X-Files mythology, TenThirteen Interviews Database, and more

Posts Tagged ‘millennium’

News Archive: 2010

06.21.10 | Ten Thirteen Interviews Database Project

Announcing the launch of the Ten Thirteen Interviews Database Project!

This new section of EatTheCorn aims to archive every single interview of Ten Thirteen cast and crew. A daunting task, certainly, but I’m counting on the contributions of every willing 1013 fan out there to make this collaborative project a success. Come, visit, read, and contribute!

The project is launching with no less than 300 interviews already archived! A huge thank you to Libby, who very generously provided the bulk of this material! Her site featuring the most complete and accurate 1013 episode transcripts is also one to bookmark.

03.04.10 | Mission complete

The hybridization retrospective is now complete with Page 5: Supersoldiers and Page 6: Special Cases.

The Primer, your comprehensive guide to the X-Files mythology, has been converted into a handy PDF file for your offline reading pleasure here! (Think of the environment before printing though — the online version is…online.)

My review of last year’s (already!) X-Con in Berlin, Germany, can be found here, graciously hosted by X-Files News, which also linked to a selection of mine of pictures from the event.

Check back very soon for some very big and exciting developments for E.T.C! …And for some other, also very big and exciting, developments for the fandom at large!

This Is Who We Are: Patrick Harbinson interview

Sep-19-2010
This Is Who We Are
Patrick Harbinson interview

[Original article here]

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Writer Patrick Harbinson manages to juggle writing duties in both Hollywood and the UK. An ex-soldier, he served his writing apprenticeship penning episodes of Soldier Soldier and Heartbeat before moving out to Hollywood in 1995. Writing gigs followed on Millennium, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, E.R., James Cameron’s Dark Angel and 24. Patricks’s most recent TV credits are for the ITV firefighting drama Steel River Blues, Red Cap and the world-wide British born success “Wire In The Blood”. Patrick agreed to talk exclusively to TIWWA about his time on Millennium and I know you will all join with me in expressing your gratitude to him for taking time out of his busy schedule.

TIWWA: You remained with “Millennium”, in some capacity, for the three seasons of its existence and three seasons which saw a number of changes to the shows thematic as well as the coming and going of characters and showrunners. How do you view the experience of Millennium as a whole in retrospect and what were the notable successes of the show in your opinion?

PATRICK HARBINSON: was only on the ‘staff’ of Millennium for its third and last year. I wrote – co-wrote in fact with Bobby Moresco – an episode in the first season, but I wasn’t on staff then. I had worked with Bobby on a short-lived but critically successful drama series called EZ Streets, created and run by Paul Haggis (Oscar winner for Crash). When EZ Streets died, Chris Carter hauled Bobby onto Millennium and Bobby then called me and asked if I had any ideas. I did. So I wrote one episode in that year, and then, as I said, came on staff for the third year.

Changes? My impression of the first year was of a show struggling for identity after its extraordinary opening. I remember someone (who was closely involved with the show) saying that Millennium’s initial success on the back of massive publicity – new show from the creator of the X-Files, etc. – was the worst thing that could have happened to it, because it created an expectation of great things – among fans and Fox executives – that few shows could have sustained. So by the time I turned up with a story about horses they were quite glad to have something that wasn’t about serial killers – though of course it was. I had nothing to do with the second year so can’t comment on that. Third year, once Chip Johannessen took over the reins fully from Michael Duggan, the series became a gentler, more mysterious, more enquiring animal. If any TV series could be said to have aspired to magic realism it was Millennium.

Most of this change – in year 3 – was down to Chip. Once I found my feet on the show, I loved what I was able to write – what Chip encouraged me to write – and it is still one of the highlights of my career.

TIWWA: Many members of the cast and crew hold “Millennium” in high regard and consider it to be a particular high-point of their careers. It has been espoused that people knew they were making ‘something special’ at the time. Do you concur with this and what do you believe it was that made “Millennium” such a unique experience?

PH: Yes, it was an unique experience, but I don’t think that, at the time, I realised quite how unique. I certainly haven’t had the same freedom to experiment in anything I’ve done for US television – for any television since.

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TIWWA: You wrote the first season episode, “Broken World” which is widely regarded to be an episode that attempted to explore the boundaries of what could be achieved within the remit of “Millennium” as well as being evidence to counter the ‘serial killer of the week’ label which some critics attached to it. Was it a conscious decision to play with the format a little and how easy was it to be creative with the format and were writers encouraged to do that?

PH: I walked into Millennium rather innocently, having seen the pilot and a few episodes, but not really having much idea of its political or creative currents and stresses. What I did have though was a rough story based on some particularly nasty crimes that were happening in England around that time – I guess it must have been 1995, 96? – which involved the mutilation of horses. I was a. appalled, b. deeply curious, as to the ‘why’ of it all. Then I discovered, as any crime writer soon will, that according to the rubric, cruelty to animals is one of the indicators of a potential serial killer. So I thought what if Frank Black is drawn to this crime (non-human victims notwithstanding) because he recognises the darkness in it.

