Teliko (18 Oct. 1996)
"The X Files" Teliko (original title)

Scully is asked by Assistant Director Skinner to assist officials from the Center for Disease Control in determining the cause of a recent number of deaths in the Philadelphia area. All of ... See full summary »

Director:

Jim Charleston

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator), Howard Gordon

Stars:

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Carl Lumbly

Cast

Episode credited cast:
David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Carl Lumbly	...	Marcus Duff
Willie Amakye	...	Samuel Aboah
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
Laurie Holden	...	Marita Covarrubias
Brendan Beiser	...	Agent Pendrell
Zakes Mokae	...	Diabria
Bob Morrisey	...	Dr. Simon Bruin
Danny Wattley	...	First Officer
Maxine Guess	...	The Flight Attendant
Bill Mackenzie	...	Bus Driver
Michael O'Shea	...	Lt. Madsen
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Geoffrey Aye-Bonte	...	Seat Mate
Don Stewart	...	The Businessman

Storyline

Scully is asked by Assistant Director Skinner to assist officials from the Center for Disease Control in determining the cause of a recent number of deaths in the Philadelphia area. All of the victims were African American and had lost their pigmentation, with their corpses looking albino-like. She finds the basic reason for the loss of pigmentation - their pituitary glands were necrotic - but not the actual cause. Mulder for his part thinks there is something far more sinister at work and contacts Marita Covarrubias at the U.N. who tells him of a similar incident on flight from West Africa some months before.

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Plot Keywords:

pituitary gland | seed | binocular microscope | boeing 747 | extreme close up | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 October 1996 (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?

Trivia

The tagline for this episode was changed from the usual "The Truth Is Out There" to "Deceive, Inveigle, Obfuscate", a phrase repeated several times throughout the episode.

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Goofs

As Mulder and Scully are driving toward the abandoned building, the lock on Mulder's door is, between shots, open, then closed, and finally open again.

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Quotes

Mulder: [seeing the dead body] There's a Michael Jackson joke in here somewhere.

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Crazy Credits

The tagline at the end of the credits is changed to 'Decieve Inveigle Obfuscate'.

User Reviews

Deceive, Inveigle And Obfuscate

Teliko is a solid season four episode that deals with African-American males who are having their pigmentation drained from them. This isn't a spectacular episode by an means, but it's engaging enough to be entertaining. Mulder's "Michael Jackson" quote is the funniest line from the episode. Even though this episode has nothing to do with the conspiracy, the writers threw Marita Covarrubias into the episode. She seems to be out of place in Teliko. Mulder's informants don't have to be in just myth/arc episodes. But this was not the episode for her to appear in. She is inconsequential. Samuel Aboah has a similar ability to Eugene Tooms, in that he can squeeze into really tight places. Also, he needs the pituitary gland hormone to survive, just like Tooms needed livers. So, it was almost like a remake of Squeeze. There are enough differences, however, to still make it entertaining. Off camera, Pendrell must be quite obvious about his affection for Scully, since Mulder jokes about Pendrell's crush on Scully with Pendrell. Cute moment. Plus, in Teliko, you get to see Scully crawling through ventilation ducts again. Gotta love that.