Colony (The X-Files)
Encyclopedia
"Colony" is the sixteenth episode of the second season
of the science fiction
television series The X-Files
. "Colony" concerns Mulder and Scully's investigation of the murders of doctors with identical appearances and the reappearance of Mulder's sister Samantha.
with Mulder in a hospital in the Arctic. As Mulder is lowered into a tub of water, Scully bursts in, telling the doctors that the cold is the only thing keeping him alive. Suddenly, Mulder's heart monitor flatlines.
Flashing back to two weeks earlier, in the Beaufort Sea
, ship crew members spot a light in the sky that soon crashes into the sea. A body is retrieved from the crash, later revealed to be a bounty hunter. Two days later the bounty hunter arrives in an abortion clinic and kills a doctor, Landon Prince, by stabbing him in the back of the neck with a stiletto
, then sets the building on fire and escapes. Mulder receives e-mails containing Prince's obituary along two other identical doctors. After interviewing a pro-life priest who had threatened one of the doctors, they are able to use a newspaper advertisement looking for one of the men to trace another one in Syracuse, New York.
Mulder calls Agent Weiss in Syracuse and has him go to the home of the doctor, Aaron Baker. When Weiss arrives, he sees Baker inside, talking with the bounty hunter. When the bounty hunter kills Baker, Weiss bursts in and shoots him, but the bounty hunter's green blood causes him to collapse. Mulder and Scully arrive and meet Weiss, who tells them that no one was at home. Once they leave though, it is revealed that Weiss is dead, and that the bounty hunter morphed to appear just like him.
Skinner terminates the case upon hearing of Weiss's death. Mulder and Scully get an email from another doctor with the same appearance, James Dickens. Mulder and Scully meet CIA agent Ambrose Chapel, who tells them that the doctors are part of a Russian genetic experiment codenamed Gregor. The doctors, who are clones, are being killed under an arrangement with the U.S. and Russian governments. Mulder, Scully and Chapel head to Dickens' house, but when he sees Chapel he jumps out of his window and runs off. Mulder, Scully and Chapel chase him and Chapel, who is actually the bounty hunter, kills Dickens in an alley. Scully arrives too late to witness the killing, but unknowingly steps in the remains of Dickens, a puddle of green ooze, which eats through her shoe.
Scully questions Mulder about Chapel, but given his credentials and experience, Mulder believes him. Scully performs an autopsy on Agent Weiss and finds that his blood has coagulated, and his red blood cell count is excessively high. Mulder meanwhile is summoned to his home due to a family emergency. Scully finds an address on a bag recovered from Dickens' home and heads there, finding it to be a lab, where Chapel is destroying everything inside.
Mulder arrives at his father's house on Martha's Vineyard, where a grown woman claims to be his younger sister Samantha. Samantha claims that she was returned around age 9 or 10 with no memory and that she eventually remembered her abduction due to regression hypnosis. She tells Mulder that the bounty hunter and the clones (her adoptive parents) are actually aliens, being executed because the aliens consider the clones a dilution of their race. She also tells him that the bounty hunter has the ability to change his appearance to that of anyone.
Scully heads to a hotel in order to hide from Agent Chapel. Returning to the lab, she finds four more clones, who claim to be the last ones left. She calls the authorities and transports them to a safe place, but the bounty hunter, who has been observing from a distance, enters and kills them all. At her hotel room, Scully finds Mulder at her door and lets him in, only to receive a phone call from Mulder soon after.
at that point, the casting process took eight days. Megan Leitch
the woman who portrayed Samantha Mulder
did according to Frank Spotnitz
a "phenomenal job". Leitch would return to The X-Files over the years to portray Samantha or one of her many clone
s. She had a lot of lines which were "very hard" and "specific".
Brian Thompson
audition
ed for the role in a casting session, where he was competing with another actor. Frank Spotnitz
and Carter hadn't much time to cast this character, but they knew this casting would be important since he intended to be a recurring character
. Thompson was chosen according to Spotnitz because he had a very "distinctive look" about him, most notably his face and mouth. After casting him, they told Thompson's agent that Thompson needed a hair cut, because at the start the Alien Bounty Hunter was supposed to be a kind of military pilot who'd been shot down. But when the day came that Thompson came to Vancouver, Canada there had been some "misunderstanding" and he hadn't been told of the "crewcut", so the hairstyle seen in this episode was a "compromise
" of sorts.
The X-Files (season 2)
The second season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on Fox in the United States on September 16, 1994, concluded on the same channel on May 19, 1995, and contained 25 episodes.- Production :...
of the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
. "Colony" concerns Mulder and Scully's investigation of the murders of doctors with identical appearances and the reappearance of Mulder's sister Samantha.
Plot
The episode opens in medias resIn medias res
In medias res or medias in res is a Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, rather than at the beginning In medias res or medias in res (into the middle of things) is a Latin phrase...
with Mulder in a hospital in the Arctic. As Mulder is lowered into a tub of water, Scully bursts in, telling the doctors that the cold is the only thing keeping him alive. Suddenly, Mulder's heart monitor flatlines.
Flashing back to two weeks earlier, in the Beaufort Sea
Beaufort Sea
The Beaufort Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after hydrographer Sir Francis Beaufort...
