made up, ready to start. DD called her over promptly. (I admit I felt foolish each time it occurred that I experienced a mental hiccup as I was watching “Mulder” call to “Scully” but referring to her as Gillian =^). Each shed his outerwear and made for home plate.

(At some point during this time I happened to notice that Mrs. Duchovny and her associates had departed.)

Though I am loathe to dignify a subject that so repulses me each time the bleepin’ thread rears its disgusting head, in the interest of journalistic thoroughness and integrity ;^), I report from a very close-up firsthand observation that underneath her tremendous overcoat “Agent Scully” was v-e-e-e-e-ry trim in a moss-green hip length jacket with lapels, lightweight black slacks, and thick-soled, nearly-square toed black suede boots (the heavy heels of which along with her heavy stride reverberated loudly wherever she walked on pavement, causing us to chuckle). The T-shirt she wore underneath was dark, probably black, rather —not obscenely— snug. Her hair was somewhat fuller than we’ve grown accustomed to seeing this season, its overall length appearing not so much longer as its layers from her summer cut seeming to have filled in.

As I watched her, “absolutely adorable” was the unbidden description that found its way repeatedly to mind.

Beneath his long ski coat, “Agent Mulder” wore a gray baseball jersey with the name “GRAYS” across the front and the number “20” with the name “Gibson” across the back. (When I mentioned this to my brother the next day he said that he thought it must have reference to a ballplayer by the name of Josh Gibson who was with the league in that era —which got him very excited about the episode, btw. And, in case I’ve failed to mention it before, I’d have no idea.) I seem to recall DD’s also having on a long-sleeved navy T-shirt underneath the jersey. For some reason I’m blanking on this, but I think I’m remembering it correctly ’cause I’m fairly certain I would not have forgotten seeing his arms on such a cold night.

Over and over, Duchovny and Anderson rehearsed their scene, she asking questions of him, he responding and they discussing while he positioned her and himself according to his preference. At no time did my attention span waiver during the rehearsal of this scene. The only time I was not watching them was whenever a gaggle of crew types blocked my view or I became briefly engaged in conversation with other philes present, who also paid rapt attention.

Finally DD was ready to begin filming. He attended to things on the set while GA walked back to her trailer to wait for her call. She patiently indulged the fan requests on her walk back to her wagon (a distance of sufficient length that I was a bit surprised she chose to walk it rather than take advantage of one of the motor carts and drivers available to her. In fact, DD didn’t either.). I will briefly cover this toward the end of the report.

About 15 minutes later, GA returned to the set, her escort in tow (rather than the other way around!); DD had called for her; he was ready to shoot their scene.

THE SCENE

Mulder stands behind Scully as they both stand at home plate. While Scully holds the grip of a large bat (the one with which DD had earlier been practicing) with both hands as though readying to swing, Mulder lightly admonishes her about her grip (and something else I was unable to make out). As he does so he simultaneously leans down and over her, proceeds to bring his arms around her—completely enveloping her in his embrace—, and places the palms of either of his large hands at the outside of either of her much smaller ones at the bat’s grip. He begins to swing the bat—and her in his embrace—over and over as balls are pitched to them.

Rarely has the disparity in their heights and sizes been more evident than in the execution of this scene. DD is tall (as I’ve said before, he is definitely taller than 6′ or I have definitely shrunken to shorter than… nevermind) but does not look in the least bulky until he leans over and literally wraps himself around the diminutive GA in this scene. Towering over her, he practically absorbs her—even in her stacked-heel boots— as his arms enfold her to show her how to hold and swing the bat. She was fairly invisible except for her legs when I viewed one of the takes from directly behind them. Another point of fact is that they are as spooned as two individuals of such disparate heights can be and maintain plausible denial that they are congenitally conjoined (!)

It was impossible to tell if he was going for the particular outcome in the scene or whether it was inadvertent on Duchovny’s part (I can’t wait to find out), but because Mulder seems to only barely blunt the force of his swing in consideration of her size, nearly every swipe of the bat finds Mulder twirling Scully so vigorously that her at least one of her feet, sometimes both, lift from the ground necessitating his having to hang onto her to slow their combined momentum, steady her on her feet, and help her regain her balance. Several times they land a full ¾ circle (135-degree) turn from their starting position before he has steadied them.

Now, just prior to each swing, as Mulder is showing and describing to Scully how she is supposed to stand and hold and swing the bat, he turns his smiling face into hers. In more than one take her face is also turned into his. I don’t know at what angle the scene will appear in its final cut but I saw it shot from a few different angles and their faces are right at each other’s. It is quite, well, it’s uh…

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<ohmyohmy…hold on a minute.>

<whew>

<I gotta take 10 here to grab a glass of ice cubes. Talk among yourselves; I’ll return shortly.>

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Okay. Now where was I? Oh yes.

Again and again, with the cameras rolling, Mulder and Scully, very snugly spooned together, swing at pitch after pitch. They both laugh, Scully quite delightedly, as they complete each swing of the bat as Mulder rights her each time preventing her bounding and plunging to the ground. (Seriously, a few times she appeared very nearly airborne were it not for his embrace.) It is a very playful, affectionate moment between them.

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ADVISORY: A description of PG-13, possibly R-rated, shenanigans follows.

Whether for our amusement or his own or, more likely, ensuring choice cuts for the crew’s private blooper tape, I cannot say, but, at *least* once, immediately after the “ROLLING” shout, David took advantage of having Gillian trapped “within” him, as it were, and —sorry, folks, no other way to describe it— busted a positively lewd move on her —wriggling and well…, uh…thrusting “himself” into her. Several of us who spotted it (primarily the two of us with bionic-binocs that zoomed the couple into our eyelashes— and we were all pretty close to begin with) gaped at each other and gasped in astonishment — “… did you see what he did???”— . As for Anderson, the way her giggling carries, there was no inferring that she was in any way offended. She never once insisted that filming stop and it didn’t until “CUT” was shouted by Director Duchovny when he decided it was time to get down to business.

