The sixth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced
airing on the Fox network in the United States on November 8, 1998, concluding
on the same channel on May 16, 1999, and contained 22 episodes. The season was
the first to be filmed in Los Angeles, after production was moved from
Vancouver, Canada. The season continued on from the 1998
feature film and focused heavily on FBI federal agents Fox Mulder and Dana
Scully's separation from The X-Files, the assignment of new agents Jeffrey
Spender and Diana Fowley to the division, and the demise of the
Syndicate—a "shadow government" group attempting to cover up the existence of
extraterrestrials—in the two part episode "Two Fathers" and "One Son".
Despite debuting with high viewing figures and ranking as the twelfth most
watched television series during the 1998–99 television year, the season saw
a slight decrease in ratings from the previous one, a trend that would
continue until its final year. The season received mixed to positive
reviews from television critics; some critics and fans were alienated by the
show, due to the different tone taken by most stand-alone episodes after the move
to Los Angeles. Rather than adhering to the previous style of "monsters of the
week", they were often romantic, humorous, or a combination of both.
Plot overview In Washington, D.C., Agent Fox Mulder
appears before an FBI panel regarding his experiences in Antarctica. Assistant
Director Walter Skinner tells Mulder that he and Scully have been denied
reassignment to the division. Mulder goes to his former basement office, only
to discover that Jeffrey Spender and Diana Fowley have been assigned to the
X-Files. Going against orders, Mulder and Scully track down an escaped alien
in Phoenix, Arizona while The Smoking Man gives chase. Mulder and Scully
eventually discover that The Smoking Man has been using Gibson Praise to locate
the creature. Scully brings Gibson to the hospital, where it is determined
that he has the alien virus in his blood. Later, Skinner is mysteriously
poisoned by a nanorobot infection. The culprit is revealed to be Alex Krycek, a
rogue FBI agent who formerly worked for the Syndicate, who continues to control
the potentially debilitating nanotechnology in Skinner's system in
order to achieve his goals. Mulder and Scully later learn of reports
of rebel aliens burning doctors who were working on Cassandra Spender, an alien
abductee and mother of Jeffrey Spender. Skinner takes Spender to the scene,
where Cassandra asks for Mulder. She informs Mulder and Scully that the
aliens are here to destroy all life on Earth. She claims that a rebel force of
aliens are mutilating their faces to prevent infection by the black oil. The
Smoking Man reveals everything to Diana Fowley, who agrees to help him and
betray Mulder. Cassandra later escapes from a hospital and arrives at Mulder's
apartment, demanding that he shoot her because she is the embodiment of fifty
years of work by the Syndicate—an alien-human hybrid that will trigger
colonization if the aliens learn of her existence.
Fowley arrives and forcibly takes Mulder, Cassandra, and Scully to a CDC
facility at Fort Marlene. There, Mulder runs into Marita Covarrubias. Marita
tells Mulder that she was subjected to Syndicate-run black oil vaccine tests.
Meanwhile, the Syndicate rendezvous at a checkpoint, preparing to be taken away
by the Colonists, who are prepping for invasion. However, they are met by the
alien rebels, who incinerate them all, including Cassandra; The Smoking Man and
Fowley escape. Jeffrey Spender is then purportedly killed by The Smoking Man.
Several months later, a metallic artifact with inscriptions is discovered
on the beach of Côte d'Ivoire in Africa. After Mulder examines rubbings of the
object, he begins suffering from a headache, seemingly caused by the
rubbings. Mulder's condition worsens, but he gains telepathic abilities. Chuck
Burks tells them that the symbols on the artifact are Navajo. Eventually, Mulder
passes into an aggravated delusional state and is placed under observation at
a hospital. Hoping to find an answer, Scully rushes to Africa and finds the
massive wreck of a large spacecraft partially buried in the beach.
Production = Background =
After five successful seasons of The X-Files, series creator Chris Carter
wanted to tell the story of the series on a wider scale, which ultimately meant
creating a feature film: the 1998 X-Files movie. The film grossed
US$83,898,313 in the US and $105,278,110 abroad, giving a total worldwide gross
of $189,176,423. In its opening weekend, showing at 2,629 theaters, it earned
$30,138,758 which was 35.9% of its total gross. Initially, the fifth season of
The X-Files was supposed to be the show's last. However, the series proved
to be so lucrative for Fox that two additional seasons were ordered. Thus,
the sixth season of the show began filming.
