The REAL Reason Fox Mulder Disappeared on The X-Files 

The thing about the X-Files is that each episode was filmed like a movie with a lot of care for the aesthetic and dramatic. There just aren't many shows that do SCI-FI like that. I lean more toward NoRomo but I don't really care about that. It's the exploration of the weird for me.

Should've finished at the end of season seven. Mulder gets abducted by aliens, Scully *finally* witnesses this, and becomes the true believer. Character arcs satisfyingly complete, with enough open-ended ambiguity to feel like The X-Files.

While the loss of David Duchovny was rough, can we just take a moment to recognize Robert Patrick and his amazing performance as Agent Doggett? The T-1000 absolutely killed it, ok?

You forgot his sister. One of the reasons I kept watching that show was because it would always troll you into thinking FOX was finally going to find out something concrete about what happened to his sister.

X files is still the best sci-fi / horror tv show ever in my opinion. The leech man thing in the sewers is still one of the creepiest things ever made.

Mulder and Scully work because they respect each other although they disagree fundamentally, Mulder counts on Scully's medical and scientific knowledge, just as she is willing to go with his crackpot theories, more than once, against her own judgement she went with his idea. The characters depend on each other and although they argue, acting weird is a symptom of conspiracy more than fuel for fights between them

I disagree. The real lesson here is that one really charming actor often carries the show. Without Duchovny, the appeal to general audiences for this monster of the week sci-fi detective show just isn't there. Duchovny clearly understood his own value to the show's success by the end. The producers obviously failed to understand this and paid for their ignorance. Star power is a real thing.

"He was basically the Vince Gilligan of the early nineties." You know Vince Gilligan was a big part of the X-Files, right? He joined for season 2 or after season 2, I forget, and he wrote a number of award winning episodes. He was there until the end, I believe, and worked on the Lone Gunmen spinoff.

I've been a huge fan of The X-Files since it began in 1993 when I was 12 and still today love it, seen every episode. It has some of the very best creature features on episodic television and even competes with creatures featured in horror movies while being highly originally and creepy as hell. Love the mythology stories too

There has never been another show that made me anticipate each new episode like a kid on Christmas eve.

He got that so wrong. The show had already moved production to LA at Duchovny's request so he could be closer to his new wife Tea Leoni.. He returned in Season 8 because prior to his falling out with Chris Carter he had already signed a contract to return for a full season. However he was able to work out a deal that reduced his obligation to just a few episodes.

I find myself in neither camp. While I loved the chemistry between the two characters, I never wanted them to get together romantically. I thought the friendship love between them exceeded any romantic love that could be between them. That being said I feel it was the content of the show and the amazing writing that really made it a phenomenon

After my Dad wouldn’t stop raving about X-Files I had to see what it was about… I was not disappointed. Love the show!

Without Mulder OR Scully you don't have a show! Their chemistry was real! I've been binging on this series lately and realize how good this was and still is today! Long live Mulder n Scully!, 🙏

I remember a scene where Mulder is trapped inside an underground shipping container in the middle of nowhere and he calls Scully on his cell phone. At the time, my cell phone wouldn't work if you were too close to a concrete pillar, and I was asking, "what kind of cell phone do you have, anyway?" 25 years later and that call is actually possible.

It was the cinematography, the music, the acting, production, directing. It was a fantastical masterpiece!

"Art is never finished only abandoned." - Di Vinci

I'm in the middle of watching it all again for only about the third time. Almost finished season 8, and I gotta say that it is still a pretty darn good show. The ratings probably dropped only because of the departure of Mulder, not because the quality of the show. Doggett is a good character, and not a carbon copy of season 1 Scully like they could easily have done. I remember enjoying the second film for what it was, but annoyed that it wasn't based on the main story arc (though I completely understand the idea to take the series back to its roots before there even was an arc). And the last two series I need to watch again, but they certainly weren't terrible. All in all, it is definitely a great show that has stood the test of time (even if some of the themes it popularised, such as the government conspiracy trope, are now considered cliche).

