Arcadia (The X-Files)

"Arcadia" is the fifteenth episode of the sixth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on March 7, 1999. The episode was written by Daniel Arkin and directed by Michael Watkins. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Arcadia" earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.5, being watched by 17.91 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mostly positive critical reception, with many reviewers praising the episode's humor.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, several disappearances at an idyllic planned community lead Mulder and Scully to go undercover as a married couple. They find that the members of the community strictly abide by every single subdivision rule, no matter how inconsequential a rule may seem. What Mulder and Scully soon discover is that the ruler of this small community has enforced his rule with a Tulpa creature from Tibet.

Arkin, a first-year staff writer for the show, was inspired to write the episode based on an incident in his life that involved a planned community. The episode heavily utilized special effects, with various make-up and digital effects inserted into the final film to give the episode an appropriate feel.