The X-Files

731 (2) - S3-E10

Factual error: In the opening scene it says it takes place in West Virginia, as the Army unit executes the hybrids, you can see their unit patch on their left shoulder. The patch is a diamond shape with a sunburst in the middle, this is the patch of the 40th Infantry Division of the California Army National Guard.

Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man - S4-E7

Revealing mistake: As the smoking man sits on a bench after finding out his story was rewritten, there are mountains visible in the background. Atop one of the buildings in the background is a Canadian flag waving in the wind. This show was shot in Vancouver, but is set in Washington D.C. There are no tall mountains that close to D.C.

manthabeat

Deep Throat - S1-E2

Other mistake: When Scully and Mulder are pulled over by the government agents, one agent takes and unloads Scully's gun. When he removes the magazine you can see it has only one bullet in it, as this model of magazine has cutaway sides to show the amount of bullets in them. (00:26:47)

Basher

Unruhe - S4-E4

Factual error: The episode is supposed to take place in Traverse City, Michigan, United States. Mountains are visible in the sequence when Mulder is chasing after the killer on foot. The show was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia.

manthabeat

Darkness Falls - S1-E20

Plot hole: The bugs are related to a type of mite, and when they are shown under a microscope they look like a glowing lice without wings. The problem is they are swarming in the air so they have to be able to fly - no way to do that without wings.

Unusual Suspects - S5-E3

Factual error: When Byers asks Langly to try under active cases to find Holly Modeski in the FBI database, Langly only presses two or three keys on a keyboard, which is obviously not enough to enter "Holly Modesky" to the search engine. (00:19:40)

Chop Luftmysza

Unusual Suspects - S5-E3

Factual error: When two unidentified men who approached Susanne Modeski in the warehouse take out their handguns, they have regular pistols. However, when they start to shoot, continuous fire is heard that could only be produced by an automatic weapon. (00:28:40)

Chop Luftmysza

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Fully automatic pistols exist, such as the Glock 18.

Nothing Important Happened Today II (2) - S9-E2

Factual error: Deputy Director Alvin Kersh tells Agent Doggett a story about King George III, who, on July 4th, 1776, the same day the American colonies declared their independence, allegedly made an entry in his diary: "Nothing important happened today." However, according to Arnold Hunt, curator at the British Library, King George III never kept a diary. (00:37:15)

Chop Luftmysza

The Unnatural - S6-E19

Plot hole: Josh Exley's 'real' face shouldn't be visible as a reflection on the window. It's not an illusion that he creates to fool people, whereby his real self could theoretically be seen in a reflective surface, but a complete physical change, as we've seen in many episodes of the X-files regarding the shape-changing abilities of the aliens. What his face appears to be while altered is essentially what it is, and the reflection should show as much.

Purple_Girl

Milagro - S6-E18

Other mistake: Padget hands over one page of his book to his imagined character who is invisible to anyone else except him. Therefore, the page should hover in the air for an external observer. However, Scully watches his apartment on a monitor and notices nothing strange. (00:38:05)

Chop Luftmysza

Arcadia - S6-E15

Plot hole: Big Mike was attacked by the creature, because his bulb was broken just for a couple of seconds. It would mean that even if something like this happened to somebody else by accident, this person would also be killed by the creature. That would drastically increase the kill rate in the community. (00:16:15)

Chop Luftmysza

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: That was the whole point of the creature, to enforce the HOA rules so that no violations occurred, even by accident. Although prior to the attack, Gene Gogolak describes Big Mike as a weak link that had to be dealt with, so the bulb was just an excuse to attack him.

Bishop73

Triangle - S6-E3

Factual error: When Mulder is walking out of the cabin in Spender's uniform, the soldiers try to stop him. This is impossible since he is an officer (a lieutenant judging from the shoulder-straps) and they are privates, so they cannot give him orders. The only thing they can do in this situation is to salute him. (00:08:40)

Chop Luftmysza

More quotes from The X-Files
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