SEASON 1

SEASON 2

SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

SEASON 7

SEASON 8

SEASON 9

Written by Paul Brown

Directed by Michael Lange

Original airdate: October 21, 1994

Recap by RhymePhile

Rather than starting this off with the teaser, I thought I'd go back to my taped episodes of The X-Files to bring you the "Previously On" installment. For some reason they chose not to put these tidbits on the DVDs, which I think is a definite drawback. And unfortunately, unless you were an old-school fan like me and have every single episode in their original, first-run (not syndicated, because they are cut for commercials) version over nine seasons on tape (okay, I may have skipped a lot during Seasons 8 and 9, but I got all the Duchovny ones), you miss out on good stuff like this.

But first I'll bring you the FOX promo: Right from commercial we see a warped camera view of Scully and Mulder from the first-season episode "Red Museum."

Scully: "There's something up there, Mulder."

Mulder: "Ooh, I've been saying that for *years*."

Announcer: "FOX!"

The voiceover announcer says "Previously on The X-Files" (this will change in later seasons as Chris Carter becomes the guy who says "previously on")

Then we see shots of the UFO hovering over Duane Barry's house; Duane screams as the Grays surround his bed; Mulder explains in voiceover that Duane was "former FBI, who also claims to be an alien abductee"; shots of Scully on the phone with Mulder; Duane on the large platform before he's experimented on as the drill comes toward him; Duane tells Mulder "the government knows about it..."; Duane's teeth bring drilled; Mulder, tied up in the chair, looking at Duane; Duane continuing, "...they wouldn't dare let the truth out"; a bright light blinds the hostage negotiation team; Scully on the headset with Mulder: "...listen to me, he is *not* what you think he is"; Duane holding a gun on Mulder; and the last shot is of Scully holding the phone on her shoulder, mid-call to Mulder, and she walks over to the window, opening the blinds to see Duane staring at her. She inhales sharply, obviously scared.

Teaser

Washington, D.C. 11:23 p.m. Huh, I wonder why it isn't the usual 11:21 or 10:13 p.m. Throwing us a curve ball already! It's raining fairly hard, and in the foreground a guy walks by in a yellow rain jacket. In the background is what looks like a row house, with the lights on, illuminating the first floor. You can actually see into the window. There's a chandelier hanging from the ceiling in one of the rooms on the first floor.

Interestingly enough, we cut to a painting of a similar-looking row house, which is hanging on Mulder's apartment wall right over his couch. Now, are we to assume that the establishing shot was supposed to be where Mulder lives? It only showed the first two floors, as the rest is obscured, but later on we'll get to see Hegal Place looking very different from the one here.

Anyway, Mulder walks into his apartment, which is only lit by the flashing lightning. He takes off his coat and tosses it on the couch, and goes right to his answering machine. If you pause the DVD right when the lightning flashes, you can see the things on his desk: two wooden pins on the windowsill which look like those pins jugglers use; a swivel lamp; a small globe; a couple of books; a small wooden box with a clasp you would most likely keep jewelry in; three small round boxes you also might keep jewelry in; papers and such; and a black videocassette box, the kind they give you when you rent from a video store -- or a porno palace, as the case may be with Mulder. He rewinds the answering machine tape, and then sits in a leather chair next to his desk, and steeples his fingers over the bridge of his nose. Man, Mulder's answering machine looks like it was made in the '70s. It amazing how far technology has come. He starts to listen as we hear Scully's message that she left in the previous episode.