ERYNN'S QUICKIE GUIDE TO LONE GUNMEN CANON FOR FANFIC WRITERS

[Original posting, April 18, 2001. Update will be after the season one ender, in May 2001 -- ARCHIVE ANYWHERE]

(continued from 1, by Erynn, Archive anywhere)

SHOW CANON: X FILES HISTORY AND LONE GUNMEN PRESENT

GUNMEN GENERAL NOTES:

* Detective Munch was the officer who interrogated John Byers after the Gunmen's arrest in Baltimore (XF Unusual Suspects). Det. Munch is a regular character in Homicide: Life in the Streets. The Gunmen were arrested during 1989 in a warehouse at Fells Point Industrial Park, after shots were heard. They were held for questioning but could not be charged, as there was no concrete evidence that they had actually done anything except enter the
premises. Upon releasing them from their cell, Det. Munch suggested that they try wearing aluminum foil hats, to block out the government's mind control rays.

* The opening date of the Lone Gunmen Pilot is sometime during the year 2000, as the incident in Baltimore of 1989 was ten years ago, and John Byers had not spoken to his father in 11 years at the time of the Pilot. There is
a slight bobble in the timeline already, as in LGM Bond, Jimmy Bond, Langly is shown hacking into a computer with a screen date of 7/9/99. We try to ignore this. In LGM Madam, I'm Adam, which aired the Friday before Mulder's return from the grave in XF DeadAlive, Frohike says that he's not ready to call Mulder about the case just yet. So there are some definite inconsistencies. In XF DeadAlive, the Gunmen attend Mulder's funeral. Once
again, I refer you to the Lone Gunmen Timeline site, listed at the beginning of this guide.

* The Lone Gunmen's "secret" basement office is under a warehouse in an industrial district of Takoma Park, MD. (LGM Pilot) They live together in their office (XF The End). They do sleep in different rooms (an upcoming LGM episode).

* The Gunmen own an achy breaky blue and white 1972 VW Microbus [aka 'the mystery machine' to some of us] (XF Triangle) with Maryland plates reading TSD 596 (LGM Bond, Jimmy Bond). No, it's not a Westphalia, nor is it a Vanagon, it's the original Microbus version driven by hippies everywhere. It needs a new paint job and has some primer spots on it (XF Triangle). The rear window sports a green "Question Authority" bumper sticker (LGM Three Men and a Smoking Diaper). The van is decked out with an incredible array of computer and surveillance equipment (LGM Bond, Jimmy Bond, Eine Kleine Frohike and Three Men and a Smoking Diaper) although this apparently happened sometime after XF Triangle, where the back of the van had a bench seat, and didn't appear to be stacked with gear. The license plate flips up, to avoid identification, if a switch is flipped (LGM Madam, I'm Adam).  Sometimes they forget to bring the jack, to make room for more night vision
goggles (LGM Like Water for Octane). In an interview, Tom Braidwood claimed that the van's name is Gilgamesh -- who was the hero of the earliest known story, the Gilgamesh tale from ancient Sumer. Gilgamesh was a warrior king who went on a quest for immortality. Perhaps they hope that the van will be
immortal?

* There was once another Lone Gunman, Kenneth Soona aka The Thinker, now dead by assassination over the MJ-12 files. (XF Anasazi trilogy and One Breath)

* The Lone Gunmen have been in and out of jail for years, and probably have rap sheets as long as Langly's arm. They were first jailed overnight in Baltimore (XF Unusual Suspects). In LGM Three Men and a Smoking Diaper,
Frohike and Langly spend a night in a DC area local lockup after hijacking a reporter's link to his control van. During LGM Madam, I'm Adam, all four of the boys spend the night in lockup with Adam/Charlie after Adam cuts open the wall of a house he believes is his. While investigating the Octium chip, the Gunmen are apparently kept overnight by E-Com-Con's internal security during the LGM Pilot. During LGM Planet of the Frohikes, Langly, Byers and Jimmy are held overnight by the federal government and harassed about returning the chimp Peanuts aka Simon Whitethatch Potentloins. Jimmy was held for two days during this episode. During LGM Maximum Byers, Jimmy and Byers deliberately infiltrate a Texan death row prison for at least two days while they attempt to discover whether or not a convicted man who has been sentenced to death is innocent.

