20 Mind-Blowing X-Files Facts You Didn't Know

[Music] some 13 years after the credits rolled on the final episode the x-files still remains one of the most iconic and boundary-pushing tv shows to ever grace our screens 202 episodes of alien abduction government conspiracy things that go bump in the night and you're already whistling the theme tune in your head aren't you i can hear it the show made us see television and indeed the night sky in an entirely different way but some of the most astonishing facts aren't about the monsters the ghouls or the shady government agencies that featured in the stories but about what went on behind the camera my name is adam cleary and am i going to use the tired old gag about the truth being in here yes of course i am these are 20 things you didn't know about the x-files number 20 the theme tune was based on the smiths when chris carter approached american composer mark snow about creating an iconic and eerie theme tune for the show he handed him a copy of the smith's 1985 neo psychedelia anthem how soon is now hoping that inspiration would come from the now famous echoing guitar hook laid down by johnny marr snow instead latched on to morrissey's small whistling part and sculpted it into the core theme just listen yep this this bit yeah no me neither 19. a dance remix got to number 8 in the uk charts speaking of music as i just was after becoming one of the most recognizable title cards in tv history the theme tune was released as a single in 1996. it actually charted at number two here in the uk but was kept off top spot by the prodigies firestarter and absolutely fair there to be honest at the same time though an italian producer by the name of dj daiko dako i'm not really sure produced a dream transversion that needs to be heard to be believed so here you go got to number one in denmark that 18. bruce campbell was nearly mulder it's hard to imagine the x-files being anywhere near as successful without david duchovny in the central role but the decision to cast him was made quite late into the production process leading the way was none other than bruce campbell who arguably the number one supernatural leading man in the early 90s had the credibility to attract the audience they were so desperately after in the end the chin missed out and the world of cult movies kept its favorite son number 17 nobody wanted jillian anderson except chris carter despite the network making it clear to the show's creators that they wanted a new air quotes bombshell actress for the female lead in the show chris carter instead cast rookie actress gillian anderson this network annoyance rumbled on for two whole seasons with some executives adamant to the day and again air quotes taller leggier blonder and breastier actress would have been better and i mean just putting aside how idiotic that sounds now that is still the same jillian anderson who was voted world's sexiest woman two years into the show's run idiots number 16 chris carter moved filming to where the good forests are when pre-production eventually began on the show chris carter began scouting locations for filming in los angeles however after extensively hunting for scenery that provided the creepy backdrop some episodes would necessitate he opted instead to move the entire show to vancouver in canada going in his words where the good forests are this lasted until david duchovny forced the show to move back to la so he could be nearer his wife hence the reason season six looks well all wrong 15. they once sprayed 1600 gallons of paint onto a gravel pit while vancouver has no end of eerie forest it's a little short on deserts in the season two finale set in the barren and arid new mexico producers needed a way to bring the desert to them the solution they took over 7 000 litres of red paint and sprayed it over a disused quarry before digitally adding in a more appealing sky for reference that is 12 318 pints nearly three times as many as i had on my birthday 14. william b davis hadn't smoked for 20 years after initially appearing as an ominous overlooker in season one the cigarette smoking man eventually became the primary antagonist and one of the most iconic bad guys in tv history helped of course by the constant veil of cigarette smoke he surrounds himself with william b davis had actually quit smoking some 20 years prior to taking the role 13 and he was only supposed to be an extra yeah davis probably didn't think ending his 20-year stretch as a non-smoker would be too big a commitment originally as he was only cast to play an extra leaning on the shelf of a.d skinner's office however the brooding and sinister character played so well with test audiences that he was written into the script for the first season before having him revealed as a key component of the entire alien invasion mad one 12. none of the barges in the show actually say federal bureau of investigation for quite very obvious reasons it's illegal to make a fake fbi badge even if you're only going to be using them to flash at men dressed in rubber alien suits thus a few subtle tweaks were made to keep the show on the right side of the law if you look closely at the opening title sequence you'll see that the words justice and investigation are reversed reading instead federal bureau of justice united states department of investigation 11. they kept making fun of david duchovny's appearance on jeopardy yeah after mulder's let's say fairly poor showing on american quiz show celebrity jeopardy i mean what are frogs the scriptwriters began dropping in subtle references to the answers to the questions he got wrong in season 3 episode 12 scully can be seen reading