Apparently Cher turned down being in the episode and they ended up using a Drag Cover act to do the final scene. After it aired Cher went on record in saying that not saying yes was one of her biggest regrets.
@@nicholasromig5506 That's what the episodes commentary track says. The episodes was written with parts intended for both Roseanne Barr and Cher; both x-files fans per the commentary. Roseanne was supposed to play the mother. Both ended up unavailable at the time of filming.
Theory: Mulder and Scully actually went to this town and solved this case. The kid wrote a comic book adaption based loosely on the events but couldn’t help confabulating, he didn’t fully understand the science that he vaguely overheard Scully talking about so it doesn’t make sense, he added the Cher references (maybe his mom likes her) and the happy ending because he felt like the original was too sad or boring (“I need to speak to the writer.”)
I'd say its pretty blatantly suggested in the episode, that not just Shaineh's kids, but most of the villagers are supposed to be farm animal chimera's. Like, the journalist lady is obviously a chicken mutant.
Yeah, it was hard to pin down because the unwanted pregnancies only happened with those two women, at least those are the ones that were reported, so that's why I was wondering if they wanted to make a "man is also beast" comparison, but it does seem like they are saying EVERYONE is a mutant. Man is the monster, yet again. They're def not subtle, that's for sure.
I felt it connected to that scene in "Bride of Frankenstein" where they suddenly introduce tiny randy artificial people trapped in mason jars - the story is essentially chucking science out the window in favor of slapstick, and inviting you to just roll with it.
Chris Carter: "I have this new X-Files episode, it's about a town full of women getting forcibly impregnated..." Fox executive: *spits out coffee* "Jesus, Chris! We can't show that!" Chris Carter: "No no, it's fine - they're forcibly impregnated by farm animals!" Fox executive: "Oh. Well why didn't you say so?" Chris Carter: "So anyway, I'm going to need a black & white camera with a wide angle lens, a Cher impersonator and a bunch of 1950s cars..."
Isn't that how the Greek myths go? Women get forcibly impregnated by animals, albeit animals that are gods in disguise... well, except for the minotaur incident. But I'd rather not go there.
Chris Carter: "I have this new X-Files episode, it's about a town full of women getting forcibly impregnated..." Fox executive: spits out coffee "ANOTHER one?!"
I really thought the implicaton was that they'd been doing it for years successfully, so much that many of the younger townspeople were, in fact, half-barnyard animal mutants.
The reporter lady reminded me of a bird - so I agree to a point. Maybe those experiments were the failures thou -because near the end the two ladies on Jerry both have babies that look more like mutato - The experiment being a success they finally were able to create something that looks like mutato.
Well they show a chicken and then the reporter that bobs her head like a chicken... the cut to a goat then a kid with a goatie beard... I think it's implied it work too.
*"HOME" will forever be the most disrurbing episode of X-Files that I never forgot. I saw it the night it first aired but after that, it was forever banned by Fox and was the first X-Files episode to bear a "Viewer Discretion Warning" in the beginning. I've seen it again since a couple years ago and, while good...still incredibly disturbing. Anyone else remember it?*
Yeah, that one really freaked me out and repulsed me. The night it aired SLIDERS aired one of its best episodes before it where the main character helps a younger version of himself on a mirror earth…and then HOME came on. I remember thinking at the time that I had watched the series high and low points for each show…
@robertsherman7978 I mean is it a low or is it just not your cup of tea? I don’t even like the episode, but even I can tell it’s just graphic and gross. For a show that contains horror and sci fi themes it’s pretty on brand. Kinda seems like a you problem lmao.
Not an X-Files fan, but I saw it once and I SWEAR it was on, like, a Saturday afternoon. It was definitely NOT at night when it first aired. However, when I research it, it says it was never on in reruns. So....I don't know. But I definitely saw it, and it freaked me out.
There's a bit of a fusion between the Island of Doctor Moreau and Frankenstein. It's implied that most of the town were the result of splicing human/animal genes. That everyone, including the monster, were victims of the mad scientist.
@@cryptozoomauler5505 Ellien sorry but I couldn't help from putting in A Seinfeld reference since The Doctor is played by The Guy Who played as Mr. Peterson on Seinfeld
While “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space” is probably my favourite X-Files episode, I would love to see a video about “Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose”. It has some very endearing Scully moments and Peter Boyle is wonderful.
