| "The Unnatural" | |||
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| The X-Files episode | |||
The Alien Bounty Hunter and the alien meet |
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| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 19 |
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| Directed by | David Duchovny | ||
| Written by | David Duchovny | ||
| Production code | 6X20 | ||
| Original air date | April 25, 1999 | ||
| Guest stars | |||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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"The Unnatural" is the nineteenth episode of the sixth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on April 25, 1999 on the Fox Network, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom on Sky1. It was written and directed by lead actor David Duchovny, marking Duchovny's debut as a television director. Although dealing with an alien, the episode is largely unconnected to the mythology of The X-Files, and functions almost as a "Monster-of-the-Week" story. "The Unnatural" earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.1, being watched by 16.88 million people in its initial broadcast.
Arthur Dales, the brother of a retired FBI agent with the same name of a previous recurring character, tells FBI special agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) about an alien who played baseball for the Roswell Grays in 1947. When compared to other episodes of the sixth season, it was generally well received by fans and critics alike.
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A group of white and black baseball players play a game in Roswell, New Mexico. One of the players, Josh Exley, hits a towering foul ball. Some of the players think Exley has the ability to play in the major leagues, but he doesn't want to, desiring to avoid the spot light. Suddenly a group of Ku Klux Klan members arrive on horseback, seeking Exley. Players from both teams fight back and when the mask of the KKK leader falls off, he is revealed to have the face of an alien.
In the present day, agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) look through Roswell newspapers from the 1940s. Mulder spots an article showing Arthur Dales, Josh Exley and the Alien Bounty Hunter, causing him to seek out Dales at his apartment. Mulder finds Dales has moved to Florida, but meets his brother, who is also named Arthur. Dales tells Mulder of when he met Exley back in 1947. Dales, a member of the Roswell Police Department, has been assigned to protect Exley, who is hesitant to the idea. That night on the bus with Exley and his teammates, Dales sees Exley with the reflection of an alien in the window while he sleeps. The next day during a game Exley is hit by a pitch and starts uttering a strange language before coming back to his senses. Dales spots green ooze where Exley's bleeding head had been resting.
Dales looks into Exley's hometown of Macon, Georgia, finding that a boy with that name vanished about five years ago. When scouts for the New York Yankees arrive at one of Exley's games, he purposely tanks it and denies doing so when Dales approaches him about it later. That night at the hotel, Dales, hearing noises from Exley's hotel room, breaks in and sees Exley in his true form, that of an alien. Exley tells Dales that he is forbidden from intermingling with the human race, but fell in love with the game of baseball which is why he is here. Meanwhile the Alien Bounty Hunter, who is in pursuit of Exley, takes his form and murders a scientist investigating the green ooze that Dales found. Dales warns Exley that he's now wanted, and Exley goes into hiding.
The narrative returns to that of the start of the episode. The KKK leader is in fact the Alien Bounty Hunter, who tells Exley that he now has to die. The Bounty Hunter demands he revert back to his true alien face before he dies, but Exley refuses. The Bounty Hunter kills Exley just as Dales arrives. To both of their surprise, Exley bleeds human blood instead of alien blood. Back in the present, Mulder invites Scully to hit baseballs with him on an empty field.[1]
The episode's origins go back to the fall of 1998 when David Duchovny met with series creator Chris Carter and the two agreed that Duchovny would write a late season episode for the show.[2] Duchovny came up with his premise during the home run race in 1998 between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. He had read a newspaper report about Joe Bauman, a baseball player who never made it to the major leagues but hit 72 home runs during the 1954 season, which at the time was more home runs than any player who had played the game professionally. Bauman played for the Roswell Rockets, a team from Roswell, New Mexico, so he immediately connected the two baseball stories with the Roswell Incident in 1947. As Duchovny puts it, "I just made the association... What if this guy was an alien? and I just started working on that idea."[3][2]
