Behind The Scenes "I made this," the words spoken over the Ten Thirteen company name, are spoken by Nathan Couturier, son of the supervising sound editor, Thierry Couturier. The series' science consultant, Anne Simon, a virologist at the University of Massachusetts, wrote a non-fiction book in 1999 entitled: "The Real Science Behind the X-Files: Microbes, Meteorites, and Mutants." Many allusions to novel "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville: overall theme (Mulder's "hunt" for the truth and his sister), Scully is called "Starbuck" by her father, her dog's name is "Queequeg" and she repeatedly calls Mulder "Captain Ahab." The full title of The X-Files Theme song is Materia Primoris. Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa worked for the show Beauty and the Beast (starring Linda Hamilton), before the X-Files. Actors from other series: Hill Street Blues: Joe Spano (Tempus Fugit/Max) and Bruce Weitz (Irresistible) Murder One: Daniel Benzali (Fresh Bones) and Bobbie Phillips (WOTC) Twin Peaks: Michael Anderson (Humbug), Michael Horse (Shapes), Kenneth Walsh (Revelations), Don Davis, Jan D'Arcy. The end of Triangle was a tribute to The Wizard of Oz. A tag line at the end of "The Blessing Way" read, "In Memoriam, Larry Wells. 1946-1995." Wells was a costume designer. In the episode The Beginning, the guard sleeping in front of the nuclear power plant console is named Homer (as in The Simpsons). Rob and Laura Petrie, aliases used by Mulder and Scully posing as a married couple are names taken from the classic TV show The Dick Van Dyke Show. In Die Hand Die Verletzt, the characters Paul Vitalis and Deborah Brown were named after prominent online X-Philes. Writer Glen Morgan says he named Nurse Owens in One Breath after his grandmother. The X-Files novel author Charles Grant's name appeared on the passenger manifest Scully scrutinized in Little Green Men. In Little Green Men, a senator called Richard Matheson was a nod to the great Hollywood scriptwriter and author of many classic science-fiction and horror stories, including several episodes of Chris Carter's favorite series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker. The title of Matheson's early novel about vampire-like mutants, which was the basis for the 1970s Charleton Heston SF movie The Omega Man was I am Legend. In GenderBender we see Marty standing next to a large painting. The significance of this painting is that it has been made by H.R. Giger, the man who designed the aliens for the blockbuster Alien movies and more recently Species. The opening credits of "Die Hand Die Verletzt" featured James "Chargers" Wong and Glen "Bolts" Morgan, references to the name and logo of their favorite NFL team who, during the week this episode aired, were playing in the Super Bowl. Fresh Bones's final scene was a tribute to the Wes Craven film The Serpent and the Rainbow. The classic Spencer Tracy movie Bad Day at Black Rock inspired writer Frank Spotnitz to pen Our Town. The Club Tepes featured in the episode 3 was named after the infamous torturer Prince Vlad Tepes (aka Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula). The characters Teena and Cindy in Eve were named after Glen Morgan's and James Wong's wives. The fourth Lone Gunman 'The Thinker' is named after a X-Files Fan and America Online member Yung Jun Kim (aka 'DuhThinker'). The Ausbury family in Die Hand Die Verletzt is named after Jill Ausbury, a fan. The French deep-sea diver in the opening scenes of "Piper Maru" was named after The X-Files physical effects supervisor, David Gauthier. Episode writer Howard Gordon's bout with insomnia inspired the "Sleepless" episode. A talk show provided Chris Carter with the inspiration for his characters being FBI agents. This was CNN's Larry King Live, on which an FBI agent who investigated Satanic cults was a guest. Chris Carter acknowledges the former TV show Kolchak: The Night Stalker as his primary inspiration for the creation of The X-Files. The movie which helped spur the idea of using a pair of FBI agents - one a believer, the other a skeptic - who investigate cases involving the paranormal was Silence of the Lambs. The origin of Agent Fox Mulder's name came from the maiden name of Carter's mother and the first name of a kid he'd known growing up. Carter named Dana Scully after the famous Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully. "The most formative event" of Carter's youth, which inspired such nefarious and shadowy characters as Deep Throat and the Cigarette-Smoking Man was supposedly The Watergate scandal. Quagmire's Dr. Faraday was named after Dr. Michael Faraday. He was a chemist and physicist who discovered the principle of electromatic induction, which is the basis for generating electric power. The television news reporter in War of the Coprophages Skye Leikin is named after an AOL X-Phile, whose screen name is Leikin Skye. She won an AOL trivia contest -- the prize was to get her screen name on one of the episodes. Jerry, the boy who was killed in Die Hand Die Verletzt is named after Jerry Jones, host of the America On-Line X-Files forum. Grotesque's Agent Nemhauser shares his name with Post Production Supervisor Lori Jo Nemhauser. Writers Glen Morgan and James Wong came up with the idea of the paranoid conspiracy theorists, the Lone Gunmen after they saw a trio of similar-looking guys at a UFO convention in LA in June 1993. The X Files is known as Arquivo X in Brazil. In Taipei, Taiwan, and the Republic of China, The X-Files airs as X-Dang An, while in Finland