This article contains episode information and plot summaries from the television show The X-Files.

Season eight ran from 2000-2001.

• Main and recurring cast can be found at the main X-Files page.

Within

Newly-promoted Deputy Director Kersh assigns pragmatic Agent John Doggett to head up the task force searching for Mulder. Meanwhile, an increasingly defiant Skinner assists Scully as they search for the alien ship, which is systematically removing evidence of alien existence... and is next headed to the deserts of Arizona, and Gibson Praise.

• For the first time, the credits sequence has been changed, featuring some new images and Robert Patrick's name and badge.

Without

At a remote school in the Arizona desert, Doggett, Scully, Gibson and Skinner - as well as a host of students and agents - don't know who to trust as the bounty hunter works among them; and - in a spaceship close by - Mulder is tested on.

Patience

Having been assigned to the X-Files, Doggett joins Scully on a series of gruesome murders where they learn that their investigative techniques are less than similar.

• David Duchovny no longer appears in the credits and some extra images have been added.

Roadrunners

Working alone, Scully pursues a cult that worship a slug-like organism; but in her efforts to save an injured stranger, she discovers she's in over her head.

Invocation

Having been kidnapped for ten years, a little boy mysteriously reappears but hasn't aged one bit. While the case stirs up painful memories for Doggett, suspicion stirs that the boy isn't all he seems.

Redrum

After his wife is murdered, a lawyer tries to clear his name of the crime but the days regress backwards.

Via Negativa

Doggett and Skinner work to avert the murderous spree of a religious cult leader, while Scully takes time off to deal with the early stages of her pregnancy.

Surekill

The fatal shooting of a realtor while alone in a cinderblock jail cell has Doggett hoping motive will yield more than method, but they soon learn that there is more to this case than meets the eye.

Salvage

Doggett and Scully encounter a dead man who is still living - only somewhat changed. What they discover is a man made of metal, enacting vengeance on those he believes created him.

Badlaa

When a mystic smuggles himself out of India, Scully and Doggett give chase as his murderous spree starts terrorising two families in suburban Washington, D.C. But Scully soon comes upon a crisis of faith when she realises how dissimilar her techinques are from Mulder,even as she tries to be the believer.

The Gift

Doggett comes upon an old case about a professed 'soul-eater' that Mulder kept secret from Scully, which he hopes will ultimately prove the truth behind Mulder's abduction

• David Duchovny is listed in the main credits and makes appearances in a few scenes.

Medusa

• Guest Starring Penny Johnson Jerald as Dr. Hellura Lyle

A string of bizarre deaths in the tunnels of the Boston subway system sees Doggett join a team of professionals underground to investigate; while Scully has to defy the train authorities above land, who are determined to get the trains up and running within hours.

Per Manum

When a mysterious man claims his wife was fertilised with an alien baby, and then killed and the baby stolen; Doggett is skeptical, while Scully realises that the woman's story is similar to her own. While Doggett attempts to understand the motives of his friend and government contact Knowle Rohrer, Scully questions her own pregnancy and its conception.

• David Duchovny returns to the main credits, and main cast, with this episode.

This is Not Happening

• Guest Starring Roy Thinnes as Jeremiah Smith

Doggett calls on another agent, Agent Monica Reyes, to assist in the Mulder case, but Scully's fears about finding him come to a head with the sudden recovery of abductees seized at the same time.

DeadAlive

Three months after Mulder's funeral, a former abductee awakens from the dead and Scully pins her hopes on resurrecting her partner; while Skinner is offered a loathsome deal by Krycek.

Three Words

Mulder secretly conducts his own investigation after a man is gunned down on the White House lawn attempting to inform the President of a planned alien invasion. However, he is soon in over his head as he tries to expose further evidence of colonisation

Empedocles

Agent Reyes enlists Mulder's help investigating a killer's connection to the unsolved murder of Doggett's son but Mulder soon finds himself clashing with Doggett.

Vienen

Mulder and Doggett are asked to investigate several deaths aboard an oil rig, but Mulder is convinced the rig is carrying an alien black oil; meanwhile a very pregnant Scully attempts to protect Mulder in absentia.

Alone

• Guest Starring Jolie Jenkins as Agent Leyla Harrison

With Scully on maternity leave, Doggett is paired with an enthusiastic young agent who knows everything about the X-Files, and her apotheosis of Mulder and Scully leads to him learning a thing or to. But when they disappear, Mulder defies orders in an attempt to find them.

Essence

• Guest Starring Frances Fisher as Lizzie Gill

Mulder, Skinner and Doggett come up against the horrible consequences of the Syndicate's pact with the aliens, as a hybrid attempts to erase all evidence of the tests - including Scully's soon-to-be-born baby. The men call on Agent Reyes, and - reluctantly - Alex Krycek to help them.

Existence

Mulder, Doggett and Skinner face off with the alien replicants as they desperately try to expose the conspiracy within the FBI; while Scully goes into labour in a remote location. But Agent Reyes soon learns they may be no safer there.

• Synopses courtesy of [Krycek's]