What to Expect

• A new intro sequence (NEVER USED):
  "The new season of The X-Files will feature a totally re-edited title sequence, utilizing the graphical look seen in the season premiere teasers (slate gray background, clean black text). A montage of footage (both moving shots and still frames) from the previous seasons are included as well as footage from the feature film. The hallway scene (ending before the bee sting) precedes Chris Carter's 'Created by' credit and concludes with the mutated alien lunging toward the screen. Mark Snow has re-recorded and updated his music as well. It is visually stunning." It won't be implemented, but one was made.
• A new tagline: "The Truth Must Be Told." This never happened.
• Occasional Apple Macintosh and iMac sightings, plus look for Mephisto shoes on Mulder's feet.
• Straight from Chris Carter: "I have imagined a scene where they both [Mulder and Scully] wake up in the same bed and they have lost nine minutes. I think it would be kind of provocative."
• There will be 6 mythology episodes.
• There will be 22 episodes.
• 3 episodes with the Lone Gunmen, 4 with CSM, 2 with Fowley, and 1 with the Bounty Hunter.
• "'I am totally involved this season,' says creator Chris Carter. 'I'm slated to write 10 [well, 6 alone or with someone else] episodes, including the season finale, which we're looking at as the end of the series.' Will they go out with a bang? 'Depending on your definition of that phrase, yes, definitely,' says Carter, who adds that, in the send-off, 'Mulder and Scully will do something they've never done before.' You mean, smile?" Chris Carter has had the finale in his head for years.
• Frank Spotnitz: "The impact and implications of DS's findings [in the premiere eps] will reverberate throughout the remainder of the series--not to mention affect DS's own outlook, which historically has been that of the staunch skeptic. The effects of that discovery and what has happened to Mulder will drive all the mythology episodes into the series finale. The series will be continuous with everything that preceded it. It's really continuing the mythology that's been going on since the beginning, but without the conspiracy. And I think people will begin to see how it all reconnects heading towards the end point of the series, assuming the end point of the series is this year. I can tell you that this is a series where, when we write that final episode, it will be the final episode, because there are things that are going to happen so that you will know it's the final episode. We've all been thinking about, in anticipation of this being the last year, what's the best way to send off Skinner, Krycek, Marita Covarrubias, the Cigarette-Smoking Man, and all of these characters that we have come to care so much about. You can expect to see all the major characters involved in the resolution of the series. And we'll deal very directly with Mulder's sister and with the relationship between Mulder and Scully. So we are working out the storylines that will lead to the series finale, and to the place where we leave all these characters as the TV series ends. That's very exciting, while also a huge responsibility, because it's a farewell, and we want to do it just right. And I think there will be a more direct examination of their relationship in the coming year."
• Chris Carter: "[We are] crafting episodes as if it's a sprint to the finish line...." The show will deliver on promises made by the show 7 years ago concerning Mulder's sister and the M&S relationship. "Beyond that, we're going to do really good, scary shows this season. Last year, after the movie, I think we decided to do something different with the show. It was as imaginative as it had ever been, but was also fanciful and somewhat whimsical. I was very proud of year six, but for year seven we want to see if we can get back to scaring the pants off people and maybe take a bit of a break from last year's light episodes."
• Carter: "Sit back, put your feet up, no clicking, and we will explain it all for you." Will we learn more about M&S's personal lives? "Yes, definitely."
• Chris Carter: "This is a year that we are going to explore Mulder and Scully's relationship. I'm not going to say how. But it is going to be pushed. It's going to be developed. And I think by season's end, there are certain fans who have been harrassing me for several years now who might get a little of what they've been whining about for so long."

New/Returning Characters

• Skinner.
• CSM--say goodbye.
• The Lone Gunmen.
• Krycek.
• Samantha (grown and young, in a dream and in the "starlight" respectively).
• Fowley--her days are numbered.
• Morris Fletcher, Suzanne Modeski, and Arthur Dales (the first one) were going to return but it won't happen this season.
• Covarrubias and the Bounty Hunter definitely.
• Frank Black.
• Deep Throat in Mulder's dream.
• Albert Hosteen.
• Michael Kritschgau.
• Mrs. Mulder.
• "Bob [Goodwin] said that Carter has promised that he'd bring [Margaret Scully] back sometime this year." Well, if you count the old shot of her in Scully's "all things" vision....
• Billy Miles and his father and Theresa Nemman from the pilot.

November 21, 1999 and March 26, 2000 7X01: "Hungry" (a.k.a. "Burgerlicious")

• Written by Vince Gilligan, directed by Kim Manners.
• About a fast-food worker named Rob Roberts who likes human flesh a little too much. Scully-lite.
• A dead woman in a blue dress inside a trash can gets dumped into a garbage truck.
• The teaser takes place at the drive-thru.
• OFFICIAL SUMMARY: Appearances can certainly be deceiving. Though a multitude of prosthetic disguises (fake ears, hair, nose, etc.) allows him to function in society looking like a normal human being, a seemingly average man is underneath a frightening "monster" unable to control his terrible compulsion to eat live human brains. Try as he might to suppress the urges that not only leave people dead but also leave him with a maddeningly guilty conscience, the man employs every means available (including Tony Robbins-like motivational tapes) to get control of his gruesome habit. Arriving in this typically American small town while investigating one of these bizarre brain-chewing murders, MULDER and SCULLY set out in search of answers as they unknowingly place themselves in harm's way. As many of the events that unfold are seen from the "monster"'s P.O.V. as he is pursued by the FBI detectives, this is an intriguing look (a la Crime and Punishment) into the conflicted and disturbed mind of a reluctant killer.
• The entire episode, and Mulder and Scully, is from the point of view of Rob Roberts.
• Scully is doing an autopsy for most of the episode, and not seen.
• Roberts goes after M&S, Mulder shoots him with a gun, and Scully sees this. M&S don't get hurt but Roberts does.
• The teaser has a man in the drive-thru get pulled by Roberts out of his car!
• Set pictures and description and another set report.
• First non-set picture!