= Development = After five seasons in Vancouver, Canada,
production of The X-Files moved to Los Angeles. "The Beginning" was the first
episode to be filmed in the new location. The move was instigated by
David Duchovny, who portrayed Mulder, in order to ease his opportunity to find
movie work as well as to give him a chance to be nearer to his wife, Téa
Leoni. Series creator Chris Carter opposed the move, but Fox network
officials eventually made the decision to film in California. Indeed, the very
first shot of the episode—a long look into the sun—was intended by Carter to
"boldly announce the show's arrival in Southern California". As a result of the
move, the episode featured a largely new group of crew members, hired by Carter,
Frank Spotnitz and new co-executive producer Michael Watkins. The show's
crew had to spend five weeks unpacking and cataloging material from the
Vancouver film crew. Although the move was unpopular with some members of the
cast and crew, both series director Kim Manners and actress Gillian Anderson
supported the move, although less vocally than Duchovny. Many fans accused
the show of "Hollywood-izing" by adding notable guests stars as well as making
the plots simpler and more enjoyable for mass audiences. In addition, Space.com
reported that many fans of show loved "the moody ambiance filming around
Vancouver lent the series [during seasons 1-5]", which the sixth season
reportedly lacked. The move to Los Angeles also meant a
drastic price increase for the series. Bruce Harwood, who played Lone Gunman
John Fitzgerald Byers noted, "At the time, the exchange rate between Canadian
and U.S. dollars was pretty dramatic. Somebody told me that the cost per
episode doubled, even tripled, once they moved". In addition, the move further
reduced the amount of expensive special effects the series was able to produce.
Writer Vince Gilligan explained "everything in Los Angeles is more
expensive across the board. […] It became apparent very quickly to me that
we were no longer going to have things such as nuclear submarines descending
through the ice and trains exploding in the middle of the woods".
= Crew = Series creator Chris Carter also served
as executive producer and showrunner and wrote five episodes. Frank Spotnitz was
promoted to executive producer and wrote five episodes, and wrote the story for a
further two episodes. Vince Gilligan was promoted to co-executive producer and
wrote seven episodes. John Shiban was promoted to producer and wrote six
episodes, and wrote the story for one other episode. New writers in the sixth
season included David Amann who joined as executive story editor and wrote two
episodes, and Jeffrey Bell who also wrote two episodes. Freelance episodes
were written by Daniel Arkin and Jim Guttridge, and a further episode was
written by Ken Hawryliw, who was the series' property master from 1993 to
1998. Cast member David Duchovny also wrote his first episode solo, as he
previously collaborated with various writers, including Chris Carter, on
three other episodes. Other producers included producer Paul Rabwin,
co-producer Lori Jo Nemhauser, and Bernadette Caulfield who joined as
producer. Producing-directors for the show
included producer Rob Bowman, producer Kim Manners, co-executive producer
Michael Watkins, and consulting producer Daniel Sackheim, who together directed
the bulk of the season's episodes. Manners directed seven episodes, Bowman
directed six, Watkins directed three, and Sackheim directed one. Series
creator Chris Carter directed two episodes, while cast member David
Duchovny directed his first episode of the series. The remaining two episodes
were directed by Peter Markle and Bryan Spicer.
Cast The following actors and actresses
appear in the season: = Main cast =
David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully
= Recurring cast = Also starring
Mitch Pileggi as Deputy Director Walter Skinner
Chris Owens as Jeffrey Spender William B. Davis as Cigarette Smoking
Man Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek
Guest starring Episodes
Episodes marked with a double dagger are episodes in the series' Alien Mythology
arc. Reception
= Ratings = The sixth season of The X-Files debuted
with "The Beginning" on November 8, 1998. This episode earned a Nielsen
rating of 11.9, with a 17 share, meaning that roughly 11.9 percent of all
television-equipped households, and 17 percent of households watching
television, were tuned in to the episode. The episode was viewed by 20.34
million people, a marked increase from the fifth season's finale, "The End",
which was viewed by 18.76 million viewers. However, the debut marked a
drastic decrease from the fifth season debut, "Redux", which garnered 27.34
million viewers. As the season continued, ratings continued to drop.
