Young at Heart

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Mulder examines the projection of Dr Ridley.
Series: The X-Files
Original Airdate: February 11, 1994
Production Number: 1x15
Date(s): Unknown
Written by: Scott Kaufer and Chris Carter
Directed by: Michael Lange
A 'young' John Barnett exacts his revenge.

Mulder must stop an elusive stalker who he captured in his youth, but who seems to have remained the same age.

Contents

[edit] Summary

A psychotic criminal from one of Mulder's past cases - John Barnett - is back to get revenge on Mulder for incarcerating him. Before Barnett's release, a renegade doctor had found a way to reverse the aging process - using Barnett as his test subject. Mulder and Scully rush to catch the now-unrecognizable youthful Barnett before he carries out his threat to kill all of Mulder's loved ones.

[edit] Background Information

  • This episode features numerous links to the novel Frankenstein. These include the idea of a doctor creating a monster as the result of unauthorised experimentation, the fact that the doctor explains his history and reasoning to a supposed neutral observer, the opening scene of a supposedly dead creature opening its eyes and the salamander limb that is grafted to the corpse, which echoes the novel's depiction of different bodies grafted together. Indeed, Joseph Ridley - the doctor character in this episode - even admits in one scene that people referred to him as "Doctor Frankenstein" in the past.
  • When John Barnett dies in hospital near the end of this episode, it is the first time in the series that Mulder has been directly responsible for a death.
  • As originally written, the scene in which Agent Purdue is strangled by Barnett's salamander hand was considerably longer. Fox cited concerns regarding the violence issue and felt uncomfortable about letting the murder scene drag on. Although producer Chris Carter argued with Fox's standards and practices department over the scene, he eventually admitted defeat and shortened the scene considerably.
  • The CIA Agent who is trying to get information from Barnett while doctors attempt to save him is played by William B. Davis. Davis plays the Cigarette Smoking Man for the entire series. It is not specified whether the character he is playing in this episode is actually the Cigarette Smoking Man or if it is an other character. But as the Cigarette Smoking Man has not been named and his function is not known until now this being only his second episode it is more likely the makers of the series just haven't settled on a designation for him jet.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Guest Starring

[edit] Co-Starring

[edit] Featuring

[edit] Uncredited

[edit] References

Progeria;

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