Needless to say that this …uh, maneuver on DD’s part is unlikely to show up on screen.

<END OF RATED MATERIAL>
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Once the cameras began to roll again, DD stopped his “antics” and Mulder kicked in. For the scene, though, even though not obscene, if you will, he continues to imitate the animated batter’s wriggle that, because of their positioning, engages Scully in the motion along with him. As they perform this in-tandem wiggle ‘n’ jiggle in virtually every take of the scene, there will have to be some monstrously (and I use that term advisedly) creative editing if the intention is that none of this appear in the final cut that makes it to screen. In truth, I can’t imagine that David had it shot this way over and over just to have all of it scrapped. There was no question in our minds as we viewed this scene rehearsed and shot at least a ½ dozen times respectively that DD and GA were executing this precisely as DD was directing it and as he intended it. I trust the reader will decide for himself what significance to assign this. I’m settled in my mind that it’s a view David Duchovny wants us to glean of Agents Mulder and Scully from his script.

As this was an outdoor shoot, much of the dialogue was indecipherable. I could make out only pieces.

Prior to the first pitch, Mulder yells to the kid, “Okay, let’s have it, poorboy.” I think he said poorboy. If he did, I don’t know what it means in the script.

After he’s played the great tutor to Scully, Mulder takes a whack in the butt-thigh region by the ball. He jumps around yelping in pain.

“Clarify something for me, Mulder. Are you actually supposed to hit the ball with your ass?” Scully asks him in one take as she is giggling at his discomfort.

In another version, she laughs and says “Tell me Mulder, is the ball actually supposed to hit you in the ass?” This version was clearly a flub.

And another, “Tell me Mulder, is the ball actually supposed to be hit by your ass?”

The whole time Scully is giggling away. Mulder is not amused. “Very funny, kid” he yells out to the boy.

Mulder and the boy seem to have some kind of wager going and as each successive ball hits him or nearly does so, Mulder gradually capitulates, yelling to the kid “$???, $18.50… okay, $20 then.”

After each take DD and GA and certain crew members would move over to several monitors that were mounted nearby on which they’d review the take just shot. By an unbelievable stroke of good luck, we were able to observe DD and GA as they together, facing us, watched the monitor of their previous take and, by means of a monitor facing toward us, were able to see what it was they were seeing.

With DD either standing slightly behind and to GA’s left or sitting on a stool beside where she stood so that they were nearly the same height with their faces at the monitor, they, again and again, together boomed loud laughter as they clearly were amused by what they’d gotten on film. Gillian’s delighted squeal and David’s leaning back in a full-throated laugh caused us to laugh ourselves at times at the very spectacle of the two of them. This cycle continued as they alternated take after take followed each time with viewing at the monitor. I wonder at the level of perfectionism on the part of these two in that, despite their and the crew’s apparent delight in each successive take, they continued to agree to one after another. Perhaps different aspects of different takes worked best in their view. Like I said, filmmaking is not my business and I know next to nothing about it, but I do know that my attention span never wavered during a single one of these takes. Each time was as good as or better than the one before. These two look divine together—no other description suffices.

Gauging by GA’s reaction to each take, I’m convinced that she must be as pleased with DD’s script as he has himself expressed being.

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BEHIND-THE-SCENES QUICK TAKES

—–Appearing quite the relaxed director, DD goofed a bit with crew members, snacked on something candy bar-like in a wrapper and beverage in a Starbucks cup between takes, graced with the occasional smile those of us who made up the small audience in attendance, and even scolded the kid pitching him balls — “…and this time let’s have none of that argument from the last time…” before one take he shouted in an exaggeratedly paternal tone he’s obviously been practicing! It was quite charming actually and very authentically authoritarian.

—–At one point, while the doubles were being shot, GA and DD stood off to the side out of the camera’s view. GA, with her back to us, having pulled back slightly her hip length jacket, had her head down with both of her hands gesturing near her waist, drawing DD’s attention to something at the vicinity of her midsection. As he was facing in our direction, I could see him peer down to whatever she was indicating at her midsection and say something to her presumably about whatever she was showing him. His expression was neither that of amusement nor real seriousness, just interest or perhaps curiosity. Sorry, I have no more than that. I couldn’t, and still can’t, imagine what it could’ve been about. Just another skimpy aside.

—–When, between takes, shooting was delayed while the crew moved cameras and other equipment or were otherwise occupied, DD once or twice picked up the bat and resumed swinging at pitches. Frequently his effort yielded only newly-plowed soil beneath his shoes or the exploded remains of the poor insect whose unwitting flight pattern brought it to an untimely demise. But many times DD connected with and slammed the ball well beyond the diamond out into the park. And he looked pretty darn cute doing so I might add.

—–Not to be outdone, GA, twice between takes, took her turn at bat as well. With each swing of the bat she drilled herself deeper and deeper into earth’s center as the ball whizzed past her. Once she seemed to muster her strength and find her balance, however, she started knocking balls high and far into the outfield (okay, I suppose even a baseball ignorante like myself cannot have been born and reared in the Los Angeles area without having picked up a wee bit of the terminology, summer after summer, from our beloved Vin Scully.) Tittering all around ensued each time the loud crack signaled that little Gillian had nailed another ball. An incongruous sight to be sure given that the bat was nearly as long as she is tall.

NOTE: I’ve been trying to recall whether there was any filming being done of either “Mulder” or “Scully” while either was batting alone. My best recollection is that I never heard “ROLLING” or “CUT” during this time and that this was not being filmed for the episode, however, I could be mistaken. It was a long, cold night <g>

Seems both “Mulder” and “Scully” got game.

—–When time to film, GA returned to the set sipping from her ever-present bottle of Crystal Geyser, which no typical Southern Californian—myself included (!)—-is ever without.

—-GA’s laugh over something or other rang out unself-consciously time and again. Her voice and laugh carry every bit as far as anyone’s on the set.

