"California here we come."

When one of the characters asks the question "Who made this?" 
in "Hollywood A.D." I thought about the child's voice we hear 
at the end of every episode saying "I made this." However, in 
this case the answer was instead "we're not sure." It certainly 
wasn't a Chris Carter episode even though he appeared in it. It 
wasn't a classic Darin Morgan episode though that is what it 
seemed to be trying hardest to be like. It wasn't even a "Bad 
Blood" type parody of the X-Files from Vince Gilligan. No, 
"Hollywood A.D." was pure David Duchovny and that worked both 
for and against it.

I really wanted this episode to be great. I enjoyed "The 
Unnatural" and I knew that this one would have a lot more 
of what that was missing - namely Mulder and Scully. David 
Duchovny is an extremely witty writer. I laughed at many 
of the jokes. The site of Scully running full speed back 
and forth in the background before a bored Tea' Leone chatting 
on her cell phone through the running in heels demo was one 
of the funniest things I've ever seen on this show. I thought 
"no ifs, ands or... bees" was a very amusing poke at the 
frustrations of the movie. However, in the case of this 
X-Files episode the jokes didn't know when to stop. Duchovny 
went so far with his clever word play that by the time Mulder 
muttered "Man oh Manischevitz" it took me out of the story. 
I too wanted to say "one more pun and I pull out my gun." 

I think the main problem with the writing was that it tried 
to be two different things and never really gelled as either. 
Instead, both the X-Files story and the show business parody 
never fully connected - each falling short of its goal. The 
X-File I presume was serious. Murder, religion, forgery, 
visions - but it didn't make much sense and is wrapped up in 
two sentences by Scully before she drags Mulder out for a 
night on the town. Micah was making forgeries, but spent so 
much time thinking about Christ he thought he became him? 
He's a Beatles addict that along with "I am the bearded 
cow-like sea beast koo koo katchu" manages to slip in an 
actual dead raising ditty? Frankly, I found the idea of the 
Cardinal (played wonderfully by the ever reliable Harris 
Yulin) who was hiding what he thought was the truth the most 
interesting part. Why was Scully having visions yet again? 
Force of habit? Too big a whiff of that gum arabic in the 
studio? Hoffman's talk of being Christ made her think she 
should work him into her seventh season hit parade of religious 
visitations? It all got kind of lost in the muddle of Serpico 
and Altamont and Mary Magdalene.

I imagine people that are in the business of show business 
might enjoy "Hollywood A.D." more than I did. I found it a 
little too in-jokey for my tastes. It always seemed to go 
one step too far. There are no doubt many Wayne Federman 
types wandering around with their cell phones muttering 
things into a Dictaphone like "Jodie Foster's foster child 
on a payless budget" or "Jehovah's witness meets Harrison 
Ford's Witness." How in the world the "Skin Man" has stayed 
friends with this guy over the years is an X-File in and of 
itself. While we have this serious case going on Skinner is 
going to allow a pal to seriously disrupt meetings and tag 
along cracking bad jokes? He's got Mulder for that.

Duchovny did show us that his take on the characters in 
"The Unnatural" was no fluke. It seems both he and Anderson 
believe Mulder and Scully spend a lot more time outside of 
work together than we usually see on the screen. Given what 
we've seen from these characters over the years watching 
Scully giggle as she flashes a bureau credit card or Mulder 
lay on his couch and act along to "Plan 9 From Outer Space" 
can be a little unsettling on some levels. Still, it is fun 
to think of Mulder and Scully as the occasionally gossipy 
pals calling each other for no reason but the fact that 
they like each other.

I liked "Hollywood A.D." despite its flaws. I enjoyed the 
tale of Sister Spooky which *was* a very cool story especially 
coming from Scully. I thought that as a director Duchovny 
seemed to feel very comfortable behind the camera on this 
effort. There were some wonderful visual moments in this 
piece from the way he shot the movie within with the laser 
lights piercing the dark to the fog swirling around a slow 
motion Shandling and Leoni as they roll into the grave to 
swooping down on Mulder and Scully walking on the FOX lot. 
I appreciated what he was trying to accomplish with the last 
dance of the dead even though I felt the coda went on a bit 
too long. In the end I just wish more of it had really worked. 
It came across as flashes of brilliance lost in muddied 
waters. "Hollywood A.D." made me laugh, but if I really 
want to enjoy a parody of the show I'll put in my much worn 
tape of "Bad Blood" for the 42nd time.

