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Chinga (The X-Files)

A Stephen King-co-written X-Files episode featuring an evil doll.

"Chinga" is an episode of the television series The X-Files that premiered on February 8, 1998 on the Fox network in the United States.[1] The doll compels Melissa to strike herself with a hammer, as shown when she is overpowered and forced to grab the tool.[2] Scully ends the doll's threat by placing it in a microwave, where it catches fire and liquefies.[2]

Quick Facts

Episode
Chinga
Series
The X-Files
Season
5
Episode number
10
Air date
February 8, 1998
Network
Fox
Writers
Stephen King and Chris Carter
Director
Kim Manners

Facts from the source article.

Making and release

The episode was co-written by horror author Stephen King, who initially approached series co-star David Duchovny as a fan of the show.[3] Carter heavily edited the story because King was not used to writing for the characters Mulder and Scully, with one major change being the separation of the two leads.[4] Director Kim Manners later said that after the editing process, "there was very little Stephen King left in it"[4] During filming, Gillian Anderson struggled with her lines, initially performing them in a "tongue in cheek" manner before Carter corrected her.[4]

In the United Kingdom, the episode was retitled "Bunghoney" because the word "Chinga" is a Mexican-Spanish swear word.[1] Location filming included a gas station scene shot at an actual station situated opposite the show's production base.[5] The grocery store sequences were shot at a real "Shop Easy" market in Port Coquitlam; during a self-injury scene, an actual shopper wandered onto the set and fled in alarm.[5] The Chinga doll was assembled by stitching together multiple doll components, then adding an extra-large head topped with "the world's largest wig".[6]

What the cited sources add

Zack Handlen from The A.V. Club gave the episode a mixed review and a grade of C−, calling it "lousy"[7] Television Without Pity named the episode the ninth "Most Nightmare-Inducing" episode of the series.[8] In their book, Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson gave the episode a rating of two-and-a-half stars out of five, describing it as "clumsy".[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Chinga (The X-Files)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Goodwin, "The X-Files: The Complete Fifth Season", 20th Century Fox, 2002; Meisler, p. 284; Meisler, p. 284; Cornell, Day, and Topping, p. 411; Cornell, Day, and Topping, p. 413 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Chinga (The X-Files)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Meisler, pp. 126–138 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Chinga (The X-Files)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Meisler, pp. 138–139 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Chinga (The X-Files)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Meisler, pp. 138–139; Meisler, pp. 138–139 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Chinga (The X-Files)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Meisler, pp. 138–139; Gradnitzer and Pittson, p. 167; Gradnitzer and Pittson, p. 167; Gradnitzer and Pittson, p. 167 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Chinga (The X-Files)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Meisler, pp. 138–139; Meisler, pp. 138–139; Meisler, pp. 138–139 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Chinga (The X-Files)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Redman, Anna, "12 of the weirdest 'X-Files' cases ever", HELLO! Canada, August 6, 2015; "Mulder and Scully at San Diego Comic-Con: the 13 best X-Files episodes ever", The Guardian, July 18, 2013; Handlen, "The X-Files: "Chinga" / Millennium: "Midnight of the Century"", The A.V. Club, May 21, 2011; Handlen, "The X-Files: "Chinga" / Millennium: "Midnight of the Century"", The A.V. Club, May 21, 2011; Handlen, "The X-Files: "Chinga" / Millennium: "Midnight of the Century"", The A.V. Club, May 21, 2011; Handlen, "The X-Files: "Chinga" en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Chinga (The X-Files)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Anderson, "The Ten Scariest Moments", Cinefantastique, April 2002, p. 50–51; "X-Files: The 11 Most Nightmare-Inducing Episodes Ever", Television Without Pity (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Chinga (The X-Files)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Shearman and Pearson, p. 133 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Chinga (The X-Files) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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The DæmonsFamiliar (The X-Files)Gingerbread (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)Gramma (The Twilight Zone)H. P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch-HouseThe Jungle (The Twilight Zone)La sortija de la bruja (1978)Queen of the Nile (The Twilight Zone)Sesame Street episode 847The Shakespeare CodeSomething Big (Adventure Time)Battle Royale (American Horror Story)

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