The X Files - The spoof is out there
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprise their roles of Mulder and Scully in The X-Files: I Want To Believe! To celebrate, we take a look back at some classic spoofs of the show.
In grand “X-Files” manner, the new film’s storyline is being kept under wraps. This much can be revealed: It is a stand-alone story in the tradition of some of the show’s most acclaimed and beloved episodes, and takes the complicated relationship between Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) in unexpected directions. Mulder continues his unshakable quest for the truth, and Scully, the passionate, ferociously intelligent physician, remains inextricably tied to Mulder’s pursuits.
1. The Simpsons: The Springfield Files (Season 8, 1997)
Undoubtedly the most famous X Files satire of all, The Springfield Files was first conceptualised by producer Al Jean after he spotted stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson on the cover of TV Guide. Working with Chris Carter’s blessing — the X Files creator claiming he was “honoured” that The Simpsons wanted to lampoon his show — the writers crafted a story in which Leonard Nimoy narrates the strange tale of Homer Simpson's close encounter with an extraterrestrial being.
One night, after drinking a few too many beers, Homer stumbles home through the woods and spots a glowing, doe-eyed creature ghosting towards him, cooing strangely in the night. Homer’s story breaks in the Springfield Shopper, prompting Mulder and Scully (voiced by Duchovny and Anderson) to come and investigate. When the agents fail to find any evidence supporting the claim, Homer and Bart bid to solve the mystery themselves. Armed with video footage, the duo convinces the entire town that there is an alien among them.
The suspense builds, and the town sallies forth to greet the strange invader, only to discover that the strange apparition is none other than town plutocrat Montgomery Burns, who is undergoing life-extending treatment, the side effects of which cause his unusual appearance. The show is littered with sci-fi references, the most famous of which is an FBI line-up featuring Marvin the Martian from Looney Tunes, Chewbacca from Star Wars, ALF, Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still, and one of The Simpsons’ own Kang and Kodos siblings.
2. X-Fools: The Spoof Is Out There (1997 video game)
An early interactive CD-Rom and “online comedy” game developed by Parroty Interactive, the grandly titled “humor division” of Palladium Interactive this is something of a hidden gem. Reminding the world how gaming technology has changed over the last 10 years, this simple PC game introduces two ultra-paranoid ex-FBI agents, the imaginatively titled Mully and Scudder, who invite the user to become an "agent trainee” and to be subjected to a “deprogramming” regimen of interactive games, trivia and multimedia vignettes.
The game was launched when X Files fever was at its height — The Simpsons satirized the show around the same time — and while most of the interactive games seem very basic by 21st century standards, it does boast a rather enjoyable Pac-Man-type jaunt in which the player pilots a UFO around the countryside, zapping everything from Agents to animals and beaming them aboard the mother-ship. The original release invited gamers to visit the forthcoming xfools.com to further their gaming experience — any potential visitor to that sight today, however, should be warned: it is now a site of ill repute!
3. Married With Children: The D'Arcy Files (Season 8, 1994)
Fellow Fox TV properties Married with Children and The Simpsons enjoyed several back-and-forth jibes over the years, but it is the creators of the rambunctious Bundy family who can lay claim to the first X Files reference. Back in 1994, as the show cantered through its eight season, the writers injected a tale of mystery in which an enigmatic stranger appears, offering Al Bundy a cool $50,000 if he’ll help him locate Jefferson D'Arcy. This should prove no problem for Al — after all, Jefferson has been living next door to the Bundys for the past two years.
Jefferson, meanwhile, reveals his secret past to his wife Marcy, when he tells her that he is an ex-CIA espionage agent and master of disguise (Peter Lawford was one of his best "covers"!) currently in a witness relocation programme. As Al struggles with his conscience, his wife Peggy struggles with toothache, while kids Kelly and Bud dress up as bums and beg for cash.
It might not prove the show’s finest hour in terms of laugh-out-loud comedy, but one can’t help but admire Al’s spineless dithering. “Did you tell him who I was? Where I was living?” pleads Jefferson when Al mentions that he’s been approached. “Do I look like I'm in Rio without the wife and kids?” says Al. “Then again, there is always a plane leaving at six if you'd care to level with me!”
The X-Files: I Want To Believe will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on 24th November 2008 by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
