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Conduit

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Kevin Moore receiving binary code from the television.
Series: The X-Files
Original Airdate: October 1, 1993
Production Number: 1x03
Date(s): Unknown
Written by: Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon
Directed by: Daniel Sackheim

Mulder becomes personally connected when he and Scully encounter a young boy who is deeply effected by the disappearance, or abduction, of his teenage sister.

Contents

[edit] Summary

[edit] Teaser

At night, in Campsite 53 beside Lake Okobogee, the Morris family sleeps. The mother, Darlene in an RV, whilst 8 year old Kevin and teenage Ruby are outside in sleeping bags beside a fire. Suddenly, the RV begins to rock and a bright light appears outside. Then suddenly all is quiet once again. Kevin begins screaming for his mother, telling her that Ruby has disappeared. Darlene, who was shaken out of the top bunk, collects herself and reaches for the door knob. But it is searing hot, after burning herself, she opens the door with an oven glove. She takes hold of Kevin and begins scouting for Ruby to no avail.

[edit] Act One

Section Chief Blevins informs Scully about Agent Mulder's latest 302 which is effectively petitioning the FBI to assign a case number to a tabloid headline:

"TEEN TAKEN FROM TENT BY ALIENS"

With no evidence or further explanation attatchhed to the 302, Blevins is clearly displeased. After showing Scully case X-40253, an X-file regarding the disappearance of Mulder's sister in similar circumstance, Blevins asks if Mulder's personal quest to discover his sister's fate is clouding his judgment. Scully returns a negative and asks to talk to Mulder and make a recommendation to Blevins on the subject before he dis-allows the 302.

In the basement office of the X-files Scully challenges Mulder on the validity of his request. Mulder replies that the disappearance occurred at Lake Okobogee, a known UFO Hotspot. One of four well documented UFO sightings from 1967 involved a young girl scout, now the missing girl's mother, Darlene Morris. This it seems is enough for the 302 to be approved; the two investigators travel to Sioux City, Iowa.

The next day on August 26, Mulder and Scully arrive at the Morris residence and begin questioning Darlene. Mulder tries to talk with Kevin who has been acting strangely since the abduction. Mulder finds him watching static on the TV set and copying a binary string onto a pad of paper. Kevin insists the transmission is coming from the TV even though Mulder observes only static.

At the Sioux City Police station Mulder faxes Kevin's transmission fragment to Danny Bernstein at the FBI Cryptography Section. In a simultaneous telephone call Fox promises Danny tickets to a Redskins game as compensation for attempting to decipher the binary string.

The Sioux City Sheriff (a former classmate of Darlene Morris) explains that Darlene has been telling stories of her UFO sighting since the first grade; most people in the area dismiss as having an active imagination. This combined with Ruby's well-known wild-child attitude, a lack of evidence at the scene and no ransom note led to the case being dismissed as a simple runaway.

Mulder and Scully find a note stuck to their car and covertly meet a friend of Ruby's in a public library who claims that Ruby's boyfriend, Greg Randall, got her pregnant and that the two had been planning to leave town.

Later that night, Mulder and Scully venture to the Pennsylvania Pub in search of Greg Randall who was apparently employed as a barman there. The establishment has a distinct Heavy Metal/Biker feel to it, they quickly discover that Greg has not shown up for work in over three weeks and has been dismissed. Spotting a flying saucer tattoo on the bartender's arm, Mulder poses as a UFO skeptic, cleverly encouraging the man to volunteer information to the contrary. This pays off as the man shows the pair his right ear which is badly burnt and disfigured due to what he calls a "killer sunburn at night" at Lake Okobogee.

[edit] Act Two

At 5:30 a.m. the next morning, agents from the NSA burst into Scully's hotel room demanding to know where Mulder is. Mulder is then quizzed by Agent Holtzman as to where he obtained the binary string he faxed the previous day which is revealed to be a defense satellite transmission.

The Morris residence is ransacked by NSA Agents later that day, and Kevin's possessions are boxed up to be taken away for investigation, while many other items in the house are broken or damaged in casual disregard for the family's rights and freedoms. As the operation draws to a close, Mulder and Scully arrive. Mulder collects samples of a substance blistered on the roof of the RV present at the lake on the night of the abduction.

