page_title: Vienen
section_title: Special effects
hierarchical_section_title: Vienen / Production / Special effects
caption_attribution_description: English: Chocolate syrup - shown topping ice cream
context_page_description: "Vienen" is the eighteenth episode of the eighth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files, and is the 179th episode overall. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on April 29, 2001, on the Fox Network, and in the United Kingdom on June 7. It was written by staff member Steven Maeda, was directed by Rod Hardy, and forms part of the series' overarching mythology. The episode received a Nielsen household rating of 7.4 and was viewed by 11.8 million viewers. "Vienen" received mixed to positive reviews from critics, many of whom appreciated its hearkening-back to the older mythology of The X-Files.
  The season centers on FBI special agents Dana Scully, her new partner John Doggett, and Scully's former partner Fox Mulder, who work on X-Files—cases linked to the paranormal. In this episode, Mulder disobeys orders to stay away from the X-Files and finds himself stranded on a quarantined oil platform with Doggett. They soon discover that the crew has been infected with the black oil, an alien virus that Mulder and Scully have encountered many times before.
context_section_description: The scene in which Mulder and Doggett agree to jump from the oil platform—which was shot in a way that evokes a similar scene in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid—was filmed by having Patrick and Duchovny jump in front of a green screen. Separate footage of the rig exploding, created by combining actual shots of the rig with CGI, was then filmed, and the two shots were composited on top of one another.
  The episode featured the penultimate appearance of the alien black oil; it would appear for a final time via flashback in the series finale. Visual effects for the black oil were created by combining molasses and chocolate syrup with computer-generated imagery (CGI) imagery. Nine takes were needed for the scene in which the black oil pours out of a worker's eyes, ears, and mouth, as the syrupy mixture would not spill correctly.
caption: Chocolate syrup and molasses were used for the black oil visual effect.
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