Jose Chung's From Outer Space

Season 3, Episode 20, Aired
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Episode Summary

An alien abduction of two teenagers with different versions of the same facts prompts a science-fiction novelist to write a book about the incident. However no one involved with the investigation can tell him the full story with any accuracy.
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Fan Episode Reviews (26)

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  • Mulder screams like a girl, aliens smoke cigarettes and teenagers get abducted in the weirdest episode of TV I've seen in awhile

    8.5
    "Great"
    By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Dec 07, 2011 Report Abuse
    I wasn't sure how to take this episode after it was finished, and I think there's nothing else to do but respect it for what it is: yet another one of Darin Morgan's well-written, quirky and dark episodes that mixes genres effortlessly. He's already done quite a few episodes that are just as funny as they are dramatic, and this may be his best one yet.

    In a way, this episode was sort of "X-Files" making fun of itself by focusing on an alien abduction plot. A genre writer named Jose Chung visits Agent Scully (a fan of his work) in order to get details on a recent alien abduction case. As the episode progresses, we hear about the events through a number of different perceptions a la Rashomon, and similar to that movie, we never really discover the truth.

    Actually, I think there sort of is an ending, but who can really tell? I think that the humans were actually the aliens, in costume, and that the government, or the air force, was tricking people, but again, I'm not convinced in the end. Instead, I choose to agree with Jose Chung: that with something like alien abduction, truch is subjective.. you never can really pin down the truth of such a subject.

    Once again, Darin Morgan proves he's an excellent writer and a great fit for the show.moreless

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  • By the time I got off this ride, I wasn't sure what had happened or why or how. But it sure was a fun ride.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By AmeliaCaine, Dec 07, 2011 Report Abuse
    Jose Chung's From Outer Space is by far the weirdest episode of the X-Files. That being said, it is witty, smart, and surprisingly profound. I had a ball watching it. Chalk full of memorable lines ("This is not happening") and memorable scenes (Mulder ate an entire pie), this episode was just good plain fun.
    Beneath the fun there was something exceedingly deep lurking. Jose Chung's final words of the episode, "we are all alone," was the perfect way to top off an episode where it was clear that the truth was only a matter of perception.
    The question remains then, what did happen that night? What is the truth? If the truth is subject to perception, can there be such thing as truth at all?moreless

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  • This is not happening. This is not happening. This is not happening.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By MattMTRUSTNO1, Aug 13, 2011 Report Abuse
    Alien #1:"What the hell is that?" Alien #2:"How the hell should I know!" Two aliens abducted by a larger alien. What more could you ask for. Oh, and we even get a cigarette smoking alien. Move over cancer man.
    Writer Jose Chung interviews Dana Scully for a book called From Outer Space, about alien abductions. Flattered by the attention of one of her favorite authors, Scully opens up about a recent case where two teenagers out on a date disappear, only to reappear later with tales of abduction and hypnosis. Mulder and Scully investigate, only to find the case unraveling before their eyes when Scully's autopsy reveals a dead alien body to be an Air Force officer decidedly out of uniform, and the girl's second hypnotic trance reveals that she was put under not by a grey skinned alien but by an Air Force doctor. Every witness who steps forward gets weirder and weirder, until we are faced with hollow-earth enthusiasts and Dungeon & Dragons burnout-cases seeking escape from their mundane lives in the arms of alien space brothers. The infamous Men In Black wear the faces of Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Alex "Jeopardy!" Trebek (what genius cast this episode?). Flashback segues into flashback, stories conflict, cross over, and reduplicate like the storylines of an old Marvel Comics cosmic makeover. Mulder emits a classic girly scream and Scully threatens a man with death if he talks about finding a dead alien body. Talk about out of character!
    There were, of course, innumerable in-jokes. As long as Darin Morgan can hold a pen, David Duchovny's "Jeopardy!" appearance will never be forgotten. Japp Broekker returns as the Stupendous Yappi, flogging an "alien autopsy" conducted by Dana Scully!
    The quick-cuts of Mulder eating pie and asking questions reminded me forcibly of the endless cherry pies of "Twin Peaks", while scenes beginning in one location and ending up in another teased our sense of place and time.
    Beneath the subtle in-jokes and the fractal geometry of the plot, however, lies the heart of this story: alienation. As Jose Chung says at the end, "Although we may not be alone in the universe, in our own separate ways, on this planet we are all alone." In his earlier scripts for "Humbug" and "Clyde Bruckman", Darin Morgan went below the surface of comedy to discover the tragedy of the human condition: that we long for connection but cannot quite achieve it.
    My congratulations on an excellent episodemoreless

