Before the X-FilesBefore the X-Files1946 The first X-File is opened by J Edgar Hoover. Itdescribes a possible werewolf case. ("Shapes")
1947 The Roswell Incident. According to Deep Throat, this was onlythe first of many UFO salvage operations, and not the most important. Aninternational conference was held after the wreckage was found, attended by theUSA, Britain, China, Germany and France, everyone agreed to exterminate any EBEsfound in their country. ("EBE" and "The Erlenmeyer Flask")However, even Mulder is unsure how much of this story of believe. In "Musings..."Cancerman talks to Deep Throat about the "Roswell hoax" deisgned toput people off the scent. The infamous Roswell autopsy gets is mentioned byScully in "Nisei", in no flattering terms, and gets a brief parody in "JoseChung".
1953 August 19. A young Bill Mulder, Deep Throat and CigaretteSmoking Man question a sailor with radiation burns about an encounter with acrashed UFO. ("Apocrypha") This date doesn't fit with "Musings ofa Cigarette Smoking Man."
1960 October 11. Original date given for Mulder's birth, but latersuperceded by "Paper Clip" (see below)
1961 October 13. Fox William Mulder is born. (Shown in hisfile in "Paper Clip", replacing the earlier date as given in "Conduit".The official line is that this is now the correct version.)
1962 October 30. A young Cancerman, a US Army Special Forcescaptain, sees a picture of his friend, Bill Mulder's, family. Bill Mulder tellshim his one-year old child (Fox) has just spoken his first word: "JFK".Their ages and situations contradict the scene in "Apocrypha".
1964 January 22. Original date for Samantha's birth, given inConduit, but later superceded (see below)
1964 February 23. Dana Katherine Scully is born. (Year fromthe grave stone in "One Breath." Date from "Lazarus") Shehas an older sister, Melissa, and two brothers, one older and one younger ("OneBreath")
1965 November 21. Samantha Ann Mulder is born. (As with her brother,the date given in "Paper Clip" replaces the date in "Conduit.")
1973 November 27. Samantha Mulder abducted by someone orsomething from the family home at Chilmark, Massachusetts. ("Conduit"and "Little Green Men")
1983 - 1986 Mulder is at Oxford at this time, according to "UnusualSuspects", although there are lots of internal problems with this dating.The whole issue of what Mulder did before the X-Files is tricky.
1986 Scully gains her physics degree from the Univeristy of Maryland("Jersey Devil") and commences Medical School. The date of her seniorthesis ("Einstein's Twin Paradox - a New Interpretation") is given asMay 15, 1986 ("Musings...")
mid to late 1980s Mulder joins the FBI.
1989 May. "Unusual Suspects" is set, which is Mulder'sfirst exposure to conspiracy theory and leads to a nice hallucination of aliens.All of which probably leads to:
1989 June 16. Mulder undergoes hypnotic regression with Dr HeitzWerber, leading him to believe his sister was taken by aliens (Conduit).
1990 Scully graduates from Medical School and is recruited directlyto the FBI. After training at the Academy, she commences work there as aninstructor in forensic medicine. At about this time, she has a relationship withher instructor, Jack Willis. ("Pilot", "Lazarus.") She gavehim a birthday present in February 1991 ("three years ago" in early1994) although this contradicts the age inscribed on the watch.
1990 Mulder works on the case of John Roche ("Paper Hearts")
1991 Late in the year. Mulder begins to investigate the X-Files.Cancerman is told about Mulder's recent interest in the X-Files on December 24th1991. ("Musings....")
1991/2 If Frohike's account of Cancerman is at all to be believed,Deep Throat executed another alien some time between December 24th 1991 andMarch 6th 1992. ("Musings...")
The First Season
The start of Mulder and Scully's partnership.
In the Pilot Scully is assigned to the X-Files division on March7th 1992. At the end of the episode, Billy Miles undergoes hypnoticregression on March 22nd 1992. This dating is confirmed in "Musingsof a Cigarette Smoking Man."
However, the next episodes we see are all set in the summer of 1993. Scullyreacts to Mulder as if she's only recently started working with him. She laughsincredulously ay his theories, acting as if she's never heard him mentionRoswell before ("Deep Throat") or heard him express a belief in thingssuch as ghosts and genetic mutants.
