The Truth is in Here: The X-Files in the Television Crossover Universe

Why do I sometimes write very short blogs?  So then I can write really long ones like this one.

Most people who read this blog know my format by now, so I really don't need to do much of an intro.

Fourteen billion years ago to February 1992--For all the relevant information that occurred prior to the show, you should check out this website I found.



1908--X-FILES--Read here.  Note that I consider Doctor Who to exist in another reality, but that the Doctor visits the TVCU often.  Considering the surviving Dalek in the episode mentioned was thrown away from the Time War, it's perfectly acceptable that this Dalek ended up in the TVCU.  Another such Dalek ended up in the hands of another billionaire collector named Bruce Wayne, after all.



July 1947--INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL--Indy is called in to consult when an alien craft and it's inhabitants is captured.  These are likely the grey aliens from X-FILES and other series and movies.  However, how they got there is another story.  Just prior to their crash, a space craft from the 24th century arrived in Roswell.  Three Ferengi are captured until rescued by their shape shifter companion.  They return to the future (STAR TREK:  DEEP SPACE NINE), however leaving an opening from which the Planet Express crew from the 31st century are pulled backward.  While the ship's doctor is examined by the military, another crew member (originally from the late 20th century) creates a paradox by becoming his own grandfather (FUTURAMA).  Thus when they escape, they leave behind a nexus that draws the Grey Aliens to Earth and also makes Earth a target for invasions from other worlds.



1950s--MONSTERS VS. ALIENS--The General in charge of capturing the "monsters" refers to this mission as an X-File. Since this takes place in the 1950s, he can't be referring to the TV series.  This animated film in itself is a huge (though parody) crossover of 1950s monster movies, but it's not too far out there, that I feel it rightfully fits in the TVCU.



Late 1970s--THAT 70S SHOW--"That Disco Episode"--While sitting the circle, Hyde declares that "the truth is out there, man!"  Based on the time period, he didn't get this quote from any TV series.  It may be that he is the originator of that particular phrase that later became very popular among conspiracy theorists like Fox Mulder.



May 1989--X-FILES--"Unusual Suspects"--In Baltimore, a case being investigated by FBI Agent Fox Mulder brings together three nerds, who having their eyes opened to government conspiracies, go on to form the Lone Gunmen.  The three are arrested and interrogated by Baltimore HOMICIDE detective John Munch.  Munch will later transfer to New York's SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT.



March 7, 1992--X-FILES--"Pilot"--FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully begin working together in the FBI's X-Files division.



1992 to 2002--X-FILES--The exploits of Agents Mulder and Scully.  They continue to seek out the truth behind the conspiracies regarding the paranormal.  One of the leaders of the conspiracy is the Cigarette Smoking Man, whose brand of choice is Morley Cigarettes.  Morley is a fictional brand that appears often in the TVCU (and acts as a connector).  Besides Beverly Hills 90210, Morley Cigarettes are found in REAPER, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, COLD CASE, CRIMINAL MINDS, ER, JAKE 2.0, KILLER INSTINCT, THE L WORD, MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE, MEDIUM, MILLENNIUM, MISSION:  IMPOSSIBLE, NASH BRIDGES, NEW AMSTERDAM, PRISON BREAK, THE OUTER LIMITS (though only the stories that have the cigarettes are included), SPACE:  ABOVE AND BEYOND, SPECIAL UNIT 2, SPY GAME, THAT 70S SHOW, THE TWILIGHT ZONE (same rule as OUTER LIMITS), GUN SHY, PROZAC NATION and THE X-FILES.  There were also novels and comics that are part of the canon.



