Some Signs and Wonders Trivia
Behind the Scenes
"Signs and Wonders" was written by The X-Files staff writer Jeffrey Bell. Bell had long desired to write a "down-and-dirty" horror story for the series. In addition, he had informally studied the practice of snake handling, concluding that "anything involving snakes would be scary and I saw the church stuff as something that would be really fascinating." However, unlike most stories featuring the radical religious, the theme of the episode was that in certain circumstances, "intolerance can be good", according to executive producer Frank Spotnitz.
Bell "wanted the snake church people to end up being the good guys." However, the trick would be to disguise the real bad guys in plain sight. According to Bell, "The way the shows usually work out, Mulder is the one to figure out who the bad guys are. So I went wen into the story meeting with the idea of having Mulder being wrong. Because Mulder believes so strong it's the other guy, it helped hid the true identity of the bad guy from the audience."
The casting for "Signs & Wonders" was "rather unorthodox". In order to prevent ophidiophobia from hitting the actors on the day of filming, live rattlesnakes were brought in during the casting sessions. Strangely enough, many of the actors were "thrilled" about holding the snakes, according to Kim Manners. He later noted that "the funny thing was that the actors couldn't wait to hold the rattlesnakes […] but we were still nervous."
A series of safety meetings were schedule in order to prevent accidents on the set. One of the items on the agenda was finding the closest hospital to the set, according to make-up effects coordinator John Vulich. Furthermore, several of the cast and crew members had a fear of snakes, including Manners, David Duchovny, and John Shiban. During one of the days that the show was being prepped, a snake wrangler brought several live rattlesnakes to the set, but one escaped. It was eventually found behind Manners' desk. In order to prevent future accidents, the mouths of the snakes were sutured shut.
At any one time, there were between six to fifty snakes on the set. During the scene where Mulder is attacked, fifteen live snakes were used. However, Duchovny was "not within blocks" of the shot and a stunt double was used. Several faux-body parts were used to simulate snake bites. One of the fake arms, which was used for Mulder, was recycled from the sixth season episode "Dreamland". A false stomach was created for Tracy Middendorf, who portrayed Gracie, to give the illusion that live snakes were wriggling inside of her.
At one point in the episode, Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, a famous painting by Italian Early Renaissance artist Masaccio appears in the background. Because the painting contains nudity, Fox's network executives took issue with the scene, forcing the show to edit out the genitalia on the painting. Paul Rabwin later noted that "the network executive censors didn't feel it was appropriate for us to show all the details [...] course, they could see people giving birth to hundreds of snakes, but that's OK." On the seventh season DVD special features, the painting is erroneously attributed to the famed Michelangelo.
Trivia
Rather a bizarre coincidence: guest stars Randy Ogelsby, Tracey Middendorf and Beth Grant went on to play guest roles on Angel and writer Jeffrey Bell ended up joining the crew in the show's 3rd season.
A deleted scene included O'Fallon singing to his church group. It was cut due to time constraints.
Michael Childers, who portrayed Reverend O'Connor, was actually the son of a real life snake preacher. Manners later noted that "he had gone to church as a child and handled snakes."
The song being sung by the congregation, called "May Glory Protect Us" was written by executive producer Paul Rabwin, who was heavily involved in the episode's music production. Rabwin noted, "I auditioned a bunch of gospel songs [to episode director Kim Manners]. I told him I could write one that was better and he told me to go for it. And I did. […] Kim loved it. […] It was a great tribute that he was able to ask me and accept my opinion on it."
Errors
Just after Mulder says: "especially because rattlesnakes tend to hibernate in winter" - during the first scene in the office after the intro. You can hear Gillian Anderson slip into an English accent, when she says: "so you think that Mr Chirp was murdered?" And then right back into an American for her next line.
The location of the opening is Blessing, Tennessee. The location is printed on the screen, but is removed very quickly.
A boom mic operator is visible on the left hand side of the screen wearing a white t-shirt, beige shorts, and sneakers. He's carrying the boom mic and following Mulder and Scully. You can see him when Mulder and Scully arrive at the "Church of God with Signs and Wonders" for the first time...when Mulder delivers the line "That's funny, I knew a couple Catholic schoolgirls who were experts at it."
When Reverend O'Connor is reading from the Book of Revelations, his Bible is flipped open towards the front. Revelations is the last chapter in the New Testament, so his Bible should have been open towards the back.
Reverend O'Connor pronounces the name of the last book of the Bible as "Revelations." The correct name is "The Book of Revelation to John." It isn't pluralized.
When Mulder and Scully first arrive at "The Church Of God" you can briefly see a crew member to the left of the screen as the agents are walking up the stairs.
Allusions
Enoch O'Connor's namesake can be found in the bible book of Genesis. An ancestor of Noah, the prophet Enoch "walked with God" and was transferred so as not to see death.
Enoch O'Connor's name is also a likely homage to Southern Gothic writer Flannery O'Connor, who constantly featured themes of religious hypocrisy and the mysteries of faith and grace. Enoch Emery is a character in her first novel, Wise Blood.
References
'Signs and Wonders' is a common biblical phrase used to describe the acts used to convince followers of the nature of Christ and his apostles, for example:
Second Corinthians 12:12: "The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles."
