The opening titles warns us that this is The End, and this episode would lead us into the first feature film, Fight the Future. Written by series creator Chris Carter, the fifth season came to a close on 17 May, 1998, and left fans slavering for the feature film that would span the ending of this season and the beginning of the next, which also saw the production moving to Los Angeles. It wouldn’t return to Vancouver until the second film and the relaunch of the series with season ten.

At the heart of the episode, is a young chess prodigy, Gibson Praise (Jeff Gulka) who was the intended target for an assassin’s (Martin Ferrero) bullet. The boy may be the key to everything, more human than human, due to guidance and genetic manipulation by aliens. He may be the key to the x-files themselves.

Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) get assigned to the case by Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) against Spender’s (Chris Owens) wishes, and Mulder comes across a former co-worker (and more?) in Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers).

Mulder suspects that Gibson can read thoughts, and even Scully comes around to that way of thinking after a consultation with The Lone Gunmen (which also provides her more info about Fowley and her relationship with Mulder).

The Syndicate, through Krycek (Nicholas Lea) brings CSM (William B. Davis) tentatively back into the fold, and in a shocking climax, CSM hands the boy over to the Syndicate, burns down Mulder’s office (all that work!!) and reveals his paternal status to Spender.

With Gibson gone, the x-files burned to the ground, and personality clashes with Spender, Mulder and Scully are on the cusp of reassignment leading us into…

The X-Files: Fight the Future saw Mulder and Scully jumping to the big screen on 19 June, 1998, in a script written by Carter from a story by Frank Spotnitz and Carter. Rob Bowman served as the director. I’ve covered off the film for the blog before, so in broad strokes, the story sees Mulder and Scully getting bigger glimpses of the conspiracy at work in the highest echelons of the government, even as the Syndicate realises that the aliens have their own plan for colonisation.

The Syndicate continues its work on the vaccine and delivery system (bees!) to stop (or carry) the black oil virus, and Mulder ans Scully almost have their first on-screen kiss (as themselves, not something pretending to be one of them). Scully and Mulder find themselves split up after a disastrous bombing in Texas, which was meant to hide evidence of the conspiracy, something that leads them deeper than they ever have been before.

The film worked beautifully on the big screen, and served as such a payoff for fans of the show, neophytes may have been a little confused, to say the least, but it was great to see all the familiar faces making an appearance, and, of course, over the past few seasons, we the viewer have come to believe Mulder’s point of view, even though Scully’s often makes more sense, but this is the first time we get a real look at the aliens who are leading the colonisation effort. Or at least, involved in it?

I remember seeing this opening day, and then a couple more times after that; buying the bronze plastic cased letterbox vhs edition, upgrading to the DVD, then the blu. Why you ask?

Because the Truth is Out There, and we still need to fight the future…