| "Pilot" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The X-Files episode | |||
 FBI Special AgentDana Scully meets fellow agentFox Mulder, who has a special interest in unexplained and possibly paranormal phenomena. | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 1 Episode 1 | ||
| Directed by | Robert Mandel | ||
| Written by | Chris Carter | ||
| Production code | 1X79 | ||
| Original air date | September 10, 1993 (1993-09-10) | ||
| Running time | 48 minutes | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
| |||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| The X-Filesseason 1 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Pilot" is thepilot episode of thescience fiction television seriesThe X-Files. The episode aired on September 10, 1993, on theFox network in the United States and Canada. The episode was written by series creatorChris Carter, and directed byRobert Mandel. As the pilot, it would set up themythology storyline for the series. The episode earned aNielsen rating of 7.9 and was viewed by 7.4 million households and 12.0 million viewers. The episode itself was generally well received by fans and critics alike, which led to a growingcult following for the series before it hit the mainstream.
The pilot introduced the two main characters,Fox Mulder andDana Scully, who were portrayed byDavid Duchovny andGillian Anderson respectively. The episode also featuredWilliam B. Davis,Charles Cioffi andZachary Ansley as the recurring characters ofthe Smoking Man,Scott Blevins andBilly Miles. The episode followsFBI agents Mulder and Scully on their firstX-File case together, investigating a string of deaths which Mulder believes to be experiments by anextraterrestrial intelligence.
Inspired byKolchak: The Night Stalker, the series was conceived by Carter in an attempt to "scare people's pants off." When creating the characters of Mulder and Scully, Carter decided to play against establishedstereotypes, making the male character a believer and the female askeptic, as the latter role had traditionally been a male one on television.Principal photography for "Pilot" took place over fourteen days during March 1993; using a budget ofUS$2 million, the scenes were filmed in and around theVancouver area. Vancouver would remain the area for production for the next five years, although production would move toLos Angeles from the beginning of thesixth season at the behest of Duchovny.
Outside theOregon town of Bellefleur, teenager Karen Swenson is seen fleeing through the forest at night. When she falls, a dark figure approaches, and they both become enveloped in light. Swenson's body is later found by Bellefleur detectives, with two small marks on her lower back.
Later, inWashington, D.C.,FBI Special AgentDana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is summoned to a meeting with Division ChiefScott Blevins (Charles Cioffi). She is assigned to work with Special AgentFox Mulder (David Duchovny) on theX-Files, an obscure FBI section covering unexplained phenomena. Blevins has assigned Scully for the purpose of using her scientific knowledge to debunk Mulder's work.
Scully introduces herself to Mulder, who shows her evidence from the Swenson case. He notes that she was the fourth member of her high school class to die under mysterious circumstances. He also notes an unknown organic compound found in the tissue surrounding the marks on her body, as well as similarities between her death and others from across the country. Mulder believes that Swenson's death is due toextraterrestrial activity. However, the skeptical Scully expresses disbelief in Mulder's theory.
When Mulder and Scully's plane flies over Bellefleur, it encounters unexplainedturbulence. As they drive in the woods near the town, the agents' car radio goes haywire; Mulder marks the spot of this event by spray-painting an "X" on the road. Mulder arranges for theexhumation of the third victim, Ray Soames, despite the protests of Dr. Jay Nemman, the countymedical examiner. When Soames' coffin is opened, a desiccated, malformed body is found inside, which Scully concludes is not Soames, but possibly anorangutan. She finds a grey metallic implant in the body's nasal cavity.
Mulder and Scully visit the psychiatric hospital where Soames was committed before his death and meet two of his former classmates—thecomatoseBilly Miles (Zachary Ansley) and wheelchair-bound Peggy O'Dell. O'Dell suffers a nosebleed and is seen to have marks similar to Swenson's. Outside the hospital, Mulder explains to Scully that he believes Miles, O'Dell and the victims to bealien abductees.
That night, the agents investigate the forest; Scully discovers ash on the ground, leading her to suspectcult activity. However, a local detective arrives and orders them to leave. Driving back to their motel, Mulder and Scully encounter a bright flash of light and their car loses power, at the same spot where Mulder had earlier spray-painted the "X." Mulder realizes that nine minutes disappeared after the flash, a phenomenon reported by alien abductees.
At the motel, Mulder tells Scully that his sisterSamantha suddenly vanished when he was twelve years old, which has driven his efforts into investigating paranormal cases. The agents receive an anonymous call to inform them that O'Dell has died. At the scene, they are informed that she was killed running into traffic and realize that she was killed at the exact moment they had experienced the flash on the road. Mulder is informed that the desiccated body has been stolen from the morgue. The agents return to their motel to find it ablaze, and all their evidence destroyed.
