WEBVTT - INTERVIEW 2: Chris Carter 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:04.760 Strange Arrivals is a production of I Heart three D 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:17.319 audio for full exposure, listen with headphones. Do I really 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:20.319 need to tell you who Chris Carter is. He's the 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:22.720 creator of The X Files, which is one of the 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.479 iconic TV shows and probably the best known piece of 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:30.319 popular culture to deal with the paranormal and issues of 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:34.280 skepticism and belief. I talked to him in December of 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:39.960 a quick note Chris mentions Bud Hopkins, David Jacobs, and 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:44.360 John Mack. The end of season one of Strange Arrivals 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:49.680 looks at their work, particularly Hopkins. In addition, I interviewed 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.960 Carol Rainey, who is Bud hopkins ex wife and former 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:57.760 research partner, about him and his research. That interview is 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:01.600 a bonus episode from season one. So with that in mind, 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:06.160 here's my chat with Chris Carter. Could you introduce yourself 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.920 Chris Carter, best known as creator of The X Files. 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.120 Let's talk a little bit about the origin of the 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:15.840 X Files. How did you come up with that idea 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:18.959 or who did you work with? I had an idea 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:24.360 way back in the nighties. There was a show on 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.759 that I loved when I was a kid called Cold Check. 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:30.280 The night Stalker. It was the scariest thing I've ever 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:33.160 seen on TV. So I thought, there's nothing scary on TV. 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:35.520 Why don't I try to do a show that is 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:38.240 as scary as that one. I pitched the idea to 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:42.480 Brandon Chartikoff when I was at NBC, and he passed 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:46.160 on it. And then I was hired by twenty Century 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.760 Fox to create TV shows, and I pitched the same 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:52.040 idea to Peter Roth, and he said he had been 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:55.080 thinking about the same thing. So I sat down and 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:58.280 came up with the characters of Moldern Scully FBI agents. 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:01.960 I was inspired, especially you can see Scully's red hair 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:06.240 by Silence of the Lambs. That was an early inspiration. 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:08.840 So I came up with these two characters, and I 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:11.560 kind of turned the tables on what would be the 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:17.360 stereotypical believer in skeptic Maiden Molder the male, the believer 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.760 in Scully the female the skeptic. I wanted to make 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:25.120 her not only a doctor, but a scientist, so she 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:29.760 could refute Molders claims with her hard science. So you 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:34.359 had this idea for a series that would be scary, 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:38.360 and how did you know? How did UFOs come to 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:43.000 be serve a central part of that. There were two 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:47.080 things I've been reading about UFOs and alien abductions. But 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:52.960 also I was given, just by chance, a survey called 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:57.040 the Roper Survey, which was done by Dr John Mack, 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:01.560 who any UFO afficionado will know well, and it said 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:07.239 that millions of Americans believed in the UFO phenomenon, some 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:12.160 millions less believed they had actually seen a UFO, some 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:16.600 millions less believed they had had contact, but that there 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:20.959 was interest in the phenomenon. And so I thought the 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:23.520 first thing and I would like to do is play 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:28.240 with that in a personal way, making molder Sister an abducte, 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:31.960 which is what his entry was into the world of 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:37.240 the paranormal. What what kind of source material you're looking at? 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:40.760 And yet you were, as you were thinking about the 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:44.839 particularly the UFO component of the X Files, I had 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.760 kind of three go to guys was Dr John mac, 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:54.560 David Jacobs, and Bud Hopkins. Those were the three people 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.920 that I read mostly and I had I really developed 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:05.800 my uh sense of all things UFOs and and abductions 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:12.480 through reading their books. Yeah, I would say that those 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:15.440 are my go to guys. You know, I know that 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:21.919 those three were really sort of involved in in the 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:24.599 sort of abduction movement, I guess in the in the 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.480 eighties and