*At one point, the Gunmen had a logo jacket made for their publication, and Frohike was wearing one, which was later stolen by Invisigoth, in XF Killswitch. This may have been a button on the jacket according to one fan,
but I think it was embroidered. 

* Skinner and the Gunmen know each other and have worked together (XF Fight the Future, Within, Via Negativa, The Gift, etc). 

* The Lone Gunmen have been pursued by government assassins at least twice; once in the XF Anasazi trilogy, while they were trying to bring information about a meeting with Kenneth Soona to Mulder, and a second time after they had attempted to find information on Dana Scully in XF En Ami. They have faced the possibility of execution at the hands of government agents three times, once threatened by Mr. X (XF Unusual Suspects), once when C.G.B.  Spender, the Cigarette Smoking Man, held Frohike in his sights but chose not to shoot him (XF Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man), and another time almost executed by Timothy Landau, an undercover CIA agent (XF Three of a Kind) who had for some time been posing as a colleague and fellow hacker.

* Apparently, the Gunmen are familiar with the histories and identities of Nazi scientists and war criminals, identifying the German scientist Victor Klemper from a photograph for Mulder (XF Paper Clip), and hunting down the infamous Poisoner of Alsace (LGM Eine Kleine Frohike).

* The Gunmen know Diana Fowley, Mulder's former partner and one-time lover (XF One Son). 

* Scully, surprisingly, apparently considers the Gunmen 'Mulder's friends' but not hers in XF Via Negativa, despite the many things they've done for her, and the personal risks they've taken. She may still be angry with them for abusing her trust in XF Three of a Kind, where she vowed to 'kick their asses' for dragging her out to Las Vegas in the middle of the night. 

* The Gunmen are able to track alien ships by satellite data, and have met Alex Krycek and Marita Covorrubias and know who they are (XF Requiem, Via Negativa).

* Tracking and identifying surface ships by satellite data seems to be among the Gunmen's many technical talents. They correctly track and identify the Talapus in XF Nisei, and give data to Mulder about the long-lost luxury
liner, the Queen Anne, in XF Triangle.

* FBI Agent John Doggett has met and worked with the Gunmen (XF Via Negativa and The Gift).

* The Gunmen are quite adept at hacking into a wide variety of satellites, including commercial American and Japanese birds, and US military, weather, and scientific satellites (XF Piper Maru, Triangle, Within, Via Negativa).  It can probably be safely assumed that they can hack into any satellite they choose, with enough time, the right equipment, and determination.

* The Lone Gunmen have been helping to continue the search for Mulder after his abduction by aliens and have aided AD Walter Skinner in accessing satellite data to track alien ship movements (XF Requiem, Within, and Via
Negativa). They attended Mulder's funeral when he was found in XF This Is Not Happening, and were informed of his return to life before he called on them for a funky poaching expedition in XF DeadAlive.

* The Lone Gunmen have a really ugly red couch (XF Killswitch -- although referring to it as 'whorehouse red' seems to be new fan canon)

* The Gunmen, though very intelligent and well meaning, are sometimes slightly bumbling (pretty much every ep they've been in) but usually manage to come through with the information or to save the day despite this.

* Scully and Mulder frequently refer to the Gunmen as the Three Stooges (XF Three of a Kind and several others).

* Frohike and Byers have a tendency to tease Langly about the length of his hair (XF Three of a Kind, LGM Three Men and a Smoking Diaper).

* The Gunmen are able to ice skate -- sort of -- because we see them skating along in an ice rink while attempting to recover a DAT tape for Mulder in XF Apocrypha

* Until Yves dragged Frohike to a parenting class in LGM Three Men and a Smoking Diaper, none of the Gunmen knew how to deal with an infant. The Gunmen do, however, appear to be very fond of babies.  Langly and Frohike were particularly protective of the child.