—-Occasionally, between takes, the hair stylist would approach DD and reach up to dabble in his hair, pushing and pulling it this way and that. As I watched her, I found myself thinking “Enough of that already; he looks enough like a porcupine ’bout the head this season.” Thank goodness it seems he’s let it grow out some—just in time for this summer’s weedwackado =^).

—-Once I observed a make-up artist and hair stylist attending simultaneously to Gillian between takes. Another time she fussed with her own hair while peering at her image on a monitor.

—–As it grew later, from about midnight on, as the crew grew confident that none of us was a wild-eyed, slobbering phile looking to take DD or GA hostage (and the security guards had disappeared to snag some zzzzz’s), they practically gave us free rein of the place. The only thing anyone ever did was to ask us to move a bit in a certain direction so that we would not be in the shot. And they thanked us for doing that! Although we didn’t presume on their generosity, we were able to view the shoot from quite close-up. At one point, set workers even dragged cable, drove motor carts, and moved equipment around us instead of asking that we move—which, of course we always did if we got any inkling that we were in the way. Even the guards, when they were around, were extremely courteous and respectful—one even inviting me to help myself to refreshments from the gourmet catering wagon. Naturally, I declined. It was quite remarkable really. Much more relaxed than my two previous outings in the summer of ’97.

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Even if I’d had any expectation of seeing “Scully” in this ballpark scene (and I absolutely did not; I’d just come to watch DD work as director on his script and had resigned myself to probably having to endure watching ballplayers do that thing they do), I never would have expected a scene such as this. The joy of watching it may be surpassed only by the knowledge that it was a choice Duchovny made for his very own episode. Although I’d previously observed the two of them performing in the same scene during filming of FtF, there was no interaction between them as the scene was the one of unconscious Scully being gurneyed into the Syndicate’s “ambulance” and a frantic Mulder asking to what hospital she was being taken while getting himself capped in the temple over and over and over =^). What I’m saying is that I would have enjoyed a chance to see any interaction between the two characters—even an argument!— and it was sheer serendipity that I managed to catch one that turned out to exceed anything I would ever have dared hoped for. All of us in attendance were clearly delighted by this most welcome surprise.

I’ll say also that, imo, this earns its place among the very ‘shippiest x-f scenes—“Irresistible,””Pusher,” “MeMo,” “Redux II,” et al—ever between the real-deal, drug-free Mulder and present-day, conscious Scully. I find it all the more powerfully significant given that the writer and director are the very life force behind Special Agent Fox Mulder. Any man who manages to work a scene like this with his onscreen “wife” into his first script— one that focuses on one of his other loves, a sport— ranks as one of the sexiest alive.

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Now, anyone familiar with my past write-ups of these little escapades of mine know that I don’t consider my purpose served until I’ve dished some dangerously sexist and gratuitously superficial comments regarding the physical attributes of one David Duchovny (or The Carter, for that matter, when he’s present, which he wasn’t this time—@#$%$#@!!) Feel free to scroll past if you don’t wish to be subjected to such demeaning tripe.

I’ll give you time.

<Jeremiah was a bullfrog; he was a good friend of mine. I never understood a single…>

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Ok’ydoke.

Plainly stated, Duchovny is criminally handsome. A felony walking. Three strikes—pun intended— (mind, body,and talent) should put him away for life. I, once again, had the pleasure of observing for myself, up close, that he is far from the notoriously snobbish sort relentlessly portrayed by his detractors. Rather than logically walk past us on the wide green expanse surrounding us, DD chose to meander right through the center of the little cluster of about 6 of us (yeah, the dude’s surely got a set on ‘im to take such risks!); he spoke, grinned a magnificent smile —in perfect Chris Carter imitation—and looked around at each of us. His skin, I mean…, that is, his face <G>, is well-tanned (in contrast to his coloring when here filming the movie) and well, he is, quite simply, drop-dead gorgeous. This impression of him, for me at least, tremendously benefits from my knowing the keen mind—the brain ever the sexiest organ— his packaging wraps.

In deference to his new role as father, I’ll be more respectful this outing and leave this discussion here. I trust my point, though succinct, is clear and thorough.

Now unlike my courageous antics in a previous similar very-close encounter of this erotic…uh, that’s close kind I said, I regret to inform that I failed to live up to my own …uh, high standards, offering not so much as a congrats on his recent awards. What did I do this time? Same as the other few in our group. As he casually strolled through (so casually, in fact, that for a second I was convinced that it had to be his double, who was on the set along with GA’s performing the same scene as they) — taking time to look directly at each of us, saying “hi”—we all, every one of us, stood riveted to the ground, grinning up at him; drooling on ourselves like sweet and innocent dimwitted imbeciles gazing up at the cover of TV Guide mag featuring Jay Leno on Sloppy Joe Friday.

Once the spell was broken and I’d come to my senses, such as they are, I cannot believe that I, of all people, didn’t manage to at least convey our delight at the FWM/DKS scene he’s chosen to include in his script for our enjoyment! Either I’m losing my edge or the proverb is proved true: Sometimes life imitates the WB Network.

I must say, though, that my profound sense was that the expression on Duchovny’s face —along with that 100-watt grin— betrayed the fact that he was enjoying our stupor a bit too much.

As with most things, I guess I could be mistaken on this <g>.

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Both David and Gillian, separately, during different breaks, demonstrated themselves to be very approachable, patiently taking the time to sign autographs and have their pictures taken with those who asked. Thankfully there was no silly mob-like frenzy; the requestors were generally calm and well-mannered. Mostly it was the younger women who had brought some mags with great covers of the two stars to be autographed. Although it’s not my thing, it was great fun watching how nervous and excited those became —yeah, I mean you, Jill Anne and Angel—who got their treasures signed. Unlike with Duchovny and The Carter, I’ve never gotten the opportunity to express to Anderson my appreciation of her talent and the work she’s done over these 6 seasons. Not a collector of celebrity-type things, I do make it a point to extend my congratulations on good work when I can. As adorable as she is, weak-kneed Gillian does not make me…as does that other one <g>. My tongue was quite loosened and she was a gracious sweetie in response to my comment.

