The Lone Gunmen
Encyclopedia
The Lone Gunmen are a trio of fictional character
s, Richard "Ringo" Langly, Melvin Frohike and John Fitzgerald Byers, who have recurring roles on the American television series The X-Files
. They also starred in a short-lived spin-off
, also called The Lone Gunmen
. The name was derived from the lone gunman theory
of the John F. Kennedy assassination
.
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 Lone Gunman (once referred to as The Magic Bullet Newsletter; a pejorative reference to the single bullet theory
and, like the group's name, a reference to the Kennedy assassination
), to which Mulder loyally subscribed. None of them had day jobs; they relied on financial backers who believed in their cause, and the revenue generated by the subscriptions to their paper. They shared a loft apartment where they also worked, and used a 1973 -79 VW Transporter
to commute.
(Bruce Harwood
) was once a public relations
worker for the FCC
. He was a conservative dresser with a neatly trimmed beard, a stark contrast to his grungier comrades. He had at least some working knowledge of medicine
, genetics
and chemistry
and 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. His name would have been Bertram otherwise. Byers was the most "normal" of the three, and while Frohike and Langly were seemingly born angry misfits, Byers dreamed of a quiet, uneventful, suburban life. Byers' father was a high-ranking government official, but they never saw eye to eye and when Byers' father appears in The Lone Gunmen pilot, the two hadn't spoken for some time.
Melvin Frohike
(Tom Braidwood
) was 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. However, he had a more purely romantic attitude towards Dana Scully; when she was gravely ill in the episode 'One Breath', Frohike appeared at the hospital in a tailored suit carrying a bouquet. His unique sense of fashion made him stand out: leather jackets, black vests, combat boots, fingerless gloves, etc. Frohike considered himself the "action man" of the trio and would often be seen doing very intense stunts (many rigged to look more impressive than they really were). Despite his childish scraps with Langly and others, Frohike's age and experience gave him a kind of quiet wisdom that occasionally surfaced when he consoled his friends about the sorry nature of their lives. In The Lone Gunmen episode "Tango de los Pistoleros," Frohike was revealed to be a former tango
champion who danced under the stage name "El Lobo."
Richard Langly
(Dean Haglund
) was the most confrontational and youngest of the three. He was a big fan of The Ramones, and enjoyed critiquing the scientific inaccuracies of the short-lived sci-fi series Earth 2
, and he had a long-running 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". Langly was a Dungeons and Dragons player (as 'Lord Manhammer') and enjoyed videogames like Quake. In the LGM episode "Octane," it is revealed that Langly is a "32 year old virgin."
(David Duchovny
) - an FBI Special agent
who was in charge of The X-Files
. Mulder first met the trio when they first formed, and they would prove to be his longtime allies and friends. He turned to The Lone Gunmen numerous times when needing information on elements of the paranormal or when he needed to access highly-guarded government institutions. After he disappeared from The FBI, his X-Files partner Dana Scully
, his boss Walter Skinner
, and his replacements John Doggett
and Monica Reyes
would ask for the assistance of The Lone Gunmen as well. When Mulder was supposedly found "dead", The Gunmen appeared at his funeral, but when he proved to be alive, they were the ones who tearfully welcomed him back. Mulder was not able to attend the funeral of The Lone Gunmen, as he was still in hiding, but he talked to their apparitions following his resurfacing. Scully, Skinner, Doggett, and Reyes would attend their funeral, and Scully proclaimed that The Lone Gunmen "meant so much to [her]."
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 in the season 2 finale of the X-Files titled "Anasazi
". The Thinker first appeared in the season 2 episode titled "One Breath
". The Thinker was killed by assassins working for the Cigarette Smoking Man, who eventually re-acquired the tape. He was referred to in the first episode of season 3 titled "The Blessing Way
" as being murdered, but he was not in that episode.
Jimmy Bond
(Stephen Snedden
) - another "fourth member", who joined the trio in The Lone Gunmen series. Though he shares the bravery and physicality of his namesake
, he initially appears to be rich but not very bright, and is fascinated with the trio, who often consider him a nuisance. His saving grace is his boundless optimism, coupled with an idealistic view that the jaded Gunmen wish they still held.
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
. She plans to star in a biopic about Jean Harlow
. The Lone Gunmen are obsessed with John F. Kennedy
's assassination (Kennedy and Monroe were having an affair), which was supposedly committed by Lee Harvey Oswald. It was later revealed in the X-Files episode "Jump the Shark" that Yves' real name was Lois Runtz.
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 The X-Files episode "Three of a Kind", played by the same actor.