December 12, 1999 and August 20, 2000 7X02: "The Goldberg Variation"

• Written by Jeffrey Bell, directed by Thomas J. Wright.
• Involves finding a liver for a child.
• Set description.
• The episode takes place in Chicago. Two locations are a hospital and a run-down apartment complex. One scene involves a crash of a truck marked "Shamrock Bakery."
• One character is Henry. He is pursued by 2 thugs in a black limo. They are huge and look like they're in the Mafia. Mulder chases Henry but it's too late--he gets scared into the street by the thugs and is hit by the truck.
• Mulder and Scully go to the apartment complex where there are news people on TV talking about a "death."
• The Shamrock truck hits lots of people. Another scene involves a market and a person winning the lottery.
• OFFICIAL SUMMARY: In an episode that is lighter in tone (a la last season's highly rated [?] "Rain King"), MULDER and SCULLY investigate a man who seems to be just a little too lucky. Since a freak accident caused him to lose his eye, this otherwise normal gentleman has been "cursed" with good luck. Cursed in the sense that although things always seem to go his way, unfortunately the cosmic order of the universe dictates that as lucky as he is, someone must therefore suffer in the reciprocal amount. Caught up in an elaborate real-life Rube Goldberg device, MULDER and SCULLY see first-hand the consequences that occur when luck, coincidence and chance collide to make an event happen just the right way. At its heart a morality tale tinged with emotion, the episodes explores the idea that in life we do not know whether an incident was good or bad until it is seen in a larger context.
• One scene is in a warehouse with hanging chains, laundry carts, etc.
• Someone falls off a building and survives.

November 7, 1999 and May 28, 2000 7X03: "The Sixth Extinction" (a.k.a. "Plans" a.k.a. "Exodus")

• Season premiere. Written by Chris Carter, directed by Kim Manners. Mythology, part 2 of 3. Continues where "Biogenesis" left off, with Mulder in the hospital out of his mind.
• Skinner, Michael Kritschgau, Barnes, and Fowley will be in it.
• OFFICIAL SUMMARY: In a continuation from last season's cliffhanger, we find SCULLY in Africa standing over and supervising the removal of what she believes to be some sort of alien spacecraft. Still reeling from her first exposure to hard "proof" of the existence of extraterrestrial life, SCULLY travels back to the United States to bring this information to MULDER. What she finds upon her return, however, is her partner in a desperate and rapidly deteriorating state of mental and physical health. [The following was changed and wasn't in the final script.] Going in search of answers, SCULLY is approached by a mysterious medical scientist (stunt casting [?]) who claims to know what ails MULDER. Tying MULDER's illness into his previous exposure to the alien virus, the scientist claims that certain parts of his brain, previously inactive in man's evolution, are now coming to life. Slowly putting the pieces of the scientist's theory together, [the following is still true...] SCULLY starts to realize the implications: the newly activated brain matter (triggered by the markings from the alien spaceship) raises the notion that not only might aliens have had a role in human evolution, but also all human beings may share a previously unknown alien ancestry. [More changed things follow.] As SCULLY struggles with this new information, we slowly start to see the link between MULDER's plight and all the alien mythology from seasons past.
• Scully will race desperately to save Mulder, whose mind and body are being destroyed by "some alien illness."
• The seventh-season opener is the first of a two-part episode that begins where last season's cliffhanger left off--Mulder is in a padded cell and Scully is in Africa trying to find out why. To her dismay, Scully's Ivory Coast investigation into the mysterious surface of the spacecraft is joined by two people [Ngebe and Barnes], both with a connection to the late Dr. Merkmallen. Back in D.C., Skinner is told by a doctor that Mulder's brain is exhibiting activity that "none of us has ever seen." But Skinner is able to extract a clue that leads him to one former Mulder ally who's helpful [Kritschgau], while the loyalty of another [Fowley] is dubious.
• Scully camps out in Africa. She is freaked out by a native "vanishing" man who warns her to stay away from the ship.
• Scully gets attacked by...locusts!
• The alien spaceship underwater has writings from all major religions on it.
• Scully whacks Barnes with a chair. She protects herself with a machete.
• Kritschgau is back...and helps Skinner.
• Fowley confesses her love to Mulder and that she betrayed him but still loves him: "I've always loved you. Now we can be together."
• "[One] scene shows Scully in some kind of small, wooden structure, looking toward a lantern that large moths have gathered around. As she goes up to turn the flame down/off, we see someone standing just inside the cloth flap that seems to be an entrance. Scully quickly looks over, saying, 'Who's there? Who's there?' but the figure has disappeared."
• Pictures from this episode and the conclusion: 1, 2, 3, and 4.

November 14, 1999 and June 4, 2000 7X04: "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" (a.k.a. "Prophecy")

• Written by David Duchovny and Chris Carter (Duchovny wrote the dream sequence), directed by Michael Watkins. Mythology, part 3 of 3. Title means "Love of Fate" in Latin. SHIPPINESS ALERT
• New tagline: Amor Fati.
• CSM, Krycek, Deep Throat and Samantha in Mulder's dream, Fowley, Skinner, Kritschgau, Hosteen imagined by Scully, and Mrs. Mulder will be in it.
• OFFICIAL SUMMARY: In the conclusion of a two [three]-episode story arc, as SCULLY continues to search for ways to save her ailing partner, the alien spacecraft is hijacked by unknown sources [last episode]. Distraught over losing possession of this incredibly valuable (in terms of the information it may reveal) commodity, SCULLY now must face the reality that she has no allies in her search for the truth. MULDER meanwhile, in a coma-like state at this point, starts to envision (a la The Last Temptation of Christ) what his life would have been like if he had not taken up his all-consuming alien quest. Acting as voyeurs in this dreamlike fantasy (all this is taking place in MULDER's head), we see how the world would be a different place if our hero had not taken the road less traveled. [The following was changed.] Back in the real world however, SCULLY, no longer protected by her partner, is approached by a newly contrite CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN who attempts to persuade her that he is "good" and simply acting in the best interests of mankind. Not knowing who to trust, SCULLY turns to the mysterious scientist in the hopes that above all else, he will be able to save MULDER. As events unfold and MULDER starts on the road to recovery, we come to understand that the scientist is a good person who unfortunately has fallen in league with the "bad guys." Having grown very fond of SCULLY, he will ultimately sacrifice himself to save both her and MULDER.
• Mulder's vision: Mulder will be married to Diana and they will have children and live in a house that CSM has given to them. He and Fowley kiss.
• Deep Throat is Mulder's guide through his vision.
• "'Amor Fati' second unit call sheet for 9/24/99 didn't show much that we don't already know except that the sixty-year-old Mulder will be wearing a fat pad [in the vision]." (From the Haven's source.)
• Fowley and CSM play a mysterious part in Mulder's illness.
• Mulder disappears from the hospital.
• Whether CSM is Mulder's father is brought up.
• Mulder becomes reinvested and gets a new spirit in his quest.
• Mulder's illness was caused by his exposure to the black oil.
• Mulder is taken from the hospital to "a kind of witness-protection program," and Skinner tells Scully he must distance himself from the case.