Nemman's daughter, Theresa, contacts the agents for help. She tells them that she has awakened in the middle of the woods several times, fears for her life and admits to having the same marks; she also develops a nosebleed. Nemman and the detective, revealed to be Billy's father, arrive and take her away. The agents wonder about the bodies of the first two victims and return to the cemetery; they find the graves already dug up and the coffins missing. Mulder realizes that Billy is responsible for bringing the victims to the woods. There, they again encounter Detective Miles but hear a scream. Mulder and Detective Miles find Billy nearby with Theresa in his arms. There is a flash of light, and Billy and Theresa are recovered unharmed.
A couple of weeks later, Billy is put underhypnosis. He recalls how he and his classmates were abducted in the forest as they celebrated their graduation. The teenagers had been subjected to tests by the aliens, and were killed when the tests failed. Scully provides Blevins with the metal implant, the only remaining piece of evidence. She later learns from Mulder that Billy's case files are missing.
The episode ends with anunnamed agent (William B. Davis), seen attending Scully's briefing with Blevins, storing the implant amongst other identical ones in a vast evidence room within thePentagon.[1][2]
.jpg)
When conceiving the episode,Chris Carter wanted to "scare people's pants off." A noted influence on the episode's conception wasKolchak: The Night Stalker, a series from the 1970s. This led to an idea of two agents investigating paranormal events. When creating the characters of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, Carter decided to play against establishedstereotypes, making the male character a believer and the female askeptic, as the latter role had traditionally been a male one on television.[3]
When casting the actors for the two main parts, Carter had difficulties finding an actress for Scully. When he cast Gillian Anderson for the part, theFox network wanted to replace her. Carter believed they responded negatively towards the casting because "she didn't have the obvious qualities that network executives have come to associate with hit shows." During Anderson's audition, Carter felt that she was a "terrific actress," and in a later interview, he noted: "She came in and read the part with a seriousness and intensity that I knew the Scully character had to have and I knew [...] she was the right person for the part." David Duchovny on the other hand, was met with more positive response from Fox, Carter even saying he was an "early favorite."[3] William B. Davis, who made his first appearance as the recurring villain The Smoking Man in this episode, had originally auditioned for a larger part in the episode, saying, "I auditioned for the senior FBI agent who had three lines. I didn't get that part—I got the part withno lines."[4]
Principal photography for "Pilot" took place over fourteen days during March 1993; using a budget ofUS$2 million.[5] Filming of the episode took place in and aroundVancouver,British Columbia, Canada. The series would use the Vancouver area for production for the next five years, although production would move toLos Angeles from the beginning of thesixth season at the behest of Duchovny.[6]
The scene set in the Bellefleur graveyard was shot inQueen Elizabeth Park, marking the first time the location had been used to represent a graveyard; the location would later be used for the same purpose in thefourth season episode "Kaddish." The interior shots of the psychiatric hospital were filmed in a disused building owned byRiverview Hospital inCoquitlam, and marked the first time that the crew met with producerR. W. Goodwin.[7] The episode's final warehouse scene was filmed in a document warehouse belonging to the headquarters of the Canadian television networkKnowledge. An office in the same building was also used for Scully's briefing at the beginning of the episode. The scenes involving the Smoking Man required special permission to be filmed, in order to allow for actor Davis to smoke in a public building.
All of the interior shots ofFBI headquarters were filmed in the main newsroom of theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation, as the production crew found that theopen plan offices they wished to represent no longer existed, having typically been converted intocubicles. However, it was found that working around the CBC's broadcast schedule was too unwieldy, and later episodes of the series replicated the location on asoundstage.[8]
The forest scenes were shot on location inLynn Valley, in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve—formerly known as the Seymour Demonstration Forest. The crew spent $9,000 building wooden pathways for equipment, cast and crew to move easily through the area. Additional scenes were filmed at the headquarters forBC Hydro; whilst Scully's apartment was represented by a location used only in this episode and the third episode, "Squeeze"—use of this location was discontinued once it became apparent that most reverse angles would show a large parking lot across the street.[9]
Make-up effects artist Toby Lindala was tasked with creating a prop which would allow actress Sarah Koskoff to simulate a nosebleed on-camera, rather than through the use of off-screen make-up and editing tricks. However, during test shots, the prop's tubing burst, causing the stage blood to begin dripping down Koskoff's forehead, rather than from her nose.[3] Anderson has expressed displeasure over the scene in which Scully visits Mulder in his motel room in her underwear to have him examine a suspicious wound which turns out to be insect bites. The actress felt that the scene was too gratuitous, saying "there really wasn't a reason for it. The bites could have been on my shoulder or something."[5] However, Carter has explained that the scene was simply intended to highlight the platonic relationship between the two lead roles.[10]
Post-production work on the episode was finished by May 1993,[5] with the final version of the episode being assembled only three hours before its preview screening for Fox executives.[11] Stock footage of the exterior of FBI headquarters was added to the episode, although later episodes would film new exterior shots usingSimon Fraser University as a stand-in location.[5] The climactic abduction scene featuring Billy Miles in a forest clearing featured a swirling vortex of leaves created using computer imagery by the series' visual designer Mat Beck;[12] which Carter has described as being more complicated to achieve than theNormandy landings.[3]
The original script gives more insight into Scully's visit to Blevins' office. The scene that introduces her in the script is set just before her visit and takes place at theFBI Academy inQuantico,Virginia, where she teaches a small group of trainees about the physiology of homicide, specifically electrocution and death bycattle prod. Her attention is distracted by an agent who enters the room and hands her a note that reads, "Your attendance is required in Washington at 1600 hrs. sharp." Scully checks her digital watch, which reads 1:03. The majority, at the least, of this scene was actually filmed but the scene was omitted from the final version of the episode.