Then, researching deeper, looking to relocate it to the US, I came across the pregnant mare farms, the whole PMU thing, and I thought, bloody hell, this really is weird. And from that an episode emerged, which I pitched to Bobby, then, with his support, pitched to Chris Carter, and after some of the usual story struggles, Chris said Okay, write it. If I hadn’t been teamed with Bobby M at that stage I doubt Chris would have let me go with it on my own, so without Bobby it would never have happened. Also, I think – though I don’t know – that they were beginning to struggle for stories, so this idea was something of a relief.

Did it encourage others to be creative with the format? I don’t know. It certainly showed me how elastic the show could be, and it taught me the invaluable lesson that the deeper you dig into a story the more you’re going to learn, the richer your script is going to be. Broken World eventually won a Genesis Award. I was proud of that.

TIWWA: I know various statements have been made over the years that Fox desired thematic changes to the second season of the show and Glen Morgan and James Wong did their best to accommodate their dictates whilst fighting against some they didn’t agree with. Is it difficult for a production team to work on a show that has established a format but is facing outside interference in terms of its continuing direction?

PH: Yes, it’s a nightmare when you and the network have different ideas about the show, or different expectations, But I thought some of what Morgan and Wong did – I didn’t watch the whole Season – was extraordinary. The trouble with Millennium is that the format was/is somewhat limited, and the arc of Frank Blank ‘seeing his way’ through crime after gruesome crime could become familiar – to the writers as much as the audience. If you consider a show like Criminal Minds which functions in the same arena and has had enormous success for – I think – at least six years, twice Millennium’s run, you’ll see that the creators have stocked the show with a large regular cast so that the interplay of character and relationships among the regulars becomes as important for the viewer as the actual crimes those regulars are investigating.

TIWWA: When production began on the third season of the show, Michael Duggan was the showrunner but he left fairly early on into the third season leaving Chip Johannessen to pick up where he left off. Is it easy for a production team to adapt when a show loses ‘the hand at the rudder’ and do you recall the transition from one showrunner to the other to be a relatively seamless affair?

PH: Not entirely seamless for me personally in that Michael had brought me onto the show, and by the time he left I hadn’t really developed a relationship, personal or creative, with Chip. So once Michael had gone – he’d only wanted to be a transitional figure anyway – there was, for me, an uneasy couple of months as I tried to establish myself, and work out Chip’s story-telling style. As it turned out my sensibilities were much closer to Chip’s than anyone else I have ever worked with, but that was not immediately apparent – to either of us. In fact, Through a Glass, Darkly, my first script, was sliding alarmingly down the filming order, and it was only when Chris Carter – rather arbitrarily – threw out another script and asked what else was ready, that my script got onto the schedule. But after that it was all fine and dandy.

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TIWWA: “The Sound of Snow” is rightly considered one of the finest episodes “Millennium” and fans have often wondered why it took so long to resolve Frank and Catherine’s story considering the state of their relationship when Megan Gallagher left the show. Was it a bitter-sweet experience to know that Megan would be returning albeit for a single episode and a daunting one considering the level of anticipation there would be for such a story?

PH: I had no idea it was thought of so highly, that’s nice… But this episode arose entirely out of my efforts – almost literally – to go into stream-of-consciousness story-telling and just see where it ended up. So I started with a girl driving down a forest road and she puts a tape in the tape deck – it was the 90s – and there’s this gentle hiss, and then it starts to snow, and she drives on thinking how pretty, but then she starts to hear the flakes hitting the windscreen, and it’s weird, and then scary, and they’re getting louder, and louder, and then one cracks the windscreen, and… etc. etc. I was doing stuff, coming up with stuff, just to see if I could keep Chip (and Ken Horton – Ken was always there) listening, not interrupting, waiting to see what would happen next.

If someone were to analyse seriously the genius of Chris Carter’s story-telling, it’s that: keep your audience suspendeded in the dark waiting to see what happens next. Anyway, after that came the struggle to make it all mean something, relate it to Frank, find an episode in it. And I realised, after several weeks’ uncertainty, that these mysterious cassettes were a kind of consciousness-enhancer, sending their listener into a quasi-hypnotic state where the past became physical, real. So I asked Chip and Ken if we could bring Megan back, and they said okay, and we had our story, and I was able to resolve one of the big unanswered questions of the series. Was it daunting, the Megan part of it? If I’d been asked to write an episode specifically resolving the Megan/Frank relationship, that would have been daunting, but as it was, coming at it backwards, as it were, it seemed simple, logical, and right. I was simply finding closure for her, for us.

TIWWA: Another particularly well received episode is “Darwin’s Eye” which is a superb concept that really toys with the viewer in making them perceive a conspiracy, in true “Millennium” style, when no conspiracy exists. Could you give us some insight into how you conceived of the story and what the inspirations behind it were?