Finally, this occasion afforded me the added pleasure of meeting some of the great long-time philes I’d hoped to see at last month’s Xeminar here in L.A. —for which I’d made reservations but was finally unable to attend due to some impossibly inflexible commitments that weekend. One new phriend, Rayna— Hi Rayna!—was thoughtful enough and had the presence of mind to bring delicious granola bars to share with us.

Every ½ hour one of us would declare that our intention to depart. Cell phone emerged from every car and satchel as each hour passed and someone was forced to call and advise that s/he was going to be arriving home somewhat later than earlier thought. (I’d saved myself this grief by earlier coaching my husband not to go wiggy cuz I was gonna be way late.)

Most of us left at about 1:30 a.m.—with my beginning to dread the fact that I had a 10:00 a.m. meeting to attend. A few others stayed, one fan and her daughter hoping to give Gillian Anderson a gift of some kind, I think. The shooting was continuing even though it had begun to rain lightly.

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There’s been hellacious griping about “The X-Files” this season. Virtually every episode has had its vehement slammers and detractors and I expect “Shades of Grey” will be no different. I admit I’ve had my occasional beef, too (“There is more trust to be put in bruises from one who loves than in effusive kisses from one who hates.”—Proverbs 27:6)

For my part, though, as regards this episode, I don’t care if it is about the Negro Baseball League, aliens loving baseball, or Negro aliens who fall in love with baseballs (before any gets his panties/boxers in a Morris Fletcher twist, know that I and some of my very well-connected family members used to actually be “Negro” and would cherish a visit with any extraterrestrial kinfolk— even those who space travel here to abduct baseballs, okay?). I know already from the microscopic glimpse I’ve gotten of this episode that I am not only going to like it; it is guaranteed to be one of my all-time favorites.

And this is likely to hold true even if it turns out not to mean I have a Great-Gramps visiting here from Reticula.

And that’s the truth.

-WBC

Test 123

Feb-12-1999
AOL Chat – Chris Carter

OnlineHost: Chris Carter, creator of Millennium and The X-Files is now with us. Good evening, Chris, thank you for joining us!

Chris Carter: I’m happy to be here and answer any questions…. as long as they’re not too embarrassing.

OnlineHost: Great, let’s get started.

Question: Is there going to be a Millennium/X-Files crossover episode?

Chris Carter: I hope so, and this would be the year to do it. I have a story in mind… that involves Scully and Emma and Frank Black.

Question: Does Millennium show the honest side of the characters, or is it all one big question, like The X-Files?

Chris Carter: Both show the honest side of the characters. What is in question are the motives of either the conspiracy or the Millennium Group.

Question: How has the millennium influenced you?

Chris Carter: The millennium was the central influence on the concept of the show. But no one I know is really afraid of the millennium, so making it a scary concept requires illustrating ways in which the anxiety it produces effects society.

Question: When you were growing up did you have an idol or a favorite tv show?

Chris Carter: My favorite TV show was Gilligan’s Island. My idol was Sandy Koufax.

Question: Mr. Carter, will Darin Morgan be writing any new episodes in the future?

Chris Carter: Not as planned. Sorry, I wish he were.

Question: What can you tell us about Harsh Realm, the future of Millennium, and the future of The X-Files?

Chris Carter: Harsh Realm is in the prep stages and the pilot will shoot in early March. It’s science fiction, but completely different from the other two shows. And… Millennium’s future is in question but we’re hopeful for a fourth year pick-up and the next year of The X-Files will most likely be the last.

Question: Do you think that all of the online cult-like responses to your show are flattering or alarming?

Chris Carter: I hardly ever read anything that is alarming. I read things that are disturbing and criticism that is annoying, but I read it all and will continue to.

Question: What is your favorite stand-alone episode?

Chris Carter: This is hard for me to answer… there are over 130 episodes now and… I have too many favorites. But any Darin Morgan episode and… any Vince Gilligan episode. Beyond the Sea and Post-Modern Prometheus.

Question: If Millennium is cancelled at the end of season 3, is there any chance 1013 will film a special episode or TV-movie for the year 2000?

Chris Carter: Don’t rule it out!

Question: Will we be seeing any famous faces in either The X-Files or Millennium?

Chris Carter: We rarely cast marquee stars. But on occasion we have an opportunity to work with someone we can’t pass up. You can expect to see great character actors from feature films soon, but we can’t divulge any secrets.

Question: When will we get to see a Millennium soundtrack!!!

Chris Carter: We’re working on it, but it all depends on the fourth season pickup.

Question: Millennium has been on for three years, but it’s also been low in the ratings. Do you consider it a success?

Chris Carter: I still think it’s one of the best-produced shows on tv, I think the stories are interesting and I’m sorry it hasn’t found the wider audience it deserves.

Question: I have been a fan of The X-Files for a long time, but recently started watching Millennium. I am glad to see that there are 2 shows worth watching. My question is, is it stressful handling 2 shows at once?

Chris Carter: I’ve aged ten years in the last three. Being responsible for 44 hours of programming is a giant pain.

Question: You’ve often mentioned your television and movie influences in creating and sustaining Millennium and The X-Files—but are there other literary influences?

Chris Carter: The Bible. A lot of the writers from the romantic period, including Mary Shelley. Dostoyevsky.

Question: Do you plan to take Millennium back to its “roots,” you know, discussing the faction between the roosters and the owls, the end of the millennium/world, etc. It’s a great storyline, but it hasn’t been addressed much this year.

Chris Carter: The show has grown and in the second season there were some new… directions taken, but with the death of Catherine we were forced to find a new and credible way to tell our stories. So we brought in Klea Scott, changed the location to Washington DC and sent Frank Black back to the FBI. This gave the show the “franchise” I’d avoided originally, so in approach it’s true to its roots but it must also be true to the realities of the characters’ lives.

Question: What was it about Klea Scott that made you decide to cast her?