Susanne Modeski (Signy Coleman
) - was an employee at the Advanced Weapon Research Centre at White Stone Army Base in New Mexico who assisted in the development of a biological weapon that creates psychotic hallucinations. Modeski appears in the The X-Files episodes "Unusual Suspects
" and "Three of a Kind".
", 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 Susanne 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 help of the three 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 confronting X at this point about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. X's cynical reply was, "I heard that it was 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 implores 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.
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
. Similar characters have appeared in many genre series: the Trio
, a group of geeky would-be villains in season six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a pair of nerdy "paranormal investigator" bloggers who appear in the first season "Hell House" and third season episode "Ghostfacers!" of the show Supernatural
, while Invasion
featured Dave, a rather Frohike-esque blogger journalist who was determined to bring the truth about alien "hybrids" to the world.
One or all of the Gunmen appeared in the following X-Files episodes, as well as all episodes of The Lone Gunmen. All three characters died in the X-Files episode "Jump the Shark", which aired the year after The Lone Gunmen series was cancelled.
, was a television show that aired on FOX, featuring the characters of the same name. The show first aired in March 2001 and, despite good reviews, was canceled due to a drop in ratings. The last episode aired in June 2001.
The debut of the show in March 2001, began with Byers' father faking his death to uncover a conspiracy to hijack an airliner. The Lone Gunmen try to get to the truth of his supposed death and uncover the conspiracy.
One retrospectively interesting aspect of this pilot episode is that the airliner has been hijacked (via remote control of the plane's autopilot) and, by the end, both Byers and his father have boarded the plane to try to stop the hijacking. Through the aid of the other Gunmen, they are able to regain control of the plane and just miss crashing into the World Trade Center
with the airliner. This, of course, was before the actual 9/11 attack against the World Trade Center later that year. Similar to actual conspiracy theories posited about the events of 9/11, the episode's plot indicates that the hijacking was committed as an act of voracity by a greedy American arms manufacturer to ultimately increase its weapons sales by invoking U.S. retaliation against a scapegoated anti-American extremist dictator.
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. They return to The X-Files in the episode "Jump the Shark" in the show's ninth season where they were then killed off. They briefly reappeared in the series finale of The X-Files, as Mulder spoke to their ghosts.
Frank Spotnitz confirmed that had The Lone Gunmen returned for a second series, the character of Morris Fletcher (played by Michael McKean) was to have become a regular one, either assisting or antagonising (or possibly both) the three main protagonists.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
s, Richard "Ringo" Langly, Melvin Frohike and John Fitzgerald Byers, who have recurring roles on the American television series The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
. They also starred in a short-lived spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
, also called The Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen (TV series)
The Lone Gunmen is a television show created by Chris Carter and broadcast on FOX. It was a spin-off of Carter's popular long-running television series The X-Files and a part of The X-Files franchise, starring several of the show's characters. The Lone Gunmen was first broadcast in March 2001 and,...
. The name was derived from the lone gunman theory
Lone gunman theory
The lone gunman theory is the nickname given to the controversial conclusion reached by the Warren Commission that U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a single gunman named Lee Harvey Oswald who fired only three shots, one of which being the single bullet that wounded both Kennedy...
of the John F. Kennedy assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
.
Described as counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
patriots, they were ardent conspiracy theorists
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
, government watchdogs and computer hackers who frequently assisted central X-Files characters Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
and Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
, though they sometimes had their own adventures. The Lone Gunmen authored a news publication called The Lone Gunman (once referred to as The Magic Bullet Newsletter; a pejorative reference to the single bullet theory
Single bullet theory
The single bullet theory was introduced by the Warren Commission in its investigation of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to explain what happened to the bullet which struck Kennedy in the back and exited through his throat...
and, like the group's name, a reference to the Kennedy assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
), to which Mulder loyally subscribed. None of them had day jobs; they relied on financial backers who believed in their cause, and the revenue generated by the subscriptions to their paper. They shared a loft apartment where they also worked, and used a 1973 -79 VW Transporter
Volkswagen Type 2
The Volkswagen Type 2, officially known as the Transporter or Kombi informally as Bus or Camper , was a panel van introduced in 1950 by German automaker Volkswagen as its second car model – following and initially deriving from Volkswagen's first model, the Type 1 , it was given the factory...
to commute.
The trio
John Fitzgerald ByersJohn Fitzgerald Byers
John Fitzgerald Byers is a fictional character in the television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, played by Bruce Harwood.John Fitzgerald Byers was born on November 22, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated, in Sterling, Virginia, and was named after the fallen president – his...
