The X-files

Darkness Falls
Episode: 1X19
First aired:4/14/94
Written by: Chris Carter
Directed by: Joe Napolitano

One of my favorite episodes.

We see frightened loggers in the woods running away as green glowing objects attack them.

Mulder finds that all 30 loggers have vanished and that a similar incident happened 60 years ago in the same area.
Mulder and Scully talk to the forest ranger and Steve Humphreys, the security chief for the logging company. They think eco-terrorists were behind the attacks.

The four of them head to the woods but are forced to walk the rest of the way when their car tires are slashed by spikes. Looking around the camp they find a man hanging in a huge cocoon, drained of all fluids.

Doug Spiney, an eco-terrorist, shows up talking about a force that comes only at night, can not attack with a light source, and devours people alive. He explains that the loggers have been cutting down old trees and are releasing green mites that have been lying dormant.

Mulder concludes that the mites are ancient eggs that affected from radiation from volcanic activity.

Humphreys leaves but is trapped in his car and attacked by the green bugs. Mulder allows Spinney to go for help, which Scully greatly disapproves of. Mulder, Scully, and the ranger, then spend a scary night wondering if they'd have enough gas to fuel the single light to keep the mites away. Their generator fails just as the sun starts to rise.

Spinney does return but their car is stopped again by spikes. Spinney flees into the night forest and is attacked by the bugs. Inside the car, Mulder and Scully, and the ranger, watch as the bugs enter the car through the air vents.

Hours later Mulder, Scully, and the ranger are found cocooned in the car by a quarantine unit and are treated. Mulder expresses concern about the quarantine's procedures for dealing with the bugs but the medical worker replies, "That is not an option, Mr. Mulder."


Important Quotes:
Mulder -- "Come on, Scully, it’ll be a nice trip to the forest."

Scully -- "Well, you were right about one thing."
Mulder -- " What’s that?"
Scully -- "It definitely wasn’t Bigfoot."

Scully -- "What kind of an insect could have gotten a man all the way up into that tree?"
Mulder -- "Itsy-bitsy spider."

Spinney -- "Darkness is our enemy."

Spinney -- "Maybe they been lying there dormant for hundreds of years. Maybe they woke up hungry."

Mulder -- "Scully? How is she doing?"
Medical man -- "She’s still not out of the woods, so to speak. She lost a lot of fluids. Two or three more hours of exposure, she might not have made it."
Mulder -- "I told her it was going to be a nice trip to the forest."

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