The last episode of The X-Files to reach over 20 million viewers was "The Rain
King", which attracted 21.24 million. The season hit a low with the eighteenth
episode, "Milagro", which was viewed by 15.20 million viewers. The season
finale, "Biogenesis", earned a Nielsen rating of 9.4, with a 14 share, and was
viewed by 15.86 viewers, marking a 22 percent drop in viewers when compared to
the season premiere, and a 15.5 percent drop in viewers when compared to the
previous season finale. The season ranked as the twelfth most watched
television series during the 1998–1999 season, with an average of 16.39 million
viewers. = Reviews =
The season received positive reviews from television critics. However some
fans were alienated by the show in its sixth season, due to the different tone
taken by most stand-alone episodes after the move to Los Angeles. Rather than
adhering to the previous style of "monsters of the week", they were often
romantic, humorous, or a combination of both. Several episodes—"Dreamland" and
"The Rain King" in particular—were criticized for their reliance on humor
or for their lighter stories. Fans on the internet began calling the
less-scary episodes "X-Files Lite". Other episodes were derided for their
mediocrity. Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique called the episode
"Alpha" a "run-of-the-mill monster-of-the-week episode". Robert
Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to
The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, called the episode "Trevor" "The
X-Files at its most generic". However, not all the sixth season
episodes were poorly received. The season's third episode, "Triangle" was
largely lauded as a masterpiece by critics. The episode, which was shot in
real time to look like it was filmed in four uninterrupted eleven-minute takes,
was called a "classic" standalone episode and one of the "highlights of
season six". The "Two Fathers"/"One Son" story-arc, which featured the
destruction of the Syndicate, was called one "of the most coherent, [...] almost
unbearably tense, hours in the series' run" by one critic. Finally, the
Duchovny-penned "The Unnatural", which featured the story of an alien who fell
in love with baseball, was praised by critics for its plot, directing, and
originality. One review praised Duchovny's directing "excellence" while
another referred to its ending as "heartbreaking".
= Accolades = The sixth season earned the series eight
Primetime Emmy Award nominations, with one win. It won for Outstanding Makeup
for a Series for the episodes "Two Fathers" and "One Son". Gillian Anderson
received her fourth and final nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama
Series, and Veronica Cartwright received her second consecutive nomination for
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. Other nominations included Bill
Roe for Outstanding Cinematography for a Series, Mark Snow for Outstanding Music
Composition for a Series, Heather MacDougall for Outstanding Single Camera
Picture Editing for a Series, Outstanding Art Direction for a Series,
and Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series. This was the final season the
series received Golden Globe nominations, with Gillian Anderson,
David Duchovny and the series as a whole receiving nominations.
DVD release Notes
^ Cast information taken from Andy Meisler's 2000 book The End and the
Beginning: The Official Guide to the X-Files Season 6, published by Harper
Collins. ^ The episodes were included in the DVD
collection The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 – Colonization, released by Fox.
^ "Biogenesis" was viewed by 15.86 whereas "The Beginning" was viewed by
20.34 million viewers. Subtracting the two figures and then dividing them by
20.34 million, which represents the largest possible audience, yields a
percent decrease of 22 percent. ^ "Biogenesis" was viewed by 15.86
whereas "The End" was viewed by 18.76 million viewers. Subtracting the two
figures and then dividing them by 18.76 million, which represents the largest
possible audience, yields a percent decrease of 15.5 percent.
^ This number is determined by adding up all the viewer numbers for season six
given in The End and the Beginning: The Official Guide to the X-Files and
finding the mean average. References
= Footnotes = = Bibliography =
Hurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris. The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. ISBN
1-933784-80-6. Kessenich, Tom. Examination: An
Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files. Trafford Publishing. ISBN
1-55369-812-6. Meisler, Andy. The End and the
Beginning: The Official Guide to the X-Files Season 6. HarperCollins. ISBN
0-06-107595-7. Meisler, Andy. Resist or Serve: The
Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4. London: HarperCollins. ISBN
0-00-257133-1. OCLC 42005360. External links
List of The X-Files episodes at the Internet Movie Database
List of The X-Files episodes at TV.com