Celebrating my silver 'X-Files' anniversary

When you drive almost 1,000 miles to go to an X-Files convention, you have certain expectations -- or at least hopes -- for what it's going to be like to meet various actors. What you don't think about is the interaction with your fellow fans. That proved to be just as much fun in the end at the first X-Fest (subtitle "Celebrating 25 Years of The X-Files") in La Salle, Illinois, making fast friends in two days with people who not only share your passion for the show, but your sensibility as well.

The Friday night mixer lived up to its name. After some of the fans acted out scripts Mad Libs-style (the highlight of which was new favorite hashtag #moistmulder), the trivia contest was a lively -- if perhaps not entirely fair -- event run by the friendly folks who put together the Deep State video game haunting us on Facebook and mobile phones. My group of new friends named itself "Abduct This," although the contest powers-that-be kept calling us "Abductees" or "Abductors." Definitely a different vibe to those names.

The idea was to yell out your team name when you know the trivia answer. It doesn't take an FBI agent to realize the squad closest to the announcers might have an advantage. But despite that -- and the fact that even though one of their own personnel pointed me out as first on the Tarantino "Never Again" question -- we finished tied for second. We won the sudden-death round thanks to our superstar Winston for blurting out "Arthur Dales" after we both had "Darren McGavin." I blame the 22-hour ride to Illinois, obviously I know Arthur Dales.

I'll also give Winston all the credit in the world for adjusting my plan of "attack" in adding 13 autographs to my volume of The Complete X-Files in the so-called "yearbook project." I've been amassing a couple of them at a time at pop-culture conventions for several years. But this was one-stop shopping! Annabeth Gish was the person I wanted to meet most, she was one of the four celebrity tentpoles in the room, also one of the ones whose line got the longest the fastest. Even with the platinum pass, it would have taken some time I didn't think I had off the clock to go to her first. This ended up being an incredible decision.

So I went to Steven Williams first. He played the recurring role of Mr. X and I hadn't met him at The X-Files Expo way back in 1998. To tell the truth, I was a bit concerned about it, because my friend didn't have the best experience with him at the same event. Well, times have changed. He was an utter delight -- playing to the crowd and shouting out vibrant exclamations to just about everyone he met.

I asked him my go-to question -- about The X-Files' most tenured director and truly my favorite -- the late, great Kim Manners. "He was my first director on 21 Jump Street, he was my last episode of The X-Files and he was responsible for getting me on Supernatural. Kim was great, God rest his soul."

I can't really remember my very first episode of The X-Files, but if Season 1's "Eve" wasn't the first one, it certainly was one of my first favorites. So my next stop was for Erika Krievins-Patterson and Sabrina Krievins-Phillips, who played the conniving twin murderers. My big joke was that they didn't look like Harriet Sansom Harris, who played the adult version of the Eves. "She was a great lady," Erika told me. "David and Gillian too." "Everyone was so nice and protective," Sabrina added.

The twins were 9 years old at the time of the show, so they haven't been recognized much by X-Philes as the years have gone by. They both said in their 20s, fans started to point them out and the alternative band Eve 6 named for their characters brought some notoreity back, but since they're both married now, their surnames don't even garner the recognition.

Chris Carter wanted veteran actor Steve Railsback, who played Charles Manson and Ed Gein, to take the crucial role of Duane Barry during Season 2. Railsback's two episodes changed the face of the show and he was so intense in them that I didn't know what expect at X-Fest. I certainly didn't expect for him to call me "a great lady." The first of his two eps was named for his character and marked the first time Carter took the reins on the show. "He was really great," Railsback said, recalling that the crew made sweatshirts with "Virgin" on the back in honor of the executive producer's first directorial effort. Railsback still has his to this day.

And speaking of not knowing what to expect, that was true when it came to Nick Chinlund, who played fetishist Donnie Pfaster about as creepily as it was possible to do in Season 2's "Irresistible" and Season 7's "Orison." He still sounds the same, so when he jokingly asks you one of his most famous lines -- "Is your hair color-treated?" -- it really messes with your head in the best possible way. One fan came up with the great idea of having her picture taken as he held her hands in spookiest Pfaster fashion. I felt kind of bad because I heard some of the things that were said to him that weekend, things like "You're still really creepy."

