Teliko 

Mulder believes a creature from an African folktale may be responsible for the disappearance of several black men in the Philadelphia area.

Director:

Jim Charleston (as James Charleston)

Writers:

Chris Carter (created by), Howard Gordon

Stars:

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
Carl Lumbly	...	Marcus Duff
Willie Amakye	...	Samuel Aboah
Laurie Holden	...	Marita Covarrubias
Brendan Beiser	...	Agent Pendrell
Zakes Mokae	...	Diabria
Bob Morrisey	...	Dr. Simon Bruin
Danny Wattley	...	First Officer
Maxine Guess	...	Flight Attendant
Bill Mackenzie	...	Bus Driver
Michael O'Shea	...	Lt. Madsen

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:

airplane | airplane bathroom | african immigrant | philadelphia pennsylvania | immigration lawyer | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Did You Know?

Trivia

To appear albino, Willie Amakye's skin underwent several layers of cover-up cream, layers of white powder, and a little pink powder for color. He also wore contacts for the transparent pink eyes. Amakye's hair was dyed orange for post-production special effects to change it back and forth from black and white.

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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

Diabria: Why has Samuel Aboah been arrested? You said his health was in danger. Why have I been lied to?
Dana Scully: Nobody has lied to you, sir.
Diabria: Then, please, release him immediately.
Dana Scully: We would like to do some more tests on him. We have to be certain his health hasn't been endangered and that he isn't endangering others.
Diabria: Then, why have you called me?
Dana Scully: As a translator. We'd like to be able to ask him some questions.
Diabria: About what?
Mulder: About Alfred Kittel and about several others young men that have gone missing since his arrival ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The tagline at the end of the credits is changed to "Deceive, Inveigle, Obfuscate."

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Soundtracks

The X-Files
Written by Mark Snow
Performed by John Beal

User Reviews

One of the least entertaining episodes

This feels like a filler episode and nothing more. The first one writing is lazy and uninteresting, and it's written by the same author who wrote the Haitian episode. If you enjoyed that, think of this as half as interesting. I found myself browsing the Internet on my phone after about 30 minutes - it was that bad.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

18 October 1996 (USA)

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ten Thirteen Productions, 20th Century Fox Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

44 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3