nineties. But it seems like there's also these 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:35.200 other components two the X files UFO sort of mythos um, 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:38.919 one of which is, you know, the government conspiracy. The 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.200 government knows more than they're letting on. They're doing a 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:45.560 lot to try and cover it up. What were some 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:49.360 of the source material or the inspiration or whatever for that, 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:51.919 you know, that's part of the literature. But I've always 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.400 been interested in conspiracies, I think because I was a 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:57.960 child of the Watergate era. You know, I was a 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:02.840 disbeliever in what our government was telling us and a 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:05.719 believer that they were keeping things from us. So they 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:09.360 fit in perfect with the UFO literature, which is all 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:15.120 about government, you know, black budget, secret operations and all 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:19.120 the reasons there are for the government to keep the 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:24.200 truth about extraterrestrial life from the American public, and those 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:29.400 would you know, things that are you know, scientific, cultural, religious, 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:35.200 It would upend a lot of the institutions, uh in society. 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.000 And when you were looking at I guess particularly the 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:43.560 Jacobs Hopkins mac stuff, like what was your what was 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:47.240 your assessment of what they were coming up with. Did 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:53.640 this seem more like sort of ideas for fictional storylines, 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.440 or did it at the time seem sort of compelling 0:05:56.720 --> 0:06:02.800 as a possible um description of of things that were 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.240 actually happening. And I asked partly because you know, I've 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:10.320 talked to um people have made, you know, certainly less 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:16.720 influential things about UFOs, and you know, for the large part, 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:20.600 they seem to be really looking at sort of these 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:24.599 fictional representations as a way of getting out something that 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:28.880 they feel is at some level, you know, true or 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:34.240 at least like highly possibly true. And I was kind 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:38.440 of interested because it does seem like other than other 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.800 you know, there's other things like if you're doing a 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:45.359 Western and you're in you're and you're doing research into 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:47.560 what was it like in the in the Western the 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:51.359 eteen eighties and nineties or or what have you, that 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:55.920 there's certain sort of you know, kind of undisputable facts 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:59.800 or things that are I think, are you quote unquote 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:03.200 true to whereas most of the ting about UFOs really 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:07.680 seems in dispute. So it seems like that's a slightly 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:10.840 different thing in figuring out what you want to use 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.080 and how you want to use it. Am I Am 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:16.800 I thinking too much about this? No? I mean I 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:22.440 think even the believers, guys like David Jacobs and Bud 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:26.920 Hopkins and John Matt they doubted certain accounts, and they 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:33.360 doubted certain individuals, and they doubted themselves sometimes. But when 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:37.120 three smart people do the kind of research that they 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:41.080 did and come up with as a bottom line, I 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:46.440 believe in the phenomenon. It's powerful, smart people doing investigative 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.760 science on the subject. That was for me that was very, 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:52.800 very powerful. They were the ones to help paint the 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:59.760 picture that became the backdrop for the X Files Alien Mythology. 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.480 Could you talk a little bit about the development of 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:07.080 the mythology as as a series progress, because um, it 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:13.000 sounds like you didn't have that altogether when the series started. No. 