PILOT: THE X-FILES
WRITER: CHRIS CARTER
DIRECTOR: ROBERT MANDEL
''Nobody down here but the FBI's least wanted'' is how Mulder
greets Scully after she's assigned to the X-Files. In their
first case together, the agents must determine why classmates
are turning up dead in an Oregon forest, all of them displaying
the puncturelike marks and nasal implants found on victims of
alien abductions. Historic moment: Scully in skivvies! Creative
casting: William B. Davis silently debuts as eternally puffing
Cancer Man. The most enigmatic of all of X-Files' human enigmas,
he gives the government agent a nicely hangdog air. Critique: Successfully establishes Mulder and Scully's Fred and
Ginger-meet-Dragnet relationship: two attractive, ambitious
people (one obsessed to the point of being ostracized, the other
ferociously concerned with objective truth, both very likable in
their resolute seriousness). On the other hand, newer fans might
well be amazed at how frisky the famously deadpan duo are here.
A-
EPISODE 1. DEEP THROAT
WRITER: CARTER
DIR.: DANIEL SACKHEIM
''Let's just say this case has a distinct smell to it, a certain
paranormal bouquet,'' says Mulder of test pilots going psychotic
at Ellens Air Base in southwest Idaho. He ultimately uncovers
what appears to be a top secret, Area 51-like Air Force outpost
containing technology recovered from crashed alien spaceships. Historic moment: First reference to Roswell, N.M., site of a
legendary, reputed 1947 downing of a UFO. Creative casting:Jerry Hardin (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) gives life to
continuing character Deep Throat, Mulder's world-weary and
heavyhearted informant, obsessed with sharing secrets. Critique: You can see the show settling into its querulous, ominous tone;
a little awkward, but full of promise of things to come. B+
2. SQUEEZE
WRITERS: GLEN MORGAN/JAMES WONG
DIR.: HARRY LONGSTREET
In their first of two mutants-who-can-squeeze-into-tiny-spaces-due-to-unexplained-genetic-anomaly stories,
Mulder and Scully stalk Eugene Victor Tooms, a baby-faced
100-year-old killer who cheats mortality by feasting on human
livers. Creative casting: Doug Hutchison (A Time to Kill) is
profoundly creepy as Tooms; and Donal Logue (late of Public Morals) as an FBI foot soldier, typical in his contempt for
''Spooky'' Mulder. Critique: The mixture of horror plus humor
begins to jell, and the introduction of the sort of unsettling
villain that was to become standard marks ''Squeeze'' as an
important episode. B+
3. CONDUIT
WRITERS: ALEX GANSA/HOWARD GORDON
DIR.: SACKHEIM
In this spin on Poltergeist, an Iowa town's teenage tramp is
snatched by aliens, who communicate with her younger brother via
TV static. Mulder is relating big time. Historic moment: A praying Mulder — although the church, says writer Gordon, isn't meant to imply a particular faith: ''It's merely a sanctuary, a
place for him to reestablish his helplessness and the missing of
his sister.'' Creative casting: Carrie Snodgress as the girl's embattled mother, a former abductee herself. Critique: Excellent
for background, but Duchovny gives a performance that makes wood
look lively — a problem he normally avoids in the ''mythology''
episodes. B
