The X-Files

Pilot - S1-E1

Continuity mistake: When Scully walks into Mulder's office, she stops in the position with the "I want to believe" poster in the background, then she takes a couple of steps to make acquaintance with Mulder, and she finds herself again in the position with the poster in the background. (00:05:15)

Chop Luftmysza

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: She steps forward 2 paces. Enough for the poster to remain in shot.

Ssiscool

The End - S5-E20

Continuity mistake: This is probably one of the most intriguing chess plays in the history of mankind. In the first move shown on the screen Gibson moves a white knight from e4 to f6. Then, in the close-up, the situation on the chessboard more or less corresponds to the arrangement of the figures previously shown on the screen. However, in the next shot, when we see the chessboard from the Russian perspective, the arrangement is completely different. Especially, there is no white knight on the chessboard at all. In the following shot the white rook suddenly appears on g8 (and is subsequently beaten by the black king), but in the next move Gibson again moves his white rook on g8, while the black king has miraculously returned to h8 and again beats the white rook. Moreover, Gibson could not play two white rooks, because later on we see that there is still at least one white rook on the chessboard.

Chop Luftmysza

The X-Files mistake picture

The Sixth Extinction (2) - S7-E1

Continuity mistake: Mulder writes Kritschgau's name on the ulnar side of the palm of Skinner's right hand. Later when Skinner is looking for Kritschgau in his apartment building, the writing is on a different part of Skinner's palm, beginning around the middle and extending diagonally towards the thumb. (00:11:50 - 00:15:30)

Phaneron

Via Negativa - S8-E7

Continuity mistake: At The Beginning of the scene, there is only what seems to be a remote control on the left-hand side of the TV. Five seconds later, a couple of VHS tape cases appear where the remote control was before. (00:08:46)

Revelations - S3-E11

Continuity mistake: Kevin's mother uses her car to hit the 'devil' and shatters the bottom right of the windscreen. The following shots, including the crash into the ditch, show the car with the windscreen undamaged. (00:28:59 - 00:29:22)

Lazarus - S1-E15

Continuity mistake: During the Re-qualification practice shoot scene Dupre as agent Willis fires until he suffers a failure-to-eject stoppage (stovepipe), despite staring at the ejection port throughout the preceding drill he fails to recognise and clear this (as any firearm user would, especially a bank robber with the partial memories of an FBI agent/instructor), and could potentially still have rounds in the magazine. At the next camera change the slide is fully back despite no manipulation from Dupre, as he removes an empty magazine. (00:19:01)

Kaddish - S4-E15

Continuity mistake: While Mulder is picking himself up in the synagogue's attic after being pushed/tripped, you can see that his gun is unloaded, with no magazine. (00:25:07)

Shapes - S1-E19

Continuity mistake: At The End of the episode, when Lyle is transforming in the bathroom, we see his hand perfectly shred a shower curtain, however in the next shot we see his hands and they are still fully human. There's no way he could have done that. (00:38:44)

Jack Vaughan

Quagmire - S3-E22

Continuity mistake: During the very beginning of the episode when the cop and researcher are talking on the shore they go from facing each other to the cop facing the lake and having to turn his head to talk to the researcher between shots. (00:00:30)

Jack Vaughan

More mistakes in The X-Files
More quotes from The X-Files

Trivia: The Cancer Man smokes Morley cigarettes, a fake brand that has appeared in a number of TV shows and movies since the '60s.

More trivia for The X-Files

Show generally

Question: In a vast majority of the episodes, whenever Mulder and Scully investigate some mysterious or paranormal phenomenon, Mulder believes that some unknown force is responsible but Scully always has a rational explanation for what is happening. In other episodes, when Scully herself is caught up in something mysterious, she is the believer but Mulder is the skeptic. In those episodes, why would Mulder be skeptical about an unexplained phenomenon considering that he a was witness to his own sisters abduction and he saw many strange things that defied explanation while working for the F.B.I.?

Answer: As he stated many times throughout the series, Mulder needed Scully to be sober and skeptical. Whenever Scully's skepticism wavered and she started questioning her own rationality, Mulder would try to restore her sense of skepticism, because he needed her to be clear-thinking.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: A variety of reasons. Just because Scully saw something unusual does not mean that it was. Mulder always needs concrete proof before he'll believe there's some otherworldly explanation for unexplained phenomena. He's too experienced to take a novice's explanation as fact. It is also a plot by device by the writers to switch the tables on the characters to make it more interesting and to let viewers see another side of their relationship.

More questions & answers from The X-Files

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.