Daniel Amos Message Board | Print: Fearful Symmetry X-Files Episode

Posted by Mark on 03-02-2008 at20:15:

Lamp

Fearful Symmetry X-Files Episode

I'm just watching the X-Files episode from Season Two called Fearful Symmetry. Now I know it is a William Blake poem. I also know that the X-Files episodes often make references to other things. For example, the names Karen and Linford from Over The Rhine are used in an episode since the writers or Chris Carter are fans of OTR.

However, in watching this episode of Fearful Symmetry I have got to believe that someone was a fan of Daniel Amos. The title of the episode IS Fearful Symmetry and the episode is about a gorilla that knows sign language. This seems beyond coincidence.

Here are a couple of summaries of the episode found from an internet episode guide:

"Invisible animals are rampaging through town, destroying property and trampling a federal employee. On arriving in town, the agents begin their search at a nearby zoo with the distinction of never being the site of live birth. Whether that's because as Mulder suspects, Aliens are 'harvesting'' the young or, as Scully insists, an animal rights group determination to close down the zoo, the only reliable witness appears to be a hand-signing gorilla named Sophie. "

Does anyone else remember this episode and does anyone know for certain if there is a link between X-Files and Daniel Amos?

Posted by DwDunphy on 03-02-2008 at20:25:

My money's on coincidence. Ain't no way there would be an X-Files referencing DA/SE without also having a guest appearance from Berger.

Posted by Strange Animal on 03-02-2008 at20:42:

Shocked

RE: Fearful Symmetry X-Files Episode

i seriously doubt it, but just added season 2, disk 5 to netflix queue! Big Grin

Posted by wakachiwaka on 03-02-2008 at23:38:

RE: Fearful Symmetry X-Files Episode

My recollection of that particular episode is vague - my feeling is that it was only "meh!" to begin with, but DA surely wasn't the first association I made with it.

Y'know, it's sad - I just can't go back to the X-Files with a positive attitude after the unbroken downward trajectory that defined the quality of the final 4 seasons. Like a fool, I hung in there 'til the bitter end, positive it was bound to get better. It's wasted hours of my life I'll never get back again. Frown

Posted by Space Ghost on 03-03-2008 at02:10:

Well, you know, being the resident weirdo dork around here, I gotta say it...

Sync the album with the episode and see what happens. Might be interesting...

Posted by Mark on 03-03-2008 at07:26:

RE: Fearful Symmetry X-Files Episode

quote:

Originally posted by wakachiwaka
My recollection of that particular episode is vague - my feeling is that it was only "meh!" to begin with,

I do not think it is one of the better episodes. I just remember reading a few years ago that there were a lot of Christians on the staff who liked "fringe" Christian music and used references in the episodes.

Posted by Drtuddle on 03-03-2008 at08:26:

RE: Fearful Symmetry X-Files Episode

wakachiwaka,

quote:

It's wasted hours of my life I'll never get back again.

You talking about LOST or the X-Files?

Posted by dennis on 03-03-2008 at14:46:

I love the X-Files. I will have to watch that episode again! Pleased

Posted by jyroflux on 03-03-2008 at14:54:

Even the worst X-files episode is better than most of the dreck on TV nowadays.

Posted by Ron E on 03-05-2008 at06:46:

RE: Fearful Symmetry X-Files Episode

quote:

Originally posted by Drtuddle
wakachiwaka,

quote:

It's wasted hours of my life I'll never get back again.

You talking about LOST or the X-Files?

to the moon, Alice Mad

Posted by clipon on 03-05-2008 at12:28:

Chris Carter has a strong sense of spirituality. I dont know if hes a christian or not but i always thought the Scully's faith story arc was interesting - where she struggled with her own spirituality and then at some point in the series would drop in random references to going to Mass or church.

BTW - X-Files 2 IS being shot up here in Vancouver as we speak. Maybe DA can get on the soundtrack?

Posted by Mark on 03-05-2008 at16:20:

X-Files 2 is due out this summer, I think in July.

When the X-Files was on there was a message board and the religious aspect of the show was discussed a lot. I remember even a few saying that they thought Chris Carter was using the show to promote Christianity and that he used things from the Bible.

Of course as I already said that are many hidden references in the show. I watched another episode prior to Fearful Symmetry and one of the characters was named Ambrose Chapel. I had to tell my daughter that the name was a reference to the Ambrose Chapel in the Alfred Hitchcok movie The Man Who Knew Too Much. It's funny, because in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Jimmy Stewart's son is kidnapped and he is given the name Ambrose Chapel. He tries to look up the name in the telephone book as if it is a person's name. After threatening a man by the name he finds in the telephone book, he realizes he has the wrong man and that Ambrose Chapel is a real Chapel, a building. So having Ambrose Chapel in the X-Files be a person is funny. It's the opposite.

Posted by clipon on 03-05-2008 at20:33:

apparently Carter/Spotnik/Duchovony/Anderson flew to some comic convention and always said he thought of the show as being about 'the search for God', not about religion so much, but about the human impulse toward the divine.

Posted by dennis on 03-05-2008 at20:59:

quote:

Originally posted by clipon
apparently Carter/Spotnik/Duchovony/Anderson flew to some comic convention and always said he thought of the show as being about 'the search for God', not about religion so much, but about the human impulse toward the divine.

"...the human impulse toward the divine."

Sounds like religion to me! Pleased

Posted by clipon on 03-09-2008 at23:32:

I meant he was not seeking to speak out about the truth of any one religion. Instead his interest is in that impulse toward transcendence that is in us, the 'God behind our God'.

Posted by dennis on 03-10-2008 at06:54:

Fair enough.

Posted by jon eddies on 03-11-2008 at22:15:

another x-files episode

I remember an episode where there was a snake handler type of charismatic pastor and a feel good all about love and peace type of pastor at odds with each other over the snake handlers daughter. Throughout the episode it looks like the charismatic guy is the killer and then in the end the feel good pastor turns out to be the Devil, with a snake tail and everything. I know this is a bad recollection but I remember it being pretty interesting.