Buzz
Great news, X-philes! Your favorite show about conspiracies is making a comeback with a six-episode "event series." It’s been a while since The X-Files wrapped up, so here’s a quick refresher on 12 key terms from the show and its lore.
1. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
The enigmatic and ominous Cigarette Smoking Man, or CSM, stands as Mulder’s greatest adversary and is a prominent member of the Syndicate, the secretive group at the heart of the alien conspiracy.
Throughout the series, the CSM has undergone several name changes. Initially called Cancer Man, he is later referred to by Mulder in season three as Skinner’s “cigarette-smoking friend.” Season four features an episode titled “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man,” and later in that season, Mulder simply calls him “cigarette man.” By season six, he is officially known as the “cigarette smoking man.”
The reason for the shift from Cancer Man to Cigarette Smoking Man remains uncertain, though some speculate that series creator Chris Carter made the change to avoid backlash from the tobacco industry.
2. DEEP THROAT
Deep Throat is the alias of a Syndicate member who serves as an informant to Mulder. His name is inspired by the real-life Deep Throat, the Watergate whistleblower later revealed in 2005 as FBI associate director Mark Felt. Felt adopted his nom de guerre from the 1972 adult film of the same name. After The X-Files’ Deep Throat is killed, an informant known as X takes his place, possibly as a nod to Mr. X, a character from Oliver Stone’s JFK—a film that Carter has credited as inspiration for Deep Throat.
3. GREYS
Greys is a widely used term for a type of alien commonly known as Grey aliens or Roswell Greys. The name became popular in the 1980s. In the X-Files universe, Greys are also called Colonists, extraterrestrials who seek to take over Earth. Opposing them are faceless shapeshifting renegades (although their motives remain unclear), while super-soldiers are alien beings inhabiting human bodies with immense strength, bent on ensuring no human survives the impending alien colonization.
4. LONE GUNMEN
The Lone Gunmen are a group of three conspiracy theorists who run a magazine titled The Lone Gunman. Their name comes from the lone gunman theory, which asserts that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Conspiracy theorists, however, reject this idea.
5. MEN IN BLACK
The concept of mysterious men dressed in black suits appearing after UFO sightings first emerged in the 1950s, according to Live Science. UFO enthusiast and magazine publisher Albert Bender claimed that he was visited by “three men wearing dark suits” who warned him to stop publishing information about flying saucers.
Folklorist Gray Barker detailed Bender’s experience in his 1956 book, They Knew Too Much about Flying Saucers, where he describes “three men in black suits with menacing expressions.”
In The X-Files, the Men in Black were portrayed by former professional wrestler and governor Jesse Ventura and game show host Alex Trebek.
6. MONSTER OF THE WEEK
Monster of the Week, often abbreviated as MOTW, refers to standalone episodes that don’t tie into the overarching UFO storyline. These include episodes like "The Jersey Devil"; "War of the Coprophagous" (featuring a cockroach-like dung-eater); and "Home," which presents a disturbingly tight-knit Peacock family.
The phrase monster of the week may trace back to the early 1970s. It appears in a 1976 magazine and also in a 1985 book, which links the term to the 1960s Japanese TV series Ultraman, known for featuring a different monster in nearly every episode.
7. MULDER IT OUT
A phrase that definitely deserves more use, to Mulder something out means to uncover a secret, expose a cover-up, or unravel a conspiracy. Science fiction and fantasy author Jim Butcher uses this phrase in his 2003 novel, Death Masks: “You guys stay here and Mulder it out.”
8. PURITY
A potent alien virus, also known as black oil and black cancer, Purity “thrived in petroleum deposits” on Earth and was capable of invading humanoid bodies to control them. Fans affectionately called the oily alien Oilien.
9. SCULLY
To Scully means to adopt the skeptical mindset of the X-Files duo, using science and logic to explain away what might seem like paranormal occurrences. The term was first used in this way by Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the 1997 episode “The Pack,” Buffy says, “I cannot believe that you of all people are trying to Scully me,” to Giles.
10. SHIPPER
A term originating from X-Files fan fiction, a shipper is someone who hopes that platonic fictional characters will develop a romantic relationship. Those who opposed Mulder and Scully becoming anything more than FBI partners were called noromos, short for “no romance.” Nowadays, shipping refers to anyone wanting two people to get together, for example: “How many of us started shipping Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emma Watson when they appeared together onstage?”
11. X-FILES
Just to clear things up, the FBI doesn’t actually have X-files, but the Washington State Legislature does. Though it’s probably named after the show, Washington’s X-files don’t concern UFOs or mysterious phenomena. Instead, they’re “bills that will go no further in the process.” X-files is also slang for ecstasy and, surprisingly, hemorrhoids. In Cockney rhyming slang, X-files stands for piles, a common term for hemorrhoids.
12. X-PHILE
An X-phile refers to a devoted fan of The X-Files, where the suffix -phile means “one who loves,” and it’s a clever pun on file. The term seems to have emerged in the mid-1990s.