fans crowd around the tube to await Salaiset, which translates in English to "The Secret Files." Bruce Harwood (Byers)'s real-life occupation is a librarian. The last episode written by Glen Morgan and James Wong before they went on hiatus to write the long-since-cancelled Space: Above and Beyond was Die Hand Die Verletzt. Nick Lea, the actor who plays Krycek appeared as a different character in the season one episode Genderbender. Other than English 13 languages have appeared in The X-Files. The episode Darkness Falls was honored at the Environmental media Awards. The Eve episode utilized real-life twins from Vancouver. Writers Glen Morgan and James Wong originally conceived the episode Little Green Men as a feature film unrelated to The X-Files. The X-Files episode Red Museum was originally scripted to be a crossover storyline involving CBS' Picket Fences. The episode Conduit revealed Mulder's hometown to be Chilmarc, Massachusetts, though the spelling was "Chilmark" when it turned up nearly a year later in Little Green Men. In Shadows, Tom Braidwood's name was used in the scene where the parking lot attendant painted over the name on the space that previously belonged to the dead man. Angelo Vacco, who portrayed Angelo Garza in the F. Emasculata episode is actually a production assistant in the offices of Ten Thirteen in Los Angeles. Rob Bowman directed several Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes. The episode Colony was the first one to be told in flashback. The first season episode The Erlenmeyer Flask received a nomination for an Edgar Award, an honor presented by the Mystery Writers of America. The highest-rated episode of the first two seasons was Fresh Bones. The science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison suggested to Chris Carter that an effort be made to explain why the forces seeking to thwart Mulder's work didn't simply kill him. The conversation between Krycek and the Cigarette-Smoking Man in Ascension was a direct response to that prevailing question. The song played as Captain Scully's ashes were scattered, and which inspired the title of the episode, is Bobby Darin's "Beyond the Sea." By the end of the second season, construction costs for a single episode ran to $70,000. The producers considered making Scully's sister, Melissa, a romantic interest for Mulder but later nixed the idea. The famous "black silk boxer shorts" scene in Fire was originally a "Jockey underwear" scene. The professional photographer/filmmaker Billy Wylde took many "UFO" photos which later proved to be hoaxes, including the one on the I WANT TO BELIEVE poster hanging above Mulder's desk. William S. Burroughs narrates the R.E.M. song "Star Me Kitten" on the Songs in the Key of X CD. The leader singer/guitarist for the Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl, had a walk-on part in the episode Pusher. Mitch Pilegg narrated the third season TV special More Secrets of the X-Files. The waste removal company whose three-letter name is often seen on the blue dumpsters in episodes of The X-Files is BEL. Robert Goodwin, producer of the series and the guy who oversees all aspects of physical production. is known as "Mr FiX-it". David Duchovny credits Gillian Anderson as the creator of the "extended stories," those alien-conspiracy arcs that span two-to-three episodes as her real-life pregnancy forced the writers to develop a three-episode story arc in which Scully was abducted. Chris Carter recalled Gillian Anderson's audition for Agent Scully by stating, "What it came down to was that the network wasn't sure how Gillian would look in a bathing suit". Rolling Stone's Australian edition had its biggest best-seller ever when David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson appeared on the cover. Nick Cave and Dirty Three's two hidden CD tracks are tucked away at the beginning of Songs in the Key of X. Mark Snow 's first five attempts at a theme song where rejected by Chris Carter. Best-selling horror meister Stephen King asked Chris Carter for the opportunity to write an X-Files script. Legendary crooner Tony Bennett is an unabashed X-Phile. The first country to get The X-Files episodes on videotape was Japan. The entertainment magazine TV Guide said in its "The Best (and the Worst) of '95" special issue, "But as we know that Mulder will never prove to the world that there are aliens among us, we know he will never cross over the line from platonic love." Veteran X-Files director/producer Kim Manners helmed the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "When the Bough Breaks." The real-life Federal Bureau of Investigation was not asked to be involved in the series' development. Ideas for the episodes come from newspapers and magazines. Fox executives were afraid The X-Files would emulate tongue-in-cheek horror movie American Werewolf in London if Carter and his production staff didn't write and film it seriously. Carter had to pitch the series' premise to the Fox network twice before they bought it. Carter created visual aids as a means of selling Fox executives on the show. The charts were shaped like TV Screens. David Duchovny was Carter's preferred choice for the role of Agent Mulder? Carter's or Fox' officials. A battle between Carter and Fox executives took place behind the scenes in the casting of the Dana Scully role as Carter pushed for Gillian Anderson and the network officials looked for the equivalent of Baywatch's Pamela Anderson. Filming began on the series in March 1993. According to the Nielsen ratings, 7.4 