In addition, we get nasty contradictions in later episodes. Scully isdescribed as being two years out of the Academy both in the "Pilot"(March 1992) and "Squeeze" (July 1993). In "One Breath", MrsScully says Mulder and Scully have been friends for about a year. "OneBreath" is set in November 1994, but Scully was abducted in August, so thisprobably refers to sometime in the summer of 1993 - not surprisingly, the timethe series proper started filming. In "Anasazi", set in April 1995,Scully says she was assigned to work with Mulder "a year and a half ago,"which, allowing for rounding up odd months here and there, could be any time inthe latter half of 1993.
Clearly these dates don't fit. We can chose either to take theMarch 1992 date and ignore anything to the contrary, or to ignore theMarch 1992 date, as we have to ignore quite a bit in the early episodes (such asMulder's changing birthday) and assume Mulder and Scully started workingtogether in the summer of 1993.
Deep Throat No date given. Clothing suggests summer. Probably summer1993, but you could choose to put it in summer 1992 if you want to accept theMarch 1992 start date.
Squeeze Tooms is arrested by the FBI about half way through theepisode. When Skinner reads Tooms' file in the episode "Tooms," thedate for this arrest is given as July 23rd 1993
Conduit On their first day in Iowa, Mulder sends a fax. It is datedAugust 26th 1993. They are there at least two more days after that.
Jersey Devil The case starts with a body being found on August29th 1993. Mulder and Scully go up to investigate the next day, havingreturned amazingly promptly from Iowa. For real nit-pickers, this was a Sunday,so quite how the next day can be a Friday, as Scully clearly says it is, israther odd. Ah well....
Shadows The teaser to this takes place on September 26 1993,which is the date shown on the bank security video. Mulder and Scully are calledin six hours after this. Oddly, though, the date for Howard Graves' death, aswritten on his gravestone, is October 5th, even though he was supposed to havedied two weeks before the show started. Weirdness.
Ghost in the Machine About half way through the case, Scully writesher report on her computer, dating it October 24 1993
Ice The transmission which starts it all is sent on November 51993 Mulder and Scully go up shortly afterwards, though it's not clear howmany days later. It is a Wednesday when they travel up there. In November 1993,the nearest Wednesday after the 5th was the 10th.
Space, Fallen Angel No dates given for these. Should be November1993, if episodes are in right order, though see the dating of "Eve"and "Ice" for the problem.
Eve The medical report that Scully looks at at the start is datedNovember 7th 1993, and Mulder and Scully start the case the dayafterwards. Considering they were in the Arctic at this point, it is rathertricky.
Fire No date given. Should be December 1993, probably.
Beyond the Sea This episode starts shortly after Christmas 1993,as Scully's father asks her if she's intending to keep the Christmas tree up allyear. This tends to suggest that it's some time since Christmas - long enoughfor him to think she should have taken the decorations down by now. There are nosigns of Chistmas anywhere else in the episode. At the end of the episode,Scully is rather traumatised by the case of Luther Lee Boggs and Mulder is shotand, presumably, can't walk for a while after this, so it is to be assumed theyboth have a rest from cases for a while.
Genderbender No date given. Should be January 1994, if episode arein right order - although remember Mulder would need recovery time after "Beyondthe Sea."
Lazarus No date given. When Mulder gives Scully a birthday card shesys it's two months early. As her birthday is February 23rd, this would placethis story around Christmas time or so. However, "Beyond the Sea" tookplace just after Christmas, leaving Mulder in no condition to pursue cases for awhile, and "Lazarus" is two episodes after that. Make of that what youwill.
Young at Heart, EBE No dates given. Should be January or February1994, if episodes are in right order.
Miracle Man Scully performs an autopsy towards the end of the case,which she dates asMarch 7th 1994
Shapes, Darkness Falls, Tooms No dates given for these, but if theair-date order tracks internal order, these all happened in March 1994, after "MiracleMan" (around March 7th 1994) and "Born Again" (starts March27th). This is all rather odd, considering that Mulder and Scully were ratherbadly damaged by the events of "Darkness Falls."
Born Again The case starts on March 27th 1994 Mulder writeshis final notes on April 19
Roland Case starts April 25th 1994
Erlenmeyer Flask This episode begins on May 8th 1994. Afew weeks later, the X-Files are closed.
