THE X-FILES | 6.08, "The Rain King"

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THE X-FILES | 6.08, "The Rain King"
Mulder & Scully + comforting each other
Spooky Award Winners 1998 - full list!
The Spooky Awards were the annual awards given to X-Files fan fiction from 1995-2004 (except for, strangely, the year 1997). They were voted on by readers in a process that's a little unclear to me now--I know it must have been occasionally controversial, because there were sometimes concerns about "ballot stuffing." Full disclosure, I'm getting most of my info about this from Fanlore, although as an aged person I do remember the Spookys being a big deal back in the day. I might have even voted for them at some point, but I really don't remember how it worked. I sure af know we didn't have Google Forms. From year to year the categories changed, sometimes drastically, and sometimes they awarded honorable mentions. In the earlier years, from my point of view, it looks like a lot of the same fics and authors won again and again in lots of categories, but by the later years, it seems like it was a much more varied group of winners. I find the Spooky winners really fascinating to look at now because (1) they show what people liked to write and read back when the show was on; (2) they're an interesting documentation of early online fandom / fanfic, including how people liked to categorize fic and pairings; (3) there are a lot of fics and authors on these lists that people still read and recommend; (4) there are some fics that people really don't read and recommend, and I'm always curious why (some might deserve to be remembered more!). I'm going to list the 1998 Spooky winners below and link each fic as best I can so other people can explore them. I chose 1998 because there were a lot of familiar fics to me on this list--honestly, some real bangers--but maybe I'll do another year later. I found every fic but one still online. (Unacceptable by Justin Glasser anyone? - update: found, thanks to @lilydalexf !) A few random observations about 1998: obviously lots of movie fic. Less of a focus on strictly MSR, and plenty of same sex pairings, including Scully slash. More male fic authors / author names than we typically see nowadays. Also, in googling for a hard-to-find fic, I think I discovered another XF fanfic author who went pro (Saundra Mitchell). Look these over and give me your thoughts!
Outstanding Portrayal ofĀ Mulder Angst
First Place -Ā IolokusĀ series -Ā Mustang SallyĀ andĀ RivkaT
Second Place -Ā The Cry of the TruthĀ -Ā A. I. Irving
Third Place -Ā Eleventh HourĀ -Ā Rachel Anton
Outstanding Mulder Characterization
First Place -Ā ReachĀ -Ā Khyber
Second Place -Ā AntidoteĀ -Ā Karen RaschĀ andĀ Rachel Howard
Third Place -Ā TangibleĀ -Ā Blueswirl
Outstanding Original Character
First Place - Miranda Scully -- Iolokus IV - MustangSally and RivkaT
Second Place - Audrey--A Show of StrengthĀ -Ā Meredith
Outstanding Original Villain
First Place - George Naxos --- Iolokus - MustangSally and Rivka T
Second Place - Mark Dupree ---Ā ELSĀ -Ā Dawson Rambo
Third Place - Mr. Chancy/Simon Moloch --Ā Kevin Justin Glasser
Outstanding Portrayal ofĀ Scully Angst
First Place -Ā WallpaperĀ -Ā Annie Sewell-Jennings
Second Place -Ā Primal SympathyĀ -Ā Lydia Bower
Outstanding Scully Characterization
First Place - Reach - Khyber
Second Place - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard
Outstanding Characterization of a Recurring TV Character
First Place -Ā Worth her WeightĀ -Ā Marguerite
Second Place -Ā Smoke Gets in Your EyesĀ -Ā Plausible Deniability
OutstandingĀ Vignette
First Place -Ā Fast Hard Screw on the Main DeckĀ -Ā Bidie McCucholl
Second Place -Ā The Shadow of His WingsĀ - Marguerite
OutstandingĀ HumorĀ Story
First Place -Ā Your Platonic Relationship: An Owner's ManualĀ -Ā Lilla Vaughan
Second Place -Ā The Carrot and the StickĀ - Plausible Deniability
