Without (The X-Files)

"Without"
The X-Files episode
Fox Mulder endures painful experimentation. Duchovny's partial departure was written into the show, with his character of Mulder being abducted by aliens.
Episode no.	Season 8 Episode 2
Directed by	Kim Manners
Written by	Chris Carter
Production code	8ABX02
Original air date	November 12, 2000
Guest stars
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner James Pickens, Jr. as Alvin Kersh Brian Thompson as Alien Bounty Hunter Kirk B. R. Woller as Gene Crane Jeff Gulka as Gibson Praise Jo-Ann Dean as Secretary Christine Firkins as Thea Sprecher Marc Gomes as Danny Mosley Sal Landi as Landau Arlene Malinowski as Teacher Jonathan Palmer as Principal
Episode chronology
← Previous "Within" Next → "Patience"
List of season 8 episodes List of The X-Files episodes

"Without" is the second episode of the eighth season and 163rd episode overall of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on November 12, 2000 on Fox and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom on February 18, 2001. It was written by executive producer Chris Carter and directed by Kim Manners. The episode helps to explore the series' overarching mythology and continues from the seventh season finale, "Requiem", and season eight premiere, "Within", in which Fox Mulder was abducted by aliens who are planning to colonize Earth. The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 9.0 in the United States, but received little attention in the United Kingdom and Ireland, failing to to rank in the top ten for that week. As with the previous episode, "Within," it was generally well-received by fans and critics alike.

"Without" follows John Doggett's (Robert Patrick) FBI taskforce in its continued search for Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and an alien bounty hunter within their ranks. After the task force is called off, Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is surprised to learn that Doggett, the leader of the team, has been assigned to the X-Files.

"Without" heavily featured elements of Mulder's abduction by aliens, and as such, new sets were designed to create the alien ship Mulder was imprisoned in. The production crew of The X-Files designed the set in a decidedly "low-tech" and "interesting" manner. In addition, unusual filming techniques were used, such as special lenses and motion control, in order to achieve the desired footage.

Plot

Background

FBI special agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) is currently missing, having been abducted by aliens in the seventh season finale, "Requiem." His partner Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) has been working with Agent John Doggett (Robert Patrick) in order to locate him. After consulting with The Lone Gunmen, a trio of conspiracy theorists made up of John Byers (Bruce Harwood), Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood) and Richard Langly (Dean Haglund), Scully finds evidence that Mulder may be in Arizona. Doggett receives news that Gibson Praise (Jeff Gulka), a boy with potentially extraterrestrial DNA, may be in hiding in Arizon as well. The two, along with Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) and a task force of FBI agents arrive and, after searching, find Mulder and Praise on the corner of a mountain.

Events

As the episode begins, Mulder and Gibson Praise are cornered at the edge of a mountain by pursuing agent John Doggett. Suddenly, Mulder walks off the edge of the cliff and appears to fall to his death; however, when the FBI agents are sent down to retrieve his body, they find that it has disappeared. Dana Scully realizes that what appeared to be her partner was actually an Alien Bounty Hunter sent to retrieve Praise. The Bounty Hunter, who has returned to the school, continues his search for Praise. Meanwhile, Scully follows a girl (Christine Firkins) she had previously observed to be Praise's friend throughout the desert until she is able to locate him. After Doggett explains the events on the clifftop to Alvin Kersh, Walter Skinner tells him that Kersh is setting him up to fail. Shortly afterwards, the Bounty Hunter (now disguised as agent Scully) attacks Agent Landau. Skinner and the real Scully eventually manage to drive the alien away.

After Skinner and Scully find and retrieve Praise, Skinner takes him to the nearest hospital, where his friend Thea visits him, closing the door behind her. In search for Mulder in the desert, Scully sees a bright light in the sky which she thinks is a spaceship, but is later revealed to be a helicopter. The helicopter lands and Doggett insists Scully travels with him to the hospital; she reluctantly accepts. At the hospital, two other FBI agents assure the two agents that nothing has happened to Praise; however, they soon discover that he has vanished. Scully leaves to search for Praise, while Doggett stays in an attempt to catch the intruder. He checks the ceiling space, where he finds Skinner badly injured. Meanwhile, Scully finds Praise, along with Skinner, who claims to be protecting the boy. Skinner, who is actually the Alien Bounty Hunter, attempts to kill her but Scully grabs her gun and shoots him in the neck, killing the Bounty Hunter. The episode ends with Mulder, still held in captivity.

Production

Fox Mulder's abduction was devised by Chris Carter towards the end of seventh season as a way of allowing the actor to leave the series. Duchovny fulfilled his contractual obligations after the seventh season and felt that there was not much else to do with the character following the previous seven years.

A concept sketch of an alien surgical chair, as seen in Mulder's abduction.

Production designer Cory Kaplan explains how she was attracted to the idea of using primitive materials when she states, "We all see super-tech now, but the idea of low-tech was much more interesting to me, much more visual. So you take elements of rock and steel and chisel them interesting shapes." She also describes the creation of the set by stating, "I found the backdrop from Alien, and Bill Roe lit it very dimly and put it behind. And it was just this rotating platform with this humongous dental piece that could rotate around as well and pull his face apart." According to Makeup Supervisor Cheri Montasanto-Medcalf, Matthew Mungle helped in the creation of the alien torture machine by making the cheeks and putting the hooks in. The makeup supervisor adds that the hooks would actually stretch out and that David Duchovny "sat pretty good through all that."

Unusual filming techniques were also used. Visual Effects Supervisor John Wash recalls, "We devised a laser effect where a device is going into his mouth and some other weird lens effects that were going over the scene to give it an alien, other-world-like quality." On the subject of using not only a challengingly minuscule method of filming but also additional sound effects, supervising producer Paul Rabwin recounts, "I had to set up a very, very highly magnified lens to try to get this little device coming right at us. It was very, very scary. We ended up putting some really cool sound effects in there, little servos and motors."

The sequence in which multiple Alien Bounty Hunters appear involved the use of motion control, a method in which a motion-control camera on a computerized module is repeatedly run through the same motion while elements are continually added. The shot, according to John Wash, was one of the few times in the series in which the production crew was able to use motion control and therefore presented a slight challenge. In the filming of the sequence, both a blank plate, for just the set, and lighting elements, that were in the set, were shot before the production crew filmed five different passes, each one with the Alien Bounty Hunter in a different position. The production crew were finally able to clone the Bounty Hunter by blending all the passes together.

Reception

"Without" premiered on American television on November 12, 2000 on Fox. The earned a Nielsen household rating of 9.0, meaning that it was seen by 9.0% of the nation's estimated households, and was viewed by 9.07 million households.

The episode was met with relatively positive reviews. John Keegan from Critical Myth gave the episode an 8/10, referring to it as "one to watch again." He called the episode "fun [and] much better than last year's trilogy." Television Without Pity gave the episode a rare A+. Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly was positive towards both this episode and the season premiere, "Within," awarding the episodes an A-. George Avalos and Michael Liedtke from the Contra Costa Times praised the episode and noted that the Scully/Dogget dynamic and the hunt for Fox Mulder worked towards the show's strengths. Tom Janulewicz from Space.com positively commented on Scully's conversion from skeptic to believer, writing, "Regardless of whether it's aliens, flukemen, or pizza delivering vampires, The X-Files is all about phenomena that don't stand in the face of 'rational' explanations. It took her a long time, but like Mulder before her, Scully eventually came to accept that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in her philosophy."

External links

• "Without" on The X-Files, an external wiki
• "Without" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Without" at TV.com