From Chris Snellgrove
| Published
It’s hard to overstate sex appeal The X-Files in the ’90s had… In addition to the sizzling on-screen chemistry between hunky leads David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, these two appeared in several sexy photo shoots, including the infamous Rolling Stone cover of them cuddling in bed. Honestly, after this issue’s photoshoot served as a sexual awakening for an entire generation, we didn’t think this show even knew the meaning of “too hot.” As it turned out, however, one episode was almost too hot for television: “Gender Bender,” a first-season episode whose concept and story kept changing because of fears that the network would reject it.
Gender bender
For the authors of The X-FilesThe first season was about testing boundaries, figuring out what worked best for the show’s story and its characters, and what they could create through the network’s censorship. In “Gender Bender,” authors Larry and Paul Barber began with a simple and provocative question: How can you make sex as scary as creepy aliens or chain-smoking government creeps? Answering that question was essentially a mandate from above, and co-executive producer Glen Morgan later said that the creative team requested “an episode with a more sexy edge.”
Than that X-Files Producers and writers soon realized that this was easier said than done, and Morgan admitted, “It was difficult to find a story that showed sex as scary.” The episode “Gender Bender” was the answer to that question… sort of . The authors had the idea for this Aliens Who Could Change Gender, but the episode went through many revisions due to concerns about how the Fox network would respond to certain story beats and general concerns about how audiences would feel about an episode that challenged pre-existing notions of gender and sex was questioned, especially in the “90s.
The missing parts
Even all these years later it is X-Files Writers and producers haven’t been completely open about what they had to change for “Gender Bender.” What we do know, however, is that they originally developed a creepy moment for the episode’s teaser where a character’s crotch began to rot. This emphasized the whole sexual horror aspect a little too much, and co-executive producer RW Goodwin later offered a simple explanation for why they cut that moment entirely: “If I were watching this episode with my child, I would turn them off.” .”
While the gender-bending elements remained thanks to some shape-shifting villains, this is the case X-Files The episode seems to have lost its original focus on sex and sexuality. As Glen Morgan put it, the concept of the last episode aired was the answer to a very different question: “What if there were people like the Amish, who came from another planet?” That answer wasn’t very compelling and “Gender Bender” is rather (ahem) flabby, but had the benefit of introducing audiences to Nicholas Lea, who would later return as fan-favorite recurring villain Alex Krycek.
As X-Files Fans, we can’t look you in the eyes and say that “Gender Bender” is a good episode, but the story of its development is still fascinating. It’s interesting to note that the episode began with the intention of focusing on scary sexuality, but concerns about network censorship and audience rejection prevented the series from descending into full-body horror. David Cronenberg Style. Without these limitations, it’s possible we could have gotten a cutting-edge episode where a melting crotch is probably the least weird thing in the entire episode.