The X Files 120 Darkness Falls Facts, Trivia, Goofs & Description

 A group of loggers working in a remote forest unearths thousands of deadly insectlike creatures that paralyze and cocoon their victims. Scully, Mulder and a few others end up trapped there.

Trivia

• This was intended to be a bottle episode, based in a single location to save money, but bad weather plagued production. It was one of the toughest episodes of the season for the crew. The weather delayed production so much that pick-up shots and inserts had to be filmed later on to finish. Delays were also caused by the inaccessibility of the location because only generators, camera equipment, and first aid crew were able to stay on-site, and time was wasted commuting staff in each day.
• Jason Beghe is one of David Duchovny's best friends. They studied together and worked together as bartenders and as actors.
• During this episode, Gillian Anderson was often sick due to her pregnancy.
• The episode received the 1994 Environmental Media Award (EMA) for Best Environmental TV Episode.
• Jason Beghe and David Duchovny would go on to co-star alongside each other in several episodes of Californication (2007).
• This is the first of three times that Jason Beghe and Titus Welliver worked together. The others are Finders Keepers (2007) and Ghosts (2018).
• The helicopter seen during the rescue at the end is a Hughes 500C (model 369). The latest model is known as the MD530F.

Goofs

• When Humphreys goes back to the truck to "get on the horn" he hot wires the truck. When he tries to leave it's overlooked that there is still a flat tire on the truck.
• Mulder and Scully are in the Olympic Mountains, Mulder makes a comment that the bugs in the tree could be the result of a volcanic eruption. The Olympic Mountains are not volcanic and the Mt. St. Helen's eruption of 1980 blew ash east, away from the Olympics.
• As trained FBI agents neither Scully nor Mulder would have allowed a civilian to carry a firearm around when they were investigating a potential crime scene.
• They wouldn't have known either his mental state, nor his culpability (if any) involving the possible crime. Additionally, if he was injured or even k*lled by his own weapon, they would have been held responsible for it as they didn't know if he was trained in the use of the weapon.
• Around 00:40:22, the quarantine team arrives and you see a man open the car door but his quarantine suit ends above the wrist. He has an exposed skin between his glove and the suit.
• A close-up of the mysterious bugs is obviously archive footage of aphids.
• When Humphreys touches the felled Douglas fir, the prop bark flexes under his fingers.
• At 11:33, a full-on view of the victim shows pale gray skin, with a normal size mouth opening...at 11:45 the victim is shown in a fetal-type position and has a pronounced pinker/flesh colored tinge and appears more decayed, with a wider mouth opening showing back molars.
• The fallen tree where they took the core sample was called a Douglas fir, but the bark resembles a Sitka spruce tree.
• Although Olympic Mountains (themselves on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State) cover a vast area (3,600 square miles, about the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined) it's not uninhabited and it certainly isn't so remote that any of its towns are more than one hours driving time from any other location.
• It certainly wouldn't take a "four hour drive" as stated by the Forestry Service ranger to get anywhere on the peninsula from any other location.
• Plot holes
• If the insects are prevented from swarming by light shining on them, how would they swarm on Spinney, when he's standing in front of the car's lights?
• The bugs do not swarm in light - it does not cross anyone's mind to actually light a bonfire - after all they are in a wood with newly felled trees and branches all around them.
• Mulder can only send a brief distress message with the radio due to the necessity to turn off the generator to save fuel for the night. He could, however, have used the radio as much as he wanted during the night, when the generator was running normally.
• Scully says the first insects appeared around 600 million years ago. However, insects did not evolve until 400-450 million years ago. 600 million years ago, no animals existed at all on the land, and the very first terrestrial plant life was only just appearing. Anyway, she herself admitted not being an expert about insects.