 Senator Matheson was named after the sci @-@ fi and horror writer Richard Matheson , who wrote many episodes of The Twilight Zone . Matheson was also originally the character who was to recite the episode 's opening monologue . Darren McGavin , of Kolchak : The Night Stalker , was the casting directors ' first choice for the role of Senator Matheson . McGavin was later sought out to be Mulder 's dad , but he again eluded the staff . In the end , McGavin finally agreed to appear on the show during its fifth season ; he was first introduced in the episode " Travelers " as Arthur Dales , the agent who originally founded the X @-@ Files . The role of Matheson eventually went to Raymond J. Barry . The episode marks the first visualization of Samantha 's abduction by aliens . Although there are discrepancies between the depiction of her abduction in this episode and Mulder 's description of it in both " Pilot " and " Conduit " , Carter has attributed this to the unreliability of Mulder 's hypnosis @-@ induced memories . 
