X-Files In-Jokes: Season Two
Little Green Men
- Passenger manifest - the manifest Scully searches through in an attempt to locate Mulder contains the names of many on-line X-Philes, including Cliff Chen and Pat Gonzales -- and also that of X-Files novel author Charles Grant
- Senator Richard Matheson is named after the popular sci-fi author, Richard Matheson.
- The number 1013 shows up repeatedly in a column of the 'WOW Signal'
The Host
- Yes, the flukeman is played by our own beloved Darin Morgan, brother of writer Glen Morgan and author of 'Humbug', 'Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose', 'War of the Coprophages', and 'Jose Chung's from Outer Space'.
- 1121 & 1013 - The autopsy Scully performs is case number DP112148 (Chris Carter's wife, Dori Pierson, initials and birthdate) of John Doe number 101356 (Chris Carter's birthdate).
Blood
- The nurse buzzing on the door was buzzing the word 'Kill' in Morse code.
Sleepless
- Our introduction to Krycek! This is a good time to mention that Krysa is the word for 'rat' in Russian and Czech.
Duane Barry
- When Scully stops by the grocery store she buys pickles and ice cream -- an inside reference to Gillian Anderson's pregnancy.
- The date of the infamous "speedo scene" is August 7th, which is also David Duchovny's birthday.
- A sign at Duane Barry's treatment center which read "Please line up quietly" was specifically requested by Chris Carter as a tribute to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (and held up production when the original sign was discovered to be incorrectly worded and a new sign had to be fashioned).
Ascension
- In Mulder's nightmarish vision of Scully (with a rather large stomach) in the clutches of her abductors, that really is Gillian Anderson's stomach. She gave birth to her daughter, Piper, a few weeks after filming this episode.
- When Mulder plays Scully's frantic answering machine message, the time is 11:23. Are we to assume that she was abducted at 11:21?
- Tag Line - the usual tag line of "The truth is out there" was changed for the second time in this episode. It was changed to "Deny Everything" -- which is, as Mr. X tells Mulder, the one policy the government lives by.
3
- Mulder's love interest, Kristen Kilar, is played by Perrey Reeves, who was David Duchovny's long-time girlfriend at the time.
- Club Tepes is named after Vlad the Impaler Tepes, who is the real-life inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula.
One Breath
- The comment made by Langly about 'hopping onto the internet to nit-pick the scientific inaccuracies of Earth2' was a nod to us, the illustrious internet X-Philes and our netpicking tendencies.
- According to Michael Duggan (one of Earth2's producers), the nod was also a "welcome to the neighborhood" message from Chris Carter to the producers of Earth2. Apparently Chris Carter and Micheal Duggan have been friends for several years.
- The Thinker (mentioned in this episode and seen later in Anasazi) is modeled after fan and America Online member Yung Jun Kim (also known as 'DuhThinker').
- Melinda McGraw (the actress who plays Melissa Scully) worked on "The Commish" with writers Glen Morgan and James Wong and the part of Melissa was written specifically for her.
- Nurse Owens is named for Glen Morgan's grandmother.
One Breath Script Differences
Firewalker
Red Museum
- Gird Thomas, the peeping tom who writes 'he/she is one' on the backs of the kids, shares his name with the famous Peeping Tom of Coventry - the original peeping tom.
- I've said it before and I'll say it again -- that dog looks an awful lot like Blue (David Duchovny's dog). Can anyone confirm or deny?
Excelsius Dei
- Title - Latin for 'Glory of God'
Aubrey
- Mulder's fascination with women named B.J. might have something to do with Duchovny's then girlfriend, Perrey Reeves, playing a woman named B.J. on Doogie Howser.
Irresistible
- 1121 - Scully looks at the clock at 11:21 (Chris Carter's wife's birth date)
- Chris Carter - Mulder and Scully were supposed to attend a football game between Washington and Minnesota. Both of these teams have a player named Carter. Later we see the game on television, just in time to catch a play made by 'Cris Carter'.
- The name Soames can be seen on a tombstone at the beginning of the episode -- Ray Soames the name of the person Mulder and Scully had exhumed in the Pilot episode.
- When Donnie is talking to the other suspect in jail, the suspect recalls Scully's name because her name was like "that baseball announer". The baseball announcer in question is Vin Scully, the man Chris Carter named Dana Scully after.
Die Hand Die Verletzt
- Title - German for 'The hand that wounds'.
- Paul Vitaris and Deborah Brown - these characters in the episode were named after on-line X-Philes. In fact, Paula Vitaris wrote the wonderful Cinefantastique articles that list some of these very inside jokes.
- The message left by the devilish teacher for Mulder and Scully, 'Good-bye - It's been nice working with you' also served as Morgan and Wong's farewell to the cast and crew, since this was their last episode with the show (at least is was then - they came back for a brief stint in season four, now they are working on Millennium).
- In homage to Super Bowl XXIX (to be played two days after the airing of this episode) Morgan and Wong changed their names in the opening credits to James "Chargers" Wong and Glen "Bolts, Baby" Morgan. The San Diego Chargers ended up losing to the San Francisco 49ers.
- The high school, Crowley High, was named for Alistair Crowley, a man whose theories were instrumental in laying the groundwork for modern Wicca, the religion mentioned in the episode.
- The satanic substitute teacher, Mrs. Paddock, is suitably named, since an Old English definition of 'paddock' is 'toad'.
- The Ausbury family is named for fan Jill Ausbury.
- Jerry (the boy who was killed) is named for Jerry Jones, host of the America On-Line X-Files forum.