(Bruce Harwood
Bruce Harwood
Bruce Harwood is a Canadian actor best known for his role of John Fitzgerald Byers, one of the Lone Gunmen on the television series The X-Files. Harwood also trained for several years to be a professional figure skater before he started his acting career. His ice skating skills are on display in a...
) was once a public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
worker for the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
. He was a conservative dresser with a neatly trimmed beard, a stark contrast to his grungier comrades. He had at least some working knowledge of medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
and chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and 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
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
died. His parents named him after the fallen president. His name would have been Bertram otherwise. Byers was the most "normal" of the three, and while Frohike and Langly were seemingly born angry misfits, Byers dreamed of a quiet, uneventful, suburban life. Byers' father was a high-ranking government official, but they never saw eye to eye and when Byers' father appears in The Lone Gunmen pilot, the two hadn't spoken for some time.
Melvin Frohike
Melvin Frohike
Melvin Frohike is a fictional character in the television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, played by Tom Braidwood.Frohike was born circa 1953 in Pontiac, Michigan. Prior to joining The Lone Gunmen, he was an acclaimed tango dancer in Miami...
(Tom Braidwood
Tom Braidwood
For the Scottish teacher, see Thomas Braidwood. For the Canadian judge, see Braidwood Inquiry.Tom Braidwood is a Canadian actor and director known for the role of Melvin Frohike, one of the conspiracy theorists known as the Lone Gunmen on the American television series The X-Files...
) was a former '60s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
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. However, he had a more purely romantic attitude towards Dana Scully; when she was gravely ill in the episode 'One Breath', Frohike appeared at the hospital in a tailored suit carrying a bouquet. His unique sense of fashion made him stand out: leather jackets, black vests, combat boots, fingerless gloves, etc. Frohike considered himself the "action man" of the trio and would often be seen doing very intense stunts (many rigged to look more impressive than they really were). Despite his childish scraps with Langly and others, Frohike's age and experience gave him a kind of quiet wisdom that occasionally surfaced when he consoled his friends about the sorry nature of their lives. In The Lone Gunmen episode "Tango de los Pistoleros," Frohike was revealed to be a former tango
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
champion who danced under the stage name "El Lobo."
Richard Langly
Richard Langly
Richard “Ringo” Langly is a fictional character in the television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen. He was played by Dean Haglund. Langly was born circa 1968/1969 and grew up on a farm in Saltville, Nebraska...
(Dean Haglund
Dean Haglund
Dean Haglund is a Canadian actor known for the role of Richard "Ringo" Langly, one of the Lone Gunmen on The X-Files. Haglund is also a stand-up comedian, specializing in improvisational comedy In addition to The X-Files, he played the voice of Sid in Tom Sawyer, Haglund also portrayed Langly in...
) was the most confrontational and youngest of the three. He was a big fan of The Ramones, and enjoyed critiquing the scientific inaccuracies of the short-lived sci-fi series Earth 2
Earth 2 (TV series)
Earth 2 is an American science fiction television series which aired on NBC from November 6, 1994 to June 4, 1995. The show was canceled after one season of 22 episodes...
, and he had a long-running 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". Langly was a Dungeons and Dragons player (as 'Lord Manhammer') and enjoyed videogames like Quake. In the LGM episode "Octane," it is revealed that Langly is a "32 year old virgin."
Associates
Fox MulderFox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
(David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
) - an FBI Special agent
Special agent
Special agent is usually the title for a detective or investigator for a state, county, municipal, federal or tribal government. An agent is a worker for any federal agency, and a secret agent is one who works for an intelligence agency....
who was in charge of The X-Files
X-file
On the television series The X-Files, an X-File is a fictional case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The files constitute an unassigned project outside the Bureau mainstream that is more or less concerned with unexplained phenomena. -First X-Files:The very...
. Mulder first met the trio when they first formed, and they would prove to be his longtime allies and friends. He turned to The Lone Gunmen numerous times when needing information on elements of the paranormal or when he needed to access highly-guarded government institutions. After he disappeared from The FBI, his X-Files partner Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
, his boss Walter Skinner
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
, and his replacements John Doggett
John Doggett
FBI Special agent John Jay Doggett is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of alien existence...
and Monica Reyes
Monica Reyes
Special Agent Monica Reyes is a fictional character in the American FOX television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
would ask for the assistance of The Lone Gunmen as well. When Mulder was supposedly found "dead", The Gunmen appeared at his funeral, but when he proved to be alive, they were the ones who tearfully welcomed him back. Mulder was not able to attend the funeral of The Lone Gunmen, as he was still in hiding, but he talked to their apparitions following his resurfacing. Scully, Skinner, Doggett, and Reyes would attend their funeral, and Scully proclaimed that The Lone Gunmen "meant so much to [her]."