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:18.480 I had what I would consider to be the kind 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:23.760 of foundation of the mythology that was based in things 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:28.400 that anybody could read about alien abductions and kind of 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:33.000 classic scoopmark stars, the triangular shapes, it kind of shape 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.640 that appeared on Scully's back and the pilot episode. So 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:40.680 I had the ideas that I had taken from all 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:47.480 of the accumulated science and background on alien abductions, and 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:52.560 I created a world with the episode. Actually, if you 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:55.600 watch the first and second episode of The X Files 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.440 and the season finale, which is called The erlen Meyer Flask, 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.960 you will really get a foundational view of the X 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:06.959 Files mythology. Now, there's this idea that the government has 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:11.200 been keeping all this stuff quiet secret for their own purposes, 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:16.199 and that one day somebody will get them to disclose, 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:19.720 or there will be reason to disclose the truth. I 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.959 think that's where the X Files mythology took flight from 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:30.840 the accepted Expiles mythology, and so we were imagining the 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:36.000 world before disclosure and modern Scully as the people seeking 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:42.560 to learn the truth. So you mentioned the Arlan Meyer Flask, 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:47.040 which I watched recently with my daughter. You know that 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:51.000 there's so many sort of iconic figures, I guess, and 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:54.640 things that happen. You know, the smoking Man, he serve 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:57.080 an iconic figure now, and there's a there's a deep 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:00.400 throat figure, and you know the erlan Meyer Flask. There's 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:04.160 they go to a warehouse sort of out of the way, 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:08.600 sort of rundown warehouse and find, you know, what appeared 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:12.920 to be Men Underwater being developed, or what have you. 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:17.080 What sort of assumptions were you making about people's understanding 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:20.959 of these issues or thoughts about these issues that kind 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:25.640 of went in into creating the storyline. You know, I'm 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:29.559 thinking also to U two episodes that morgana. Wong did. 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:33.640 I'll preface that by saying, when we started out the show, 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:35.720 I told this staff that I didn't want to I 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:39.480 didn't want to see aliens for five years. I wanted 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.520 to keep them in the shadows and the deep background. 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:46.200 That lasted all of about a year. Glenn Morgan and 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:49.559 James Wong did two great episodes, one called e B 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:53.480 and another one called Little Green Men, and we actually 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:55.640 did see an alien and Little Green Men, which was 0:10:55.679 --> 0:11:01.320 the season opener for season two. So we took a 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:05.600 lot of what people knew about aliens or believed about 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:11.400 aliens and UFOs, extraterrestrials and the government conspiracy. And there 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:15.200 was a certain fascination with Roswell with the area one 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:19.920 and I would call them not tropes, but they were 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:24.440 part of the X file. I'm sorry, the extraterrestrial alien 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:29.720 abduction UFO lore. You know, I think Bolder, Molder and 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:34.360 Scully are I think of the iconic duos in uh 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:38.360 in television history, at least in what I've watched. I 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:41.559 think I think it's them in Kirk and Spock are 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.040 sort of closest to my heart, and I think a 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:47.880 lot of people's hearts. You know, there's clearly this interesting 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:54.800 play between you know, skepticism and belief, And how did 0:11:54.840 --> 0:12:00.280 you see the arc across the seasons as far their 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:06.400 relationship and they're edging each other towards their own beliefs. 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:10.720 How do you see that that playing out? Well? I 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:13.920 can speak to the structure of the way we did 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:17.240 the seasons. We did I think six mythology episodes typically 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:20.800 per season, three two parters actually, and that kind of 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:26.520 became our formula. The way Molder and Scully approached the other, 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:32.440 typically h sixteen to nineteen cases was by taking positions, 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:40.760 by taking hard edged science versus a obdurate and determined 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:46.480 belief in the paranormal on Molder side. And it became 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:50.480 kind of competitive, and it became a really a long 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:56.600 nine year flirtation between the two characters and a seduction 0:12:56.679 --> 0:12:59.959 of sorts. It's funny when you are selling your position, 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.400 and this is something I always find interesting with Mulder 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.319 and Scully. When you are selling your beliefs in your 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:11.560 position and your your side to your to the other 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:13.920 side to the opposition, which would if Mueller is selling 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.959 to Scully, there's something seductive about it. It just became 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:21.160 kind of the nature of the show. So when it ends, 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:24.760 do you feel like Mulder has been more brought towards 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:29.920 skepticism or Scully has been brought more towards belief or 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.480 do you think they fight to a fight to a standstill? Well, 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.360 you know, someone said, how can Scully go for nine 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.839 years and still be a disbeliever with all she's seen? 