PH: Once I’d finished an episode I would immediately start the area into odd areas of research, odd reading, to try and find the germ of the next idea – you see how far we’d come from serial killers. At the time of Darwin’s Eye, I’d just finished – entirely by chance – a biography of Darwin, and I’d come across the fact that Darwin was worried about the eye – that it didn’t quite fit with his theory of evolution, And pondering all this – without smoking anything – I found this voice saying: ‘So you start with the primal ooze… and you end up with Hitler, Mozart, me…’ Anyway, I put a face to the voice and the whole thing just snowballed into this story of a paranoid girl – victim or psycho, who knows? – and her journey towards justice, or retribution. And I married this exercise in (false?) paranoia with Klea Scott’s story of (true?) paranoia – origami, wooden boxes, her father folding her sister’s face into flowers, palms in the nuclear wind. I really wasn’t smoking anything, but it was for me one of the most exciting and surprising writing experiences I’ve ever had. Ken Fink directed brilliantly. Tracy Middendorf was great. Does it actually add up to anything? I don’t know, but it was a wonderful ride and couldn’t have happened on any other show.

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TIWWA: When you approached the script of “Via Dolorosa” were you aware at the time that you penning the beginning of the end, so to speak, and how conscious were you of affording the fans closure if that was the case? Am I right in thinking that people were still unsure as to the fate of the series until relatively late in third season?

PH: I don’t remember a lot about Via Dolorosa which I wrote with another friend Marjorie David. But I think we felt that the show was coming to an end. Though the fractured free-form style of Season 3 led to many lovely episodes, especially Chip’s, it could be confusing, indeed irritating, to the audience. So, by the time we were writing Via Dolorosa, yes, I think we thought it was heading for the finish.

TIWWA: I was a huge admirer of “Wire In The Blood” and I know “Millennium fans” who appreciate the series consider it a British equivalent of “Millennium” in the sense that there were tangible similarities between the two shows and a similar high quality of story telling and production. Did you as writer perceive the similarities in the way some viewers did and how do you compare working on a “Wire In The Blood” script to penning an episode of “Millennium”?

PH: If anyone’s read Val McDermid’s Wire in the Blood novels, the first of which is The Mermaids Singing, they’ll see that the Tony Hill (Robson Greene) character is quite serious, quite dark, quite flawed. It was the awareness not only of Robson’s last big English role, Touching Evil, but also of Lance’s character in Millennium, that made me change – or argue that we should change, and happily people agreed – the character of Tony Hill and make him, well, funny, clumsy, muttering, almost autistic, in everything except his perceptions, his analyses.

I knew how funny Robson could be as an actor, so I knew he could do it, and I think this humour was a big part of the show’s success in the UK and abroad. So Millennium was really important in that it told me I couldn’t hope – didn’t want to – replicate Frank Black in a UK context. As far as I remember, in the first script I had very little – if any – of Robson ‘seeing what the killer sees’ – those Frank Black flashes that were a signature of Millennium. What I replaced them with was genuine forensic psychology, which led to crash courses in criminal psychology for me, and much horrible trawling through crime scene books, true crime stories. To be honest, I was deeply uncertain as to whether Wire in the Blood would succeed; it had a gothic gore to it that was even beyond what we’d done on Millennium, and I wasn’t sure that Robson and Hermione would be enough to lift it. But the series was beautifully made by Coastal Productions, and could be more daring in its direction, its editing, its use of sex and violence, than Millennium.

Compare writing experiences? Once I knew what I was doing, could do, on Millennium it was actually great fun. Writing Wire in the Blood was always tough – partly because it’s 100 plus minutes rather than 43, the stories had to go a bit deeper and a bit darker into uncomfortable places – if they were to be any good, that is. Also, and this might not seem significant but it was: Millennium was intensely visual as a writing experience, we’d almost challenge each other to go for pages without a word of dialogue – partly because Lance was so powerful as a non-verbal actor, partly because it was just cool. Whereas Wire in the Blood could be – at least in my scripts, at least in the Robson scenes – literally crammed with words: I wanted Robson almost never to stop talking, even to himself – not that it couldn’t be visual too, but words were more important: our lead character was a doctor, I wanted him always to be wrestling with words, trying to explain the inexplicable.

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TIWWA: “Prayer of the Bone” (“Wire In The Blood”) and “Through A Glass Darkly” both share a similar central theme in that the audience, and the protagonist, initially believe an innocent man to be guilty of a crime and deserving of the punishment that has been dispensed. One thing I enjoy about your writing is that the viewer can never be complacent with the narrative and the truths of it are often subverted a number of times during the course of our journey to understanding it. Do you enjoy keeping viewers on their toes and dealing, often, with moral ambiguities?

PH: Yes. See my comment on Chris Carter: Keep the audience in suspense, then surprise their expectations, reverse the narrative flow. What I think (hope) I’ve discovered since is that if I can also confound our prejudices, our instinctive rushes to judgement, then the story really becomes interesting, not just an exercise in narrative trickery. Prayer of the Bone, Through a Glass, Darkly, even Wounded Surgeon (another Wire in the Blood) are all about suggestibility: the vulnerability of the criminal – who most of the time is, to put it mildly, educationally challenged, not the hyper-cunning serial killer – to the tender mercies of the police, the lawyer, the doctor, the psychiatrist. I just wanted – want – to be able to remind people that even when they think they know, they don’t.

TIWWA: For admirers of your work, can we ask what the future holds for the continuing career of Patrick Harbinson?

PH: Murder and mayhem, probably.

