Title: "Interview With Cassie & Kristi"
Written by: Cassie & Kristi
Date: March 21, 2009
Air Date: March 23, 2009
Rating: PG-13
Series: FRVS - Episode #H08
Spoilers: Past episodes of FRVS may be spoiled.
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Archiving: "Fox & Rat" Virtual Series only!
Disclaimer: We do not own anyone. They belong to Chris Carter, Ten-Thirteen Productions, and 20th Century FOX Broadcasting.
Author's Note: The personalities of the characters within the world of "Fox & Rat" are not those you know from "The X-Files" television series. We have warped them and given them a common past, immature behavior and a sense of humor. Any horrid behavior should not be mimicked in your every day life.
Summary: Cassie & Kristi answer questions about FRVS, season 10 and a second FRVS Movie.
KRISTI: We’ll, we’re down to our final Hiatus Interview and it’s with the creators of “Fox & Rat” Virtual Series, myself and my sister Cassie. FRVS began back on September 5, 1999 as “The Adventures of Fox & Alex”, which was on the website Fox & Alex Build A Website – which still exists today. We thought we’d do this interview as a way to reach our readers so they know what’s going on with season 10 and the rumor of a second movie that will be airing before the final season. Then, we’ll answer some questions submitted by readers like you.
CASSIE: You sound like the end of a PBS program. Ok so I know in last week’s follow-up interview with the characters of “Fox & Rat” it was leaked that a second FRVS movie will be airing before the premiere of season 10. I am here today to confirm, officially, that yes, there will be a second FRVS movie before the final season of FRVS. It was mentioned that it would air on March 23rd, but as you can see by today’s date that is not the case. As of right now we are unsure of when the movie will be online for you all to read, but do expect it no more than a month from now. As for the premiere date of FRVS season 10, we will determine that after the movie, but do expect it to premiere before September 5th of this year, but don’t be surprised if we premiere around that time to mark our 10th Anniversary of “Fox & Rat”. I feel a September premiere date would be fitting, but don’t hold me to that.
KRISTI: I think that pretty much covers it, Cassie. Thank you. And now we’ll answer some questions that were submitted by readers/fans/and other FRVS observers.
Brandan G-Man: All this talk about The Chronicles of Alex Krycek, are you two planning on doing a spin-off series for Krycek after FRVS concludes?
KRISTI: Probably not, but you never know what dumb things we’ll think are great to post on the Internet.
CASSIE: We’ve actually been going back and forth on the idea of The Chronicles of Alex Krycek for some time now, mostly as a joke, but sometimes we come up with these hilarious ideas for the Krycek character that we’d love to elaborate on, like how he got into figure skating in the first place due to a donkey. So as Kristi said above, right now it doesn’t really look like we’d do it, but again you never know.
KRISTI: I’d rather do the Chronicles than season 10. It’d be a hell of a lot more easier.
CASSIE: To get this out of the way straight off the top… no, you’re not going to get fired from working on FRVS before we’re done with the series. And it’d only be easier to do Chronicles because it’d take us back to writing funny and FRVS – from our own doing – has turned towards the serious. Kristi, let’s try to keep positive here, this isn’t a writer’s meeting.
KRISTI: Maybe I should write the Chronicles as drabbles to get me back into writing full blown FRVS episodes…
Karin: Will there be more FRVS movies after the series ends? Are you guys sure that season 10 will be the last?
KRISTI: Hell yes, season 10 is the last.
CASSIE: My one fear is that we get to the end of season 10 and realize that we’re not quite done with telling the story of FRVS. I don’t think it’s going to happen that way, but like most things with FRVS we wouldn’t see it coming if it did go that direction.
KRISTI: I’m only contracting myself through season 10.
CASSIE: Actually way back when we started we both agreed that we’d continue working on FRVS until it was done, so B.S. contract.
KRISTI: Then you’ll fire me.
KnowleIsHot: Why have there been so many delays with bringing us season 10?
KRISTI: Because I haven’t written a dern thing since December 16, 2007 and that was the season 9 finale. I took a long long long time off writing and that was probably the worst thing I could have done for myself. I’m completely out of practice and have a hard time remembering that I actually like to write because I only remember the headache parts of writing. It’s not that we don’t know what we’re doing – for the most part – it’s just that we’ve been out of practice – for me anyway.