Chris Carter: Her poise, her acting ability, her believability in the role of FBI agent, who could portray a woman who would work well as a student of Frank Black’s. Without making it seem like an obvious opportunity to create any sexual tension. We wanted to avoid the criticism that we were stealing from The X-Files.

Question: Will there ever be any more Millennium merchandise? The fans are craving it!

Chris Carter: Yes. We have books coming and some other assorted things in the works.

Question: Which character that you created do you identify with the most?

Chris Carter: Frank Black. But, the Mulder and Scully characters represent the two sides of me and many of us. The warring impulses between faith and skepticism.

OnlineHost: That’s all we have time for tonight, Chris. Do you have any closing comments for your audience tonight?

Chris Carter: While Millennium’s future is in question, I think that year 3 has had some of the most varied and compelling episodes. Thanks to Chip Johannessen. Ken Horton, and the other writer/producers, and Tom Wright has been tireless as our key director, as has John Kousakis and the entire Vancouver crew. Also – congratulations to Rob MacLauchlan on his ASC nomination and to Lance for his third Golden Globe nomination and to Klea as the consummate pro.

OnlineHost: Thank you very much for joining us, Chris. We love your show(s)! and hope you’ll join us again soon. Many thanks to our audience tonight! Your questions were great!

Feb-09-1999
TV Guide Online
Chris Carter – X-Files and Millennium Honcho

Spoiler alert! How can you find out secrets of upcoming X-Files episodes? None of that cloak-and-dagger stuff for our Jeanne Wolf. She went right to the source and asked series creator Chris Carter. Fortune favors the brave: Carter spills the beans here, so stop reading if you like to be surprised.

Q: Any news about another X-Files movie?

A: There will be a second X-Files movie as far as I am concerned. But it won’t be on this summer’s hiatus. It seems like the actors are very excited to do it. It’s just a matter of finding the time, and I think it would either come out in the summer of 2001 or possibly 2002. It would have been great to culminate the series and go right into the next big movie. I think there will be a year, or possibly two years in between.

Q: What do you mean, “culminate”?

A: Next year is probably the last year of The X-Files. Most likely we will wind it down at the end of year seven. You are going to see the TV series become a movie series.

Q: You’ve really taken the reins back on Millennium this year. What’s going on there?

A: Man, I’ve worked hard on Millennium this year. I’ve written and rewritten several shows. It’s not like it was in the first year, but I’ve certainly paid a lot more attention to it this year than last. There are some really good episodes coming up in February. Really scary episodes. I mean, I’m very proud of the work we did. I really think that show is hitting its stride. I wish that more people watched it. I wish more people would give it another chance. And I hope it comes back next year.

Q: And what about the new pilot you’re shooting this year?

A: It’s called Harsh Realm. It’s a science fiction show. It’s different from The X-Files or Millennium. I’m actually still writing it right now, so I’m not letting too many secrets out, but it plays a little bit with virtual reality. It’s quite different from the comic book that we’re taking it from. There’s really not much I can tell you about it, besides that it will be a kind of ensemble cast. If The X-Files had a very broad group of stories to tell, this will also have that kind of broad scope. Millennium has a narrower scope in its storytelling, but it’s a very broad canvas: good and evil. But it uses a little bit of virtual reality. This actually is going to play with reality in ways that I think The X-Files has done so well over the years.

Q: Can you give us a hint about what we’re going to see this season on The X-Files?

A: Well, we have 28 episodes left to produce. So we’ve got to get some answers out there. You’re going to see a lot of wrapping up of storylines. There’s a two-part mythology episode coming up that answers a huge number of questions. You will learn a lot about why Agent Mulder is who he is, and this pursuit that he has. You’ll learn that he was born into it. It’s not necessarily something that he chose. It may have been chosen for him.

Q: More, more!

A: You’re going to learn a lot about Mulder’s father. You are going to learn a lot about the Cigarette-Smoking Man. He will come out of the woodwork to explain a lot, actually. He becomes, in a way, a narrator of the last 50 years. You’ll learn what The X-Files is all about.

Feb-05-1999
Entertainment Weekly
Secrets and Lies
Mary Kaye Schilling

[Original article here]

Will ”X-Files” answer viewers’ questions? — The Fox sci-fi drama promises to reveal some secrets in the season finale

X-Files‘ actors live in mortal fear of it: the big kiss-off from series creator Chris Carter. The bell doesn’t toll often for regular characters (among the unlucky few: Deep Throat, X, and Bill Mulder), but the possibility hovers, like an alien spaceship, over the cast. For one actor, the phone rang days before shooting began on a momentous two-parter, a sweeps event that Fox is trumpeting as ”The X-Files conspiracy…exposed!”

Divulging the identity of this doomed player would, of course, ruin the second episode’s penultimate shocker (there are two humdingers). Let us instead relive the actor’s bittersweet moment of (you know) truth: ”Just before I got the script I got a message to call Carter’s office. He was very calm. He said, ‘I’ve got something to tell you about the episode.’ And I said, ‘Are you going to fire me?’ And he said, `No, but I am going to shoot you.’ He said to trust him, it was going to be a very noble death. I said, ‘I do trust you, implicitly.”’

The victim pauses here for comic effect. Not only because the nature of a character’s death is the least concern of a soon-to-be-unemployed actor (one who relocated from Vancouver to L.A. when the show did the same last summer). But because of the inevitable punchline: ”And Carter said, ‘Trust no one.”’

Trust is to The X-Files what Nothing was to Seinfeld. For just as Jerry’s sitcom was a whole lot of something, Carter’s drama is very much about finding the people you can trust, the few who do speak the truth. In the case of FBI agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), that person is his partner, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson).

But in the case of X-Files fans, whom can they trust about this latest claim that the conspiracy — Carter’s ongoing plotline involving aliens, government deception, deadly black oil, and killer bees — will be explained? After all, similar promises went unfulfilled last summer with the release of the franchise’s first film, The X-Files — a visually stunning movie that nonetheless created more questions than it answered. ”I think people were frustrated because the studio’s ads [‘The Truth Is Revealed’] implied that everything was going to be tied up,” says Duchovny. ”And then it wasn’t.”