In fact, I felt kind of bad for all the guest stars when they didn't have fans in their lines. The tentpoles -- Mitch Pileggi, William B. Davis, Nicholas Lea and Annabeth -- stayed pretty busy the whole time, but sometimes the other actors' lines were short or non-existent. I did my part, I met everyone except Jerry Hardin (who I'd previously gotten to converse with a few years ago at Dragon Con).

I also had met Tom Noonan before at Chiller, but that was before I started doing the yearbook project. Some of the fans found him to be standoffish, but I didn't. He was caustic, but had a great sense of humor.  So when the lanky 6-foot-5 actor walked by us on the waiting photo op line and said "Don't get up," I wasn't offended, I was amused. I asked him about the basketball shots taken in Season 4's "Paper Hearts." He wasn't surprised David Duchovny made two of three shots, since the star of the show was a former member of the Princeton basketball squad. "Not as good as me, though," Noonan quipped. "I made my first, but they didn't want me to. I don't know why, they wanted it to look like [my character John Lee Roche] couldn't play. I wanted to dunk."


Another one of the actors I was looking forward to meeting was Robert Wisden, who played Robert Patrick Modell in Season 3's "Pusher" and again in Season 8's "Kitsunegari." He's the one I wished I spent more time with, because I wound up talking more about another couple of his roles than his time on The X-Files. We were discussing his parts on the reboot of Alfred Hitchcock Presents -- one of which was with Martin Landau, who co-starred in the first X-Files film, Fight the Future. "He was a very nice man with a lot of great stories," Wisden said of one of my truly favorite actors who I have met since I started to go to conventions. In addition to the Hitchcock episode "The Final Twist," he also did "Career Move" with David Cassidy. "He was one of my idols when I was growing up. That show was really good for me," Wisden said, adding that the '80s fashions from those shows still make him shake his head.

Without a doubt, the most touching story I heard that day came from Michael Berryman. The veteran of such films as The Hills Have Eyes was in Season 3's "Revelations." He found it very cathartic to play Owen -- a character who seems like the villain at the beginning but ultimately is revealed to be only trying to protect a child. The last time Berryman ever had to screen test, the actor said he went to the audition and told the episode's director David Nutter nobody would be able to do the part like he would and he'd explain why that was when they were on the set. After the reading, Nutter told him he had the part but not to tell that to the other actors waiting to test for the role. So what was the reason he was perfect for the part? Berryman said he once lived in a building that also housed a mother and her two children. Social Services proved unable to protect them from harm at the hands of the father.

Doug Hutchison's story about being Victor Eugene Tooms twice in Season 1 was less dramatic but just as interesting. When he first played the stretching liver-eating mutant for the third episode of the series, it hadn't yet become a cult favorite. But by the time he was back for Episode 21 of the season, The X-Files had gained some traction. "I was thrilled," he said. "I had no idea the show had blown up, so I was thrilled when Chris Carter called and said they wanted to bring me back."

Megan Leitch, who played the recurring role of Mulder's sister Samantha, also didn't know the show had hit the mainstream the first time she returned to the fold. She laughed at never knowing whether or not she was the real Samantha -- according to Season 7's "Closure," she never actually was, but she sure played a lot of variations on that theme. I asked her about Kim Manners. She quickly said he was amazing director, but added she didn't really get the complete picture until she visited a friend on another set with Manners at the helm. "He was intense," Leitch said. "He was a little man with so much energy. You know when there is a gun shot in the scene, the gun doesn't really go off. He'd yell 'BANG!' really loud. When I visited my friend was when I really got to see his style, because you don't really know when you're in the middle of the scene and focused on it."

One of the event's biggest fan favorites was Karin Konoval, who had been known primarily as the mother in Season 4's incestuous "Home" and as the fortune teller in Season 3's "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" until she came back in Season 11 and blew everyone away by playing four parts in "Plus One." She gamely engaged with fans over Twitter and I praised her for that when we met, saying not all actors want to do that. "They should give their heads a little shake," Konoval said.