Duchovny merged this idea with "Pinocchio", and made the lead guest actor black, because during the 1940s Jackie Robinson became the first black player in the major leagues.[3] Duchovny began working on the script. Chris Carter later added additional plot points, such as including the presence of the Alien Bounty Hunter and retired FBI agent Arthur Dales. Around this time Duchovny and Carter decided that Duchovny would make his directoral debut with this episode as well.[2] "There were all these happy chronological coincidences" that Duchovny was able to use for his story. Because the story was placed in the 1940s and was mostly a flashback based story, he didn't need to be heavily involved as an actor in the episode, along with his co-star Gillian Anderson.[3] The episode title is a play on the novel and movie The Natural.[2] The tagline for this episode was "In the Big Inning," both a change from the normal "The Truth is Out There" and a pun on the phrase "In the Beginning."[2]
Jesse Martin was first considered to play the lead guest role in the episode. Duchovny first noticed Martin a few years prior to season six, and when he saw his guest appearance in Ally McBeal, he felt that his portrayal had the "right feel" to portray the lead role. Duchovny has commented once in an interview that he didn't have much to do with the casting process, since the most important characters in the episode were "all" recurring characters.[3] Two days after filming began, Darren McGavin, who played Arthur Dales suffered a stroke, forcing the producers to remove his scenes from the episode and replace them with another "Arthur Dales", played by M. Emmet Walsh.[2] Dodgers radio announcer Vin Scully was used as a baseball announcer in this episode. The announcer, whose name was the original inspiration for Dana Scully's name, initially was unable to appear due to budgetary issues, but agreed to record his part for free.[2] Daniel Duchovny, David's brother appeared in this episode as a minor guest cameo as a bench jockey.[2][3][4]
Littleton Ballfield, an all wood stadium located in Ontario, California was used for the Roswell Baseball stadium. The ballfield had previously been used for spring training for the minor-league Los Angeles Angels. The show filled the stadium by advertising in local newspapers and on local radio for fans to come to the game dressed in 1940s clothing.[2] Costume designer Christine Peters designed the 1940s baseball uniforms after going to Sports Robe, a specialized Hollywood costume house. Dena Green from the hair department provided 1940s era haircuts to the line of people outside the ballpark.[2] Car Coordinator Kelly Padovich rented two 1947 model Flexible buses for the scenes where the Roswell Greys were riding on a bus. Additional 1930s and 1940s era cars were also rented for the episode.[2] The props department had to develop the Peter Rosebud Bank that Arthur Dales shows Fox Mulder from scratch; it ended up being one of the most expensive props of the season.[2]
The score by Mark Snow was the first time in the series that the show recorded the score with musicians rather than synthesizers. Slide Guitar player Nick Kirgo and harmonica player Tommy Morgan assisted Snow with the score. Researcher Lee Smith worked with the Baseball Hall of Fame to ensure the accuracy of the statistics used in the episode.[2]
Carter said of the episode "I think that David, a person who has a very intimate understanding of the show, made the best of his opportunity to tell a very different kind of X-File, and expand the elastic show that it is." Gillian Anderson said "I was proud of David for writing the script. I thought it was wonderful. He was kind and gentle and respectful and humble, and always tried to do his best."[2] David Duchovny said "It was just a wonderful experience and something I'm forever grateful for, to be able to cut my teeth directing in such a safe environment. And yet it was difficult. Difficult because it was ambitious, but also safe in that these people were all going to do their jobs, and the show was going to get made, and it was going to look like an X-Files even if I just showed up and drooled for 24 hours a day."[5]
The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.1, with a 15 share. It was viewed by 10.082 million households and gathered a total of 16.88 million viewers in the United States alone.[6][7] On April 25, 1999 the episode premiered on American and Canadian television on Fox (both nations) and Global Television Network (Canada) the same time and day as Fox did. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it made its first appearance on British television on July 4, 2001.[8] "The Unnatural" received 87 thousand viewers, placing The X-Files number two in the top ten broadcasts for Sky1 that week behind The Simpsons.[9]
The episode received glowing praise from critics. Eric Mink from the New York Daily News wrote an article two days before the episodes release, and was eagerly waiting for its premiere. Saying the premise was proof that The X-Files was as strong as ever before.[10] The Lexington Herald-Leader reviewer was mostly positive to the episode, saying the writing was "clever" and further stated that the "show was full of visual delights".[11] Cynthia Fuchs from PopMatters called Duchovny's directing debut, "excellence".[12] An unknown writer from the Vancouver Sun listed "The Unnatural" at their list of best stand alone episodes of the show, saying that story was "heartbreaking".[13] Melissa Runstrom from Michigan Daily called it a "charming independent story", but continued with "the episode, though, seems to say more about the human condition than about any extraterrestrial plot".[14]