Mark Forsythe = MK
         Alexa Deans = AD
         Mike Quigley = MQ
 

         MK: Hi, this is Mark Forsythe, I'm in our Kelowna bureau... We're starting a
         new weekly feature, it's about pop culture: the strange, the absurd, the
         unexamined to the overexposed, and we begin this week with the growing
         popularity of a TV show called The X-Files. For those of you who haven't
         actually seen The X-Files, think of it as a kind of cross between Twin
         Peaks and The Twilight Zone. It's shot in Vancouver, it's into the second
         season now, the show has attracted something of a cult following
         throughout North America and joining me now are some X-Files fans, Mike
         Quigley and Alexa Deans. Good afternoon to all of you. [various greetings
         exchanged]  Well, Alexa, I haven't actually seen it yet, I have to admit
         this publicly, I'm going to after this, I know. Can you describe a typical
         show to me?
         AD: There's no such thing as a "typical X-Files show".

         MK: Which is why you like it, right?
         AD: Exactly. You just don't know what's going to happen next, other than
         the two FBI agents having to deal with a situation of some kind or other
         every week, there's nothing typical about it.

         MK: But what's the basic concept?
         AD: The unexplainable, anything that regular FBI or regular investigative
         agencies can't deal with, or write off as being silly or unfounded. This is
         what gets fobbed off onto Mulder and Scully.

         MK: This duo...
         AD: Yes.

         MK: One's a doctor, right?
         AD: Yes, the woman, Doctor Dana Scully.

         MK: And her life is based in fact.
         AD: Yes.

         MK: She's the critical one.
         AD: She's the scientist.

         MK: And who's the other guy?
         AD: Fox Mulder, whose nickname is "Spooky" because he is open to
         anything, he keeps an open mind about everything, all possibilities.

         MK: So, Mike, tell us how you got hooked on this.
         MQ: I didn't really get into the show until the repeats from the first
         season. It was a show that I kept missing every week when it was on, but
         finally when I did get to see it, I was hooked.

         MK: And... there has to be a reason there. Is it something you can put
         your finger on?
         MQ: I heard about it on the Internet where there's a huge discussion
         group about the show, so I thought I should check it out.

         MK: Alexa, were you there from the very beginning?
         AD: Right from the beginning. As soon as there was any advance press,
         any publicity about the show, I was paying attention, leaning towards the
         darker side of things and being interest in that aspect of life. And then
         lead actor David Duchovny, I had particularly enjoyed his performance as a
         transvestite FBI agent [sic] in Twin Peaks, and the lead role in the film
         Kalifornia.

         MK: Are there other reoccurring characters in there too, Mike, that you
         enjoy?
         MQ: Yeah, there's a couple. One is called Deep Throat, unfortunately he's
         not with us any more. He was in the first season.
         AD: Maybe...
         MQ: Well, you never know! [laughter] He's a character who would appear
         from time to time to give Mulder little tips and prompt him to investigate
         certain things, often putting his own life in danger. Another fellow is The
         Smoking Man. He's usually seen in the background when Mulder meets in
         the FBI offices with the high-ups. He's a person of whom little is known but
         he does hold a position of power, even though much of his job entails
         storing top-secret items in the Pentagon. [Note how I shamelessly quote
         from the FAQ here ";-)]

         MK: I guess I should get a better idea of how bizarre some of these "files"
         are that they try and crack, Alexa. What are some of the situations they
         find themselves in?
         AD: There was one this past fall that was particularly frightening. There
         was a half-human, half-worm toxic sewer creature that appeared and was
         killing people. It was the most wormy, slug-like thing with a semi-human
         head that lived in the sewers that played on everybody's fears of what's
         deep down in the water.

         MK: Yeah? You like that, do you?
         AD: Oh yes!
         MQ: It was sort of like the alligators in the sewers of New York.

         MK: Right! What's a favorite of yours, Mike?
         MQ: My favorite was the show called Irresistible, which was about this
         serial killer similar to Jeffrey Dahmer. This show was very disturbing. The
         killer would pick up or kidnap women and then mutilate their bodies. Mulder
         and Scully were brought in to check it out because people in the FBI
         originally thought this was the work of aliens. The way the show was
         done, there was some suggestion that the guy was an alien because he
         would seemingly transform into different characters.

         MK: Hmmm... it gets very dark.
         MQ: You didn't know whether he was transforming, or that was just the
         way people were seeing him when they were being terrorized by him.

         MK: What is it, the relationship between the two characters that you like?
         MQ: I like the chemistry between them and the relationships that they
         have with other people that they deal with on the show as well.

         MK: And it's made in Vancouver. It must be a kick to try and spot
         Vancouver scenes in it.
         MQ: Yeah, that's part of the fascination with the show, the nitpicking or,
         as they call it on the Internet, the "netpicking". For example, in the
         Irresistible show, the killer was driving down Hastings Street by the old
         Woodward's location in Vancouver and a bus passed him on which the sign
         clearly said "UBC". So we had a little blooper there.

         MK: Is it true that SFU doubles as FBI headquarters?
         MQ: Yeah, but they have stock footage of the real FBI building that they
         integrate into the show with that.

         MK: Alexa, from the sounds of it, this show had the appeal that Twin
         Peaks had a few years back. But that faded. Are you fearful the same
         thing might happen with The X-Files?
         AD: I think it's like any program ... how far can they go. But the way Chris
         Carter has been keeping a rein on it and keeping it so interesting -- the
         writing is just unbelievable -- I think they would probably end the show
         before it got to the point where people were tuning out. I think they'd be
         able to anticipate that. I think that a few years down the road, it's still
         going to become a cult favorite.

         MK: Uh-oh. Are we going to have conventions like Trekkie [sic]
         Conventions?
         MQ: They already do! There was a show in Vancouver recently which was
         actually a Star Trek convention and the fellow who played Deep Throat
         was supposed to appear there. There's another big convention in the
         American Midwest in the next while which is concentrating on X-Files
         material.

         MK: What do people talk about back and forth on the Internet regarding
         the show?
         MQ: There's actually two Internet newsgroups. One is called alt.tv.x-files,
         the other is alt.tv.x-files.creative, which is where people can upload their
         own stories which they've based on X-Files type themes. In the main
         group, which is mostly a discussion of the show, for the first three days of
         this week, we've had an average of about two hundred messages a day.
         And this is a week following an episode which was just a repeat.

         MK: Well, what do they talk about?
         MQ: Oh, everything from "Can I get a copy of the show that I missed last
         week?" to Mulder's supposed obsession with pornography and the sexual
         preferences of the stars and characters.

         MK: Oh, I see ... it's starting to "peel back the layers of the onion", so to
         speak!
         MQ: Yeah, it gets pretty bizarre, and some of it recently has been quite
         tasteless.

         MK: Oh, that's too bad. Alexa, is it true that you won't go anywhere on
         Friday nights because you have to be there for this?
         AD: Oh, very true. Several of us plan our schedules so Friday nights, that's
         where we are, watching it, and if, for some unforeseeable reason, we can't
         be home, someone tapes it for us.

         MK: Well, I'm going to give it a try now because so many TV series are
         shot in Vancouver and sometimes they're not the best. But it sounds like
         this is a perfect combination and you have a well-written, well-performed
         TV series, and it's worth giving a watch.
         AD: It's like no other show shot in Vancouver.

         MK: OK, thanks to you both! [various farewells] Mike Quigley and Alexa
         Deans, they are X-Files fans. [He gives the address of the Vancouver
         X-Files club which is 4404 Perry Street, Vancouver, B.C. V5N 3X5.]

         --Mike Quigley