These are also my two favorite episodes. Truly a masterpiece in television. Clyde bruckman final repose is a perfect episode of tv. It's disturbing, hilarious, and also makes me cry everytime.
The best scene in the entire series is where Mulder is talking to Bruckman "Tell me, would you really like to know how you die?" "Yes, actually I would." "No. You don't."
Interesting factoid: In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the monster was trapped in shed for several weeks as he monitored a neighboring family and learned how humans interact and operate. He also found several books including Paradise Lost which he read and therefore learned about human culture, poetry, romanticism, war and relationships. The scene where Mutato was reading the books in the houses he invaded to learn of human culture was totally a reference to that.
@@Kairii-Kylie Frankenstein is the human doctor, and he is the monster. What is often now called "Frankenstein's monster" was actually referred to as "the creation." The creation referred to himself as a monster once, as did the villagers at the end who didn't understand what they didn't know, but Viktor Frankenstein was the actual monster in the book. I'm a massive book nerd and bibliophile who collects and studies books from that era one back to the early 18th century.
@@Author.Noelle.Alexandria eh, they're both monsters. Frankenstein for taking absolutely no responsibility, and the creation for murder, quite a bit at that
Could it be that the kid who was the author of the comic book didn't understand how "baby stuff" worked, so that's why the "real world" impregnations don't make sense either? This is assuming that the episode is actually just the comic book come to life. Thank you for reminding me of this episode, PUR! It was so weird that I had forgotten all about it! :P
@PushingUpRoses questioned whether it could be the live-action depiction of the comic book since the comic book was in the show. But comic-book within the comic-book is actually not an uncommon trope. I think this is the "right answer:" the episode doesn't make a ton of sense because it's a rendering of a kid's comic book that draws on Frankenstein themes.
@@BartMassey-PO8 The way shots are carefully composed also gives a strong comic book aspect. The use of the wide lens PUR comments on, remarking that it looks like actors are speaking straight to the camera (18:03) and cutting between each side of a dialogue as if we were looking at successive comic panels rather than respecting the 180° rule making the camera a silent 3rd party observer. Wide, empty space around the car because the artist could not be bothered to draw too much stuff in the background (7:07, 17:33), split screens between two characters facing each other (1:19). This made me want to re-watch the episode to see how much more I can spot. :x
Two of my favorite episodes are Bad Blood, where they visit the town of vampires including the pizza delivery guy, and the one in season six with the guy whose emotions affect the weather, and his jealousy of his crush's ex boyfriend makes it always rain wherever he is... Just an awesome idea, fun, and so well executed.
This one's nice and crazy, as is the one that pretends to be an episode of COPS. Also holy crap, the mad scientist is J. Peterman from Seinfeld, hahahaha.
They casted him because he was on Seinfeld and hoped hed bring comedy to his part but they must not have watched Seinfeld because he isn't funny there or here he also was the only person there I didn't like
One of my favorite X-Files episode was X-Cops, the crossover they did with Cops. I love the found footage style of the episode and the fear monster that they go up against is really interesting.
"You cannot create a human embryo with animal cells." I don't know, Roses, that reporter's head movements look suspiciously similar to the chicken she was staring at...
And the guy right after had a billy goat goatee. They were clearly trying to imply that many people from the town were in SOME WAY related to those animals.
@@BWMagus Yep! She immediately stood out to me with her head movements. I agree with the other replies; they must've done that to the locals on purpose.
These are the episodes that make the X-Files so great in my opinion. They're bizarre. They're humorous. They have heart. Great character moments. The same writers did these types of episodes in Supernatural which made it stand apart as well.
yeees, the funny ones are always my absolute favorites! this is definitely in my top 3 long with other funny ones like "X-Cops", "Jose Chung From Outer Space", and too many more to even name.
The name Polidori is also a Frankenstein reference! "John William Polidori (7 September 1795 - 24 August 1821) was an English writer and physician. He is known for his associations with the Romantic movement and credited by some as the creator of the vampire genre of fantasy fiction. His most successful work was the short story "The Vampyre" (1819), the first published modern vampire story." Polidori was inspired to write The Vampyre during the same stay on Lake Geneva where Mary Shelley was inspired to write Frankenstein.