TIWWA: I wanted to conclude by thanking you for taking the time to speak to us and we wish you every continued success in the future.

PH: Thank you! Best wishes to all.

News Archive: 2009

10.18.09 | X-CON

Vielen danken! Bis nächste mal!

08.30.09 | Past and future musings

Part four of the hybridization round-up is now available.

Continuing on that forgotten art retrospective, here is a page on the XF work by Sue Coe, the artist behind that cover of Songs in the Key of X CD.

The BackToFrankBlack campain doesn’t cease to amaze me with their dedication and the success they have in obtaining interviews with people in front and behind the camera, the latest being some very interesting interviews with Michael R. Perry, Frank Spotnitz and Mark Snow!

The release of the four-CD set with music from the series by La La Land Records has now been pushed back to summer 2010. Well, we’ve waited 13 years since The Truth and the Light, we can wait one more — as long as the end product is worth it!

I understand those who no longer wish to see a continuation of the X-Files on the big screen. Carter, and Spotnitz, do seem adamant though that they have one more story to tell to wrap things up, and by curiosity alone I would like to see what they have in mind. Of course making it a script tailored for a theatrical release would need to have it purged of the over-complicated burden of the series’ mythology minutiae and one should only expect a storyline providing closure to the fates of Mulder, Scully and the world instead of a tying up of nine year worth’s of loose ends and a host of recurring characters appearances.

One potential storyline can be found in the recent science news: the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder that has been causing a massive decimation of honeybees worldwide in the recent years! It now appears that the cause would be the simultaneous effect of multiple viruses on the bees, making them unable to produce proteins essential to their immune and digestive system. Could this be the work of an organized resistance movement trying to get rid of the means to spread the Black Oil virus and thus prevent colonization? One can spend time coming up with other amusing ideas for XF3…

06.17.09 | Nostalgic, much?

Granted, I won’t deny that E.T.C is a site that does indulge in nostalgia sometimes. Surely, part of many fans’ continued appreciation of the X-Files comes from the fact that they followed the show when it was all-new. Sadly, many creative efforts tied in to the show get lost as the XF move further away from present times. In E.T.C’s effort to serve as a repository for XF-related items and ideas, here are the artwork of the “Wave” VHS cards.

The hybridization retrospective continues with parts two and three now online.

A part of the fandom has begun a campaign to lobby for a third XF feature film. More thoughts later on how desirable an XF3 would be.

But first, I want to congratulate the German fans, who managed to kick off their project for an XF convention: the X-Con, in Berlin, October 16-18, 2009! As far as I know this is the first official XF convention ever since the mythical “X-Files Expo” of 1997-98 that happened in the USA — and last year’s expo in Chile — which is quite an achievement.

03.15.09 | Bittersweet update

Quite a few things happened since the last update. For example, The USA welcomed the President that will see the World end in 2012 and, hopefully, a third X-Files movie… It’s also been 20 years since Laura Palmer died.

– EatTheCorn moves boldly in 2009 with the first part of a six-part dossier on hybridization in the X-Files. The other parts are coming very soon.

– XF alumni and fans everywhere mourned the premature loss of one of its best producers and directors, Kim Manners. Mr. Manners was the X-Files’ most prolific directors, with no less than 52 episodes (a quarter of the series all by himself!) over 8 seasons. He was one of the key people that helped define the show, often competing in a friendly way with fellow director Rob Bowman over who would produce the best quality work. He will be fondly remembered.

– But there are also good news. Stellar news, actually! La La Land Records, who recently brought us some MillenniuM music, is indeed working on a major release of Mark Snow’s music for XF! And it will be no less than a 4CD-set with music from around 40-60 episodes… 4CDs! A tentative release date is September, 2009. I hope that a maximum of my wishes (see here) will be fulfilled! The 13-year wait since The Truth and the Light is nearly over! Speaking of which, thanks to Tommy for filling some gaps in T&L — more help to identify some tracks is welcome.

– In an awfully overdue update, I want to thank Agent Donald for mentioning EatTheCorn in his Reopening the X-Files” podcast. His ambitious project has him doing a podcast for every single XF episode, an effort that is definitely worthy checking out.

– Also, the XFLexicon has undergone an extensive revamping and continues its work of bringing us interesting articles and insights in the behind-the-scenes making of the show. In memoriam of Kim Manners, the Lexicon was able to obtain some unpublished parts of Matt Hurwitz’s interview with Mr. Manners done for the recent Complete XF book.

– The BackToFrankBlack campaign continues strong as ever bringing 1013 fans unexpected goodies, such as another Lance Henriksen interview!

News Archive: 2008

12.14.08 | Fandom News

Many news in the world of TenThirteen lately!

– First, the “Complete XF” book has been released, and it really is a must-have! Despite numerous proof-reading shortcomings, the interviews and pictures are many and fresh. This is the kind of ‘legacy’ book that a series of the importance of the X-Files was lacking before!

Mark Snow music coming your way! Well-established soundtrack record company La La Land Records is releasing a double-CD with music from MillenniuM! Do not wait long to order, there are only 2000 copies available (the signed ones are already gone), you can order here and they post internationally. I hope this will lead to even more Snow music being released — my XF wish list is here!

