The X-Files - The Official Collection, Issue 1
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individual, responsible for covering up
government conspiracies to maintain a veil of
secrecy over the covert activities that Agents
Mulder and Scully seek to expose.
episode, where we see him depositing evidence however briefly, in “Tooms.” Then in “The Our intrepid agents (and Section Chief of a supposedly alien abduction in a huge secret Erlenmeyer Flask,” the season’s finale, it’s back Blevins) aside, the Cigarette-Smoking Man is vault beneath the Pentagon?
to the silent treatment as we see him once again
the only other character to have been in The
Over the course of four seasons, the man archiving evidence of a sinister government plot
X-Files from the very beginning. Who can forget affectionately referred to as ‘Cancer Man’ by (this time, it seems to be an extra-terrestrial his chilling, silent presence way back in the pilot fans has become a pivotal player, a central figure foetus) in that same Pentagon storage room.
episode: standing in the background, puffing in the show’s mythology. But his developing Like most successful villains, William B.
away on a cigarette while Blevins gave Scully the involvement with The X-Files’ greater story Davis’ portrayal of this imposing, pernicious task of debunking Mulder’s work on the X-Files. has been slow: it was 20 episodes after his first individual is a joy to behold. A reformed smoker And what about the closing moments of that appearance before he finally got to speak, (Davis puffs on herbal cigarettes whilst filming), the Toronto-born 59-year-old actor delivers a
very credible performance as the chain-smoking
Devil incarnate. A former child actor, acting
teacher, and director, his acting skills convinced
series creator Chris Carter to hire him during
production of the pilot in early 1993. There was
no way of knowing then that this shadowy man,
seen only in the background, would become
central to the show’s on-going storyline. But as
the series developed, so did the character. Even
Carter admits that he never anticipated the
Cigarette-Smoking Man would become such an
integral part of the show.
If only the character’s history was as
transparent as the actor’s. His agenda has
always been as mysterious and deceptive as his
persona. At first, he appeared to be something of
a silent force behind those who seemed to be in
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control. But it wasn’t long before he stepped out
Perhaps season two’s finest hour, “One
of the shadows to make his real presence felt. It Breath” adds another color to the Cigarette-later became apparent that this shadowy figure of Smoking Man’s painting-by-numbers character evil was in fact just one of several other equally development. Maturing as the show matured, the obscure individuals who had, over the years, been Cigarette-Smoking Man has been part of some of responsible for keeping the public in the dark the show’s most revealing and important scenes.
about what appeared to be alien activity on Earth Here, in one of the most riveting and powerful, and experiments conducted on humans using he is confronted by a distraught, gun-wielding alien DNA.
Mulder. We ascertain that, as well as having
The character became decidedly more watched “presidents die,” the Cigarette-Smoking prominent during the second season. With the Man is “in the game because I believe that what X-files division shut down and Mulder and Scully I’m doing is right… If people were to know of the separated, he began to intervene more directly, things I know, it would all fall apart.” Ultimately, In the season opener, “Little Green Men,” the the Cigarette-Smoking Man and Mulder are a Cigarette-Smoking Man gloats to Mulder that lot alike. Like opposite sides of a coin, both are
“his time is over.” In “Sleepless,” he arranges fanatics willing to sacrifice everything – even for Mulder to be assigned a new partner, fresh-their own lives – for what they are committed to,
faced newbie Alex Krycek. Krycek claimed to be what they perceive to be right.
a follower of Mulder’s work, but it wasn’t long
Season two’s finale, “Anasazi,” and its
before we discovered that he was in fact in the continuing parts “The Blessing Way” and “Paper
“Anasazi” also revealed the first of two
employ of the Cigarette-Smoking Man and only Clip,” open wide the conspiracy and the Cigarette-major revelations tying him closely to the
wished to block the work which he claimed to hold
Smoking Man’s place within the shadowy syndicate
Mulder family – that at one time he had a
so highly. In “Duane Barry” and “Ascension” behind it. Far from being the almighty figure professional relationship with Mulder’s father.
(the show’s first two-parter) we realize the depths depicted in the first two seasons, we discover that The second was to come a whole season later, of the Cigarette-Smoking Man’s ruthlessness he is in fact more of a middle manager, answerable with his coded references to a friendship with when he masterminds Scully’s abduction and, in to the higher powers within the syndicate, such as Mrs Mulder. This sparked fan rumors that the
“One Breath,” her return.
the Elder and the Well-Manicured Man.
