The X-Files Retrospective Project is a critical review of every episode in chronological order.
The following essay is a companion to the episode reviews which attempts to simplify the series mythology regarding the colonisation of earth by a hostile alien race.
The alien mythology is concerned primarily with two contrasting types of life forms. The first, a sentient virus, which takes the form of back oil, appeared on Earth millions of years ago. It is unknown whether it evolved on the planet or arrived by other means, such as a meteor. It possess the ability to enter other living organisms, often achieved by penetrating the eyes or nostrils, and assume control over the hosts body. The second type of alien are humanoid in form. These beings arrived on Earth from an unknown origin in excess of 35,000 years ago. The Black Oil virus was able to infect many of these humanoid aliens, and in effect segregating their race. A faction of the alien humanoids, those infected by the black oil, left earth while the rest remained and entered a prolonged period of hibernation in various secluded underground locations. The black oil has remained on earth since it’s arrival, often in large reservoirs deep below the surface. It has been theorised that the virus was unable to find sufficient hosts in the sporadically populated earth and disappeared underground to await the inevitable evolution of humans.
Over the centuries the humanoid aliens, later termed ‘Bounty Hunters’, have performed systematic abductions of humans from across the globe. It is likely that these abductions were executed in order to gather hosts for the Black Oil to inhabit. As of recently it has become clear that the Black Oil enslaved alien race has returned to earth in full force with the intention of colonising the planet. Colonisation will be achieved through infecting the human population with the Black Oil, thereby creating a slave race over which the virus has absolute control. Although the full scale attack has yet to occur there currently exists on earth an advance party that is working directly with the syndicate, a shadow government in which ‘The Smoking Man’ operates. Although both the virus and humanoid aliens have been on earth for many years prior, American intelligence agencies first learned of the aliens at Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 and of the colonisation plans in 1973. With the realisation that they had no way of countering the alien invasion, powerful government officials from across the world formed their own organisation and negotiated an agreement with the advance group of aliens. In exchange for assistance from the Syndicate, the hostile aliens would grant protection to the members of the organisation and their families would receive amnesty from the black oil attack.
The syndicate assisted the colonists with developing various methods to disseminate the Black Oil virus, such as genetic engineering of bees intended as carriers of the virus. While the alien colonists offered the Syndicate the chance to genetically engineer a human-alien hybrid that would be immune to the virus, the code name for this top-secret initiative was titled Purity Control. The colonists provided information and guidance to the research efforts of the Syndicate. Their relationship to the organisation allowed them to control and manipulate the governmental response to their existence, thus inhibiting legitimate efforts to prevent colonisation. Once a successful hybrid was developed, the members of the Syndicate could be given gene therapy to be converted into hybrids themselves. German and Japanese scientists who had performed unethical research on humans during World War II were employed to continue their work in the Purity Control project. Abductees, taken by the alien colonists were tracked by means of their vaccination scars and subsequently used as genetic material in the experiments. Although this genetic research commenced in the 1950’s, due to limited scientific understanding it would take several decades before the project produced successful results. As such a future date was set for the colonisation which would provide the Syndicate with sufficient time to develop the hybrids. The date set was December 22, 2012. The Syndicate had begun as a covert alliance of intelligence operatives, managing the research and covering-up the work on Purity Control. Over the years, however, they became a shadow organisation, accumulating power and influence across international borders and by 1990, the operation ceased to have members accountable to any one government. Their only chain of command was their own internal structure. Conrad Strugholdt, a German industrialist who had fled his homeland to Northern Africa, became their acknowledged leader.
A large portion of the Syndicate members had plans to deceive the colonists and were using the research partnership as a delay tactic to allow time to develop a real defence against the invasion. Enormous resources were put into an effort to develop a vaccine against the Black Oil virus. This vaccine, if successfully developed, would both protect humans from being infected by the virus and be used to expel the virus from those already inhabited by it. The alien plan, however, also had hidden agendas. Humans, once enslaved, would be used to gestate Grey aliens, a process that kills its human host, therefore resulting in the genocide of the human race.
In the 1990’s research efforts were finally able to produce the first successful alien human hybrid, using the the host Cassandra Spender, the ex-wife of the Cigarette Smoking Man. The success with Cassandra triggered a cascade of events. Having learnt of the success of the Purity Control project, the Colonists began making efforts to initiate the attack ahead of schedule and the Syndicate had no choice but to admit defeat. As had been agreed, the members and their families gathered in an aircraft hangar to be taken into protection by the Colonists. When aliens arrived, however, they were not the Black Oil infected colonisation aliens. A new race of aliens were on earth, untainted by the virus and with their own agenda. Namely to prevent the Black Oil from infecting any more life forms by any means necessary. Consequently, the members of the Syndicate were killed, though the Cigarette Smoking Man was able to escape. These new aliens are refereed to as a rebel race, committed to defeating the Black Oil infected aliens. They have self mutilated their faces by covering their eyes and nose in an attempt to prevent infection.
The addition of the Super Soldiers, a genetically engineered humanoid race of highly powerful beings able to regenerate their bodies after sustaining massive injuries, were likely developed by the alien colonists in order to provide assistance with the Earth’s genocide. Their exact purpose and origins however are the subject of speculative debate as their true motivations remain unclear. The Super Soldier’s take a particular interest in William, Mulder and Scully’s gifted son. It is theorised that William is unique due to the fact that he is the first child born of two parents who have been infected by the Black Oil, then freed by the vaccine. The genetic reinforcement of the altered DNA of his parents makes William a one-of-a-kind child with an uncertain destiny. It is possible that William’s DNA holds the key to a more advanced source of resistance against the Black Oil, this is however up for debate.
It is likely that the plan for colonisation to occur in 2012 is still active and it is unknown whether there exists any effective defence against the aliens due to the murder of the Syndicate organisation.
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References
Marek, M. (2015). My Supersoldier can Take Your Bounty Hunter Any Day. [online] Themareks.com. Available at: http://www.themareks.com/xf/finale.shtml [Accessed 8 Apr. 2015].
The X-Files Retrospective Project 