* The Gunmen have quite sophisticated engineering and electronics skills, enabling them to build a number of odd devices for themselves, such as small hydrocarbon sniffers (LGM Pilot), a very strange baby amuser (LGM Three Men and a Smoking Diaper), and a rather dangerous but functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scanner (LGM Madam, I'm Adam). Their devices may not look elegant, but they work.

LANGLY NOTES:

* Langly has lousy taste in clothing other than jeans and t-shirts (any scene where he's not in jeans and a t-shirt except the Disguise!Langly scene in XF Requiem, where he wears yummy leather). Scully even believes that he
would wear a "tuxedo" t-shirt to a wake (XF Field Trip). He was seen wearing boxers and a white tank top after getting out of bed on one occasion (XF The Gift), while on another, he wore a t-shirt and sweats (XF The End). He wears black Levi's 501's for jeans (you can see him buttoning them as he puts them on in XF The Gift).

* Langly has no idea how to siphon gas, and when told to do so, managed to swallow some and make himself quite sick (LGM Bond, Jimmy Bond).

* Langly likes to wear band t-shirts, and has sported shirts with Bob Marley, Korn, Ozomatli, The Ramones, Soul Coughing, The Cardiacs, and a number of others. (Every episode where Langly appears.)

* In XF Unusual Suspects, Langly claims he has tinnitus, and hacked into the Maryland DMV to change his license so that he could use handicapped parking spaces. Tinnitus is a condition where people suffer from a ringing in the ears, and it is often caused by loud noise, like rock concerts. He also apparently has asthma (LGM Planet of the Frohikes), as he claims this for a reason why Jimmy shouldn't hit him.

* Langly apparently met, or at least knew of, Yves at one point before the pilot, as he recognizes her as a woman in cross-dressed disguise in the LGM Pilot. It's possible that he had no idea it was Yves, and simply recognized
a cross-dressed woman with a beard as being entirely out of place.

* Langly's talent as a coder-geek is revealed in XF First Person Shooter.

* In XF EBE, Langly claims he's had breakfast with "the guy who shot JFK."  This was apparently not, however, CGB Spender, the Cancer Man, whom Frohike believes may have been one of the other gunmen in Dealy Plaza that day (XF Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man).

* Langly has a philosophical aversion to having his image bounced off a satellite (XF Fearful Symmetry). He may have gotten over it, however, as he's in a video conference with the Gunmen, talking to AD Skinner and Agent
Doggett in XF The Gift. 

* Langly has an easily disturbed tummy, and can't handle being around dead people (XF Three of a Kind, LGM Like Water for Octane).

* Ringo Langly is still a virgin at 32 (LGM Like Water for Octane), at least according to Frohike.

FROHIKE NOTES: 

* Frohike fashion statements normally include a black leather jacket with an odd assortment of vests including one very furry specimen, worn over black pants and a dark colored Henley sweater, with fingerless gloves and combat boots. His fingerless glove fetish has even extended to his disguises -- in XF Three of a Kind he is dressed as an EMT, wearing fingerless latex gloves.  He is the most likely of the three to wear headgear, from red bandannas to fedoras to knit watch caps for funky poaching. For loungewear, our man wears a burgundy smoking jacket with a black velvet collar over black pants and combat boots. For sleepwear, Frohike wears blue flannel bunny jammies and a Kevlar vest. In earlier years, Frohike wore lighter colors, as he did in XF Unusual Suspects. 

* Frohike's fixation on Scully began in XF EBE and has continued unabated for many years. At one point, he asked Mulder to tell Scully that he had been working out, saying "I'm buff" (XF Fearful Symmetry).

* Naked Frohike is a very furry guy (LGM Eine Kleine Frohike). 

* Melvin has a rather extensive knowledge of drugs, both medicinal and...recreational (XF Emily/Christmas Carol).

