The X-Files Spoofs Are Out There

In “Trials and Tribble-ations,” agents Dulmer and Lucsly (shuffle the letters) of the Department of Temporal Investigations question Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) about a trip that he and his crew took into the past. Sisko asks the agents, “Are you sure you don’t want anything?” Dulmer (Jack Blessing) replies, “Just the truth, Captain.”

Excerpt from Entertainment Weekly’s The Ultimate Guide to The X-Files. Buy it here now.

“David Duchovny, why won’t you love me?” Singer-songwriter Bree Sharp’s catchy ode to the actor was a hit with X-Files crew members. They created an unofficial music video for the song featuring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg, KISS and other celebrities lip-synching affectionate lyrics about Duchovny’s eyes, monotone and “jagged Jewish nose.”

“The Springfield Files” brings Mulder and Scully to Homer’s doorstep after his apparent encounter with an extraterrestrial. Duchovny and Anderson voice their characters amid a slew of in-jokes, including the sight of the animated Mulder in a Speedo. If that weren’t special enough, Leonard Nimoy, in fine In Search of . . . form, hosts the episode.

Dressed in a black suit and tie in “The Trial,” how could Hank Moody not make a reference to his alter ego’s previous TV series? “I look like a f---ing FBI agent,” he tells his lover Karen (Natascha McElhone). “A very brooding and comely FBI agent,” she replies, quoting lyrics from Bree Sharp’s song.

The computer-animated series snagged Gillian Anderson herself to provide the voice of CGI Agent Data Nully for the episode “Trust No One.” Nully and her partner, the conspiracy theory-spouting Fax Modem (Scott McNeil, doing a hilariously laid-back David Duchovny impression), set out to solve a series of abductions in the computer-system civilization known as Mainframe.

Just days before the premiere of season 10, Kimmel, as FBI Agent Keith, joins Mulder and Scully as their new partner to bring them up to date. Hopelessly stuck in 1990s mode, they’ve never seen a smartphone; they’re still using dial-up (to sign on to AOL, no less); and they still haven’t hooked up.

Entertainment Weekly’s The Ultimate Guide to The X-Files, celebrating 25 years of out-there conspiracies, is on sale Jan. 5. Buy it here now.