The Sixth Extinction

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While Scully tries to piece together the meaning of the symbols on the spaceship beached in Africa, Mulder is imprisoned by his own frenetic brain activity.

[edit] Summary

This episode continues where Season 6 "Biogenesis" left off.

Agent Scully attempts to decipher the cryptic symbols on the UFO buried on the beach in Africa's Ivory Coast aided by local biology professor and former colleague of Merkmallen, Amina Ngebe. Meanwhile in Washington Mulder's condition deteriorates, Assistant Director Skinner at Mulder's insistence goes to see former Pentagon researcher Michael Kritschgau and persuades him to visit Mulder in hospital. Kritschgau recognises Mulder's condition from a CIA study of ESP ability and explains that Mulder's brain is working harder than his body can sustain. Kritschgau tells Skinner to inject Mulder with Phenytoin, which slows down the electronic impulses in his brain allowing him to regain consciousness. In Africa Scully is wary when Dr Barnes arrives and offers his help. Scully and Amina soon discovered that the symbols on the UFO describe human genetics and contain text from every major religion. Dr Barnes believing that the UFO is the ultimate power of life itself takes Scully and Amina hostage wanting to take full credit for the discovery himself. But Scully hits him with a chair and the two escape while he is unconscious. Back in Washington Skinner injects Mulder with a greater dose of Phenytoin in order to get him out of the hospital, however Agent Fowley appears and shortly afterwards Mulder is overcome with convulsions. Scully returns to Washington and Skinner warns her that Mulder is dying, she visits him in hospital and pleads with him to hang on.[1]

[edit] Background Information

11:09: Mulder writes on Skinner's hand one way, but the next time it is shown (14:43) it is different.

When we see Scully writing down the translations of Navajo words for the nucleotides in DNA, adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine, Scully has written the first one as "ademine".

There is no "ancient Navaho alphabet," making Barnes' theories dubious at best. Navajo, like most Native American languages, had no written form until relatively recently.

The tagline for this episode is "The Truth is Out There".

The name of this episode makes a reference to a real scientific study with the same name that tells us that humanity is on the verge of extinction by its own hands.[[2]] Scully makes reference to this study in the next episode, "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati".

[edit] Memorable Quotes

Episode Opening Voice Over, Scully: "I came in search of something I did not believe existed. I've stayed on now, in spite of myself. In spite of everything I've ever held to be true. I will continue here as long as I can... as long as you are beset by the haunting illness which I saw consume your beautiful mind. What is this discovery I've made? How can I reconcile what I see with what I know? I feel this was meant not for me to find but for you... to make sense of — make the connections which can't be ignored... connections which, for me, deny all logic and reason. What is this source of power I hold in my hand — this rubbing — a simple impression taken from the surface of the craft? I watched this rubbing take its undeniable hold on you, saw you succumb to its spiralling effect. Now I must work to uncover what your illness prevents you from finding. In the source of every illness lies its cure."

Kritschgau: I was destroyed to protect what Mulder knew all along. And now he's the proof. He's the X-file!

[edit] Links and References

[edit] References

SEMICOLON-SEPARATED LIST OF ITEMS/LOCATIONS REFERENCED IN EPISODE (BUT NOT LINKED TO IF ALREADY LINKED IN SUMMARY OR GUEST STARS SECTIONS)

Previous episode:
Biogenesis

The X-Files
Season 7

Next episode:
The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati


Series:	The X-Files
Original Airdate:	07.11.1999
Production Number:	7ABX03
Date(s):
Written by:	Chris Carter
Directed by:	Kim Manners