The X-Files (1993–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Pilot - full transcript

Agent Dana Scully is instructed to debunk an FBI project dubbed "The X-Files," paranormal cases that have been reopened by Agent Fox Mulder.

I'd put the time of death
between eight and 12 hours ago.

No visible cause.

No sign of battery
or sexual assault.

All we have is this.

Can we turn her over?

Karen Swenson.

Is that a positive ID?

She went to school with my son.

That would be the class
of '89, Detective?

It's happening again, isn't it?

Agent Dana Scully.



Come in.

Agent Scully, thank you for
coming on such short notice.

Please...

We see you've been with us
just over two years.

Yes, sir.

You went to medical school,
but you chose not to practice.

How did you come to work
for the FBI?

Well, sir, I was recruited
out of medical school.

Um, my parents still think
it was an act of rebellion.

But I saw the FBI

as a place where I could
distinguish myself.

Are you familiar
with an agent named Fox Mulder?

Yes, I am.

How so?



By reputation.

Um, he's an Oxford-educated
psychologist

who wrote a monograph on
serial killers and the occult

that helped catch
Monte Propps in 1988.

Generally thought of
as the best analyst

in the violent crime section.

He had a nickname
at the academy:

"Spooky" Mulder.

What I'll also tell you

is that Agent Mulder

has developed
a consuming devotion

to an unassigned project
outside the Bureau mainstream.

Are you familiar with
the so-called X Files?

I believe they have to do
with unexplained phenomena.

More or less.

The reason you're here,
Agent Scully,

is we want you to assist Mulder
on these X Files.

You will write field reports
on your activities

along with your observations

on the validity of the work.

Am I to understand

that you want me to debunk
the X Files project, sir?

Agent Scully, we trust

you'll make the proper
scientific analysis.

You'll want to contact
Agent Mulder shortly.

We look forward
to seeing your reports.

Sorry, nobody down here

but the FBI's most unwanted.

Agent Mulder.

I'm Dana Scully.

I've been assigned
to work with you.

Oh, isn't it nice to be
suddenly so highly regarded?

So, who did you tick off

to get stuck
with this detail, Scully?

Actually, I'm looking forward
to working with you.

I've heard a lot about you.

Oh, really?

I was under the impression
that you were sent to spy on me.

If you have any doubt

about my qualifications
or credentials...

You're a medical doctor.

You teach at the academy.

You did your
undergraduate degree in physics.

"Einstein's Twin Paradox...

A New Interpretation."

Dana Scully's senior thesis.

That's a credential:
rewriting Einstein.

Did you bother to read it?

I did. I liked it.

It's just that,
in most of my work,

the laws of physics
rarely seem to apply.

Maybe I can get your medical
opinion on this, though.

Oregon female, age 21.

No explainable cause of death.

Autopsy shows nothing. Zip.

There are, however,
these two distinct marks

on her lower back.

Dr. Scully, can you
ID these marks?

Needle punctures, maybe.

An animal bite,
electrocution of some kind.

How's your chemistry?

This is the substance found
in the surrounding tissue.

It's organic.

I don't know.

Is it some kind
of synthetic protein?

Beats me.

I've never seen it before,
either,

but here it is again in
Sturgis, South Dakota,

and again in Shamrock, Texas.

Do you have a theory?

I have plenty of theories,

but maybe what
you can explain to me

is why it's Bureau policy

to label these cases as
"unexplained phenomena"

and ignore them.

Do you believe in the existence
of extraterrestrials?

Logically,
I would have to say no.

Given the distances
needed to travel from

the far reaches of space,

the energy requirements
would exceed

a spacecraft's capabilities.

Conventional wisdom.

Do you know
this Oregon female...

she's the fourth person
in her graduating class

to die under
mysterious circumstances.

Now, when convention and science

offer us no answers,
might we not finally

turn to the fantastic
as a plausibility?

The girl obviously
died of something.

If it was natural causes,
it's plausible

there was something missed
in the postmortem.

If she was murdered,

it's plausible there was
a sloppy investigation.

What I find fantastic
is any notion

that there are answers
beyond the realm of science.

The answers are there.

You have to know where to look.

That's why they put the "I"
in FBI.

See you tomorrow morning,
Scully, bright and early.

We leave for the very plausible
state of Oregon

at 8:00 a.m.

I'd like to ask all passengers
to fasten their seat belts

as we're about
to make our descent...

Please remain calm.

Are you all right?

Please remain seated.

This must be the place.

