"The X Files" Field Trip (1999)

Director:

Kim Manners

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
John Shiban (teleplay) ...

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

9 May 1999 (Season 6, Episode 21)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

A young married couple's skeletons are found together on a field in the mountains after only being reported missing for three days...

Plot Keywords:

FBI | FBI Agent | Alien | X Files | Conspiracy

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jim Beaver	...	Coroner
Tom Braidwood	...	Melvin Frohike
David Denman	...	Wallace Schiff
Dean Haglund	...	Richard 'Ringo' Langly
Bruce Harwood	...	John Fitzgerald Byers
Robyn Lively	...	Angela Schiff

Runtime:

Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

Sound effects from the computer game StarCraft (1998) (VG) are used - specifically from the Zergs.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Angela is showering in the opening scenes, the edge of her nude moleskin top can be seen.

Quotes:

Scully: My role in the X-files have always been to provide a rational, scientific perspective to cases that would seem to defy explanation, a counterpoint to Agent Mulder.
Walter Skinner: And you have done that. You have performed admirably.
Scully: Have I? How many X-files have my scientific approach fully and satisfactorily explained?
Walter Skinner: Your reports have consistently made sense of his conclusions.

Movie Connections:

Features StarCraft (1998) (VG)

Among the Best Stand Alone Episodes

Two skeletons have been unearthed, seemingly of two missing hikers. But as Mulder and Scully try to comprehend what force is behind their deaths...something far more sinister is at work already. And the force that claimed the hikers may already affecting the agents themselves...

The episode, cleverly titled, is among this reviewer's favorites. After the first viewing, one has the tendency to feel cheated. But after repeat viewings, it gets better and better as one realizes that the episode is doing it's honest best to make sure that the viewer never knows quite what is going on.

A pure mind trip of the highest order, this episode delivers the goods. A nicely layered psychological puzzle that will remind the viewer what the unexplained is truly about...and why X-Files is at the top of the class.