The Lone Gunmen
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{{Xfiles character
|image=Image:Lonegunmen010214e.jpg
|name=The Lone Gunmen:
John Fitzgerald Byers, Richard "Ringo" Langly, Melvin Frohike
|affiliation=The Lone Gunmen
|start=E.B.E.
|finish=The Truth
|portrayed=Tom Braidwood,
Bruce Harwood,
Dean Haglund
}}
The Lone Gunmen were a trio of fictional characters who had recurring roles on The X-Files and also starred in a short-lived spin-off; The Lone Gunmen. The name was derived from the lone gunman theory.
Described as counterculture patriots, they were ardent conspiracy theorists, government watchdogs, and computer hackers who frequently assisted central X-Files characters Mulder and Scully, though they sometimes had their own adventures. The Lone Gunmen authored a news publication called The Magic Bullet Newsletter, (later renamed The Lone Gunman) of which Mulder was a loyal subscriber. None of them had day jobs; they relied on financial backers who believed in their cause. They shared a loft apartment (where they also worked) and used a 1970 VW Transporter (minibus) to commute.
Unlike the X-Files, whose storylines dealt mainly with supernatural creatures and government alien conspiracies, The Lone Gunmen episodes generally featured more "plausible" plots, such as cheating husbands, corporate crime, arms-dealers, and escaped Nazis. The show had a very light atmosphere and focused heavily on physical comedy.
The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Contents |
The characters
The trio
Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood), a former '60s radical and the oldest of the three. Though a skilled computer hacker, Frohike was primarily the photography specialist for the newsletter. Frohike had a lascivious attitude toward women (especially Agent Scully) and secretly coveted Mulder's collection of pornographic videos. His unique sense of fashion made him stand out: furry vests, combat boots, fingerless gloves, etc. He saw himself as the "action man" and would often be seen doing very intense stunts (many rigged to look more impressive than they really were).
John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Harwood) was once a menial office worker for the FCC. He was a conservative dresser with a neatly trimmed beard; a stark contrast to his grungier comrades. He is known for the famous line, "That's what we like about you, Mulder. Your ideas are even weirder than ours." He was born on November 22, 1963, the same day that President Kennedy died. His parents named him after the fallen president (one can easily imagine him without a beard looking much like Kennedy).
Richard Langly (Dean Haglund) resembles Garth from Wayne's World. He was a big fan of The Ramones and had a competition with Frohike over who was a better computer hacker. He also had "a philosophical aversion to having his image bounced off a satellite." His nickname was "Ringo".
Supporting characters
Kenneth Soona aka The Thinker (Bernie Coulson) - an unofficial fourth member, a computer hacker, who succeeded in accessing Majestic 12 files and encrypting them onto a digital tape. He was killed by assassins working for the Cigarette Smoking Man, who eventually re-acquired the tape.
Jimmy Bond (Stephen Snedden) - another "fourth member", who joined the trio in The Lone Gunmen series. In a stark contrast to his namesake, he is rich but not very bright, and is fascinated with the trio, who often consider him a nuisance.
Yves Adele Harlow (Zuleikha Robinson) - a femme fatale thief who sometimes works with the Lone Gunmen trio (although sometimes she is their rival). The alias Yves Adele Harlow is an anagram for Lee Harvey Oswald.
Kimmy the Geek (Jim Fyfe) - an expert hacker and a Star Trek fan who occasionally helps the trio. He is the twin brother of Jimmy the Geek, a character killed by a bus in an X-Files episode, played by the same actor.
Origins
In the X-Files season 5 episode "Unusual Suspects", it is revealed how the Gunmen initially got together.
In 1989, John Byers meets a woman named Holly in an electronics expo. Holly claims that her ex-boyfriend (Mulder) is stalking her and has kidnapped her daughter. She gives Byers an internet address which is supposed to locate her daughter. The file is encrypted, so Byers enlists the aid of computer hacker/cable salesman Melvin Frohike. Frohike decrypts the file, but when they confront Mulder, they discover he is an FBI agent. Suspicious, Byers and Frohike get Richard Langly to hack into the FBI network. They discover that Holly's real name is Suzanne Modeski, and she is wanted for bombing an FBI lab. The three confront Modeski, and she admits that she works for the Army Advanced Weapons facility at Whitestone, NM. She has developed a gas that causes fear and paranoia, and the military plans to test it on civilians. She then enlists the three’s help to stop the government’s plan. They track the material to a warehouse, where the gas is in a shipment of asthma inhalers. Mulder follows them and is about to arrest them when all five of them are ambushed by two hitmen sent to kill Modeski. A shootout ensues, and Mulder takes cover.