You didn't mention yesterday

this case has already
been investigated.

Yeah, the FBI got involved
after the first three deaths

when local authorities
failed to turn up any evidence.

Our boys came out
here, spent a week,

enjoyed the local salmon

which, with a little lemon twist

is just to die for, if
you pardon the expression.

Without explanation,
they were called back in.

The case was reclassified
and buried in the X Files

till I dug it up last week.

And you found something
they didn't.

Ooh.

The autopsy reports of
the first three victims

show no unidentified marks
or tissue samples,

but those reports were signed
by a different medical examiner

than the latest victim.

That's pretty good, Scully.

Better than you expected,
or better than you hoped?

Well, I'll let you know

when we get past the easy part.

Is the medical examiner
a suspect?

We won't know that until we
do a little grave digging.

I've arranged to exhume one
of the other victim's bodies

to see if we can get a tissue
sample to match the girl's.

You're not squeamish about that
kind of a thing, are you?

I don't know,
I've never had the pleasure.

What's going on?

What the hell was that about?

Oh, you know, probably nothing.

Mr. Mulder, John Truitt,
county coroner's office.

Yeah, hi.

- This is Agent Scully.
- Hi.

How soon can we get started?

- We're ready to go.
- Hello.

- Oh, great.
- Excuse me.

Were you able to arrange
for an examination facility?

- I think we got something for you.
- Ah.

Excuse me.

Excuse me. No.

Please stay in...

I just don't know
who you people think you are.

You just think
you can come up here

and do whatever you damn please,
don't you?

I'm sorry. You are...?

I'm Dr. Jay Nemman.

I'm county medical examiner.

Surely, you must have been
informed of our intentions

- to come up here.
- No. No, we've been away.

Oh, oh. Well, that answers
a question that we had:

why you hadn't done the recent
autopsy on Karen Swenson.

You're aware of
the tissue sample

that was taken from
the girl's body.

Wh-what is the insinuation here?

Are you saying that I missed something
in those other kids' exams?

We're not insinuating
anything, sir.

Wait a minute! Wait a minute!
See, well, I think you are.

And if you're making
an accusation,

then you'd better have
something to back it up.

Daddy, please,
let's just go home.

Let's go home, please!

Guy obviously needed
a longer vacation.

Ray Soames was the third victim.

After graduating high school,

he spent time in
a state mental hospital

treated for post-adolescent
schizophrenia.

Soames actually confessed
to the first two murders.

He pleaded to be locked up

but he couldn't produce
any evidence

that he committed the crimes.

Did you happen to read
the cause of death?

Exposure. His body
was found in the woods

after escaping the hospital.

Missing for only
seven hours in July.

How does a 20-year-old
boy die of exposure

on a warm, summer night
in Oregon, Dr. Scully?

I got it.

This isn't official procedure.

Really?

It's probably a safe bet
Ray Soames never made

the varsity basketball team.

Seal this up right now.

Nobody sees or
touches this. Nobody.

This is amazing, Scully.

Do you know what
this could mean?

It's almost too big
to even comprehend.

Subject is 156 centimeters
in length,

weighing 52 pounds in extremis.

Corpse is in

advanced stages
of decay and desiccation.

Distinguishing features
include large ocular cavities.

Oblate cranium

indicate subject is not human.

Could you point that flash
away from me, please?

If it's not human, what is it?

It's mammalian.

My guess is it's a chimpanzee

or something
from the ape family,

possibly an orangutan.

Buried in the city cemetery
in Ray Soames' grave?

Try telling that
to the good townsfolk

or to Ray Soames' family.

I want tissue samples
and x rays.

I'd like blood
typing, toxicology

- and a full genetic work-up.
- You're serious?

What we can't do here,
we'll order to go.

You don't honestly believe this is
some kind of an extraterrestrial?

This is somebody's sick joke.

We can do those
x rays here, can't we?

Is there any reason we
can't do them right now?

I'm not crazy, Scully.

I have the same doubts you do.

Visual laboratory
inspection of the body

and x-ray analysis
confirms homologous

but possibly mutated
mammalian physiology.

However, does not account
for small, unidentified object

found in subject's nasal cavity:

a gray, metallic implant...

Who is it?

Steven Spielberg.

I'm way too wired.
I'm going for a run.

You want to come?

- Pass.
- Did you figure out

what that little thing
up Ray Soames' nose is yet?

No. And I'm not

losing any sleep over it.

Good night.

Ray Soames was a
patient of mine, yes.

