by Chris Snellgrove
| Published
It's almost impossible to overestimate sex appeal X-Files Our history goes back to the '90s… In addition to the sexy on-screen chemistry between charismatic actors David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, these two have appeared in numerous sexy photo shoots, including the infamous cover of Rolling Stone magazine where they cuddled up in bed. Honestly, after this issue's photo shoot marked the sexual awakening of an entire generation, we didn't think this show even knew what “really sexy” meant. As it turns out, one episode was too hot for TV: “Gender Bender,” a first-season episode whose concept and story kept changing due to fears the network would reject it.
Sex bender
For writers X-Filesthe first season was about testing boundaries, determining what was best for the show's story and characters as well as what they could get past the network's censorship. In their book “Gender Bender,” authors Larry and Paul Barber begin with a simple, provocative question: How do we make sex as scary as creepy aliens or smoking government creeps? The answer to that question was a mandate from the highest levels, with co-executive producer Glen Morgan later saying that the creative staff demanded “an episode with a more dramatic edge.”
as X-Files Producers and writers soon discovered that this was easier said than done, and Morgan admitted that “it was difficult to find a story that showed sex as scary.” The episode “Gender Bender” was the answer to that question… sort of. The book came up with an idea Aliens Who Can Change Sex, but the episode went through several revisions due to concerns about how Fox would react to some story beats and general concerns about how audiences would feel about an episode that questioned pre-existing ideas about gender and sexuality, especially in the '90s.
Missing parts
Even after all these years,… X-Files The writers and producers haven't fully talked about what they had to change for “Gender Bender.” However, one thing we do know is that they originally developed a scary moment for the episode's teaser where the character's crotch begins to rot. This emphasized the whole sexual horror angle too much, and co-executive producer R.W. Goodwin later gave a simple explanation for why the entire moment was cut: “If I was watching that episode with my kid, I would turn it off.” “.
While the gender-bending elements remained thanks to some changed villains, this X-Files The episode arguably lost its original focus on gender and sexuality. As Glenn Morgan said, the concept of the latest podcast episode was to answer a very different kind of question: “What if there were people like the Amish from another planet?” This answer wasn't very appealing and the “Gender Bender” movie was a bit weak, but it had the upside of introducing audiences to Nicholas Lea, who would later return as fan-favorite recurring villain Alex Krycek.
like X-Files Fans, we can't look you in the eye and say “Gender Bender” is a good episode, but its story arc is still great. It's interesting to know that the episode started out with the intention of focusing on creepy sexuality, but concerns about network censorship and audience disapproval kept the show from descending into full-body horror mode. David Cronenberg style. Without these restrictions, we would have had an intense episode where the crotch melting was the least awful thing in the entire episode.