At the FBI regional office in Sioux City Agent Atsumi explains that 77 pages of binary code recovered from the Morris residence were deciphered, the data included an image of DaVinci's Universal Man, a short animation of a DNA double helix and a short segment of music from the Brandenberg Concerto, some lines from the Koran and a Shakespearean sonnet. Mulder notes that the fragmented nature of the data and its varying origins implies time-division-multiplexing - this is a means of sending multiple messages to multiple destinations/clients at once in a single transmission.

Darlene and Kevin Morris are roughly ejected from the NSA building, while Darlene explains that she wants nothing more to do with the FBI, Kevin stares blankly at some CCTV monitors, perhaps seeing embedded transmissions in these too.

Mulder explains to Scully that he belives Kevin has been touched by whatever abducted Ruby, allowing him to percieve these transmissions, the two return to Campsite 53 in the hopes of discovering the truth in the absence of any other evidence. They notice that a line of trees beside the lake have been singed by extreme heat, Mulder then discovers chunks of glass in the sand on the shore also formed by extreme heat (of at least 2500° C). Mulder sights a wolf that leads him to the discovery of a shallow grave just inside the forest.

[edit] Act Three

Mulder discovers that the grave containes Greg Randall's body with a note inside his wallet (which still contains money) that reads:

Dr. Jack Fowler Aug.7 - 2:30

They match the hand-writing from this note to the one pinned to their car; both are written by the girl they met at the library whose name they discover to be Tessa. The Sheriff had discovered from Dr. Fowler that the appointment was for Tessa and that she had lied to them, in fact she was pregnant, not Ruby. Greg Randall was the father and he and Tessa had planned to run away. Mulder presses her into slipping up and revealing that she killed Greg and would've killed Ruby had she had the opportunity. Scully argues that they should now hand the case over to local law enforcement and close the X-file, Mulder refuses and presses on to try to find Ruby. They return to the Morris house, which is empty, with the front door unlocked and many sheets of paper laid out on the lounge floor. The papers are covered in neatly written binary strings, Scully looks at the arrangement from the mezzanine level above the lounge and from this new perspective sees the chilling image of Ruby Morris' face made up from 1's and 0's.

[edit] Act Four

The pair return to Campsite 53 and find the Morris' RV abandoned by the shore. They follow a trail into the forest and find Darlene trying to catch her breath. Kevin had escaped her and has run deeper into the forest. Mulder finds Kevin walking towards a bright light which turns out to be the headlights from dozens of bikers off-roading through the forest. Mulder and Kevin run back when they hear Scully's screams to find an unconscious Ruby lying on the forest floor.

At the Sioux City hospital Scully and Mulder discuss the health of Ruby who has been awake for a few hours. She has several unusual symptoms that can be caused by prolonged weightlessness. Ruby tells the pair that the "persons" who took her told her not to disclose any details of the abduction. Kevin presses her tell Mulder who he says "already knows", but before Ruby can answer, she is interrupted by Darlene who because of the troubles "the truth" has brought her, tells the agents to leave and never contact Ruby again. Mulder's desperate pleas to Darlene to let Ruby speak about her experiences are met with stark defiance, he appears crushed that "the truth" has eluded him once again.

Back in Washington, Scully reviews Mulder's hypnotic regression tape concerning his sister's disappearance. Mulder describes the room, his paralysis and his sister's cries for help as she was being abducted, at the same time the real Mulder sits in a church crying, looking at his sister's photo. On the tape Mulder describes a voice he can hear in his head, telling him not to be scared and that one day his sister will return unharmed. Asked whether he believes the voice he replies:

"I WANT to believe."