I’ve just started binge watching the series from the beginning and it’s crazy how we people see things so different. They did a great job with the different stories beyond just spacemen and aliens. But I’m stunned by how little Mulder and Scully learn from their previous encounters with the unknown. I’m in the middle of season 3 and Skully still acts like she has never seen anything unusual before and every time they come upon a pivotal moment Mulder will yell at Skully to stay where she is at for no apparent reason so they can both wander around in the dark without being able to help or see each other. Plus you should know every time ( well most of the time);they pull their guns out they will have them knocked out of their hands or they will yell for the person/ creatures to give up or they will shoot. But they don’t. And by the way they shouldn’t be able to use the phrase “ can I trust you ?” Just saying. Still it’s fun. 🤪😀

There's an old saying in the theater, which goes something like, "Take your bow and leave the stage before the cheering stops."

Moral of the story: don't stretch a story if you don't have to. End it when the story is over.

They made an episode for one of my all time favorite shows AND brought back the original voice?? What a glorious day this is

A classic series, that contained some of the very best sci-fi / horror / mystery ever made. Really superb show that really defined the decade it was set in. Don’t forget, this was pre 9/11, pre social media, pre streaming…it was probably the last time that you could actually watch a show and have no idea what was coming, nothing was spoilt on Twitter etc.. Fabulous writing, wonderful characters, genuinely intriguing and in some cases, creepy stories and then, anchoring everything, the chemistry between Duchovny and Anderson . I don’t think there’s been a better on screen partnership in the genre before or since. For me, the Season 7 finale was the perfect place to end the show. A cliffhanging ambiguous ending that would have spawned endless discussion. The seasons afterwards certainly had their moments and I thought Robert Patrick in particular was excellent, but inevitably that initial creative magic had gone. Regardless, the X-Files will always be one of the greatest tv shows of all time and it’s influence can be seen in so many parts of pop culture today. I’m looking forward to today’s generation rediscovering it and then passing it along to the next…and so on.

I absolutely love this show… the chemistry between Scully & Mulder was amazing… if i had to pick one show that would continuously get new episodes, and i had to watch that one show forever? This would be it… it’s so sad to me that it ended up apparently going down in flames. 😢

It started going down when they kept changing what happened to Fox's sister. You need to have a proper ending or things like this will happen such as prolonging things that shouldn't be prolonged. Story will drive characters, good story will drive actors and fans. I'm not shocked Duchovny got tired of the same thing over and over. If chemistry is there and they can't bang they are going to be frustrated as well in real life and in story.

Total agreement. My social life in the Ninties was organized around viewing parites of this show, and I was ready for it to be gone by the time it hit season 7.

Still my favorite TV show of all time. So many amazing elements that were new when they came out. The X-Files showed what modern television can do and opened the door for more amazing television.

It is impossible to convey to anyone who wasn't around in the 90's as to how big this show was. It truly was a phenomenon!! Mulder and Scully getting together would have been a poor story decision, what were they supposed to do? Have a family while investigating the paranormal!! It would've been a story dead end!!

It's just the Rick Grimes effect. A lot of people only watched because Rick was still in it. But as soon as he left, so did the majority of the fan base

He became Hank Moody and gave us absolute gold in another show 😉

One great thing about DD is he got to also play in the X-Files spoof Evolution. Not many get to do that.

See, I liked Mulder and Scully's relationship and not just the creepy stuff but I wanted them to keep it platonic. I was never a fan of the mandate that if a story has a man and a woman working together who are close, it has to be a romance. Why can't they just be really good friends? :V

I just started an X-Files watch like a week ago. Barely out of season 1 at this point. I had stopped watching initially around when Mulder left so I'm happy to know the story behind the scenes. I love that shit. Your whole series of why did they fire so and so is great, as well as the rest of your videos.