Random Musings
------------------------
-Date Stamp. Kinda. The toe tag on the autopsy body appeared 
to read 12/14/98 which would fit with the X-File in the episode 
taking place about 18 months ago.

-"Cigarette smoking mackerel snapper?"  There's really not 
much else to say about that line. I wish I knew what the heck 
it meant.

-Clever moment: Gary Shandling hiding behind a tombstone bearing 
the name "Alan Smithee" that so many directors hide behind when 
they want their name off a movie.

-Surely Mulder and Scully could have stopped their names from 
being used in a movie, especially if the characters were meant 
to be a "loose amalgamation." Or did all that Hollywood style 
wining and dining convince them to sign on the dotted line?

-Looks like Duchovny made some friends while shooting "Return 
to Me" since he got both David Alan Grier and Minnie Driver 
to be in the premiere audience along with Chris Carter.

-I think that the whole "Sir have I pissed you off in a way 
that's more than normal?" bit would have been funnier had we 
not just seen Mulder use this same sort of tact in "Chimera" 
a few weeks ago.

-I was amused by Federman and his implications at Skinner 
requiring Scully's services. Obviously he thought Skinner 
was using that bigger flashlight to charm Scully. 

-I'm not quite sure why the cell phone on the body saying 
"Micah Hoffman" in the Caller ID window was used to identify 
the body. Especially since that shows who is calling not who 
you are. One would hope you already knew that.

-Frank's Fashion Spot: You probably thought I was going to 
talk about Scully and her little black premiere dress. Instead 
I'm going to focus on the absolutely hilarious costuming of 
Tea' Leoni's version of Scully. Not only was she wearing one 
of those button up shirts I hate so much, but this one was 
unbuttoned so far that you could see most of the black bra 
underneath. Along with that huge gaudy cross it was quite the 
parody of Scully.

-At least Tea'!Scully was competent enough to steal the CSP's 
gun when the moment arose. Other than that Scully had to have 
been pretty mortified at the whole thing.

-Our Little Sailor: Even though she said "b.s.ing" instead of 
saying the words we did get a "damnit" when Scully cuts herself 
with her trigger happy scalpel.

-This one had a lot of behind the scenes folks in it. The 
movie's Assistant Director is played by Barry "Sugar Bear" 
Thomas an Assistant Director on the show. The craft services 
woman who provided the turkey is a craft services woman. The 
director was played by Bill Millar who is responsible for 
Special Effects on the X-Files. The odd thing about that last 
credit is that the press release for this episode listed David 
Duchovny's brother Daniel in that part.

-I have to wonder if the director was supposed to be an 
impression of Kim Manners in a way since the wardrobe and 
"kick it in the ass" are very much like that director.

-Just how many languages is Scully a "little rusty" in - she 
knew enough German to get her by in "Unruhe" and here she 
manages to read ancient Greek texts? I took four years of 
Spanish and I can barely understand everything the Taco Bell 
dog says.

-I supposed Mulder was getting back some by walking his hands 
to his coffee cup after hearing Wayne's tale of reanimated 
bones.

-Speaking of that, I thought that Mark Snow could have laid 
off the Disneyesque sound track at that point. I thought the 
skull was going to start singing there for a while surrounded 
by a chorus line of assorted bones in little top hats.

-I guess Scully isn't the only one who has completely given 
up on home security since Mulder leaves his door unlocked in 
the middle of the night.

-That whole scene was pretty cute, seeking each other out when 
they can't sleep. Mulder answering Scully's question before she 
finishes. Musing about Ed Wood. One of the better written scenes 
in the episode.

-I couldn't help but wonder exactly why all the bubbles in 
Mulder's tub started moving around after Scully mentions 
"sexual fears and desires"...

-Nice touch: Federman kissing Mulder and shaking Scully's hand.

-I have to wonder why Scully decided to have a religious moment 
and take the time to cross herself before arresting who she 
believes was a murderer. 

Autumn
"Doesn't that make you sad? It makes me sad."