October 1992--X-FILES--"Darkness Falls"--James Bojaciuk:  It took some doing to find my notes, but 24 has a lone (incredibly convoluted) linkage to the TVCU proper. In the novel 24: Cat's Claw Jack Bauer faces off against a revived Monkey Wrench Gang, a band of eco-terrorists who first appeared in Edward Abbey's novels The Monkey Wrench Gang and Hayduke Lives. The 24 novel was a contradictory mess that could never quite make up its mind if the original Monkey Wrenchers were a real terror group or only fictional, but for the purposes of the TVCU we can assume the Monkey Wrench Gang were real. This novel occured in the year 2000.  Another incarnation of the Monkey Wrench Gang appeared in the season one episode of The X-Files "Darkness Falls." Thus providing a linkage to both Abbey's novels and 24. The Monkey Wrenchers of Abbey and The X-Files went out of their way to prevent physical harm to other people, where the Monkey Wrenchers of 24: Cat's Claw were your standard psycho-violent terrorists.




December 1994--X-FILES--"Red Museum"--In Delta Glen, Wisconsin, the agents investigate weird going ons involving cows, teenagers, and injected DNA.


December 1994--PICKET FENCES--"Away in the Manger"--When weird happenings involving cows begin to happen in Rome, Wisconsin, some residents wonder if it has anything to do with the events that happened a few weeks earlier in Delta Glen that caused the FBI to come in and intervene.




Winter 1995--X-FILES ANNUAL # 1--"Hallow Eve"--Agents Mulder and Scully visit Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, which is a well known location seen in the works of H.P. LOVECRAFT.



February 1995--LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT # 86 TO 88--"Conspiracy"--James Bojaciuk: I just read Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #86-88, which is yet another Batman vs. the Illuminati story. In #88, Batman collects evidence from bugging the Solucci crime family that connects them to the CIA, MKUltra, and police corruption--he then delivers this evidence to the offices of an unnamed Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. This crossover confirms Batman and the X-Files take place in the same universe. The Batman present in this story would be Batman III, Bruce Wayne Jr.



February 1996--X-FILES--"Jose Chung's From Outer Space"--Agents Mulder and Scully meet author Jose Chung.  Jose Chung will later appear on MILLENNIUM.  Chung has written a book based on Agents Mulder and Scully's work on the X-Files.  This helps explain some of the "zonks" in which the agents and their cases are mentioned on other TV shows and films that are also in the TVCU.



February 1996--STRANGE LUCK--"Lightning Strikes"--Chance Harper meets his long lost brother, who works for the FBI.  Chance Harper suffers from a strange case where he always has extremely good or bad luck, and his brother tells him he should see Agent Fox Mulder.



August 1996--X-FILES--"Chinga"--Ivan Ronald Schablotski: As part of my current research into the Castle Rock Universe (where most of Stephen King's stories take place, for those that don't know), I discovered a curiosity, if not an actual crossover, in the form of an unusual recurring last name.  Coincidence, or an intentional easter egg / connection linking the X-Files to the rest of King's continuity?

• Paul Bonsaint - from RITA HAYWOOD AND SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

• Dr. John Bonsaint (and his sister Sheila Bonsaint LeClaire) - from N

• Jack Bonsaint - Police Captain in Amma Beach, ME, from the 107th episode of The X-Files (which was written by King).

January 1997--SIMPSONS--"The Springfield Files"--FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully of the X-FILES division come to Springfield to investigate an alien sighting.  The X-FILES firmly exists in the TVCU.  Also appearing in this episode, in a police line-up, are ALF, Chewbacca (STAR WARS), Gort (DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL), and Marvin the Martian (BUGS BUNNY).

Spring 1997--HIGHLANDER--"Indiscretions"--Methos mentions Agents Mulder and Scully.



May 1997--HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS:  THE TV SHOW--"Honey, It's No Fun Being an Illegal Alien"--The Lone Gunmen show up to assist, using aliases.



November 21, 1997--MILLENNIUM--"Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"--Frank Black meets author Jose Chung.  Playpen magazine appears in this story.  Playpen magazine has appeared in X-FILES, MILLENNIUM, SPECIAL OPS FORCE, THE PRETENDER, THAT GIRL, GROSSE POINTE, RENEGADE, PACIFIC BLUE, 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN, MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, THAT 70S SHOW, CSI, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, LOST, SUPRNATURAL, IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, and KYLE XY.  Thus all of these shows are connected and are all in the TVCU.  Playpen magazine has also appeared in FAMILY GUY, but that show takes place in the Bongo Universe.  The nature of that show is too different to fit in the TVCU.



