X-FILE
118 - Shapes
THE AGENTS
TRACK A WOLF-LIKE CREATURE LINKED TO NATIVE AMERICAN LEGEND.
At a remote cattle ranch in the Montana
countryside, Jim Parker and his son Lyle are attacked by a ferocious, wolf-like
beast. Hampered by darkness and a raging thunderstorm, Jim fires his shotgun
at the creature and kills it. But when he examines the body, Jim discovers
he killed a Native American man known as Joseph Goodensnake.
Mulder convinces Scully to aid him with
the investigation, which at first glance does not appear to be related
to the supernatural, but rather, a tragic accident. They interview Jim
Parker, who explains that someone-or something-had been mutilating his
cattle. He insists that he shot a wolf-like beast with his gun-not Goodensnake.
Mulder's curiosity is piqued when he discovers a piece of translucent skin
where Goodensnake's body had been recovered.
The agents travel to Trego Indian Reservation,
where Sheriff Charlie Tskany allows them to examine Goodensnake's body.
They discover that Goodensnake's front teeth are abnormally-long, not unlike
that of a wild animal. But the sheriff refuses Scully's request to perform
a detailed autopsy, citing Native American burial rituals.
As members of the tribe burn Goodensnake's
body at a burial ground, Mulder explains to Scully that the oldest X-File
on record was created by J. Edgar Hoover. It involved a series of murders
that occurred in the United States during World War II in which victims
were mauled to death by what police assumed to be a wild animal. An animal
was tracked and killed by police, but when they retrieved the carcass,
they found only the body of a man. Scully insists it is physically impossible
for a human to change form.
Lyle Parker arrives at the burial grounds
to offer his condolences to Goodensnake's sister, Gwen. She becomes distraught
and insists that he leave.
Not long after the cremation, Mulder and
Scully discover Jim Parker's mutilated corpse at his ranch. They also find
Lyle Parker, lying naked in the mud nearby. Scully transports Lyle to the
hospital for treatment while Mulder and Sheriff Tskany continue the investigation.
Tskany takes Mulder to the home of Ish,
an elderly mystic Native American. Ish explains that the attacks that occurred
during World War II were the result of a Manitou, an evil spirit capable
of changing a man into a beast. Tskany speculates that because the power
is passed through bloodlines, Gwen too may be a shape-shifter, and she
may have killed Jim Parker to avenge her brother's death. But when Gwen
is interviewed, she claims she saw a wolf-like creature attack and kill
Jim Parker.
Mulder and Tskany realize that Lyle may
have contracted the shape-shifting power after he was mauled by the beast.
They race back to the Parker ranch, where Mulder rescues Scully by shooting
and killing a wolf-creature. Moments later, the creature reverts to Lyle's
form.
Credits
THE X-FILES "SHAPES" #1X18
Original Air Date: 04/01/94
CAST:
DAVID DUCHOVNY as Special Agent Fox Mulder
GILLIAN ANDERSON as Special Agent Dana Scully
GUEST CAST:
TY MILLER as Lyle Parker
MICHAEL HORSE as Sheriff Charley Tskany
DONNELLY RHODES as Jim Parker
DWIGHT MCFEE as David Gates
PAUL MCLEAN as Dr. Josephs
RENAE MORRISEAU as Gwen Goodensnake
JIMMY HERMAN as Ish
WRITTEN BY:
MARILYN OSBORN
DIRECTED BY:
DAVID NUTTER
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