"The X Files" Little Green Men (1994)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

David Nutter

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
Glen Morgan (written by) ...

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

16 September 1994 (Season 2, Episode 1)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

With the X-Files shut down, Mulder is assigned to wire taps while Scully returns to teaching at Quantico...

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship | Seti | Title Spoken By Character | FBI | FBI Agent

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
Mike Gomez	...	Jorge Concepcion
Raymond J. Barry	...	Senator Richard Matheson
William B. Davis	...	Cigarette Smoking Man / CGB Spender
Leslie Carlson	...	Dr. Troisky (as Les Carlson)
Marcus Turner	...	Fox Mulder, Age 12
Vanessa Morley	...	Samantha Mulder - Age 8
Fulvio Cecere	...	The Aide
Deryl Hayes	...	Agent Morris
Dwight McFee	...	The Commander
Lisa Ann Beley	...	Student (as Lisa Anne Beley)
Gary Hetherington	...	Lewin
Bob Wilde	...	Rand

Runtime:

Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Certification:

Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

If you look closely at the papers that both Mulder and Scully print out with the "contact" information on them, one column reads "10.13" over and over again. "10-13" is the name of Chris Carter's production company as well as his birthday (October 13, 1956).

Goofs:

Plot holes: In the "Pilot", Mulder reveals his sister "disappeared out of her bed one night... no note, no phone calls, no evidence of anything" and that, thanks to hypnosis, he recalls "a bright white light and a presence in the room" and that he was "paralyzed, unable to respond to his sister's calls for help". However, according to the flashback in "Little Green Men", Samantha was in the living room with Fox, not in her bedroom.

Quotes:

Mulder: Before I could only trust myself. Now I can only trust you.

Movie Connections:

References "The Magician" (1973)

Soundtrack:

Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F

A good introduction to season two

"The X-Files" was not very popular during season one, and got renewed only based on the cult fanbase which had gathered using newsgroups and due to a noticeable increase in the ratings from the beginning to the end of season one, with "The Erlenmeyer Flask", the season finale, receiving a promising 8.8 million viewers, the highest of the series up to that point.

FOX saw the promise and renewed "The X-Files" and also pushed it and promoted it quite well ahead of the premiere of the second season. As a result of the network expecting many new viewers "Little Green Men", the first episode of season two, actually plays like a pilot for the series, re-introducing many of the key parts of season one, some of this is done in the intro, the key catchphrases are repeated, the mythology is re-introduced, Samantha's abduction is shown in a flashback, etc. A new viewer could definitely begin with "Little Green Men" and not feel lost at all, and I think it actually has more in common with what The X-Files in general feels like and is about than "Pilot" which was obviously the actual pilot. Considering the overall quality of season one, with a few exceptional episodes excepted, a new viewer might actually be quite wise to begin with "Little Green Men" and check out the first season later if they become a fan.

Samantha's abduction in the flashback is fairly corny with the use of slow motion and bad child actors, but it's a key sequence and not terrible overall. It's immediately notable that the visual look of the series is clearly an improvement over season one and although not quite reaching the definitive look that would develop over the course of the next few episodes it is definitely not as dated and cheap as season one looked. What is dated and just plain odd is the score, which sounds really unlike The X-Files and unlike much of the first season's music as well.

Not a great episode, but a good introduction to season two and re-introduction to the series in general.

8/10