3x15 Piper Maru (1) - The X-Files Episode Guide

The X-Files

- Episode 03x15

Episode: 03x15
Title: Piper Maru (1)
Type: Regular Episode
Production Code: 3X15
First Aired: Feb. 09, 1996

Season 3 » Episode #15 - Piper Maru (1)

Summary: A French salvage operation in the Pacific Ocean goes awry when the team discovers an unknown entity. Mulder soon learns that the entire team has been relocated to the San Diego Naval Hospital for treatment of radiation burns. Their ship, the Piper Maru, had been searching for something in the exact same area that the vessel, the Talapus, had been seen on satellite photos a few months back ("Nisei"). Mulder and Scully head to the west coast to investigate.

Who appeared in this episode?

Guest Stars:

Commander Johansen	played by Robert Clothier
Jeraldine Kallenchuk	played by Jo Bates
The Gray-Haired Man	played by Morris Panych
Wayne Morgan	played by Stephen E. Miller
Gauthier	played by Ari Solomon
Dr. Seizer	played by Paul Batten
The Medic	played by Russell Ferrier
Luis Cardinal	played by Lenno Britos
Joan Gauthier	played by Kimberly Unger

Season 3 / Episode 15: - Piper Maru (1)

Scully: I'm just constantly amazed by you. You're working down here in the basement, sifting through files and transmissions that any other agent would just throw away in the garbage.
Mulder: Well, that's why I'm in the basement, Scully.
Scully: You're in the basement because they're afraid of you, of your relentlessness, and because they know that they could drop you in the middle of the desert and tell you the truth is out there, and you'd ask them for a shovel.

Season 3 / Episode 15: - Piper Maru (1)

Scully: You know, it's strange - men can blow up buildings, and they can be nowhere near the crime scene. But we can piece together the evidence and convict them beyond a doubt. Our labs here can recreate out of the most microscopic details their motivation and circumstance to almost any murder. Right down to a killer's attitude towards his mother and that he was a bed wetter. But in the case of a woman... my sister... who was gunned down in cold blood in a well-lit apartment building by a shooter who left the weapon at the crime scene, we can't even put together enough to keep anybody interested.
Skinner: I don't think this had anything to do with interest.
Scully: If I may say so, sir. It has everything to do with interest. Just not yours and not mine.

[More Quotes]

MISTAKES/GOOFS

FAKE: While the Piper Maru is supposed to be a French ship and the French secret services are involved, only background voices have a French accent and no accurate accent is actually seen spoken on-screen ; all on-screen "French" characters have at best Canadian accents.
CONT: When Mulder is looking through papers in Gauthier's apartment, he picks up an envelope. The name on this envelope when he picks it up is Marcel Gauthier, but when it is shown in close-up next to another piece of paper, the name changes to Bernard Gauthier.

TRIVIA

Episode #3.15, "Piper Maru", is named for Gillian Anderson (I)'s daughter Piper Anderson.
The is the first episode featuring the Black Oil.
Piper Maru is also the name of the ice-breaker ship used by Weyland Corporation's retrieval team in AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)