CASSIE: I do agree with Kristi that being out of practice is one of the biggest reasons why it’s been so hard for us to get back to writing FRVS, but there are a few other things as well. First off, real life really does have a way of getting in the way of fun things to do. Second, we really realized after the season 9 finale that we wrote ourselves into a rut. Up until very recently we didn’t know how to approach writing season 10. That cliffhanger finale with the time travel thing… it seemed like a great idea at the time, but now… well I’ll just say that we really had to think long and hard about how to handle that and I can assure you that we’ve got it figured out. It’s very FRVS. Third… we’ve lacked inspiration and motivation and quite honestly we feel as if we’ve lost a lot of our readers, and that feeling isn’t quite inspiring to pick up pen and paper (or open up Word) and start writing.
KRISTI: Could also be that we’re out of college where we were at the height of our creativity because every single day, every single hour of every single day we were doing something that was creative. That’s not the case anymore, so I really think we’ve lost the constant training that we had back in season 7 – which I think is our best season. It would be like an athlete training for the Olympics and then taking a couple months off before the competition. They wouldn’t be able to achieve their highest potential right off the bat.
CASSIE: That and we’ve moved out of a shitty apartment and don’t feel the need to escape that reality to the world of FRVS.
KRISTI: Yeah, we’ve actually been getting full nights of sleep.
CASSIE: Which was very rare at the other hell hole we used to live at. Seriously, we were placed in party central with sex addicts above us. It was hell.
KRISTI: I think that’s all I want to say about that.
LongTimeFan: Ten years ago when you started “Fox & Rat” did you expect to be where you are now in the series? If no, where did you imagine you’d be going into the final season?
KRISTI: We wouldn’t be this far along at all. There was no plot, no nothing at all, just slap stick. I’m sure we would’ve ended the series with an open resolution of are Mulder and Krycek gay?
CASSIE: To be honest when Kristi and I started FRVS we didn’t know what the heck we were getting into. If I knew then what I know now… would I have done exactly what we have done? Probably. I like the direction FRVS took even though it’s harder to write than that slap stick comedy (which is so very fun to write). I think back then we imagined having Mulder and Krycek wake up, naked, in the same bed having lost nine minutes. Original, yeah.
KRISTI: Why do I vaguely remember that…
CASSIE: I never would have imagined we would have explored alien colonization in the manner that we have. I think when we first discussed it in writers meeting we thought “gee, ok, aliens will attack, the good guys will win and then Alex Krycek will be President of the United States”, there was a billboard idea and everything for that.
KRISTI: I remember that too! But I think back then if we did colonization, they would’ve attacked through toilets… probably starting with Mulder and Krycek’s. Haha!
Maria: Has anything inspired your approach to writing season 10?
KRISTI: Yeah, to get it done and over with. I can’t really think of any other inspirations around that except for wrapping up the series and the characters and having a resolution of sorts.
CASSIE: This is going to sound weird but… “Desperate Housewives”, “Lost” and maybe a bit of “24” have inspired some ideas that we’ve injected into ideas we have for season 10. Notice how I haven’t said we’ve started writing the episodes yet…
KRISTI: Yeah, those shows are inspirational. I like the whole idea of time and jumping forward.
CASSIE: Make sure to watch “Lost” every Wednesday night on ABC. It’s da bomb!
KRISTI: Is ABC paying you or something?
CASSIE: No, I just think trying to get others to watch quality television is important. Too many people get caught up with The Bachelor or Biggest Loser, writers are being paid on shows like “Lost” and I think those are more important to pay attention to.
KRISTI: Agreed. Writing is hard. Reality is dumb.
Ashley Greene: What do you enjoy writing the most in FRVS? Which character is most fun for you? Relationship?