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:43.360 And so we played with that a little bit. We 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:46.320 actually had her witness things and she came to the 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:49.440 other side and Mulder went to skepticism. So we did 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:52.760 play with that idea through the course of this show. 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:59.520 But it's a fair argument that Scully uh seeing so 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:02.760 much that she could had no answers for because science 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.520 does not have answers for these things, that she would 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.560 come to mother's side more readily than Mud would go 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:13.280 to her side. When we first started this show, there 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:17.520 was something interesting that happened. Fox had bought my pitch. 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:22.200 They had liked my outline. They had liked the pilot script. 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:27.600 We had begun casting and we had filmed the pilot. 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:31.640 We had shown the pilot to the network. They were 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.560 very happy with it, but they wanted me to put 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:40.520 a disclaimer up before the show, saying that for the viewer, 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:46.120 that these are all based on actual events. It was 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:50.000 as if we were creating a kind of documentary in 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:52.520 the network's mind. And I went along with it. But 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:55.760 then it's like, for the pilot episode, I went along 0:14:55.800 --> 0:15:00.560 with it, but then it's like, I realized, that's not 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:08.680 what the show is. The show is fictionalized, scripted storytelling 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:12.680 vehicle for these characters Molder and Scully looking for the truth. 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.000 And I said to them, you know, they wanted to 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:17.400 wrap up the episodes at the end, kind of in 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.720 a neat bow, with an explanation for what Malder and 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:23.160 Scully had seen. And I said, that's exactly what you 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:26.800 don't want. You don't want to have the answers. You 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:28.680 want to be left with wonder, you want to be 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:31.640 left with ah, you want to be left with your 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:35.320 own opinions at the end. And it took me a 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:41.560 real hard sales pitch to get them to understand that. Yeah, 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:45.240 well that seems critical. Uh. You know, I think I 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.720 feel like that's that's such a big part of the 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:51.160 X Files, and I think part of what really captured 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:57.720 people's imagination, even people talking about it today. Is there 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:00.120 something that you're trying to get across, Especially in the 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:04.600 in the Mythos episodes, I was trying to create a 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:07.160 sense of awe and the idea that science doesn't have 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:11.800 all the answers, and that religion doesn't have all the answers, 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:15.760 and that there are things beyond the pale. I liked 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.480 all that, but I also have to say I come 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:23.320 at this from more Scully side than Molder's side, with 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.760 a science bias, and it's I really have a kind 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:32.040 of prove it to me philosophy. And so really it 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:38.840 was me. The thesis was my own troubled perspective on 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.280 what is true and what is not. I want to 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:46.080 see an alien, I want to see a UFO. These 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.840 are things that I want to believe in. But thus 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:54.080 the poster on Molder's wall, I want to have my 0:16:54.960 --> 0:17:02.000 hopes confirmed. I want that experience, uh, and I'm longing 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:06.600 for it as his Molder, But I'm also doubtful of 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:08.480 it that I will ever have it, which is skilling. 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:12.719 And so you know, in the course of you know, 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:16.480 the research for the X files, and I'm sure you 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:18.720 must have had zillions and sillions of people getting in 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:22.560 touch with you about their experiences, how did you find 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:28.240 or did you find that your thoughts about UFOs changed? 