November 28, 1999 and January 30, 2000 7X05: "Millennium" (a.k.a. "Strawberry.com")

• Written by Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz, directed by Thomas J. Wright. SHIPPINESS ALERT
• Takes place in Frederick County, Maryland and has to do with raising the dead. There is a widow in the cast whose husband has just committed suicide.
• This is the Millennium crossover (M&S meet Frank in a psych ward!!! while on the case). One scene involves Frank Black talking to a man outside his house about something he may be concealing in his basement. Jordan makes a brief appearance (but no other characters from the show are in it).
• Former FBI agent Frank Black is called in to aid Mulder and Scully in an investigation of a series of ritualistic killings, which have been linked to the Millennium Group.
• Mulder and Scully enlist the help of former FBI agent Frank Black to unravel a mystery of apocalyptic proportions. The agents race against time to stop a member of the Millennium Group who holds the ability to summon the dead and plans to use this power to end the world as the millennium draws to a close.
• Chris Carter: "There is a very special moment for Mulder and Scully. They do a very traditional act for New Year's Eve [THEY KISS, THIS IS CONFIRMED!!]!"
• Skinner is in it. Dick Clark plays himself too on TV.
• Chris Carter: "[We're going to] wrap up that character [Frank Black]."
• "The 'Millennium' second unit call sheet for 10/5/99 was a little hard to decipher. At least part of the episode will take place in Florida. The transportation dept. was called on to provide multiple FBI sedans/Suburbans and 3 Florida police cars, also the funeral director's sedan, 'ND Man's Panel Truck' and 2 water trucks. There are plenty of calls for 'rainy, foggy, misty nightwork.' Scene #4, shot in a cemetery, includes the descriptions 'Mulder inside grave talks to Scully regarding evidence' and 'Crime scene--Mulder reads clues. It looks like someone inside really wanted to get out. Begin Act 1.' The advance shooting schedule calls for set names that include Mulder's POV on ND Man's house, Mulder getting locked in his basement, Mulder getting in trouble, and one that says 'Flares, Bullets and Zombies, oh my.' Scene #45 'Basement--Scully arrives on time' (so she has to save his butt again, after all these years some things will never change). Scene #46 'Medical Center--Happy New Year Everyone.' Unfortunatly more than just M&S are called for this scene." (From the Haven's source.)
• Previous rumor, changed: "The rumored plot for the crossover (which has yet to be written or even outlined) focuses on Mulder and Scully investigating some weird crime or incident that, at first, seems to be tied into the series' own mytharc, but the two learn of a mysterious millennium cult made up of former and present FBI agents that is really behind it. [The Millennium Group is involved.] Frank Black is consulted by them, and our intrepid agents see the arrival of the new millennium through his eyes--literally or figuratively, I don't know. There's a major plot point about these cult members and their families convening together in some forest, "sacred ground" area in some kind of creepy Y2K survivalist and Jonestown means. That's the basic idea CC has in mind. It will be a bona-fide X-Files episode concerning the new millennium set against New Year's Eve but all the guest stars and characters will be from Millennium. This is what I've been told through the prelim story sessions for the series' upcoming episodes thus far."
• If this episode is successful, Frank Black may return in more episodes.
• Pictures from this episode: 1 and 2.

December 5, 1999 and August 13, 2000 7X06: "Rush"