1998--THE X-FILES MOVIE--Feature length movie shown in theaters that takes place between seasons.



1998--THE X-FILES GAME--Video game that is part of the canon.

October 1998--X-FILES--"Hollywood A.D."--A movie is made, based on Agents Mulder and Scully and their work on the X-Files.  This helps explain "zonks" in which they are referenced on other TV shows and films that also take place in the TVCU.



January 1999-X-FILES--"Tithonus"--Malcolm T. Wiggins, the villain here, will later have his mugshot seen on VERONICA MARS.

April 1999--X-FILES--"Milagro"--Mulder and Scully visit the graveyard where Nicolas and Diana Salinger are buried.  These two's deaths was the initial premise as they left their five children orphans fending for themselves on PARTY OF FIVE.



August 1999--DARIA--"The Lawndale File"--Agents Mulder and Scully of THE X-Files come to Lawndale to investigate some strange goings-on.



December 21, 1999 to January 1, 2000--X-FILES--"Millennium"--Frank Black works with FBI agents Mulder and Scully in preventing the Apocalypse.



February 2000--X-FILES--"X-Cops"--Mulder and Scully investigate a haunting, where the police present are being followed by the camera crew from the television reality show COPS.

Winter 2001--X-FILES--"Three Words"--FBI agent Fox Mulder returns from the dead claiming to feel like AUSTIN POWERS when he was revived from his suspended animation.

Winter 2001--THE X-FILES/30 DAYS OF NIGHT--Agents Mulder and Scully investigate the town of Barrows, Alaska, where everyone had been found murdered.





2001--LONE GUNMEN--Spin-off featuring Mulder's nerdy go-to guys.



November 2001--X-FILES--"Daemonicus"--FBI Agent John Doggett mentions THE GHOSTBUSTERS after someone mentions ectoplasm.


March 2004--AMERICAN DAD--"All About Steve"--Stan speaks to two FBI Agents that are clearly Mulder and Scully.

April 2004--AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE--"Dusty Gozongas"--After a chainsaw sprouts legs, Master Shake considers calling the X-Files division of the FBI.



2004--X-FILES:  RESIST OR SERVE--Video game that is part of the canon.  In the video games The X-Files: Resist or Serve (March 14, 2004) and Max Payne (July 25, 2001), a secret room contains a staked corpse with "Buffy" smeared on the wall in blood.[16]

2004--SPLINTER CELL--Caeric ArcLight: While infiltrating CIA headquarters in Langley, VA, Splinter Cell operative Sam Fisher stumbles across an office for "UFO Sightings" and finds an encrypted email addressed to F.M.FBI concerning possible evidence. Obviously someone in the CIA was assisting Fox Mulder. (and linking the Splinter Cell games to THE X-FILES)



February 2005--EUREKA--"Alienated"--An appearance of the MEN IN BLACK, working for the Consortium.  Read this by Toby O'Brien to learn about the Consortium's role in Toobworld (and the TVCU.)

May 2005--VERONICA MARS--"Leave It To Beaver"--A mugshot of Malcolm T. Wiggins, from X-Files episode "Titonis" is on the wall of a police interrogation room.



November 2005--VERONICA MARS--"Rat Saw God"--The Lariat Rental Car Company is in this story.  This was the company that the FBI used almost exclusively on the X-Files.

November 2006--MADTV--Most of this show is in Skitlandia, but the Griffins appear in an episode that is in the Bongo Anomaly.  Also, it should be noted that Ms. Swan appeared on Family Guy, so all her Mad TV sketches are in the Bongo Anomaly.  Ms. Swan has interacted with other sketch characters on the show, taking them out of Skitlandia and making them part of the Bongo Anomaly as well.  This includes the Vancome Lady and Lowered Expectations.  Ms. Swan of MAD TV is part of the TVCU because of her appearance on Family Guy, which makes her crosses on MAD TV with X-Files and Buffy to be valid.  And yeah, a Family Guy connection could lean toward the TVCU or Looniverse, but considering the other two connections, I push it to the TVCU.  MAD TV, actually, which I've accepted must be completely in since Ms. Swan was on Family Guy, and Alfred E. Newman and other Mad Magazine characters were on the Simpsons, and MAD TV sketch characters often interacted with each other.