The Second SeasonLittle Green Men Mulder's adventure is triggered by a signalreceived by the Aricebo Observatory on July 5th 1994
The Host No date given, but must be July 1994
Blood The date on the autopsy report Scully sends Mulder is August2nd 1994
Sleepless Must be a very tight fit to get this in between the end of"Blood" and the start of "Duane Barry," unless "Sleepless"comes before "Blood" in internal dating. However, the Krycek story arcsuggests it doesn't.
Duane Barry and Ascension The hostage negotiation begins in daylighton August 7th 1994 and is over the same night. It isn't clear whetherit's hours or days that have elapsed before Barry escapes from the hospital atthe end, so it isn't clear when Scully was abducted. August 8th 1994, or a dayor two later, presumably. The events of "Ascension" take a few daysimmediately after that, during which Skinner re-opens the X-Files.
3 As shown by Mulder's calendar in his office, this takes place inNovemeber. It must be really early in November, if the dating of the next fewepisodes is to make sense. What he's been doing between Skinner reopening theX-Files in August and now is never explained. Even though he's not been in hisoffice, he has been working, as he talks in this episode of havingtracked the vampire killers for the last few months.
One Breath Scully is returned in early November 1994, threemonths after she was taken. No date is given here, but "3" is set inNovember, and "Firewalker" begins on November 11th. Implausibly tightdating, clearly. (Note, however, that in "Emily", Mulder says Scullywas missing for one month only.) (Memento Mori shows that a sample of eggs wastaken on October 29th 1994, and Emily was born in November1994)
Firewalker At the end of the case, Mulder writes his report, statingthat the events took place between November 11th and November 13th 1994.Mighty fast recovery for Scully, and then there's the little question of themonth-long quarantine. (see "Irresistible")
Red Museum, Excelsis Dei, Aubrey No dates given. By air-date, oughtto be November or December 1994, but the month-long quarantine at the end of "Firewalker"messes this up. "Irresistible" suggests that the dating in thissection of the second season should be taken with a pinch of salt. "RedMuseum" is a osrt-of semi crossover with "Picket Fences," whosetimeline places it somewhere in the first half of December.
Irresistible Scully performs an autopsy about half way through thiscase. She dates it as Monday November 14th (1994), thus clashinghideously with "Firewalker", in which Mulder and Scully started amonth-long quarantine on this very same date. Oops.
Die Hand Die Verletzt One of the boys involved in the ritual at thestart of the case borrowed a library book on January 16th 1995. The plotsuggests the whole witchcraft thing was done on impulse, suggesting this datewas probably the same day as the ritual, or, at least, not many days earlier.Thus Mulder and Scully arrive on this case either on Janury 17th or some timenot long after that. This causes problems with the "Colony" dating.
Fresh Bones Should be January 1995, if internal order followsair-date order, but it could be any time. This whole section of the season ishorribly messed up, as "Irresistible shows."
Colony and End Game Mulder goes to the submarine at the end of "EndGame" on February 3rd 1995 - which is the time shown in that globalpositioning thingy. The story told in "Colony" begins two-weeksearlier, as we are shown on screen, placing it neatly as around January 20th orso - rather close after "Die Hand". There are a few nice nit-pickymistakes, though. At the start of "Colony" Mulder and Scully areinvestigating the recent death of Doctor Landon Prince of Scanton. Closeinspection of Mulder's e-mail reveals that Prince was killed on December 281994. Unfortunately, it also reveals that another of the doctors, HarveyBuchanon, was killed on January 10 1995, despite the fact that Mulder callsPrince the "latest victim." Oops.
Fearful Symmetry: No date given but probably February 1995. It alldepends on what date you acept for "Colony" and how long you thinkMulder was in hospital at the end of "End Game."
Dod Kalm A date! A date! An unambiguous date! Near the end of theiradventure, Mulder loses consciousness at 4.30 am, March 12th 1995. Thisis after at least three days on the ship, and Scully doesn't wake up until 36hours after their rescue, with a lot of healing still to go for the both ofthem.
Humbug, The Calusari, F Emasculata No dates given. If internal datesfollow air-date order, these should all be crammed into the latter half of March1995, after Mulder and Scully are recovered from "Dod Kalm."