[edit] Background Information

[edit] From Script to Screen

  • This episode's script describes the details of a front page to the X-file concerning the abduction of Mulder's sister, including the date of abduction as January 14, 1989, and that the case belonged to the Violent Crimes Division. Although the CD-ROM The X-Files: Unauthorized Access includes a close-up view of this page - revealing that it was created for filming - the front page can only barely be seen in the final version of this episode. There is no visible evidence elsewhere in the series to suggest that Mulder was aware of the X-files prior to 1990.
  • After Blevins asks Scully if Mulder has shared any details with her regarding his sister's abduction, Scully replies, in this episode's script, by stating, "I wasn't aware that he was pursuing the case in an official capacity" and Blevins further inquires, "But he's told you about it?" before he tells her that there is no need for her to protect Mulder as he was the one who originally opened the X-file. The final version of the episode omits Scully's reply and Blevins' further inquiry; Blevins asks Scully if Mulder has told her about the abduction then immediately tells her that there is no need to protect her partner as Mulder was the one who initiated the file.
  • Another two lines were omitted between Scully relaying to Blevins the details she has learned about the abduction of Mulder's sister and Blevins asking her whether, in her opinion, Mulder's personal agenda has clouded his professional judgment. In the script, Blevins asks her, "Agent Scully, do you see a parallel between this X-file and the tabloid article Agent Mulder proposes to investigate?" to which Scully answers, "Of course. A young boy. A missing sister. An Alien abduction scenario." Blevins then asks Scully if she believes Mulder's agenda is clouding his professional judgment, as Blevins does in the final version of the episode but his question is asked in the present tense rather than in the past tense.
  • After Blevins announces that he is planning to disallow Mulder's 302 form, Scully states in the script, "With respect, sir, I think that might be premature". The script notes that "Blevins' look challenges her to explain" and Scully then adds, "You've given me an assignment to assess the validity of Agent Mulder's work. If you're concerned about his objectivity in this matter... at least let me talk to him and make a recommendation." In the final version of the discussion, however, Scully merely states, "With respect, sir, at least let me talk with him... and make a recommendation."
  • The script's version of the next scene, set in Mulder's office, starts with Mulder clipping out the tabloid article, previously described in the script as "a newspaper clipping", with an exacto knife. This action is not shown in the final version of the episode and Mulder is instead twiddling a pencil between his fingers when the scene in his office begins. Later in the script's version of the same scene, Mulder eats popcorn while showing Scully several slides that relate to the UFO sightings of 1967. He does not do this in the televised version of the scene. At the end of the slide show also in the televised version, Mulder points out that not only was Darlene Morris one of four girl scouts to have reported one of the 1967 UFO sightings but she is also the mother of the recently abducted teenage girl, Ruby Morris. In the script, however, Scully realizes this connection alone; Mulder leads her to make the correlation but does not directly point it out to her and the name "Darlene Morris" has been circled repeatedly in red ink, also unlike the final version of the scene.
  • The next two scenes in the script feature Mulder and Scully first driving down Sioux City's main street and then arriving outside the Morris residence but the scene set in the main street does not appear in the episode's final edit. The script describes the street as "a monument to the American franchise phenomenon. One of everything - from McDonalds to K-Mart to 7-11." A Burger King store had previously been set to appear in the series' second episode, "Deep Throat", but this was also ultimately changed.
  • Upon their arrival at the front door to the Morris residence, Scully rings the bell in the script but Mulder knocks on the door in the final edit. When Darlene Morris answers the door, she nods in the script when Scully asks her if she is Darlene Morris but she does not do this in the final version and, unlike in the script, Scully shows her FBI badge to Darlene.
  • Shortly after the agents question Darlene and she is left alone with Scully, Darlene admits she can see a look in Scully's eye and implies that she believes it is an indication of the agents' skepticism regarding Darlene's claim that her daughter has been abducted. The script concludes that scene with dialogue that does not feature in the episode's ultimate version, when Darlene asks Scully, "let me ask you something: what would you do? What would you do if you saw what I saw, and your little girl was gone? Would you shut up about it or would you stand up and shout until someone listened to you?"
  • Mulder's method of obtaining the Redskins game tickets for Danny Bernstein also changed as the episode evolved. In the script, Mulder claims, during the phone call to Danny, that he already has the tickets and tells his FBI contact to "pick a game." Mulder winces at Danny's response and replies, "The Giants? You're killing me here, Danny." In the version of the episode that was televised, Mulder tells Danny, "I know a friend who knows a friend who knows a friend who can get you tickets to a Redskins game." Mulder then thanks Danny and ends the call, but is neither seen nor heard doing either of these actions in the script, due to a scene change.
  • Sheriff Jack Withers is only named in the script and not in the televised version of this episode. In the script, Withers describes Ruby Morris' reckless behavior as "a local secret" but he refers to it merely as "something" in the version of this episode that was televised.
  • Similar to the sheriff, Tessa Sears' last name is only given in the script and does not appear in the episode as finally televised. During the agents' covert meeting with Tessa in the library, the script describes the as-yet unnamed character by noting, "Even through the aisles, we can make out a crooked smile, a chipped tooth." No abnormalities actress Shelley Owens' dentistry can be seen in the final version of this episode, however.
  • In this episode, the agents' secret meeting with Tessa is put to an abrupt end when a librarian behind them drops some books on the floor, startling Tessa into quickly leaving. Originally, a librarian pushing a squeaky book cart past the agents was to have provided the startle. Subsequently, the script states that the sound of Tessa's receding footsteps can be heard shortly before the pursuing agents' manage to catch sight of her "disappearing" through an emergency exit and a heavy steel door shutting behind her. In the episode as it was televised, only the receding footsteps can be heard.
  • The Pennsylvania Pub was originally named the Boar's Head. The script includes a scene in which the agents' rental car can be seen parked outside the pub, seeming very out of place next to a row of Harley Davidson motorcycles, before Scully glances up at a neon sign bearing the pub's name and then enters with Mulder. In the final version of this episode, though, only bikers and their vehicles can be seen; neither Scully, Mulder nor their car appear.
  • Act One was originally to have ended immediately after the NSA agents burst into Scully's motel room and demanded to know the whereabouts of Mulder.
  • Agent Holtzman's first name is given as "Victor" in the script.
  • The televised edit of this episode does not show the agents entering the Morris residence but the script describes this scene, with the agents showing their ID upon admittance before climbing the stairs in the house.
  • Agent Atsumi's first name is given as "Leza" in the episode's script. The script also refers to Atsumi as holding the rank of a Special Agent but this cannot be determined in the televised version of the episode, in which she is only described as being an Agent. When Agent Atsumi demonstrates the data deciphered from the binary code, Scully identifies a sample from the Brandenburg Concertos in the episode's ultimate version but, in the script, she rhetorically asks whether the music is from those concertos.
  • In the script, Scully hears the distant howl of wolves at the start of the scene where she visits Campsite 53 with Mulder but, in the episode's televised version, Scully does not notice the presence of the wolves until she sees one at the perimeter of the forest. The script's version of that later scene again features the sound of the howling wolves, just before the lone wolf Scully sees leaps back into the woods, and the sound is described as being closer and more fierce than the first wolf howls but this also cannot be heard in the ultimate version of the episode. After the lone wolf scampers back into the forest, Scully wonders, "What's going on?" but she does not say this in the episode's final edit. In the scene where Mulder finds the grave in the forest, the script notes he is holding a handkerchief over his mouth but he uses only his hand to stifle the smell in the version that was televised. In the script, Scully tries harder to convince Mulder not to disturb the grave in his attempt to uncover its contents, asking if he hears her and then suggesting, "Let's do this by the book." Mulder initially seems to concur but is ultimately determined to unearth the contents of the grave.