I just found out that Dana Scully is based off of Clarice Starling. I totally see it

Ahhhh. Watching the first 5 seasons, is like a warm hug from my childhood!! I still freaking love it, even all these years later!!😁💖

As much as I love Mulder, Scully is my favorite. She's really the more dynamic and deep character. Mulder starts and ends as pretty much the same person while Scully evolves as all her beliefs, from faith to science, shift and deepen. Some of my favorite episodes (besides all the classic monster episodes) are Scully-centric, like "Tithonus" and "Milagro." Still, the show just wasn't the same without Mulder and should have ended earlier, despite the fact that I actually liked Doggett.

The X-Files without Mulder and Scully is like the Twilight Zone without Rod Serling. Their personalities were deeply imbedded.

I was pleasantly surprised at Robert Patrick's performance in this show as well as in "Scorpion". He is more than just the terminator. I was almost certain that it was an impossible task to replace the character in which the show revolved around, and while Doggett didnt really ever replace him, I do feel he brought an interesting character to the show and it wasnt ruined per say, but did lack that original chemistry that made the show what it was in earlier seasons. Sometimes you get lucky with that, sometimes it's so bad, it makes things horrible all around. The 2 season revisit had some promise, but it came across, very much, that the characters were tired and the passion wasnt really there anymore. This is probably due to the relationship between Anderson And Duchovny, and even though they reconciled their differences, that initial spark was long abducted from their performances and the show. Looks like the truth was out there after all and it wasnt necessarily pretty.

I love him I bet David was getting alot of offers for different projects @ the time . But Gillian is the one who really became a amazing actress especially with the shows I've seen her in

X-Files was a phenomenon I'm glad I was around to see it at time of it release.

Vince Gillian wrote some of the best X Files episodes, by the way...

I'm confused, why do you not mention "Fight The Future"? After Fight The Future, David tried to get Chris to only make X-Files movies, to abandon the series and focus on feature films. Also...didn't Gillian also vanish from the series and was reduced to "on the phone scenes"? She was replaced by Annabeth Gish; whom you have zero images of in your video.

When I watched this show as a kid I actually preferred Robert Patrick's character to Duchovny since he felt so much more like a real person and not just a plot mechanic the way Mulder often seemed to be.

I used to watch every week and sometimes I was too scared to go to bed. Smoke man used to creep me out. I loved all the characters and miss this program so much. This is what REAL tv shows used to be like.

Maybe I'm crazy, but hilariously, to me - in the Streaming age - where you can just watch one episode after another, the depth of Mulders absence is barely noticable by comparison.

Just watch the first 6 seasons and finish with the first feature film. Best way to rewatch them.

I think the problem in the end was that the it became obvious that Chris Carter had no real plan for where to take the story, he just made it up as he went along. It worked well early on because of the well-constructed atmosphere of mystery and suspense. Eventually when it came time to give answers, it became obvious that the writers had been bluffing, they had no ace up their sleeve, no brilliantly interesting conspiracy that they were hiding, just an incoherent mess of a mythology.

The X-Files helped define my adult personality. To question. To doubt. To never take things at face value. I like the show so much, its the only one i ever bought in DVD, along with the movies. All nine seasons, and some seasons were rather difficult to find.

"Fringe" is the only that got me close to what i felt watching X-Files.