2007--Justin Gustainis’ Morris & Chastain Investigations series--John D Lindsey Jr: Sorry about the length of this post, but there's a lot of info. One of the more crossover-intensive series I’ve been reading is Justin Gustainis’ Morris & Chastain Investigations series. The main characters of the book are Austin-based supernatural investigator Quincy Morris, the great grandson of the character from Dracula, and his partner, white witch Libby Chastain. The book gets around the original Quincy’s bachelorhood by positing that he had been married before the events of the novel, but his wife died in childbirth.  There are three books so far: Black Magic Woman, Evil Ways, and Sympathy for the Devil.
Black Magic Woman sees Quincy and Libby helping a family try to break a curse that’s been placed on them by a witch, a case which links to a series of child murders being performed across America. The crossovers are thus:

• Dracula – Obviously, with Quincy as a character, the events of the novel are mentioned several times. Quincy reads a letter written to his ancestors by Van Helsing and Dr. Seward, telling them of the nature of the original Quincy’s demise. 

• Vampire$ – In the opening chapter, Quincy helps a small Texas town get rid of a vampire infestation. The town had originally called a vampire hunter named Jack, whose crew uses semi trucks and four-wheel drive jeeps, but he was bogged down with a vampire nest in Waco and called in a favor from Quincy. Jack is Jack Crow, from John Steakley’s novel Vampire$, filmed as John Carpenter’s Vampires.

• Anita Blake – Quincy mentions the name “Blake” as a vampire expert, alongside Van Helsing. This is problematical, since the Anita Blake stories take place in a world where the supernatural is exposed and everyone knows monsters exist. I really dislike that kind of setting, and it still pains me that the Buffyverse went that way. But fortunately, in Quincy’s world, the supernatural remains firmly hidden from most of the public, and so this must be an alternate version of the main Anita Blake.

• Diana Tregarde – The name “Tregarde” is also mentioned by Quincy in the same sentence as Blake and Van Helsing. Diana Tregarde is an occult investigator created by Mercedes Lackey. I have one or two of those novels, but haven’t read them yet.

• Carnacki – Maybe not a real crossover, but Quincy has a pet hamster named Carnacki.

• The Exorcist – While visiting a haunted house, Quincy thinks of others he’d visited, including one on Long Island and one in West Pittson, PA, and “a certain townhouse in Washington’s Georgetown segment” where “two Jesuit priests had once died there while performing an exorcism to save a little girl”. Incidentally, the Long Island haunting is a reference to the Amityville case, and the West Pittson reference is to the Smurl haunting, both supposed real-life cases that were dramatized in film.

• The Man From UNCLE – In New York City, Quincy and Libby are almost killed by an SUV (after the witch they’re after mind-controls the driver) while walking past Del Floria’s tailor shop.

• Brimstone – While visiting another occult investigator, Quincy notices his bookshelf; some of the books are real world tomes, like the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita, but several of the titles are references. One of the books is Stone’s Practical Demon Hunting; this is a reference to the short-lived TV series Brimstone. After 113 damned souls busted out of Hell, a former NY cop named Ezekiel Stone, who went to Hell for murdering his wife’s rapist in cold blood, was released by the Devil (John Glover!) to track them down and return them to the Pit, winning himself a second chance at life on Earth and redemption, which he apparently did. And then wrote a book. Anyway, every one of the escaped souls had some kind of weird Hell power, which they picked up because the longer a soul stays in Hell, the more it becomes a part of them. The whole thing is VERY similar to the show Reaper, though played dark and gritty where that one was more comical. I like to think they happen in the same world.

• Kim Newman – Not really a crossover, but another book glimpsed is Newman’s The Vampire in Victorian England; in this world, Kim Newman must write occult nonfiction. 

