Teliko - Production

Production

Writer and executive producer Howard Gordon was originally working on an episode about someone who appeared to be immortal, but after discussions with consulting producer Ken Horton he added in the notion of xenophobia and "melanin-sucking albino vampires". Series creator Chris Carter approved the storyline, but the first draft of the script was met with disapproval by the writing staff, and the story was restructured and rewritten. As the episode entered pre-production, Carter asked Gordon to refine the script to give it a purpose, and it was then that Gordon came up with the theme of "deceive, inveigle, and obfuscate". The same phrase is also uttered by Scully in the episode during her closing sentiments.

This replaces the usual "The Truth is Out There" tagline during the title sequence of the episode. Carter also came up with Aboah's weapons used to extract the pituitary gland that he kept hidden in his esophagus. "Teliko" is Greek for "end", though it is the name of a "spirit of the air" in African mythology which is sometimes thought to be an albino. Fellow writer John Shiban suggested that the Teliko emerge from the country of Burkina Faso based on his former job of programming foreign air-mail rates for a computer software company.

Casting for the episode was difficult, as the production team wanted real Africans. They auditioned every one they could find, including an African theater troupe that was passing by. The role of Marcus Duff eventually went to Carl Lumbly, who was known for his role on CBS's Cagney & Lacey. The role of Aboah went to Willie Amakye, a Ghanaian Olympic runner who had just returned to his home in Southern California from the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. To appear albino, Amakye's skin underwent several layers of cover-up cream, layers of white powder, and a little pink powder for color. He also wore contacts for the transparent pink eyes. Amakye's hair was dyed orange for post-production special effects to change it back and forth from black and white. As revealed on his resident alien card, Aboah's birthday is September 25, a reference to the birthday of Gillian Anderson's daughter.

"Teliko"'s opening sequence makes use of an airplane cabin set built for the later season episodes "Tempus Fugit" and "Max", though the set's hydraulic shaking rig had not been completed yet. Composer Mark Snow used African drums, flutes, and chants in his score for the episode. He also used samples from "The Bulgarian Women's Chorus", a recording known in Southern California in promotion for a local radio station. Compositions by Snow often utilized elements of African tribal drums, but "Teliko" features rather prominent usage.