Soft Light This case begins on March 31st 1995, which isdate of the death seen in the teaser. (This is taken from the scene on therailway station, when Mulder says Banton was there on the 17th and 31st and "lastnight" - the dates of the last three disappearances.)
Our Town No date given, but presumably squeezed in between April 3rdand April 11th.
Anasazi Dates, dates, dates.... The passage of time is marked everystep of the way with onscreen captions, showing that this episode, as far asMulder and Scully are concerned, takes place from April 11th to 16th 1995. The earthquake is April 9th 1995, the hacker gets the information on the 10thand Mulder gets the tape on the 11th. Mulder attacks Skinner on the 12th andScully is called before an enquiry on the 13th. Mulder's father is killed on thenight of the 13th/14th. Mulder himself is shot on the evening on the 14th andwakes up in New Mexico in daylight on the 16th. He disappears on the afternoonof April 16th 1995.
The Third SeasonThe Blessing Way Starts on April 16th 1995, as "Anasazi"ends. Mulder is found the following day (17th) and remains unconscious for threedays. Meanwhile, Scully is visited by Frohike on the 18th, certainly. After thatit gets a little confused. I've carefully counted days and nights and come upwith April 22nd as the most likely date for Bill Mulder's funeral, in themorning, and Melissa's shooting in the evening.
Paper Clip If the above deductions are right, this episode starts onthe night of the April 22nd 1995, though this could be out by a day or so oneither side. Albert arrives at Melissa's hospital room the following day, andlater tells Skinner he's been there for two days. We then see one morenight-time before the final scenes, suggesting Melissa dies four days afterbeing shot. My guess is April 26th 1995, but anyone's guess is as good as mine.
DPO The teaser is set on September 12th 1995, as seen on thevideo game being played by Darin Oswald. Nevertheless, Scully refers to theevents of the Anasazi trilogy, set in April 1995, as "what we've just beenthrough." Also, 2Shy, some three episodes later on, is set in late August,before this case.
Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose The teaser is set September 16 1995.Mulder and Scully investigate from September 19-22 1995
The List No date given. Could be anything, given the mess of thedating at this time. Probably October 1995, though.
2Shy Scully autopsy at the start of this case is dated August29th 1995. This is despite the fact that it comes after "DPO" and "ClydeBruckman," both set in September.
The Walk, Oubliette No dates given. Presumably October 1995, isinternal dating roughly follows airdate order, though "2Shy" rathermesses up that hypothesis.
Nisei and 731 No dates given. If the order of the episodes roughlytracks the order of the events in Mulder and Scully's lives, this two-partershould be set around late November 1995 / early December 1995. Internally, allwe know for certain is that this is set after Paper Clip but before Piper Maru.(But see the notes on Piper Maru for the problems with this dating.)
Revelations A medical record gives the date November 28th 1995
War of the Coprophages. No date given, but presumably December 1995.
Syzygy The teaser is dated January 9th 1996. Mulder and Scully arein Comity (though not in comity) until the grand denouement on January 12th1996
Grotesque No date given. I peered very closely on freeze frame atthe evidence bag, but there's a blank where the date should be.
Piper Maru and Apocrypha Another typical X-Files timeline mess.There is a lot in this episode about the events of "Paper Clip" beingfive months ago. While "Paper Clip" aired about five monthsbefire "Piper Maru" it was actually set in April 1995, but which theseepisodes took place in September or October 1995. It is possible, I suppose, toplace "Nisei" and "731" in the summer of 1995 and thistwo-parter in September 1995, which would mean that Scully was referring tothese episodes when she talks about "what we've just been though"in "DPO" and not the "Anasazi" trilogy, which was nearlyfive months ago anyway. By this, we can just assume that for sweeps weekspurposes the big arc episodes are taken out of their internal order. Morelikely, though, that we are to assume that "Piper Maru" and "Apocrypha"took place in around February 1996, when they were aired, and that someone at1013 made a mistake. Wouldn't be the first time.
Pusher, Teso Dos Bichos, Hell Money No dates given. February 1996?As that month looks rather crowded, at least one of them could perhaps beshifted to after "Avatar", as there's a six-week gap there with onlyone case.
Jose Chung's "From Outer Space" "How the Hell shouldI know?" The events of the case are clearly some time earlier than Scully'sinterview, and then the scenes in which Scully is reading the book much beseveral months after that. The episode immeidately afterwards, "Avatar",starts on March 7th 1996. Make of that what you will.