– The Back To Frank Black campaign is going ahead full steam. The latest exploit is an interview with Lance Henriksen himself, over here.

– Speaking of which, X-Files News made a featured article concerning the BTFB campaign, featuring an interview with campaign co-manager James McLean and, well, yours truly! You can read it here.

– Finally, some updating within ETC as well! Chris Carter himself explains what the mytharc is all about in The Truth Revealed!

11.25.08 | …Four Months Later

Though not a mythology outing, IWTB is significant enough for me to go into detail in a DataBase entry — especially since it’s the first piece of original XF material for six years, and the last one for an as of yet undetermined amount of time. So here is my review of the freshly released to DVD I Want To Believe! A long review that attempts to be comprehensive and even spreads to a critique of the state of the franchise and the fandom. Photos are coming shortly.

Matt of the XF Lexicon made an excellent interview with “The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series, the Myths, and the Movies” co-author Matt Hurwitz, check it out here! The book really sounds like a treat, and delivery delays seem to be due to higher orders than expected.

10.13.08 | We Want More

Another 1013 today. It can be argued both ways, but MillenniuM might very well lend itself better to the feature film format than The X-Files. TenThirteen is certainly capable of delivering a quality feature film based on MillenniuM and its iconic character Frank Black! This is the idea behind the “Back To Frank Black” campaign. Be sure to visit and express your support — and, if you haven’t already, discover this other amazing series!

Things to look forward to: “The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series, the Myths, and the Movies” is the new book on the franchise written by journalist Matt Hurwitz and fan Chris Knowles, and it promises to be the definitive behind the scenes publication for XF! Carter’s involvement should deliver something better than the purely promotional products that were the seasons 1-7 guides. Release dates: October 15 in Europe, November 11 in USA & Japan!

08.30.08 | The show must go on…

I Want To Believe has come…and gone. Before I finally find the time and verve to write a fully fleshed-out review, there is something else:

Things to look forward to: The greatest XF news since the announcement that XF:IWTB was in the works is that a new release with Mark Snow’s music for the series might see the light of day very soon! To that end I’ve compiled a list with what I think should go in this potentially “Massive Music Compilation“. If you want to help me build that list don’t hesitate to contact me!

07.24.08 | One more for the road

For all I would have rather seen the series to end with season 7, the Primer could not be complete without a section on seasons 8 and 9; it is now done with Section 5: Back To Plan A! And it could not be complete either without another section that deals with the personal journey of the series’ protagonists Mulder and Scully: this is Section 6: Destinies. The Primer is now complete! This is your definitive guide to the X-Files mythology, the section to consult before delving into the details of the episodic DataBase.

Some minor modifications on Primer Section 0 and Section 1, as well as in 9X01 & 9X02: Nothing Important Happened Today and 9X19/20: The Truth.

Film update: This is the last update before XF:IWTB. Fingers crossed. I’ve added a ‘dummy’ DataBase page for I Want To Believe.

07.13.08 | The Season 9 Update!

Another massive update to wrap it all up! All DataBase entries for the season 9 episodes are up: 9X01 & 9X02: Nothing Important Happened Today, 9X08: Trust No 1, 9X10: Provenance & 9X11: Providence, 9X17: William and 9X19/20: The Truth. This is the least liked season of the show (what a shame it didn’t end when it was at its height!) and this shows in my analyses, but it is also the least well understood part of the mythology as well. I really think I got it with this interpretation that is as coherent as possible.

There it is, apart from one or two minor skips in early seasons to be completed later on, the DataBase is complete! Enjoy it! I will try to do another update before the XF:IWTB deadline, this time on the Primer.

07.09.08 | The Season 8 Update!

9 episodes in a single update! You can now find the DataBase entries for the entire season 8 — meaning 8X01: Within & 8X02: Without, 8X08: Per Manum, 8X14: This Is Not Happening & 8X15: DeadAlive, 8X18: Three Words, 8X16: Vienen and 8X20: Essence & 8X21: Existence! Sorry if my opinion permeates the mythology analysis too much. I think you can guess the nature of the next update from looking at the title of this one…

Reviewing season 8 has only made me see one thing more clearly: this could not have stood on its own without season 9 to answer all the questions raised in it. Up to season 7 all was wrapped up pretty well, but Existence would have made a finale that would have been very frustrating mythology-wise.

Film update: “It’s here!” “What have you done?” “Let’s say I want to believe.” “Don’t give up!” This movie isn’t out yet and many phrases have cult status already! And after six years there’s nothing better than seeing shippers being worried!

There is a quote from a recent interview with Chris Carter that I appreciated a lot: “Looking at the people on-line, it’s basically faceless and anonymous, so to have your voice heard, you have to scream the loudest. Or be the most extreme. Or be the most radical, because you’re just a voice in the crowd.” This could apply to Carter himself, with the presumed ‘giving in’ to the call of the mainstream way of television narrative and having Mulder and Scully become a couple. It also felt as if it applied to me and what I set out to do with my site. Great discussions exist on the forums — many times intelligent, oftentimes uninformed — but they get lost or forgotten with time. Here I attempt to create a concentrate of thoughts and ideas that could serve as a definitive reference. And if I have not expressed extreme views (shippers are stupid – noromos are dead – CC ruined everything – only FS understands fans) it’s exactly because I am trying to have as holistic a view as possible. This is why my hardcore noromo stance has somewhat mellowed out a bit lately, and why I think that the ‘happy ending’ last shot of season 8 is completely uncharacteristic of the X-Files. Here’s to the future.

