Six questions regarding The X-Files' Season Six
By: Jonathan McDonald
A: That depends on how you spell success. Seven features, movies of the week or miniseries are shooting in the area right now, starring such luminaries as Leslie Nielsen, Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda and Ben Kingsley.
Among the 16 TV series in production: Cold Squad, Millennium, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, The Outer Limits, The Sentinel, The Net and The New Addams Family. Da Vinci's Inquest, the most-heralded Canadian series of the year, wrapped during the summer but will almost certainly return for a second season.
As for numbers, well, the B.C. Film Commission doesn't have 1998 stats yet, but B.C. production spending in 1997 was $630 million, up from $336 million in 1993.
A: Essentially, The X-Files left because of David Duchovny. He wanted to be closer to wife Tea Leoni. Now, rumour has it, he spends more time in the car commuting to work than he would in the plane flying to Vancouver. Still, it had been five years up here -- five years they would never have had here had series creator Chris Carter not needed a forest for the pilot episode and found it right here.
A: The X-Files is into its sixth season. Its two principals -- David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson -- are rumoured to be contractually locked up through the seventh season. Neither has made a secret about wanting to move on, although the relative success of the movie -- $85 million US in North America -- might drive them a little farther.
Neither Duchovny nor Anderson has been able to strike out with any sort of box-office dazzle or critical acclaim into non-X big-screen fare.
A: Even back in 1993, when the show was anything but a sure thing, websites sprouted. Yahoo alone now features 1,053 sites. That compares to 435 for ER, 196 for the now-deceased Seinfeld and 27 for Ally McBeal and just one for Everybody Loves Raymond. Gillian Anderson alone is the subject of 105 sites.
A: Well, you'll no longer see those familiar sights and bit players who turn up each week will be, obviously, mainly American actors and all of them L.A.-based. But Chris Owens, who plays Agent Jeffrey Spender, appears in the season premiere, as does William Davis, who's better known as Cancer Man. Everyone's favourite, The Lone Gunmen, will show up soon enough.
A: Have you been living on Mars for the past five years? No, wait: The X-Files has probably been available on satellite in Mars for eons.
LOTUS LAND VS. LA-LA LAND
Vancouver - Hollywood
MULDER: Umbrella vs. Sun-inducing and raincoat squint and T-shirt
SCULLY: Conservative suits vs. Conservative suits
THE SKY: Smog-grey vs. Grey smog
THE SUN: An occasional, vs. An omnipresent, welcome visitor oppressive force
THE FOLIAGE: Dripping cedars vs. Palm trees
THE HOUSING: Blue tarps vs. Air conditioning over many condos in many houses
THE CLOTHING: Balaclavas vs. Bikinis
THE ICONS: That guy always protesting outside the law courts vs. The Hollywood sign
THE CELEBS: Gillian Guess vs. O.J. Simpson
THE FOOD: Benny's Bagels vs. Nate and Al's
THE POPULATION: 1.9 million vs. 9.6 million