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signs_and_Wonders_%28The_X-Files%29
http://x-files.wikia.com/wiki/Signs_and_Wonders
http://www.tv.com/shows/the-xfiles/signs-and-wonders-638/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751203/
The Complete X Files Behind the series, the myths and the movies
All Things: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 6
"Signs and Wonders" was written by The X-Files staff writer Jeffrey Bell. Bell had long desired to write a "down-and-dirty" horror story for the series. In addition, he had informally studied the practice of snake handling, concluding that "anything involving snakes would be scary and I saw the church stuff as something that would be really fascinating." However, unlike most stories featuring the radical religious, the theme of the episode was that in certain circumstances, "intolerance can be good", according to executive producer Frank Spotnitz.
Bell "wanted the snake church people to end up being the good guys." However, the trick would be to disguise the real bad guys in plain sight. According to Bell, "The way the shows usually work out, Mulder is the one to figure out who the bad guys are. So I went wen into the story meeting with the idea of having Mulder being wrong. Because Mulder believes so strong it's the other guy, it helped hid the true identity of the bad guy from the audience."
The casting for "Signs & Wonders" was "rather unorthodox". In order to prevent ophidiophobia from hitting the actors on the day of filming, live rattlesnakes were brought in during the casting sessions. Strangely enough, many of the actors were "thrilled" about holding the snakes, according to Kim Manners. He later noted that "the funny thing was that the actors couldn't wait to hold the rattlesnakes […] but we were still nervous."
A series of safety meetings were schedule in order to prevent accidents on the set. One of the items on the agenda was finding the closest hospital to the set, according to make-up effects coordinator John Vulich. Furthermore, several of the cast and crew members had a fear of snakes, including Manners, David Duchovny, and John Shiban. During one of the days that the show was being prepped, a snake wrangler brought several live rattlesnakes to the set, but one escaped. It was eventually found behind Manners' desk. In order to prevent future accidents, the mouths of the snakes were sutured shut.
At any one time, there were between six to fifty snakes on the set. During the scene where Mulder is attacked, fifteen live snakes were used. However, Duchovny was "not within blocks" of the shot and a stunt double was used. Several faux-body parts were used to simulate snake bites. One of the fake arms, which was used for Mulder, was recycled from the sixth season episode "Dreamland". A false stomach was created for Tracy Middendorf, who portrayed Gracie, to give the illusion that live snakes were wriggling inside of her.
At one point in the episode, Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, a famous painting by Italian Early Renaissance artist Masaccio appears in the background. Because the painting contains nudity, Fox's network executives took issue with the scene, forcing the show to edit out the genitalia on the painting. Paul Rabwin later noted that "the network executive censors didn't feel it was appropriate for us to show all the details [...] course, they could see people giving birth to hundreds of snakes, but that's OK." On the seventh season DVD special features, the painting is erroneously attributed to the famed Michelangelo.
Trivia
Rather a bizarre coincidence: guest stars Randy Ogelsby, Tracey Middendorf and Beth Grant went on to play guest roles on Angel and writer Jeffrey Bell ended up joining the crew in the show's 3rd season.
A deleted scene included O'Fallon singing to his church group. It was cut due to time constraints.
Michael Childers, who portrayed Reverend O'Connor, was actually the son of a real life snake preacher. Manners later noted that "he had gone to church as a child and handled snakes."
The song being sung by the congregation, called "May Glory Protect Us" was written by executive producer Paul Rabwin, who was heavily involved in the episode's music production. Rabwin noted, "I auditioned a bunch of gospel songs [to episode director Kim Manners]. I told him I could write one that was better and he told me to go for it. And I did. […] Kim loved it. […] It was a great tribute that he was able to ask me and accept my opinion on it."
Errors
Just after Mulder says: "especially because rattlesnakes tend to hibernate in winter" - during the first scene in the office after the intro. You can hear Gillian Anderson slip into an English accent, when she says: "so you think that Mr Chirp was murdered?" And then right back into an American for her next line.
The location of the opening is Blessing, Tennessee. The location is printed on the screen, but is removed very quickly.
A boom mic operator is visible on the left hand side of the screen wearing a white t-shirt, beige shorts, and sneakers. He's carrying the boom mic and following Mulder and Scully. You can see him when Mulder and Scully arrive at the "Church of God with Signs and Wonders" for the first time...when Mulder delivers the line "That's funny, I knew a couple Catholic schoolgirls who were experts at it."
When Reverend O'Connor is reading from the Book of Revelations, his Bible is flipped open towards the front. Revelations is the last chapter in the New Testament, so his Bible should have been open towards the back.
Reverend O'Connor pronounces the name of the last book of the Bible as "Revelations." The correct name is "The Book of Revelation to John." It isn't pluralized.
When Mulder and Scully first arrive at "The Church Of God" you can briefly see a crew member to the left of the screen as the agents are walking up the stairs.
Allusions
Enoch O'Connor's namesake can be found in the bible book of Genesis. An ancestor of Noah, the prophet Enoch "walked with God" and was transferred so as not to see death.
Enoch O'Connor's name is also a likely homage to Southern Gothic writer Flannery O'Connor, who constantly featured themes of religious hypocrisy and the mysteries of faith and grace. Enoch Emery is a character in her first novel, Wise Blood.
References
'Signs and Wonders' is a common biblical phrase used to describe the acts used to convince followers of the nature of Christ and his apostles, for example:
Second Corinthians 12:12: "The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles."
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signs_and_Wonders_%28The_X-Files%29
http://x-files.wikia.com/wiki/Signs_and_Wonders
http://www.tv.com/shows/the-xfiles/signs-and-wonders-638/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751203/
The Complete X Files Behind the series, the myths and the movies
All Things: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 6