Avatar This case starts on March 7th 1996, when Skinnerretired to bed with a prostitute.
Quagmire No date given. March or April 1996, presumably.
Wetwired The teaser takes place on April 27th 1996. Mulderand Scully arrive the next day.
Talitha Cumi No date given. Presumably May 1996.
The Fourth SeasonThanks to Michelle Lellouche for help with fourth season dates.
Herrenvolk No date given. Starts where Talitha Cumi leaves off - May1996?
Home No date given
Teliko Teaser is set May 17, 1996, which was the date the Telikocame over, then interior dialogue says that happened 3 months ago, which wouldbe around August 1996
Unruhe Scully's journal entry is dated October 11th 1996 atend of episode
TFWID, Sanguinarium No dates given. Presumably October and November1996, if the dates track.
Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man Cancer Man's resignation letteris dated November 12th 1997 Of course, most of the events of the episodeare shown in flashback.
Tunguska and Terma Mulder looks at his watch when at Marita'sapartment, showing the date to be November 25th 1996. Ten days elapsebetween the start of the episode and Scully's first appearance before the SenateCommittee.
Paper Hearts An evidence bag in this episode is tagged November29th 1996, thus clashing horribly with Tunguska and Terma.
El Mundo Gira, Leonard Betts, Never Again, Memento Mori, Kaddish Nodates given
Unrequited A date shown as 12th November 1996 even thoughit aired in March 97
Tempus Fugit and Max Starts with Scully's birthday, thus placing itas 23rd February 1997Mulder's watch shows the end of the episode to beMarch 8th 1997
Synchrony, Small Potatoes No dates given.
Zero Sum Episode begins April 27 1997 (Note that this isafter "Demons"). At this time, Scully was having treatmentin the hospital.
Elegy No date given
Demons Episode begins April 12 1997
Gethsemene No date given. Aired in May, but Redux seems to be set inOctober.
The Fifth SeasonUnusual Suspects Set back in May 1989
Detour No date given, but is definitely set after Redux II. Aired inNovember 1997.
Post-Modern Prometheus No dates given, if, indeed, it even happenedat all. The last scenes are made up, definitely (well, probably) so is the wholestory? Anyway, internally, there are references to Redux II, putting it afterthat episode. It aired on November 30th 1997
Christmas Carol The Christmas references clearly place this as between21st and 25th December 1997
Emily Takes place from 28th December 1997 until early January1998 Note that this leaves a 3 day break between the two episodes, giving,perhaps, 3 days for Scully to bond with Emily off-camera. (Typically, there areproblems: On a day when someone says "happy new year", we see a dateon a hospital record: 31st October. Oops.)
Emily Takes place from 28th December 1997 until early January 1998 Note that this leaves a 3 day break between the two episodes, giving, perhaps, 3 days for Scully to bond with Emily off-camera. (Typically, there are problems: On a day when someone says "happy new year", we see a date on a hospital record: 31st October. Oops.)
Kitsunegari, Schizogeny, Chinga, Kill Switch No dates given for any of these, annoyingly, though presumably they're set at around the time they aired, ie January and February 1998
Bad Blood A date! The flashback events happen on February 10th 1998. Mulder and Scully recall these events on February 11th. They return to Texas on February 11th through 12th and tell their story to Skinner on the 13th.
Patient X and The Red and the Black No dates given, but aired March 1998.
Travelers Flashback episode, set November 1990, and flashing back to June 1952
Mind's Eye Marti's mug shot is taken on March 6, 1998 after the first murder. The case largely takes place in the 48 hours that follow. No date is given for the final scene. (Note that this episode aired a good 6 weeks after it was supposed to be set)
All Souls This episode is set a week after Easter, which puts it in the week after April 12th 1998
The Pine Bluff Variant No real date stamp in this episode. A file arrest photo of Jacob Haley is dated April 7, 1998, so this episode takes place sometime after that.
Folie a Deux The hostage situation at the start takes place on May 10th 1998 - the same date as the episode aired. The rest of the episode takes place the following day or two, and it is sufficiently close to Pine Bluff for Mulder's fingers still to be taped, although it is out of its splint.
The End No date given
The Movie
Página Anterior