The X-Files

One Breath - S2-E8

Other mistake: At The Beginning of the episode, a gravestone for Scully is shown. However, it seems as if less than a week passes between Scully's mother and sister deciding to let her go and Scully waking up. It's unlikely that the gravestone business would have the stone ready in such a short time.

Azalea

The X-Files mistake picture

E.B.E. - S1-E17

Other mistake: Mulder pulls in to park in front of a red car. The front plate on both Mulder's and the red car is the same: 5S2 706. (00:27:37)

Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man - S4-E7

Other mistake: In the episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man," when CSM is writing his letter of resignation on his typewriter, you can see that the letters are already there - he is simply typing over them. (00:39:30)

Our Town - S2-E24

Other mistake: Unlike Mr Chaco, who has the brace clamped around his neck, Scully is clamped around the top of her head, which is a quite irrational way of executing a person, because the clamp does not serve as a stabilizer. In fact, in this arrangement, Scully is not fixed to the stand at all. (00:38:15)

Chop Luftmysza

Conduit - S1-E4

Other mistake: When Mulder and Scully are first visiting Darlene Morris, there is a split-second shot of Mulder examining residue on his fingers that is edited in between Mulder and Scully ascending the steps to the porch and knocking on the door. It's as if the sequence was initially longer with Mulder discovering a suspicious substance before he and Scully knocked on the door that was not completely edited out. Note: this mistake may only appear on certain formats. At the time this mistake was originally posted, I spotted it on Netflix. However, it does not occur on my DVD, nor Hulu. (00:07:20)

Phaneron

Mind's Eye - S5-E16

Other mistake: When Marty is being transferred and 'sees' herself because the killer is watching her, she should have seen herself viewed through a wire fence, as the killer was standing behind one.

Tempus Fugit (1) - S4-E17

Other mistake: When Mulder opens the body bag containing the "partial" remains of Max Pfennig (AKA Paul Gidney) a pulse can be seen beating in the right side of the corpse's neck. (00:18:10)

Anasazi (1) - S2-E25

Other mistake: Immediately after a shot has been heard, Mulder, who is in flat #42, grabs his gun and rushes through the corridor passing by flat #47, which means he is still on the same floor. Within 10 seconds after the shot, the next-door lady is already aware of the crime. Not mentioning that 2 seconds later two policemen arrive at the scene. (00:07:21)

Provenance (1) - S9-E9

Other mistake: When Agent Comer is trying to steal the truck, he wants to hot-wire it. To do so, he unplugs the power and ignition wires in order to short-circuit them. When the owner unexpectedly appears, Agent Comer beats him up, steals the ignition key and starts the car with the key. The problem is that after unplugging the wires he cannot start the car with the key anymore. (00:20:40)

Chop Luftmysza

Release - S9-E17

Other mistake: While Cadet Hayes is being interrogated, he says, "I studied the photos of your son's death. They called to me. I don't know why, but it was a message and I listened." Then Scully answers, "And then you killed Agent Doggett's son." This answer is illogical and complete nonsense because the photos of Agent Doggett's son were taken after his death. (00:36:05)

Chop Luftmysza

Avatar - S3-E21

Other mistake: After AD Skinner is finished being interviewed by the police, Mulder asks him about why he would employ the services of a prostitute. Skinner looks at him in shock and Mulder says "You didn't know she was a prostitute did you?" I find it hard to believe that at no point in the interview did the police not mention to Skinner the dead woman he woke up next to, after spending the night with her, was a prostitute.

The_Iceman

Release - S9-E17

Other mistake: When Doggett starts clawing at the freshly plastered wall, he does so at just below his eye-level and blood starts pouring from the hole he makes. The dead woman inside the wall was stabbed in the lower abdomen; there's no way that blood from the abdominal wound would've seeped through the wall at the level he was digging.

Eve - S1-E11

Other mistake: Eve 6 says that ordinary human beings have 46 chromosomes, while the Adams and the Eves have 56 chromosomes. This makes 10 additional chromosomes. However, Eve 6 also mentions that they have additional chromosomes number 4, 5, 12, 16, and 22 - only 5 additional chromosomes. (00:22:40)

Chop Luftmysza

Trevor - S6-E17

Other mistake: This episode establishes that whenever Pinker Rawls passes through solid matter, his clothes remain behind, as anything he is wearing does not share his ability. However, late in the episode when Jackie throws the pot of boiling hot soup at him, the soup is shown to completely pass through his shirt, when it should have stuck to his shirt instead.

Phaneron

Folie a Deux - S5-E19

Other mistake: When Mulder is on his knees in the cafeteria talking to the gunman, there are several shots where you can see the sides of his jacket hanging wide open because of his raised arms, which would make the gun on his belt easily visible to the gunman as he talks to him, but he somehow doesn't see it until he goes to take Mulder's phone.

Purple_Girl

Bad Blood - S5-E12

Visible crew/equipment: I don't know if this is visible in all formats, but on the newest UK release on DVD, watching in widescreen, it's amazingly obvious. When Mulder recovers from the vampire attack, he gets up from the floor and breaks up a chair to make a stake. There is a shot of his feet as he smashes the legs off and bends to pick up a piece. In the bottom left hand corner of the screen, you can see a crew member's hand carefully and quickly placing a piece of wood on top of the pile for Mulder to pick up.

More mistakes in The X-Files
More quotes from The X-Files

Trivia: The Cancer Man smokes Morley cigarettes, a fake brand that has appeared in a number of TV shows and movies since the '60s.

More trivia for The X-Files

Show generally

Question: In a vast majority of the episodes, whenever Mulder and Scully investigate some mysterious or paranormal phenomenon, Mulder believes that some unknown force is responsible but Scully always has a rational explanation for what is happening. In other episodes, when Scully herself is caught up in something mysterious, she is the believer but Mulder is the skeptic. In those episodes, why would Mulder be skeptical about an unexplained phenomenon considering that he a was witness to his own sisters abduction and he saw many strange things that defied explanation while working for the F.B.I.?

Answer: As he stated many times throughout the series, Mulder needed Scully to be sober and skeptical. Whenever Scully's skepticism wavered and she started questioning her own rationality, Mulder would try to restore her sense of skepticism, because he needed her to be clear-thinking.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: A variety of reasons. Just because Scully saw something unusual does not mean that it was. Mulder always needs concrete proof before he'll believe there's some otherworldly explanation for unexplained phenomena. He's too experienced to take a novice's explanation as fact. It is also a plot by device by the writers to switch the tables on the characters to make it more interesting and to let viewers see another side of their relationship.

More questions & answers from The X-Files

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.