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The X-Files: Pilot/Deep Throat [VHS]

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The pilot episode of the X Files and the second episode DEEP THROAT are the reasons why the first season of the show was the best. A true aura of mystery surrounded the episodes, nor would all the parts to the puzzle be filled in at the end and the foreshadowing was very high.

In PILOT, FBI instructer Dr. Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is brought to her superiors with a new assignment. She is to be the partner of loose cannon agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) a brilliant agent whose theroies on the paranormal and mythology in his cases have alienated him from his fellow investagaters. It is Scully's job to find validity and scientific proof to Mulder's claims of alien involvment in his cases.

Their first adventure takes them to Oregon where strange occurances are affecting the young members of a small town. The towns people know what is going on, and don't want it spreading around or being discovered.

A good start for the show, characters are being introduced and we see development too. Most importantly we learn why Mulder is determined to find what is "out there" which will become a staple of plots in many episodes. Not to mention a particular scene where we see how much trust Mulder and Scully can show for each other.

DEEP THROAT is even better. Mulder is warned by a mysterious old man not to pursue interest in a case involving an Airforce base in Idaho where it's members are being affected by something strange. Despite this warning, Mulder and Scully go anyway to investigate the matter and end up in a desperate fight for the truth and probably their life.

This tape is great for the person who wants to get into the show. Because there is no better place to start then the begining, especially with this particular show and this particular season of episodes.

Check out the pilot that started it all. Jerry Hardin, as the enigmatic "Deep Throat" is so good that one can believe that he was involved in a little thing called "Watergate."

An "X-Files" fan can relish in the look of a much younger, and slightly pudgier Anderson, while Duchovny's infancy as an actor is intriguing alone. Just to see how he "grew" as a performer is a revelation.

This video is the first piece of the X-Files puzzle that has drawn so many fans to this show over the past number of years...We meet our two main protagonists, Fox "Spooky" Mulder, an FBI agent who doesn't follow cases by the book and is fascinated by "The X-Files", cases of the paranormal. He is driven by the abduction of his sister, Samantha as a child to seek "the truth" about the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Dana Scully,a forensics doctor,is assigned by FBI bureaucrats, including a mysterious cigarette smoking man, as a partner to Mulder to debunk his work, to maintain a scientific explanation for the paranormal events that they investigate. These two episodes are the perfect introduction to the agents X-Philes have learned to love. The pilot episode features very good special effects...(especially blood spurting out through a person's nose, and a leaf blowing sequence which Carter explains in an interview on the tape) and the second episode, "Deep Throat" introduces us to the conspiracy we as X-philes have been trying to explain for the past five years along with the introduction of a character that still remains a favorite on the show to this day. This video is the perfect introduction for newer fans of the show and a great thrill ride for us X-Philes. Highly recommended. END

The self-effacing Duchovny and winsome Anderson demonstrate conclusively the exceeding importance of performer chemistry in the motion picture and television arts and preserve for the ages a fictionalized roadmap to the 20th Century broadcasting milieu of metadramatic telecom romance.

The X-Files pilot deserves to be highlighted and framed with its own annotated digital edition.

"Pilot" is the first episode of the X-files series and it introduces the straight-laced and by the book Dana Scully to fellow FBI agent Fox Mulder. Scully is a graduate of medical school and that science background keeps her focused on facts and what logical conclusions can be derived from them. Mulder is an unorthodox, yet brilliant agent who has some wild theories about unusual phenomena. Scully is assigned to be Mulder's partner so that she can report back to her superiors regarding the validity of his claims. Her approach to their first meeting is somewhat hard-nosed, but she is quickly charmed by Mulder's disarming manner.
Four teenagers have disappeared in a small Oregon town and the circumstances are unusual. Mulder has heard of the case, so the new team travels to Oregon to investigate Mulder's suspicion of alien involvement. When they come up against stonewalling by local officials, they exhume a body that turns out to be something that is not quite human.
Two of the "abducted" teenagers are in bizarre mental states, institutionalized because they can no longer function. When a suspicious fire at their motel destroys their evidence, Mulder and Scully go back to the location of the abductions and witness a phenomenon that begins to crack Scully's deep doubts about Mulder's theories.
"Deep Throat" introduces the mysterious informant that occasionally appears to warn Mulder about the risks he is taking when he begins the investigation of the bizarre behavior of an Air Force pilot. Mulder and Scully travel to the base where the man was stationed and see unusual lights in the sky. When the pilot returns, his wife is distraught, claiming that the man is mentally not her husband. Mulder questions him and the pilot easily answers all questions except those related to aviation. With the help of some local teens, Mulder enters the restricted base and is captured by the security forces. After Mulder undergoes treatment to wipe his memory, Scully captures a security officer at gunpoint and arranges for the release of the confused Mulder.
Given that these were the first two episodes of the series, it is reasonable to give them a little slack when commenting. The first does an excellent job of giving background on the main characters without taking up a great deal of time. However, in the second one, we see the first appearance of the "great government conspiracy" of silence. When Mulder and Scully are making progress, a team of government goons wearing sunglasses and the same suit confront them, rough Mulder up a bit and deliberately destroy their evidence. This is a bit strong and over the top as Scully and Mulder are government agents and the last way to end an investigation would be to be rough with FBI agents on a legitimate investigation.
Nevertheless, if you can swallow the conspiracy notion, these two episodes are a solid introduction to the characters of Mulder and Scully as well as the theme of the show.

This is everything a pilot should be: it establishes the look & tone of the show and introduces us to two interesting leads. Of course it has a plot hole here and there, but fans of the show are used to that! Interesting to note that the first of the two leads we see is Scully; it can be argued that the evolution of the show is the evolution of her character. Mulder is driven almost entirely by personal motive, but Scully is not that myopic. It is truly remarkable to see how quickly the show evolved just between the pilot and the first episode, "Deep Throat." The latter is much stronger, better directed and more tightly focused, and both eps set up conflicts & tensions that are still unwinding in season 6. Plus, you gotta love how NERVOUS and YOUNG both leads look here. They're all over the place!

This tape is great for new fans and hard core X-philes. THE PILOT is my favorite episode with it's sly humor and Scully's mosquito bites. The first episodes for this great show!

I really enjoyed the X-Files episode, "Pilot", because I, being an avid X-Files fan, enjoyed seeing the first episode. So many things have changed in the series, and "Pilot" and"Deep Throat" are true classics.

X flies suffers from its target audience. Is it really unable to break away from the plodding entertainment that masquerades as clever film for stupid people?I have never understood the US style of entertainment, pandering to the lowest, geekiest, common denominator.But the lighting is fantastic