She told me about the box built specifically to her body for "Home." Konoval was covered with wires, there was blood shot into her eyes and she was kept under the bed up to four hours at a time. "They went away [for lunch] and it was just me and a sound guy. I had to keep from having a panic attack. So when they pulled me out [in the scene], that was me ... Karin ... shrieking for real."

With my guest yearbook needs almost covered, I went to the photo tent for professional photo ops. It wound up being some kind of psychedelic merry-go-round for over a couple hours with a small band of merry fans circling round and round as a different actor came by. But it wasn't overly taxing because they provided some energy boosts, be it Noonan's quip or Railsback pointing at me and saying, "I've seen her!" Hutchison blew me a kiss, and for a second, I double-taked about Tooms doing that to me. Another highlight was when I correctly told the Krievins sisters apart -- Erika on the left and Sabrina on the right.

The piece de resistance was provided by Nicholas Lea. The man who played my favorite character, Krycek, leaned his head on mine and the front of the line went "Awwwww." Then there was Williams, he wouldn't let go of me. The photographer was waiting for the next fan, and I said "It's not me, it's him." The photographer retorted with good humor, "I know."

So when did I get the person I was there to see most? Well, when no one was around actually. I looked over at her corner and there wasn't a line, I don't think my fellow fans noticed she had come back from a break. So I bounced on over and started gushing about how I loved her since I saw Mystic Pizza and Shag! at the movie theater, that my mother and sis are huge fans of Hiding Out -- with Mom still watching it on VHS -- and how thrilled I was when she joined the cast of The X-Files. Then I went on for a bit about how much I loved the character of Monica Reyes, and that no matter what happened in the revival, I would still believe in and be inspired by Monica.

Annabeth asked me where I came from for the convention, I told her New Jersey and specifically for her first one. She asked whether I wanted to do a selfie and I admitted that I had already done a pro-shot photo with her. I was so tickled when she said, 'Let's do one anyway,' and I love that shot even more than the official picture. When she signed the yearbook, Gish said it brought back so many memories, particularly of how Manners would say "Kick it in the ass, Gish" to pump her up.
 
I knew I'd be seeing Nick Lea in late April at Chiller, so I didn't want to take up too much of his time with a long line still waiting to meet him. I picked out a picture and asked him to write something befitting of the best-looking guy in The X-Files universe. After rolling his eyes about on that and declaring that to be too much pressure, he quipped, "When your competition's Bill Davis ... just kidding!" He eventually noted "This is too close to my face. Lots of love."

The one person I hadn't gotten yet was Brian Thompson, who recurred as the Alien Bounty Hunter. He spent much time talking with members of his line about going green. When he disappeared for a bit after a sneezing fit, he re-emerged with a local union wind energy sign he found on the premises and attached it to his banner. Since I called my autograph project the yearbook, he wanted to sign it with words that would be written in a traditional one. After he penned," "Don't change!' I said, "Have a nice summer!" and he added, "Oh, I should have done that."

Someone had given me an extra photo-op card, but I paid it forward since I had enough for myself. I did have an extra autograph card, though, so I got on Mitch Pileggi's line even though the man who plays Walter Skinner was one of the first people to sign the yearbook. I wanted to talk with him about his one great line in Darin Morgan's Season 11 episode "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat."

"I shamed Darin into putting him into an episode," Pileggi told me. "He said, 'You're in it, but it's only one line.' I said, 'OK.' He said, 'But it's big.'" Truer words were never spoken. I asked how many times he said, "Where the hell are they taking Reggie?" to get the reading that aired in the episode. "He said, 'Say the line the way I thought Skinner would and then I'll tell you the way I think it should be done.' So I did and he said, 'Do it really big' and I was like, 'Really?' But it worked."

Since I efficiently worked my way through the autographs and photos, I was able to take in the panel featuring Gish, Pileggi, Davis ... and my new friend Tasha after I saved Megan Leitch, who had been locked out of the side door of the venue.

