Veteran Fans of "The X-Files" disect the movie's plot.

         Warning! If you have not seen ``The X-Files'' movie, stop now. What
         follows, a discussion of plot holes, gaps in logic and general opinionizing by
         ``X-Files'' fans, is nothing but one long spoiler.

         UFOs, little green men and evil shadow governments aside, what many
         ``X-Files'' fans enjoy about the series, soon to begin its sixth and likely
         final season on TV, is its uniquely complex and labyrinthine plot. (Its
         ``mythology,'' as they somewhat grandly refer to it.) And as pop culture
         goes, ``The X-Files'' has set the bar higher and played consistently truer
         to its own sprawling, convoluted internal logic than almost anything
         network TV has ever attempted. It is certainly a lot smarter than ``Star
         Trek,'' where time warps, holodecks and worm holes routinely solve too
         many plot problems. And don't get us started on ``Twin Peaks,'' which
         completely derailed in terms of logic and coherence after the first eight
         episodes. But nothing's perfect. In general, ``X-philes'' seem to have
         enjoyed the new $60 million movie, recognizing it for being both bigger and
         dumber than the best TV episodes, but entertaining nonetheless.

         But those same ardent fans have an eerie, shared experience. A few hours
         after leaving the theater, they start picking the movie apart. They begin
         to notice that some things don't fit all that well.

         We contacted a number of ``X-Files'' fans, some of whom had won passes
         to the movie locally in a WFTC-TV (Channel 29, local home of ``the
         X-Files'')-sponsored contest, others who were recommended to us and a
         few via the Internet, where ``X-philes'' congregate and communicate in
         startling numbers. Much of what goes on the Net is, as usual, adolescent
         gibberish, but there are a couple of gems out there.
         We found one in Anthony Leong, a 29-year-old pharmacist/aspiring
         ``X-Files'' screenwriter in Toronto. His artfully designed Web site
         (users.aol.com/aleong1631/conspiracy.html) offers an unusually coherent
         analysis, ``Cracking the Conspiracy: Making Sense of `The X-Files'
         Mythology Arc.''

         We put several basic questions to Leong and the others. ``Who blew up
         the building in Dallas? And what purpose was served if the bodies of the
         firemen and young boy were recovered anyway?'' Leong: I believe it was
         the consortium [Cigarette Smoking Man and his old, male buddies], and it
         was their attempt to cover-up this new mutation [of aliens].

         But it is kind of messy, actually. There's no conceivable reason why the
         consortium would want to blow up the building, because they would only
         draw attention to themselves. They say they've disposed of other bodies
         [by incineration], so you wonder why they didn't use that method again?
         And then the bomb threat was called in, which brought in the FBI, which
         makes no sense.

         Pat Gonzalez (former Twin Cities resident, now living in Kentucky): It was
         the consortium, using one of their contacts. And the idea was to disguise
         the condition of the bodies. They didn't want them to arbitrarily disappear.
         If they disappeared someone would go looking. They wanted them
         accounted for.

         Adam Ward, 16-year-old Blake High School student, Minneapolis: It was
         FEMA, in cahoots with the syndicate [i.e., the consortium]. But why didn't
         they just dispose of them some other way? That's a very good question.
         Does Cigarette Smoking Man already know that the aliens are mutating into
         a whole new life form?

         Jason Young, 17, Spring Lake Park: Well, he certainly seemed
         least-surprised, didn't he? And he's running that thing in Antarctica. Leong:
         In the movie, he seems to already know about the Black Oil and what it
         could do, plus we've seen his ability to cut a deal with the Black Oil Aliens
         in [the TV episode] ``Apocrypha.'' That leads me to believe he's working
         for the Black Oil Aliens and is somehow setting up his own place in the new
         order that is about to come.

         Leong sees an ongoing conflict between multiple species of aliens, and
         suggests one group of ETs may lack an immunity to the Black Oil of the
         movie. And if Cigarette Smoking Man is playing one alien group against
         another, what possible leverage does he have on any of them that
         protects him? Has there been a sign of anything like that?

         > Stephanie Hasley, 27, Minneapolis: I think he just thinks he can handle
         everything.

         Leong: I haven't been able to figure that out. There's no evidence of
         anything like that in the movie or any episode. And honestly, in my opinion,
         I think [``X-Files'' creator] Chris Carter is making this up as he goes along.
         I've thought that ever since the third season. Since then, each season
         seems to have a mythology arc of its own. But when you go to the next
         season that mythology is violated.

         Is the Well-Manicured Man really dead? Adam Ward: No way. No one like
         him ever dies in these movies. We didn't see the body.

         Leong: Oh yeah, he's dead. It makes sense in the mini-arc they provided
         for his character. Of the supporting characters, only he had a half-decent
         character arc. You see him at home with his family. He shows concern for
         his family. That motivates him to help Mulder, and like everyone who helps
         Mulder, he ends up dead.

         In the series, it seemed clear that the consortium had attempted to kill
         Cigarette Smoking Man. He spent most of the season hiding out in a cabin
         in Quebec. Now, in the movie, they're all together again. What's going on?
         Leong: It was never explained why [the consortium] took him back. They
         did try to kill him, but now they're all chummy again. And in the movie,
         Cigarette Smoking Man seems to out rank Well-Manicured Man. It's not
         very consistent.

         Are the bees and the corn both delivery systems for the Black Oil virus?
         Leong: Well, they've genetically engineered the corn in such a way that
         the Black Oil is contained in the pollen, and the bees pick it up and
         introduce it into humans with their venom. We know that much. And we've
         seen the bees used as a delivery system for smallpox in [the TV episode
         ``Zero Sum''], but I think the smallpox virus is being used as a vector to
         contain the Black Oil virus.

         What are the biggest questions that need answering in this next TV
         season? Leong: Who are the colonists and who is the resistance? Is the
         Black Oil the colonist or the resistance? But if you listen to ``The X-Files''
         soundtrack for the movie, Chris Carter does a spoken-word thing and
         alludes to the colonists not being able to colonize the Earth because they
         don't have a resistance to the Black Oil. So that means the Black Oil and
         the colonists are in opposition. But then you watch the movie, and it
         seems the Black Oil is the colonizing force, and the consortium wasn't
         expecting it to mutate into this new form. So I say, let's make clear who
         the stakeholders are. Who's colonizing and who's against the colonizing?
         And, obviously, this would clear up Cigarette Smoking Man's role. ``Yeah,''
         Leong laughs, ``I've been trying to wrap my head around this since I saw
         the movie. And the more I think about it the less sense it makes.'' Which,
         of course, is half the fun.

         --Brian Lambert

         © Copyright Pioneer Press 1998