| The X-Files | Premise | Crossovers | Episodes | Background |
Background Terminology[]
Legends[]
Legends are explanatory pieces of information accompanying illustrations, maps or charts. Many legends appear in episodes of The X-Files, usually including information such as time or setting over the events of a scene.
Although a notice preceding the series' pilot is described in the episode's script as a legend, the first regular legend appears later in the same episode and reads, "COLLUM NATIONAL FOREST; NORTHWEST OREGON". The television series' final legend appears in "The Truth" and reads, "ROSWELL; NEW MEXICO".
Legends were also used in episodes of Millennium. The term "legend" was never used on-screen in either series, but originates from terminology used by production personnel, and can be found in scripts for the series.
Taglines[]
The most commonly used tagline of The X-Files episodes.
Taglines were a feature of The X-Files episodes. Although the series' opening credits sequences usually ended with "The Truth is Out There", other lines occasionally replaced it. The following is a list of other taglines used in episodes of the series.
| Episode | Tagline |
|---|---|
| "The Erlenmeyer Flask" | Trust No One |
| "Ascension" | Deny Everything |
| "Anasazi" | 'éí 'aaníígÓÓ 'áhoot'é' ("The truth is far from here" in Navajo) |
| "731" | Apology is Policy |
| "Herrenvolk" | Everything Dies |
| "Teliko" | Deceive Inveigle Obfuscate |
| "Terma" | E pur si muove ("And still it moves" in Italian, a quote attributed to Galileo) |
| "Gethsemane" | Believe the Lie |
| "Redux" | All Lies Lead to the Truth |
| "The Red and the Black" | Resist or Serve |
| "The End" | The End |
| "Triangle" | Die Wahrheit ist irgendwo da draußen ("The truth is out there somewhere" in German) |
| "The Unnatural" | In the Big Inning |
| "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" | Amor Fati ("Love of fate" in Latin) |
| "Closure" | Believe to Understand |
| "Nothing Important Happened Today II" | Nothing Important Happened Today |
| "4-D" | erehT tuO si hturT ehT ("The Truth is Out There", backwards) |
| "Trust No 1" | They're Watching |
| "Improbable" | Dio ti ama ("God loves you" in Italian) |
| "My Struggle II" | This Is The End |
| "My Struggle III" | I Want to Believe, I Want to Lie |
| "This" | Accuse Your Enemies of That Which You are Guilty |
| "Ghouli" | You See What I Want You to See |
| "Kitten" | A War Is Never Over |
| "Rm9sbG93ZXJz" | VGhlIFRydXRoIGlzIE91dCBUaGVyZQ== ("The Truth Is Out There" in Base64) |
Executive Producer R.W. Goodwin recalled, "Every episode of the first season had the same tagline, except the last one, 'The Erlenmeyer Flask,' in which we killed Deep Throat. As Deep Throat lay dying, the last thing he said was, 'Trust no one.' That became the tagline. When Chris Carter feels that it is necessary, he will change the tagline to relate to the episode."
According to Producer and Director Rob Bowman, "They don't change very often, but when they do, they pertain to the episode. Like 'Apology is Policy,' you know, 'Oh, we're sorry about the POWs,' as though that exonerates them."
Several taglines were used to advertise The X-Files: Fight the Future, most frequently including "Fight the Future". However, unlike those used in episodes of the series, most of the movie taglines were never seen or heard in the film and only appeared on posters and other promotional products.
It should be noted that some of the episodes that had a replacement tagline when they originally aired on TV have the regular "The Truth is Out There" tagline on the DVD release.