The X-Files

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

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Unrequited - S4-E16

Revealing mistake: The handle and latch next to the supposedly working intercom on the chain-link security gate entrance to the "White Hand" facility is obviously non-functioning - when the gate is opened it can be seen there are no functional operating parts. (00:08:40 - 00:09:15)

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.

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

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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.

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