This Is Not Happening
Encyclopedia
"This Is Not Happening" is the 175th episode and the fourteenth episode of the eighth season
of the science fiction
television series The X-Files
. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on February 25, 2001 on the Fox Network
, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom. It was written by executive producers Chris Carter
and Frank Spotnitz
, and directed by Kim Manners
.
"This Is Not Happening" was a story milestone for the season, returning Fox Mulder
(David Duchovny
) from his alien abduction
which started with "Requiem". With assistance from a specialist in ritualistic crime, Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson
), John Doggett
(Robert Patrick
) and Walter Skinner
(Mitch Pileggi
) discover a group of UFO enthusiasts who help returned abductees recover. The episode received the highest Nielsen household and syndication rating of the season, and was generally positively received by fans and critics alike.
in Helena, Montana
. As the spaceship stops, it dumps a naked female and cloaks itself. The woman is later revealed to be Theresa Hoese, who was abducted the same time as Fox Mulder
(David Duchovny
). Walter Skinner
(Mitch Pileggi
), John Doggett
(Robert Patrick
) and Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson
) visits Hoese in the hospital, to get information about Mulder's whereabouts.
Later, in a motel, they interrogate Szalay, whose friend Gary had been abducted just before Mulder; Szalay was investigating the UFO reports in Montana in an attempt to find him. Doggett reports that fresh footprints from Nike shoes were noted in the area Hoese was found, making Doggett skeptical
about Szalay's claims to alien sightings. Meanwhile, Jeremiah Smith has assumed the form of a doctor and arranges for Hoese to be transferred. Having learnt of Hoese's disappearance, Doggett calls Agent Reyes. Reyes assists in the investigation, believing that Mulder may have joined a UFO "group". In a derelict compound, Smith cures Hoese of her injuries, watched by a man called Absalom.
Later, Reyes' car stalls just before she sees a UFO. Stopping, she sees Smith and Absalom taking a body and she also finds Gary's body - Szalay's friend. Reyes is able to retrieve the license plate number for the truck used to kidnap the abductee. It is later revealed that it belongs to Travis Clayton Moberly, better known as Absalom, the leader of a doomsday cult.
The FBI storms the cult's compound, and arrests Absalom - but Smith is not found. Absalom tells Scully and Doggett that he has been saving abductees that had been left for dead by the aliens. Examining video of the compound raid, Scully, Reyes and Doggett watch Smith step through a doorway and transform into Agent Doggett. Doggett is stunned, and the agents realise that Smith is still in the compound.
Scully runs into the cult compound and, identifying Smith by his Nike shoes, tells him she knows who he is and what he's doing. She is distracted when Skinner tells her they've found Mulder's body in the woods. Scully sees Mulder's body and races back to the compound hoping that Smith can heal him, but a UFO directs a beam of light into the room where he is being held; when she enters the room, he is gone.
crew needed to create a UFO
chase for the opening teaser. The mountain area was lit up, to give it an alien like feel. They vigouled the light to give it an alien look. The flying light at the opening scene was actually a helicopter, landed and given a cloak. They used the so-called "cloaking-effect" to make the spaceship disappear.
This episode also marked the first appearance of Monica Reyes
(Annabeth Gish
), who would become a main character in season nine
. When creating the character for the episode, they wanted to give the character a personality who had much in common with both Fox Mulder
(David Duchovny
) and Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson
). Her first shot was four in the morning; her first scene in the episode was to run down a hill to discover a former abductee.
A review from Critical Myth gave the episode a 10 out of 10, the highest possible score, stating that, "There are some stories that simply entertain, or help you pass the time. And there are stories that maybe let us laugh a little, cry a little, or both. And then there are the stories that for whatever reason, be it personal circumstance or the power of its craft, that take you and grab you in a way that is impossible to describe." They go on to compare the episode to the series finale of Babylon 5
, calling both endings memorable moments, also stating that "This is Not Happening" was the "biggest" mythology episode since "Requiem", and "arguably the best since the movie."
The episode was nominated for an Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series
.
The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 10.6 with a 15 share. It was viewed by 10,833,000 households.
The X-Files (season 8)
The eighth season of The X-Files commenced airing in the United States on November 5, 2000, concluded on May 20, 2001, and consisted of twenty-one episodes. The X-Files is an American serial science fiction-horror-thriller television series. Season eight took place after Fox Mulder's alien...
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...
. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on February 25, 2001 on the Fox Network
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom. It was written by executive producers Chris Carter
Chris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
and 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 directed by Kim Manners
Kim Manners
Kim Manners was an American television producer, director and child actor best known for his work on The X-Files and Supernatural.-Early life:...
.
"This Is Not Happening" was a story milestone for the season, returning Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
(David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
) from his alien abduction
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
which started with "Requiem". With assistance from a specialist in ritualistic crime, Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
(Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
), John Doggett
John Doggett
FBI Special agent John Jay Doggett is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of alien existence...
(Robert Patrick
Robert Patrick
Robert Hammond Patrick, Jr. is an American actor, known for his leading and supporting roles in a number of films and television shows....
) and Walter Skinner
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
(Mitch Pileggi
Mitch Pileggi
Mitchell Craig "Mitch" Pileggi is an American actor. Pileggi is known for playing FBI assistant director Walter Skinner on the long-running popular series The X-Files. He also had a recurring role on Stargate Atlantis as Col. Steven Caldwell...