Modeski kills the hitmen and promptly flees. A team led by X sanitizes the scene, cautioning the guys to stay out of trouble. The trio got their name as a result of Byers questioning X at this point about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, his namesake. X's reply was, "I heard that it was the work of a lone gunman."
The police arrive soon after. All three of the Gunmen are arrested, and Byers recounts his story to Detective John Munch. Munch is skeptical, but Mulder verifies the story, so the guys are released. They find Modeski, and she admonishes them to tell as many people as they can about the government conspiracy. Without warning, a black rental car pulls up, and the occupants force Modeski inside. Later, the guys are visited by Mulder, who says that he has weird ideas in his head that he can't seem to shake.
X-Files appearances
Despite only minor appearances in the X-Files, the Gunmen became fan favorites, getting their own T-shirts. They also appeared prominently in episodes written by acclaimed science fiction authors William Gibson and Tom Maddox.
Since becoming X-Files mainstays, Gunmen styled technogeeks have appeared on other television series, such as Brian Roedecker on Millennium and Abby Sciuto on NCIS.
One or all of the Gunmen appeared in the following X-Files episodes, as well as all episodes of The Lone Gunmen.
See also: The X-Files - Episode guide
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Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
The X-Files: Fight the Future (feature film) |
Season 6
Season 7
Season 8
Season 9
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The Lone Gunmen series
Image:The Lone Gunmen logo.jpg The Lone Gunmen, a spin-off of the popular series The X-Files, was a television show that aired on FOX, featuring the characters of the same name. The show first aired in March 2001, and it was soon cancelled with its last episode airing in June 2001.
Their spin-off series involved investigating mostly corporate crime, aided (and sometimes hindered) by a mysterious thief named Yves Adele Harlow (Zuleikha Robinson). Despite fan loyalty, the show was ultimately canceled after 12 episodes. The Gunmen themselves died in the season 9 X-Files episode "Jump the Shark", sacrificing themselves to stop a bio-terrorist. They briefly reappeared in the series finale, as ghosts whom Mulder seemed to have acquired the ability to communicate with.
The cancellation of the show is considered by many to be somewhat mysterious, as its ratings were in fact higher than the first-season ratings of X-Files.
Episode list
Pilot episode "predicts" 9/11
In a foreshadowing of the September 11, 2001 attacks, subsequent conspiracy theories, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the plot of the March 4, 2001 pilot episode of the series depicts a secret U.S. government agency plotting to crash a Boeing 727 departing from Boston into the World Trade Center via remote control for the purpose of increasing the military defence budget and blaming the attack on foreign "tin-pot dictators" who are "begging to be smart-bombed." This episode aired in Australia less than two weeks before the 9/11 attacks, on August 30.
This alone has made the DVD extremely popular for such a short-lived series (see below).
The relevant excerpt from the script begins at "Scene 12" here [1]
Cast
- Tom Braidwood - Melvin Frohike
- Dean Haglund - Richard "Ringo" Langly
- Bruce Harwood - John Fitzgerald Byers
- Zuleikha Robinson - Yves Adele Harlow
- Stephen Snedden - Jimmy Bond
- Ryan O'Leary - Aaron Lansbarkis
David Duchovny (Fox Mulder),Mitch Pileggi (Walter Skinner) and Michael McKean (Morris Fletcher) from The X-Files made guest appearances on the show.
Crew
- Executive Producer - Chris Carter, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, Frank Spotnitz
- Creators - Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, Frank Spotnitz
- Frohike, Langly and Byers characters originally created by Glen Morgan and James Wong
DVD release
After fans had waited since the show's cancellation, Fox Home Entertainment officially released the series (along with the episode of The X-Files entitled Jump the Shark which finishes the cliffhanger that ended The Lone Gunmen as an additional episode) on a three disc Region 1 DVD set on Tuesday March 29, 2005. In the UK it was eventually released on the 31st January 2006.
External links
- The Official site address now links to the Fox Home Entertainment site
- {{{2|{{{title|The Lone Gunmen}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database
- excerpt from Lone Gunmen 9/11 showde:Die einsamen Schützen
es:Los Pistoleros Solitarios pl:Samotni Strzelcy sr:Усамљени револвераши