‘X-Files’ Takes On Frankenstein Tale

“The X-Files” is already the programming monster of Sunday night television. Now the series is turning to Frankenstein.

A special episode of the Fox series Sunday night at 9 will retell the Frankenstein story in a form intended to recapture the look and style of the famous 1931 movie that starred Boris Karloff. It was filmed entirely in black and white.

Chris Carter, creator and executive producer of “The X-Files,” said he had long sought a way to write a Frankenstein episode for the show.

“But I was never able to figure out a way to do it,” he said. “I think it was because I had read the original Mary Shelley novel, and it was always meant to be something unbelievable. It was really a piece of romantic literature.”

He said it finally occurred to him that the best way to tell the story was, as he put it, “to try to be an homage to the James Whale film that starred Karloff.”

That explained the choice of black and white. He also decided to direct the episode himself - only the third time he has done so on “The X-Files.”

The show, titled “The Post-Modern Prometheus,” conjures up “a rather impossible and unlikely monster who’s got a fixation on Cher,” Carter said. The episode also includes a guest appearance by talkshow host Jerry Springer.

Carter said he hoped the episode would remain true to the original story’s romantic roots.