This is going to be a silly question

[Guest chrisnu]

Season 1 and 2 primarily focused on the Smoking Man. The first time we actually see the Syndicate (or Consortium) is in the third season premiere, "The Blessing Way".

[Guest LauraKrycek]

Season 1 and 2 primarily focused on the Smoking Man. The first time we actually see the Syndicate (or Consortium) is in the third season premiere, "The Blessing Way".

Ah, someone who knows better than I. Many of the pre-season 6 conspiracy eps have a tendency to run together w\ me b\c I didn't come in until "Dreamland" (first new ep I watched in its entirety since when "Deep Throat" first aired). Those eps that came out prior to when I started all play like one long, tangled-up movie to me. Actually, come to think of it, most of the conspiracy eps period are like that for me. "The End\The Beginning" and "Two Fathers\One Son" are about the only ones, really, I think. Huh.

[Guest A Stranger]

Laura,

Thanks so much for the summation.  It's all *starting* to make a little more sense.  And i stress *starting*.  Which, in turn, opens up a whole new set of questions, but that definitely helps a lot.  Can anyone tell me what season the Syndicate was introduced?  And, was Mulder's dad part of the Syndicate?  Or was he just like Mulder, out to find the truth?

Sorry, i'll quit, otherwise i'll be here all night long.

Again, thanks Laura!

According to CSM, Mulder's father was the first one to purpose the idea of developing the vaccine since he was against siding with the alien colonists from the beginning. He later then realized the futilty of fighting and gave in and presumably was able to get out of the syndicate. This is one thing that never sat right with me, he just sat around as a citizen for 30 odd years just hoping the Mulder would figure things out all the while knowing aliens were planning on taking over the world?

[Guest LauraKrycek]

According to CSM, Mulder's father was the first one to purpose the idea of developing the vaccine since he was against siding with the alien colonists from the beginning. He later then realized the futilty of fighting and gave in and presumably was able to get out of the syndicate. This is one thing that never sat right with me, he just sat around as a citizen for 30 odd years just hoping the Mulder would figure things out all the while knowing aliens were planning on taking over the world?

I think he became bitter and stubborn after being faced with everything; I mean, he even knew what had happened to Samantha, all those years, and never said a word. There's *no* doubt at all why Teena (aka Ruth ) divorced him. He could've done so much with his life and for the betterment of the world -- either by working with the Syndicate or by fighting them, because both sides were working for the same thing, just in different ways -- but he chose to take the mute's part and sit idly on the sidelines, waiting for the end. I can't imagine what it might have been like for him to see his son fighting for what he had chosen to dismiss.

[Guest lilblackgirl]

And did his sister's abduction have anything to do with his father joining the syndicate or was that pure coincidence? And this was the reason Mulder began working the x-files, correct? Because of his sister's abduction. Prior to that, he was just a normal FBI agent?

Shall i stop asking questions?

This is all just so fascinating and it makes me wish I'd paid attention to it when it was playing on FOX. I feel like i missed out on this great thing. Being a part of something as we are here with MM.

Alright, i'll shut up now.

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[Guest LauraKrycek]

And did his sister's abduction have anything to do with his father joining the syndicate or was that pure coincidence?  And this was the reason Mulder began working the x-files, correct?  Because of his sister's abduction.  Prior to that, he was just a normal FBI agent?

Shall i stop asking questions?

This is all just so fascinating and it makes me wish I'd paid attention to it when it was playing on FOX.  I feel like i missed out on this great thing.  Being a part of something as we are here with MM.

Yes; Bill worked with the Syndicate for some time, and then a program was proposed. Each member of the Syndicate sacrificed one member of their family to be abducted and used in tests involving cloning and vaccination. Samantha was the lucky one in the Mulder family; Cassandra Spender was who CSM offered from his. Since Samantha was abducted at a time when both she and Mulder were still quite young, and right in front of him, no less, he kind of became obsessed with it. He studied psychology and was recruited for the FBI. His passion for extraterrestrials and the unknown caused him to find out about the X-Files Division, which at that point was unmanned. He quickly made it his own, though, and the FBI, which was beginning to think of him as a bit of a nutbar, was perfectly willing to stick him down there. But yes, for the time before he discovered the X-Files (I believe it was two years?), Mulder was a regular field agent.

Don't stop asking questions if there are still things you feel you really want to know! And hey, at least reruns of XF are still on and there are the DVDs and videos available. With MM, we got nothin'. There are still plenty of XF fans out there, and every one has an opinion... I think that the passion and feel is very different between XF and MM, though; I haven't seen any XF fans still talking endlessly about the episodes now like I do here w\ MM, but maybe I'm just not looking right. Believe me, though, if you want to get all into XF, it's not too late. Just start watching episodes and get online on any number of boards and start talking about it, and you're likely to start a rousing and illuminating conversation.

