chris carter

(S01E07) Well, this was never one of my favorite episodes of The X-Files and, as it turns out, the writer wasn't too fond of it either. According to The X-Files wiki, writer Howard Gordon described this episode as "one of my biggest disappointments". Apparently, FOX thought the computer-comes-to-life story was a bit "pedestrian" for The X-Files. I have to agree.

(S01E05)  Before I get into this episode, let me just say that season one of The X-Files is phenomenal. I had forgotten how many terrific episodes were packed into the first season. Chris Carter really seemed to have this show down solid right out of the gate. He set up the series with aliens, government cover-ups and monsters; and episode five of season one introduced us to the agents.

We learn that Mulder lives and breathes his work. He and Scully travel up to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where Mulder butts heads with the local PD, who have jurisdiction over the case of a Bigfoot-looking creature that is killing homeless people. Mulder thinks it's the famous Jersey Devil, which chewed a man's arm off in the 1960s. He chooses to stay in Atlantic City for the weekend to look for the 'devil', while Scully returns to Washington, D.C. for her godson's birthday.

(S01E04) This episode gets back on track to the prevailing story for season one: we're reminded that Scully is assigned to debunk The X-Files. We also return to the aliens-on-earth mythology storyline, complete with possible government coverup. We also learn that, unlike the first episode of the season, alien abductions aren't that easy to verify. The episode casts doubt on the existence of aliens and shows us just how complicated The X-Files can be. However, the point of the episode is to show us that the abduction of Mulder's sister is what drives him to investigate The X-Files. Unfortunately, it's all done in a rather boring and complicated episode.

(S01E03) Forget the werewolves, the green bugs, the camoflauge forest-dwellers, the inbred pig people and the aliens. You, Eugene Tooms, are the scariest monster ever to grace The X-Files.

Squeeze is the first MOTW (Monster of the Week) episode of The X-Files and it's a doozy. The writers take us off the government-covers- up-aliens-on-earth storyline and focus on a major freak who has ten-inch long fingers and rips the livers out of five victims every 30 years. The experts at The X-Files wiki say FOX requested the script change-up away from aliens. Apparently, the idea came when one of the writers saw an air duct outside their office and wondered whether someone could sneak up inside it. Tooms' obsession with liver came from creator Chris Carter's recent trip to France where he ate a lot of foie gras. That, and the liver is just a funny organ.

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(S01E01)  As I watched this episode, I realized that, even though I call myself an X-Files fan, I did not watch the series when it first aired on FOX in 1993. In fact, I can't quite pinpoint when I became a die-hard fan or what the first episode was that I watched. I'm pretty sure I was hooked by one of those Monster-of-the-Week episodes and not part of the overall aliens-on-earth conspiracy storyline. I think I was hooked sometime during season three. All I know is my husband and I caught up on The X-Files early on in our college years when reruns played back-to-back each night (possibly on F/X?).

X-Files creator Chris Carter is suing FOX claiming that he's been gypped out of payments that were owed to him. Apparently Carter enrolled in what's called a "profit guarantee" before the show's sixth and seventh seasons yet he still hasn't received payments regarding that or other syndication deals which he was involved in.

Now I'm no lawyer and half the legal jargon listed in the article is gibberish to me, but you can get the full details of his lawsuit here. I will say though, it's lousy when a great show like The X-Files (and especially it's creator) gets embroiled in a lawsuit that just comes down to money. It's always about the bottom line. Now I could say something cheesy about "the truth" and how "it's out there," but I won't do that.

[Thanks "evadnefenn"]