KRISTI: The little characters. The more minor they are, the better because I have the freedom to write characterization without a pre-set idea in my head. Like Bob Comer, Knowle Rohrer, Alvin Kersh, you get the point. I love writing Knowle Rohrer, he is my absolute favorite character. Charles Scully is a lot of fun for me too. My favorite relationship to write is Mulder and Krycek... especially in season 8’s “Krycek-Cam”. Did they kiss, didn’t they? It’s just a lot of fun.
CASSIE: I enjoy developing the characters and relationships of FRVS through the telling of stories. I like throwing situations at them and seeing how they react, and how they grow from them. That’s probably why season 7 is my favorite season of FRVS, there was so much going on both character-wise and in the relationship development department in that season. It’s a very dark season so I think that dark and controversial material allows me to thrive in my writing. My favorite character to write… gosh golly, I have no idea. I have a soft spot for John Doggett, but that’s simply because he’s my favorite character from “The X-Files”, but I really do enjoy writing others like Mulder and Krycek, Skinner, Montgomery, Shannon McMahon, Scully, Grandmama Reyes, Brad Follmer, but yeah, my soft spot is John Doggett. Favorite relationship… I have to say Doggett/Scully simply because I think some of my best Doggett/Scully stories come out in FRVS rather than in the stuff I write that I keep in tune with “The X-Files” series. I only wish that more DSR fans would check out FRVS, they’re really missing out on some good DSR stuff. Poor fools.
KRISTI: Grandmama, Montgomery, Rigali… I love them too. I also love – on the serious side – writing the whole Rohrer/Reyes/Follmer/Comer thing. Could I get more unconventional? Haha! But I like it because all of those characters are so much fun. They were the underdeveloped characters on “The X-Files”. But I really enjoy weaving the characters of Montgomery and Grandmama in season 9’s “Dharb Al Najem” – that was a lot of fun. Anything that brings up the Middle East for me is loads of fun because it comes from my own experience.
CASSIE: Unconventional, that’s probably my favorite aspect of FRVS. Anything that is mainstream doesn’t really appeal to me, but uncon, that’s the best.
Colleen H.: Will you guys ever write mainstream X-Files pairings? I think your series would be even better with Mulder and Scully as a couple.
KRISTI: Marita and Krycek… aren’t they main stream enough? No, we’ll never ever do that. I’d have to hang myself. Besides, Mulder is not the Mulder from “The X-Files”. Scully is not the Scully from “The X-Files”.
CASSIE: We do have Krycek/Marita and I think that this particular pairing is canon in “The X-Files” so that qualifies as “main stream”, right? As I said above, uncon is the best, and even then this isn’t a spin-off of “The X-Files”, we’re an alternate universe/characterizations thing thing. So no, Mulder and Scully will not be a couple on FRVS, unless you pay attention to the details mentioned about their past together in dialog… what was that… married at the Chapel Erotica? They did make out in an episode called “Friends In Low Places” and I think the title of that episode says it all… they were in a low place when they did that.
KRISTI: Doggett and Scully, isn’t that main stream? I mean, for me it is…
CASSIE: That’s because you live with me and well anyone who knows me… I sort of kinda keep DSR alive online through my archives. I’m a dork.
Zeke: What can you tell us of the rumored FRVS Special Edition?
KRISTI: It’s kind of hypocritical of us since we bashed the living daylights out of George Lucas for doing that to “Star Wars” (and then we actually saw the prequels). But yeah, I don’t know. Are we going to do it? There was a time where I was all gung-ho about it, but now I’m like “meh”, the less I have to do the better. But who knows, after season 10 I may be rearing to go.
CASSIE: “The Flying Squirrel”, “Chinese Fire Drill”? How can you be “meh” about the Special Edition with those stories hanging in the air? Personally I think, if I still have the creative energy to do it, that I would love to go back and do FRVS SE. We’d be adding new episodes to some seasons and I think it would be beneficial to the story of FRVS to add these episodes.
KRISTI: You’re right. Seeing Krycek prance off a diving board would be classic. And I think it would also be fun to do a “prequel” of sorts to involved the characters from the later seasons and see what it was like for everyone growing up.
CASSIE: Hahaha! Oh gosh yes! A prequel of FRVS where Mulder, Krycek and the gang are what in high school or something? I’d have fun writing that.