• Written by David Amann, directed by Robert Lieberman (he directed the TV movie of Titanic and the popular movie Fire in the Sky).
• OFFICIAL SUMMARY #1: Investigating a number of unexplained murders in a small Midwestern town (changed to somewhere in Virginia--located near the fictional Skyland Mountain), MULDER and SCULLY discover a strange gang of teenagers headed by a charismatic yet frightening young man. Suspecting that this group is somehow behind the crime spree, MULDER and SCULLY eventually discover a powerful vortex emanating from a split in the Earth in the gang's headquarters in a cave on the outskirts of town. Exposure to the vortex allows humans to move faster than the eye can see, enabling the teens to carry out their deeds unnoticed. Aided in their investigation by a teen recently transplanted to town who challenges the gang's leader, MULDER and SCULLY will help us to explore how bad people will often take advantage of the emotional vulnerabilities of young impressionable kids.
• OFFICIAL SUMMARY #2: When an innocent teen recently transplanted from the big city is accused of the gruesome and unexplained murder of a sheriff's deputy in a small Midwestern town, MULDER and SCULLY arrive on the scene to investigate the bizarre crime. The crime has supernatural underpinnings; it appears the murder is linked to people who move faster than the eye can see. A series of frightening incidents point Mulder and Scully in the direction of the sheriff's charismatic, but troubled, teenage son. As MULDER and SCULLY race against time to prevent the sheriff's son from unleashing his "speed rage" on an unsuspecting town, we see not only how quickly absolute power can corrupt an individual but also how easy it is to prey on the emotional vulnerabilities of impressionable kids.
• Chuck's back again!
• "The call sheets I received for 'Rush' are first unit, 10/8/99 complete and small ones for 10/7 and 10/11. Also a few pages from the script! The shooting is taking place at Rose City High School in Pasadena, to be called Adams High in the episode. The three main kids seem to be Tony, Chastity, and Max. Max's dad is the local sheriff, Sheriff Harden. There is a dead cop in the beginning and Tony is being questioned about it. Chastity knows something but is hesitant to talk. She is about to share with M&S when Max shows up and tells her she shouldn't say anything unless they have a warrant. Max is suspected of paranormal behavior, at least by Mulder. It seems Max has had rising discipline and attendance problems at school, but his grades have gone way up. This is shown to us as Max aces his science midterm in one minute. His teacher, Mr. Babbit, thinks he cheated so he flunks Max. Big mistake. Mr. Babbit dies in a grisly accident in the cafeteria, after we see Max leaning on a nearby wall. Mr. B is pinned to the wall by a table and a chair flies through the air and lodges itself into the wall, smashing the teacher's head flat as a pancake. How X-Filian." (From the Haven's source.)
• There are globs of goo that Mulder suspects have something to do with the killing. He thinks Max has psychokinetic powers and that he knows what the goo is. Max collapses in the parking lot after the attack. (From the Haven's source.)
• A funny little script tidbit: "In school hallway Max looks Scully up and down then says as he walks away: 'You must have been a Betty back in the day.' Scully turns to Mulder and says: 'A Betty?' Mulder: 'Back in the day.' Of course then Scully's phone rings." (From the Haven's source.)

January 9, 2000 and August 6, 2000 7X07: "Orison"

• Written by Chip Johannessen (from Millennium), directed by Rob Bowman.
• The "Irresistible" sequel. Donnie is in jail for his previous crimes, but manages to escape with help from a ghost-like prison chaplain. As in "Irresistible," Donnie has a fetish for women's hair/nails, and ends up going after Scully.
• Nick Chinlund: "Donnie has been in prison. He's been incubating all of his disease. It's a heightened five-years-in-wait version of him that you'll see. He's stepped up a notch. Orison is a prison preacher who tries to save Donnie, and so you have a battle there. Basically, Donnie and the Devil are released from prison and havoc ensues. There's more religious significance to 'Orison' than 'Irresistible,' and more of the devilish aspect is explored. There was one very powerful graveyard scene we did for 'Orison'--which I can't tell you about--that was very difficult for me."
• OFFICIAL SUMMARY: Investigating the unsolved disappearance of a prison's death row inmates, MULDER and SCULLY discover a prison priest whose ancient religious chants create some kind of mass hypnosis that allows the condemned men to "escape" unnoticed. Believing he has been called to a higher purpose in life (due to his being earlier in life acquitted of a murder he actually committed), the priest believes it is his mission to lead the death row inmates on a new path to heaven. Confronting a long-forgotten fear by using her memories of a childhood song to dissect the chant's hypnotic messages, SCULLY must call on all her powers of deductive reasoning to not only convince MULDER of her theory but also expose the priest before his actions lead to even bigger "cosmic" damage. [Some of the above was different in the final episode--Donnie Pfaster was added into the story after this summary was written.]
• Scully-centered. Orison is the priest.
• "Now, the song in question is the song Scully keeps hearing throughout the day. Three times she hears it...and it was a song she hasn't heard since high school. Now, what's odd, is that Scully admits earlier in the day that this song was the song she was listening to when she found out her Sunday school teacher was murdered. It was a moment of her realizing the existence of good and evil in the world. On this particular day, she has heard it three times and the day is revolving around their investigation of 3 escaped convicts (one Donnie Pfaster included). Now, to make it even more confusing, when Scully questions a Rev. Orison who is involved, he talks to her about her faith....and calls her 'Scout'...the name the Sunday school teacher used to call her. So, we have an interesting story, folks. Good vs. evil. A further exploration of Scully's faith (which may be weak considering this premiere stuff) and some icky Donnie Pfaster stuff that could create some shippy moments." (From the Haven's source.)
• "How's this: Mulder receives a phone call, but he isn't home. The marshall leaves a message on Mulder's machine. 'Agent Mulder, this is Marshall ?? (didn't catch the name). Just talked to a call girl who ID's Donnie Pfaster as an attacker. Said Pfaster got real upset when she was wearing a wig. Upset she wasn't a redhead. This mean anything to you? Appreciate a call back.' Mulder comes in after the call. Feeds the fish. Doesn't check the machine." (From the Haven's source.)
• "Reuniting with Carter, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson was great, Chinlund says. But the real surprise for him involved director Bowman, who he says not only helped shape the performances, but also oversaw the intricate special effects required to pull off several scenes in which Pfaster maneuvers in real time as everyone around him carries on in super-slow motion."

January 16, 2000 and June 11, 2000 7X08: "The Amazing Maleeni" (a.k.a. "The Great Maleeni")

• Written by Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, and Frank Spotnitz; directed by Thomas J. Wright.
• A lighter episode about a magician (Maleeni). Magician Ricky Jay guest stars also. Maleeni stages a bank robbery during the day using his magic.
• About the mysterious death of a magician. Takes place in California.
• Scully's autopsy contradicts her suspicion of murder in the case of a small-time magician who amazed his audience by doing a 360-degree turn with his head.
• "As they are walking down a hallway, Scully gets on her knees in front of him and shows him a trick!"

January 23, 2000 and July 2, 2000 7X09: "Signs and Wonders"

• Written by Jeffrey Bell, directed by Kim Manners.
• It's about a fire and brimstone church, the Church of God with Signs and Wonders, that is one of those snake-handling churches.
• LOTS of snakes! "Small town preacher's daughter gets herself in the family way without a ring on her finger. Enter trouble. Some very interesting Scully stuff in this one. At one point she has her hand shoved in a box of rattlers."
• Takes place in McMinn County, Tennessee, in a fictional town called Blessing. M&S "investigate macabre happenings in a snake-handling church congregation" and a "series of bizarre and unexplained snakebite deaths" occurring in a religious context.
• Mulder collapses from snakebites.
• There is a scene of a woman giving birth to a snake in the church.

