-Essential Episode- “Jose Chung’s ‘From Outer Space'” – Season 3 Ep. 20

Jose Chung: Still, as a storyteller, I’m fascinated how a person’s sense of consciousness can be… so transformed by nothing more magical than listening to words. Mere words.

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Jose Chung: Then there are those who care not about extraterrestrials, searching for meaning in other human beings. Rare or lucky are those who find it. For although we may not be alone in the universe, in our own separate ways on this planet, we are all… alone.

Written by: Darin Morgan

Directed by: Rob Bowman

Original Air Date: April 12th, 1996

Principal Setting: Klas County, Washington

Episode Summary:

Distinguished author Jose Chung is writing a book about the claimed alien abduction of a young couple that was coincidently investigated by Mulder and Scully. With Mulder unavailable, Chung interviews Scully to get the full truth so he can write one of the first non-fiction science fiction stories. The story is that Chrissy and Harold were out on a date driving when suddenly their car turns off in the middle of nowhere. From that point on however, none of the stories of all involved align to one another and what really happened begins to be muddled depending on who the agents interview. Everything leads to several possible conclusions on whether or not the alien abduction even happened at all.

Personal Commentary:

The fun thing about this episode is that you can look at it a different way and feel different reactions every time you see it. The first time you watch it you may think “WTF” or “What the heck is going on?” (I didn’t like this episode the first time I saw it). The second time you may try to pick out the deeper meanings and attempt to figure it all out. Then the third and subsequent viewings you may just think everyone’s story is unreliable so nothing really matters and just go along for the humorous ride.

Unlike the previous Darin Morgan written episode, “War of the Coprophages”, this one has so many deep meanings and intricacies woven into the plot. The most apparent theme is everyone has their own perspectives of what they believe to be reality. Everyone in the episode has a different story whether that be due to having different views on what is real and what is fake or due to the government actually manipulating their memories.

Without giving away too much, another theme is the the government’s role in hiding the existence, or lack there of, of extraterrestrial life. Who were the Men in Black? Were they part of a secret government agency or were they actually aliens? The government cover up is a big theme of the X-Files and this episode really makes you think how far the government will go to cover up the truth about aliens or really any conspiracy theory.

I could go on and on about different themes, which makes this one so fun to talk about with someone because everyone will extrapolate something different. I really like a quote I heard from Darren Mooney analyzing this episode that sums up everything really well, “Like reality truth is ultimately unique to each individual. Perhaps we spend too much time looking up at the stars and not enough time focusing on what is right in front of us.”

If you really liked this episode I would strongly recommend listening to the two The X-Files Files podcast episodes. They unpack so much stuff I never thought about and it made me appreciate the episode even more – the one with the writer Darin Morgan is fantastic (Listen Here) and one with Dan Harmon (creator of the show Community) (Listen Here)

Episode Grade: A

Featured Videos:

Behind the Scenes:

Since this ep has an Alex Trebek cameo, here’s David Duchovny killing it on Jeopordy:

The X-Files Abridged:

Fun Facts:

• At the end of the episode, when we hear Jose Chung narrating part of his book “From Outer Space,” he refers to agent Mulder as “Renard Muldrake.” “Renard” is French for “fox.”
• Johnny Cash (the original “Man in Black”) was briefly considered for the role of the Man in Black that ultimately was portrayed by Alex Trebek.
• The alien Lord Kinbote was meant to be an homage to stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen. The suited performer was filmed in a way to make the alien’s movements look a little like stop-motion.
• In the scene in the diner when Mulder is interviewing Lt. Jack Schaefer the pilot is sculpting his mashed potatoes into a flat topped hill shape. This is a reference to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), a film about alien abductions.
• Mulder spends one scene in a diner eating more than his fair share of pie. This is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the character FBI Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) from David Duchovny’s previous “spooky” series, Twin Peaks (1990). Cooper went to the quiet mountain town to solve the death of Laura Palmer and had a taste for pie. Duchovny guest-starred on that as a cross-dressing DEA agent.

Faces You May Recognize:

• Not only has Jesse Ventura been mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, he has also played in Schwarzenegger action films Predator and The Running Man. He started as WCW wrestler Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura.

• The other Man in Black you’ll recognize is Alex Trebek, Jeopardy’s host for 31 years.