The Goldberg Variation (The X-Files)

"The Goldberg Variation"
The X-Files episode
Mulder and Scully examine Henry Weems's Rube Goldberg machine, the inspiration for the episode's title.
Episode no.	Season 7 Episode 6
Directed by	Thomas J. Wright
Written by	Jeffrey Bell
Production code	7ABX02
Original air date	12 December 1999 (1999-12-12)
Running time	44 minutes
Guest appearances
Willie Garson as Henry Weems Ramy Zada as Jimmy Cutrona Alyson Reed as Maggie Lupone Shia LaBeouf as Richie Lupone Tony Longo as Dominic Ernie Lee Banks as Maurice Chip Fogleman as Billy Marshall Manesh as Mr. Jank Dom Magwili as Mr. Ng Nicholas Worth as Mr. Haas Dominique DiPrima as Megan McLean[1]
Episode chronology
← Previous "Rush" Next → "Orison"
The X-Files season 7
List of episodes

"The Goldberg Variation" is the sixth episode of the seventh season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on 12 December 1999. It was written by Jeffrey Bell, directed by Thomas J. Wright, and featured guest appearances by Willie Garson and Shia LaBeouf. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "The Goldberg Variation" earned a Nielsen household rating of 8.8, being watched by 14.49 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed-to-positive reviews.

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, Mulder and Scully investigate a mysterious man named Henry Weems, who appears to be the luckiest man in the world. The title is a dual reference to Rube Goldberg machines and the Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Bell's original draft of the episode opened with a man falling thirty-thousand feet from an airplane and walking away unharmed. Due to budgetary reasons, the intro was later changed to a man falling out of a building. Willie Garson—who had appeared in the third season episode "The Walk"—was cast as Henry Weems. The first cut of the episode was four minutes under-time, and so various insert shots and new scenes had to be filmed in order to compensate.