X-Philes for Mulder

Mulder is back…big time.

I wish I could take credit for the words but I cannot. They were used by Fox to advertise the latest episode, Three Words. But while I can’t take credit for them, I will revel in them. In fact, I will roll in them like hay, and throw them in the air and shout "Hallelujah" to the heavens!

Hey, I have no probs with Doggett per se (just how the whole introduction of this character was managed), and have no concerns about a future XF with no Mulder. (After all, I can’t be concerned about something I won’t be watching, can I? <grin>). I couldn’t care any less about the new Reyes character (though I like her first name <g>). No, my focus on XF has always been Mulder and the Mulder and Scully partnership.

So I do revel in those words.

As the sig line of me mate Joyce says:

"Mulder is back and once more I believe in extreme possibilities."

Or as Jessica at Mighty Big TV said in a recent review:

"Welcome back, Duchovny, you magnificent bastard."

However you acknowledge it, Mulder’s back in The X-Files and all is right with the world.

Ya think?

(Come on, you knew this was heading somewhere, didn’t you? )

With Mulder back, with only a few more episodes to go, and after the L.A. Times article that gave publicity to our concerns, I expected there wouldn’t be much more to say on the XPFM front. Yeah, sure, I still have my concerns about where the show is headed and how it will treat Mulder, but overall I believed there wasn’t much else that would, frankly, motivate me to write. Mulder is in David’s good hands, so what more would there be to say?

Plenty, it turns out. Grab a drink, take a seat and sit back, this one’s gonna be a long one, pholks!

Of Print Ads which annoy

Let’s start out with a certain print ad that has hit the streets and the net. A certain print ad that essentially states that by the end of the episode in question the best man will get the X-Files. Oh, please. Anyone with half an idea of what’s been happening this season can see where this is going. David has reduced his involvement in the series so his character is, logically, not going to be the one who remains on the X-Files. However it is set up – whether Kersh kicks his cute hiney out because Doggett’s record is so good (and what the heck is that about? A little under a year and a few resolved cases could in no way equal the 7+ year record of Mulder. What bullshit!), or whether Mulder decides to walk out himself (who could blame him after the events of the last few months?) - it’s obvious Doggett is going to get the Files. My question is, why the hell has the episode been promoted this way?

Let’s review the score:

* We’ve had manly-man mutterings out the yinyang in all the pre- and early-season 8 press.

* We’ve had talk of chemistry between Doggett and Scully which they attempted to convince us would be just as valid as Mulder and Scully’s… chemistry which, frankly, we’ve yet to see (unless they’re actually referring to the great chemistry between Skinner and Doggett). And let’s face it, a lot of us don’t care if it’s there or not – it’s the chemistry between Mulder/Scully that is paramount.

* We’ve had promises of greater use of the supporting characters, yet under-use of Mitch, and a "who he?" level of use for Nick Lea - what an absolute waste of the talents of both actors and the brilliant and important characters they play.

* We’ve had name plates shoved in drawers.

* We’ve had immediate trust of one character by another who wouldn’t trust anyone who told her the sun was coming up unless it was Mulder who said it… and even then she’d check.

* We’ve had the reduction of this same character from a strong and independent woman to a stereotypical damsel in distress that allows her new partner to scold her for doing her job.

Is that enough?

Oh… silly me…

* We’ve had an "absent center" who’s more absent than center.

And following all this, and a lot more, we get a print ad that tries to imply that Doggett is the better man. What a crock, and what a stupid, short-sighted way to promote a show that you hope the audience will follow into the future years.

As I’ve said elsewhere, I just don’t get the strategy of the marketing department of Ten Thirteen and/or Fox. I perfectly understand the requirement to introduce a new character to the show. David reduced his involvement to a handful of eps (full time) and Gillian renegotiated her contract to allow for 3 weeks off every 3 weeks (or something like that), and has also expressed a desire to move on. It makes logical sense to introduce a new character, and try to steer the audience in a direction to follow that character into the next generation of the show.

What has never failed to stun me is just how badly all this was handled. Where is the logic in trying to attract an audience to a new guy/universe they don’t know by pissing them off in undermining the importance and relevance of the old guy/universe they love? That Doggett was introduced as a "manly-man" only became an issue when Mulder, in the same article, was described as a flake. What a pity those in charge didn’t consider that the importance of Mulder to Philes should not have been underestimated.

Nor should the focus of Phile interest in the show.