06.19.08 | Some years later…

The DataBase entries for 7X15: En Ami and 7X22: Requiem are up. The X-Files, 1993-2000? With seasons 1-7 all accounted for, what I set out for three years ago is more or less complete.

But this isn’t over yet! Even more updates are on the way in the big lead-up to the second movie…

It’s been ten years today that Fight the Future was released! “I feel time like a heartbeat“…

06.12.08 | “This is my weakness…”

I’ve uploaded the DataBase entry for Closure two-parter. The closing chapters of season 7 are on the way.

Film update: 42 days left… Let’s hope it’s worth the wait! The other much-expected return of the year 2008, Indiana Jones, was rather much of a disappointment.

06.08.08 | “A sign, a symbol, a revelation”

The longest DataBase entry evar is online. It’s none else than the Biogenesis trilogy! Knock yourself out. Amazing how dense the X-Files could be compared to other, more serialized shows.

Film update: The editing on XF2 just wrapped. Not much is new. Perhaps that is good news — it means the spoilers are kept at bay! Oh, there is this mysterious “Fencewalker” project that I don’t know what to make of… Carter directing two feature films at the same time? Maybe we’re in for surprises in the close future.

05.18.08 | “It’s here!”

“The Cigarette-Smoking Man revealed.” “The conspiracy exposed.” “The X-Files Full Disclosure.” This is how these two episodes were marketed when they were about to air! Here is the revealing DataBase entry for Two Fathers / One Son.

I’ll be back soon with what will undoubtedly be the longest entry ever, for Biogenesis!

05.15.08 | The beginning of the end

DataBase update: we continue ploughing through the mythology, moving inevitably towards big resolutions with the next update. For the time being, here are The Beginning and S.R.819.

Film update: My condolences to the french fandom who got a stinky title translation for “I Want To Believe“!…

Related trivia: Deep Throat’s “trust no one“, which became iconic of the X-Files in general, is to be found in the BBC miniseries “I, Claudius” (1976) that depicts the life and (all-too-frequent) deaths of the first roman emperors (it’s in episode 11)! Frank Spotnitz had acknowledged that the vaguely paranoid feeling of this series was an inspiration for the XF mythology.

05.11.08 | “Is that official FBI business?”

DataBase update: “The X-Files Movie“, aka Fight the Future!

Film update: The trailer for “The X-Files: I Want To Believe” is online in just a few hours. I really like how Carter & Spotnitz have approached XF2’s marketing: anti-spoileristic and minimalistic (but how much of it is wilful and how much of it is disregard by FOX I wonder?).

05.03.08 | A blast from the past

The DataBase grows even more with the addition of 5X15: Travelers and 5X20: The End. Season 5 is now complete! And it’s been ten years since these episodes aired (05/17/98 for The End), wow! It’s the final stretch to the movie now.

05.02.08 | “Resist or Serve”

Another update with another one of those massive DataBase entries, this time for Patient X / The Red and the Black!

Film update: “I Want To Believe” it is then. For all I enjoy the promotion campain — cryptic and elliptical as to the plot — try not to push the shippy promo pics too hard…

04.13.08 | Believe Again

Have a good read with the DataBase entry for the Redux trilogy, and treat yourself with the case of Emily Sim! I’ll say nothing else but that the next update is coming up soon…

ETC in its current form has been around for two years already! So much has changed since then… I want to go back to everything I’ve written and write it all again! Thank you for visiting!

Film update: D-100 and still no title. Go CC!

04.07.08 | “It all started with
Susanne Modeski”

A small update with the DataBase entries for Demons and Unusual Suspects. See you very shortly for the biggie: Redux!

The indefatigable Matt of the XF Lexicon made an interview with John Bartley, Director of Photography to XF for the first 4 seasons. If you’re looking for somebody who defined the cinematic and atmospheric look of the X-Files, it’s him (and Vancouver!).

Alumni watch: Within the promotion campaign for the still untitled “XF2”, Carter has given us an unexpected gift (Paley Festival, 03/26): a reunion with old alumni from the series. Not even during the series’ run had so many people from the series appeared together. And such great people! Writers/producers Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, Howard Gordon, writers Glen Morgan, Darin Morgan, Steven Maeda, producer Paul Rabwin, producers/directors David Nutter, Rob bowman, actors Nick Lea, Mitch Pileggi, Dean Haglund… and with tons of other alumni in the audience, all of this turnout organised with a few phonecalls on the spur of the moment. Wow! Accounts that TenThirteen people were not getting along were apparently too harsh — how inspiring to see all of them together, to talk of the X-Files as a slice of televisionary history. If this was done to give a sense of continuity from the series to the movie franchise, it certainly has convinced me!

03.09.08 | “Welcome to the wonderful world of high technology!”

