The Sept. 11 Parallel "Nobody Noticed" ("Lone Gunmen" Pilot Episode Video)

TV Guide ^ | 6.21.02 | Michael Ausiello

[mhking]

The Sept. 11 Parallel "Nobody Noticed"
Friday, June 21, 2002

We know the ratings for Fox's short-lived X-Files spinoff The Lone Gunmen were bad, but this is ridiculous. Six months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — March 4, 2001, to be exact — Gunmen premiered with an episode featuring a terrorist plot to fly a commercial airliner into the World Trade Center. The climactic sequence actually shows the plane heading into one of the Twin Towers, but at the last minute, it's pulled upward and just misses the building.

Shockingly, this horrifying bit of foreshadowing was never widely reported until Thursday, when industry newsletter The Myers Report (PDF) broke the story. How is it that virtually no one remembered this post 9/11? "I know! That's what I've been wondering," marvels Frank Spotnitz, who along with Vince Gilligan and John Shiban wrote the episode. "I thought, 'Nobody noticed!' I guess so few people saw the show. But it's strange too because that was the pilot and the ratings were actually quite good for [that episode], and yet, we didn't hear anything."

Myers Report columnist Ed Martin — who was tipped off about the horrific parallel by a friend — wrote that "this seems to be collective amnesia of the highest order. The final act of the Gunmen pilot, which seemingly made no impact last year, now contains some of the most deeply disturbing images ever created for an entertainment program." (To see the clip for yourself, click here.)

"I woke up on September 11 and saw it on TV and the first thing I thought of was The Lone Gunmen," recalls Spotnitz. "But then in the weeks and months that followed, almost no one noticed the connection.

"What's disturbing about it to me is, you think as a fiction writer that if you can imagine this scenario, then the people in power in the government who are there to imagine disaster scenarios can imagine it, too."

Unlike the actual attacks, there was no suicide hijacker in the Gunmen climax; the terrorists attempted to remotely steer the plane into the skyscraper. "Now, ironically, one of the things [the government is] talking about to prevent [another 9/11] is the ability of terrorists to remotely pilot planes," Spotnitz says, "which was another element of our story. It's weird." — Michael Ausiello

[mhking]

There were some incredible parallels to the 9/11 attacks within the pilot episode for the short-lived "X-Files" spinoff, "The Lone Gunmen." Although the article claims that no one noticed, I seem to remember some folks here on FR mentioning it not too long ago.

FYI -- there is a video link to the climatic moments of the episode included in this article; obviously, it may not be prudent for any who are sensitive to watch the video (YMMV).

[Bobby777]

now I can't remember if I watched the pilot or not ... doesn't sound familiar ... I only saw one or two anyway ... what about the Arabic calendar with an airplane crashing into NYC? ... wonder when that was distributed ... it was posted here on FR ...

[bootless]

Hi ... the link for the video is 404'd -anywhere else I can see it? This is indeed spooky - too bad the show was so poorly viewed...

[swatter]

The Lone Gunmen were our favoritist show.

[mhking]

Try this - mms://144.198.225.71/01091359_G.asf

It is a MS Media Player link for high speed - I'll have to tear into the code and see if I can find a better link somewhere.

[Nouge]

I've been woundering why no one has really mentioned this... That was one of the first random thoughts that were flying around my head on 9/11...

[Paul Atreides]

I missed that one but, I did notice that Bubba's and Janet Reno's portraits were prominantly featured in Skinner's office for eight years and W's and Ashcroft's were never seen. I know I've mentioned this before, but I think it is interesting.

[Paul Atreides]

You weren't at Starbucks at the time, were you?

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

I don't recall seeing a calendar- but there was a "Rap" CD with cover art showing exactly what happened on 9/11. There were several threads on this at the time- can't recall the rappers- some LA slimeballs. What would be more interesting would be to find out WHO painted this cover art back in June 2001????

[Sir Gawain]

check here: http://www.freerepublic.com/fo cus/news/695246/posts

[Neanderthal]

I remember that episode, as I was one of the few "Lone Gunmen" fans. The airliner incident took place at night when there would have been hardly anyone in the towers.

[Nouge]

No, I haven't been to a starbucks in years

[Bobby777]

yes the rapper was doing his "anti-system" thing of course ... there's some sort of Arabic calendar, that I don't think was a joke, that seemed to show an airplane crashing into a building in what looked like NYC ... I've seen it but didn't save a copy ... all the writing was in Arabic ... perhaps an alert FReeper will notice this thread and post the image ...

[Fred Mertz]

Oh, after viewing the clip, I vaguely recall seeing that show. Thanks for the post.

[browardchad]

The video link at the TVGuide site worked for me -- spooky.

[Paul Atreides]

I had to ask since the first thing Chelsea thought about on 9-11 was the Bush tax cuts. Apparently, that day she was jogging around the WTC with a latte in hand and pondering the tax cuts.

[Paul Atreides]

What is a load of crap is that rap group is anti-capitalist. A rap group selling music through "the man" and making a profit off of it is anti-capitalist.

[swarthyguy]

It was real. An islamic calendar from last year found in a Dutch Muslim School. Published in May, it showed a plane in the foreground flying towards the Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan in the picture for Sept 2001.

There were also incidents of two young boys, one in NYC and one in Texas, Pakistanis, i believe, who claimed that the WTC would not be there tomorrow(said it on the tenth to his teacher) and the one in Texas claimed that WW3 would start on Tuesday the 11.

There was also a recent post from newsmax about a American businessman in Egypt who was warned about flying in September from any planes from Logan.

[proust]

I also vaguely recall seeing it. The problem is the show was so poorly written it got flushed from my short term memory immediately. Who remembers what they ate at a Mcdonalds on March 4, 2001? Same problem here. I love TLG, but their series was unwatchable... and forgettable.

Proust

[Paul Atreides]

They tried to make it more comedy than anything. It was as if it had no connection to The X Files.