I oversaw his treatment
for just over a year

for clinical schizophrenia.

Ray had an inability
to grasp reality.

He seemed to suffer from some
kind of post-traumatic stress.

Is that something
you've seen before?

I've treated similar cases.

Were any of those
Ray Soames' classmates?

Yes.

We're trying to find
a connection in these deaths.

Did you treat any
of these kids with hypnosis?

No. I did not.

Are you treating
any of these kids now?

Currently?

Yes, I'm treating
Billy Miles and Peggy O'Dell.

Both have been long term
live-in patients.

They're here at this hospital?

That's right.
Going on four years now.

Would it be possible
for us to talk to them?

Well, you might
find it difficult.

Certainly in Billy Miles' case.

Billy's experiencing
what we call a waking coma.

Functionally,
his brain waves are flat

and he's persistent vegetative.

How did it happen?

Both he and Peggy were involved
in an automobile accident

out on State Road.

Peggy?

Peggy, we have some visitors.

Would you like to talk
with them for a moment?

Billy wants me to read now.

Does he like it when
you read to him?

Yes.

Billy needs me close.

Doctor,

I'm wondering if we can do
a cursory medical exam

on Peggy?

Peggy!

Peggy, what are you doing?

No one is going to hurt you.

Get an orderly!

Get an orderly!
Nobody's going to hurt you.

- No, stop it!
- It's all right. It's all right.

It's all right.

Peggy, honey,
you're going to be fine.

Now, calm down.

You know that you will
be all right.

What's-his-name, Billy,
said he was sorry

he didn't get
to say good-bye.

How did you know that girl
was going to have the marks?

I don't know.
Lucky guess?

Damn it, Mulder, cut the crap.

What is going on here?

What do you know about those marks?
What are they?

Why, so you can put it down
in your little report?

I don't think you're ready
for what I think.

I'm here to solve
this case, Mulder.

I want the truth.

The truth?

I think those kids
have been abducted.

By who?

By what.

You don't really believe that.

Do you have
a better explanation?

I'll buy that girl is suffering

some kind
of pronounced psychosis.

Whether it's organic
or the result of those marks

I can't say,

but to say that they've been
riding around in flying saucers,

it's crazy, Mulder.

There is nothing
to support that.

Nothing scientific, you mean.

There has got to be
an explanation.

You've got four victims.

All of them died
in or near the woods.

They found Karen Swenson's body
in the forest in her pajamas

ten miles from her house.

How did she get there?

What were those kids doing
out there in the forest?

Mulder?

Mulder, is that you?

Mulder?

Special Agent Dana Scully, FBI.

Drop your weapon.

I'm with
the county sheriff's department.

You're trespassing
on private property here.

We are conducting

an investigation.

Get in your car and leave,
both of you,

or I'll have to arrest you.

I don't care who you are.

Hold on.
This is a crime scene.

Did you hear what I said?

You are on private property
without legal permission.

Now, I'm only going to say it
one more time.

Get in your car

and leave.

What's he doing out here
all by himself?

Maybe it has something
to do with this.

What do you think it is?

I don't know.

Is it a campfire?

It was all over the ground.

I think something's
going on out here.

Some kind of a sacrifice, maybe.

What if these kids are involved

in some kind of a cult

and that man knows
something about it?

I want to come back here.

You okay, Mulder?

Yeah. I'm just, uh...

What are you looking for?

What happened?

We lost power.

Brakes, steering, everything.

We lost nine minutes.

Whoo!

We lost what?

Nine minutes!

I looked at my watch
just before the flash

and it was 9:03.

It just turned 9:13.

Look.

Look!

Oh, yes!

Abductees.

People that have made
UFO sightings.

They've reported
unexplained time loss.

Come on.

Gone!

Just like that.

No, wait a minute.

You're saying that...
that time disappeared.

Time can't just disappear.

I-I-it's a universal
invariant.

Not in this zip code.

Great.

Hi.

I want you to look at something.

Come on in.

What are they?

Mulder, what are they?!

Mosquito bites.

Are you sure?

Yeah. I got eaten up
a lot myself out there.

You okay?

Yes.

You're shaking.

I need to sit down.

Take your time.

I was 12 when it happened.

My sister was eight.

She just disappeared
out of her bed one night.

Just gone. Vanished.

No note, no phone calls,
no evidence of anything.

You never found her.

It tore the family apart.

No one would talk about it.

There were no facts to confront,

nothing to offer any hope.

What did you do?