Kenneth Soona aka The Thinker (Bernie Coulson
Bernie Coulson
Bernie Coulson is a Canadian-born actor best known for his roles as The Thinker on the American television series The X Files, as well as Michael Reardon on the Canadian-based television series Intelligence and Pipefitter, the drummer of a reuniting punk band, in the Canadian mockumentary Hard...
) - an unofficial fourth member, a computer hacker, who succeeded in accessing Majestic 12
Majestic 12
Majestic 12 is the alleged code name of a secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and government officials, supposedly formed in 1947 by an executive order of U.S. President Harry S. Truman...
files and encrypting them onto a digital tape in the season 2 finale of the X-Files titled "Anasazi
Anasazi (The X-Files)
"Anasazi" is the twenty-fifth episode and the second season finale of The X-Files television series. "Anasazi" revolves around Mulder coming into possession of a digital tape that contains confidential government information about aliens.- Plot :...
". The Thinker first appeared in the season 2 episode titled "One Breath
One Breath
"One Breath" is the eighth episode of the second season of the science fiction television series The X-Files created by Chris Carter. This episode features the return of Scully from her abduction in a coma-like state.- Plot :...
". The Thinker was killed by assassins working for the Cigarette Smoking Man, who eventually re-acquired the tape. He was referred to in the first episode of season 3 titled "The Blessing Way
The Blessing Way (The X-Files)
"The Blessing Way" is a 1995 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the first episode broadcast in the show's third season. The Blessing Way continues from the previous season's finale and surrounds Mulder's apparent death and the conspiracy's pursuit of a digital cassette containing the...
" as being murdered, but he was not in that episode.
Jimmy Bond
Jimmy Bond
Jimmy Bond is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The Lone Gunmen and The X-Files, two science fiction shows about government conspiracies to hide or deny the truth from the people...
(Stephen Snedden
Stephen Snedden
Stephen Snedden is an American actor.He moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue an acting career shortly after graduating from Oklahoma State University with a double major in theatre and television production....
) - another "fourth member", who joined the trio in The Lone Gunmen series. Though he shares the bravery and physicality of his namesake
James Bond (character)
Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is a fictional character created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games...
, he initially appears to be rich but not very bright, and is fascinated with the trio, who often consider him a nuisance. His saving grace is his boundless optimism, coupled with an idealistic view that the jaded Gunmen wish they still held.
Yves Adele Harlow (Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson is an English actress, raised in Thailand and Malaysia by a Burmese-Indian mother and an English father. She is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, and best known for playing Ilana in the ABC show Lost.In 2006, she played a Bengali character called...
) - a femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
thief who sometimes works with the Lone Gunmen trio (although sometimes she is their rival). The alias Yves Adele Harlow is an anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
for Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
. She plans to star in a biopic about Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...
. The Lone Gunmen are obsessed with John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's assassination (Kennedy and Monroe were having an affair), which was supposedly committed by Lee Harvey Oswald. It was later revealed in the X-Files episode "Jump the Shark" that Yves' real name was Lois Runtz.
Kimmy the Geek (Jim Fyfe
Jim Fyfe
-Filmography:Movies-Note:...
) - an expert hacker and a Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
fan who occasionally helps the trio. He is the twin brother of Jimmy the Geek, a character killed by a bus in The X-Files episode "Three of a Kind", played by the same actor.
Susanne Modeski (Signy Coleman
Signy Coleman
Signy Coleman , sometimes credited asSigney Coleman, is an American actress.-Background:Coleman grew up in Bolinas, California and attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley...
) - was an employee at the Advanced Weapon Research Centre at White Stone Army Base in New Mexico who assisted in the development of a biological weapon that creates psychotic hallucinations. Modeski appears in the The X-Files episodes "Unusual Suspects
Unusual Suspects
"Unusual Suspects" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Kim Manners and aired in the United States on November 16, 1997 on the Fox network...
" and "Three of a Kind".
Origins
In the X-Files season 5 episode "Unusual SuspectsUnusual Suspects
"Unusual Suspects" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Kim Manners and aired in the United States on November 16, 1997 on the Fox network...
", 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 Susanne 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 help of the three 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 confronting X at this point about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. X's cynical reply was, "I heard that it was a lone gunman."
The police arrive soon after. All three of the Gunmen are arrested, and Byers recounts his story to Detective John Munch
John Munch
Sergeant John Munch is a fictional character played by actor Richard Belzer. Munch first appeared on Homicide: Life on the Street. Upon that series' cancellation, the character was transplanted to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the first spin-off of the Law & Order franchise...
