Fearful Symmetry (24 Feb. 1995)
"The X Files" Fearful Symmetry (original title)

Mulder and Scully investigate strange occurrences when an invisible forces seems to wreck the downtown of Fairfield, Idaho and an elephant from the local zoo is found lying on the highway ... See full summary »

Director:

James Whitmore Jr.

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator), Steve De Jarnatt

Stars:

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Jayne Atkinson

Cast

Episode cast overview:
David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Jayne Atkinson	...	Willa Ambrose
Lance Guest	...	Kyle Lang
Jack Rader	...	Ed Meecham
Bruce Harwood	...	John Fitzgerald Byers
Tom Braidwood	...	Melvin Frohike
Jody St. Michael	...	Sophie (as Jodie St. Michael)
Charles Andre	...	Ray Floyd
Garvin Cross	...	The Red Head Kid
Tom Glass	...	The Trucker

Storyline

Mulder and Scully investigate strange occurrences when an invisible forces seems to wreck the downtown of Fairfield, Idaho and an elephant from the local zoo is found lying on the highway some 40 miles away. No one at the zoo can figure out how the elephant got out of its locked enclosure and animal rights activists have been active in condemning the way the zoo treats its animals. It's not the first time animals have escaped or disappeared from the Fairfield Zoo but when an animal activist is mauled by an invisible tiger, they're dealing with something no one has encountered. When Scully determines that the elephant and the tiger had been pregnant leading Mukder to believes that the animals are perhaps being abducted by aliens.

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Plot Keywords:

elephant | tiger | fairfield idaho | reference to david copperfield | breaking window | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish American Sign Language

Release Date:

24 February 1995 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 2, North Shore Studios, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Ten Thirteen Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Mulder is speculating on why the animals are not being returned to the proper location and says to Willa Ambrose, "I don't know where they're being taken, but there's obviously some problem getting them back, due to what is probably an astrological variation, a trouble with the space-time continuum." Even if Duchovny didn't blow the line and spoke it as written, the reference should have been to an 'astronomical' variation.

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Quotes

Fox Mulder: [voiceover] Willa Ambrose and Ed Meecham have been charged with manslaughter for the death of Kyle Lang. And though the courts will rule on this matter, and justice will be no doubt be served, the pall of a greater tragedy remains. The motives of the silent visitors who set these events in motion remain unclear. Could this be a judgement on a global rate of extinction that has risen to 1000 times its natural rate in this century? An act of alien conservation of animals we are driving hard toward...

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Connections

References Star Trek (1966)

User Reviews

When I Go To The Zoo, I Think Of You

Fearful Symmetry is a pleasant episode with a few faults. The first thing about the episode is that it takes place near Mountain Home Air Force Base in southwest Idaho. Season one's 'Deep Throat' takes place near Ellens Air Base, also in southwest Idaho. I'm wondering if the air force bases are one and the same but they decided to use the real name in Fearful Symmetry. Mulder and Scully have some good dialog, always a plus. Ed Meecham, the zoo keeper, reminds me of cranky, old school teachers. They must have liked children at one time, you just can't imagine how. Just like he must have cared more for animals at one point. I liked the concept of the episode, but I felt it had some inconsistencies. If aliens are so adept at abducting humans and returning them safely, why can't they put the animal back in the right place? And the aliens are just now having problems returning the animals? I don't buy Mulder's theory of a problem with the space-time continuum. As if he's an expert on that. I also thought Jayne Atkinson's performance as Willa Ambrose was not well done. Besides those nitpicks, I still enjoyed this episode because of the intriguing concept of aliens harvesting animal DNA as well as human DNA.