Ironically, so many other shows have fully invested in ongoing serialized narratives since X-Files that the "monster of the week" episodes are what I revisit it for today. The format was seen as old hat at the time, but now it's come full circle and feels refreshing.
I never liked or got into the over arcing plot with bees and the smoking man, etc. Monster of the week, or rather x-files way making a monster in between mulders fictional take and scully's rationale, is what made the show
Not to mention the overarching plotline eps are so inconsistent and frequently muddy that the monster of the week eps are way, way better usually. When I was rewatching recently I was actually disappointed whenever there was an overarching plotline ep in later seasons.
Monster of the week is my favourite format. It's the reason I loved this show and shows like it. -Writers aren't making boring episodes out of fear of writing themselves into a corner. -New and interesting things every episode with distinct plots and investigations. -expanding universe lore creates an interesting backdrop to every episode regardless of its use in a single episode. The overarching plot was weak and just felt like something they had to get out of the way for more interesting episodes in later series.
I do remember this now! In the 90s my husband and I lived in Vancouver where x files was shot and my partner was a HUGE Cher fan so this was completely insane to us at the time. Fun fact, I was held up on my lunch break by an x files taping, it made me really mad!
Fun Fact: Dr. Polidori in this episode is likely named after John Polidori, one of the authors present for the famous ghost story competition where Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. His entry was titled The Vampyre, and is said to be a predecessor to Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Fun side note: There were 2 Hollywood movies about this, Gothic (1987) and Haunted Summer (1988). In the later Dr. Polidori was played by none other than Bill S. Preston esq. himself Alex Winter. 😁
Honestly, this might be one of the few shows for which I prefer the monster of the week episodes to the overarching plot ones. That whole alien invasion business or whatever was ultimately wanting.
I remember feeling like that even at the time the show came out. By around season 4 or 5, it was painfully obvious there was no master plan, no great payoff for all these confusing myth arc episodes (which also started contradicting each other pretty hard at some point).
@@Agamemnon2 I’ve been rewatching the show recently with my gf who has never seen it before and I have already started noticing a lot of contradictions in the myth arc episodes and we just finished season 3. No wonder the ongoing plot seemed so confusing in the end because it’s already all over the place at the early stages.
I feel like once they did too many fake-outs and twists with Samantha Mulder that it unfortunately left me feeling more ambivalence toward it than hope to see everything play out with the plotlines.
Same here. The continuing plot was "Oh look, evidence of aliens/ bad guys . Oh look they lost the evidence. Oh look Mulder blah blah, Oh look Mulder's sister etc etc" As soon as you saw it was an episode of the alien narrative, you could pretty much write the script within the first few minutes.
Felt like xfiles fan fiction. I remember watching this as a kid being confused as hell but coming away with a mysterious undying love of Cher's music 😂
This episode was just on tv two days ago. I remembered this episode being funnier than it actually was, for some reason I thought they broke out into song. Even though they started out treating the situation as a crime, I absolute hate how they brush off the multiple assaults by the end.
I remember reading that Gillian Anderson's brother actually was born with the bone disorder that the kid in Mask had. The episode was dedicated to him.
@@cryptozoomauler5505 Not the same as an FBI agent publicly exposing themself to scrutiny and insisting on daytime trash TV that " [thing perceived to be crazy] is reaall, sheeple]". Air Force admitted almost 70 years ago-- after constant sightings all across the country-- that they couldn't explain at least 15% of them. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4-MbGYAv7Cg.html
@@chasejackson7248 He has more higher-ups wanting to destroy him, but let’s put that aside for now. Let’s talk about what “backing up” means. It means that they vouch for him. That they trust him. If someone backs you up and then you go and break that trust by doing something stupid like leaking government secrets on Jerry Springer - do you think the person who backed you up would be happy? I mean, they put a lot on the line to support you. They probably put their head on the chopping block a couple times for you. Or would they suddenly go from being your biggest champion to your worst enemy and regarding you as an ungrateful traitor? Trust me, they would make it personal. “You betrayed the Agency and you betrayed ME.”