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:32.320 You know, people ask me if I'm a believer or 0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:34.199 a skeptic, and I say, I'm a skeptic, but I 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:39.160 have to say that with a asterisk because I've met 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:46.040 so many people who tell so many believable stories, stories 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:49.040 that they absolutely believe in that who am I to 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:54.560 doubt them? So while I am skeptical because there isn't 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:58.600 a lot of hard, hard evidence, There isn't a lot 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:04.200 of come helling testimony that leads to the heart evidence. 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:08.160 Uh there is, there are, just there are a lot 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:12.800 of personal accounts that one can take with a grain 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:17.399 of salt. So you didn't find I mean, did you 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:21.240 ever feel like you were led on to something that 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:25.280 that most people or just about everybody wouldn't have known 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:28.120 in the course of this stuff. It clearly wasn't something 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:32.359 that would have changed your mind. I didn't find anything 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:35.359 that necessarily changed my mind. There was something interesting that 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:38.600 I did that I had a chance to do, and 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:46.600 and I had written about regression hypnosis, and this is 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:50.879 the way Bud Hopkins worked and John mac worked, taking 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:55.520 people back through their memories, maybe removing the screen memories 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:59.359 that the aliens had implanted them with. And I actually 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:03.000 got to sit in on a regression hypnosis went. I 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:08.440 flew to Boston while the show was being produced and 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:11.919 sat in on one of these events. And it was 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:15.639 powerful to be sitting next to someone who is going 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:19.800 through the abduction experience. In this case, it was someone 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:24.040 who was taken from a campground. So who am I 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.280 to say that it's not true when it seemed so 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:50.160 vivid and powerful in this in this person's mind. Can 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:53.159 you talk a little bit about the dynamic of the 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:56.760 of the writing of the X Files and and you 0:19:56.800 --> 0:20:00.000 know the other things that kind of went into create 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.959 eating the storyline and sort of the look and feel. 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:09.359 They are very very strong. Yeah. I was really lucky 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:14.200 to hire two teams of smart guys, and that would 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:17.800 be people have mentioned already. Glenn Morgan and James Wong 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:22.040 were a writing team, uh, and then a writing team 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:26.160 of Howard Gordon and Alex Gonza, who were also too 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:31.440 smart guys who went on to create Homeland together. So 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:35.800 I had these capable people, and the way we began 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:40.480 to work was we would gather together and people would 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:44.320 pitch their ideas for episodes, and if the ideas were good, 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:48.280 and they almost always were, that person would go and 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:52.480 create a plot, so basically go to the drawing board 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:56.720 and create the plot for the story. They would bring 0:20:56.760 --> 0:21:00.919 that plot, which was done on three buy five cards 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:04.000 on a bulletin board, to the group and we would 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:07.080 go through it and listen, and once again I got 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:10.560 very lucky. People had very good ideas of how to 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:18.679 develop the modern Scully storyline through horror, thriller, suspense, and 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:24.840 paranormal episodes. So the X Files from the very beginning 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:27.720 was not just going to be a UFO alien show. 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:31.360 It was going to be more than that. And uh, 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:35.320 I had actually created a marketing package before any of 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:38.199 these people came on, when I turned the pilot and 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:42.400 originally into twenty Century Fox, spelling out what the show was. 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:48.240 So it just happened that I was able to pair 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:52.320 with the right people to bring the idea of making 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:56.439 it a horror show, a suspense show, a thriller, what 0:21:56.600 --> 0:22:00.560 have you. That it became really three fifths of the 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:04.160 time it was something other than alien and aliens and UFOs. 