‘The X-Files’: What Was David Duchovny’s Favorite ‘Monster-of-the-Week’ Episode?
The X-Files was one of television’s most beloved sci-fi series, starring 90s dreamboats David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Throughout the seasons of The X-Files, the series would often switch between two distinct types of episodes. In the “mythology” episodes, Agents Mulder and Scully would chase UFOs and try to gather evidence of alien life. While the mythology episodes employed a through-line that connected the overarching government conspiracy, in the other kind of X-Files episodes — known as “monster-of-the-week” episodes — the show delved into stories they would normally not pick up again. In these one-off plotlines, the FBI agents would encounter often-terrifying sci-fi monsters. Which of these monster-of-the-week X-Files episodes was Duchovny’s favorite?
What was David Duchovny’s favorite ‘monster-of-the-week’ episode on ‘The X-Files’?
As part of the Paley Center’s 20th anniversary X-Files Panel, Duchovny and Anderson hopped on Reddit to participate in one of the site’s AMA (Ask Me Anything) threads. (Or, in this case — Ask Us Anything).
One Reddit user wondered which “monster-of-the-week” episode was the actors’ favorite.
Duchovny answered that query: “My favorite would be Flukeman.” The actor was referring to the X-Files Season 2 episode titled “The Host,” which told the story of a horrifying man-sized worm who lurked in the sewers. However, Duchovny loves that X-Files “monster-of-the-week” episode for a very specific reason.
One of the show’s writers was originally cast as the season 2 monster known as ‘Flukeman’
“Darin Morgan was in the suit, one of our great writers,” Duchovny revealed on the Reddit AMA about the worm-creature.
However, Morgan’s fluke-monster makeup was so heavy — and it took up so much time — Duchovny never knew what Morgan looked like when were filming “The Host.”
“I had never met him, and I never did meet him, because he was in the suit and it took so much time in makeup,” he explained on the Reddit thread. “So when we did that show, I never actually saw Darin’s face.”
This allowed for a slightly awkward airplane interaction soon afterwards. Duchovny wrote to the Reddit user:
A couple of months later I was on a flight from Vancouver to LA and a guy sat next to me and started asking me a bunch of inane questions. I thought ‘Oh my god, I have 3 hours to sit next to this guy.’ And I was despairing. And then he handed me a book and said, ‘will you sign it to my nemesis?’
When Duchovny asked what the man meant, he responded: “I’m Darin Morgan, I’m Flukeman.”
Morgan would go on to pen some of the most memorable episodes in X-Files history, including “Humbug,” “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space,” and “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose,” for which he won an Emmy.
Duchovny wasn’t a big fan of ‘The X-Files’ Season 3 episode, ‘Teso Dos Bichos’
However, Duchovny wasn’t on board with all of the monster-of-the-week episodes. One Redditor asked: “was there ever a plotline that came out of the writers’ room that made you stop and say, ‘Seriously?'”
“Some of the one-offs,” Duchovny admitted. “Like the killer cats episodes.”
The X-Files star named a season 3 episode, which he referred to as “Todos los Bichos” on Reddit. The real name of the episode was “Teso Dos Bichos,” but that’s really beside the point. The point being: that wasn’t The X-Files at its strongest.
“They were domesticated killer cats,” Duchovny reminded X-Files fans.
Still — with 1990s network TV demanding 22 episodes per season, at least a few of them are bound to be flukes. (Pun intended).