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  • Classic all the way

    10
    "Perfect"
    By KennyRogersLove, Feb 24, 2011 Report Abuse
    Jose Chung's "From Outer Space" is the episode that got me watching the X-Files regularly. I loved how they used humor to tell the story and I loved the comic book cartoonish feeling of the alien story with men in black and all. One thing that I really like about this which is also present in the other great episode "Bad Blood" is that you get to watch the episode as a part of someone's side of events which allows for easy comic moments. Like when Mulder yelps when he sees the dead alien body and the sheriff constantly saying blankety bleep for everything. I really like the story with the greys being airforce in costumes and the double twist with the real alien showing up. I mean seriously that is a GREAT idea. I also love the way the story is told with revisiting certain scenes in different ways with different characters. I mean there are literally scenes with the exact same lines but with different characters saying them. The interrogation scene, the hypnosis scene, and others. And the Jose Chung character is wonderfully acted by Charles Nelson Reilly. I give the episode a 10.moreless

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  • I'm slowly watching this show from the very beginning and just finished watching this episode 2 minutes ago... Definately the weirdest episode this show has ever created (and that is DEFINATELY saying something for The X-Files). And I loved it!!!!!!!moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By DarthFreeza, Feb 24, 2011 Report Abuse
    Holy crap I was DEFINATELY not expecting I'd watch anything like this right now. I'd had a really bad day and got home and watched a few episodes of The X-Files when I finally got to this one. I definately did not expect this onslaught of comedy! I laughed harder than I have for quite some time for a TV show. I nearly busted an arterie when Mulder shrieked when he saw the dead "alien" body in the acount by that man. There's nothing else to say other than this is a classic episode for me. Holy crap I was not expecting that and am still in shock...moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • Principal Setting: Klass County, Washington Edit
    • The fictional characters "Diana Lesky" and "Reynard Muldrake" are incredibly thinly veiled potrayals of Dana Scully and Fox Mulder. In fact,"renard" is the French word for "fox" (pronounced similar to "Reynard"). Edit

  • Notes

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    • Actor Alex Diakun, who plays Dr. Fingers the hypnotist, makes his third and final appearance in the series. His first was in episode #44, 2-20, Humbug , in which he played the museum curator, and episode #53, 3-4, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose , in which he played the tarot card reader. Edit
    • A video in this episode is called 'Dead Alien! Truth or Humbug?'. Humbug is the title of Darin Morgan's first episode on The X-Files. Edit
    • The character of Jose Chung is named after an aspiring writer who kept phoning the office inquiring about an unsolicited script he had submitted. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Schaefer: I'm absolutely positive that me, my co-pilot, and those kids were abducted. But I can't be absolutely sure it happened. I can't be sure of anything anymore. Mulder: What do you mean? Schaefer: I'm not sure we're even having this conversation. I don't know if these mashed potatoes are really here. I don't know if you even exist. Mulder: I can only assure you that I do. Schaefer: Well, thanks, buddy. Unfortunately, I can't give you the same assurance about me. Edit
    • Schaefer: The Germans used to project the image of the Virgin Mary over the French trenches in World War I. The enemy is always willing to fire on an invading force, but on a holy miracle? Mulder: Or on visitors from outer space? Schaefer: Yeah, the enemy sees an American recon plane, they start shooting. They see a flying saucer from another galaxy... they hesitate. Edit
    • Scully: In short, Roky showed signs of being what is known as a fantasy-prone personality. Jose Chung: Agent Scully, you are so kind-hearted. He's a nut! Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • The opening sequence to this episode, where what appears to be the underside of a huge spaceship moves slowly across the scene, is an obvious reference to the opening of the original Star Wars film. The fact that it turns out not to be a spaceship is very fitting with the rest of this episode. Edit
    • Mulder sitting in the diner eating sweet potato pie seems to be a nod to Duchovny's previous TV role as an FBI agent on Twin Peaks, although the writer, Darin Morgan, has claimed that it was not so intended. Edit
    • Jose Chung: "In my book 'The Caligarian Candidate'..."
      The title of Jose Chung's novel "The Caligarian Candidate" (which Scully says is "one of the greatest thrillers ever written") combines two famous film titles: "The Manchurian Candidate" and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". Edit

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