) discover a group of UFO enthusiasts who help returned abductees recover. The episode received the highest Nielsen household and syndication rating of the season, and was generally positively received by fans and critics alike.
Plot summary
Richie Szalay is chasing a spaceshipColonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
in Helena, Montana
Helena, Montana
Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...
. As the spaceship stops, it dumps a naked female and cloaks itself. The woman is later revealed to be Theresa Hoese, who was abducted the same time as Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
(David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
). Walter Skinner
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
(Mitch Pileggi
Mitch Pileggi
Mitchell Craig "Mitch" Pileggi is an American actor. Pileggi is known for playing FBI assistant director Walter Skinner on the long-running popular series The X-Files. He also had a recurring role on Stargate Atlantis as Col. Steven Caldwell...
), John Doggett
John Doggett
FBI Special agent John Jay Doggett is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of alien existence...
(Robert Patrick
Robert Patrick
Robert Hammond Patrick, Jr. is an American actor, known for his leading and supporting roles in a number of films and television shows....
) and Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
(Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
) visits Hoese in the hospital, to get information about Mulder's whereabouts.
Later, in a motel, they interrogate Szalay, whose friend Gary had been abducted just before Mulder; Szalay was investigating the UFO reports in Montana in an attempt to find him. Doggett reports that fresh footprints from Nike shoes were noted in the area Hoese was found, making Doggett skeptical
Skepticism
Skepticism has many definitions, but generally refers to any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere...
about Szalay's claims to alien sightings. Meanwhile, Jeremiah Smith has assumed the form of a doctor and arranges for Hoese to be transferred. Having learnt of Hoese's disappearance, Doggett calls Agent Reyes. Reyes assists in the investigation, believing that Mulder may have joined a UFO "group". In a derelict compound, Smith cures Hoese of her injuries, watched by a man called Absalom.
Later, Reyes' car stalls just before she sees a UFO. Stopping, she sees Smith and Absalom taking a body and she also finds Gary's body - Szalay's friend. Reyes is able to retrieve the license plate number for the truck used to kidnap the abductee. It is later revealed that it belongs to Travis Clayton Moberly, better known as Absalom, the leader of a doomsday cult.
The FBI storms the cult's compound, and arrests Absalom - but Smith is not found. Absalom tells Scully and Doggett that he has been saving abductees that had been left for dead by the aliens. Examining video of the compound raid, Scully, Reyes and Doggett watch Smith step through a doorway and transform into Agent Doggett. Doggett is stunned, and the agents realise that Smith is still in the compound.
Scully runs into the cult compound and, identifying Smith by his Nike shoes, tells him she knows who he is and what he's doing. She is distracted when Skinner tells her they've found Mulder's body in the woods. Scully sees Mulder's body and races back to the compound hoping that Smith can heal him, but a UFO directs a beam of light into the room where he is being held; when she enters the room, he is gone.
Production
In "This Is Not Happening", 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...
crew needed to create a UFO
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
chase for the opening teaser. The mountain area was lit up, to give it an alien like feel. They vigouled the light to give it an alien look. The flying light at the opening scene was actually a helicopter, landed and given a cloak. They used the so-called "cloaking-effect" to make the spaceship disappear.
This episode also marked the first appearance of Monica Reyes
Monica Reyes
Special Agent Monica Reyes is a fictional character in the American FOX television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
(Annabeth Gish
Annabeth Gish
Annabeth Gish is an American actress known for starring roles in Shag, Mystic Pizza and Double Jeopardy. She is best known for her roles as Special Agent Monica Reyes on The X-Files, Elizabeth Bartlet Westin on The West Wing and as Eileen Caffee on the Showtime drama Brotherhood.-Personal...
), who would become a main character in season nine
The X-Files (season 9)
The ninth season of The X-Files commenced airing in the United States on November 11, 2001, concluded on May 19, 2002, and consists of twenty episodes. The X-Files is an American serial science fiction-horror-thriller television series. Season nine took place after Fox Mulder's leave after the...
. When creating the character for the episode, they wanted to give the character a personality who had much in common with both Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
(David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
) and Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
(Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
). Her first shot was four in the morning; her first scene in the episode was to run down a hill to discover a former abductee.
Reception
The episode received a strong positive response from fans. Much of it was attributed to Gillian Anderson's acting at the end of the episode, coupled with composer Mark Snow's score, and the visual UFO effects at both the beginning and the end.A review from Critical Myth gave the episode a 10 out of 10, the highest possible score, stating that, "There are some stories that simply entertain, or help you pass the time. And there are stories that maybe let us laugh a little, cry a little, or both. And then there are the stories that for whatever reason, be it personal circumstance or the power of its craft, that take you and grab you in a way that is impossible to describe." They go on to compare the episode to the series finale of Babylon 5
Sleeping in Light
"Sleeping in Light" is the final episode of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5. The episode was nominated for the 1999 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.-Plot:...
, calling both endings memorable moments, also stating that "This is Not Happening" was the "biggest" mythology episode since "Requiem", and "arguably the best since the movie."
The episode was nominated for an Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series
Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series
This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series. It was created in 2000 alongside the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series. They replaced the Outstanding Cinematography for a Series...
.
The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 10.6 with a 15 share. It was viewed by 10,833,000 households.