Cigarette-Smoking Man would turn out to be
Mulder’s biological father – but the truth was
much more shocking, as revealed in season
five’s “Redux” and “Redux II.”
Towards the close of the second season, the
Cigarette-Smoking Man’s agenda seemed relatively
clear. As an instigator in a government cover-
up, he was a constant presence, responsible for
undermining Mulder’s investigations, preventing
the wayward agent from uncovering evidence that
would enable him to go public and expose the truth.
However, killing Mulder and Scully was never an
option because, if he did, he risked turning one
man’s mission into a crusade. Besides, the Cigarette-
Smoking Man had the perfect weapon to use against
Mulder – his readiness to believe. But by the end
of “Anasazi,” it had all changed. By attempting to
destroy both the evidence and Mulder by burning
the buried boxcar full of mutated corpses, it became
a whole new ball game.
Up until then, the Cigarette-Smoking Man
had always appeared to be in control. However,
when Mulder gained possession of top-secret
government files that provided evidence of
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‘flying saucers,’ it signalled a decisive shift in his
Season four blew clouds of smoke around
agenda. That data the original tape contained ‘Cancer Man’s’ background with the intriguing
– albeit encrypted – could expose everything but ultimately troubling “Musings of a Cigarette that he had worked so hard to keep under Smoking Man.” For four years, the Cigarette-wraps. His policy and promise to Bill Mulder Smoking Man’s history was tantalisingly unclear, not to harm his son gets thrown out of the now it’s completely obscure. In an episode window, with the Cigarette-Smoking Man doing littered with contradictions and uncertainties, the everything in his power to retrieve the data and nicotine addict (born, we are told, on 20 August protect himself. But early into season three, he 1940 to a communist father who was executed is forced to compromise when the contents of for passing on information about America’s plan the tape are memorized by a tribe of American to end WWII, and a mother who dies of lung Navajo Indians and Skinner forces him to cease cancer) is characterized as a failed, frustrated meddling in Mulder’s work.
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nbsp; adventure writer. He was also an assassin, given
Third season episodes like “731” and a secret assignment to kill President John F.
“Apocrypha” continue the show’s on-going Kennedy and later Martin Luther King.
mythology arc but only serve to cloud our
perception of the Cigarette-Smoking Man’s
current agenda. While he is a member of the
consortium, his position in the group still isn’t
crystal clear. He readily disobeys their orders,
and lies to them to cover his own back. Often he
is more than willing to act unilaterally: such as
Regardless as to the credibility of this amusing
in “Apocrypha,” when he moves a salvaged UFO and unusual episode, the Cigarette-Smoking Man to another secret location. “Wetwired” adds yet remains as mysterious, nameless and dangerous as another twist to the conspiracy, when we discover ever. He is one of the men responsible for Scully’s that Mulder’s current informant X (who so far terminal cancer. We know too that he is Scully’s has proved hard to trust) is an employee of the best hope of a cure. With this power over the Cigarette-Smoking Man. Even if X’s actions series central characters, as well as his sway over are more those of a double agent – and not, like the conspiracy as a whole, his role in The X-Files
Krycek, a collaborator – it’s still chilling to know is almost as fundamental as those of Mulder and that someone Mulder receives information from Scully themselves… even though a cloud of smoke is working closely with his nemesis.
continues to cloak the truth about him.
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DON S. WILLIAMS
ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN TROST
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in’t that fun?” The deep New York Italian
the show,” he says. “When we did the pilot and the first accent thunders down the transatlantic
two episodes, he was more involved – recruiting [Scully],
wires from Santa Monica, California.
questioning her and things like that. Then all of a sudden,
The 62-year-old actor Charles Cioffi
for four years, he just dropped out of the picture, and
(pronounced Choffee) is chuckling about
then came back in at the end to wrap up this particular
the apparent demise of his character,
storyline.’’ Does he know the reason for Blevins’ return?
Division Chief Scott Blevins, in “Redux II”
“They just seemed to want to say, ‘Okay, this was the first four the extraordinary one hundredth episode of The X-Files.
years, and now we want to be off doing something else.’”
