23 Mildly Interesting X-Files Facts For The Believers

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Ada Elder
Jan 11, 2018 7:00 PM EST

The spooky paranormal television drama is back for a new season - to mixed reviews. Let's take a look back and appreciate some of the interesting and lesser-known tidbits about everyone's favorite alien show. 

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  • 01
    Text - One of the ideas for the show came from a public opinion survey from 1991 that Chris Carter came across. It stated that at least 3.7 million Americans may have been abducted by aliens, and he figured that everyone would want to hear that story.
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  • 02
    Text - Another inspiration was the filmATl The President's Men, where two men tirelessly sought out the truth about Watergate. Chris Carter also admitted that he was also drawing inspiration from Kolchak: The Night Stalker Twin Peaks, The Thin Blue Line, Prime Suspect Three Days of the Condor, The Parallax View. and The Silence of the Lambs.
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  • 03
    Text - Dana Scully was partially modelled after Clarise Starling from The Silence of the Lambs. including the red hair. That was no accident
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  • 04
    Tattoo - Jodie Foster actually made a cameo on the show. In the fourth season episode "Never Again" she gave a voice to a homicidal tattoo. ER AGAINTR
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  • 05
    Text - David Duchovny actually wanted Jennifer Beals to play Scully. They've known each other since their time at Yale.
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  • 06
    Hair - In reality. Gillian Anderson is the true believer, while David Duchovny is the skeptic.
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  • 07
    Text - Scully was concieved as the heart of the show. The fact that she was a scientist and a skeptic, grounded the show and gave the audiences someone to relate to. This is why the show continued without Duchovny for two years, but most likely won't return for a future season 12, without her.
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  • 08
    Job - She show had several actual scientists on staff, including Maryland microbiologist Anne Simon, who helped find 'natural ways to make the monsters of the week happen.
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  • 09
    Hair - Scully's character had a huge influence on the tv landscape, and Carter was constantly battling the network to maintain his vision for a powerful woman character in his show.
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  • 10
    Text - Carter never viewed the show as "Science Fiction" but as "Speculative Science. The writers always tried to ground the show in a scientific way to prove that some of the things on the show might be possible.
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  • 11
    Text - The Cigarette Smoking Man was only meant to be an extra, not the protagonist of the entire show.
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  • 12
    Text - The X Files were also responsible for bringing Breaking Bad to life. Bryan Cranston guest starred on an episode that was written by Vince Gilligan. When it came time to cast Breaking Bad, Gilligan knew already who he wanted in the lead.
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  • 13
    Forehead - DODGERS W Scully was named after legendary L.A Dogers broadcaster Vin Scully.
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  • 14
    Text - William B. Davis, who played CSM, wasn't a smoker in real life. He had kicked the habit 20 years prior, after smoking for 25. He had to switch to herbal cigarettes after the first two seasons, as the real ones were waking up some old desires.
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  • 15
    Text - For most of the original run, Duchovny and Anderson didn't get along. They blamed the process of shooting long seasons of 23+ episodes and the contempt that is caused in them. It was only once they had time away from one another, that they realized they had become friends.
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  • 16
    Text - Mitch Pileggi's shaved head almost cost him the role of Walter Skinner. Carter thought the look was 'too extreme' for an FBI Assistant Director, so Pileggi had to grow out the sides.
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  • 17
    Text - Pileggi ended up marrying Scully's stand-in Arlene Warren, who also played a Scully doppelganger in Season 7's "Fight Club." and made numerous appearances as his assistant.
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  • 18
    Hair - Lucy Lawless was supposed to have a supporting role as a new big bad, but a high-risk pregancy forced her to bow out of the show after only two episodes.
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  • 19
    Text - The X Files spawned a spinoff about The Lone Gunmen. It only lasted 13 episodes before it was cancelled. Their fates were addressed in a season 9 episode of the original show.
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  • 20
    Text - T of The badges in the opening credits say "Federal Bureau of Justice. United States Department of Investigation" along the bottom instead of the correct "Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Jastice This was done for legal reasons. A ANDERSON DEPAR
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  • 21
    Text - The famous echoing chord from the theme music was a fiuke. Composer Mark Snow accidentally rested his elbow on his keyboard with the echo function on and he liked the resulting sound so much he wrote the theme around it.
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  • 22
    Sky - Every episode that deals with aliens, starts off with a shot of the starry sky.
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