The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 – Abduction

Volume 1 of The X-Files Mythology collection is a DVD release containing selected episodes from the first to the third seasons of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. The episodes collected in the release form the beginning of the series' mythology, and are centred on alien abduction at the hands of "colonists". Several of the elements introduced in the collected episodes arose through necessity during production, as working around the pregnancy of lead actress Gillian Anderson led to both the creation of unifying plot thread and the introduction of several recurring characters.

The episodes in the collection follow the investigations of paranormal-related cases, or X-Files, by FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson). Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. Events covered in the episodes include the meeting of Mulder and Scully, the introduction and assassination of a secretive informant, the apparent return of Mulder's lost sister, and the abduction and return of Scully.

The collection contains the first episodes in the series' mythology, or fictional story arcs. When the series began, Chris Carter did not think of creating a "mythology" for the episodes focusing on extraterrestrial life, because he felt that "they were just stories we wanted to tell". Eventually, however, the writers saw that the most "personal" episodes were those based on the government conspiracy, and, as such, developed more stories based around the conceit. Jerry Hardin, William B. Davis, Mitch Pileggi, Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund and Bruce Harwood all play supporting roles in the collection. Released on June 7, 2005, the collection received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot summary
FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) has made a name for himself working on X-Files—unexplained cases which may be paranormal in origin. He is appointed a partner in these investigations—Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson)—with his superiors hoping that she will be able to debunk and discredit his work. Their first case together is the investigation of possible abductions in Oregon, which falters when their evidence is destroyed in a fire. A later case, involving the disappearance of a United States Air Force test pilot, sees the introduction of secretive informant Deep Throat (Jerry Hardin), who continues to provide the agents sensitive information. This help is supplemented by conspiracy theorist group The Lone Gunmen, who are contacted for help in a further abduction case. Deep Throat is soon killed, however, when he helps the agents uncover details of a government human cloning program, and the X-Files unit is closed shortly thereafter.

Unable to continue his work with Scully, Mulder obtains information about possible extraterrestrial contact in Puerto Rico, finding that the SETI program at the Arecibo Observatory is being forcibly closed. Although the pair are later allowed to resume their work, Scully is later kidnapped by an unhinged multiple alien abductee, Duane Barry. Barry takes Scully to a hilltop where she is then abducted, presumably by aliens. She is found comatose at a later date, having mysteriously arrived at a hospital, and recovers several days later.

Mulder receives a call from his father, finding out that his sister Samantha (Megan Leitch), who had been abducted as a child, has returned. Samantha is being pursued by a shapeshifting bounty hunter, who is assassinating human clones. Samantha is killed, although it is revealed that she was simply one of a number of clones, produced using alien tissue to create an alien-human hybrid.

The Lone Gunmen contact Mulder and Scully about a successful attempt by a friend of theirs to hack the United States Department of Defense computer system. The hacker, Kenneth Soona (Bernie Coulson), is able to give Mulder the downloaded information on a digital cassette. However, Soona is later assassinated, and the downloaded files are found to be written in Navajo. Contacting Albert Hosteen (Floyd Red Crow Westerman)—a Navajo man capable of translating the files—Mulder is shown a box-car full of what appear to be alien corpses. He is trapped in the box-car by the series' antagonist, The Smoking Man (William B. Davis), and left for dead after it is destroyed. He is later found and nursed back to health by Hosteen. Meanwhile, Scully investigates the possible involvement of the smallpox eradication program in human genetic experimentation, discovering that a Nazi scientist who defected during Operation Paperclip has been conducting human experimentation to create alien-human hybrids. Her sister Melissa (Melinda McGraw), however, is shot by assassins who mistake her for Dana, and dies in hospital that night.

