While I'm not trying to out any one intentionally here, this is a story that I have long felt I had to write. For whatever reason, it seems that many of us have had "group" television shows. Favorite series, special episodes, or just shows that we (generally) seem to like. In the past it seemed to be Star Trek (we've even had a story here on TGF where a person of our persuasion went dressed to a Star Trek Convention and got a kiss from a certain drunken engineer!) Now, in the last part of the twentieth century, I have noticed a lot of my gender-friends are fanatic about The X-Files. Sure, Scully is cute as hell (sometimes),
Mulder had a past life which includes being a cross-dresser (in Twin Peaks), and has even been photographed recently in a prom dress with his wife and really cleans up pretty good! By the way, that's Duchovny on the left (click to see a larger version!)
But that's not what tipped me off. As an avid fan of the show, I have noticed something that the "general" public might not yet have picked up on. Maybe even you haven't observed it? Chris Carter (the shows creator) has got to be transgendered! Even after seeing Chris Carter on various television talk shows, and seeing many of the recognizable signs of a fellow cross dresser, it is first and foremost his writings that gave me the major (or should that be majorette?) clues.
In the first season an episode titled Genderbender (1x13) aired and it was the first time that I had ever watched the show. I even taped it. More for the title than anything else. In this episode a criminal was introduced who had the ability to change gender at will (something, I suspect, many of us would pay dearly for.) Unfortunately, s/he turns out to be homicidal and is attracted to Scully (that gives us three reasons to hate this person!) The gender changing sequences are very good, though dark and murky (but so is most of the series.) Also, this wasn't the best light for a gender person to be shown in (but that's what television is famous for!) It did give me my first clue.
Syzygy (3x13) gave us two blonde teen-aged girls with an incredible power of telekinesis. Though I didn't have this on tape to show a picture, the incredible scene was when a doctor gets an angry mob on his front porch pounding on his door. He comes down the stairs in a dressing gown, fuzzy slippers and a poor make-up job. Take away the angry mob (and fuzzy slippers) and I'm sure that same thing has happened to many of us while dressed. Certainly (and most recently) me! Somebody knows too much!
I really didn't get "in to" The X-Files until it's third season. But that's when I knew for sure what was going on. In Piper Maru (3x15) a sailor is possessed by a black liquid that apparently is of alien origin. The black oil can transfer from victim to victim and it doesn't care about gender either! It starts out in a man, inhabits an attractive red-headed woman, and then another man. (There's no accounting for some black oil's taste!) What was most memorable about this episode, and what caught my ear, happens when Mulder visits a salvage yard to find the owner, one J. Kallenchuk. Jerry, or Jeraldine, depending upon her mood I guess? Three times, the line "Pardon my gender-type." is used, both by Mulder and Jeraldine.
Later in this episode, Mulder and his ex-partner, Alex Krycek, get into a little shoving match at an airport. Mulder offers to shoot Krycek, but only after giving him a bloody nose. Mulder sends Krycek to the Men's room to clean up. The black oil (still in the female red-head) enters the Men's room, steps up to the urinal next to Krycek, and beats the piss (bad pun intended) out of Krycek. Which I would have done too if I ever met Krycek, or got a smirk like the one he gave the red-head at the urinal (us red-heads have to stick together!) The black oil then leaves the red-head and inhabits Krycek. Now I know I am not the only one that has seen a "pair of heels" in the Men's room standing at a urinal.
The Field Where I Died (4x05) is my favorite episode ever. In this episode Mulder is convinced he has met his soul mate in the body of a cult leader's wife. One of the cult leader's many wives actually. Melissa seems to suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder but she really is blocking out some horrible cult-things by bringing forward some of her past lives. One of whom is a angry jewish man named Sidney. Discussing this case with Mulder, Scully briefly mentions the DSM-IV in regards to MPD. Now how many people know what the DSM-IV is? Granted, it covers a lot more than gender issues, but it was just so unusual to hear it during prime-time.
Because Mulder wants to "solve the case", he undergoes regression hypnosis and brings forward some of his past life personalities (easiest David Duchovny's best acting work -- ever!) the first is from World War II, a Polish woman. During the hypnosis, Mulder says: "...I'm a woman.", "In this life she is my son." and "He is Scully." I was well on to the fact that somebody writing this stuff is a bit too familiar (and probably having too much fun) with all of this gender stuff.
There have been other subtle clues dropped. For example, last season one story involved a company called "TransGen Pharmaceuticals". Come on now, do I need to be hit with a hammer? I've also seen Chris Carter several times on television and there just is something too feminine, and familiar, about him. Long hair, the eye brows a bit on the neat side, the voice, the mannerisms... I've seen this all before.
Granted, he didn't write all of the above episodes, but he is the Creator/Executive Producer and I've read he has very strict creative control. Both Carter and Duchovny share a birthday on October 13th and the 13th episodes of the first season had a strong gender theme. You'll notice when you see a clock on the show, a lot of times it's set at 10:13. He also uses numbers personally signifcant for street addresses and telephone numbers I've heard. Carter also hired David Duchovny to play Mulder (maybe because he sensed a gender-link as well as the birthday-link?) and continues to drop hints (or allows them to be dropped) about gender facts and gender facts of life. I could be wrong, and if so then I am sorry for my misinterpretation. If I am right and Chris(tine) is reading this then we know that the truth is out there!