Many prominent scientists,skeptics and academics are concerned with the portrayal of science in the series. In every episode of The X-Files, science fails. FBI agent Dana Scully, the series' symbol of rational skepticism, is incapable of positing satisfactory scientific explanations for extraordinary plot developments. It is always Fox Mulder's mystical speculation that is onto something. The X-Files taps into the fascination market, feeding on viewer gullibility.
Science is portrayed as weak and critical thinking is pushed aside.
Magical thinking became a national pastime last summer during the mythological 50th anniversary of the crash of an alien spacecraft at Roswell, New Mexico. Many defend the series as mere fiction. In each case one suspect is white and the other black, and at the conclusion of every episode, like science in The X-Files, the black suspect is found to be guilty. The Council for Media Integrity is a network of distinguished international scientists and academics concerned with the balanced portrayal of science in the media. Members of the Council include E.O. Wilson, Stephen Jay Gould, Martin Gardner, and Sir John Maddox.