Holding My Breath by Sarah Stegall Copyright ©1994 by Sarah Stegall Writer: Glen Morgan and James Wong Director: R. W. Goodwin “Don’t try to threaten me, Mulder. I’ve watched Presidents die.” The Cigarette-Smoking Man The Cigarette Smoking Man’s sneer to Fox Mulder sums up the cold-blooded arrogance of the forces arrayed against Mulder and Scully. In “One Breath” we finally see the face of the real enemy–not some laughable little extraterrestrial or sideshow freak, but the ruthless amorality of a government that holds honor and justice and truth in contempt. Not that I give a damn, but there wasn’t much…
The X-Files: “Dod Kalm”
Grow Old Along With Me by Sarah Stegall Copyright 1995 by Sarah Stegall The language of television is unique. It is only tangentially related to the language of literature, and even less so to the language of science. Thus to critique “The X- Files” on the basis of “scientific inaccuracies” is a little like blaming a violin for not being a Ferrari. The appropriate forum for its critique is not science but art, and commercial art at that. Although “The X-Files ” transcends its genre an astonishing amount of the time, frankly we are lucky when it only hits the…