Those who have followed the show since the first episode will
Unfortunately, the summary execution of Cioffi’s character remember Blevins. He is the FBI Division Chief who, at the very beginning came at precisely the point when he had begun to get really interesting. “I of the pilot show, assigns Special Agent Scully to work with Mulder on the know,” Cioffi agrees. “They get him away from the sitting behind a desk and unsolved FBI cases known unofficially as the X-Files. Initially, Blevins feeding lines to Gillian… They had set up Blevins as being a villain, but if keeps a close eye on the new partnership’s activities, with Scully reporting you look at the last episode, you’ll see that he may not necessarily have been her observations about Mulder’s methods back to her superior. But slowly, a villain – he may have been a pawn.” In other words, the look of horror on the silent, smoking presence in Blevins’ office in those early episodes begins Blevins’ face when Mulder effectively accuses him of treason might be the to take over as the series’ principal malignant force. Blevins recedes into shock of being wrongfully accused, rather than of being found out. Cioffi the background...
embraces this theory wholeheartedly (see boxout).
Until, nearly four years later, he reappears in the final episode of Of course, everyone has their opinions about the climactic events of the season four, “Gethsemane”. Here, he listens patiently to a more mature “Gethsemane”/“Redux”/“Redux II” three-parter, and Cioffi is no exception.
Agent Scully as she reports on the illegitimacy of Mulder’s investigations “They dangled too many carrots in front of the audience,” he states. “This is
– and reports his apparent suicide. By the end
not like a French Opera, where you wrap everything
of the three-part story arc, Blevins has been
up with a pink ribbon at the end. No, they have to
lied to, threatened, implicated in a government-
carry on and carry out some of those storylines.
wide conspiracy, accused of accepting illegal
I mean, that was such an emotional thing, that for
payments from a biological research group –
four years we have been confronted, almost every
and shot in cold blood by his right hand man. No
episode, with this [subplot] about Mulder’s sister.
wonder Charles Cioffi is chuckling.
And then to actually [have him] confront his sister
“Yes, they never really included him that
and have the Cigarette-Smoking Man as her foster
much in the storyline since the beginning of
father, and she doesn’t want to see her real mother?”
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largesse has really gotten to be considerable. And
consequently, it was a much easier set to work on.”
Considering that television success often brings
with it inflated egos and exaggerated senses of
self-importance, it’s refreshing to hear that The
X-Files has become more relaxed over the years.
So what else does Cioffi remember about the
pilot show? Did he have an audition? “They just
He whistles appreciatively. “I mean, that’s an
called up and they said, ‘There’s this thing, it’s
awful lot of stuff, you know?
called X-Files.’ I don’t even remember going in
“If you look at ‘Redux’, there was an
and meeting Chris Carter or any of those people;
awful lot of re-introducing people and sitting
behind desks and walking down corridors…
The dialogue I remember as being especially
difficult because it was so stilted: everything was
exposition. So you’re continually telling a story,
but you don’t show anybody anything – it’s like
an hour-long narration. And then finally, in the
last episode, everything happens. It really moves:
two people get shot, and she almost dies, and he
comes back, and Mulder meets his sister and –
Holy Jesus! How can they keep this up? Well,
they can’t keep this up, but they’re going to end it very touchy, and they were flying by the seat of and try to move on in another direction.”
their pants. First of all, they were shooting an
Having worked on the first three X-Files American show in Vancouver, and things were episodes, and three of the most recent ones, Cioffi
&nbs
p; being operated by remote control from Los
is perhaps in a unique position to comment on Angeles; and Chris [Carter was in charge of this the changes behind the scenes from season one new show], and I don’t know what kind of a track to season five. How were
record he had. I think
things different the second
the people were a little
time around? “I did six
nervous and edgy.
shows altogether: three,
“And now, four
and then three,” he says,
years later, you go
“and the last three shows
back, and everybody
I did, everybody was so
is so sweet – they
relaxed. The first three
can’t do enough for
episodes, everybody was
you, you know? The
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they just called up and
Cioffi has racked up
said, ‘Here’s the job.’ I
an impressive résumé
think they just made the
of stage and television
offer because of the kind
appearances, and co-
of characters I generally
starred in such feature
play in motion pictures,
films as Klute, Shaft,
which are usually dark
Missing, and the recent
and sombre, and not too
Shadow Conspiracy. And
many lines, but more of a presence. And that’s in the summer of 1992, Cioffi’s long-time friend kind of what they wanted Scott Blevins to be.”
Al Pacino invited him to co-star in the two-man
In more than 30 years since his career began, play Chinese Coffee at Broadway’s Circle in the Square theatre. “He had every actor in America
to choose from and he asked me to do it with