Original Air Date: Sunday, March 4th 2001 (FOX)
Synopsis: The mystery surrounding the suspicious death of Byers' estranged father begins the series for the intrepid trio. Byers had not spoken to his father for eleven years, since he joined with Frohike and Langly to start publishing the weekly newsletter, The Lone Gunman. As the death is investigated, the Gunmen become entangled in a high-tech terrorist plot, and face off against a governmental power known as Overlord when Byers finds out the what his father had discovered. The addition of Yves Adele Harlow (played by new addition Zuleikha Robinson), a Lara Croft-esque cat burglar as well as their professional rival, further complicates matters.
Written by Chris Carter, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Rob Bowman
Guest Cast:
George Coe as Bertram Roosevelt Byers, Jim Fyfe as Kimmy the Geek, Wally Dalton as Ray Helm, Brenda James as Publicist, John Innes as Reverend, James Hutson as Bearded Man, Tony Morelli as Assassin, Dee Jay Jackson as Demo Man, David Kaye as Pilot, Chris Gora as Co-Pilot, Garvin Cross as Navigator, Steve Makaj as N.D. Man, Mark Gibbon as First Guard
Notes:
- This is the first episode of the series filmed on March 20 through April 7 of 1999. The series would premiere almost a year later.
- The episode begins at E-Com-Con headquarters and a fake, yet legitimate-looking website was created for E-Com-Con as a promotional tie-in for "The Lone Gunmen". "ECONCOM" was the name of the fictional Army command created to coordinate a military coup in the United States in the classic political suspense novel and movie "Seven Days in May".
- The character Kimmy the Geek is played by Jim Fyfe, the same actor who played Jimmy the Geek in "The X-Files" episode "Three of a Kind," which featured the Lone Gunmen. In the episode, Jimmy was killed when he ran in front of a bus, under the influence of a mind-control drug. Kimmy is Jimmy's identical twin brother. In this episode, Kimmy asks Langly "Is this another one of your whacko conspiracy theories, like who shot J.R.?" J.R. Ewing was a villian in the 80's evening soap opera, "Dallas." Kimmy the Geek is mistaking J.R. for J.F.K.
- The actual location of the Lone Gunmen's headquarters is finally given. Their warehouse/basement is in Takoma Park, Maryland, essentially an industrial suburb of Washington DC.
- The air scene of the plane approaching the World Trade Center was actually shot by an aerial photographer from a helicopter, so the skyline and approach you see is real. The a CGI airliner was placed on top of it.
- The pirated, not for air version of the pilot episode is slightly different than the air version. There's at least one line clipped, and the score is different in the air version. Also, the pilot aired had no opening credits, but the original did, with slightly different credits and theme music.
- Actor George Coe, who plays Byers' father in this episode, was a regular on the mid-80s series "Max Headroom."
- The music in the teaser is "Cross the Line" by the group Cuba.
- The Octium building from the pilot is really the Motorola site in Vancouver.
- Guest star Steve Makaj (the co-pilot) appeared on "The X-Files" quite a few times: the patrolman shot by Duane Barry in "Ascension," Frank Kiveat in "D.P.O.," and Scott Ostelhoff in "Gethsemane." Tony Morelli (the assassin) used to be the stunt coordinator for "The X-Files", and played the tall dude who hung out with Krycek and Cardinal and helped beat up Skinner in "Paper Clip." Garvin Cross, the pilot, played the redhead kid who gets mauled by the tiger in "Fearful Symmetry" and the repairman who gets stung by a smallpox bee in the teaser of "Herrenvolk."
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