The X-Files episode that was almost too hot for TV

According to Chris Snellgrove
| Published 1 hour ago

It’s almost impossible to overstate the sex appeal The X-Files in the 1990s… in addition to the sizzling on-screen chemistry between hot leads David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, the two appeared in several sexy photo shoots, including the infamous Rolling Stone cover where they cuddle up in bed. Honestly, after shooting this number served as a sexual awakening for an entire generation, we didn’t think the show even knew the meaning of the word “too hot.” As it turned out, however, one episode was almost too hot for TV: “Gender Bender,” a Season 1 episode whose concept and story kept changing due to concerns that the network would reject it.

Gender Bender

For writers The X-FilesThe first season was about testing the boundaries, determining what worked best for the show’s story and its characters, as well as what the network’s censors could get past. In “Gender Bender,” writers Larry and Paul Barber began with a simple and provocative question: how do you make sex as scary as creepy aliens or chain-smoking government creeps? The answer to this question was essentially a mandate from above, with co-executive producer Glen Morgan later saying that the creative staff requested “an episode with a sexier edge”.

Like The X-Files the producers and writers soon realized that this was easier said than done, and Morgan admitted that “it was hard to find a story that showed sex as scary”. The episode “Gender Bender” was the answer to that question…sort of. The writers came up with an idea aliens who could change gender, but the episode went through many revisions due to concerns about how the Fox network would react to certain passages of the story and general concerns about how viewers would feel about an episode challenging pre-existing ideas about gender and sex, especially in ‘ 90s.

Missing parts

Even after all these years The X-Files The writers and producers haven’t been entirely forthcoming about what they had to change for “Gender Bender.” One thing we do know, though, is that they originally developed a creepy moment for the episode’s trailer in which the character’s crotch began to rot. This emphasized the whole sex-horror angle a little too much, and co-executive producer RW Goodwin later offered a simple explanation for why they cut the moment entirely: “If I was watching that episode with my kid, I would have turned it off. .”

While the gender-bending elements remained thanks to some shifty villains, this one The X-Files the episode arguably lost its original focus on sex and sexuality. As Glen Morgan said, the concept of the last episode that aired was to answer a very different kind of question: “what if there are people like the Amish who are from another planet? That answer wasn’t very engaging, and “Gender Bender” is somewhat (ahem) lame, but it had the benefit of introducing audiences to Nicholas Leo, who later returned as popular recurring villain Alex Krycek.

As The X-Files fans, we can’t look you in the eye and say that “Gender Bender” is a good episode, but the story of its development is still fascinating. It’s interesting to know that the episode began with the intention of focusing on gruesome sexuality, but that concerns about network censors and audience alienation prevented the show from descending into full body horror. David Cronenberg style. If it weren’t for these limitations, it’s possible we’d get a bloody episode where a melting crotch is probably the least weird thing in the entire episode.