The next scene is that in which Scully reports to the receptionist at FBI headquarters; the script includes Scully showing her badge to the receptionist and dialogue for the role of the receptionist as she tells Scully, "See Section Chief Blevins. Third floor, violent crime division." In the final version of the episode, Scully's badge does not appear in any of the scenes and the receptionist does not speak.[12]
Two filmed scenes were cut from the final version of the episode. Both featured Tim Ransom as Scully's boyfriend Ethan Minette. In the first, Minette and Scully meet, with Scully cancelling plans for a vacation the two had arranged due to her assignment to the Bellefleur case.[13] The second scene briefly shows Scully answering a telephone call from Mulder whilst asleep in bed with Minette, though the latter has no dialogue.[14] The addition of Scully's boyfriend was an attempt by Fox executives to create the romantic interest that they felt was not there between Mulder and Scully. Carter ultimately found that it was "very easy" to remove the character from the episode, both because his appearances seemed to slow down the scenes in which Mulder and Scully are together and due to the fact that Carter found Scully's relationship with her FBI partner to actually be more interesting and exciting than her relationship with her boyfriend.[12]
"Pilot" premiered on Fox on September 10, 1993.[15] The episode earned aNielsen household rating of 7.9, with a 15 share, meaning that roughly 7.9 percent of all television-equipped households, and 15 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 7.4 million households and 12.0 million viewers.[16][17]
The episode was well-received by several of the series' future crew members. Producer and writerGlen Morgan felt that the episode's "merging ofSilence of the Lambs andClose Encounters of the Third Kind" was impressive; he also felt that it was the only truly scary series on television at the time. WriterHoward Gordon stated that "the pilot set the tone of the show really successfully," noting the difficulty inherent in introducing both a series' premise and its main cast in "forty-eight minutes" and finding that the episode had achieved both, being "a tremendous synthesis of all the parts." Carter also recounted that the episode's test screening forRupert Murdoch and other Fox executives was met with "spontaneous applause."[18]
"On-screen chemistry is a difficult thing to achieve, but Duchovny and Anderson have it in spades. From the moment they first meet, it's as though they have always been a duo"
The episode was generally well received by fans and critics alike.Variety magazine criticized the episode for "using reworked concepts" but praised the production and noted its potential. Of the acting,Variety stated, "Duchovny's delineation of a serious scientist with a sense of humor should win him partisans, and Anderson's wavering doubter connects well. They're a solid team...."Variety also praised the writing and direction: "Mandel's cool direction of Carter's ingenious script and the artful presentation itself give TV sci-fi a boost." The magazine concluded, "Carter's dialogue is fresh without being self-conscious, and the characters are involving. Series kicks off with drive and imagination, both innovative in recent TV."[20]Entertainment Weekly noted that Scully "was set up as a scoffing skeptic" in the pilot but progressed toward belief throughout thefirst season.[21] After the airing of just four episodes, the magazine calledThe X-Files "the most paranoid, subversive show on TV," noting the "marvelous tension between Anderson—who is dubious about these events—and Duchovny, who has the haunted, imploring look of a true believer."[22] Keith Phipps, writing forThe A.V. Club, praised the episode, rating it an A−. He felt that the episode's premise worked well to "set a template" for future episodes, and noted that the chemistry between Duchovny and Anderson was "already there" from the outset.[23] Matt Haigh, writing forDen of Geek, reviewed the episode positively, praising the chemistry between the lead roles and the quality of the script.[19] In 2012,SFX named it the tenth best TV pilot in the science fiction and fantasy genre, saying that it "brought us everything we came to expect from the show."[24]
The plot for "Pilot" was also adapted as a novel for young adults in 1995 byLes Martin, under the titleX Marks the Spot.[25]
