Shapes (The X-Files)

Shapes (The X-Files)

List of season 1 episodes
List of The X-Files episodes

"Shapes" is the nineteenth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on April 1, 1994. "Shapes" was written by Marilyn Osborn, and directed by David Nutter. It featured guest appearances by Michael Horse, Ty Miller and Donnelly Rhodes. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Shapes" earned a Nielsen household rating of 7.6, being watched by 7.2 million households in its initial broadcast; and received mixed reviews, with varied reaction to the episode's handling of the werewolf genre and of its Native American themes.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Mulder and Scully are called to Montana after a shooting on a farm near a Native American reservation. Investigating the case, the agents find that the dead man, and those that he attacked, may be capable of shapeshifting into ferocious beasts—a phenomenon which was documented in the very first X-File.

"Shapes" was written after executives at Fox had suggested that the series should feature a "more conventional" type of monster, and producers James Wong and Glen Morgan began looking into Native American legends of the Manitou to form the basis of the episode's concept. Much of the episode was filmed in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, British Columbia.