[edit] Other Episode Notes

  • The page of binary code Mulder gets from Kevin on his first visit to their home which he then faxes contains only 276 bits, which is 34 and a half bytes. This is an incredibly short chunk of data, shorter than some packet headers, in fact; it would be almost impossible to glean even the smallest piece of information from this transmission fragment. Both the fact that many tens of millions of largely similar transmissions are sent every minute and the fact that the pictographs have been re-digitized via the fax machine make it highly unlikely that telecomms monitors would be alerted.
  • The massive image of abductee Ruby Morris seen in this episode was originally designed by Assistant Art Director Greg Loewen. However, colleague Vivien Nishi had to painstakingly alter the printed binary design to make it seem like an eight-year-old had drawn the image. The assignment took several days to complete, but the final image only appears for a few seconds.
  • In this episode, Scully listens to a recording of Mulder's hypnotic regression where he recalls that he was in bed when his sister was abducted. In a flashback to the incident seen in "Little Green Men", however, Mulder and his sister are seen playing a board game called Stratego before Samantha's abduction. According to series creator Chris Carter, a possible explanation for this inconsistency may be due to the fact that Mulder's memories are derived from hypnotic regression and are therefore vague.
  • In this episode, Mulder fires his gun for the first time in the series. He doesn't use it to cause harm, but to simply scare away a pack of wolves.
  • According to Scully, Tessa had a doctor's appointment scheduled on August 7th. That date is also David Duchovny's birthday.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

[edit] Guest Cast

[edit] Guest Starring

[edit] Co-Starring

[edit] Featuring

[edit] References

Iowa; Sioux City

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