. Munch is skeptical, but Mulder verifies the story, so the guys are released. They find Modeski, and she implores 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 fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
authors William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
and Tom Maddox
Tom Maddox
Tom Maddox is an American science fiction writer, known for his part in the early cyberpunk movement.His first novel was Halo , published in 1991 by Tor Books. His story Snake Eyes appeared in the 1986 collection Mirrorshades, edited by Bruce Sterling.He is perhaps best known as a friend and...
.
Since becoming X-Files mainstays, Gunmen styled technogeeks have appeared on other television series, such as Brian Roedecker on Millennium
Millennium (TV series)
Millennium is an American television series created by Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files. Millennium aired on the Fox Network from 1996 to 1999. The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, though most episodes were ostensibly set in or around Seattle, Washington...
and Abby Sciuto
Abby Sciuto
Abigail "Abby" Sciuto is a fictional character from the NCIS television series by CBS Television, and is portrayed by Pauley Perrette. Like Jethro Gibbs, Anthony DiNozzo and Donald Mallard, Abby was first introduced in the episodes "Ice Queen" and "Meltdown" in the television show JAG, and has...
on NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...
. Similar characters have appeared in many genre series: the Trio
Trio (Buffyverse)
The Trio is the name of three fictional characters in the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who serve as the villains of the season. They continually strive to neutralize Buffy, the Slayer, and thus the primary obstacle to their ultimate goal of taking over Sunnydale...
, a group of geeky would-be villains in season six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a pair of nerdy "paranormal investigator" bloggers who appear in the first season "Hell House" and third season episode "Ghostfacers!" of the show Supernatural
Supernatural (TV series)
Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...
, while Invasion
Invasion (TV series)
Invasion is an American science fiction television series that aired on ABC for only one season beginning in September 2005. Somewhat similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the show told the story of the aftermath of a hurricane in which water-based creatures infiltrate a small Florida town and...
featured Dave, a rather Frohike-esque blogger journalist who was determined to bring the truth about alien "hybrids" to the world.
One or all of the Gunmen appeared in the following X-Files episodes, as well as all episodes of The Lone Gunmen. All three characters died in the X-Files episode "Jump the Shark", which aired the year after The Lone Gunmen series was cancelled.
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
The X-Files: The Game The X-Files: The Game Reviews of the game were mixed, with many critics complaining about the large number of discs required to load the game... (Video game) Season 4
Season 5
The X-Files: Fight the Future (Feature film) |
Season 6
Season 7
Season 8
Season 9
|
The Lone Gunmen series
The Lone Gunmen, a spin-off of the popular series The X-FilesThe X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
, was a television show that aired on FOX, featuring the characters of the same name. The show first aired in March 2001 and, despite good reviews, was canceled due to a drop in ratings. The last episode aired in June 2001.
The debut of the show in March 2001, began with Byers' father faking his death to uncover a conspiracy to hijack an airliner. The Lone Gunmen try to get to the truth of his supposed death and uncover the conspiracy.
One retrospectively interesting aspect of this pilot episode is that the airliner has been hijacked (via remote control of the plane's autopilot) and, by the end, both Byers and his father have boarded the plane to try to stop the hijacking. Through the aid of the other Gunmen, they are able to regain control of the plane and just miss crashing into the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
with the airliner. This, of course, was before the actual 9/11 attack against the World Trade Center later that year. Similar to actual conspiracy theories posited about the events of 9/11, the episode's plot indicates that the hijacking was committed as an act of voracity by a greedy American arms manufacturer to ultimately increase its weapons sales by invoking U.S. retaliation against a scapegoated anti-American extremist dictator.
Their spin-off series involved investigating mostly corporate crime, aided (and sometimes hindered) by a mysterious thief named Yves Adele Harlow (Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson is an English actress, raised in Thailand and Malaysia by a Burmese-Indian mother and an English father. She is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, and best known for playing Ilana in the ABC show Lost.In 2006, she played a Bengali character called...
). Despite fan loyalty, the show was ultimately canceled after 12 episodes. They return to The X-Files in the episode "Jump the Shark" in the show's ninth season where they were then killed off. They briefly reappeared in the series finale of The X-Files, as Mulder spoke to their ghosts.
Frank Spotnitz confirmed that had The Lone Gunmen returned for a second series, the character of Morris Fletcher (played by Michael McKean) was to have become a regular one, either assisting or antagonising (or possibly both) the three main protagonists.