CTP Episode of the Day - 05.11.06

Today's Cherished Episode: Colony (2x16)
Original Air Date: February 10, 1995
Written By: Chris Carter
Story By: David Duchovny & Chris Carter
Directed By: Nick Marck

Mulder and Scully track an alien bounty hunter who is killing medical doctors who have something strange in common.

(Thanks to chrisnu for today's episode pics.)

"I have lived with a fragile faith built on the ether of vague memories from an experience that I can neither prove nor explain. When I was twelve, my sister was taken from me, taken from our home by a force that I came to believe was extraterrestrial. This belief sustained me, fueling a quest for truths that were as elusive as the memory itself. To believe as passionately as I did was not without sacrifice, but I always accepted the risks … to my career, my reputation, my relationships … to life itself. What happened to me out on the ice has justified every belief. If I should die now, it would be with the certainty that my faith has been righteous. And if, through death, larger mysteries are revealed, I will have already learned the answer to the question that has driven me here … that there is intelligent life in the universe other than our own … that they are here among us … and that they have begun to colonize."

Some "Colony" Tidbits & Musings:

-- This was the first episode to be told in flashback, simply another device in Chris Carter's eyes, to maintain a degree of freshness in the different storytelling devices used in the series.

-- This was the first episode on which David Duchovny received a story credit. The Season 1 & 2 episode guide indicates that Duchovny started to regularly contribute ideas in the second season; and that Chris Carter had no qualms about that. "He's got good ideas," noted Carter. "Why not use them?" Duchovny said that once it became apparent the show would be around for awhile, he had an interest as an actor in making his character as interesting as possible to play.

-- On the Season 2 DVD "extras" commentary about this episode, Chris Carter mentions that David Duchovny wanted to do a story about an alien bounty hunter, and that he (Carter) always wanted to do a scene where Scully was talking to Mulder on the phone and Mulder appeared at the door. Those two ideas came together in "Colony."

-- After a technician devoted hours combining about 17 different sounds to create a sound effect for the alien stiletto, which the writers had told him they wanted to "sound like alien technology," co-producer Paul Rabwin settled the matter by vocally making a "phffft" sound into the microphone. Despite all the high-tech efforts, that would be being the sound effect they used.

-- "Colony" featured a return appearance for Andrew Johnston (Agent Weiss), who played Colonel Budahas in "Deep Throat." Also, Tom Butler who played Eurisko CEO Benjamin Drake in "Ghost in the Machine" here returns as Agent Chapel. And Jim Leard, who appeared as Captain Lacerio in "The Erlenmeyer Flask," returns in "Colony" to interrogate Reverend Sistrunk as Sergeant Dixon.

-- Ambrose Chapel, the CIA agent who speaks with Mulder and Scully, shares his name with a church in the Alfred Hitchcock movie, "The Man Who Knew Too Much." In the movie, the phrase Ambrose Chapel was incorrectly assumed to be the name of a person.

-- Bonnie Hay, who was Gillian Anderson's stand-in for scene blocking, played the part of a doctor in this episode (and continued in "End Game").

-- The role of Mulder's father was initially offered to Darren McGavin, but he turned it down.

-- Only Season 2 and Mulder has kissed three women: Phoebe Green ("Fire"), Kristen Kilar ("3"), and now his mom in "Colony."

-- Oopsie! In the teaser, the shots of Mulder in the tub show him with an oxygen mask on. When the shot cuts to Scully and the doctor, Mulder in the background doesn't have it on.

-- When the Mulder imposter wakes Scully at the Vacation Village Motorlodge, it's 11:21 (11/21 is Chris Carter's wife's birthday).

-- Mulder calls for help from Agent Weiss in the FBI's Syracuse, New York, field office. But the FBI doesn't have a field office in Syracuse. (And trust me -- there's no Vacation Village Motorlodge in Germantown, Maryland, either!)

Please share your first impressions, favorite (or cringe-worthy!) moments, classic lines, favorite fanfic, nagging questions, repeated viewing observations, etc., as today we celebrate "Colony"!

Polly