February 6, 2000 and August 27, 2000 7X10: "Sein Und Zeit"

• Mythology, part 1 of 2. Written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz (first draft only by CC), directed by Michael Watkins. Title means "Being and Time."
• About parents suspected of abducting their own children.
• Skinner and Mrs. Mulder are in it.
• There's a Santa Claus killer named Ed Truelove involved that has done a number of murders in this two-parter that Mulder even hopes a la "Paper Hearts" might lead to some clues about Samantha.
• OFFICIAL SUMMARY: The strange disappearance of a little girl, Amber Lynn LaPierre, leads Mulder to make connections with previous unexplained kidnappings. As he begins to personalize the investigation, Scully believes he is associating the case with the abduction of his sister. In one scene, Skinner has just briefed his agents assigned to finding the missing girl. Mulder demands to work the case even though there is no indication that it is an X-file.
• Mulder's mom apparently commits suicide (highlight).
• One character in the teaser is watching Harsh Realm and says: "This is good!"
• "This ep involves the unexplained disappearances of a number of children and the subsequent investigations of their parents (a la JonBenet Ramsey). However, Samantha's disappearance is linked here as well. This probably turns into more of a mythology episode for the 2nd part. There looks to be a good Scully/Mulder scene. After Mulder finds out about his mother's death (highlight) he breaks down in Scully's arms and she spends the night at his apartment! But, nothing happens."
• "Scully does the autopsy and discovers that Mrs. Mulder had cancer (a very disfiguring sort, called Paget's carcinoma) and thus, Scully thinks this is why she [committed suicide]. But, Mulder knows his mother was trying to tell him something related to the kidnapping; she left a message on his answering machine. It appears like it may come out that she was murdered (highlight)."
• Mulder discovers information that re-opens the case of his sister's abduction 25 years earlier.
• Mulder appears to have his own agenda as he disputes preliminary evidence--and other agents' opinions--in the kidnapping of a 5-year-old girl.
• A bizarre kidnapping sets up a two-part tale in which Mulder's quest for his long-missing sister Samantha comes into play. The victim is a 5-year-old girl who vanished from her bedroom while her parents were home. Prior to the child's disappearance, the father had troubling visions of her. And evidence suggests that a note--threatening harm, but demanding no ransom--was written by her mother. Mulder insists on pursuing the case, and finds a clue that leads to a prison inmate. Meanwhile, Mulder receives a very cryptic phone message from his mother.

February 13, 2000 and September 3, 2000 7X11: "Closure" (a.k.a. "Sein Und Zeit: Aliatope")

• EPISODE 150!! Mythology, part 2 of 2. Written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, directed by Kim Manners.
• CSM and Mrs. Mulder's ghost are in it.
• New tagline: Believe to Understand.
• Mulder's search for clues to his sister Samantha's abduction culminates in a race against time to find the long-sought-after answers to his sister's fate.
• The Cigarette-Smoking Man indirectly aides Mulder and Scully in the search for clues to the abduction of Mulder's sister.
• A psychic's mention of spiritual intervention wins Mulder's trust as he joins the search for Amber Lynn LaPierre, who, he says, is connected to Mulder's sister Samantha.
• There will be "a mini-seance and Mulder suggesting spin-the-bottle with Scully; a schizophrenic lead; the reappearance of Mulder's mom; a journal from 1979 and a 14-year-old girl; CSM waiting for Scully in Scully's apartment...and for some reason I enjoy the fact that she tells him he looks sick."

February 20, 2000 and June 25, 2000 7X12: "X-Cops" (a.k.a. "Bad Boys")

• EPISODE 150 (not including the pilot)!! Written by Vince Gilligan, directed by Michael Watkins (originally to be David Duchovny). Cops executive producer John Langley was a consultant for this episode.
• "Mulder and Scully accidentally get mixed up with Bad Boys. Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?"
• "At the L.A. Expo a couple of years ago, Vince mentioned that he'd pitched an idea to CC regarding an episode where Mulder and Scully drive around, dealing with a series of weird things a la Cops...."
• "Television cameras catch Mulder and Scully in the act."
• "So here's some info. The plan is to shoot this thing on video 'gun and run' style [on Betacam 600 video cameras], and even try to copy the Cops music, legends, and title sequence. They'll curse a lot and bleep out what won't pass the censors. The cops in this episode are the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. There is a full moon and a report comes in of a claw monster lurking about. Oh, and Scully? She *hates* the camera. Well, they [M&S] happen to be looking for the 'claw monster' too when the cops being filmed run into them and they join forces."
• "Hey, X-Files fans, break out the brewskies and polish up the Pinto, Chris Carter & Co. are working on a special episode that mimics the style of Fox's shaky-cam reality show, Cops. The brainchild of X-Files co-exec producer Vince Gilligan, the episode will follow a rookie cop on the streets of Los Angeles, where he bumps into Mulder and Scully. 'X-Files, in my mind, is sort of a cool and different Cops,' says Gilligan. Still under consideration is whether the Feb. 20 show will open with the familiar Cops logo. 'We don't want people tuning in, seeing Cops, and saying, "What the heck? Our show was preempted this week." We need to try to make clear that it's indeed an episode of The X-Files.' Okay, but can we at least get to see Mulder in a grimy tank top?"
• The Cops title sequence will in fact be used.
• A set report describes a pink-haired prostitute.
• Chris Carter: "Telling a story the way they would on Cops gives us a chance to create different kinds of scares than we've ever done before. It's exciting to be taking risks and doing something unexpected in our seventh year."
• Agents Scully and Mulder are mistaken for suspects by the Los Angeles Sheriff's department.
• The Lone Gunmen were originally slated to appear in this episode, but were axed when "they couldn't figure out why the Gunmen would be in L.A."
• Mulder and Scully check up on Steve and Edy, a pair of bickering queens who are in danger of being the next victims. In classic Cops style, the agents get caught in the crossfire of a dish-smashing catfight. "He treats me with disrespect!" Edy wails. "We're not here to get involved in personal problems," says Mulder.
• "It begins on a ride-along with an L.A. County sheriff's deputy, who is investigating a report of a 'monster' in a drug-plagued neighborhood during a full moon. Suddenly, their patrol car is attacked and turned upside-down. Responding units find two 'suspects': Mulder and Scully, who say they're on the same case--looking for a werewolf."

