I admired shows like ‘Six Feet Under.’ That was an amazing show. Never boring, always inventive, smart. Loved the characters. Completely original. Those are shows that I admire. – Chris Carter
‘The X-Files’ from the beginning was a very visual show, and with Bob Mandel directing the pilot and Dan Sackheim being involved in the production of the pilot and directing the first episode, they brought a visual style to it that was elaborated on by so many good directors. – Chris Carter
You have these catch-phrases that you associate with ‘The X-Files’: ‘Trust No One,’ ‘Deny Everything.’ ‘Believe the Lie’ was one of them. – Chris Carter
It’s funny – I was a big fan of ‘The Sopranos.’ It became kind of a threat to ‘The X-Files’ in a way because they could play with language, character, and story in ways that we never could because of the limitations of network television. – Chris Carter
It’s so interesting that when I finished ‘The X-Files’ in 2002, the – call it the political and cultural climate in America – was one of fear, and trust of government. Because we put ourselves in the hands of the authority who was going to protect us. And, you know, we gave up a lot of our liberties to Homeland Security, etc. – Chris Carter
The experience of seeing a surf movie in the 1970s, as a teenager, and the energy in those theatres, was amazing. It was the only way to see people surfing. These guys would go out and make these surf movies and bring them to four-wall theatres. It was an incredible experience that I’ll never forget. – Chris Carter
There are things I’m doing with ‘The After’ that would’ve never flown on ‘The X-Files’ and on network television, so it’s more permissive. That’s not to say that you want to abuse that. I think that a show like ‘The X-Files’ actually worked better as a network show with the restraints put on it, the censorship that was applied. – Chris Carter
In Canada, I climbed some mountains with the Alpine Club of Canada, which taught me a lot about stamina. – Chris Carter
It’s really hard to scare people on network television. You’ve got to be smart about it. You’ve got to parcel out the scares. – Chris Carter
I’ve become very interested in the spectrum of political discourse as seen on the cable news channels that are conveniently right in a row on my cable provider’s dial. I can flip from Fox to CNN to HLN to MSNBC, and I find myself at night flipping it back and forth through them, and it’s something of an addiction. – Chris Carter
I’ve got funny things. David Duchovny had to have a cast made of his face to do an old person’s make-up, and I’ve got that cast of his face in my house. I’ve got something from the pilot, the original implant that was in Billy Miles’ head. I’ve got a sign from ‘The Erlenmeyer Flask.’ But my house isn’t a museum to ‘The X-Files!’ – Chris Carter
I hope that I’m not simply defined by ‘The X-Files,’ and I hope I have more work that is important to do. – Chris Carter
If you look at ‘The X-Files’ generally, we did 202 episodes. About 80% of them are not ‘mythology’ episodes, which tend to be the epic episodes. They deal with the big conspiracies, the search for Mulder’s sister. They deal with what I would call the ‘saga’ of ‘The X-Files.’ – Chris Carter
‘The X-Files’ was a hard sell because people didn’t know what it was. The network didn’t understand what it was that they were buying, and at the beginning, they wanted us to have closure. They wanted us to put the cuffs on the bad guy at the end of each episode. – Chris Carter
I have to be careful with surfing. It’s still an addiction to me. It’s all I want to do, and that’s the big dilemma I have with it. – Chris Carter
I got to do Disney Sunday movies. I got to do a TV pilot there. And it really helped me to realise that I needed to not just be a writer, but a producer, to see my work up on the screen the way I wanted it to look and play. – Chris Carter
I’ve been asked to do surfing movies over the years and offered several opportunities. I just felt that if I were to do one, I’d have to do the perfect surfing movie. And I don’t know if that exists because surfing is such a personal thing. – Chris Carter
The real challenge in doing a TV show is in what I would call the maintenance energy. You take that creative energy and you use it every week, of course. But you then need to maintain the quality of the stories, and it’s harder to do. – Chris Carter
So many things for me are unfortunate in the commercialization of something that is special. It’s like when Led Zeppelin appears in Cadillac commercials. There’s something that is taken away from your love of this thing and your connection to it. – Chris Carter
Learning to fly an airplane taught me a way of thinking, an approach to problem-solving that was applicable and effective. Pilots are very methodical and meticulous, and artists tend not to be. – Chris Carter
When the surf is really good, it’s hard for me to concentrate on work. So I really have to watch when and where I surf – I won’t get anything done if I get the fever. Then it’s like I come into work and I’m wet and waterlogged and ready for lunch. – Chris Carter
Writing is a little athletic for me. I get worked up a little bit when I do it. So I guess I’m a little bit like that composer conducting. There are a lot of things that go into what I do, but I think athletics really sort of shaped my ethic. – Chris Carter
I think I’ve been asked a lot more than most TV producers to go on-camera. But I just do what I do and don’t think about the package. – Chris Carter
People thought the storyline and characters for ‘X-Files’ made it a ‘dark’ show, but I never saw it that way. I always thought Mulder and Scully were the light in dark places. – Chris Carter