* Frohike's ancient black gunboat of a car was used in XF Memento Mori during Mulder and Byers' break in at the Lombard Research Facility, and stolen by Esther Nairn, aka Invisigoth, in XF Killswitch. It hasn't been
seen since.

* Huevos Rancheros, Chef Frohike's cooking skill s, and his ability to speak Spanish were revealed in XF Dreamland 2.

* While Yves Adele Harlow is something of a mystery, Frohike apparently knows more about her than he's willing to reveal (LGM Pilot).

* Frohike apparently had a good relationship with his father while he was growing up, and adores classic cars (LGM Like Water for Octane).

* Frohike's porn fixation rivals Mulder's (XF Musings of a CSM and other eps, where the magazines 'Roman A Clef' and 'Celebrity Skin' and certain video tapes that aren't Mulder's are mentioned). Mulder intends to leave his
porn collection to Frohike in his will (XF Paper Clip).

* Frohike's preferred booze for getting miserably swacked is J&B scotch (XF Anasazi trilogy).

* Frohike has a very kind heart and general sweetness under his perverted exterior, and has done things like bring flowers to Scully when she was comatose and dying of cancer (XF One Breath) and openly mourn Mulder's
apparent death (XF Anasazi trilogy).

* Frohike is a tighty-whitey kind of guy (LGM Three Men and a Smoking Diaper) but has also worn boxers (LGM Eine Kleine Frohike).


BYERS NOTES:

* When under extreme duress in life-threatening situations, Byers tends to react without thinking, risking his life to ask a question or try to save the lives of others (XF Unusual Suspects and Three of a Kind).

* Byers' hacking ability is revealed in XF Unusual Suspects, when he breaks into a classified, coded file on a DOD mainframe.

* Byers has perhaps slightly too much of a conscience for the work he does.  Rather than allowing Langly to siphon 10 gallons of gas from one vehicle, he made him siphon 1 gallon each from 10 different vehicles. He believed that this was more morally defensible.

* Byers likes Tabasco on his huevos rancheros, and speaks some Spanish (Dreamland 2).

* Byers knows how to read and analyze medical information and can identify branched DNA when he sees it (Scully cancer arc).

* Byers is sometimes called a Narc (XF Unusual Suspects) by Langly or others.

* Byers is familiar with genetic engineering and chemistry, shown when he speaks about genetics and the effects of pesticides in fruit flies, in XF Blood.

* Physically, Byers is quite the opposite of Frohike. Where Frohike is short, rounded, and very furry, Byers is taller, very slender, in reasonably good shape, and relatively smooth and hairless (LGM Maximum
Byers).

* Susanne Modeski is the love of Byers' life (XF Unusual Suspects and Three of a Kind) and he has recurring dreams about being married to her and them having children together. At the end of these dreams, he is left alone in the desert, with nothing but a ring in his hand.

* Byers has definite preference for suits over other kinds of clothing (every ep he's ever been in), although we have seen him in a turtleneck and trench coat for funky poaching (XF Memento Mori), disguised as Langly with
spiky punk hair, jeans, and a sweatshirt/t-shirt combo (XF En Ami), jammies and a robe (XF The End and The Gift), game armor (XF First Person Shooter), and a variety of funky poaching gear with lots of pockets (LGM Pilot and Like Water for Octane).

* Byers is a lousy poker player (XF Three of a Kind).

* Byers has an idealistic, and gently sympathetic and romantic nature (the aforementioned XF Susanne eps, and all the Scully cancer arc stuff). He wants to fight for the underdog (LGM Maximum Byers) and is quite shy about
other people's opinions of him.

SUSANNE NOTES:

All these notes are from the episodes XF Unusual Suspects and Three of a Kind. They are the only appearances made so far by Susanne Modeski. 

* Susanne introduced herself to Byers as Holly Modeski, taking her name from a sugar wrapper.