• Silver John – Yet another book on the shelf is “Wellman’s biography of John the Balladeer”. Silver John, alias John the Balladeer, is presented as a real person that Manly Wade Wellman wrote about.

• The X-Files and Millennium – And the last books are “Black’s Approaching the Millennium” and Scully and Reyes’ Investigating the Occult: Principles and Techniques, 3rd edition.

2007--EVIL WAYS--John D Lindsey Jr: The second book, Evil Ways, picks up a few months after the first, and has Quincy and Libby racing to stop a ritual that will summon Lucifer to the Earthly plane. It contains the following crossovers:

• Cthulhu Mythos - One of the books used for the ritual is Alhazred’s Book of Shadows. While ol’ Abdul clearly existed in this world, characters do argue about whether the Necronomicon is real or not. We’ve mentioned before that the Necronomicon was used in a Supernatural tie-in to summon Lucifer, as well (though the spell could only work after the Seals were busted in season 4).

• Hannibal Lecter - At one point, when talking to an FBI agent, Morris mentions that he knew Will Graham, the hero of Thomas Harris’ 1980 novel Red Dragon, the agent who initially captured Hannibal Lecter. Later, Morris asks if Jack Crawford is still in charge of the FBIs Behavioral Science Unit, only to be told that he died of a heart attack a few years back. Crawford is also from the Hannibal Lecter books; his death is depicted in Hannibal.

• The X-Files - When Morris asks an FBI agent if he is from the X-Files: “The X-Files Unit does not exist, and has never existed,” Fenton said, as if quoting somebody. “It is a myth, perpetuated by rumor and popular culture”. Obviously, given the other X-Files and Millennium references, the FBI is trying to sweep that little embarrassment under the rug.

• The Ghost Whisperer - While discussing a psychic, there’s this quote from Libby Chastain: “I would have thought he was just some hustler, like that Ghost Whisperer clown.

• The Dresden Files –Quincy decides to contact an old friend, Chicago’s resident wizard. Morris and Chastain actually go to McAnally's, a pub that serves as neutral ground for Chicago's secret magical community in the Dresden books, where the owner, Mac, gives them a letter from Harry (referred to as "Harry the Wizard") explaining that he had to miss their appointment because he was called away on Council business (the Council being the White Council of wizards). This was done with the express permission of Jim Butcher, according to the Acknowledgements page; Butcher himself wrote the intro to the first book.

• Kolchack: The Night Stalker – In an early chapter, Quincy breaks into the estate of a powerful Satanist named Janos Skorzeny. The name is also used by the first vampire Carl Kolchak ever fought, and by a werewolf (duh!) in the short-lived ‘80s series Werewolf. More explicitly, one of Quincy's other contacts in Chicago is a reporter named Carl, who keeps an eye on the supernatural goings on in the city, though his boss, Tony, keeps trying to send him off to cover flower shows. So, either Carl Kolchak (and Tony Vincenzo) got immortality treatment at some point, or we're dealing with descendents. Or a time loop or something crazier.

• Millennium - The characters visit a psychic sensitive named Frank, who runs the Ourobouros Bar and Grill in Cleveland. Frank has a daughter, Jordan, now in college, and at one point says: “I used to work with some people, about ten years ago, who were worried that the turn of the millennium was going to cause all the supernatural shit to hit the fan. You may have noticed that it didn't, and I like to think our group had something to do with that, before the whole organization went to shit.” Frank is Frank Black. He and another character even exchange “This is who we are”s.

• The Usual Suspects - An FBI agent discussing their suspect says, “Fella's like Keyser fucking Soze”, to which his partner replies, "Yeah, and like Soze, there's no official evidence to connect him to anything illegal." 

• The Shadow – One of the characters is a woman named Hannah Widmark, whose husband and children were killed by Satanists, and who now serves as sort of a supernatural bounty hunter, killing vampires, Satanists, and dark wizards for a fee. At one point, she thinks of one of her mentors, “a shadowy, enigmatic man named Cranston”, who taught her how to fire a pair of Colt .45s simultaneously and hit her targets every time, and who once said of them, with “that weird laugh of his: “The weed of Satan bears bitter fruit, Hannah. And these are your weed-cutters.” Hannah Widmark was trained by The Shadow, still using his Lamont Cranston identity, or possibly that of a descendent.

