Deep Throat:<\/b> \"Calling it a night, Mr Mulder?\"
\r\nMulder:<\/b> \"My mother usually likes me home before the street lights come on.\"<\/p>
Nearing the end of its first season, The X-Files had garnered a fair amount of attention already with its 'freak of the week' stories and some minor nods toward shady goverment dealings and the occasional alien appearance. <\/p>
But it wasn't until the season's end, an epsiode in which Mulder and Scully both come so tantalisingly close to evidence of extra terrestrial life, that the show began to develop the \"mytharc\" that underpinned each and every episode.<\/p>
Highlight:<\/b> The moment Scully picks up the flask, only to be distracted by the inevitable shooting of Deep Throat. Never again will she get so close to the evidence she and Mulder so desperately seek.<\/p>","url":"2008/7/22/The-X-files-TV-series-episode-Erlenmeyer-Flask-3.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The-X-files-(TV-series)-episode-Erlenmeyer-Flask"},{"captionHeading":"THE HOST (Season 2 - Episode 26)","caption":"
Scully<\/b>: \"Where the hell did it come from?\"
\r\nMulder<\/b>: \"I don't know. But it looks like I'm gonna have to tell Skinner that his suspect is a giant bloodsucking worm after all.\"<\/p>
The Host, alongside Ice and Squeeze, is one of the most popular freak-of-the-week episodes, about a man-sized tapeworm living in the sewers. Thinking that his boss, AD Skinner, had sent him to the sewers as punishment, Mulder had little idea man-made chemicals had created a sewer monster. <\/p>
The man behind the mask was actually Darin Morgan, who went on to write and story edit many of the key X-Files episodes over the following 8 years.<\/p>
Highlight:<\/b> The face off between man and tapeworm. After nearly suffering at the hands of the monster, Mulder manages to cut it in half. Only, that's a fate a worm can survive...<\/p>","url":"2008/7/22/The-X-files-TV-series-episode-The-Host-3.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The-X-files-(TV-series)-episode-The-Host"},{"captionHeading":"ANASAZI (Season 2 - Episode - 42)","caption":"
Albert Hosteen<\/b>: \"In the desert, things find a way to survive. Secrets are like this too. They push their way up through the sands of deception so men can know them.\"<\/p>
At the end of season two, The X-Files cranked it up. A three part episode, of which Anasazi was the first, showed the sheer scope of Chris Carter's 'mytharc' vision, and gave the writers an opportunity to flex their muscles. <\/p>
When a hacker gets hold of a document that details 50 years worth of conspiracies, Mulder fights the dark side of the government to get at the file's contents. His search takes him to a boxcar, in which he nearly gets blown up.<\/p>
Highlight<\/b>: Despite the presence of arch enemy Krycek, Scully is forced to shoot a tripping Mulder after his apartment's water is laced with LSD.<\/p>","url":"2008/7/22/The-X-files-TV-series-episode-Anasazi-3.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The-X-files-(TV-series)-episode-Anasazi"},{"captionHeading":"HUMBUG (Season 2 - Episode 44)","caption":"
Mulder:<\/b> \"I could be mistaken. Maybe it was another bald-headed jigsaw puzzle tattooed naked guy I saw.\"<\/p>
In one of the first wacky X-Files, Mulder and Scully must work out who's bumping off members of a local freak show. Over the years The X-Files riffed on numerous movies, including The Thing<\/i> and Frankenstein<\/i>, but Humbug<\/i> took its tale from the obscure low-budget horror, Basket Case<\/i>, where it turns out the killer is the evil siamese twin that lives on his brother's hip. Bizarre indeed.<\/p>","url":"2008/7/24/X-Files-TV-Series-episode-Humbug-3.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"X-Files (TV Series) episode Humbug"},{"captionHeading":"CLYDE BRUCKMAN'S LAST REPOSE (Season 3 - Episode - 53)","caption":"
Mulder:<\/b> \"You got all that information just by handling that keychain?\"
\r\nClyde Bruckman:<\/b> \"Oh no. I sold him a policy a couple of months ago. Just a coincidence.\"<\/p>
Some of the very best X-Files moments came when the show poked fun at itself. The writers had a field day on epsiodes such as Clyde Bruckman, with incredibly witty and knowing scripts. <\/p>
This one in particular concerns a psychic, Clyde Bruckman, whom the FBI are using to solve a case. Mulder, ironically, is the sceptical one as Clyde, for no personal gain whatsoever, does his best to locate a serial killer whom he already knows will cause his demise.<\/p>
Highlight:<\/b> Following Clyde's vision and subsequent tip to turn around to see the killer, Mulder turns around. Only to find the killer is NOW behind him.<\/p>","url":"2008/7/22/The-X-files-TV-series-episode-Clyde-Bruckman-3.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The-X-files-(TV-series)-episode-Clyde-Bruckman"},{"captionHeading":"NISEI (Season 3 - Episode 58)","caption":"
Scully:<\/b> \"What would a Japanese diplomat be doing in that house, with a dead man, with his head stuffed in a pillow case?\"
\r\nMulder:<\/b> \"Obviously not strengthening international relations.\"<\/p>