I give you…the massive DataBase entry for Tunguska / Terma! If you think this is big, wait for the one on Redux!

It’s in the can! Principal production (shooting) for the still untitled “XF2” has now ended. Now the painful process of post-production can start. The marketing campaign already started, with deliciously teasing interviews by the two writers and the two leads — and teaser footage that was bootlegged on the internet (WonderCon, 02/23)! I’m seriously teased, drawn to think they might really pull this off!

Alumni watch: If you wander around Vancouver you might see a wrap party.

02.23.08 | Beware of The Bee

Another update with the DataBase entry for Zero Sum!

Matt of the XF Lexicon has kept busy and was able to make a complete interview with Howard Gordon, scriptwriter and producer — good questions, straightforward answers. Do check it out here!

Related trivia: Our Scully turns 44 today! A wikipedia moment… Did you know Scully was born on the same day as German composer Georg Händel, “Enola Gay” pilot Paul Tibbets, Ukranian president Viktor Yushchenko, or even Prince of Japan Naruhito? Me neither.

02.05.08 | Happy New Year 2008

(With a slight delay) Best wishes for 2008, the year the X-Files return to the forefront! The DataBase entry for Memento Mori is now online.

Matt of the XF Lexicon has managed to come into contact with TenThirteen and pass on some questions on behalf of the fandom to Chris Carter himself! You can find the result over here! It’s comforting to have near-first-hand contact with the XF crew, this way we can really bring home that XF2 is not a dream and that it’s really happening! (ah, my questions didn’t make it, too nosy I guess…maybe next time!)

Alumni watch: Terry O’Quinn (Peter Watts in MillenniuM and various roles in XF) continues his role in the main cast of “LOST“, which is premiering its fourth season. “LOST” may have been painfully long to take off, but since the latter part of season 3 we see things really picking up. The producers often cite XF as the best example of lack of direction and of storylines being pulled thin after their natural conclusion. It’s comforting to see studios accepting to put a definitive future end date to a series so that the writers know where they’re going; season 6 is the targeted finale.

MTV: 'X-Files' Producer/Director Frank Spotnitz Makes The Mythology Matter In New Wildstorm Comic Series

Oct-22-2008
MTV
Permanent Link to ‘X-Files’ Producer/Director Frank Spotnitz Makes The Mythology Matter In New Wildstorm Comic Series
Kiel Phegley

[Original article here]

X-Files comic books — in the ’90s, four color tales of Agents Scully and Mulder heated up the comics charts and nabbed scores of cash on the back issue market before the comics industry and publisher, Topps, took a turn for the worse…along with the whole “X-Files” franchise (check out Kurt Loder’s visit to the “X-Files” set here). Now in November, DC’s Wildstorm imprint looks to reignite the series’ comic popularity with a miniseries featuring something the ’90s comics never had: a direct tie to the show’s overarching mythos.

“They are connected with a part of the mythology that we introduced but did very little with at the beginning of season five,” said writer Frank Spotnitz, a longtime scribe for the series and co-writer of July’s “I Want To Believe” film. “We introduced this corporation Roush and so that was part of the mythology that we could have gone a lot deeper with but never got the chance. So the next two books connect with Roush. And I’m going to take a little break from writing comics after this and get back to my screenwriting career, but at some point I hope to get back to write more and do more with the mythology.”

But while Spotnitz’s direct exploration of the show’s most successful period will only last a few months, the series will continue for five issues after that, presenting new stories of Scully and Mulder in classic form mixing it up with FBI Deputy Director Skinner, conspiracy nuts The Lone Gunman and the villainous Cigarette Smoking Man, all of whom appear in upcoming issues.

“It’s just fun to play with again,” he explained. “This is kind of an interesting thing about the comic books – in my imagination anyway – [it’s] that they’re sort of ‘out of time.’ The situation is the situation that we found between seasons two and five of the series. And yet, they’re wearing clothes and using technology that is contemporary of today. It’s not like they’re period pieces. It’s sort of like they’re unstuck from time. I look at them as if that situation in ‘The X-Files’ were still going on today; a sort of parallel universe to the one that we have in the movie.”

With that last movie underperforming at the box office this summer, long time X-Philes will be glad to know that the creator’s plans for future comics series will continue to play in the show’s glory years with new stories focusing on various mythological elements not fully developed in the show. And if Spotnitz has his way, those tales will be penned by both past “X-Files” writers as well as some of his big name comic writing pals, including Brad Meltzer and Brian K Vaughan.

“We have some writers from the TV series who have expressed interest like John Shiban and David Amann, but they all have busy television careers. But in the meantime I’d love to see some other established comic book writers try their hand at the ‘X-Files.’ And that’s what’s great about comic book series is you’re a lot freer to explore and experiment and do things that are out there.”

And if readers get behind the expanded in-continuity comics treatment “X-Files” is getting, Spotnitz doesn’t rule out more series based on his friend Chris Carter’s universe of TV series. “I think it’s a great idea; I still love all those titles. Every single show we did with Chris at 1013 I have great affection for. Especially ‘Harsh Realm’ and ‘Lone Gunman’ I think ended before their time. And I have to tell you, everywhere I go people are always asking me if there’s going to be a ‘Millennium’ movie or something, so I suspect there’s a hardcore audience out there that’s still wanting it.”