There was no filming in Vancouver after S5, so DD was not filming his S8 scenes in LA whilst everyone else was in Vancouver; the whole show was filmed in LA since S6. Chris Carter should not be described as the Vince Gilligan of the 90s because he is a massive hack, whereas Gilligan is a talented, original, creative writer. Vince Gilligan was a stand out writer on the X Files itself. Apart from Morgan and Wong, Gilligan was the best writer the show had and deservedly became popular because of Breaking Bad. CC should wish he was as good as Gilligan! There was no set plan to end on 5 seasons. The show, like many at that time for the US, was decided its future season by season. There was talk of DD being tired of it by S5,, even before that, and talk of possibly ending it on him leaving. But FOX was not going to let the show go at that point because it was still one of their biggest money-makers, so they appeased DD by moving it to LA for S6 because he was married by S5, was sick of Vancouver, and wanted more opportunities for movie roles outside of the show, usually on the summer hiatus. But even filming in LA was not enough to keep DD happy by S7, because the writing was still so awful for his character and with all the workload and focus landing on Anderson and Duchovny for all of 7 years non-stop, no wonder they were weary. CC kept it stagnant and if anything, made DD's character a parody. The show desperately needed new blood much earlier in the show's run - by S8 it was almost too late because CC avoided ensemble for too long and anyone watching by then were mainly Shippers and he wrote the show around their demands, alienating casual viewers and NoRomos. The ratings for season 8 were quite decent actually, considering everything, and is a stand out season in terms of production, writing, acting, and storylines. Even though the rabid MSR fans were vocal about not watching the show because of no Mulder, S8 was actually well received and was heading in the right direction in terms of Scully's character development and the new blood Robert Patrick brought in. It is a shame fans were so set on Mulder and Scully BEING the show, that there was no room for adjustment or creativity - and all that was CC's making. The problem for sure was it went on for too long but it went on for too long with CC at the helm, with him in complete control with no vision for the show, made a melodrama out of the Mulder and Scully relationship, and didn't develop a true ensemble cast.

I will forever be a fan of The X Files. My friends and family knew not to ring me or visit when X Files was on. I am forever grateful this was before internet / social media streaming. The care and love that went into every episode, created as mini movies with the best sci-fi / horror storylines was a pure joy to watch. I will say though that I was never a fan of the "shipping" thing - totally get the chemistry between Duchovny and Anderson - it just made the series even more epic, but it shouldn't have gone beyond the flirting banter - I thought it was unnecessary and not why I watched. Some shows just don't need that and the X Files was one of them. But still Chris Carter was a genius. Best TV ever!

I remember watching X-Files with my sister and while the time without Mulder was usually less interesting, Doggett really proved how good a character he was in Scary Monsters, I don't think any other character could've pulled that episode off besides him

Well, dang it, now you've gone and made me want to rewatch the darn thing. It's been fifteen years, and I remember very little, so it should be quite the ride.

Still one of the best series I've watched so far. The X-Files is very precious to me. I also stopped watching right after Mulder disappeared and I think it was for the best, because The X Files is not The X Files without Mulder. To be honest, I was quite disappointed with how they wrapped up Mulder's sister's case, but still, of all the series I've watched so far, The X-Files is the only one whose quality didn't really drop even after many seasons. Take Supernatural for example: after season 5, it just gets annoying and you feel like the production is just stalling, it's just not fun anymore. But, while watching The X-Files, I remember that even right before Mulder vanished the episodes were still very fun and well created. I really missed the series after I stopped watching and I really wanna watch it again, but I'm afraid of still remembering too much so I will just wait a little longer I guess.

Vince Gilligan got his name known by working on the X-Files too. A lot of the best episodes.

Excellent wrapup😏👍

Even seasons 8 and 9 were really good, especially 8. I feel like Robert deserves much more credit for his role as Doggett, he's a very compelling character.

Bro… your writing has reached next level. Just had to rewatch “This Is Not How People Talk”. Keep killing it.

Mmm to be honest we all love Mulder but i also love the Reyes and Dogget Duo, they got incredible good episodes and I really liked the freshness that gave to the series. It's a shame that didn´t work out in terms of rating...

I'm currently in season 9, and it's pretty rough. It's bad enough that the stories just aren't as creepy as the first couple of seasons, but then they also exclude Mulder, who added so much wit and comedic relief to the show. Just isn't the same, season 1 and 2 really are amazing.

that show was a magic moment.

Loved it from the beginning and love the Comet channel now play episodes in order, just the best show ever.

X files is seriously my favorite show ever. I have watched the entire series 3x now. I absolutely loved the main cast. Rest in peace to Mitch Pileggi… hearing his passing hurt my heart bad. He wasn’t just a severely underrated actor, but he was a great person off camera as well. At least he went in his sleep. Thank you for this video.

