 In order to create the effect of Mulder and Scully "melting", special effects producer Bill Millar captured video of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in three-dimensional high-definition video — the two actors were scanned with a special laser at Glendale, California and the results were manipulated by a computer. Millar noted that, "when we looked at our first test, we realized we couldn 't melt Mulder and Scully without some degree of difficulty [...] They had to melt like movie stars [...] without turning Gillian into Margaret Thatcher and David into John Hurt as The Elephant Man". In order to compensate for the difficulties, Millar used a "leading edge" melting effect that melted parts of the actors' faces, keeping their facial features intact until the "goop" overtook them. For other shots, Anderson and Duchovny had to endure hours of being covered by a vegetable-derived food thickener with yellow food coloring that stood in for the fungal secretion. In addition, Anderson and Duchovny were literally buried under the earth for the final scene: large pits were dug and scaffolding was constructed inside of them. The two actors then wore wet suits and were covered in the vegetable fluid and soil.