Annabeth and Bill cracked up when Mitch was introduced as Mitch Pill-egg-ee. When Annabeth teased him, Mitch called her "Annabeth Geesh." She countered she's more often mistakenly called "Annabelle." The actors seemed to be as enthralled as the packed house, which hung on their every word. "Sculder and Mully aren't even here," Pileggi quipped.

They all found it easy to get back into character for Season 11, particularly when Davis' Cigarette-Smoking Man said to Skinner, "You mind if I smoke?" "I love that line and I love the way Bill delivered it," Mitch said. Davis, in turn, was asked why CSM once said the Bills can't ever win the Super Bowl. "Give me another 20 years, I might soften on that," he said. Davis played to the crowd a lot with great effect with lines like "The other side's not so bad."

During the alleged Season 11 Skinner episode "Kitten," Metamucil was found in Walter's apartment. "I've always described Skinner as being perpetually constipated," Mitch explained. "(Co-executive producer) Glen Morgan grabbed that and ran with it."

Gish didn't want to have any part of reenacting the whale song Monica sang to try and make Scully comfortable for William's birth -- or revisiting the shag, for that matter -- but she told the assembled that William's birth was done with a lot of cottage cheese and strawberry jelly.

As usually happens at panels, the actors were asked to name their favorite episodes. Annabeth's are two of my own from Season 9 -- "4D" and "Audrey Pauley." Davis named the Season 3 finale "Talitha Cumi," while Pileggi listed "Home," "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" and Season 2's "Humbug." When later asked about his favorite comedy episode, Bill brought the house down by saying he did sooooo many funny light-hearted ones.

I might have gotten to ask a question at an X-Files panel for the first time. Of course, it was about Kim Manners. Annabeth said the Gish household still says "Kick it in the ass!" whenever they have to do something amazing. Davis explained how the actor-turned-director was actor-friendly. When Davis would be running lines with a scene partner, Manners would appear and be studying them. Then after a scene, even if Bill thought he nailed it, Kim would say, "I think you have another one in you." Pileggi couldn't pick just one. "I loved him to death and miss him," he said.



The final events were screenings of "Squeeze" and "Home" hosted by Hutchison and Konoval respectively. Hutchison admitted he was cheesed off by the contortionist body double stretching down a victim's chimney. "You see his butt and it's huge. I have a nice butt," he said, and when that particular scene came on the screen, the audience roared with new understanding.

"I look like I'm 12 years old," Hutchison afterward. The veteran of 24 and Lost admitted he nearly turned down the role that eventually brought him to the event. He explained a trick of the trade -- during the interrogation scene he stared at a stain on the wall, determined not to look away -- and some non-prophetic words from David Duchovny, who told him, "This show's going nowhere, it'll be around one season, maybe two."

Konoval admitted she hadn't watched "Home" since it aired, and at the time, she covered her face during the "yucky bits." She was determined to watch and enjoy it with the X-Philes. The audience constantly peeked over at her while it was on to see if she lived up to her word, and she did.

Afterward, she told us about the painstaking process of finding Mrs. Peacock through her voice and being shoved into the box she called a coffin by four people. "I could not remove myself. I could move the shoulders, the rest was done with puppetry." She went through four callbacks to get the part of the mother and penned a hilarious letter to Glen Morgan after discovering a repeat pattern in her work for him -- "The next project we do together, can I please not fuck my children?"

That led to an actors' dream role -- four parts in Morgan's Season 11 episode. "As tough as 'Home' was to do, 'Plus One' was just a joy from beginning to end," she said. "It's so freeing for a woman to play a man whose an asshole. I could play them forever." Do I hear a spinoff? I'd settle for a reality show that follows Konoval to conventions and watches her interact with fans.

Next year's X-Fest already has been announced for April 13, 2019. I've got my sights set on it already, there are so many great guest stars who can join the fold -- not to mention The Lone Gunmen, whom I've never met -- and the stars of our show, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. We'll see what This Con Life has in store of us next year. Just remember, go Platinum and Abduct This!