[Guest A Stranger]

Yes; Bill worked with the Syndicate for some time, and then a program was proposed. Each member of the Syndicate sacrificed one member of their family to be abducted and used in tests involving cloning and vaccination. Samantha was the lucky one in the Mulder family; Cassandra Spender was who CSM offered from his. Since Samantha was abducted at a time when both she and Mulder were still quite young, and right in front of him, no less, he kind of became obsessed with it. He studied psychology and was recruited for the FBI. His passion for extraterrestrials and the unknown caused him to find out about the X-Files Division, which at that point was unmanned. He quickly made it his own, though, and the FBI, which was beginning to think of him as a bit of a nutbar, was perfectly willing to stick him down there. But yes, for the time before he discovered the X-Files (I believe it was two years?), Mulder was a regular field agent.

Don't stop asking questions if there are still things you feel you really want to know! And hey, at least reruns of XF are still on and there are the DVDs and videos available. With MM, we got nothin'. There are still plenty of XF fans out there, and every one has an opinion... I think that the passion and feel is very different between XF and MM, though; I haven't seen any XF fans still talking endlessly about the episodes now like I do here w\ MM, but maybe I'm just not looking right. Believe me, though, if you want to get all into XF, it's not too late. Just start watching episodes and get online on any number of boards and start talking about it, and you're likely to start a rousing and illuminating conversation.

My understanding of the situation is that the Syndicate were put together after Rowswell by human beings to cover it up. There was no alien involvment when they started screwing around with the technology. Then in the 70's (I think 76) the alien colonists were going to take over but decided to halt it when the alien-human hyrbird idea was developed and this was when the Syndicate first sided with the alien colonists. The reason they joined forces is becuase they knew they had no chance fighting them.

And as for Mulder, he had no interst in aliens or the paranormal until the incident in the season five episode "Unusaul Suspects" (1989) when he first met the Lone Gunman. After that he underwent regression hypnosis where the abuduction memory surfaced and he then used his place in the FBI to investigate the supernatrual.

[Guest LauraKrycek]

And as for Mulder, he had no interst in aliens or the paranormal until the incident in the season five episode "Unusaul Suspects" (1989) when he first met the Lone Gunman. After that he underwent regression hypnosis where the abuduction memory surfaced and he then used his place in the FBI to investigate the supernatrual.

Well, he obviously was already obsessed with Samantha and the idea of finding her; that's why he joined the Bureau. But you're right, it wasn't until after he'd met the Gunmen that he began to be obsessed w\ the Government and extraterrestrials; I forgot about that bit.

[Guest lilblackgirl]

Confused again. The ep I mentioned earlier where the smoking man is killed, Samantha also comes back and talks with Fox in the cafe, but doesn't want anything to do with him as the smoking man has become a good father figure for her since their father was killed and she now has a family of her own. So sacrificing someone obviously doesn't mean killing them, just subjecting them to whatever probing or tortures the aliens subjected them to. There doesn't seem to be any recolection of it from her. Is that why she was turned over to the smoking man? To be monitored? And i guess i'm confused as to what the Lone Gunmen's role is in all of this. I just always saw them as computer nerds who were believers of something (what, i don't know) and they somehow crossed paths with Mulder and the FBI.

[Guest SouthernCelt]

My understanding of the situation is that the Syndicate were put together after Rowswell by human beings to cover it up. There was no alien involvment when they started screwing around with the technology. Then in the 70's (I think 76) the alien colonists were going to take over but decided to halt it when the alien-human hyrbird idea was developed and this was when the Syndicate first sided with the alien colonists. The reason they joined forces is becuase they knew they had no chance fighting them.

And as for Mulder, he had no interst in aliens or the paranormal until the incident in the season five episode "Unusaul Suspects" (1989) when he first met the Lone Gunman. After that he underwent regression hypnosis where the abuduction memory surfaced and he then used his place in the FBI to investigate the supernatrual.

What's the basis for saying there was no alien involvement until the 70's? In "Fight the Future" the well-manicured man implies in his explanation to Mulder that his group's aim for the whole time since the late 40's was to find a vaccine or other protection against the aliens when they returned to take over and enslave humans. Up to that time, the group had been working on the assumption that the "black oil" would allow aliens to take over a human host parasitically but they weren't prepared for the fact that the host would be used as a food source/gestation chamber to allow the alien to reconstitute itself.

No biggie, but did you cite the Mulder/Lone Gunman meeting as 1989 because that's when they met or were you citing the year of the episode and mistyped 1998? I don't know that it's totally correct to say that Mulder had no interest in aliens/paranormal until he met the LG but I think it is correct to say that the LG showed him enough evidence of government conspiracy and cover-up to convince him that things were not as he had been told with Samantha's disappearance. The LG were really the first to convince him to "trust no one" even though they used other words.