chapotraphouse

Yeah. I've watched the episode btw. It's goofy and kinda sucks lol. Forgive the long post, but I had a lot of questions about this when I first found out about it and went down a whole rabbit hole.

The second link is to the archive for the IMDB page for the episode in question, which states (both when the archive was made, as well as now on the original page which was archived from IMDB, since edits can be made after all,) that the episode was released March 4th 2001. The explanation I've heard for this very bizarre episode of a TV show is that the WTC was attacked in the mid 1990s with car bombs, and that therefore it is not too unusual that someone would write a plot surrounding yet another terror attack on the WTC. While at first blush, this does seem to be a sufficient explanation, the coincidences and resemblance to eventual false flag theories about 9/11 are still astounding.

• not merely a terror attack on the WTC, but specifically a Boeing passenger airliner
• flown into the twin towers
• as a false flag attack
• to increase American arms sales after the cold war is over
• and get America into interventionist wars
• all this released in a the pilot episode of an obscure TV show that only ran for 1 season before being cancelled
• mere months before the real attacks

Now of course there were also some departures from what would happen a few months later:

• in the show, there is only 1 plane, rather than several
• in the show, only one of the towers is going to be attacked
• in the show, the plane is remote controlled rather than hijacked
• in the show, the attacks do not succeed, because the main characters hack the plane (yes, lol) and steer them away from the buildings at the last moment
• in the show, the attacks are going to take place at night, not day

The episode was written by Chris Carter of X Files fame, and Vince Gilligan, of future Breaking Bad fame, as well as two other people. Chris Carter once stated that he had been contacted by someone claiming to be a government agent because an episode of X Files drew their attention..

The government shuts down the X-Files several times on the show, and, according to Carter, almost did so in real life. “I had someone come up to me during the original run of the series, who said they worked in some high place in a secret government agency, [and] said that we were very close to the truth,”

I didn’t know whether to take that person at their word or not. I can tell you this: When I wrote the [1993] pilot, I called the FBI to do some research, and they were nice enough, but didn’t really give me the time of day. Then, all of a sudden, as we got close to airing, the FBI called and said, “Who are you and what are you doing?” And for a second, I thought it was going to be the long arm of the law coming in to shut me down.

Carter says they patched things up and he became buddies with the bureau, hanging out, shooting the breeze (literally — they took him to a shooting range).

This specific detail drew the curiosity of people when considering this episode. I think it's a fun thing to point out, whether it's a coincidence or not. It tickles the imagination.