Having spent 30 bucks on an 'alien autopsy' tape, Mulder begins to investigate the tape's origins, and stumbles across a web of deceit that reaches the highest ranks of several governments. <\/p>
Another classic two-parter, Nisei features everything a fan wants from the show - a witty script, intriguing story and Mulder jumping onto a moving train that includes a boxcar containing an alien - and a ticking bomb.<\/p>
Highlight:<\/b> Unconcious and facing certain death, Mulder's life is saved by Mr X, who kills the bad guy and carries Mulder to saftey, seconds before the box car explodes.<\/p>","url":"2008/7/22/The-X-Files-TV-series-episode-Nisei-3.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The-X-Files-(TV-series)-episode Nisei"},{"captionHeading":"MEMENTO MORI (Season 4 - Episode - 87)","caption":"
Smoking Man:<\/b> \"It's funny. I always thought of you as Fox Mulder's patron. You'd think under your aegis that he wouldn't be consigned to a corner of the basement.\"
\r\nSkinner:<\/b> \"At least he doesn't take an elevator up to get to work.\"
\r\nSmoking Man:<\/b> \"You think I'm the devil, Mr Skinner?\"<\/p>
In this morbid tale, Scully discovers she has cancer, most probably caused by her abduction experience two years earlier, forcing Mulder to investigate the root cause to save his friend. However, the pair believe in different approaches - Mulder thinks he can find a cure by going after the government, while Scully places her faith in both God and science.<\/p>
Highlight:<\/b> The opening monologue from Scully - \"...hoping that you forgive me for not making the rest of the journey with you.\" - is about as heartbreaking a scene as any in The X-Files.<\/p>","url":"2008/7/22/The-X-files-TV-series-episode-Memento-Mori-3.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The-X-files-(TV-series)-episode-Memento-Mori"},{"captionHeading":"REDUX (Season 5 - Episode 98)","caption":"
Skinner:<\/b> You're moving pretty good for a dead man.
\r\nMulder:<\/b> I'm only half dead.<\/p>
It's likely that this X-File was intended to be a part of the big finish - but with 4 more years on the cards, it's importance became diluted in time. <\/p>
With Scully's cancer rapidly deteriorating, Mulder is short on time to find a cure. Enter Michael Kritschgau, a shadowy figure who informs Mulder that everything he's seen since taking over the X-Files was for his benefit alone. A conspiracy wrapped in a lie. Little green men invented by the government to hide the real truth about extra terrestrial life. <\/p>
Highlight:<\/b> Either to keep Mulder on side or simply out of basic human spirit, Cigarette Smoking Man provides Mulder with all he needs to cure Scully's sickness. And lets him walk right out the front door with it, leading to his own apparent demise.<\/p>","url":"2008/7/22/The-X-files-TV-series-episode-Redux-3.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The-X-files-(TV-series)-episode-Redux"},{"captionHeading":"POST MODERN PROMETHEUS (Season 5 - Episode 102)","caption":"
Mulder:<\/b> \"But the monster is supposed to escape, to go search for his bride.\"
\r\nScully:<\/b> \"There's not going to be any bride, Mulder. Not in this story.\"
\r\nMulder:<\/b> \"Where's the writer...? I want to speak to the writer.\"
<\/p>
Beautifully shot in black and white with an undeniably comic-book feel to it (the opening and closing shots of fictional comic \"Mutato Man\" is a clue), the episode is effectively a modern re-telling of the Frankenstein story. <\/p>
The duo arrive in a hick town where all the residents love Jerry Springer, and fear a two-faced monster who is allegedly impregnating the local women. Random and very, very knowing, it's The X-Files at its peak. <\/p>
Highlight:<\/b> When local scientist, Dr Pollidori, explains the process he has come up with to 're-arrange the physical make up' of insects, the irony goes into overdrive. The shot of the Doctor as lightning strikes is pure gold. In monochrome.<\/p>","url":"2008/7/24/The-X-Files-TV-series-episode-The-Post-Modern-Prometheus-1.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The X-Files episode The Post Modern Prometheus"},{"captionHeading":"BAD BLOOD (Season 5 - Episode - 109)","caption":"
Scully:<\/b> \"Oh, you want our stories straight.\"
\r\nMulder:<\/b> \"No, no, I didn't say that! I just want to hear it the way you saw it.\"
\r\nScully:<\/b> \"I don't feel comfortable with that...\"
\r\nMulder:<\/b> \"Prison, Scully! Your cell mate's nickname is going to be Large Marge.\"<\/p>
Highly regarded, not so much for the story - the twosome investigating a case of possible vampyrism - but in the way it was told. <\/p>
The script tells the story from each character's point of view, allowing writer Vince Gilligan to show how the lead characters regard each other. In Scully's version of events, Mulder becomes an obnoxious motor-mouth, while Mulder's tale implies Scully realy needs to get laid. <\/p>
Highpoint:<\/b> Mulder, believing vampires are obsessive compulsive, tosses sunflower seeds on the floor to (successfully) evade an imminent attack.<\/p>","url":"2008/7/22/The-X-files-TV-series-episode-Bad-Blood-3.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The-X-files-(TV-series)-episode-Bad-Blood"}];