Christmas Carol (The X-Files)
Encyclopedia
"Christmas Carol" is the sixth episode of the fifth season
of American science fiction television series The X-Files
. It was written by Vince Gilligan
, John Shiban
and Frank Spotnitz
, and directed by Peter Markle
. It aired in the United States on December 7, 1997 on the Fox
network. The show centers on FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder
(David Duchovny
) and Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson
) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-File
s. In this episode, Agent Scully, on Christmas vacation with her family, receives a mysterious phone call that leads her to a case involving a little girl that she believes to be the daughter of her dead sister, Melissa. It is the first of a two-part story that concludes with episode seven, "Emily
".
(Gillian Anderson
) and her mother visit her brother Bill and his pregnant wife Tara around Christmas time. Scully answers the phone, and the person on the other line, who sounds just like her dead sister Melissa, tells her that someone needs her help. Scully traces the call to a nearby home in San Diego where a group of cops are investigating the suicide of a woman, Roberta Sim. The lead detective, Kresge, tells Scully that it was impossible for Roberta to have dialed, as she died before the telephone call was made. That night after dinner Scully reveals to her mother that due to her abduction and cancer she is unable to bear children. Scully flashes back to when as a child, she hid her pet rabbit from her brother in a box, only for it to suffocate and die. Scully receives another telephone call from the same person on her cell phone, which was once again made from the Sim home. Roberta's husband, Marshall, is meeting with two dark-suited men inside his house has no desire to listen to and help Scully figure out what's going on.
Scully visits Kresge, wanting to look further into Roberta Sim's suicide, despite the fact that the police think it's a simple suicide. Scully finds a striking resemblance between the Sims' daughter, Emily, and her sister Melissa from when she was that age. Scully flashes back to a funeral she attended when she was a little girl but imagines Marshall Sim holding her hand. Scully insists on performing an autopsy on Roberta, thinking that she was murdered. Scully finds a needle puncture in Roberta's foot, causing her to believe that she was anaesthetized and her suicide was staged. The police search the Sim's house and find a used hypodermic needle, which Marshall claim was used for injecting the anemic Emily with treatment. Scully spots the dark-suited men watching from a nearby car. Scully receives DNA data on Melissa, and matching it up to Emily's finds them nearly identical, causing her to believe that Emily is Melissa's daughter. Scully believes that Melissa gave birth to her while on the west coast and gave her up for adoption without ever telling the rest of the family. Scully flashes back to when she and Melissa were teenagers and were given cross necklaces from their mother for Christmas.
Kresge comes to see Scully, telling her that the Sims received several large payments from a pharmaceutical company, Transgen Industries. The two visit Dr. Calderon, who tells them that Emily was part of clinical trials and that Roberta was paid the money to keep her from pulling Emily from the program. Marshall Sim is arrested for the murder of his wife. Scully visits Emily and gives her the cross necklace. Marshall confesses soon after, but is found dead in his cell shortly after being visited by the two dark-suited men. Bill shows Scully a photo of Melissa shortly before Emily was born, which he thinks proves that she isn't Emily's mother. Scully meets with someone from an adoptive agency, wanting to adopt Emily. The woman is very hesitant considering Scully's job and the fact that Emily is a special needs child. Scully flashes back to talking with Melissa around Christmas time shortly before she joined the FBI. On Christmas morning Scully receives the results of a DNA test from the FBI proving that Melissa isn't Emily's mother - she is.
was scheduled to be away from Vancouver for promotional purposes for the movie Playing God
. As a result, the producers delayed shooting of the episode "The Post-Modern Prometheus
" and developed a Scully-centric episode instead. With the episode scheduled to air during December, the three writers, who had ideas about doing a Christmas-themed episode decided to put Dana Scully
into a situation similar to that of Scrooge in the 1951 British version of the Christmas Carol, starring Alastair Sim. After failing to write an episode paralleling that story, the writers decided instead to feature Scully being visited by earlier versions of herself, resulting in the flashback sequences appearing in the episode. They also decided to have her be taken on an emotional journey by her descendent.
Props specialist Ken Hawryliw claimed the biggest challenge in producing the episode was finding Christmas paper from the 1980s for the flashback sequences. Casting director Corrine Mays had difficulty finding an actress to play Dana Scully's 1976 self before executive producer Robert Goodwin came up with the idea of using Gillian Anderson's fourteen-year-old sister Zoe for the role.
Gillian Anderson
, while liking the final result, believed that she never quite nailed the complex relationship between herself and Emily, stating: "I felt in the end that I was a little low energy, a little too melancholy. It was hard to find the right attitude for Scully in dealing with a child that's apparently hers; to find the right flavor of relationship to her and this disease she's going through, all mixed up with the aspect of the paranormal. Another trouble was that she had no history with this child so I couldn't play the kind of attachment I would feel if my own daughter, Piper, were going through the same thing.
The X-Files (season 5)
-Episodes:Episodes marked with an asterisk are part of the series' mytharc. Episodes with a double asterisk are part of the series' Alien Mythology....
of American science fiction 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...
. It was written by Vince Gilligan
Vince Gilligan
Vince Gilligan is an American writer, director and producer. He is the creator of the highly acclaimed television series Breaking Bad. Gilligan has also worked on the hit series The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen. He is a graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University...
, John Shiban
John Shiban
John Shiban is an Emmy Award nominated American television writer and producer. He worked in both capacities on The X-Files and its spin-off The Lone Gunmen, Star Trek: Enterprise, Smallville, Supernatural, Legend of the Seeker, Breaking Bad and The Vampire Diaries...