”I never claimed to be revealing more than I did,” insists Carter. And believes X-Files executive producer Frank Spotnitz, ”the truth meant something different to everyone who walked into the show.” Spotnitz, who developed the movie with Carter, is one of the few writers at Ten Thirteen (Carter’s production company) who can make heads or tails of the conspiracy, or what Carter calls the Mythology. And in his mind, ”the movie did reveal very explicitly a lot of things. But other people might have been expecting the truth to be about something else, like Samantha.”

For the uninitiated, Samantha is Mulder’s sister, abducted by aliens when she was 8 and he was 12. His search to find her has led to his and Scully’s series-long quest to learn the truth about extraterrestrial life on Earth. From that simple concept has developed the most brazenly complex arc ever attempted by a television drama. Indeed, it is a veritable Machiavellian maze, so tangled with intrigue and betrayal that even dedicated fans find themselves scratching their heads bloody. Duchovny acknowledges that this is ”hard on people who just tune in occasionally.” And it makes attracting new fans nearly impossible — a problem illuminated by the movie, which focused exclusively on the conspiracy rather than showcasing one of the series’ stand-alone stories featuring creepy genetic mutants and the like.

Though its very respectable $187 million worldwide take is a testament to the show’s powerful fan base (and virtually guarantees a sequel), Carter and Spotnitz admit that since the movie failed to lure X-Files virgins to the franchise, it was something of a disappointment. ”I hoped we would have reached more nonfans,” says Spotnitz, who found stringing two seasons together creatively confining. ”I’m looking forward to the next movie because I anticipate the show will be over, and we’ll be free to reinvent ourselves.” (Carter is contracted only through the show’s seventh season, ending in May 2000; an eighth is unlikely given his desire to concentrate on X movies.)

Perhaps more distressing was the show’s dip in ratings this season. Though still a major hit for Fox, The X-Files is down 16 percent in total viewers (now averaging 16.8 million versus 20 million last season). Carter blames the network’s schedule shuffling; Fox replaced X‘s old lead-in, King of the Hill, with the freshman sitcom That ’70s Show, causing the 8:30 slot to lose 34 percent in viewers. ”Our nice lineup has a hole in it,” says Carter. ”Not to take anything away from That ’70s Show — they’re trying their best — but it is struggling.” He also points to CBS’ Sunday movie, now drawing big audiences (it ranks ninth among viewers; X is 13th). ”It changes the quality of the pie,” he adds. ”The slices get smaller for everyone.”

But has the increasingly unwieldy conspiracy also alienated some original fans? Spotnitz doesn’t think so, though the upcoming doubleheader is a way to lighten the load: ”We didn’t know until shortly before [Chris and I wrote the two-parter] that we were going to do it. But after the movie, when we sat down to do the next Mythology show, it felt like the right time. We realized we had reached a critical mass, and that to complicate it further — to dangle another piece of the puzzle — was just too much. And so we got excited suddenly at the idea of everything coming to a head now. It didn’t seem expected to us.”

Carter insists the conspiracy is believable because of its complexity. Yet he’s also aware that the clock is ticking toward the series finale. ”I was thinking today, I have another 28 episodes left. We’ve got to prepare for a big unravel. We figured it would be better to explain the conspiracy now, and make that last arc more emotional and action driven, with less baggage to carry.”

In other words, Carter acknowledges the density of his creation. He will not, however, admit to what plagues many fans: profound confusion. The conspiracy, he maintains, ”is not as complicated as you think.”

Hanging out with the conspiracy’s supporting players is probably a mistake. They are relentlessly cheerful: The more dour they are on camera, the sunnier they are off; Mitch Pileggi (Assistant Director Skinner), William B. Davis (the cancerous Cigarette Smoking Man — or CSM), and Chris Owens (CSM’s son, Agent Spender) smile entirely too much. Way to kill a mood, guys.

But to a man — and this includes Dean Haglund, Bruce Harwood, and Tom Braidwood (Mulder and Scully’s geeky helpers, the Lone Gunmen), and Nicholas Lea (dastardly renegade Krycek) — they are baffled by Carter’s Mythology. Of the upcoming two-parter, Lea admits that after he read the scripts, ”they needed to be explained about four times. Other than that, it was really clever.” He laughs. ”But that’s kind of like the norm. You read a script, then call someone to explain it.” Harwood finds hardcore fans helpful. That they can explain it, he says, ”is scary in itself.”

Skinner is the character most in the dark (a visit to the set reveals even his desk calendar is out of it: The date reads August 1995). And it’s a state of mind Pileggi can relate to. ”I don’t feel either of us has a handle on” the conspiracy, he says. For the two-parter he stuck to his usual methods of preparation: ”I just read my parts and play it as if I don’t know what’s going on. It’s always a surprise when I watch the shows.”

”I am happy that Mitch sees that as a positive,” cracks Duchovny a few days later. ”You know, whatever works for you…. I can’t believe he’s telling people that.”

Duchovny is in his trailer (which, unlike Mulder’s apartment, features a big, tousled bed), waiting to be slimed with black goop for an episode involving a hurricane; given that the wait has just exceeded five hours, he’s remarkably chipper. It’s no secret that Duchovny is occasionally frustrated by the limitations of his character (Mulder, by necessity, is fairly static in his obsessive skepticism and paranoia). So it’s surprising to hear him speak eagerly about the inevitable movie franchise: ”Not that I want to play Mulder for the rest of my life, but my fantasy is to take him into different eras of his life.” Instead of going the James Bond route, he says, where you fire the actor when he gets too old, ”let’s see how funny it is when a guy like this is behaving the same way at 53.”