February 27, 2000 and July 16, 2000 7X13: "First Person Shooter"

• Written by William Gibson and Tom Maddox, directed by Chris Carter (second unit directed by Rob Bowman).
• Not a sequel to "Kill Switch." This episode will have the Lone Gunmen in it.
• "That same smirking humor imbues his newest X-Files effort to be aired this season; it's 'about testosterone,' says Gibson. 'It's about why computer games are such boys' things.' The episode takes place in a video-game design studio that's struggling to meet a deadline on a Final Fantasy VII-type project when the programmers begin dying off. The culprit? An avenging angel--Lara Croft gone bad--who's using virtual reality to even the score."
• "The Gunmen bring Mulder and Scully in on this case of software gone bad. Lots of geek testosterone in this one. A cyberbabe wreaks havoc on a first-person shooter game's development."
• Mulder and Scully investigate a murder inside the high-tech world of a virtual reality game, and Scully must battle a deadly digital character to save Mulder's life.
• The Lone Gunmen "do an unusual (for them) amount of running and yelling in this ep, chiefly in the virtual reality environment. And M&S have to come in and save the day. [TLG] were on a night shoot, which they said was unusual for them."
• The ep is set in the world of virtual reality games as the agents try to find "Maitreya."
• The agents try to locate Phoebe's "goddess."
• While investigating the murder of a teen killed while playing a virtual-reality game, Agents Mulder and Scully enter the high-tech virtual game to track down their suspect.
• "'I basically have to kick David Duchovny's butt all over the screen.' So says Krista Allen, the ex-star of NBC's Days of Our Lives, whose next gig is in 'First Person Shooter,' the February 27 episode of Fox's The X-Files. In it, she plays a sword-swinging, gun-slinging fantasy goddess in a virtual-reality game. 'I give him triple-spin kicks to the chest and face,' she says."
• "Xybernaut Corporation, the leader in wearable computing solutions, announced that Fox Network's hit sci-fi television show, The X-Files, will be running an episode that features its product, the Mobile Assistant IV (MA IV)."

March 12, 2000 and July 9, 2000 7X14: "Theef"

• Written by Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, and Frank Spotnitz; directed by Kim Manners.
• This episode is set in San Francisco and is about a doctor's family being threatened by hexcraft.
• The "Theef" in the title refers to the word "Theef" scrawled in blood on the wall of the "Bay Area Doctor of the Year" when he discovers his dead father-in-law in the teaser.
• Dr. Robert Weider is caught in the middle of a series of bizarre and connected murders with characteristics pointing to the occult.

March 19, 2000 and June 18, 2000 7X15: "En Ami"

• Written by William B. Davis, directed by Rob Bowman. Mythology. Title is French for "As a Friend."
• William B. Davis's 3rd story idea paid off--he wrote a script having to do with what CSM does outside of the conspiracy, and his "relationship" with Scully.
• "It's about a cure for cancer that involves men in suits. And the kid in the teaser who gets cured (and he has those God-will-cure-you-not-medicine-type parents) has a scar on his neck very similar to that of Miss Scully."
• The Lone Gunmen, Skinner, and the Black-Haired Man are also in it.
• "This episode [is] Mulder-lite to accommodate DD's promo week [for Return to Me]. In the parts of the script I have seen (which is nowhere near all of it mind you) Scully is doing a lot of running around by herself. Well until CSM ends up in her car."
• "It's about a young boy with cancer whose parents refuse to treat him because of their religious beliefs. Protestors show up at their house and rush their car as they pull up their driveway. There are reporters and photographers and police trying to keep everyone back as the family rushes into the house."
• Agent Dana Scully holds a disk she believes contains the cure for cancer.
• Two locations are a cabin that is CSM's and a federal facility.

April 2, 2000 and July 23, 2000 7X16: "Chimera"

• Written by David Amann, directed by Cliff Bole.
• Very little Scully (prep for GA's episode). "It's got monsterish murders in a small Vermont town with a raven constantly hanging around being foreboding. It starts out as a missing-person case that Skinner pulls Mulder off of surveillance to pursue leaving Scully alone on said surveillance and in contact via cell phone."
• "Be on the lookout for some real shippiness from Mulder. He reveals his feelings without revealing."
• "[The monster]'s a lizardy-looking thing with long arms and clawed hands and long frizzy straight-black hair. You could almost say he looks sort of American-Indian only with a lizardy body and skin. Also, he's got these hooky nub thingys down his spine. They were filming a woman standing at the driver's-side window of a dark-green Jeep Cherokee. They call 'Action!' and hit something and she jumps and screams and then looks around. This is in broad daylight. There were Vermont license plates on the cars and flyers tucked underneath windshield wipers with 'HAVE YOU SEEN THIS...' and a color photo. Sorry, I didn't get a good look except when a guy came to pick up the flyers and the plates but I think it was a young woman or a child in the photo."
• "Scully is...on assignment elsewhere, watching the entrance to a strip club. Bored out of her mind. Calling Mulder every so often to complain, while he's having a good time investigating his X-file."
• Agent Fox Mulder discusses the disappearance of a missing woman with Sheriff Phil Adderly.
• "This seems to be an Easter episode, with a monster that looks a lot like Marilyn Manson! It involves a woman who turns into this monster. Mulder has a fight scene. There may be a good scene with Mulder and Scully where she asks him if he's as miserable as she is."
• "As Mulder looks for a menacing raven, he learns to enjoy the creature comforts of a well-tended home. Scully, meanwhile, must tough it out on an uncomfortable stakeout."

