Millennium: The Time Was Then

"Is Millennium dead? Not if you live on the internet. Someone
is actually creating 22 stories this season that are, I guess,
going to be the 4th season of Millennium."

-- Chris Carter (c. 1999)

I was interviewed by BackToFrankBlack recently, as it's the 10th anniversary of Millennium's Virtual Season 4 (VS4). I've never mentioned it here before, but I was one of the lead writers of this fan-fiction endeavour that gave cancelled TV series Millennium closure for fans. We released 22 scripts that unofficially continued the show after Fox axed it, released between June and December 1999. It was so successful that we were featured in various newspapers/magazines and our efforts recognised by Millennium's cast and crew. You can read the two-part interview here and continued here. Below are some more of my reflections on that exhausting but respected writing project...

I've never indulged in fan-fiction before or since, but this was a passion project at the time, and still a source of pride for me. Even today, I credit it with instilling a sense of deadline and productivity in my writing. The VS4 was so well-received that we were featured in national newspapers across America, had an article published in Details magazine, and were interviewed for various websites. Even better, actual Millennium staff gave us their stamp of approval -- from creator Chris Carter (who mentioned us during an interview), star Lance Henriksen (who mentioned us to the press and even read some of our scripts), to writer Kay Reindl (who supported us in the media and sent me some actual scripts from the show.)

It was a productive, exciting and inspiring time getting to stretch my fledgling writing muscles for a show I loved. I was only 20 at the time, so I could easily rewrite the scripts and improve them exponentially with 10 years of writing experience to my credit, but I'm surprised by how well they stand up to my scrutiny and adult eye. Well, by and large! The dialogue was quite on-the-nose and the plotting occasionally goes haywire, or reveals its semi-improvised nature at times. Also, back then, we thought it best to make the scripts more descriptive than genuine screenplays are, seeing as we knew nothing would actually get made. But I really shouldn't talk it down in hindsight, it's a marvelous and complex read if you can forgive some youthful mistakes.

These days, I still get e-mails from people who read VS4 and want to say thanks for doing it, or from those who have only just discovered it after watching their box-sets. Most appear to have craved conclusion to Millennium that the series never gave them, and -- while obviously not canonical -- VS4's wrap-up has been embraced by many fans as a fitting swansong. The less said about that X-Files/Millennium crossover, with zombies(!), the better...

Our process of producing a so-called "virtual season" also became a template for many subsequent virtual seasons, as each one was released on the airdate of its fallen shown, and created using an online cabal of writers thrashing it out in a forum or with back-and-forth e-mails. There was no Skype in those days, remember! This style of producing fan-fiction really took off after VS4, when creative fans of other cancelled shows heard about our success, the media interest in our work, and our brush with "fame" as a result.

Anyway, if you loved Millennium but never read VS4, why not head over to the Millennial Abyss where all the scripts are archived as .txt files. I wrote the majority of VS4's episodes, so you can even snoop on my writing style (well, as it was last century) -- but please remember that I was involved in cranking out 22 scripts over a frenzied six-month period while holding down a fulltime job straight out of college, so the pressure sometimes had an effect on quality! I dare say most of the scripts will be impenetrable if you're not a fan of Millennium, so if you only have time to read one script that's more accessible to non-fans, I'd recommend "The First Prophet", as it was my favourite to write and the premise was strongest.

Thanks to BTFB.com for raking up some fond memories. Why not head over there to follow their campaign to get Frank Black back on our screens. They have some excellent exclusive interviews with Lance Henriksen and producer Frank Spotnitz, too.