Eventually, I went off
to school in England.

I came back,
got recruited by the Bureau.

Seems I had a natural aptitude

for applying behavioral models
to criminal cases.

My success allowed me
a certain freedom

to pursue my own interests

and that's when I came across
the X Files.

By accident?

At first, it looked

like a garbage dump

for UFO sightings,
alien abduction reports,

the kind of stuff
that most people laugh at

as being ridiculous,
but I was fascinated.

I read all the cases
I could get my hands on.

Hundreds of them.
I read everything I could

about paranormal phenomena,
about the occult, and...

What?

There's classified
government information

I've been trying to access

but someone has been blocking
my attempts to get at it.

Who? I don't understand.

Someone at a higher
level of power.

The only reason I've been
allowed to continue

with my work is because I've
made connections in congress.

And they're afraid of what,

that you'll leak
this information?

You're part of that agenda,
you know that.

I'm not a part of any agenda.

You've got to trust me.

I'm here just like you...
to solve this.

I'm telling you this, Scully,
because you need to know

because of what you've seen.

In my research,
I've worked very closely

with a man named
Dr. Heitz Werber

and he's taken me through
deep regression hypnosis.

I've been able to go
into my own repressed memories

to the night
my sister disappeared.

I can recall
a bright light outside

and a presence in the room.

I was paralyzed,

unable to respond
to my sister's calls for help.

Listen to me, Scully.

This thing exists.

But how do you know?

The government knows about it

and I got to know
what they're protecting.

Nothing else matters to me,

and this is as close
as I've ever gotten to it.

Hello?

What?

Who is this?

Who is th...?

That was some woman

and just said
Peggy O'Dell was dead.

The girl in the wheelchair?

Yeah, I'll bring it
over in a minute.

We're going to be
a couple more hours, Bob.

What happened?

She ran right out
in front of me.

Who are you?

She was running?

On foot?

Well, that's just...
Let's go. Let's go.

I need to ask you
a couple questions...

Someone trashed
the autopsy bay in the lab

and they stole the body.

We're going back to the motel.

What?!
They stole the corpse?

FBI.

There goes my computer.

Damn it!

The x rays and pictures!

I need a couple of men out here.

We'll need
a light safety curtain.

My name is Theresa Nemman.

You've got to protect me.

Come with us.

This is the way it happens.

I don't know how
I get out there.

I'll just find myself
out in the woods.

How long has it been happening?

Ever since
the summer we graduated.

It's happened
to my friends, too.

That's why I need you...
to protect me.

I'm scared I might die

like the others.

Like... Peggy did tonight.

Your father's
the medical examiner.

You were the one on the phone.

You told me Peggy O'Dell
had been killed.

Theresa, your father knows
about this, doesn't he?

About what happens?

Yes.

But he said never to tell

anyone about any of it.

Why?

He wants to protect me.

He thinks he can protect me,
but I don't think he can.

Do you have the marks, Theresa?

Yes.

I'm going to die, aren't I?

I'm going to be next.

No, you're not going to die.

Oh, God.

Let's go home, Theresa.

Theresa, come on.

Come on, honey.

I don't think
she wants to leave.

I don't care what you think.

She's a sick girl.

Your father
wants to take you home.

He'll get you all cleaned up.

Going to take you
where you'll be safe, Theresa.

Detective Miles and
I won't let anything

happen to you, I promise.

You're Billy Miles' father?

That's right,
and you stay away from that boy.

Ah, you got to love this place.

Every day is like Halloween.

They know, Mulder.

They know who's responsible
for the murders.

They know something.

Dr. Nemman's
been hiding medical evidence

from the beginning.

He lied on the autopsy reports.

And now we find out
about the detective.

Who else would have reason
to trash the lab and our rooms?

Why would they destroy evidence?

What would they want
with that corpse?

I don't know.

Makes you wonder what's in
those other two graves.

They're both empty.

What is going on here?

I think I know who did it.

I think I know
who killed Karen Swenson.

Who?

The detective?

The detective's son.

Billy Miles.

The boy in the hospital?

The vegetable?

Billy Miles?

A boy who's been in a coma
for the last four years

got out here and
dug up these graves?

Peggy O'Dell was bound
to a wheelchair

but she ran in front
of that truck.

Look, I'm not making this up.

It all fits the profile
of alien abduction.

This fits a profile?

Yeah, Peggy O'Dell
was killed at around 9:00.

That's right around the time we
lost nine minutes on the highway.