* Susanne was framed for murdering three scientists and an MP when she escaped from the Advance Weapons Lab at Whitestone, New Mexico. She was wanted by the FBI, considered 'brilliant but prone to confabulation and profoundly paranoid,' and was said to be armed and extremely dangerous.

* Doctor Modeski carries a small revolver in her purse and knows how to use it.

* Susanne developed both the Ergotamine-Histamine and the Anoetic-Histamine chemicals for black ops projects. EH was an anxiety and paranoia producing gas that was water soluble and left no trace, and AH was a chemical that made its subjects open to any suggestion for the purpose of mind control. One unexpected side-effect of the AH chemical was causing its victims to act severely drunk. There is also an antidote to the AH chemical available.

* The EH gas was stored at a warehouse at 204 Fells Point Road in Baltimore, Lot A-9000. Agent Mulder was exposed to this gas. The gas was contained in asthma inhalers and intended for a covert test on unknowing civilians in the Baltimore-Washington corridor.

* Susanne claims that hotel room bibles are bugged and used as surveillance devices.

* Susanne, posing as Holly Modeski, claimed to have a child named Susanne.  To convince Byers of this, she showed him a photo, which she later revealed had come with the wallet she was using. She also claimed that Agent Mulder was her psychotic ex-boyfriend and the father of this child.

* A covert surveillance device was installed in her tooth by her dentist, Dr. Michael Kilbourne, on November 6, 1988, only months before she met the Gunmen. She extracted the tooth herself with pliers in the restroom at the
convention center and was able to show that it did, indeed contain some kind of electronic device. The tooth was flushed to prevent their being tracked.

* The newspaper publisher the Gunmen found Susanne outside of was the Baltimore Guardian Group. She had also attempted to contact the broadcast media in Baltimore, but was dismissed as a lunatic.

* After leaving the Guardian building, Susanne was pulled from the street in front of the Gunmen, and stuffed into a car containing Mr. X, who had threatened the Gunmen inside the warehouse in an attempt to silence them.

* When Byers found Susanne again in Las Vegas, she was engaged to Grant Ellis, a shadow government poo-bah who had tricked her into producing the AH chemical by convincing her that they would use it to go public to expose the government project, then escape.

* After Susanne's death is faked, she was given the name Holly Fitzgerald (XF Three of a Kind script, never made it to air) and then she gives the ring she had been going to give to Grant to John Byers instead. It had been
her wish that Byers had been the one to save her all those years ago, not Grant. It is apparent that she loves Byers as he loves her. She asked Byers to come with her, but he refused, believing it would be far too dangerous
for them to be together. As they parted, she kissed him and promised him "someday..."

YVES NOTES:

* Yves' name is an anagram for Lee Harvey Oswald, and she has used other anagrams for this same name in other circumstances. In LGM Like Water for Octane, she uses Leroy W. DeShavela as a pseudonym to sign a document at the Freedom of Information Office. In Planet of the Frohikes, she uses Sara Lee Wheyvold.

* Ms. Harlow has been known to cross-dress as a bearded man in order to infiltrate various installations (LGM Pilot). Langly recognized Yves in the E-Com-Con building while she was disguised as a man, but did not know her identity.

* Langly says Yves wears Ferrari red lipstick (LGM Like Water for Octane).

* The preferred wardrobe of gun-toting mercenary hacker chicks seems to be black leather, although Yves has worn other clothing on occasion (pretty much every LGM episode).

* Yves packs a small semi-automatic pistol (LGM Eine Kleine Frohike).

JIMMY NOTES:

* While living on Long Island, Jimmy's car was registered in New York, with plates reading MODIV-8. For those of us who are sometimes almost as slow as Jimmy, in English that reads "motivate" (LGM Bond, Jimmy Bond).

* Jimmy prefers puffy Cheetos over crunchy style (LGM Maximum Byers). He also knows the word "conjugal," although he misidentifies the word "angina" (LGM Three Men and a Smoking Diaper).

* Apparently, Jimmy knows a few basic laws of physics, but this doesn't mean he can apply them properly. (LGM Like Water for Octane)