Yes, we will give that some people watch the show for the scary monster shit, but the majority watches it because of Mulder and Scully. Any attempt to undermine the importance of this relationship – like having Scully shove Mulder’s nameplate in the desk drawer after giving Mulder’s office space to Doggett – was never going to win either points or admiration for the Doggett character. In point of fact, most people I know, and most whom I’ve seen discuss the show, are either disinterested in the character, or absolutely loathe him because of these and other factors. Rightly or wrongly, Doggett is the embodiment of their ire precisely because the poor decisions (like nameplates in desk drawers) have resulted from his presence and the promotion of his value over Mulder.

Which brings me back – via a circuitous route <g> - to that print ad. You have an ep where Doggett likely ends up with the X-Files which have been Mulder’s life. Why piss off your audience by implying that Doggett is the better man because of this? No matter how the ep turns out – and I’m hoping (in vain, I'm afraid) for a passing of the torch from Mulder to Doggett because for Mulder’s reasons, and no one else’s – there is no need to anger the Mulder-focused Philes by trying to assert Doggett is the better man. Unless of course you’re actually trying to lose your audience. If that is the intent, Chris and Co., you are achieving well beyond expectation from what we can tell!

Moving right along.

Ratings and Ratings

Yes, there are at least two sets of ratings. There has to be. How else to account for the figures and summaries of which Fox and TenThirteen speak which differ so vastly from those we’ve seen published by our good friends at Nielsen media.

Not sure what I’m talking about? Get ready for some brain-hurting number-crunching. <g>

In a recent interview in Sci-Fi magazine, Frank Spotnitz – a guy who has, or used to have, a reputation with most online Philes as being the one person behind the scenes at Ten Thirteen who would tell it like it is – stated that:

"Our numbers have held even with the numbers we have had last year."

We beg to differ, Mr. Spotnitz.

On an episode by episode basis (meaning we aren’t going to unfairly match the playing of a re-run against the playing of a new episode), the numbers are not even between the seasons. We’ve provided them elsewhere, but check a few again:

Seventh season’s opener Sixth Extinction earned a 10.6 rating, equating to 17.83 million viewers. The eighth season opener Within had a 9.5, 15.87 million viewers. Orison had a 9.4 (15.04 mill) against Via Negativa’s 7.3 (12.37 million). The numbers go on. Sure, one or two instances of a slight improvement (Invocation was 0.3 above season seven’s Rush, and Per Manum was 0.1 above First Person Shooter. These slight increases over season seven’s episodes are hardly in the same league as the decreases registered in other comparisons, particularly given This Is Not Happening saw an increase of approximately 3.5 million viewers from the previous week.

"The numbers have held?" In what universe, Frank? It just doesn’t compute. By what math or statistical system are Ten Thirteen calculating their figures? I wish they’d tell me, because I don’t understand it and, frankly, it pisses me off to see such statements made over and over again when the facts do not support the claims.

Frank went on further to say:

"I can't think of many other series where you've replaced one of two leads, and done so with popular success. In Robert Patrick, we hit a home run. He's somebody who's very hard not to like, and he's really accomplished everything we hoped he would do. He brought a different voice to the show than it's ever had before, and he held our audience and our attention during Mulder's absence."

Frank, I’m sorry, but you just cannot make that claim. The numbers don’t support it in the least. And you know what else? There’s another factor to consider: "absent center". Ring a bell? In practically all the promotion of this season, Chris Carter has gone out of his way to tell viewers that although Mulder is absent because of his abduction he would still be a center for the show. The search for Mulder would be a major focus of the show. Having heard that, and having – foolishly, it seems – believed it, and having seen the ads which promoted when Mulder was going to be featured, it’s no wonder the numbers weren’t too bad, it’s no wonder people were watching. We were all hanging in there to see the absent center get a mention. (Alas, in the first half of the season, he got a desk drawer instead.)

No, Frank, you can’t claim success for a Mulder-less XF when it hasn’t been Mulder-less. Despite the disappointments of that bat episode and others which failed to so much as *mention* Mulder, we were hanging in there, staying tuned and aware of the progress in anticipation of Mulder’s return.

And I can understand why you wouldn’t want to acknowledge it, but be truthful, Frank. You’re as aware of the anti-Doggett sentiment among Philes as the rest of us. Is it wholly justified? Yes, for many it is. A vast many. Whether you or others accept the reasoning or not, it exists, and as such you cannot make a claim of home runs hit. Doggett may have brought a different voice to the show, but part of that voice is a very vocal disinterest, dislike or downright hatred of the character.

Taking Mulder’s place?

In discussing the triad that is Mulder, Scully and Doggett (and by the way, what happened to Chris’s talk of the foursome with Reyes?), Frank stated:

"Not surprisingly, it's a dynamic with a considerable amount of tension, because Doggett has really taken Mulder's place, both in the fictional life of the show and on the series. So whether they like it or not, they are rivals, and we play with that. But as we head into a big two-hour conclusion that will air the last two Sundays in May, their relationship is going someplace."

