Chris Carter (screenwriter)

Christopher Carl Carter (born 13 October 1957) is an American television and film producer, director and writer. After beginning his television career working on television films for Walt Disney Studios, Carter rose to fame in the early 1990s after creating the science fiction television series The X-Files for the Fox network.

The truth is out there.

Quotes

Agent Mulder believes we are not alone.

• The most difficult thing to reconcile is science and religion … And so we created a 
dilemma for her character that plays right into Mulder’s hands. So that cross she wears,
 which was there from the pilot episode, is all-important for a character who is torn 
between her rational character and her spiritual side. That is, I think, a very smart
 thing to do. The show is basically a religious show. It’s about the search for God. You 
know, "The truth is out there." That’s what it’s about.
  • As quoted in "A close encounter with Chris Carter" at Salon (28 April 2000)

The X-Files (1993-2002)

• Mulder: Sorry, nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted.

Scully: Agent Mulder. I'm Dana Scully. I've been assigned to work with you.

Mulder: Oh, isn't it nice to be suddenly so highly regarded. So who did you tick off to get stuck with this detail, Scully?

Scully: Actually, I'm looking forward to working with you. I've heard a lot about you.

Mulder: Oh, really... I was under the impression that you were sent to spy on me.

• Pilot [1.1] (10 September 1993)

• Agent Mulder believes we are not alone.
  • Pilot [1.1] (10 September 1993) Scully to Section Chief Blevins

• We've got The X-Files, and I believe what we're looking for is in them. I'm more certain than ever the truth is out there, Scully.
  • Paper Clip [3.2] (29 September 1995) Mulder to Scully

• This kid may be the key not just to all human potential, but to all spiritual unexplained paranormal phenomena. The key to everything in The X-Files.
  • "The End" [5.20] (17 May 1998) Mulder to Scully

Quotes about Carter

• Carter carried himself as though he were meeting up with some dudes for a beer. Despite being the ’90s’ most intense purveyor of paranoia, his entire demeanor in person seemed to say, "What, me worry?" After the applause died down, he initiated a penchant for deflective self-deprecation that would last all night — "I have a lot of family and friends who are probably wondering why you are clapping." … In the end, Carter left the impression that he doesn’t take the fandom and his own place in it especially seriously, but that he does take his role as a popular storyteller with the deepest sense of personal gravity and responsibility. "The X-Files gets raves in part because it addresses so many of the central themes of life in the United States at the turn of the millennium — a wariness about technology, a wondering about the deeper questions of life and a distrust of big government."
  It is his ability to bring these issues forth in story form that makes Carter want to continue, despite the weirdness, and makes him so valuable to a culture that needs an intelligent mirror of itself.
  • Russ Spencer, in "A close encounter with Chris Carter" at Salon (28 April 2000)

External links

• Chris Carter on IMDb
• Chris Carter at The X-Files Wiki
• Chris Carter interview at the Archive of American Television (150 min.)