To keep himself interested in the meantime, Duchovny has written and, for the first time, will direct an X-Files episode (airing in April). ”It’s about the Negro leagues, and an alien who falls in love with baseball. I really love the script, I have to say,” he says, somewhat sheepish in his pride. ”I remember finishing it and going, I wish I had a better director, because I think it could be one of the best episodes we ever did.”

Darren McGavin will star, returning as former FBI agent Arthur Dales of last season’s ”Travelers” — a flashback episode that featured a pre-X-Files Fox Mulder sporting a yet-to-be-explained wedding band. ”That was just me, you know, fooling around,” admits Duchovny, who clearly enjoyed the resulting Internet frenzy. ”I had recently gotten married, and I wanted to wear it. The director was really nervous. ‘You have to call [Chris] to see if the wedding ring is okay.’ I didn’t, until [after the scene was shot]. When I did call, Chris goes, ‘What!?’ I said, ‘No, it’s good. It’s so Mulder to never have mentioned that he was married.’ And he says, ‘Well, that creates a problem. If we ever do a show that takes place seven years ago, you’ll have to be married.’ I said, ‘Do you really have a lot of shows in your head that are going to take place seven years ago?”’

Arthur Miller once wrote: ”He who understands everything about his subject cannot write it. I write as much to discover as to explain.” One could say the same of Carter. Though he’s always known where the conspiracy will end up, he’s been as startled as viewers by the twists and turns occurring along the way. ”The story starts to tell itself,” he says. ”And that’s been very exciting.” But surprises extend beyond his Mythology. For instance, though humor has long been an X-Files hallmark, this season the writers are giving Ally McBeal a run for its funny money (most notably in a hilarious two-parter featuring Michael McKean as an Area 51 official who assumes Mulder’s identity). ”It was something we noticed we were doing after the fact. I think it was a reaction to the bigness and importance of the movie,” says Spotnitz, who adds that the show’s move to L.A. may have subtly encouraged a general lightening of tone.

This drama, in fact, does humor better than most sitcoms, and at no expense to the credibility of its darker, scarier episodes. More remarkable, given X‘s potential for Twin Peaks overload, is the show’s elasticity; it continues to evolve even in its sixth season. ”I’m very impressed that we’re still growing,” says Duchovny. ”It’s funny the way the show organically takes on a form of its own. Nobody decided we were going to turn it into a comedy this year. And we did for a while.”(For those unamused, Spotnitz says the show will follow a straighter path for the rest of the season.)

Even more unexpected, say Carter and Spotnitz, is Mulder and Scully’s escalating affection — something that was strictly taboo during the show’s first couple of years. Coexecutive producer Vince Gilligan, who came on staff in season 3, remembers getting some flak over a mere hint of intimacy in his episode ”Pusher” (about a psychokinetic ninja): ”I scripted that Scully touches Mulder’s hand at the end. And Chris and Frank went, ‘Oh, this is too much, too soap opera-y. But the fans went nuts.”’ And they still do: It was Mulder and Scully’s near kiss in the movie that provoked the greatest whoops of audience pleasure.

Carter has no problem with the ripening sexual tension, but he wants the relationship to remain platonic. ”From an actor’s standpoint, it’s too bad,” says Duchovny. ”I would like to complicate the situation rather than maintain it in this limbo we’re told people like. We’ve been able to go places with the relationship over the years, but we don’t build on it. But that’s the nature of the show — there’s never any accumulation of experience.”

The characters may not accumulate experience, but the facts of the conspiracy have certainly piled up. And at this point in this story, you are probably wondering: When are they gonna reveal something, anything about the two-parter? (Hey, watching The X-Files for six seasons has at least taught us how to tease.) Without spoiling too much: The two episodes will, with breathtaking efficiency and comprehensiveness (the scripts reach as far back as the first season’s finale, ”Erlenmeyer Flask”), establish Cigarette Smoking Man not just as the enforcer of the Syndicate (the government splinter group in cahoots with aliens bent on colonizing the earth), but the conspiracy’s very heart (or lack of one). At long last, his true motives will be revealed — and without, thank God, justifying his cold-blooded methods.

”One of the things that’s always bothered me about TV shows is that as they get older, everybody starts to become a good guy,” says Spotnitz. ”All the conflict is gone because everybody has been rationalized [Revealing CSM’s reasons] is not a desire to make him good — just a way of understanding his character.” So, yes, ”he is still just the worst guy.”

Part 1 begins back in a familiar railway-car operating room, where doctors have finally achieved what the Syndicate and the aliens have been collaborating on since Roswell: a successful alien/human hybrid — none other than repeat abductee Cassandra Spender, former wife of Cigarette Smoking Man, mother of Agent Spender, and last seen being abducted again in season 5’s ”Patient X.” ”One of the first ideas for the two-parter was that Cassandra was going to be returned,” says Spotnitz. ”And the end of the conspiracy, as it’s being promoted, is in the explaining of her importance.”

Though Nazi references have peppered episodes since the first season (as in Purity Control, the name for the hybridization project), they proliferated in the movie, which established the Syndicate as a sort of Vichy government, collaborating with the aliens to save their own sorry hides. The two-parter will continue that story line, with the faceless aliens (the ones with a penchant for torching folk) fulfilling the role of the Resistance. A tidy metaphor, yet (one feels it’s necessary to point out) Nazis as definition of evil — well, hasn’t that been done before? ”Chris’s vision for the show — which all of us acknowledge — is, that, you know, what we’re dealing with is so ridiculous,” says Spotnitz. ”So you need to do everything to make it seem believable, like analogies to things we know to be true.”

Left unanswered: the burning question of Fox Mulder’s paternity. (Duchovny is going the Star Wars route, assuming CSM is Mulder’s Darth Vader of a father: ”It makes mythological sense.” Carter will only add, ”We haven’t said definitely not. What we have said is that he is definitely Samantha’s father.”) Nor will we learn the true significance of Gibson Praise, the psychic brainiac kid, who, according to this season’s premiere, was some kind of missing link. ”The kid — and most certainly the idea of the kid — will come back, [probably] next year,” says Spotnitz. ”He’s key in explaining the idea, argued in the movie, that aliens were here before, and that this kid has got alien DNA, and perhaps all civilians have it.”