Oh, yeah, that’s the kind of statement that’s going to win a lot of fans over to TXF – The Next Generation. Say what, Frank? Doggett has taken Mulder’s place? Could you BE more wrong?

I have nothing against Doggett at all. I really don’t. I see faults in the way his character was introduced, and the way he is written at times, but I have no real dislike of the character. But if you think for one minute that I – or many others – are going to buy into that line, you’re fooling yourself, Frank. If a million years passed, Doggett could never, ever, take Mulder’s place.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll re-state it. Doggett is not Mulder. He has no belief in what he’s investigating, and he has no personal drive for it. (Giving Doggett a Samantha-like motivation was nothing more than plagiarism of your original idea for Mulder) He has no passion for understanding the criminal as well as the crime. He has no humor. He has no real respect for his partner. (There’s no way Mulder would have accused Scully of becoming a victim, and criticized her for doing her job.) You can give Doggett Mulder’s partner. You can give Doggett his office and all the files therein. You can give him Mulder’s friends. You can even set up an episode like Three Words and have Doggett meet his secret contact (derisively known among many Philes now as "Deep Hood.") Have Mulder seem arrogant and unfair to Doggett (to those who wouldn’t think about what horrific experiences that Mulder has just been through and remembers vividly). Have Skinner label Mulder as being paranoid (a sad development, given Skinner’s belief in what happened to Mulder) in defense of Mulder’s accusations against Doggett’s actions. You can even have Doggett "rescue" Mulder. You can have all these things, and still Doggett will never, ever, ever, replace Mulder.

Of time lines questioned

In the same article, there was talk of the criticism of the time line in season 8. Frank said:

"I saw that on the Internet. And I saw we got a jeer from TV Guide. That was completely and wholly unearned"

Attempting to set the record straight, Frank said:

"…in [the season finale] 'Requiem' last May, Scully says she's pregnant. And in [this season's opener] 'Within/Without,' it's very clearly the very next day. There hasn't been an ellipses of six months, in terms of the progress of Scully's pregnancy."

Missed the point. Big time. We’ve always accepted that the real-life gap between season ending and season beginning doesn’t exist on the show. We did for Anasazi and The Blessing Way. We did for Talitha Cumi and Herrenvolk. Requiem and Within are no different.

No, our problems with the time line lay in another direction. Using information that Joann gathered, let’s take a trip down the season 8 timeline. (Hang on to something, people, it’s a bumpy ride!)

Requiem, and it’s May 2000 – Mulder is abducted and Scully tells Skinner she is pregnant.

Within/Without in May 2000 – Scully is about two months along.

Per Manum – the date on the ultrasound video tape is 23 November, and she’s 14 weeks pregnant. (14???)

Medusa is a Feb 2001 occurrence at least, given the reference to Survivor II.

Redrum is a Dec 8 deal – reference the court files.

So, if Scully became pregnant in April, Mulder Jr. should be due in January 2001. So by Redrum Scully should have been very obviously pregnant. Which she wasn’t. And by the time This Is Not Happening and Dead Alive occur, the kid should be in a cradle. But it’s not. Uh huh.

Next, let’s look at the internal-ep timeline for Dead Alive.

Mulder’s being buried in Raleigh, NC. Raleigh, not Martha’s Vineyard. Raleigh. You know, Raleigh – that place to which Mulder has absolutely NO connection.

But I digress.

So, Mulder’s 6 feet under in Ra…. Mulder’s 6 feet under in North Carolina, it’s approximately April or early May (given it’s 3 months since the funeral) and there’s snow on the ground. Snow. In spring time. Uh huh. Moving along.

The ever precise and accurate DJ provided this summary. Billy Miles is found near Cape Fear at night. The ME is called to do an autopsy at 2 am. That very same night the following occurred:

* The ME contacts Skinner (probably through intermediaries, which requires time for multiple

phone calls), who dresses and arranges for Doggett to meet him at the FBI building

* Skinner and Doggett then drive from Washington DC to North Carolina

* They prepare exhumation orders

* They get a judge – in the middle of the night – to read and sign it

* They get a team of people together to go to the cemetery and dig up Mulder’s casket

* They have the casket transported to another county’s morgue

* They open the casket, extract Mulder, and bring him up from North Carolina to the U.S. Naval hospital in Annapolis, Maryland. (And as DJ asked, doesn’t Washington have any military facilities?)

* They clean up Mulder, and notify Scully, who dresses and drives to Annapolis

* And by 5:35am, Doggett has returned from Annapolis to Kersh's office in Washington

Three hours to go from Washington, down to North Carolina, back up to Annapolis, and back down to Washington, all the action in between. Not bad, eh? As DJ said:

"This should have taken days, not hours. But then, Scully's pregnancy should have taken months, not years, so maybe there is a kind of consistency after all."