2008--X-FILES:  I WANT TO BELIEVE--Mulder and Scully work together once more to solve another paranormal mystery.



August 2008--FRINGE--"A New Day in the Old Town"--In this episode, a U.S. Senator makes mention of the FBI's X Division.  The X Division's primary agents were for years Fox Mulder and Dana Scully of the X-FILES.  (Thanks to fringebloggers.com for providing this detail.  I had been researching for 30 minutes knowing there was some link to pull in Fringe, but unable to find any.  I would have been upset if I had to scrap my work.)  Read this "O'bservation" for more on that guy in the video.






March 2009--HAVEN--"The Trial of Audrey Parker"--It's alluded to that Agent Howard has worked with Fox Mulder in the past.

April 2009--Muchachada nui--Fox Mulder appears.

2012--SO YOU CREATED A WORMHOLE--SO YOU CREATED A WORMHOLE is written by some guys in the future, after the Rise of the Machines, in the Whoniverse, but because much of the historical documents of the past were destroyed, they have pieced history together via time travel, but their device seems to work with Time And Relative Dimension In Space, so they often hop from one alternate reality to the other, so a lot of what they think is one timeline is several, a possibility they themselves present as being possible. Crossovers: TVCU: Back to the Future (also Captain Future timeline, TVCU2, Mirror Universe), Forbidden Planet, the Time Machine, Time Cop, A Conneticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Star Trek, Timeline, Stargate, Bill and Ted (with claims that the Doctor gave Rufis time tech, though this may simply allude to the relationship between both sets of Time Lords), Hot Tub Time Machine (also TVCU2), Star Wars, Futurama, Donnie Darko, Army of Darkness, Time After Time, Lost, Philedelphia Experiment, 12 Monkeys, Quantum Leap, X-Files, Gundam, Power Rangers, Voltron, iRobot, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Whoniverse: Terminator, www.thetimetravelguide.com, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film series, Superman film series, Alien, Doctor Who, Land of the Lost, Battlestar Gallactica. TVCU2: Star Trek reboot. Q-universe: Planet of the Apes. And I'm sure I missed some. Also note some of the reality placements are based on specific previous crossover connections, and for those that I had no previous connection I just placed in the TVCU, but if there's strong enough argument for placement in the Whoniverse, let me know.



2012--X-FILES--"The Truth"--This is the year the alien invasion was to occur.  Year's not over yet. Let's see what film or TV series I can implant to fit with this.  Hmmmm, I've been playing with the idea of inputting the Avengers film into the TVCU.....



23rd Century--STAR TREK--"The Naked Time"--Gordon Long: There's also the Black Oil, a living entity itself, which might be similar to the inhibition-releasing virus from "The Naked Time" ('Trek TOS') and revisited in 'TNG' ("The Naked Now").



September 2374--STAR TREK:  DEEP SPACE NINE--"Millennium Trilogy"--The first time there is a connection made that the aliens from X-FILES and many other films and TV series are called the Reticuii.

September 2374--STAR TREK:  DEEP SPACE NINE--"The Fall of Terok Nor"--The aliens seen in the X-Files and numerous other television series and movies are identified here as the Reticulii.

April 2375--PRESERVER--Again the Reticulii are mentioned.

ALTERNATE REALITIES:

LOONIVERSE--In this universe, Agents Mulder and Scully appear on EEK THE CAT.


ROBOT CHICKEN UNIVERSE--Of course!!!

TVCU2--Ivan Ronald Schablotski: I'll point out for the sake of being pointy that a theory exists linking the Purity (black oil) alien virus to the Venom alien symbiote, especially the way it is depicted in the movie SPIDER-MAN 3.




VIDEO GAME UNIVERSE--Fax Modem and Data Nully (voiced by Gillian Anderson) appear on REBOOT.




Remember, the truth is out there.  (I know.)