Sylvia: The site looks lovely and is very well done, but why waste space on weak het couples, i.e. Krycek/Marita? How many fans did that senseless and contrived pairing ever have? Ditto Shannon/Knowle? Mulder/Fowley and/or Mulder/Kim? If you want to broaden your readership it’d be a good idea to include a bit of M/S and/or slash – pairings that people actually care/cared about. I otherwise support you and your fight against blanket imposition of MSR and knee-jerk anti-Doggett sentiment.
CASSIE: Thank you for your comments on the site, we hope that you will enjoy the new look that we plan on unveiling for FRVS Movie 2 which will be coming to your computer monitors in good time. I think I’ve sort of answered your question about unconventional couples in a previous question, but to reiterate, Kristi and I are not fans of Mulder/Scully so we don’t have any interest in writing that relationship into our series. Mulder and Scully are friends, that is all. Your comment on Mulder/Kim makes me sad that we didn’t explore that relationship more before the aliens attacked and killed her. As for slash… I think we’ve got enough UST going on between Mulder and Krycek to satisfy fans of MK slash. Way back in the day – years ago – we were very persistent and stating that FRVS is not slash, but we’ve since warmed to the idea that in ways we kind of are.
KRISTI: Also, we have stated in a little segment somewhere on the site about how FRVS is done that we do not write for an audience, we write to find an audience. That is something that I live by because I want to enjoy what I do. I don’t want to feel ill-hearted about my series when it was done because I broke away from something that was true to who I am as a writer and fan of “The X-Files”. That’s pretty much my moto to writing and something that I constantly tell myself when I’m preparing to write an episode of FRVS.
Will the website stay online after the series ends?
CASSIE: To quote Kristi “as long as I can pay for it”. So um, yeah, I’d expect FRVS to stay online for at least a few more years after it is over.
Looking back over the past nine seasons of FRVS, do you have any regrets about things that you have done? If yes, what would you have done differently?
CASSIE: Season 4. Not all of the season, but specifically killing off most of the main characters at the time and using that as a way to introduce Monica Reyes and to further develop John Doggett. That was a weak writing decision that we made, so weak that to this day I wince every time I see “FRVS Season 4”. I think we could have introduced Monica and developed Doggett better with the whole gang alive and kicking.
KRISTI: What she said, that’s what I’m thinking. We were so young back then, writing-wise. Also – and this is to no control that we had, but part of the reason I’d like to do a prequel to FRVS – I would like to see the later seasons earlier. Also, I would like to go back and have the beginning be a little more “adult like” and have a bit more seriousness to it so that the series seems to “move” as one, you know what I mean? But c’est la vie. I’m still happy with the serious – despite always asking to be fired.
CASSIE: Yeah, more adult like, although, we do get complimented quite a bit on how well we write comedy. Even I have a hard time finding other comedy fanfic funny. Am I a dork for laughing at my own writing? Seriously, I’ve rolled on the floor over some of the silly crap from FRVS. Like when Kristi first wrote the lyrics to Krycek’s song “Bat Poop Eyes”, oh my God, I was on the floor laughing my ass off.
KRISTI: Yeah, I would like to have more Krycek songs, like “Dogg With The Double G (G-Man Yo)”.
CASSIE: Oh my God! Yes! Do “Dogg With The Double G”.
KRISTI: Fine. Here it is:
He’s a Dogg. Yo!
He’s a Dogg with a double G
G-Man, Yo!
Uh.
Uh-uh. Yo.
He’s a Dogg, yo
uh – Double G
G-Man Yo!
Uh!It goes something like that. Though I think it changes every time I sing it. It’s about, Doggett, because he’s the Dogg with a double G, G-Man Yo! Uh.
CASSIE: Thank you, Kristi, that was well worth the uh… yeah. Now if I could only jack you up on a lot of Mountain Dew and get you to video record yourself and put you singing that song on YouTube. If we’re lucky perhaps that will happen. Stay tuned. We would also like to thank all of you for your interest in FRVS, without you guys and your support for our little series – the longest running X-Files virtual series online – we would have quit years ago. Keep an eye on the website for further information regarding FRVS Movie 2 and the premiere of season 10.
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