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:07.800 I'm really interested in this idea of working with other 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:13.119 people on something that's essentially, you know, your brainchild. Was 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:17.000 everybody sort of on the same page, particularly with Moulder 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:20.840 and Scully and how they would react to certain things 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:24.280 or was askedly that that was hashed out over the 0:22:24.320 --> 0:22:28.520 course of of meetings. You know, I have to say 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:34.439 that the characters were they developed over time, that people 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:40.879 added to them, that people created and created nuances for 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:44.280 the characters. But the idea that they were the believer 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:47.840 in the skeptic and their personalities were really came from 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:52.720 the pilot. And so while everyone added to the creation 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:56.320 in the most amazing ways, and the show wouldn't be 0:22:56.359 --> 0:23:00.199 the same without those additions. Modern Scully, I think, or 0:23:00.320 --> 0:23:07.160 Modern Scully from the beginning, and they just uh their 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:11.360 characters and their stories and their backgrounds and their attitudes 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:15.439 changed with time because that's the nature of producing a 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:22.439 television show, right. Interesting, So what is it about UFOs 0:23:22.520 --> 0:23:29.040 that you think makes for good and compelling TV or movies? 0:23:30.200 --> 0:23:33.320 I think it's interesting because I think people look up 0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:36.280 into the sky at night and wonder if the truth 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:39.920 is out there, if the if there are other civilizations. 0:23:39.920 --> 0:23:44.000 So it has a kind of human component to it, 0:23:44.160 --> 0:23:49.240 and the idea that the aliens have in many cases 0:23:49.560 --> 0:23:53.080 humanoid qualities, and that they actually seem to have some 0:23:53.280 --> 0:23:58.679 steak and humanity and they have some either good or 0:23:58.720 --> 0:24:02.320 bad purposes for being year it's our fear of the 0:24:02.359 --> 0:24:06.680 other that is natural, and in this case, I think 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:11.200 it's the fear of a another that has either a 0:24:11.200 --> 0:24:16.119 good or evil intent. Have you been have you been 0:24:16.160 --> 0:24:19.520 following what's been going on recently, you know, in the 0:24:19.600 --> 0:24:26.440 last couple of years, the revelations that the Pentagon continued 0:24:26.480 --> 0:24:31.359 to have a quote unquote UFO program up until very recently. 0:24:32.119 --> 0:24:36.560 You know, you have Marco Rubio, Senator Marco Rubio asking 0:24:37.040 --> 0:24:42.119 the Department of Defense to give him unclassified report of 0:24:42.560 --> 0:24:47.399 what they've been doing and what they potentially know. Do 0:24:47.440 --> 0:24:50.399 you have thoughts? Yeah? I do. I mean Obama asked 0:24:50.840 --> 0:24:56.720 the Defense Department for any files. Hillary Clinton, who with 0:24:56.920 --> 0:25:01.359 John Fodesta on her staff, we're avid believers, or I 0:25:01.400 --> 0:25:05.680 should say want to believers, and the phenomenon were had 0:25:05.840 --> 0:25:08.760 even said during our campaign that they were going to 0:25:08.800 --> 0:25:11.359 get to the bottom of it. So you know, this 0:25:11.480 --> 0:25:13.720 has been going on for quite a while. People want 0:25:13.760 --> 0:25:17.399 to know. I think Bill Clinton wanted to know, and 0:25:17.800 --> 0:25:21.240 so Marco Rubio is just the latest in a long line. 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:23.680 I think. I thought it was interesting that Harry Reid 0:25:23.760 --> 0:25:30.320 basically did have a secret alien project UFO project that 0:25:30.640 --> 0:25:35.879 he financed with taxpayer dollars, which was not I was 0:25:35.920 --> 0:25:39.520 not unsurprised. How do you how do you look at 0:25:39.560 --> 0:25:44.040 the legacy of the X Files. That's a big question, 0:25:46.600 --> 0:25:49.359 you know. I hope that it was nine years of 0:25:50.480 --> 0:25:55.160 quality entertainment. Two put a big stamp on the whole thing. 0:25:55.640 --> 0:25:59.919 But I think that what as you say, modern skelling 0:26:00.160 --> 0:26:04.000 the iconic duo, I think this show was always While 0:26:04.200 --> 0:26:08.440 it was about a group of or I should say, 0:26:08.480 --> 0:26:12.520 a file cabinet full of spiles of the unknown, it 0:26:12.640 --> 0:26:15.359 really was a show about Molder and Scully in their relationship. 0:26:15.440 --> 0:26:18.600 So I think the legacy is those two characters. It's 0:26:18.600 --> 0:26:21.080 funny the way Molder and Scully now kind of rolls 0:26:21.160 --> 0:26:24.320 off the tongue and you know exactly what you know 0:26:24.480 --> 0:26:27.720 that means the believer in the skeptic and that I 0:26:27.760 --> 0:26:31.080 would take you know, that name Molder, which isn't the 0:26:31.119 --> 0:26:36.680 most poetic, malifluous name, and parrot with Scully and somehow 0:26:36.840 --> 0:26:41.520 Mulder and Scully sounds as if the two characters have 0:26:41.640 --> 0:26:47.160 existed forever. Yeah. Absolutely, What if I missed? Is are 0:26:47.160 --> 0:26:51.280 there other? Is there something else that people should know? Now? 0:26:51.359 --> 0:26:53.680 You know, it's funny when you when I think about 0:26:53.680 --> 0:26:56.879 the show, I think about you know, it was always 0:26:56.880 --> 0:27:00.159 surprising to me. I was mentioning the writers and what 0:27:00.240 --> 0:27:03.320 people would bring in was always interesting to me and 0:27:04.160 --> 0:27:07.040 things I hadn't imagined, takes on the show that I 0:27:07.040 --> 0:27:10.840 haven't imagined. But once those scripts were written, you are 0:27:10.880 --> 0:27:14.720 our first audience was always the crew, and you knew 0:27:14.760 --> 0:27:17.320 that if the crew liked an episode, it was a 0:27:17.359 --> 0:27:21.800 good episode. They were our toughest critics and they really 0:27:21.840 --> 0:27:24.639 invested themselves in the show because they liked the show. 0:27:25.119 --> 0:27:29.359 But I think about taking a script and handing it 0:27:29.440 --> 0:27:36.040 over to the people like the production designers and seeing 0:27:36.920 --> 0:27:40.400 what they came up with, what their visions were, and 0:27:41.400 --> 0:27:43.720 it seems like every episode they always came up with 0:27:43.880 --> 0:27:46.560 something that none of us quite imagined, or a way 0:27:46.600 --> 0:27:49.919 to do something that none of us quite imagined. I 0:27:49.960 --> 0:27:53.480 think the pilot episode was done by Michael Namursky, and 0:27:53.520 --> 0:27:59.480 then the five seasons. The next five seasons were Graham Murray, 0:28:00.119 --> 0:28:03.840 Uh these people, Uh she speak to a case in point, 0:28:04.560 --> 0:28:08.400 Dwayne Berry. What Graham Murray came up with for an 0:28:08.400 --> 0:28:13.120 examination table of this character? Dwayne Berry, surrounded by Gray 0:28:13.200 --> 0:28:19.520 Aliens was production design costume, said Deck. You know, all 0:28:19.640 --> 0:28:22.880 these people came together and created something that was better 0:28:22.920 --> 0:28:26.520 than I ever imagined. Yeah, did you did you know 0:28:26.600 --> 0:28:29.320