The X Files Television Program

David Duchovny, star of the popular TV series "The X-Files," has sued 20th Century Fox Film Corp., producer of the weekly thriller, alleging that Fox gave its broadcast stations and its FX cable channel sweetheart licensing terms rather than seeking the highest bid in a competitive auction.

The end of Fox's moody and atmospheric "The X-Files" is only days away, marked by the return of David Duchovny as FBI Agent Fox Mulder and anticipation among die-hard fans that the answers to several dark mysteries will finally be revealed. But even as series creator Chris Carter puts the final touches on the two-hour climax, which airs Sunday, his soft-spoken but intense demeanor is much the same as it has been during the show's nine-season tenure.

Twentieth Century Fox Television and the producers of "The X-Files" are quietly looking at whether the Truth Is Out There in Los Angeles. Studio executives and staffers have been intensely exploring how they can move the home base of the atmospheric Fox series from rainy Vancouver to sunny Los Angeles next season.

Award-winning special- effects makeup artists Cheri Montesanto-Medcalf and Matthew W. Mungle have scared the devil out of audiences with their gruesomely realistic makeup designs. But while the two can dish it out, they certainly can't take it. "I like watching movies, but I do cover my eyes when something gross comes on," says Montesanto-Medcalf. "The same thing," Mungle says. "If I cut myself, I can't stand the blood."

The end of Fox's moody and atmospheric "The X-Files" is only days away, marked by the return of David Duchovny as FBI Agent Fox Mulder and anticipation among die-hard fans that the answers to several dark mysteries will finally be revealed. But even as series creator Chris Carter puts the final touches on the two-hour climax, which airs Sunday, his soft-spoken but intense demeanor is much the same as it has been during the show's nine-season tenure.

There goes that rainy day feeling again. And here comes the sun. As "The X-Files" moves into its sixth season, the Truth Is no longer Out There in dark and rainy Vancouver, the drama's home base since its 1993 premiere. Series creator and executive producer Chris Carter, stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson and select crew members have all migrated from Canada to sunny Los Angeles, and are deep into production on new episodes.

The reviews are out there. . . . And so far, "X-Files" aficionados like the "almost-kiss" between special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, they have many theories about the mysterious black oil, the Antarctica station and the departing spaceship, and--most important of all--they plan to go back to the theater again and again.

When it comes to "X-Files" merchandise, the truth is trademarked. Fans can buy a piece of the truth starting about $4.95 plus tax. That gets you a small, black enamel pin emblazoned with the show's motto: "The Truth Is Out There." Things go up from there. Looking for Intrigue? Fully loaded, Intrigue will set you back $26,500. This is "X-Files" marketing, a vast commercial conspiracy where Intrigue is an Oldsmobile sedan and "The Truth" is sold in increments.

Call it the X-factor in "The X-Files" movie. As 20th Century Fox prepares for the June 19 opening of its feature-length sci-fi thriller based on the popular television series "The X-Files," the studio faces a daunting task: Can it attract moviegoers who know little or nothing about the long-running TV show? From the outset, Fox executives knew they could count on the show's built-in core audience to jam the turnstiles once the movie comes out.

The catch phrases are familiar to any viewers of "The X-Files": "Mulder, where are you?" and "Trust no one." But lately for many fans, the lines apply not to "Files' " fictional world, but to the real-life creative forces behind their beloved series.

Famed celebrity biographer Andrew Morton has taken on Madonna. His book, released Nov. 6, covers the pop diva's combative marriage to Sean Penn, abortions and countless affairs, including the romance during Madonna's Warhol years with painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, and even a paramour that most fans have forgotten: Vanilla Ice. We chatted up Morton on Monday, during an afternoon interview at the Beverly Hills Hotel's Polo Lounge.

We now can tell you that Gillian Anderson of "The X-Files" was embroiled in her own contract dispute during co-star David Duchovny's highly publicized $25-million legal tiff with Fox. But her camp kept it quiet at the time, for fear of stirring up bad publicity. Now, while Duchovny is appearing in only half the episodes in the show's eighth season, Anderson is locked into a ninth season, even though she's been threatening since 1999 to stroll and focus on film roles.

Sunday's was the "X-Files" episode fans had waited all year for: finally, the long-advertised official return of their beloved character, FBI Agent Fox Mulder. Then he shows up in the final moments as a corpse, dumped from a UFO like a mob snitch from a Coupe De Ville. "Could it get worse?" wrote one fan, setting the tone of the irate messages on the official Web site of the Fox network series that began streaming in as soon as the show was over. "PLEASE! OH PLEASE!

The catch phrases are familiar to any viewers of "The X-Files": "Mulder, where are you?" and "Trust no one." But lately for many fans, the lines apply not to "Files' " fictional world, but to the real-life creative forces behind their beloved series.

A member of a preproduction crew working on the season premiere of the hit series "The X-Files" was electrocuted and six others were injured Monday when a power line sent 4,800 volts through a scaffolding. "It charged the entire scaffolding," Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells said. Six of the victims were standing 15 feet up and one person was on the ground, he said.

David Duchovny has agreed to return next season in News Corp.-owned Fox's "The X-Files," ending a flurry of intense last-minute negotiations and legal wrangling. However, Duchovny, who stars as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder, will appear in only half of the season's 22 episodes, sources said. Mulder will be abducted in this Sunday's season finale, and his partner, FBI Special Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) will spend the first part of the season looking for him.

"The X-Files" returns Sunday on Fox for its seventh season, scaring and mystifying viewers with its tales of the paranormal and the unexplainable. But though he knows how the cliffhanger that launches the season premiere turns out, the ultimate truth is still out there for the show's creator, Chris Carter. That is, whether this season will be the end of the line for Carter and stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson--and the show itself.

Fright. Terror. Frayed nerves. Jitters. These feelings are all too familiar to the determined scientific and pragmatic FBI Agent Dana Scully in her investigations of the X-Files, unsolved cases characterized by their unexplainable and paranormal nature.

"The X-Files" will go on, with or without David Duchovny. Chris Carter, creator and executive producer of the hit Fox series, made an agreement late Monday with 20th Century Fox Television to stay with the drama for one more season. He added that he was negotiating with Fox to keep filming the series in Los Angeles, instead of returning to Vancouver, the drama's home base since its 1993 premiere before moving in 1998.

When Herman Hupfeld wrote the immortal lyrics, "You must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss," he obviously couldn't have had Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in mind. The two FBI agents, who form the core of Fox's "The X-Files," have maintained a certain distance in their professional relationship. Despite a subtle but growing romantic attraction to each other, no kissing resulted.