I have tried to make an overview over the different alien species seen in the show (and the movie). These are all my own opinions and speculations, and they might very well be wrong.

The episodes "Talitha Cumi" and "Herrenvolk" gives pretty much information about this kind. They can only be killed by a punction in a very special point in their necks with a special awl-like weapon, but this must be done extremely exact, or it won´t kill them. In "Herrenvolk", Mulder sticks this weapon in the neck of the Bounty Hunter, but he still survives and can continue his pursuit of Mulder and Jeremiah.

First time I saw this one was in "Piper Maru" and "Apocrypha" where an alien entity which jumps between hosts using a oily substance can send out a burning flash of light and radiation, blinding and killing anything around.

Some year later, in a re-run of the show, I saw the episode "Fallen Angel" and I noticed that the "angel", or alien, had that same ability. In that same episode, the alien is all but invisible, and is only seen as a faint tremble in the air. When seen with IR-goggles, it appears to have a humanoid shape. This alien does not, however seem to use human bodies as host, but it could be that we just never see it in the episode. We also get an idea of the alien's vision. It is convex! That brings the thought of the "type 1" alien, who has big, bulging eyes. This is purely speculation of course, but still follows the path of logic.

In an earlier episode (I think it was "Colony") Mulder finds several clones of his sister, and I think I can conclude for certain that these are the older versions of the "Samanthas" found on the farm as well.

Even Jeremiah Smith is found to have a number of doubles, but since we know that he can change his appearance, it's hard to say whether he is a clone or another kind.

The clones have alien blood, this is seen when one of the male clones in "Memento Mori" is killed, and the blood looks identical to the blood of the wounded Bounty Hunter in "Herrenvolk". Now, the clones are said to have been breeded from human women, but where did they get the sperm? And if their blood is alien, what exactly is their genetic composition? Are they more alien than human? I certainly don't know.

Don't know if you've seen it, but there's a movie named "The Hidden" where there is an alien that just like this one takes control over the host's body and departs through the mouth. Wonder if Carter have seen this movie, the scenes where the alien exists people's mouths are practically identical to the corresponding scenes in "The Hidden".

In "Ice" Mulder finds a kind of worm that he believes is come from outer space - therefor per definition an alien. The worm enters a persons brain and feeds on his adrenalin, making the person extremely aggressive and violent. There is no real evidence that this worm in fact IS alien, but it's pretty likely. It does not, however, seem to have intelligence in the way of the species 1-4.

In "Tunguska" and "Terma" another kind of worm-like thing is encountered, coming from a rock from space. Although this worm may not be a worm at all, since it seems to be some kind of intelligent black fluid, capable of moving itself in a worm-like manner. Now, we all remember where we have seen a black fluid before, don´t we? Right, in "Paper Maru". What is the connection? Is it the same alien entity? In "Tunguska", it is called the "Black Cancer" and the fluid turns one scientist catatonic, and others who are infected continues to live normally until they die, and the fluid exits them. While in "Piper Maru" the alien seems to carry a purpose (to get back to its ship). One of these worm-like creatures is put in Mulders ear, and he survives, although apparently not un-changed of it. As in "Piper Maru", the humans carrying the alien entity has a black film passing over their eyes, perhaps the same black oil that it uses as a medium to change hosts. (The scene in "Apocrypha", where Krycek is locked inside the silo with the UFO, and the alien exits him is one of my favorites... Just imagine that black stuff coming out from your eyes, ears, mouth and nose and... uh... possible other body exits as well. Don´t look at me like that, it was just a logical guess.)

So, what we see here is the apparant appearance of several different and unique alien species. How and if they are connected I cannot say.

Then again, in "Gethsemane", we are told that all the things Mulder have encountered, all the aliens - everything is just a orchestrated lie to divert Mulder from the real crime of the consortium. Which I believe is the control over the human population by innoculating them with small-pox as tags, maybe, or maybe not using alien technology. Still, in the light of "Redux I" and "Redux II", I'd say that this was just another lie to divert Mulder. I still do believe in the existence of E.B.E´s in the world of the X-Files.

What first appeared to be an alien abduction of Dana Scully is bit by bit revealed as being kidnapping her for the innoculation as well as placing the micro-chip in her neck. The chip that is suspected to collect her memory and her thoughts, and which also is connected to her development of cancer. She recognize the japanese doctor that performed tests on her and it is pretty clear that it was an act done by humans, not aliens. Aliens might still be involved in the reason for the tagging of humans, though.

One thought I have pondered on: The women, including Scully, that we find have been "abducted" all had scars in their necks. Max Fennig (seen in "Fallen Angel" and "Tempus Fugit"), who seems to be an abductee himself also has a scar, but his is right behind his right ear. In "Fallen Angel" Mulder comes up with more people claiming to have been abducted that also has this scar behind their ears.

Now, if this is a coincidence, I'll promise never to watch X-Files again, and I will spend my days watching re-runs of swedish soap-operas (*Shudder*)

But why have the scars been made in different places? Is Max's scar not a consequence of a micro-chip being inserted in him? We do see that the alien in "Fallen Angel" finds Max, and causes his ears to bleed.

It surely must be a very close connection to the two cases.

Maybe the answers to these questions are delivered in the 5^th and 6^th season of X-Files. Here in Sweden, they started to show season five this fall (1998), one episode per week.

The movie "X-Files - fight the future" didn't really give me any answers to the questions above, there only came up a kind of alien that we haven't seen before. This was kinda strange, since that alien is said and shown to have been on earth since the dawn of Man. This could fit with Deep Throats words in the "Deep Throat"-episode: "Mr. Mulder, they have been here for a very long time...", but again, that might be a longshot. And this "new" (or old, depending on how you see it) alien has mutated and become something very bloodthirsty. The black oily fluid is present in this alien as well, so there is certainly some connection to the other aliens we have seen being associated with the black fluid.

Any help concerning the issues above would be highly appreciated, so if you could help me out here, please email me.

/Robert Östberg 1999