‘The X-Files’ re-eXamined — ‘Pilot’ [1x1] ★★★☆☆
By: Dan Owen
Tags: TV, Review, Culture, X Files, Television

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson became global stars because of The X-Files, surprisingly quickly, and it’s clear why from this episode. Their characters are clearly defined as being of similar intelligence and professionalism (which wasn’t a given in the early-’90s with male-female duos), but total opposites when it comes to how they choose to interpret the same evidence. Mulder is the believer, Scully is the sceptic. It’s beautifully simple ‘odd double’ traits that others would be replicating across various TV shows and films, as so many took inspiration from The X-Files once it became a phenomenon. And it’s never really stopped, as you see echoes of the ‘Mulder and Scully’ dynamic everywhere. I’m not saying this show did it first, but it did it most notably and turned it into a winning formula.

Fox executives were very happy with getting Duchovny aboard to lead The X-files. At the time was only known for playing transgender DEA agent on Twin Peaks and for Showtime’s softcore erotic drama Red Shoe Diaries. Duchovny’s handsome and charismatic without it seeming forced, so he gets across Mulder’s weirdness without it being offputting or too comical. He’s a cool misfit, thanks to Duchovny’s relaxed performance style.

It seems crazy now that Carter had to fight to keep Gillian Anderson as Scully, who until then had only been acting in plays outside of a few minor TV appearances. Fox wanted someone with more experience and overt sex appeal, which is ironic because Anderson became one of the decade’s defining sex symbols. We all remember the FHM covers, guys and gals.

Anderson acquits herself well in this episode, with Scully coming across as a highly intelligent and focused agent, but also a young woman relatively fresh to the FBI and having to cope with all the crazy nonsense being thrown at her. The scene where she comes to Mulder’s motel room at night, dressed only in a nightgown and underwear, worried she has two of the marks on her back other victims, is a great way to show her vulnerability. But it also carries a familiar spark of chemistry when she takes off her garments for Mulder to deduce she’s been bitten by mosquitoes. Mulder and Scully wouldn’t become a popular ‘will-they-or-won’t-they’ talking point for a year or so, but the signs were always there that these two actors have a natural rapport.

Scenes were shot that featured Scully’s boyfriend, Ethan Minette — involving her cancelling their plans for a holiday due to her assignment to Oregon, and a brief phone call from her motel room while she worked on the case. Fox insisted on these scenes as a way to manufacture some romantic chemistry, as they didn’t feel it was coming from Duchovny and Anderson themselves. I have no idea what they were watching! Admittedly, it’s impossible to watch early X-Files without sensing the lead’s famous chemistry was always there. Maybe we’re kidding ourselves. But I think it was, even at the very beginning. It was just subtle and not coming directly from the pages of the script itself, as Carter wasn’t aiming to create the next Moonlighting.

26 years later, The X-Files remains an impressive pilot that efficiently sets up its quirky characters while teasing an elastic concept. After it ended, one couldn’t help imagining all the other crazy cases Mulder and Scully might get involved with (ghost, werewolves, vampires), if the writers were allowed to go beyond the confines of alien abduction and UFOlogy. It’s low-energy and slightly unremarkable considering the flights of fancy the show later indulged in, but this was exactly the kind of intriguing start needed to hook in viewers.