Lake Okoboji in Iowa
1. CONTACT
Though Fox you could smell it, his first missions in the X Files they only reinforce his conjectures: aliens exist and the government, which knows it, is trying at all costs to hide it. Sounds familiar to you, right? ; Well, Scully doesn't have it all with her. From our position as humble viewers, suspicions were confirmed when Chris Carter decided it was time to show the world, in the shocking start of season two, to the first alien of the series.
Let's remember: Mulder follows the trail of transmissions of unknown origin until Puerto Rico where he runs into, in a fleeting encounter, with a greyish and stylized alien in the shadow of a gigantic radio telescope.
Mulder and Scully lost in the Puerto Rican jungle
Although that chapter would be recorded (like the bulk of the first five seasons) in canada , Mulder's supposed trip to Puerto Rico has a clear objective: to honor the SETI project , who has been scanning the sky since the 70s searching for any sign of intelligent life in the Universe and that has the Puerto Rican radio telescope of Arecibo , which was once the largest in the world, as one of its most faithful instruments to carry out such a transcendental task.
If your scientific spirit rivals your love for science, you can visit Arecibo and enjoy as Jodie Foster (Arecibo also appears in Contact ) of her museum and her guided tours. For the laziest there is the SETI@HOME Project, which allows anyone interested to feel like a Lone Gunslinger searching, through your personal computer, alien signs in the endless records of Arecibo.
Under one of the world's largest radio telescopes
2.**THE GOVERNMENT (DENIES ALL KNOWLEDGE)**
Although we must not forget that it is a science-fiction series, many of the plots of X Files They have a reliable origin. The pareidolias caused by "the faces of mars" , the experiments on human beings carried out by the 731 Squadron or the shared paranoias of the Folie a Deux originated their corresponding independent chapter, isolated from a main plot that was already solid enough by itself by making continuous allusions to matters of public domain such as the tunguska explosion , the well-known Roswell case, the Kennedy assassination or the most recent ancient alien theories.
This sense of reality is reinforced by the frequent inclusion of official buildings as settings for the series, with the edgar hoover building, FBI headquarters , the most helpful. Named after the founder of the FBI and located at 935 Pennsylvania Avenue in the city of Washington, the Edgar Hoover building is a huge concrete block that, although it seems to have no soul, is one of the most emblematic and mysterious buildings in the world. country.
I Want to Believe
Its importance in the series is essential from the beginning because, in addition to being the workplace of the main staff of the protagonists of the series, it is in its basements where one of the most remembered scenes takes place: the moment when an embarrassed Scully introduces herself to spooky Mulder as his new partner , kicking off the series.
Those who wish to know more about the history of the FBI can, given the impossibility of accessing the interior of the Edgar Hoover, walk a few meters to the Newseum (Interactive Museum of News and Journalism), which currently houses an interesting exhibit about the famous Federal Bureau of Investigation . In addition to the Edgar Hoover, The X-Files has also used famous locations in its episodes such as The Pentagon , the POT or, of course, the area 51 .
We want to believe
3. LITTLE GREEN MEN
How could it be otherwise, the ufo incident par excellence is one of the turning points in the plot of X Files . Considered the beginning of the modern era of ufology, the alleged forced landing of an alien spacecraft on the farmer's ranch Mac Brazel, North of Roswell , has transcended the fanciful and marginal sphere of flying saucers to end up settling in our culture as an icon.
The roswell case he is alluded to in countless episodes of the series, delving, as he goes, into an explanation that Mulder craves and ends up exceeding all expectations of him. Because in the wake of Roswell is constituted "The Union" (the shady shadow government he belongs to The smoker ) and begins the creepy plan to develop a human-alien hybrid that would serve as a slave to the invaders after alien colonization. Myth or Reality, It is said that more than 200,000 tourists they annually visit a town that, seeing the reef, has crowded its desert landscape with little Martians and spaceships.
Contrary to Tunguska (scene of the so-called "Russian Roswell", in whose impenetrable forests Alex Krycek would lose an arm), Roswell lives by and for ufological tourism , offering visitors endless almond-eyed souvenir shops, a couple of museums dedicated to the subject (the International UFO Museum and Research Center and the hilarious Area 51 Museum), and even its own UFO festival, which is celebrated the week of july 4th and commemorates the incident in a big way.
Roswell, a town dedicated to ufological tourism
Four. THIS IS NOT A LOVE STORY
One of the biggest hooks of X Files it is the personal relationship between the two agents. Despite the obvious chemistry between them, their idyll is subject to incessant work that forces them to be always alert and allows them few joys. Chris Carter, the creator of the series , he already warned when he said he refused to let the romance relegate cases to the background. So he gave them work, a lot of work, in such a way that the tiny moments of leisure that the two protagonists share manage to stick us to the TV like limpets, eager to verify what we suspect: that there is more than a professional relationship.
Yes, there is something (a lot), but that is not the important thing
But it will not be until the sixth season when we are shown some chicha, in a supposed time travel that takes Mulder aboard the Queen Anne , a ship infested with Nazis that was supposed to have disappeared and where he meets a 1939 Scully whom he ends up kissing to our astonishment. The Queen Anne is actually the Queen Mary , a huge ocean liner that played an important role in troop transport in World War II (Hitler even offered a large reward for shooting it down) and now, docked in Long Beach , works as a hotel, restaurant and hosts events of all kinds in the hands of the Cunard shipping company.
Queen Anne or The Love Boat
5. VANCOUVER
Not finding a mysterious enough forest in Los Angeles, Chris Carter decided to record the pilot episode in Vancouver . He liked that so much that they stayed for five years, until Duchovny explained to good old Chris that he didn't want to continue living so far away from his wife. The Canadian city, located in the province of British Columbia, was perfect to get that mystery atmosphere that the producer was looking for and, although he reluctantly accepted the actor's request and the entire team returned to Los Angeles, it is in Vancouver that he is the most locations in the series.
Vancouver keeping the mystery
If you are a fan of X Files (what is called a x-phile ) and you travel to Vancouver start with these two addresses: 1419 Pendrell Street and The Wellington, 2630 York Avenue . There you will find a very familiar picture in which you will want to take selfies without stopping: the Exteriors of Scully and Mulder's apartments . After the fan moment you can visit the beautiful buntzen lake , in whose crystalline waters the young Ruby was abducted (causing Mulder to lose his mind for the first time by identifying himself too much with the case) and where he would meet his death, two seasons later, Queequeg, Scully's adorable puppy, victim of the terrible monster Big Blue.
To finish the route, and rest your legs a bit, you can go to 2400 Kingsway , where there is a usual cinematographic setting in which they have recorded series such as Supernatural either Smallville . We are talking about the ** Motel 2400 **, a retro-style motel where, in our favorite series, Scully loses her trial she (and she gets to open fire on Mulder) is the victim of a secret mind-control project.
This is where Scully lost her puppy.
If you still have the strength you can emulate Mulder and chase Duane Barry to the top of the hill. Grouse Mountain (Skyland, in fiction), praying that the cable car arrives on time and prevent Scully from being abducted, enjoying, in case you succeed, a delicious dinner with incredible views at the Peak Chalet , at more than 1000 meters of altitude.
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Grouse Mountain Observatory, a high altitude dinner