Just wanted to say I stumbled on your channel yesterday when i was feeling a bit down. I have been laughing every since! Thank you for all that you've done and anything possibly upcoming. You're hilarious! And taking a trip down memory lane with all this stuff I watched when I was younger is fantastic!
"Cute, but who's the one on the left..." comments like that never get old LOL It's always great to see you covering X-Files stuff. Do the whole series, no really... love it, love it, love itt!
Home is an episode that was so dark that it was banned and never rebroadcast. An interesting episode to me was a Halloween episode where the two are in a haunted house.
The episode “Bad Blood” would be fun to do, as it departs from the usual tone of the show in favor of a comedic “whodunit?” storyline, featuring Ham from The Sandlot and Luke Wilson with buck teeth 🤣 One of my faves.
I just recently watched all the 11 seasons of X-files plus the two movies and this is by far one of best stand-alone episodes. I appreciate you taking the time to talk about this gem of an episode.❤️
I’m in the middle of rewatching them in that order too and I’m already waiting for this episode. It’s up there with Jose Chung, Clyde Bruckman and War of the Coprophages as one of the best standalone episodes.
@@beegee7941 I think you mean the episode ”Home” which featured the Peacocks. And yes, it was indeed a disturbing and a disgusting episode but also a really good episode.
It's just a fun episode with a great ending IMO .When Mutato gets to the concert at the end and start's fist pumping the air lol and the way mulder and scully laugh, priceless
I thought the point was that the pregnancy did work, the shot where the townspeople are in the barn and the camera pans from animal to person. That was showing the children and animal sires they had. At least that makes the most sense to me.
I feel like it might also be another story within a story. That mulder and scully did do the investigation but the story we see (the one in the episode) is the one written in the comic. In the fashion of jose chungs and bad blood
I'm sure you hear it all the time, but it's really not that bad. Obviously you don't have to do it because it's completely your choice, but if it happens accidentally, you most likely have nothing to worry about. Don't let it scare you too much.
Roses, random request two years later, your content format is so great! Would love to see you take on more weirdo X-Files episodes. The Unnatural, First Person Shooter (yech), War of the Coprophages, Fearful Symmetry, and of course Jose Chung's From Outer Space would all make great subjects. Thanks!
The shots of the farm animals during Mutato's speech coincides with corresponding shots of townspeople who resemble them. It was basically a visual joke. I don't think anything else was meant by it, though I think your analysis is really an interesting and clever take on it. I do remember thinking, even when this episode first aired, that the idea of the womens' impregnation, in the way it happened, was kinda glossed over. But I do agree with you that this episode's production values are pretty well-done. PMP remains one of my top ten personal faves in the series.
Glad someone mentioned this! The episode deserves a point for that reference, as well as for having Polidori experiment on fruit flies; fruit flies were used in some of the first eugenics experiments. (I mean, they’re probably used in a lot of genetic experiments since they reproduce so quickly, but still.)
Forgive me if you have already covered it, but I’d love to hear your take on my personal favorite episode:”Jose Chung’s From Outer Space”. It features a small but wonderful cameo by the recently departed legend, Alex Trebek, so it might be a nice tribute. Also, idk how you refrained from talking about the chicken-reporter, but she reminds me of a Kids in the Hall sketch and it cracks me up, every time. 😂
The name "Polidori" is kind of a meta-reference to "Frankenstein." John Polidori was a wannabe writer assigned by Lord Byron's publisher to accompany Byron on his travels and try to keep him from getting into too much trouble. They wound up sharing a house on Lake Geneva with Byron's fried Percy Shelley and his wife Mary. To pass the time, the four of them decided to have a competition over who could write the best scary story; Mary's offering to that competition is what eventually became "Frankenstein."
I'm glad you Cher'd this episode. Weirdly I remembered this as being in colour but I guess this is a perfect example of the fallible memory effect that the interwebs love
The comic book was black and white, the dive into the comic book - 99% of the episode - is in "colour". Guessing you are Canadian or british since you spell that with a u.