Background


When the series began, Chris Carter did not think of creating a "mythology" for the episodes focusing on extraterrestrial life, because he felt that "they were just stories we wanted to tell". Eventually, however, the writers saw that the most "personal" episodes were those based on the government conspiracy. Another reason for the development of an ongoing mythology was that the producers were afraid of not creating a thread between the episodes centering on the conspiracy, feeling that it would be pretentious not to do so.

According to Carter, the mythology "sprung from" the series' pilot and its follow up, "Deep Throat", which set up the idea that aliens had been on Earth for many years. Carter sees the final scene of "Deep Throat" as the "launching moment for the entire mythology". The main theme for the series, stemming from these episodes, is Fox Mulder's quest to find "the truth" about his sister, Samantha Mulder, who had been abducted as a child. This quest drove the character to investigate the paranormal, setting the framework for the series.

After several stand-alone episodes featuring UFOs and extraterrestrials early in the first season, the show's mythology developed largely based on the pregnancy of actress Gillian Anderson, who became pregnant midway through production of the first season. Executive producer Frank Spotnitz described it as "the best thing that ever happened to the series", noting that the mythology "really ended up running through the life of the series, all because Gillian Anderson became pregnant". Although there were initially thoughts about Anderson's character Scully giving birth to an alien child, ultimately the writers decided to work around Anderson's pregnancy. The writers decided on closing the X-Files at the end of the season to separate Mulder and Scully from one another, and have Scully abducted, reappearing comatose several episodes later. In addition to the creation of the storyline concerning Scully's abduction, Anderson's reduced role in the first half of the second season permitted the writers to develop some of the other characters in the show including Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), The Smoking Man (William B. Davis) and X (Steven Williams), and resulted in the introduction of the character Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea). Krycek, who was initially created by writer Howard Gordon to temporarily replace Scully as Mulder's partner for three episodes eventually grew into a character that lasted seven seasons on the show.

Prior to the second season episode "One Breath", The Smoking Man mostly "lurked around in the shadows", providing a "forbidding" presence. The Smoking Man uttered only four audible words in the entire first season of the show, all of them being in "Tooms". Producer and director R.W. Goodwin did not have faith in William B. Davis' ability to take on the role of the series' chief antagonist. It was later revealed to the producers that Davis was running an acting school, and teaching such actors as ninth season guest star Lucy Lawless.

In the two-part story of "Colony" and "End Game", Carter and Spotnitz, along with Duchovny, created what would become a recurring character in the alien bounty hunter. According to Carter, Duchovny came to him and said "it be great if we had like an alien bounty hunter", an idea of which Carter approved. Spotnitz has noted that the actor cast for the role, Brian Thompson, was chosen because he had a very "distinctive look" about him, most notably his face and mouth.

Reception
Released on June 7, 2005, the collection has received generally positive reviews from critics. Slant Magazine's Keith Uhlich rated it three stars out of five, praising the quality of the episodes included in the set, but ultimately finding that they were best viewed in the context of the "standalone" episodes which were omitted—singling out "Conduit" and "The Jersey Devil" as episodes which would aid the series' "dual character study". Writing for IGN, Dan Iverson rated the collection eight out of ten, finding that the mythology-based episodes formed the basis of the relationship between the characters of Mulder and Scully. Making reference to the first-season episode "Squeeze", not included in the collection, he added that "even though people watched the series to see little green men and liver-eating elastic monsters, it was the relationship between the two which made the series a total success". However, he found that the set's extra features material was sparse, describing it as being just enough "to keep us from complaining". Writing for DVD Talk, Jeffrey Robinson was impressed with the collection, finding that the featured episodes worked well together without losing cohesion, and stating that "whether you are a casual viewer or a fan who already owns the season sets, owning The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1: Abduction is a must". Exclaim! Monica S. Kuebler felt negatively about the collection, noting that anyone who would be interested in it would be likely to already own the collected episodes through other releases, and asking "should you buy Abduction? It all depends on how much five commentaries and a doc are worth to you, because chances are, if you love the X-Files ... you've probably already bought the episodes included here at least once".