- School psychologist Pete Calcagni is named for the husband of another X-Files fan.
- Scully's computer search revealed that Mrs. Paddock worked in the 'Grossmont Union School District', which is located in El Cajon, California. Glen Morgan (and his brother Darin) were born and raised in El Cajon, California.
- Drama teacher Howard Roberts may be named for the stage name of real-life drama teacher Bob Howard, who teaches at the El Cajon Valley High School (which is also in the Grossmont Union School District -- see in-joke above).
Fresh Bones
- The final scene inside the coffin mirrors the final scene from the Wes Craven movie The Serpent and the Rainbow, which was based on a Wade Davis book about his experiences in Haiti.
- The cemetary groundskeeper's rottweiler was named Wong after writer James Wong
Colony
- 11:21 - When the faux Mulder wakes Scully, the time is 11:21. (Chris Carter's wife's birthday)
- Ambrose Chapel, the CIA agent who speaks with Mulder and Scully shares his name with a church in the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Man Who Knew Too Much". In the movie, the phrase Ambrose Chapel was incorrectly assumed to be the name of a person.
- Gillian Anderson's stand-in for scene blocking, Bonnie Hay, plays the part of a doctor in this episode (and she continues the role in 'End Game').
End Game
- 1013 - At the top of Mulder's e-mail to Scully, we see the line: "To: Dana Scully, 001013" (Chris Carter's birthday).
- 517 - Top of Mulder's e-mail to Scully: "From: Fox Mulder, 000517" (Frank Spotnitz's wife's birthday)
Fearful Symmetry
- Title - comes from William Blake's poem "The Tyger" ("What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?") - and the construction site where the episode's tiger is killed is named Blake Towers after the poet.
- The elephant's name, Ganesha, is the name of the elephant-headed Hindu god.
Fearful Symmetry Script Differences
Død Kälm
- 925 - the life raft the crewman are jumping into in the opening teaser is numbered 925, as is the rapidly aging boat itself (9/25/94 is the birthdate of Gillian Anderson's daughter, Piper).
- Title - Død Kälm means 'dead calm' in Norwegian
- The bartender in this episode is actually Barry (Bear) Hortin, a Teamster who was responsible for pulling Gillian's trailer. He also appears as a bartender in the epsiode "Never Again".
Humbug
- Title - A humbug is a deception, a hoax, or one who attempts to trick or deceive. P.T. Barnum, expressly mentioned in the episode, was known as "The Prince of Humbug", and reportedly "invented" the word.
- This episode originally aired 3/31/95 - the day before April Fool's Day.
- When Scully visits the museum and ends up paying extra to see the empty box, that was, in-fact, a real P.T. Barnum exhibit. Barnum displayed a sign that proudly pointed visitors to "The Egress", which people assumed led to another of the many oddities in the museum, but which actually led to the exit. Once outside, visitors had to pay again to re-enter the museum.
- The trailer park is named Gulf Breeze, a suburb in Florida known as a hotbed for UFO sightings.
The Calusari
F. Emasculata
- 1121 - The package mailed to the inmate is package number DDP112148 (Chris Carter's Wife, Dori Pierson, and her birthday)
- 925 - The house number of the escaped prisoner's wife is 925 (9/25/94 is the birthdate of Gillian Anderson's daughter, Piper).
- 925 - The young boy buys his bus ticket at 9:25 (see above).
- Production assistant Angelo Vacco plays gas station attendant Angelo Garza, a part Chris Carter wrote especially for him. For Angelo Vacco's other appearances, check the in-jokes for season 3's "Talitha Cumi", season 6's "Milagro", and season 9's "Improbable".
Soft Light
- As Scully examines an air vent, the detective remarks that no one could fit through there, and Mulder jumps in with a "You never know." This is, of course, a reference to Eugene Victor Tooms from the episodes 'Squeeze' and 'Tooms'.
- Mulder and Scully discover that the hotel victim worked for the "Morleys" cigarette manufacturer. This is the brand of cigarettes smoked by "CancerMan".
Our Town
- The slogan for Chaco Chicken - 'Good People, Good Food'
- Mr. Chaco and Chaco Chicken are named for Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, where the Anasazi tribe lived and where boiled bones such as those depicted in the episode were uncovered.
- According to writer Frank Spotnitz, many of the characters in this episode were named for real cannibals.
- Title - Named for Thornton Wilder's play
of the same name, although the towns in question certainly are different
Anasazi
- Cameo - Chris Carter makes a cameo appearance (and his acting debut) as one of Scully's interrogators in Skinner's office.
- Cameo? - R.W. Goodwin also makes a cameo appearance as a gardener -- okay, it's pretty much unanimous -- this scene's on the cutting room floor. Wanna read the scene anyway (the description is pretty darn cute)? Then go to my Anasazi Script Differences page.
- Max's Cap - was that Max's NICAP cap (from Fallen Angel) on the hat-rack again? It was clearly visible in 'Beyond the Sea', but here it is kind of hard to tell.
- As Mulder is perusing the un-translated text on his computer screen, you can make out the line "do-ray-me-fa-so-la-todo" (5 lines under the Department of Defense heading).
- Tag Line - The usual tag line of "The truth is out there" was changed for only the third time in this episode. This episode's tag line was changed to "EL 'AANIGOO 'AHOOT'E", which translates roughly to "The truth is out there" in Navajo.
Anasazi Script Differences
Laura Witte
xfiles@lunacynet.com
The X-Files In-Jokes List © 1996-2003
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