April 9, 2000 7X17: "all things"

• Written and directed by Gillian Anderson. SHIPPINESS ALERT
• "It delves into Scully's struggles between her place in life as an FBI agent and as a medical doctor," GA says.
• Frank Spotnitz: "You'll see Scully's belief system examined in a way unlike any we've done before."
• "This should be an interesting one for Scully fans. Introspection about the character, her choices, and a look at a relationship from her past. Mulder is in it, but it is Mulder-light. If I were to do one of those press-release blurbs it might read: A hospital chart mixup puts Scully in contact with a man from her past who was part of the reason she left medicine for the FBI."
• "Scully reunites with a doctor who was once her professor. He had advised her not to join the FBI--not only for professional reasons but for romantic reasons as well. She also meets up with his daughter who blames Scully for the breakup of her parents' marriage."
• Fans of the relationship between Scully and Mulder are in for a tasty treat. There's even a visit of sorts from God.
• "Scully contrasts her medical background with the metaphysical world."

April 30, 2000 and December 31, 2000 7X18: "Hollywood A.D."

• Written and directed by David Duchovny. "A.D." refers to the time after Jesus's crucifixion. SHIPPINESS ALERT
• Guest-starring Téa Leoni and Garry Shandling, playing themselves.
• Skinner is heavily involved in this episode. "There is a funny scene involving or referring to the question about a romance developing between Skinner and Scully."
• Comedian Garry Shandling plays Mulder and Duchovny's real-life wife Leoni plays Scully in a film about the X-files being made in Hollywood within the episode, and M&S visit the production: "I'm doing an X-Files episode in which I get to make out with Téa Leoni, David Duchovny's wife--I think you see my ploy," says Shandling, who claims that work usually interferes with his romantic life. "I'm doing that in the middle of March, in which I play the Mulder character in an X-Files film version, and David comes to see if it's being depicted accurately. I play him, and Téa Leoni plays Scully [with a red wig], and I make out with her. They're all good friends of mine."
• Like the real X-Files film (FTF), the fictional one emphasizes the romance between Mulder and Scully.
• Chuck Burks (the real one) and the "Cigarette-Smoking Pontiff" are in it.
• The episode deals with a "Lazarus Bowl" made of clay that brings dead people to life. Chuck consults the real Scully about the possibility. The Lazarus Bowl is the X-file in the film version, and the real Mulder also investigates it. The film is also called The Lazarus Bowl.
• DD wanted to cast Oliver Stone as "a disaffected Yippie from the '60s who's taken to forging religious documents and extorting money from the Church. The guy thinks that in order to become an expert in forging he's got to immerse himself in the life and culture of Jesus Christ, and he somehow transforms himself into Jesus. Being an explosives expert, he then bombs the church where his forgeries are being kept, because now that he's become Jesus he realizes that his forgeries are wrong. There's a scene where Scully hallucinates him on a crucifix. The cross is only three feet high, so you'd see a little three-foot Oliver."
• DD: "A friend of mine, an actual FBI agent, is trying to make movies and sell stories, really good stories. I just thought, what if Skinner was up to that? I wanted to do the difference between the actual X-file, which of course is already Hollywoodized because of the show. I had the actual frame I needed to find an X-file that I could hang it on."
• "The Hollywood producer/writer is Skinner's old college friend. His name is Federman. He follows Mulder and Scully around on the Lazarus Bowl case and basically annoys them."
• "Minnie Driver, David Alan Grier, and Chris Carter [have cameos]. Look for a clever bit with [DD's] stand-in/photo double Steve."

April 16, 2000 and July 30, 2000 7X19: "Brand X"

• Written by Steven Maeda and Greg Walker, directed by Kim Manners.
• Skinner is in it.
• "It's about a conspiracy at Morley Tobacco Company. It starts with someone who was going to blow the whistle on them dying a horrible death. It has a lot of Skinner in it and evil tobacco beetles. When you get a cough in this episode it is a NASTY cough. Oh, and Mulder is in the hospital at one point."
• "An insider helps Mulder and Scully uncover the tobacco industry's latest development."

May 7, 2000 7X20: "Fight Club"

• Written by Chris Carter, directed by Paul Shapiro (from Millennium).
• "[It] is the tale of Betty and LuLu, doppelgangers who have followed each other around the States leaving destruction in their path, and both land in Kansas City. Bad things happen when these two are around each other. The teaser has two missionaries beating each other up. They are not the only doppelgangers though. The first time we see 'Mulder' and 'Scully' in this episode we really see 'The Man Who Looks Like Mulder' and 'The Woman Who Looks Like Scully.'"
• "The Man Who Looks Like Mulder" and "The Woman Who Looks Like Scully" are played by actors who resemble DD and GA very closely (DD's double and Arlene Pileggi). Suddenly Susan's Kathy Griffin plays Betty and LuLu.
• The episode involves wrestling and a match between wrestlers played by the Van Daminator and Randall "Tex" Cobb.

May 14, 2000 and January 28, 2001 7X21: "Je Souhaite"

• Written and directed by Vince Gilligan. Title is French for "I Wish." SHIPPINESS ALERT
• Stars Mad TV's Will Sasso. Skinner is in it.
• The episode revolves around a genie and a neat twist on the three-wishes scenario. It looks like Mulder ends up with three wishes in the episode. The genie is called Jenn; in Act Three Mulder and Scully question her and she is upset because people always make the wrong wishes. In the teaser someone wishes [someone else to shut up].... How Mulder gets his wishes is carpet-related, actually Persian rug-related! Mulder gets involved when he gets a visit from someone who has been a victim of the genie trying to fulfill someone's wish.
• "It is about a 'jinni' or genie as we spell it who when unrolled from her rug grants the person 3 wishes, but you better think before you wish. Unfortunately some rather idiot brothers come into contact with her to start...."
• Involves someone being invisible.
• "It definitely has something for everyone--creepy X-Files story and a really nice shipper-friendly moment at the end."