, ship crew members spot a light in the sky that soon crashes into the sea. A body is retrieved from the crash, later revealed to be a bounty hunter. Two days later the bounty hunter arrives in an abortion clinic and kills a doctor, Landon Prince, by stabbing him in the back of the neck with a stiletto
Stiletto
A stiletto is a knife or dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, intended primarily as a stabbing weapon. The stiletto blade's narrow cross-section and acuminated tip reduces friction upon entry, allowing the blade to penetrate deeply...
, then sets the building on fire and escapes. Mulder receives e-mails containing Prince's obituary along two other identical doctors. After interviewing a pro-life priest who had threatened one of the doctors, they are able to use a newspaper advertisement looking for one of the men to trace another one in Syracuse, New York.
Mulder calls Agent Weiss in Syracuse and has him go to the home of the doctor, Aaron Baker. When Weiss arrives, he sees Baker inside, talking with the bounty hunter. When the bounty hunter kills Baker, Weiss bursts in and shoots him, but the bounty hunter's green blood causes him to collapse. Mulder and Scully arrive and meet Weiss, who tells them that no one was at home. Once they leave though, it is revealed that Weiss is dead, and that the bounty hunter morphed to appear just like him.
Skinner terminates the case upon hearing of Weiss's death. Mulder and Scully get an email from another doctor with the same appearance, James Dickens. Mulder and Scully meet CIA agent Ambrose Chapel, who tells them that the doctors are part of a Russian genetic experiment codenamed Gregor. The doctors, who are clones, are being killed under an arrangement with the U.S. and Russian governments. Mulder, Scully and Chapel head to Dickens' house, but when he sees Chapel he jumps out of his window and runs off. Mulder, Scully and Chapel chase him and Chapel, who is actually the bounty hunter, kills Dickens in an alley. Scully arrives too late to witness the killing, but unknowingly steps in the remains of Dickens, a puddle of green ooze, which eats through her shoe.
Scully questions Mulder about Chapel, but given his credentials and experience, Mulder believes him. Scully performs an autopsy on Agent Weiss and finds that his blood has coagulated, and his red blood cell count is excessively high. Mulder meanwhile is summoned to his home due to a family emergency. Scully finds an address on a bag recovered from Dickens' home and heads there, finding it to be a lab, where Chapel is destroying everything inside.
Mulder arrives at his father's house on Martha's Vineyard, where a grown woman claims to be his younger sister Samantha. Samantha claims that she was returned around age 9 or 10 with no memory and that she eventually remembered her abduction due to regression hypnosis. She tells Mulder that the bounty hunter and the clones (her adoptive parents) are actually aliens, being executed because the aliens consider the clones a dilution of their race. She also tells him that the bounty hunter has the ability to change his appearance to that of anyone.
Scully heads to a hotel in order to hide from Agent Chapel. Returning to the lab, she finds four more clones, who claim to be the last ones left. She calls the authorities and transports them to a safe place, but the bounty hunter, who has been observing from a distance, enters and kills them all. At her hotel room, Scully finds Mulder at her door and lets him in, only to receive a phone call from Mulder soon after.
Casting
As in all other episodes of The X-FilesThe X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
at that point, the casting process took eight days. Megan Leitch
Megan Leitch
Megan Leitch is a Canadian actress probably best known for playing Samantha Mulder on The X-Files.- Roles :*Samantha Mulder in The X-Files*Brenda Cosgrove in The Highwayman episode of Dead Man's Gun*Librarian in It...
the woman who portrayed Samantha Mulder
Samantha Mulder
Samantha Ann Mulder is a fictional character in the television series The X-Files. She is the sister of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder and the daughter of Teena and Bill Mulder. As a child, Samantha was abducted, ostensibly by aliens, and was never recovered...
did according to Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...
a "phenomenal job". Leitch would return to The X-Files over the years to portray Samantha or one of her many clone
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
s. She had a lot of lines which were "very hard" and "specific".
Brian Thompson
Brian Thompson (actor)
Brian Thompson is an American actor. His distinctive square-jaw profile, powerful voice, and imposing stature has led him to be typecast as a villain in many action films and TV series, and a some comedies: Joe Dirt, The Three Amigos, Weird Science, Key West, and Life Stinks.-Career:Thompson has...
audition
Audition
An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performing artist.Audition may also refer to:* The sense of hearing* Adobe Audition, audio editing software...
ed for the role in a casting session, where he was competing with another actor. Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...
and Carter hadn't much time to cast this character, but they knew this casting would be important since he intended to be a recurring character
Recurring character
A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus...
. Thompson was chosen according to Spotnitz because he had a very "distinctive look" about him, most notably his face and mouth. After casting him, they told Thompson's agent that Thompson needed a hair cut, because at the start the Alien Bounty Hunter was supposed to be a kind of military pilot who'd been shot down. But when the day came that Thompson came to Vancouver, Canada there had been some "misunderstanding" and he hadn't been told of the "crewcut", so the hairstyle seen in this episode was a "compromise
Compromise
To compromise is to make a deal where one person gives up part of his or her demand.In arguments, compromise is a concept of finding agreement through communication, through a mutual acceptance of terms—often involving variations from an original goal or desire.Extremism is often considered as...
" of sorts.