The X-Files Episode That Wasn't

I always found that Deer Woman (the Masters of Horror episode) to be awkwardly enjoyable and occasionally funny and that might be due to its attempts of tongue-in-cheek humor. However, the entire episode fell on its feet because of lack of witty dialogue and the ‘feel’ of a real investigation. What I mean by that is the episode didn’t feel like the characters were doing any type of investigation; they seemed to just get lucky. I always described the episode as The X-Files meets CSI but now that I think of it… it would have been better off being an X-Files episode guest directed by John Landis. The story could have stayed the same with the same characters just with the additions to Mulder and Skully and I could totally see Mulder playing out the possible killing scenarios in his head. Since Deer Woman didn’t rely on profanity (and it didn’t need profanity) or gore, it would have been a great X-Files episode. What this movie needed was the smart, witty dialogue of Chris Carter, the commanding presents of Mulder/Skully and the slapstick edge of Landis and it would have been fun to watch.

On a side note: I find this episode creepy mainly because of the thought of a woman having deer legs. That scene when the cop realizes that he made a big mistake letting the girl in his hotel room always sends me shivers. Just the way he turns around and how his eyes widen with fright; you don’t even need to see anything, you can just imagine what he’s seeing.

The Thing Week: Ice from The X-Files

As many of you know I am a huge X-Files fan and well before I even started The Thing Week I went through all the seasons of the show and watched every episode. One episode I cam across in the first season stood out because it reminded me of The Thing and that episode is called ‘Ice.’ Low and behold, ‘Ice’ was a direct adaptation, of sorts, of The Thing as well as Who Goes There? The episode was very well-received by X-Files fans however, though I thought it was good… I don’t think it’s one of the best episodes of the season.

The basis of writing this episode came from Glen Morgan who read about a group of men in Greenland that dug up something in the ice that was about 200,000 plus years old. For Thing fans, it’s easy to see where the episode borrowed from The Thing and Who Goes there and Carter (Creator of The X-Files) himself stated that his biggest influence was The Thing. The basic concept of the episode is about Mulder, Skully, three scientists and a helicopter pilot trapped in an isolated research station with a parasitic alien worm that uses the human body as a host. The episode relies on trust and paranoia to make the audience feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic.

While looking up some information on Ice’s relation to The Thing I found a few interesting facts that Carter put in to make this 45 minute tribute complete. While looking through the credits of the episode I noticed a character named Campbell, which I initially thought was a tribute to John W. Campbell and my speculation was correct. Graeme Murray designed the complex in which the episode took place and coincidently he designed the entire complex in Carpenter’s The Thing. This next observation is not really backed up but is more of a personal observation; Dr. Hodge (played by Xander Berkeley) bares a striking resemblance to Palmer (played by David Clennon) in The Thing.

‘Ice’ does a great job showing the intense paranoia between all the people in the complex. It manages to keep that tension between people in such a short amount of time. The complex is also very claustrophobic and with the mentioning of the heat, it makes the audience member get psychologically hot as they are trying to figure out who is who. I absolutely enjoyed the characters and I was pretty depressed that Bear died because he seemed like the strong character in the beginning. Hell, the episode didn’t really have that much gore and still accomplished a surreal and nightmarish reality. I think the problem that I had was the pacing; it just seemed a little off and ultimately made the episode a little rushed.

Much like The Thing, The X-Files uses science to explain how things work with the parasitic worm and the explanation is so fascinating but the only difference is that the worm is a little less aware than the Thing. To me, like many other times, it’s very interesting to see the roots of The Thing as well as Who Goes There extend into other sci-fi and horror realms.

"Before anyone passes judgment, may I remind you, we are in the Arctic"
- Fox Mulder

Happy 53rd Birthday Chris Carter

October 13^th marks the day that a very important even took place for all sci-fi fans as well as the entire sci-fi horror genre itself. On this day in 1956 Chris Carter, creater of The X-Files was born and today he celebrates is 53^rd birthday. I fell in love with The X-Files when the first season came on air in 1993. It marked the turning point in my life when I stopped watching Goosebumps and went to watch something scarier with a more complex plot… although, I never understood the episodes, all I can remember was how frightening some of them were. The show was a gateway for me into discovering new kinds of horror and shaping me into the horror fanatic I am.

I want to talk a little about what makes this show so great. The shows are broken into two different kinds of shows: the monster-of-the-week episodes, and the anthology episodes. The monster-of-the-week episodes deal with cryptozoology, mythical monsters, beasts and legends. They followed the general structure of what the legend or myth tells but they added more onto it so that the story had depth; these episodes were smartly written, dark, had horrifying sequences and often had spooky surrealistic atmospheric tones. These were the episodes that normally creeped me out and left me lying awake in bed most of the nights.

 

The anthology episodes were what the show was known for; they dealt with alien abductions, the government conspiracies to cover them up, men in black and even the end of the world. These episodes dealt with Mulder trying to find his sister after she was abducted from his house and the themes were very strong in each of these episodes; they challenged the believe of a God, they made the audience ponder the unbelievable and they begged the question ‘if science can’t prove it, can it be a miracle.’ Each of those episodes took you into the minds of Mulder and Scully and gave them depth, character and emotion. These episodes were scary considering they were all based on real events that were documented.

The entire series as a whole was a landmark in not only sci-fi and horror, but also historically, there have been several UFO groups that have been started because this show, several professors and teachers use The X-Files as learning material. The show was probably one of the most subversive, intelligent and haunting shows on the air and it freaked me out when I younger. That poster on Mulder’s wall that states “I want to believe” has become an icon in the series and it’s exactly how the viewers felt… we want to believe the truth, but the truth can be just as skewed.

With my hat down I applaud you Mr. Carter for making one of the best shows on the air. My you have a great birthday and I wish you well.