May 21, 2000, October 29, 2000, and June 3, 2001 7X22: "Requiem"

• Season finale, part 1 of 3. Written by Chris Carter, directed by Kim Manners. Mythology. SHIPPINESS ALERT
• "At least a portion of the episode is set in Bellefleur, Oregon, which you may remember from the pilot, and Billy Miles and his father Detective Miles [and Teresa Nemman] have some role in the episode. Mulder and Scully are questioned by the FBI about their expenses over the years. Marita and Krycek fans also look like they may have cause to be pleased, looks like they'll be in this one."
• CSM, Skinner, the Bounty Hunter, and the Lone Gunmen are also in it, plus a mean FBI guy (Special Agent Chesty Short) who questions Mulder and Scully.
• The episode deals with abductions that are continuing even though the Project was destroyed, in Oregon where Mulder and Scully worked on their first X-file together. The FBI asks M&S to make their search for the truth more "focused" and "responsible," i.e., less costly.
• "Yes, Scully is terrorized for not reigning Mulder in as she was supposed to as a scientist and forced to admit she's not exactly a complete disbeliever [cut scene], and Mulder is told he's not being fiscally responsible. So when Billy Miles calls them Scully says 'So, let's go waste some money.' What's interesting is that from what I've seen they do visit the woods again, and something really wild happens to Scully there that is described as she being 'shaken at some kind of warp speed.'"
• Description of CC at the University of California, Santa Barbara (an appearance I missed by a DAY): "He did promise that the season finale will be very important to the mythology, and hinted (in the episode-teasing manner) that it might involve the missing scene from 'all things' (which he co-wrote the ending for) in some manner. When an audience member asked what went on between the couch and the bedroom, he said, 'That's a very important question to ask,' and that it might become clear in the finale. ...While he referred to his widely known statement that a physical relationship would never happen, he didn't make any present references (again the 'all things' hint hint)."
• Someone will die.
• CC: "I'll tell you there's going to be a very big surprise in the season finale coming up."
• Frank Spotnitz: "I would expect a direct conclusion to seven years of unrequited sexual tension."
• John Shiban: "There is a plan for [the conclusion of the series]. We always felt it would take at least two episodes to do it--if not more. We really want to do it right." Hmph.
• Frank Spotnitz: "We're probably going to piss off a lot of people."
• Gillian Anderson said that the last line Scully says explains a lot of things and answers a lot of questions.
• The following is alleged by a number of "in-the-know" fans, but is said to be completely false by 1013: The hallway hug scene included a kiss that was cut since this episode was not the series finale. The kiss, plus another cut part from the M&S bed scene, would have been included if this was the last season.
• Script differences. Even more.

Others

• Darin Morgan had an idea for an episode, but not a comedy one, about the picture from the "Anasazi" trilogy, and the identity of another one of the people. Won't be made.
• "Night of the Living Dead," directed by George Romero and written by Stephen King (his second after "Chinga"). One scene would have had a woman dying of fright after seeing a "zombie" who is really Mulder. That would have been great, but it will never happen. :-(
• An episode written by Harlan Ellison about a 102-year-old pregnant body. According to JourneyToX, Ellison came up with the story after Chris Carter challenged him to write about a random topic (he chose the pregnant body theme) at a signing event sometime before February 1999. A "remote possibility" that this would actually be made. Carter said that the episode was "cool" and Ellison has the rights to the story. From JourneyToX: "A woman [writer] approached me, because I'm a lawyer, at a fan gathering, and said 'I wanted Carter to receive a copy of a story that I wrote about a 102-year-old pregnant corpse [based on Carter's idea given to Ellison], just for his own entertainment.' She got a letter returning it as an unsolicited script. She asked me whether she owned the rights to HER story [for publication] on the 102-year-old corpse, and I said yes." Alas it won't be made.
• Sequel to "Eve"--in the first season Chris Carter speculated that a sequel would be made in season 4 or 5. It hasn't happened....
• A Robert Williams wrote 2 episodes bought by 1013. Thanks to SpookyShanahan, we have summaries of both: "I can't say much until after the premiere, but one is about these Gypsies, and [Williams] originally planned for Mulder to be killed off, but they are not going to do that." He had an alternate ending killing Mulder which, obviously, 1013 isn't using. The other is about "this town where the roles are in reversal, like the men take on the women's habits and vice-versa for the women. It's funny, because Mulder starts taking bubble baths, and Scully gets addicted to sunflower seeds." Neither will be made.
• Chris Carter was supposed to write 10-12 episodes this season including the finale, which now looks like 6-7.
• Frank Spotnitz: "[DD] certainly has a lot of story ideas involving mythology that we've actually been discussing or we're going to use."
• "The Banshee," written by Michael Scott. Was going to be made but not anymore.
• "The Widow's Eye," written by John Shiban, about an Asian woman who can steal souls. Mulder and Scully do some soul-searching mixed in with some ancient Chinese religion. Rumored but never made.
• David Duchovny: "[Chris Carter and I] wrote a script together that has been shot ['Amor Fati'] and I have written another one with him [not used--or a typo??]."
• This is interesting, an episode written by horror writer Thomas Ligotti: "In the spring of 1998, Brandon Trenz, one of Ligotti's coworkers at [The Gale Group], developed an idea for an X-Files episode. After mentioning the idea to Ligotti, both authors went to work on the project, a plan that was wholly unsolicited by the makers of the television show. The script, entitled 'Crampton,' was released for general reading on the Thomas Ligotti Online Web site in May of 1998. After being up for a couple of months, the script was taken down at the authors' request. At this time, there are no plans to bring the script back to TLO, nor has anyone from the television show approached either author about production of 'Crampton.'"

Speculation

• What about a crossover with the characters from the game?
• Will we ever see Scully's second brother?
• Chris Carter has hinted at making some of the books into episodes.
• I'm still waiting for an episode called "Musings of a One-Armed Man."
• Dean Haglund wants an episode set in Egypt to take place. So do I.