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 Peter Markle
Peter Markle
Peter Markle is an American TV and film director. He has worked on Everwood, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and The X-Files as well as many other programs. He was director of the successful "Flight 93" in 2006 and he also directed the poorly-received comedy western film Wagons East!...
. It aired in the United States on December 7, 1997 on the Fox
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...
network. The show centers on FBI Special Agents 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...
) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-File
X-file
On the television series The X-Files, an X-File is a fictional case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The files constitute an unassigned project outside the Bureau mainstream that is more or less concerned with unexplained phenomena. -First X-Files:The very...
s. In this episode, Agent Scully, on Christmas vacation with her family, receives a mysterious phone call that leads her to a case involving a little girl that she believes to be the daughter of her dead sister, Melissa. It is the first of a two-part story that concludes with episode seven, "Emily
Emily (The X-Files)
"Emily" is a 1997 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the seventh episode broadcast in the show's fifth season. "Emily" continues the storyline start in the episode "Christmas Carol" where Scully discovers that she has a daughter brought to life after her abduction.- Plot :In a...
".
Plot
Dana ScullyDana 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...
) and her mother visit her brother Bill and his pregnant wife Tara around Christmas time. Scully answers the phone, and the person on the other line, who sounds just like her dead sister Melissa, tells her that someone needs her help. Scully traces the call to a nearby home in San Diego where a group of cops are investigating the suicide of a woman, Roberta Sim. The lead detective, Kresge, tells Scully that it was impossible for Roberta to have dialed, as she died before the telephone call was made. That night after dinner Scully reveals to her mother that due to her abduction and cancer she is unable to bear children. Scully flashes back to when as a child, she hid her pet rabbit from her brother in a box, only for it to suffocate and die. Scully receives another telephone call from the same person on her cell phone, which was once again made from the Sim home. Roberta's husband, Marshall, is meeting with two dark-suited men inside his house has no desire to listen to and help Scully figure out what's going on.
Scully visits Kresge, wanting to look further into Roberta Sim's suicide, despite the fact that the police think it's a simple suicide. Scully finds a striking resemblance between the Sims' daughter, Emily, and her sister Melissa from when she was that age. Scully flashes back to a funeral she attended when she was a little girl but imagines Marshall Sim holding her hand. Scully insists on performing an autopsy on Roberta, thinking that she was murdered. Scully finds a needle puncture in Roberta's foot, causing her to believe that she was anaesthetized and her suicide was staged. The police search the Sim's house and find a used hypodermic needle, which Marshall claim was used for injecting the anemic Emily with treatment. Scully spots the dark-suited men watching from a nearby car. Scully receives DNA data on Melissa, and matching it up to Emily's finds them nearly identical, causing her to believe that Emily is Melissa's daughter. Scully believes that Melissa gave birth to her while on the west coast and gave her up for adoption without ever telling the rest of the family. Scully flashes back to when she and Melissa were teenagers and were given cross necklaces from their mother for Christmas.
Kresge comes to see Scully, telling her that the Sims received several large payments from a pharmaceutical company, Transgen Industries. The two visit Dr. Calderon, who tells them that Emily was part of clinical trials and that Roberta was paid the money to keep her from pulling Emily from the program. Marshall Sim is arrested for the murder of his wife. Scully visits Emily and gives her the cross necklace. Marshall confesses soon after, but is found dead in his cell shortly after being visited by the two dark-suited men. Bill shows Scully a photo of Melissa shortly before Emily was born, which he thinks proves that she isn't Emily's mother. Scully meets with someone from an adoptive agency, wanting to adopt Emily. The woman is very hesitant considering Scully's job and the fact that Emily is a special needs child. Scully flashes back to talking with Melissa around Christmas time shortly before she joined the FBI. On Christmas morning Scully receives the results of a DNA test from the FBI proving that Melissa isn't Emily's mother - she is.
Production
During the second week of October, 1997, David DuchovnyDavid 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:...
was scheduled to be away from Vancouver for promotional purposes for the movie Playing God
Playing God
Playing God may refer to:* Playing God , core issue in ethics* "Playing God" , second season episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine* Playing God , 1997 film* "Playing God ", a song by Paramore...
. As a result, the producers delayed shooting of the episode "The Post-Modern Prometheus
The Post-Modern Prometheus
"The Post-Modern Prometheus" is the fifth episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written and directed by series creator Chris Carter and aired in the United States on November 30, 1997 on the Fox network...
" and developed a Scully-centric episode instead. With the episode scheduled to air during December, the three writers, who had ideas about doing a Christmas-themed episode decided to put 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...
into a situation similar to that of Scrooge in the 1951 British version of the Christmas Carol, starring Alastair Sim. After failing to write an episode paralleling that story, the writers decided instead to feature Scully being visited by earlier versions of herself, resulting in the flashback sequences appearing in the episode. They also decided to have her be taken on an emotional journey by her descendent.
Props specialist Ken Hawryliw claimed the biggest challenge in producing the episode was finding Christmas paper from the 1980s for the flashback sequences. Casting director Corrine Mays had difficulty finding an actress to play Dana Scully's 1976 self before executive producer Robert Goodwin came up with the idea of using Gillian Anderson's fourteen-year-old sister Zoe for the role.
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...
, while liking the final result, believed that she never quite nailed the complex relationship between herself and Emily, stating: "I felt in the end that I was a little low energy, a little too melancholy. It was hard to find the right attitude for Scully in dealing with a child that's apparently hers; to find the right flavor of relationship to her and this disease she's going through, all mixed up with the aspect of the paranormal. Another trouble was that she had no history with this child so I couldn't play the kind of attachment I would feel if my own daughter, Piper, were going through the same thing.