I was an x-files junky.. I hated when he went off.. I couldn't get into the other 2 agent's, I tried but, it was too weird and, I loved looking at good looking Fox.. I loved Gillian and wanted to see how her story went but, it all just got stupid!! I did enjoy watching smoking man getting pushed down the stairs in his wheelchair.. When it got into the Native American desert scenes, it just lost me.. Anyway, thanks for the info.. I've always wondered.. I've been watching it again and they just started showing Doggit n Reyes again so I find something else to watch.. Thank's for the info.. 🛸🤗👽

As much as I enjoyed the Mulder/Scully partnership, I sort of preferred the Agent John Doggett character to Mulder: he was more grounded and real, and a better window for the audience as we explore the setting.

I'm not complaining, Robert Patrick did one hell of a job in seasons 8 and 9, both Monster of the Week and mythology arc episodes. And to be honest, the show was never the same after moving from gloomy Vancouver to sunny Los Angeles, the atmosphere suffered a lot.

It was the chemistry and Mulder was the heart of the show and his character development made you invest in him and Scully became that work or school crush. It was amazing show that captivated scifi fans

Even if they continue with The X-Files with replacement characters I would still watch it.

Still one of my "Top 5" shows. The first two seasons are near perfect with not a bad episode in them. Seasons 3-5 were excellent too. White the show declined after that there were still good to great episodes sprinkled throughout. I did find the "arc" episodes confusing after a while as I think Chris Carter had no idea what he was trying to say or what was really happening. And some story lines such as the "metal super-soldiers" was just silly. I can see why Duchovny was getting tired and wanted out. I think he's right, 5-6 seasons is the limit a series should go, quality over quantity every time.

Gillian Anderson is still in so many projects "sex education" is a great example all I remember David Duchovny doing is califonication or whatever that was called. Did he not want to persue more things - was he trapped in the x-files box? Why wasn't Gillian Anderson? I was hoping the video would answer those questions....

Love at 9:08 Skully is standing on a 3" floor lift to adjust her stage height!

In my opinion, the first five seasons were the best. Leaving Vancouver ended with that magical atmosphere in every episode. The last two seasons that we saw recently were horrible, they could have recovered some old characters, like doing a third Tooms episode, that would have been terrific!

Yeah, it should have ended around S5. I really liked Robert Patrick when he was introduced.

lol, as a young teen I was totally on a newsletter list for xfiles shippers where we discussed every little glance and touch.

I've been watching the X-Files Blu Ray version which great, though expensive, and you can see after the 1998 film (great as well) the stories started gaining more in character discontinuity. I notice how in season 7 that Scully seems bored in the character, or rather Gillian.

There's no denying that x-files at its best had Mulder and Scully together. But they continued to pursue some great stories with several favorites coming from Doggett and Reyes. The Mulder/Scully chemistry was fantastic, but the full brilliance of the x-files is that ratings be damned, it was putting out great content even without the romance angle.

I remember when x-files first hit I loved the first five or six seasons! Then I just got lost with the changes and characters missing in the show from what I remember. Interesting video on the back story👍

The first season had a subtle emphasis on Mulder's manhood. There was no question there would be chemistry between the two lookers. Not a coincidence he goes on to star in a series that exemplified his endowment. Lol.

The problem after the eight season was that Scully didn't leave too. I know that Gillian Anderson had a contract and all that but as story goes it would have made sense for Scully and William to leave with or without Mulder. I mean she and her baby were constantly hunted yet she never even opted to find a new apartment despite the fact that people constantly broke in to her place. It would've made sense storyline wise for either Mulder to take William or for all of them to go into hiding together.

I loved The X-Files but that's only because of the chemistry between Mulder and Scully. That's what drove the show and I know I wouldn't have watched it if they didn't have that pair of actors. They had the best chemistry of anyone on TV. I actually would have liked if they had ended it at the end of Season 8 with them in the bedroom holding William after he was born. At that time we thought he was their baby and it would have been a sweet ending.