I think that something happened
in that nine minutes.

I think that time,
as we know it, stopped

and something
took control over it.

You think I'm crazy.

What?

Peggy O'Dell's watch stopped
a couple of minutes after 9:00.

I made a note of it
when I saw the body.

The the reason the kids
come to the forest,

because the forest controls them
and summons them there.

And the marks
are from some kind of tests

that's being done on them

and that maybe causes
some kind of genetic mutation

which would explain
the body that we dug up.

And the force summoned
Theresa Nemman's body

into the woods tonight.

Yes, but it was Billy Miles
who took her there.

Summoned by some alien impulse.

That's it.

Come on.
Let's get out of here.

Where are we going?

We're going to pay a visit
to Billy Miles.

Now, we could stand here
until the second coming

waiting for Billy to get
out of this bed.

It ain't going to happen.

He blinks and I know about it.

I guess you changed
his bedpan last night.

Nobody else here's
going to do it.

You noticed nothing unusual?

Do you remember what
you were doing last night

around 9:00?

Probably watching TV.

Yeah.

Do you remember
what you were watching?

Um, let's see...

You know, I don't really
remember what I watched.

Miss...

What is she looking for?

Mulder, take a look at this.

Do you know who was taking care
of Peggy O'Dell last night?

Not me.

It's not my ward, not my aisle
of the produce section.

I do have a job of my own to do.

What is she doing now?

Thank you for your time, ma'am.

Okay.

Good day.

That kid may have
killed Peggy O'Dell.

- I don't believe this.
- Scully...

It's crazy.

He was in the woods.

- You're sure?
- This is the same stuff

that I took a handful
of in the forest.

Okay, well, then maybe we should
take it and run a lab test...

We lost the original
sample in the fire.

What else could it be?

All right, but I just
want you to understand

what it is you're saying.

You said it yourself!

Yeah, but you have
to write it down

in your report.

You're right.

We'll take another sample
from the forest

and run a comparison
before we do anything.

The detective's here.

What do you think?

You wouldn't listen to me.

I told you to stay out of this.

Hold it.
Hold it right there!

You got no business out here.

There were screams.

Down on the ground.

Now!

You know it's Billy.

You've known it all along.

I said down on the ground.

How long are you going
to let it happen?

He's going to kill her.

Billy!

No!

Let her go.

Leave her alone.

Dad?

Billy.

Oh, God.

Scully.

Scully!

Mulder, what happened?

There was a light.

It was incredible.

If you can hear me,
raise your right hand.

Tell me about the light, Billy.

When did you first
see the light?

In the forest.

We were all in the forest
having a party.

All my friends.

We were celebrating.

What were you celebrating?

Graduation.

And then the light came.

It took me away
to the testing place.

They would tell me
to gather the others

so that they could do tests.

They put something in my head.

Here.

I would wait for their orders.

Billy, who gave the orders?

The light.

They said it would be okay.

No one would know.

But the tests didn't work.

They wanted everything
destroyed.

They said they were leaving.

I'm afraid.

I'm afraid they're coming back.

Don't be afraid, Billy.

- We're here to help you.
- All right, let's go.

Nothing can hurt you now.

What we've just witnessed,

what we've read
in your field reports,

the scientific basis
and credibility

just seem wholly insupportable.

You're aware of that?

Yes, sir.

My reports
are personal and subjective.

I don't think I've gone so far
as to draw any conclusion

about what I've seen.

Or haven't seen, as
seems to be the case.

This, uh... time loss,

you did or did not
experience it?

I can't substantiate it, no.

What exactly can you
substantiate. Agent Scully?

I see no evidence

that justifies the legitimacy
of these investigations.

There were, of course,
crimes committed.

Yes, but how do you prosecute
a case like this?

With testimony given
under hypnosis

from a boy who claims
that he was given orders

from some alien force

through an implant

in his nose.

You have no physical evidence.

This is the object

described by Billy Miles

as a communication device.

I removed it

from the exhumed body.

I kept it in my pocket.

It was the only piece of evidence
not destroyed in the fire.

I ran a lab test on it.

The material
could not be identified.

Agent Mulder...
what are his thoughts?

Agent Mulder believes
we are not alone.

Thank you, Agent Scully.

That will be all.

Hello.

Scully? It's me.

I haven't been able to sleep.

I talked to the DA's office
in Raymond County, Oregon.

There's no case file
on Billy Miles.

The paperwork we filed is gone.

We need to talk, Scully.

Yes.

Tomorrow.