Outstanding Author
First Place -Ā Dawson Rambo
Second Place (tie)- Lydia Bower
Second Place (tie)-Ā Nascent
Outstanding New Author
First Place - Bidie McCucholl
Second Place -Ā Annie Sewell-Jennings
Outstanding Drama
First Place - The Iolokus Series - MustangSally & RivkaT
Second Place - A Show of Strength - Meredith
Outstanding Mulder/ScullyĀ Friendship
First Place - Worth Her Weight - Marguerite
Second Place (tie) -Ā The Abyss Looks BackĀ -Ā Kronos
Second Place (tie) -Ā And Chaos Shall ReignĀ - Kronos
OutstandingĀ NC-17Ā Romance
First Place -Ā MetamorphosisĀ - Annie Sewell-Jennings
Second Place -Ā Momentary LapsesĀ Series -Ā Dasha K.Ā & Plausible Deniability
Outstanding Non-NC-17 Romance
First Place - Reach - Khyber
Second Place -Ā Merry Christmas, ScullyĀ -Ā Stephanie Kaiser
Outstanding Other Romance
First Place - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - Plausible Deniability
Second Place -Ā LonersĀ -Ā Anne Haynes
OutstandingĀ Mulder/OtherĀ Romance
First Place -Ā Banging Your Head Against a Red-Haired Brick WallĀ -Ā Blair Provence
Second Place -Ā Venture ForthĀ -Ā Punk Maneuverability
OutstandingĀ Scully/OtherĀ Romance
First Place -Ā Half a World AwayĀ -Ā Jane St. Clair
Second Place -Ā Wheels of IscariotĀ -Ā Emilie Renee Karr
Third Place -Ā Homicidal TendenciesĀ -Ā Swikstr
OutstandingĀ Skinner/MulderĀ Romance
First Place -Ā Baton RougeĀ -Ā Frogdoggie
Second Place (tie) -Ā ChallengesĀ -Ā Te
Second Place (tie) -Ā Lasting ConsequencesĀ -Ā Debra Fran Baker
Second Place (tie) -Ā Rarest Man SeriesĀ (Body of Evidence, Duty Before Pleasure, Feast and Famine, Resolution, Test of Endurance, Wet Dream) -Ā Sergeeva
Second Place (tie) -Ā UnacceptableĀ -Ā Justin Glasser
Second Place (tie) -Ā Wakened by SilenceĀ -Ā JiM Page
OutstandingĀ Skinner/ScullyĀ Romance
First Place -Ā A Cold Angel EyeĀ -Ā Jordan
Second Place -Ā Red Valerian SeriesĀ - Dasha K.
Outstanding Platonic Mulder/Scully Romance
First Place (tie) -Ā The Shadow of His WingsĀ - Marguerite
First Place (tie) -Ā Theory and PracticeĀ - Nascent
Outstanding Mulder/ScullyĀ UST
First Place - Your Platonic Relationship: An Owner's Manual -Ā Lilla Vaughan
Second Place -Ā Ninth CircleĀ -Ā Tim Scott
Outstanding Slash Story
First Place -Ā Nightclub GirlsĀ - Dasha K
Second Place -Ā Nightclub JittersĀ - Dasha K
MostĀ Chris Carter
First Place -Ā KevinĀ -Ā Justin Glasser
Second Place (tie) - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard
Second Place (tie) - ELS - Dawson Rambo
Outstanding Series
First Place (tie) - The Iolokus Series - MustangSally and RivkaT
First Place (tie) -Ā Momentary LapsesĀ Series - Dasha K and Plausible Deniability
Outstanding Short Story
First Place -Ā Day 17Ā -Ā Khyber
Second Place - Fast Hard Screw on the Main Deck - Bidie McCucholl
Third Place (tie) -Ā CampĀ -Ā Shalimar
Third Place (tie) -Ā All the Children are InsaneĀ - MustangSally
Outstanding Long Story
First Place - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard
Second Place (tie) - Reach - Khyber
Second Place (tie) - ELS - Dawson Rambo
Outstanding Story in a Series
First Place -Ā Said the Spider to the FlyĀ -Ā Dark Nascent
Second Place -Ā The Ghost at Her SideĀ -Ā Joyce McKibben
Third Place - Iolokus IV - MustangSally and Rivka T
Outstanding Unfinished Work
First Place -Ā Paper SaintsĀ -Ā Jill Selby
Second Place -Ā Above RubiesĀ - Rachel Howard
Outstanding Post-Episode Story
First Place - Camp - Shalimar
Second Place - All the Children are Insane - MustangSally
Outstanding Movie Fic
First Place - Worth her Weight - Marguerite
Second Place -Ā A Makeshift KissĀ - Jill Selby
Outstanding Action/Adventure Story
First Place (tie) - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard
First Place (tie) - Iolokus - MustangSally and RivkaT
OutstandingĀ X-File
First Place - ELS - Dawson Rambo
Second Place - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard
Outstanding Crossover
First Place -Ā Homicidal TendenciesĀ -Ā Swikstr
Second Place -Ā The Flash Forward Series/ Slash Evidence Series (Young Blooded, Signature, Worst Case Scenario, Segue: Litany and Requiem) -Ā Saundra Mitchell
Spooky Award Winners 2000 - full list!
This is my second Spooky Award post. It's apparently a series! My post about Spookys 1998 is here. The Spooky Awards were the annual awards given to X-Files fan fiction from 1995-2004 (except for 1997). They were voted on by fans and were always a bit contentious. You can read more about this at Fanlore or my previous post on the topic. The award categories changed pretty drastically changed them every year: look how different 2000's are from 1998's! But ... this was apparently a loaded topic. Check out this lively discussion about what the Spookys' categories should be in 1999. Also, there were apparently no 1997 awards because of ballot stuffing during the 1996 Spookys, which seems like it was a whole exciting fandom drama! But I digress.
2013 vs. 2026
2016 vs. 2026
Another reason why I love them so much, same energy time after time! šš
David Duchovny Reflects on The Beatles, Acting, Reinventing Himself as a...
randomfoggytiger's Fail Better Notes (Part I)
Realized I needed to record broad points from DD's podcast episodes (for future projects.)
For those who skipped the podcast or only listened in chunks, perhaps this could be a good resource.
Part I: Ben Stiller, Bette Midler, Gabor MatƩ.
David & Gillian (Mulder & Scully) Panel FanExpo Denver 2026
not you casually writing extremely thought-provoking comments in the tags (also they are such losers and that is so important to me)
Haha, I should probably stop doing that and make actual posts. I used to write X-Files reviews when I was a teenager, with the intention of reviewing every single episode. I didn't finish, but it was a fun exercise, although I'm sure if I read them now I'd die of embarrassment. Darin Morgan is my favorite X-Files writer so I love talking about his work. I also enjoy that his short time on X-Files is basically the highest-profile work he's ever done. He managed to make a huge impact with not a lot of episodes and has gone on to do basically nothing else. He's just the Guy Who Wrote Those Six Really Weird But Good X-Files Episodes and I honestly think that's an incredible legacy. Not everyone has to go on to be a Vince Gilligan! Sometimes you're just the guy who wrote "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" and that's enough.
Re: Mulder and Scully being losers, I know we like to joke about it on here, but in some ways I mean it seriously. I always try to remind people that this is a show about outcasts and in a broader sense marginalization, and so its leads need to kind of be outcasts themselves. What I think makes it all the more compelling, and what "Humbug" tries to get at, is that on paper Mulder and Scully don't seem like outcasts at all. They're white, conventionally attractive, intelligent, work in freaking law enforcement, come from varying degrees of privilege (Mulder has a rich-ass New England family with like three houses, Scully's father was a Navy captain), are (at least at the beginning) physically non-disabled, educated, etc. But their work takes them to the margins, so they too adopt a life of social alienation. (To quote Eddie Van Blundht: "I was born a loser, but you're one by choice.") This is the primary reason when people ask me what genre The X-Files belongs to I'm tempted to say horror before anything else. Horror is largely a genre about alienation and otherness. There's a quote from Robin Wood's 1979 essay "An Introduction to the American Horror Film" which I think sums it up well:
(The X-Files draws a lot from 1970s horror in particular, so this essay is very apt to me; it's also just a fascinating read in general if you're into this sort of thing.)