Too right, DJ.

It’s not personal, Sonny, it’s business

(and I'll deduct ten points for anyone who doesn't get the reference - blame DJ, she said it was too easy!)

Staying with the pregnancy thing we spoke of in the time line concerns, and again referencing the Sci-Fi Magazine article, Frank said:

"We've always been very stingy with showing anything of their personal lives. Chris felt, and I think he's right, that these [stories] are about paranormal phenomena. It's very hard to make those personal on a week-to-week basis."

Or maybe we should say, it’s not personal, Sonny, it’s paranormal. Oy veh.

Being pregnant isn’t a personal matter? Having a child isn’t personal? Successfully conceiving when you thought you were barren isn’t personal? If the guys at Ten Thirteen don’t think being pregnant is a personal matter, it’s no wonder in the latest episode we didn’t see Mulder’s reaction to Scully’s now-obviously-expecting condition. It’s no wonder we get Scully telling Mulder how much she’s been through while he’s been away instead of showing concern for her partner who was abducted, tortured, died, was buried, dug up and – unlike her – remembers it all! Poor Scully. If only you were able to get personal with Mulder and try to understand that the lad is feeling a bit out of it right now because he remembers all the things you dreamed happened to him – and more.

Ack.

Frank also said that having a child "is something that people do after a number of years."

After a number of years? Or when the plot for the show requires it? Some people do have a child after a number of years, and certainly some single people do it, but most make that decision when that "number of years" has been spent with a partner who can father the child. And it would still make sense if we believed for one minute that Chris was considering letting Mulder be the father of the child, as would be natural in this universe even if Mulder and Scully were only the best of friends. But, no, we can’t have a straight answer.

"As you approach an event like this that everyone knows is coming, you explore all of the possibilities of what this might be before you settle on the one true path of what it is. I think it is important to do that, because it's doing justice to the magnitude of what this means to Scully, and what it means to the series. There are an awful lot of possibilities as to what this baby is. We know the answer but we don't intend on letting anyone else know until the end."

I’ve got news for you, Frank. Unless Mulder is the father, I couldn’t give two hoots what the answer is. And I’m just about at the point where I – and many others - don’t care at all. (Boy. Wolf. A few tears and wails. Do the math.)

While I’m on the subject of that article, let me address a few other things it mentioned:

Within and Without David

Sci Fi Magazine stated:

Given Duchovny's self-imposed absence for more than half the season, coming up with season 8's story arc, and somehow working Mulder into the equation, has been nothing short of a creative and logistical nightmare for the show's producers.

A statement "validated" by Frank’s next words:

"You're left with a situation where you've got to untangle this [already-established story] web, and make use of an actor that you have according to some very bizarre legal formula for a certain number of days here and there. We really had to work around the business realities, and try and make our show feel as organic as possible within those arrangements."

Okay, we concede David’s schedule may have been problematic. But ya know what? Once again information is conveniently left out. It reminds me of the days when David bore the brunt of the "move to L.A." criticism, and TenThirteen et al., failed to mention until long after the issue had passed that Chris Carter had promised David (since the Pilot ep!) that the show would be filmed in L.A. Here, when talking about actor availability and the problems caused, there has been no mention of the fact that Gillian Anderson renegotiated an existing season 8 contract to allow for significant chunks of time off. I’m happy she did, as happy as I am David got his time off, too. But where is the fairness in not mentioning that little fact? Or are we to assume by the absence of a mention that only David’s schedule made production difficult?

Whatever. But ya know, guys, you agreed to it. Chris Carter stated in pre-season press that he was happy David was going to be available, and they agreed to the contract because it was workable. Further, he admitted – as did you, Frank – that you could have used David more. And to be frank (no pun intended), given how little David has been used in some cases (This Is Not Happening, for example), we can’t help wondering why it was such a problem.

Oh, well.

The scary monster baloney

Sci Fi Mag also stated:

"This season's standalone monster-of-the-week episodes have returned the show to its spooky, if not gory, roots.

They haven’t returned to their spooky and gory roots. They passed spooky and gory and went right on into sad and revolting. With a metamorphosed Scully who cares not about her absent center trying to hard to believe that which she does not, and a Doggett who changes his mind weekly, and with Mulder absent – the heart and soul of the MOTW eps was lost. There was no more interest in the criminal beyond the crime. (One of the things that made the X-Files unique, what raised it above standard TV fare, was that Mulder cared about the "why" of the doer, not just the "what" that was done.) Thought went out when the prop department was given orders to stock up on more fake blood and gooey substances.