The X-Files

"It would be hard to find someone working on the show who isn't an 'X-Files' fan…'Supernatural' does owe a real creative debt of gratitude to the show; I think the whole current generation of genre shows does."

Sera Gamble interview with TV Squad, November 2010

The X-Files was a sci-fi series that aired for nine seasons on the FOX network from 1993 to 2002. The show focussed on two FBI agents Mulder and Scully who investigate strange unsolved cases. Scully was a doctor and the rational thinker of the pair, Mulder was a profiler, and the intuitive one. While Scully was a scientist and a sceptic At least at first) , Mulder believed in the existence of aliens, who he thought were responsible for the abduction of his sister when they were children.

Mulder and Scully were one of the greatest examples of Unresolved Sexual Tension on TV. Well except until it wasn’t unresolved anymore. Like Supernatural the show combined a 'monster of the week' format with an overarching mytharc that dealt with a global conspiracy to hide the presence of aliens on Earth.

The X-Files like Supernatural was filmed in Vancouver for its first six seasons, after which it returned to film in L.A. There were two X-Files movies, and a spin-off series called The Lone Gunman.

The X-Files tapped into the American zeitgeist at the end of the 20th century – a mistrust of governments and institutions, and a desire to believe in something greater. Notably the last season was the one that aired after 9-11, as the mood and concerns of the American people shifted considerably.

Unusually for a sci-fi show, the X-Files not only won critical acclaim, it won awards including three primetime Emmys and five Golden Globes.

The earliest online mention of Supernatural in September 2004 described the show as "Route 66" meets "The X Files," [ Source], and later hilariously as new X-Files meets the OC Source.

Kripke saw X-Files fans as an untapped audience for the show. As the Supernatural was on the bubble in the middle of Season Two Kirpke said in an interview with TV Guide: "I wish we had a million to a half-million more viewers," he admitted. "I think those X-Files fans are out there. We're just struggling to get the word out that there's an X-Files-quality show on the CW.

Supernatural has acknowledged the influence of the XFiles right from the Pilot episode when Dean introduced himself and Sam to a group of FBI agents as Agents Mulder and Scully. It continued with references to the show, and many actors have appeared on both shows.

In the season 6 episode Clap Your Hands If You Believe , the opening credits to the episode are an homage to the The X-Files, using similar music and images. The final text “The Truth is in There” is a twist on the X-Files catchphrase “The Truth Is Out There.”

When the episode, 'Clap Your Hands If You Believe,' was in the planning stages, "we decided to do an alien abduction as the teaser, and we immediately thought to do the (X-Files) title sequence," Gamble said.

• Compare Supernatural title sequence for Clap Your Hands If You Want To Believe and the X-Files Opening credits
  

A number of key production people have been involved in both productions, most notably:

• Kim Manners – Kim directed and produced 132 episodes of The X-Files series, working on the series from 1995 to 2002.
• David Nutter – who directed the first two episodes of Supernatural directed fifteen episodes of The X-Files
• John Shiban - who was a writer and producer for the first two seasons of Supernatural started as staff writer in the third season of X-Files, becoming a story editor, writer and producer
• Kevin Parks the assistant director on Supernatural worked on the first series of the S-Files.
• Producer Vladimir Stefoff worked on both shows

Like Supernatural, The X-Files was also filmed in Vancouver. Many actors have appeared on both shows, including:

• Mitch Pileggi (Samuel Campbell) played Mulder and Scully’s boss, Walter Skinner
• William B. Davis was the infamous Cigarette Smoking Man in the X-files, and appeared in 1.11 Scarecrow
• Steven Williams (Rufus Turner) was Mr X in The X-Files.
• Mark Sheppard (Crowley), Chad Lindberg (Ash) and Frederic Lehne (Azazel), Katharine Isabelle (Ava Wilson), Nicki Aycox (Meg!Demon), and Ty Olssen] (Eli) all appeared in episodes of the X-files.

Kramer, who plays Mr Cooper the carnival owner in 2.02 Everybody Loves a Clown, appeared in three The X-Files episodes as different characters.

The X-Files references in episodes

Pilot

Dean introduced himself and Sam to a group of FBI agents as Agents Mulder and Scully.

1.15 The Benders

This episode has similar themes to the The X-Files episode "Home," which features a secluded family that has a long tradition of inbreeding and violence toward anyone who comes close to its members. Both episodes play on the same themes: a strong (and perverted) sense of family and a vision of horror that isn't brought by demons or creatures, but humans. Home is often said to be the scariest and most disturbing X-Files episode. X-Files alumni John Shiban wrote The Benders. Kim Manners directed Home.

2.07 The Usual Suspects

Dean calls Sam 'Scully,' to which he replies:

Sam: I'm not Scully, you're Scully.

Dean: No, I'm Mulder. You're a red-headed woman. </blockquote>

2.15 Tall Tales

The cinematography in the scenes depicting the alien abduction of the frat boy are highly reminiscent of The X-Files. John Shiban, the writer of this episode, also wrote for The X-Files.

3.11 Mystery Spot

Dean said "Sounds pretty X-Files to me." Coincidentally the episode was directed by Kim Manners who also directed the The X-Files's time loop episode, "Monday."

4.01 Lazarus Rising

The devastation around Dean’s grave is reminiscent of the Tunguska Event, thought to be caused by a meteorite in Siberia in 1908. It has been widely referenced in literature and TV, including an episode of The X-Files.

4.08 Wishful Thinking

Dean: Or it's a Bigfoot. You know, and he's some kind of alcoholo-porno addict. Kind of like a deep- woods Duchovny.

A reference to the extracurricular activities of actor and X-Files star David Duchovny.

+4.11 Family Remains=

In an interview with SciFi magazine, Kripke said "You know we want to make an episode like the X-Files' "Home'. Let's make an episode that the network will air once and then people will complain so much they'll never air it again."
The episode didn't quite achieve that – murderous incestuous siblings just don't have the shock value they used to.

The role of the housekeeper in this episode, Mrs Curry, was played by Karin Konoval who also played the mother of the incestuous family in that X-Files episode.

5.02 Good God Y'All

Guy: So, uh, you think that all this comes from outer space?

Dean: This isn't "X-Files," pal.

5.11 Sam, Interrupted

Psychiatric patient: Yeah, and it was an alien, like on X-Files.

6.09 Clap Your Hands If You Believe

Besides the opening montage and the theme of aliens, other possible X-Files references include:

• Dean's exclamation "Fight The Fairies" is reminiscent of the first X-Files feature film, the X-Files: Fight the Future.
• Sam spilled salt, and the leprechaun started to count each grain. In the X-Files season 5 episode 5X12 "Bad Blood", Mulder spilled sunflower seeds to stop the vampire - in this episode, vampires must stoop to count each grain.
• The cornfield chase is similar to that in The X-Files: Fight the Future, which is an homage to North by Northwest.

In Fandom

The X-Files has appeared as a universe to Crossover with Supernatural stories

• Supernatural/X-Files fics on fanfiction.net
• Supernatural/X-Files fics tagged on Delicious from the Supernatural Fic Link Archive
• Supernatural Files a fanvid comaprign Dean and Fox Mulder by lsketch42
• how Supernatural is lke the X-Files by mays machete