The X-Files had plenty of crossovers during its run, thanks to its monumental popularity, which enabled it to thrive alongside other unique IPs. The sci-fi series captured pop culture attention in the 1990s and saw the characters find new avenues, such as Mulder and Scully getting animated on The Simpsons and even spending time with Frank Black, the protagonist of creator Chris Carter’s other FBI-inspired supernatural series, Millennium. Even the Season 5 episode “Unusual Suspects” features the character John Munch from Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: SVU, tying The X-Files to the grounded procedural shows.
Mulder and Scully also have numerous popular comic book crossovers, though those stories have seen them embark on distinctly non-canon cases with Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and even vampires in 30 Days of Night. Still, after all these years, one TV crossover stands out as a beloved fan favorite. While it offers a great blend of sci-fi investigation and comedy, fans tend to love the unique style on display, which breaks from every other episode to feel like a fast-paced documentary. Not just any documentary, though, as it was easily recognizable as the long-running hit series Cops, leading to an X-Files masterpiece that shouldn’t have worked.
“Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come for You?”
When X-Files fans tuned in to watch Season 7, Episode 12, “X-Cops,” they could be forgiven for thinking it was merely another episode of Cops. The reality documentary series and the sci-fi show both aired on Fox, suggesting any number of mistakes that could have led to an episode of Cops rather than The X-Files making its way onto the schedule. According to episode co-writer Vince Gilligan, this was even a real concern of the network, stating in an interview with the Television Academy, “[Fox] didn’t want people thinking, ‘oh, the schedule is screwed up.'”
Thankfully, the episode was well-advertised as a crossover ahead of its premiere, so most fans likely tuned in with eager anticipation rather than utter shock. It also doesn’t take long for “X-Cops” to delve into what fans expect. The episode opens with Deputy Keith Wetzel (Judson Mills) on his evening patrol, talking to the cameras like any officer on Cops. After responding to a call, things take a turn when he runs for his life, screaming after seeing a monster. With no better law enforcement to handle such a conundrum, Mulder and Scully arrive on scene, only to find themselves under the ever-watchful eyes of the documentary crew’s cameras.
The monster-of-the-week episode also features one of the show’s most distinct variations, which plays well into the Cops format. While Mulder and Scully attempt to investigate out of prying eyes, the situation is ongoing and potentially dire, forcing them to navigate the current circumstances with the documentary crew in tow. The FBI duo becomes a new focal point of the investigation, with Deputy Wetzel saying he saw The Wasp Man. This becomes a key detail, as others mention seeing a werewolf and even Freddy Krueger from the A Nightmare on Elm Street slasher films. What Mulder and Scully eventually surmise is that the witnesses are telling the truth and that the monster they are after is a shape-shifter.
To allow the monster to truly take hold of the police investigating it, the episode reveals that the monster feeds on fear. Each witness sees something from their subconscious that the monster uses to elicit maximum fear, feeding off each victim as it moves through the neighborhood, keeping the FBI and local law enforcement on a continuous chase. Given the nature of Cops, “X-Cops” is structured to unfold over the course of a single evening, feeling much like the documentary series The X-Files now finds itself in. The found-footage style also plays into the bold decision to never show the monster, allowing it to live on through the terrified reactions of the police and local residents who describe what they saw. Through it all, fans are treated to a grounded approach to sci-fi and horror concepts, with plenty of laughs built on situational comedy.
Fans Owe Vince Gilligan Everything When It Comes to “X-Cops”
There are myriad reasons that a crossover between The X-Files and Cops shouldn’t work. One is a fictional sci-fi show, while the other is a grounded reality series. The entire “X-Cops” episode was even shot on video, giving it the lower definition of Cops and an assemblage of longer takes to mirror the documentary style, breaking from much of the show’s formatting, even at the most basic levels. These well-crafted details are thanks to Gilligan, a Cops fan who first pitched the idea. According to The X-Files scribe, he fought to ensure “X-Cops” looked just like the real thing, asking, “What can we do to make it look as much like a Cops episode as possible? Because I actually did want to fool people.”
“There was some conversations internally with [X-Files creator and showrunner] Chris Carter and Michael Watkins, the director, and some of the other producers of the show. The thought being that — if we shoot it on film, we can always bump it on to video. But I didn’t think that it would look the same. I was a big fan of the TV show, Cops. And I just wanted [our episode] to look as much like Cops as possible. I was very excited that we shot on video, too. I won that battle.”
“It was probably more like putting on a stage play than a typical episode of The X-Files would be, where you have to do take after take. We did a lot of takes of this, as I recall, but they were ones that would last, sometimes, three or four minutes.”
Even Carter wasn’t a fan of the idea at first, with Gilligan pitching it as early as Season 4. Gilligan eventually got “X-Cops” made through sheer determination, never dropping the idea, with the writer stating, “As I recall, I wore Chris Carter down.” Gilligan elaborated:
“I wore him down on the Cops crossover. And finally, at one point, he was just like, ‘I’m tired of hearing about it. Just go ahead and do it.’ So, God bless him.”
The entire episode could have failed in concept alone, as the shows felt somewhat incongruous with each other, but the unique crossover format and self-aware humor allowed it to thrive instead. X-Files fans fondly remember the episode because it was shot on video, allowing it to truly stand out, with a monster built perfectly for the fast-paced thrills of Cops. Even Robbie Amell, who played Agent Miller in the revival series, has recently hailed the episode and even pitched a series done entirely in the same style, saying:
“My favorite episode is “X-Cops”, which is X-Files mixed with Cops. It’s just a great episode, and there are moments you can see David laughing and really enjoying himself in the episode. I would watch an entire series of X-Cops. I think that would be great. I should talk to Chris Carter. We need to make X-Cops!”
With Ryan Coogler’s reboot in the works, it’s unlikely that Amell’s pitch for an “X-Cops” series will ever come to fruition, but it speaks to the continued popularity of the episode, even 26 years later. Everything that could have broken the idea is what makes it work so well, helping it endure with new and old fans and allowing “X-Cops” to be the most unlikely crossover masterpiece The X-Files ever produced.
- Release Date
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1993 – 2018-00-00
- Network
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FOX
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