million homes watched The X-Files pilot. Before the season began, the Fox network's attention and hopes were focused on the drama The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr instead of The X-Files. Scully's voice-over while typing her field report notes at the end of each episode was tacked on to the first episode to mollify Fox's desire to provide resolution to the story. The Cigarette-Smoking Man was a mysterious figure in the series' pilot and was supposed to remain that way. Fall entertainment magazine Entertainment Weekly, listing synopses of new series, wrote of The X-Files, "We know... this show's a goner". The other two science-fiction series which premiered on the networks along with The X-Files in the fall of 1993 were Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and SeaQuest DSV. The two famous faces who played the infamous MIB in Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space.' were Alex Jeopardy! Trebek, and Jesse The Body Ventura. The part of Agent Pendrell in Avatar was originally cast for a new character whose name would have been Dr. Rick Newton. Carter considered Darren McGavin( who played the title character on Kolchak: The Night Stalker) to play Agent Mulder's father, but had to abandon the idea when schedules couldn't be worked out. Many fans consider Doug Hutchinson (aka Eugene Tooms) to be the most popular guest star The X-Files has ever had. Star trekking, Oscar-winning actress, Whoopi Goldberg wants to make a guest-appearance on The X-Files. Comedian Charles Nelson Reilly portrayed an author researching an alien abduction in the episode Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space.' He regularly appeared on the TV celebrity game show, The Match Game for several years. Peter Donat (aka Bill Mulder)'s recurring role on The X-Files led to a Showtime Outer Limits portrayal of an evil prep school principal who controlled his students by inserting neural implants. Glen Morgan recommended Steven Williams for the recurring role of Mr. X. Kimberly Ashlyn Gere, a former porn star played a suburban housewife in Blood. Guest star in Darkness Falls Jason Beghe (who portrayed Ranger Larry Moore), was a childhood friend of David Duchovny's, was instrumental in his decision to take up acting, and worked with him for a time in New York as a bartender. X-Files co-executive producer R.W. Goodwin's wife, Sheila Larken, has had a recurring role on the series as Margaret Scully. Chris Carter's first preference to be cast in the role of Senator Richard Matheson was Darren McGavin. Darin Morgan, brother of writer Glen Morgan and X-Files wordsmith himself, actually made his debut on the show in The Host in one of "the most God-awful creations ever to be deliberately wrapped around a human body". The Minnesota Viking's player Chris Carter appeared on the television in Bocks' office in Irresistible. Former child star Veronica Cartwright plays Cassandra Spender. Well known talk show host Jerry Springer made an appearance on the X-Files. In Never Again, Jodie Foster does the voice of the talking tattoo. The sequence where Scully first met Mulder in the bowels of the FBI building that he called home to "the FBI's most unwanted" was actually filmed at The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In the episode Firewalker the visual effects technicians used condoms to impersonate asparagus-shaped monsters. Three reasons why originally the decision was made to film The X-Files in Vancouver rather than Los Angeles. 1) There are a great many forests; 2) Offers monetary savings compared to Los Angeles; 3) Able to visually approximate almost any city in North America. The address in Samantha Mulder's X-File, 2790 Vine Street, is the former address of The X-Files production office in Vancouver. Steveston, Massachusetts in the GenderBender episode is in real life, a community near Vancouver beloved by The X-Files production manager for its diversity of settings. The episode Red Museum was shot in a real meat plant. "Blood"'s climactic scene in the bell tower was shot in the University of British Columbia. The producers of the show rented a decommissioned submarine from the Canadian Navy to use in three different X-Files episodes. These were Colony, End Game and Dod Kalm. To simulate the deserts of New Mexico for the episodes Anasazi and The Blessing Way, the X-Files crew sprayed 1,600 gallons of burgundy paint into a gravel pit just outside Vancouver. In Fearful Symmetry, real zoo animals were not used in all the scenes. Sophie was an actor in a gorilla suit. The bones and skulls used in Aubrey and Our Town were made of plastic. The episode Space was designed to be an inexpensive hour (after the series had exceeded its budget on some earlier episodes), but ended up being the most expensive episode of the first season. In the interest of artistic integrity, Doug Hutchinson played the final scene as Eugene Tooms under the escalator nude and covered with karo syrup and food coloring to look like bile. The striking visual sequence in Ghost in the Machine involving Scully and a vacuum-sucking fan was a last minute addition when the originally scripted scene with an elevator shaft was deemed too expensive. Piano wires were used to suspend Scott Bellis in the air during the Max Fenig abduction sequence in Fallen Angel. 140 tons of snow and ice were trucked into a soundstage in order to capture the Arctic conditions for End Game. Steven Williams suggested the dueling head-butts between Skinner and Mr. X for the violent elevator encounter in End Game.