X-Files fest celebrates Oregon based “This Is Not Happening” episode with Roy Thinnes

Of all the many X-Files episodes that explored UFOs and abductions by aliens, the gold-standard is still “This Is Not Happening,” say TV critics because it features both the return of David Duchovny as Fox Mulder and famed UFO TV hero Roy Thinnes.

“This Is Not Happening,” was both the title and the subject of celebration for this classic X-Files TV episode that’s won more awards than any other TV science fiction episode; while featuring some of the icons of TV UFO drama here in Seaside, Oregon, June 10. This annual X-Files event is intended for fans to meet and greet others who view this special X-Files episode as "the gold standard for all alien abduction dramas." In turn, there was one magic moment when his lips brushed hers – perhaps a tantalizing invitation for more - but, after all, this was Roy Thinnes who, at age 74, still looks as menacing and cool as David Vincent when he appeared in the Sixties cult UFO TV series “The Invaders.” However, fans here in Seaside were more interested in Thinnes’ role as Jeremiah Smith in the award-winning X-Files episode “This is Not Happening.” In turn, local UFO “watcher” Iris said she meant to ask “Roy about his role as Jeremiah Smith, and not to attempt a kiss from this icon of TV UFO dramas.” Iris, a “Baby Boomer” and member of the famed Oregon UFO “watchers” group, then shared her joy by marching around this X-Files celebration with a bright green sun umbrella that featured the names “Scully & Mulder” and Jeremiah Smith on what she's dubbed as her "X-Files parasol."

In fact, Iris points to a history of the famed TV show Star Trek - stating that Roy Thinnes was so convincing in the X-Files episodes as the alien leader Jeremiah Smith - that “he was once considered by Paramount for the part of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

Also, at science fiction events, such as this recent “X-Files” fan festival in the Oregon resort town of Seaside, Thinnes takes on rock star fame in the same way William Shatner does as Captain Kirk. “Thinnes is that good,” adds Iris during a June 10 Huliq interview where she showed-off her green parasol autographed by Thinnes.

This Is Not Happening begins and ends in Oregon

While Roy Thinnes is best known in UFO circles here in Oregon for his portrayal of lonely hero David Vincent in the 1967-69 TV series “The Invaders,” Iris says Thinnes “owns alien abduction lore with his “special guest” X-Files appearances in the two-part episode “This Is Not Happening” that involves an Oregon based UFO watcher from Bray’s Point named “Richie Szalay” who is chasing a spaceship in Helena, Montana.

For X-Files who may have missed “This Is Not Happening” when it originally aired in season eight of the X-Files back in 2001.

In turn, Thinnes made two appearances in “The X-Files” as Jeremiah Smith; who is an alien rebel with healing and shape-shifting abilities that mirrors the hybrid alien known as “Lew” that “hangs around the Oregon coast,” adds Iris with veiled, liquid eyes that are both bright and bemused - by this view of fellow “watchers” - that "Lew is a real, and so are UFO sightings and alien abductions."

At the same time, Iris asserts how “alien abductions are still happening worldwide in mass;" while also pointing to recent "mysterious stuff and boxes washing up along our coast from Japan with who knows where else, and what's riding along."

Thus, there’s no arguing with this Oregon UFO “watcher” since this same story of abductions is the basis for this award winning “This is Not Happening” episode that has its roots at Bray’s Point, Oregon; and more recently was celebrated in Seaside, Oregon.

History of X-Files points to real life mirroring this art form

In fact, a history of “The X-Files” by Lars Pearson and Robert Shearman – titled “Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files,” states that of all the X-Files episodes, series creator Chris Carter “believed that the series could continue for another 10 years with new leads from real-life alien abductions that was the basis of the story Carter co-wrote in the landmark episode “This Is Not Happening.”

Also, “This Is Not Happening” was nominated for an American Society of Cinematographers award for cinematography and received numerous other writing, TV and science fiction awards. Moreover, it's a fact that this episode features what is considered “one of the best images” of “stealth” a UFO landing and then disappearing, after depositing the bodies of alien abduction victims with Roy Thinnes “appearing” as Jeremiah Smith who is an “alien member of a resistance gang.”

In turn, this two-part episode of the X-Files launched the concept that “alien gangs are walking the Earth,” as explained in this episode co-written by X-Files creator Chris Carter who insisted during interviews that "This Is Not Happening" is indeed "based on fact.”

X-Files warns "watch out in 2012"

Moreover, fans here point to this episode as "Carter saluting the UFO community by saying 'they're here and watch out!" In fact, had the X-Files continued into 2012; fans think "all hell would have broken loose since Chris Carter wanted to focus more on 'real life events' happening in Oregon and other known UFO centers."

What’s also “more than strange” about “This Is Not Happening,” says Iris, is the way Jeremiah Smith’s character is part of “this same UFO cult we have in parts of Oregon today who think the apocalypse is near, and that our world is being controlled by these ‘stealthy’ aliens.”

Iris also notes that X-File fans will enjoy the end of “This Is Not Happening” when after the mysterious return of Fox Mulder, “Scully seeks out Smith to heal him, but Smith is then abducted by the UFO that appears over the camp.”

In turn, Iris fears that Smith is presumably executed aboard the alien space ship; while not revealing what the real Roy Thinnes told her about “what really happened during the filming of this now legendary X-Files episode.”

Image source of Oregon UFO “watcher” Iris parading about with her bright green parasol in what became known as the “X-Files village” during a recent gathering of TV fans in Seaside, Oregon. Photo by Dave Masko

Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.