I remember going into this episode after hearing it praised so much and then just spent the whole time being so horrified by the forced pregnancies and the handling of it that I was kind of repulsed by the whole thing. Like yeah it's stylish but yikes
headcanon: the whole episode is really just a comic story written by Izzy. either a) most of the events of the did happen, but Mutato and/or the senior Paladori were lynched by the mob, or b) there was no Mutato. Mulder and Scully came through the town, did an investigation, found nothing, so Izzy wrote the comic the way he hoped the investigation had turned out
The X-Files did bonkers so well. In many cases I preferred the Monster of the Week episodes to the continuing narrative ones. As time went on the narrative became more and more strained.
"If we show how they're NOT traumatized, it makes it okay!" feels like it was said on the set of this episode. And that's sadly a very '90s cultural attitude.
I've always thought this episode was meant to be the same setup - that the story itself is a fictionalized account from an author who had an actual account with Mulder & Scully. The events described are partially true, but what we see is a secondhand account from an unreliable narrator.
I kinda liked the episode where everyone that had a score to settle with Krycek finally had their chance and kicked the crap out of the pretty boy in the most homoerotic ways imaginable. Especally that "big, bald, beautiful man" Skinner.
@@skylx0812 That was such a weird episode. Especially at the end when Mulder gets all offended that Krycek betrayed him again. Well maybe if you didn't punch him every five minutes!
"Even Frankenstein got to look for love" is killing me because if they're talking about the creation then no he did not, mid way through making crime against nature 2 Victor freaked out and threw the unfinished body because he was afraid they would "dance with the devil" and create more hellspawn, and if we're talking about Victor also no, his marriage was arranged and also Liz died right after so... That makes no sense
Fun review, thanks so much! When X-Files dipped into humor, it often did a lovely job (I specifically remember one about a genie, which was written by Duchovny. Very funny, absurd, and also touching). Blacking out for a long period and waking up pregnant makes me think of "Village of the Damned", an English horror film from 1960, starring George Sanders in a rare sympathetic role. It was followed by "Children of the Damned".
Holy crap! How did I miss that connection?! A small farming town shot in black and white where women go to sleep and wake up pregnant after a few days? That’s TOTALLY Village of The Damned. Good spot!
Shocked that no one picked up that the doctor's name is a reference to John William Polidori, another guest at the party where Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein (and Bram Stoker wrote Dracula). At least that's the story. Polidori wrote a vampire story as well, which didn't go over as well.
Bram Stoker wasn't there seeing as how he wasn't born until 1847 and Dr. Polidori died in 1821. But many literary scholars do believe that Polidori's The Vampyre did inspire Stoker's Dracula.
The streak of excellent X-Files content on this channel is truly an experience----best time had engaging with the lot of it since watching all the episodes time and again back in the day.
@monny287 Yes! I haven't seen this episode since I was a teenager and didn't remember the pregnancy stuff. I always remembered this is as a fun, weird one off episode with Cher music and Frankenstein homages. Seeing it again definitely colors that. This show usually gave the deserved weight to many issues including forced pregnancy, so it is super strange to see it in a comedic or sympathetic light. I definitely have to believe this is is a comic within a comic episode or I'd be way too bothered.
I think my favourite part is finding out later that The Great Mutato is the same guy who plays Jeffrey Spender. I don’t know why but man I love that. He also played his story-arc dad The Cancer Man.
I always had a hard time with how many times X-Files had a monster of the week impregnating someone in their sleep. Or that one where a shape shifter takes on Mulder's appearance and tries to woo Scully. This show is a hot mess but when it's good, it's good.
Dr. Jon Polidori was actually part of thre Byron/Shelly writing group in Lake Geneva . Where Frankenstein was created. He wrote "The Vampyre" while there
Searched through the comments to find this. Didn't it kill you every time she said Dr. Polidori it didn't explain that connection. And she said his name a lot in this video. 😅
If we are talking about inspirations and homages, please also notice how women being impregnated while knocked out also references The Village of The Damned.
WAS LITERALLY thinking "I'm gonna suggest she reviews more X-files" and here we are today! I LOVE this show, and I am really digging your opinions and views on all these classics! DO more! Thank you for sharing! :D
I think the overt references to the episodes influences are because the influences are so transparent, it would be a disservice to pretend otherwise. It's actually a 4th-wall break, not some sort of dumbing-down.