Sci-fi looks forward, fantasy looks backward, but horror looks outward, and that's why so many of Mulder and Scully's cases involve marginalized characters or communities, why the X-Files themselves are cases that have essentially been discarded.
Anyway, I could go on, but yes! Mulder and Scully being losers is very important.
The truth will save you Scully. I think itāll save both of us.
We're halfway through the 2026 MSR Bingo Challenge! We have several fics posted to the collection already (and lemme tell ya - some of them are steamy). Check em out and show the authors some love! And just a reminder: this challenge is open to everyone - veteran authors and newbies alike! This is a great opportunity to stretch your writing muscles. Join us!
Fanexpo Denver X-Files Panel 2026
Cute Things from Stephen Kingās original script for āChinga (Before Chris Carterās re-write):
1. Scully herself is a victim of the grocery store frenzy caused by the doll; she ends up hitting herself in the head, but later lies to Mulder over the phone, saying sheās fine, because she doesnāt want him to worry.Ā
2. Mulder is NOT completely helpless in this version of the script; in fact, he is preparing to go make a speech at a university, but bails to go see Scully when an officer faxes him a picture of Scully hurting herself in the grocery store (more on this below).
3. Actual lines from the original script:
*After Scully suggests ergot poisoning may have caused the grocery store attack, Mulder goes into graphic detail about the effects it has on people, and Scully responds, āI love it when you talk dirty.ā
*A minute later, Scully declines Mulderās offer to come help her, and when he then wonders why she called him, she responds, āI guess I just missed the sound of your voice.ā
4. The ending scene, as written by King, is amazing. (One final note before you read it: in the original script it is even more obvious that Sheriff Jack Bonsaint has a crush on Scully. And at the end of the episode he asks for her number, implying that he would maybe come to see her in Washington D.C. Then, this happens):
BONSAINT: Maybe we couldā He stops, realizing that sheās stopped paying attention to him. He sees where sheās looking, over at a man in a topcoat who is sitting on the bench outside. Thereās a briefcase between his knees. Itās MULDER. Scully is out of the car almost before it stops, and hurrying over to him, her face amazed and intense. Behind them, Bonsaint gets out and stands watching. Maybe he wonāt find any business to do in Washington, after all. Maybe there wouldnāt be much point. SCULLY: What are you doing here, Mulder? How did you get here? MULDER: Hitched a ride from Andrews to Portsmouth Naval Air Station in an F-111. Those Navy kids drive fast. You okay, Scully? SCULLY: Fine. Why did you come? MULDER: (shrugs; smiles) I thought you needed help. Call it womanās intuition. SCULLY: What about your speech? Werenāt you supposed to give a speech at George Washington University tonight? MULDER: The worldās not short of speeches, Scully. Itāll get along without mine. They reach the top of the steps and face each other. This is a classic loversā shot, profiles like youād see on a Valentineās heart, lit by one radiant overhead globe. SCULLY: This is the second time Iāve seen you tonight, Mulder. MULDER: Really? Want to tell me about it? SCULLY: It might hurt my credibility. MULDER: (identical delivery) Really? Want to tell me about it? CAMERA moves in on Scully as she thinks.Ā SCULLY: I might. I believe I just might.
FADE TO BLACK
SCULLY: (in the black, and with a touch of reverb, perhaps) I believeā
Ok so we were ROBBED
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Fanexpo Denver 2026