In the meantime, we’ll have plenty of drama to entertain us — including a potential alien invasion. For though most of the players’ motivations will be explained, Mulder’s Holy Grail — Samantha — must still be found. This season’s remaining conspiracy episodes, says Carter, will deal with the ”men and women left standing. How are these people going to survive [an alien invasion] and to what lengths will they go to do that?”

”The analogy I make in my own mind,” says Spotnitz, ”is that these episodes are like the fall of the Soviet Union. Players and pieces are still there, but what happens will change the dynamics of everything.”

Carter and Spotnitz are tentatively planning a three-parter to end this season, something they’ve never done before. As for next year, any bets on who’ll be left standing in the series’ finale? ”Out of a cloud of dust, Krycek will walk,” predicts Dean Haglund of the show’s ultimate rogue, the one-armed Rat Boy. Harwood agrees: ”He might have only one leg left, but he’ll be the last one standing.”

 

 

 

Jan-18-1999
San Francisco Examiner
The End is Out There for “The X-Files’
Tim Goodman

Series Creator Claims Finale is Only a Season and a Half Away

PASADENA – Ultimately, we may never know if the truth is out there.

Chris Carter, the man who created “The X-Files” – which is now in its sixth season – said it’s highly unlikely that the show will go beyond a seventh season, so he’s going to start telling the truth.

Of course, that’s a little like a sheep-herding young man we all know crying wolf for the 99th time. Fox is touting a special two-parter on Feb. 7 and 14 – in the heart of sweeps – that “reveals the series’ deepest secrets.”

In fact, Fox says the entire alien conspiracy will come to an end after the two shows. Huh?

“There’s going to be a lot of stuff explained – you’re going to understand this conspiracy after the end of the two-parter,” Carter said Saturday at the Television Critics Association Press Tour. And then, of course, the teaser: “But that doesn’t necessarily mean that everything’s wrapped up and finished.”

Hardcore fans know that “The X-Files” has answered few of the mythology questions it has raised through the seasons, and almost every “truth” revealed comes wrapped in yet another mystery.

This time out Fox suggests we’ll find out what happened to Mulder’s sister, the true motives of Agent Krycek, a secret Agent Fowley is keeping from Mulder, a secret the Syndicate is keeping from the aliens and the true identity of Cassandra Spender and her role with the Syndicate.

If the episodes, titled “Two Fathers” and “One Son,” gives up those answers, then we’re getting somewhere. But the odds of such revelations are slim.

What makes these seemingly yearly promises from Carter so irresistible is that he’s an earnest guy. It’s not like he’s patently lying, with a Hollywood smile and wink. “We’re making some choices, knowing that the show is moving toward a kind of completion, and so we’re planning for that,” Carter said.

He’s ready for “The X-Files” to become a movie series instead of a TV series. “So I’m not looking to spend all my capital, I want to make sure that we continue to have good stories to tell, and that “The X-Files’ continues to have avenues to explore.”

The “capital” Carter refers to is an endless supply of conspiracy theories that fuel fan interest. In short, even after year seven, there’s going to be quite a few loose ends and unsolved mysteries to explore.

“You know watching “The X-Files’ now for some 130-odd episodes, that every time we give you an answer, we also ask a question – that every answer has its own set of questions that come along with it,” Carter said. “I think you can look for more of that.”

Oh, thanks for coming, Chris.

Carter did reveal that the second “X-Files” movie would be delayed – to 2001 or 2002 – because the move of the TV show from Vancouver to L.A. took longer than expected and, if he wanted a movie to follow the final season next year, it would have had to film this summer.

The end of the TV season won’t be a surprise to the network, Carter said, because the talk all along – and the views of the actors – was to end it then. Creatively, he needs to know when the end is coming, Carter said.

“As a storyteller, I want to know where I’m going and what my parameters are, always, so that I can choose when to say what. And certainly with the mythology, it’s important that I know where I’m heading. I don’t want to have the rug pulled out from underneath me.”

Ah, the mythology. That intricate web of government lies, aliens, cloning, bees, black goo and shape shifters. Carter was asked whether he knew, all those years ago, what a convoluted web he would weave.

“It’s amazing to me, now, having the ability to look back after five and a half years of work, how many questions we ask in that pilot, not ever knowing how completely we’d be able to explore everything about the Cigarette-Smoking Man, the conspiracy, what happened to Mulder’s sister,” Carter said. “That whole theme is now, in a weird way – and this is kind of beautiful – that the stories almost dictate themselves. There’s so much that has come and been told that you are, in a way, a slave to the facts that you’ve created, and it’s really a fun way to tell stories.”

For those who need to catch up on the mythology – and that would be just about everyone – the cable channel FX will air “The Complete Conspiracy,” 24 mythology episodes that will lead up to Fox’s sweeps surprise. The FX shows air Jan. 25-29 and Feb. 1-5 (8 and 11 p.m.).

Although Carter and Fox have certainly led viewers down this road before – to momentary enlightenment and then back into the shed of confusion – Carter says the show will indeed be changed by February’s revelations.

“In fact, because so much is going to be explained, you might wonder where we’re going to go,” he said. “And I look forward to dealing with a whole set of problems. And I think when you see the conspiracy exploded, you’re going to see that there are lots of characters who were out there working as free agents that might create strange bedfellows. And I think that’s going to be fun.”

See? When Carter wants to loosen his lips, he can. He even said that The Cigarette-Smoking Man would be “all but stripped of mystery.” Revealing, yes?

And if the end is indeed a season and a half away, Carter needs to get busy. He’s signed to do another pilot (called “Harsh Realm,” a sci-fi effort based on the comic book), and stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are anxious to move on to movies (and no, they’re not signed to do a second “X-Files” movie yet).

Thus the promises of closure – and the hint of more confusion. What it comes down to is this: Do you believe?