TIL: William B. Davis, The Cigarette Smoking Man from the X-Files, is an active skeptic and lectures at universities about skepticism.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_B._Davis#Skepti...
en.wikipedia.orgPosted Oct 23, 2014, 3:55 AM UTC
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en.wikipedia.orgI would have never guessed it, but I think it's awesome. I'm just finishing the X-Files for the first time and really enjoyed it. It's a great work of fiction, and he did an incredible job for the show. It's very cool to see him use that fame to promote critical thinking.
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I suppose this is a classic that I should check out myself too?
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You can do what I did and just watch the episodes related to the main story arc first and then go back and watch the rest. It is dated occasionally, but pretty good overall.
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Personally I think the "Monster of the Week" episodes tended to be better. What the story arc episodes had going for them was mostly the atmosphere of some dark conspiracy, and Krycek. Fucking Krycek.
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Same. then it kept getting more and more, less about any x-files... Once they lost Mulder, I was out.
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Scully produces cellphone from pantsuit the size of her head
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How does Scully fit in a pantsuit so small?
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It was very good. I had problems watching it when it aired (I was young, and it scared the shit out of me). It was great though even if there was a lot that would have gone over my head. But don't take my word for it. :D
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I love this show. I'm on my third Netflix go-round...
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What do you get from it the third time through? Surely all of the suspense is dead by then.
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Nostalgia, pretty much
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If you really want to give it a good going through, give The X Files Files podcast a listen as you work through.
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[deleted]
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Especially since the fame was generated through a work of fiction fueled by conspiracy theories.
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He also plays old Alex Sadler in Continuum
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Oh hey! So he does!
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Where he is basically a far more effective CSM. Actually literally controls the world.
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I haven't seen X-Files (I know I'm behind the times! But my first priority is Twin Peaks) but he's definitely in control of time for most of Continuum. I really hope they make a season four.
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TIL William B Davis did 3 episodes of 21 Jump Street but played a different character every time.
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Yet he's never done a Star Trek series.
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This is a bit OT, but for any X-Files fans - was he ever called "Cancer Man" before he was called "Cigarette Smoking Man"? I'd remembered it that way, but I was young then, and I do remember the cards/game (or some sort of material my parents got me for Christmas) did use Cigarette Smoking Man. I just remember being surprised at the card saying that. Could be I just misremembered it at the time, and now remember the misremembering because of the correction I received when seeing the card.
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Mulder calls him Cancer Man in an early episode, while ranting to Skinner.
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Thanks. I'm so glad someone else remembers that. Certainly I've misremembered details about tv shows I used to watch before, so it's nice that that might not be what happened this time.
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I've believe I've heard him called Cancer Man as well, but I only watched the original run, and that was a long time ago.
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I only remember him being called "The Cigarette Smoking Man" or (my favorite) the "Black-Lunged, Son of a Bitch".
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Sure. That's what they would like you to believe.
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The truth is out there.
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I used to love the X-files and hated Scully until I got internet access in 1995. I became a skeptic and switched to liking Scully before outgrowing the show in general.
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Given what Scully has seen and been subjected to...her "skepticism" is fairly...insane.
When you have seen paper records of your abductions (plural) and mysterious advanced implants that give you cancer its probably time to stop wondering if aliens exist.
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Yeah, given the context of the show she had to have gone through enough stuff that by, at the LATEST, the episode after the movie that she should have believed. She wasn't so much skeptical as intentionally obtuse about it.
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I don't believe in the paranormal, but I have no trouble reconciling that with liking the X-Files. I don't believe in orcs either, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying LOTR.
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I think it's easier for me to suspend disbelief when the story is more fantastic and less relevant to current pseudo-science controversies. Orcs, Dragons, and greek mythology are no problem for me but crop circles and Christian mythology turn me off.
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I thought he was dead. Good to hear otherwise.
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Interviewed by Jacob Fortin on guilt about being a skeptic on a show that Richard Dawkins campaigned against
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He was also a non-smoker. He quit smoking the 1970s. All the cigarettes he smoked in the series were herbal.
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There is a connection between Richard Doty in Mirage Men and CSM.
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Being from Buffalo, whenever I see a post relating to CSM, part of me is always hoping he has finally passed away.
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Nice cover, CSM.
It's funny because in the Dresden Files novels, a noted villain and vampire daylights as a skeptic lecturer/debater who argues against the existence of himself and other supernatural phenomena.
I've read all those books and I have no idea who you're talking about.
Paolo Ortega (warning, link contains spoilers), a red court vampire, at the start (the opening chapter) of death masks he and Harry appeared in a talk show together.
Oh! I need to restart the series. Everything before Changes is starting to blur.
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This is why I've always rooted for CSM. It really felt like he was the smartest man there.
Every action he did seemed to be a good idea. Even siding with aliens (if it's even accurate that he did that; either way being on the inside is better than being outside).
FM always kept chasing the crazy ideas. Scully usually was more sensible but then she has her own crazy ideas and weirdness about religion.
I consider CSM one of the best anti-heroes that has existed.
Damn, stop encouraging me to watch the entire series a third time.