Zone Horror: Exclusive Interview With Millennium Co-Executive Producer Frank Spotnitz

Sep-28-2008
Exclusive Interview With Millennium Co-Executive Producer Frank Spotnitz
Zone Horror

[Original article here]

On October the 4th cult television series Millenniun comes to Zone Horror. This terrifying drama series horror in its purest form with a leading man that really knows how to make the skin on your neck crawl, Lance Henriksen. Here we speak exclusively to Executive Producer Frank Spotnitz about his involvement with a series that changed TV drama forever.

Zone Horror: Is it true you began your working life as a journalist?

Frank Spotnitz: Yes. I was editor of my college paper at UCLA, then went to work for United Press International, first in Indiana, then in New York City. I later wrote for the Associated Press in Paris and freelanced for a number of magazines, including Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone.

ZH: How did you get into television work?

FS: I decided I didn’t want to be a journalist anymore! I moved back to Los Angeles from Paris so I could study screenwriting at the American Film Institute. The X-Files was my first job in Hollywood.

ZH: When did you first meet Chris Carter?

FS: By chance. I met Chris in a book group shortly after I moved back to L.A. This was years before he created The X-Files.

ZH: How did you become involved with Millennium and can your recall your reaction when you first heard the basic outline for the series?

FS: I was very flattered that Chris asked me to work on Millennium as well as The X-Files – flattered and, in short order, exhausted! It was very tough doing double duty on the first season of Millennium and the fourth season of The X-Files. I remember that I only vaguely understood what Millennium was going to be about before Chris let me read the pilot script. I read it on the laptop computer in his office right after he finished it. I was, quite simply, blown away. I still think that pilot is among the very best things he’s ever written.

ZH: Is it true Lance was the first choice for Frank Black? If not who else was considered? (Personally I can’t think of anyone else who could bring his quiet intensity to the role)

FS: Yes, Lance was Chris’ first choice. There were other actors considered for the role, but I don’t want to risk making them uncomfortable by giving their names.

ZH: What was it like to work with Lance Henriksen and Megan Gallagher, two very different actors?

FS: It was great, although I have to say I didn’t really work “with” them very much. On Millennium, nearly all of my work was done in Los Angeles — breaking stories, writing scripts, editing episodes and so on. Occasionally, I’d fly up to Vancouver to help prep an episode, but usually I’d only see Lance and Megan when they were in Los Angeles (or during crew parties!).

ZH: The two leads brought so much depth to their respected roles, which other actors that appeared on the show stand out for you?

FS: Terry O’Quinn was, of course, amazing, just as he now is on Lost. I also thought Birttany Tiplady was an astonishing little actress, Sarah-Jane Redmond was fantastic, as always, and Klea Scott is one of my all-time favourite actors, period. There were too many wonderful guest stars for me to mention.

ZH: As Millennium was based totally in the real world how did you approach writing your episodes, as they were far different to what you were creating for The X-Files?

FS: It was very easy for me to get in touch with my fears on Millennium, because the things that scare me most are things that can happen in the real world. The challenge for me was finding interesting ways to involve Frank’s family in the stories. And I was also always looking for ways to find hope amid all the darkness. The things I would say The X-Files and Millennium had in common were our focus on tight plotting, and wanting to find interesting reasons for why the bad guys were doing what they were doing.

ZH: Why do you think the series has continued to generate interest and debate with the viewing public?

FS: I think it’s because it was very intense and uncompromising. That turned off some viewers, but the people who liked the show, really liked it. I remember the earliest meetings with the network concerned how dark the show was. They kept asking us to lighten up, to find more humour. But Chris had a vision for the series, and it was pretty intense. I also think the show touched on something fundamental about life – the split between the darkness of Frank’s work, and the lightness of his family and home life. Frank struggled to protect his family from the darkness – of the killers he hunted, and inside himself. That’s a very powerful idea to me, and I think it resonates with a lot of other people, too.

ZH: I know some critics disliked the show for its violent content but do you agree it needed to show the horrors of real life in such a graphic manner?

FS: I think there’s an even greater danger when you sanitize violence, or make it less disturbing in some way. I think the most responsible way to depict violence is to make it horrific, because that’s what it is in real life.

ZH: Do you have a favourite episode of Millennium?

FS: The Pilot episode and Lamentation. Among the ones I wrote, Sacrament.

ZH: There’s a legion of fans waiting the return of Frank Black, is there any chance?

FS: I’d say a small chance, getting smaller every year. We’d still love to revisit the character, but at this point I think someone would have to light a pretty big fire under the Fox executives to make it happen.

ZH: Congratulations on The X-Files – I Want To Believe, an intelligent and refreshing break from predictable CGI drenched blockbusters. Can we expect more?

FS: It’s too soon to say.

ZH: What other projects are you working on at the moment?

FS: I have a couple things in the works I’m very excited about, but the deals aren’t done, so I can’t announce them yet. Soon, hopefully!

ZH: Frank Spotnitz, thank you very much.