The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files.
In the episode, Mulder and Scully investigate a bizarre rock inscribed with Navajo writing found in Côte d'Ivoire, and the death of the African scientist involved.
While its appearance in Washington begins to affect Mulder's mental health, leading him to turn to Agent Fowley for help; a disturbed Scully—determined to disprove the theory that life on Earth began with aliens—heads to New Mexico and finds a dying Albert Hosteen—who has discovered that the rock includes passages from the Bible, and a map of the human genome.
The episode was written due to series creator Chris Carter's fascination with the possibility that extraterrestrials were involved in the great extinctions that had happened millions of years ago.
Assistant Director Walter Skinner assigns Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully to investigate Sandoz's disappearance, giving them a rubbing of Merkmallen's artifact.
Mulder tells Skinner that both Merkmallen and Sandoz espoused panspermia, a theory suggesting an extraterrestrial origin to life on Earth.
Mulder's condition worsens, but he refuses to go to the hospital and, due to seeming telepathic abilities, realizes that Barnes murdered Merkmallen.
A healing ceremony is held for Albert, but Scully is forced to leave when Skinner contacts her, telling her Mulder has been hospitalized in critical condition.
Carter eventually developed the script in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada while working on the pilot for his series Harsh Realm and sent copies to the production crew via fax.
[2] Professor Solomon Merkmallen was played by Michael Chinyamurindi, who had immigrated to the United States ten years prior and had previously auditioned for the fourth-season episode "Teliko" in season four.
[2] A large portion of the episode was based on the ancient astronaut theory, which proposes that intelligent extraterrestrial beings have visited Earth in antiquity or prehistory and made contact with humans.
[3] Frank Spotnitz later remarked that he was astounded at how little negative fan mail the show received, despite the fact that the "Biogenesis"/"The Sixth Extinction"/"Amor Fati" story arc heavily hinted that aliens were the originators of the notion of God and religion.
"[11] Den of Geek writer Nina Sordi ranked "Biogenesis," along with "The Sixth Extinction" and "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati," as the fifth best episode of the series, writing, "it is evident that as [The X-Files] progressed, the episodes surrounding those storylines and the breaking points Mulder and Scully endured push them further and further towards total, irreversible defeat.
"[12] Monica S. Kuebler from Exclaim magazine called "Biogenesis", along with "The Sixth Extinction" and "Amor Fati", one of the "best" episodes during the show's "colonization" phase.
[15] He enjoyed the basic premise, involving the idea that aliens were active in the development of humanity—comparing it to Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey and Ridley Scott’s movie Prometheus.
Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode two stars out of five.