Erm get your facts straight dude: “he didn’t want to return to Vancouver to shoot any scenes [for season 8]… and shot his scenes in LA”. The show was moved to LA in season 6! Hard to agree to shoot something in Vancouver when the production is in California! 😆

The reason the show really got popular is because the mythology made us think there was a great story being told. When they quickly wrapped up the mythology in an unsatisfactory way we revealed they had no plans we left.

We loved the interaction between Mulder and Scully, especially at the start, when it seems Scully is a mole to spy on Mulder but then kept she found feelings for him .

I love all the characters, the loss of David Duchovny was rough, but his replacement was the perfect match. I really love Robert Patrick's character

The Xfiles were great, but it turns out Chris Carter was a terrible writer with no plan. The stories ultimately were contradictory and flawed in serious ways, and that served to undermine the show. Combined with the loss of Mulder, and the show became a shadow of its once great self.

I watched this with my mum when I was and rewatched it when I got it older! great series!

The 90's were sweet. So glad I was a kid during the 90's and got to experience that era with a pure imagination. It was fun.

I'm re-watchin every seaon now it's like watching them for the first time again lol great series

I'd love to see a new show built around the same subject, but with the current mindset of making tv-series. It could take place in the 90's as well, or any era when the UFO mania was on it's climax, with all the conspiracy theories, and the investigation point of view is also a must, it could involve some of the popular myths, but no weekly episodes, no "one case for the day" setup, just a cool, misterious story, with continuity. Maybe Vince Gilligan could make something like that happen, when he'll be done with Better Call Saul, he "grew up" on the X-Files afterall.

Chris Carter was right. Chemistry doesn't need to be romantic. Some people are just conditioned to believe that a man and a woman can't be platonic. As soon as you introduce romance you've got a problem. Once that romance has run it's course you've got nowhere to go. If they break up fans get upset. If they get married you lose conflict. If you drag it out you get diminishing returns. There's no way to please everyone. If the show stays about aliens and the supernatural you only have that problem when you need to wrap it up. Supernatural the show is actually a perfect example. Eric Kripke didn't make that mistake. He put two brothers as the lead so there'd be zero chance of romantic entanglement (although that didn't stop a certain section of the fanbase) and that show just wrapped up after 15 seasons.

this actually gave me closure, thanx.

Well this explains why i struggle to keep going after the 5th season on rewatches. I always thought i just wanted to watch something else but end up rewatching not long after anyway

I really miss when tv series had great characters fresh and original stories and nobody gave a shit about gender politics.Hollywoods well has dried up.

Just rewatching the show in my 30's, started season 8 and for me it's unwatchable without Mulder. He's strong beliefs in the supernatural and his drive to find truth were to intriguing to me. Remember watching this as a kid but not all of the episodes, especially after season 7, well now I know, I stopped watching the show after season 7, I was a smart kid :D

Although I did like the shows full run, I am curious to if it would have been a lot better if they stuck to a 5 seasons and a film outline. Guess we’ll never know.

The interesting thing about the relationship between the two actors which was apparently strained back then, was seeing them on RU-vid on some talk show in the last 5 or 10 years and they were extremely friendly to put it mildly (could have been acting but no idea why they would).

They Need To Bring The X-Files Back On The Air With New Seasons And Continue Where They Left Off

Post modern Prometheus is one of my favourites gotta love the silly ones.

Well put! It’s a shame that stakeholders seem to be terrified of fear of missing out (on money). I think Game of Thrones was ruined in this way - and a LOT of money was lost because of it. It takes serious guts for the people in charge to admit a property is in decline and that the decline might ruin the profitability of the existing art.

Thank you for finally helping me understand the connotation of "Ship" or "Shipped" my daughter says it all the time and i didnt want to ask for yet more modern slang to be explained to my slow, slow mind.