The end.

In many minds, the end is just around the corner, in the year 2000.

In reality, the end of humanity as most people know it is not in the near future.

In Hollywood, though, the end is different. It can be whenever Hollywood executives want it to be.

And with the limited schizophrenia that is sure to be rampant come Dec. 31, Hollywood is laying claim to all stories having to do with all things eschatological.

With the conclusion of the season opener of "The X-files" airing this past Sunday night, it is clear that Mulder and Scully will be fighting the millennium madness come New Year's.

Or is it?

The mantra of "The X-Files" has always been, since its creation six years ago, to doubt what is believed to be true. "Trust no one" was the motto by which Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) lived to make Fridays and Sundays enjoyable for millions of television watchers out there, somewhere.

So despite the heavy mythological buildup from the two-part premiere, titled "The Sixth Extinction," in which the end of humanity was once again foreshadowed as a likely possibility for the series climax, one must question the value of the teasing images presented.

Is this a step toward some kind of millennial explosion? Or is it the first major hint that "The X-files" is in its final season, which practically forces the show's creator, Chris Carter, to find some kind of spectacularly satisfying climax and resolution to put the show to rest for good.

Besides this quandary Carter put viewers in, there are several other questions brought up by the information-packed season debut.

Is "The X-files" a bedtime story an elder Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is telling to her grandkids?

The entire length of the series' run has been marked by the voice-over work of Scully, in a diary-like questioning of the events that go on in the fictional sci-fi world.

Is this mere omniscience taken by the show's writers? Or is it a sign that in the end, Scully is the only one left standing? Does Mulder eventually die because of the X-files? And if Scully is telling this story to her grandkids, are they Mulder's grandkids as well? And what kind of grandmother would tell her grandkids stories about death, destruction and conspiracy?

How do viewers know "The X-files" isn't going to end with Mulder or Scully waking up from a dream, thinking, "Hey, that was weird"?

If anything, the show's premiere suggested that the imagination works in mysterious ways. Viewers were able to peak into the vast mind of Mulder, learning he visits a young boy often in his dreams — perhaps himself as a child. The episode also took viewers on a trip into an alternate universe in which Mulder chooses "creature comforts" over the X-files. This trip was entirely in Mulder's head.

For Scully, it was an episode of hallucinations, as science would label them, or spiritual visits, as a spiritualist would. In the end, these visits from a primitive African native and a Navajo elder, Albert Hosteen (seen in an episode last season), propelled Scully into questioning her own mission and role in the X-files.

Together, the imaginations of Mulder and Scully force viewers to wonder how much of the past six years has been "real" or simply imagined. For the sake of this television season, it's best to believe only visual fuzziness means something is not real. But who knows in Mulder-Scully world?

Is the cigarette-smoking man really Mulder's father?

Or was that just a cheap, viewer-attracting allusion to the most famous paternal revelation in sci-fi circles — Mr. Vader and his son, Luke? Note that this revelation came at a point in the episode where Mulder was beginning to enter his imagination phase.

But remember, cigarette-smoking man was also Agent Spender's dad. Perhaps he is everyone's dad. Of course, that would make Mulder and Scully brother and sister, which would totally deflate the series into the realm of The Hardy Boys or "Will and Grace." But it would answer the next question ...

Are Mulder and Scully going to hook up?

The show has been praised for its lack of willingness to throw the main characters into the love sack. Critics have called Mulder and Scully the sexiest couple never to have sex. Will this go on much longer?

In the second part of the premiere, when all goes back to "normal," Mulder tells Scully that despite all the craziness that he's witnessed and experienced, she is the one constant, his one true friend. Scully said to Mulder, ditto. But then, there was a sharing of lips at least on Scully's part. But the location on Mulder's face was cinematographically warped. Did they kiss mouth to mouth? Or was it mouth to eye?

Wherever it is, one senses these two to be soul mates. Perhaps they will never actually do the deed. But their love is evident, and this episode only made that clearer.

Is Mulder the savior?

All signs say yes. But it seems there may be several "saviors" out there.

Until now, though, the Christ imagery has been limited. But with the vision of Mulder sprawled out on a lab table in a loincloth, with a crown on his head, it is clear Mulder was intended as some kind of Christ figure.

This, of course, makes one realize Mulder will die for the X-files — something already hinted at by Scully's voice-over.

Can viewers count on human

extinction within the show?

As the episode's title suggests, some kind of extinction will occur. Past episodes, including the 1998 film, imply that aliens will destroy humanity. So if it does happen, how are Mulder and Scully involved? Will they stop it? Is this how Mulder will die, saving humanity? But where are the aliens?

Yeah, where are the aliens?

The aliens were rampant in "The X-files" movie, and then the first half of the season following the summer of 1998. Where did they go? Are they simply in hibernation, waiting to strike humanity when it expects it the least? Are they still running around in Arizona, reproducing inside the stomachs of human beings? Are they subtly mating with humans, producing a super-race of humans that will live beyond the coming "extinction?"

Or did they just all become visions of spacecraft? This seems to be the most common image on "The X-files" this season. The final episode last season and the first this season were heavily into the codes found on various spacecraft. Mulder's imagination included making a spacecraft out of sand with the boy he visits in his dreams. But is it really a spacecraft? Or simply some kind of ancient piece of humanity that was simply rediscovered?

Really, there are too many questions to ask after "The Sixth Extinction" ended. And though "The X-files" has been shrouded in mystery since its inception, hopefully, in what seems to be the last season of the series, there will be some more sweeps spectaculars that will "shed light" on these mysteries. Until that happens, keep questioning the truth, trust no one and wait for whatever end may be coming.

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