FBI Special Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson)’s “Starbuck” nickname on The X-Files continues a family tradition while also setting up several memorable story arcs on the show. Scully was an excellent counterpart to David Duchovny’s Fox Mulder. While she was the matter-of-fact scientist, Mulder was the hardcore conspiracy theorist who was equally interested in pursuing extraterrestrials and earthly oddities.
Mulder had to occasionally get egg on his face when science, facts, and logic were able to resolve some of Mulder and Scully's cases. However, it was Scully whose faith in both science and her religion became increasingly tenuous during The X-Files' run. In an especially cruel twist, some of Scully's most horrific moments directly involved an endearing nickname given to her by her father.
The Scully Family's Nicknames Are Based On Moby Dick
In The X-Files season 3, episode 22, “Quagmire,” Mulder asks Scully why she named her dog Queequeg. Scully says, “It was the name of the harpoonist in Moby Dick. My father used to read to me from Moby Dick when I was a little girl; I called him Ahab and he called me Starbuck. So, I named my dog Queequeg.” The Moby Dick nickname was a family tradition in the Scully family ever since she was young, and it was used around Bill Scully’s death in season 1, episode 13, “Beyond the Sea.”
The Moby Dick reference in The X-Files season 3 "Quagmire" sets up some backstory to Scully's nickname, but it also serves as some very on-the-nose symbolism for Mulder's hunt for his own proverbial whale. Scully points it out herself, which Mulder brushes off with a deadpan joke about her “coming on” to him. More curiously, the timing of the endearing explanation for Scully’s nickname comes after some unsettling references to it in seasons 1 and 2.
Scully's Sweet Nickname Becomes Horrific In The X-Files
In “Beyond the Sea,” a death row inmate claims he can use psychic powers to help Mulder and Scully catch a kidnapper. In the process of revealing his powers, he references Scully's nickname twice, seemingly having gained knowledge of the name from Scully's dead father. In season 2, episode 8, "One Breath," Scully sees a vision of her father while she’s in a coma. In a skin-crawling scene, The X-Files twists Scully's nickname as her father tells her "We'll be together soon, Starbuck. But not now. Soon."
Scully’s family history isn’t as confusing as Battlestar Galactica (the classic iterations of which did predate Mulder & Scully's exploits), but it's really just a heartwarming-turned-chilling reference to a different classic of the literary variety.