breakfast at tiffany's while season 3 episode 13 is based at grover cleveland alexander high school it got decidedly less subtle from then on though with the show's host alex trebek appearing in season 3 episode 20 and scully actually watching the show herself in episode 23. number 10 jillian anderson was going to play clarice stalling when carter first imagined the character of scully he drew her very matter-of-fact approach and visual image from jody foster's portrayal of fbi agent clary stalling in 1991's silence of the lambs years later when casting began for the sequel and the role of starling was vacated by foster producers turned immediately to anderson however the x-files had inserted a clause into anderson's contract preventing her from playing another member of the bureau on screen which is quite clever number nine she filmed most of her scenes stood on a box yeah you see you probably don't realize this but david duchovny is almost an entire foot taller than jillian anderson and as anyone who's ever watched a video with me and willborn in it will understand it is a nightmare to frame a tight shot like that the solution was literally just sticker on a box number eight breaking bad's vince gilligan got his break by sending a script into the x-files the show started a lot of careers on both sides of the camera but arguably the greatest success story is that of breaking bad's creator vince gilligan being a young writer looking for his big break in the mid 90s as well as a massive fan of the show he submitted a script to fox which was developed into soft light in season 2. he was then brought on board the show and went on to write another 26 episodes as well as receive co-executive producer credits 44 times number seven the show was supposed to end in season five chris carter's original plan had been to run the x-files on tv for five seasons before moving it to a series of movies to both up the production value and the exposure but with season five drawing to an end fox weren't prepared to just let one of the most popular and profitable shows on television wrap up thus they commissioned carter to make both a new film and a new season instead that said though trying to balance the long-running arcs of a serialized story parallel to a standalone movie just well yeah let's not talk about that number six final destination was originally an x-files episode there are many many many many proposed scripts for the show that for one reason or another never made it onto the series but none went on to do as much as flight 180. screenwriter jeffrey reddick wrote a script after reading about a woman who'd refused to board twa flight 800 on the hunch of her mother the plane subsequently crashed and redick submitted a script about death catching up with people who've avoided it carter for whatever reason wasn't a fan but his writing partners morgan and wong worked with him to eventually turn it into final destination number five dave grohl has a cameo look there he is in the iron rewind that yep that one that one there that's him trust me there are of course loads of cameos in the x-files lucy lou luke wilson jack black ryan reynolds shyla booth giovanni ribsy and seth green all stopped by on their way to acting stardom but the foo fighter's front man is easily the most bizarre number four layla harrison was actually a tribute to a fan who died x-files fanfic is the stuff of legend and the show's writers were as avid readers of it as anyone i mean i'm not really sure why i've personally read my own fan fiction and none of it's overly pleasant but hey maybe the 90s were a gentler time anyway such was the affinity between the fans and the writers that when fanfic writer leila harrison died of cancer the show's creators added a new fbi agent who just happened to be a huge fan of mulder and scully and named it after her that is really nice number three skinner married scully standing while everybody was busy obsessing over the blossoming relationship that may or may not have been happening on screen there was a real life one taking place off it actress arlene warren was hired to work as a stand-in for jillian anderson in a number of scenes before eventually being cast as a.d skinner's secretary mitch paleggi who played skinner took quite the shine to the scully alike it seems and in 1997 the two married r nearly 20 years later and the two are still together and have one child number two the lone gunman had a spin-off show melvin frohickey john fitzgerald buyers and richard langley better known to fans as the lone gunmen actually had their own show yeah but it was actually pretty good too they basically just went around unraveling conspiracy theories and thwarting government black ops the show was created by carter and vince gilligan but despite being as i saw actually quite good it was cancelled after just one series number one it predicted the 9 11 world trade center attacks yeah not really sure how to play this one but the lone gunman's pilot episode is not comfortable reading the thrust is that the group discover and eventually thwart an attempt by the u.s government to hijack a commercial airliner fly it into the world trade center blame the attack on foreign terrorists and used that incident as a precursor to a profit-making war on foreign soil yeah um about that it also aired on march the 4th 2001 a mere six months before the al-qaeda attacks on the twin towers for a show about conspiracy theories that's well arguably weirder than anything the x-files ever did you

Channel: WhatCulture

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Length: 11min 28sec (688 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 15 2020