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. 

X-Files Mythology Tribute

This was a video that I made using my first editing program... Sony Vegas Movie Studio. I was rather fond of it and like the other videos that I made, I had to hold up a camera to my computer screen and tape the clips. I didn't know how to rip things then. After I chose my song and I got done editing it (it took me 6 hours) I looked back and I was very proud of it. 

What do you think?

X-Files - Hungry

From Blogger Pictures

“I don’t believe in monsters, but I do believe in people. And sometimes they do terrible things out of weakness or sickness or fear. But I do truly believe that deep down inside, even the worst of us wants to be good.”

-     Dr. Reinhart “Hungry” (1999)

This was another episode of The X-Files that I was always afraid of, mainly because of the beginning scene when the guy pulls into the drive through and gets eaten. I think the major factor that always scared me was the look of this monster: no ears, no hair, black eyes and razor sharp teeth… it always frightened me and what was even scarier was that it was never really determined whether he was a real monster or a genetic deformity so people like him could be alive and out there.

After seeing this episode now as a young adult.. I have to say this is a favorite of mine because it doesn’t follow around Muldter and Skully but rather the character of Robert Roberts, the monster. What I also enjoyed about this movie is the fact that Mulder keeps antagonized Robert because I think deep down he knows that he is the killer and he’s just messing with the kid. Also, a quote from Robert about why he has an addiction to eating brains – this quote always made me laugh.

“I guess it’s the taste I respond to the most. Salty and… juicy. Kind of buttery. The texture of it inside your mouth. You know, your teeth just sink into it… like this juicy cloud. And it tastes so good. You know, you don’t even wanna swallow it. You just wanna work it around your taste buds until your eye rolls right back into your head.  

-       Robert Roberts “Hungry” (1999)

I also think that it’s kind of sad how Reinhard believes that there is a human, a good person in all of us even though we sometimes act mean and evil, but that’s simply not the case with Robert. I think that he believe that he could control his hunger but in the end when all the chips were down he realized that he is a killer and that’s all he’ll ever be… a monster. It’s sad because he truly wanted to be good but it’s biology as he states.

From Blogger Pictures

I think there is a good in all of us and I think that is the real horror that this episode is trying to convey… there are monsters in our world and they do unspeakable wicked things and I think that is what truly is scary; the monsters of everyday life, the killers, the psychopaths and the criminals.

X-Files - Alpha

From Blogger Pictures

“I’ve ignored the symptoms for years. I’ve always felt more like a wolf than a person.”

            - Karin Berquist “Alpha” (1998)

This was another episode that freaked the shit out of me when I was younger… roughly around the same age and time when I saw “Agua Mala.” This episode was about an extinct animal that shape-shifts known as the Trickster Dog.

I remember watching this episode and getting so scared that I wanted my dad to sleep next to me so that I didn’t have to get eaten first. As terrible as my intentions were, it’s how that episode made me feel. Afterwards I had such a morbid fear of dogs that I wouldn’t go near them. What made it worse was we had a dog that was like that one in our neighborhood named Kufeld.

The scene that I remembered so vividly was when this shadowy looking man transforms into the dog and attacks a night watchman. What was so scary about this episode was that this dog was a man, he was a shape shifter who was aware of it and yet he continued to kill people. He acted like a dog.

I did some research and there is no known cryptid that is the Wanshang Dhole. This episode gave a whole new outlook on the werewolf ideology and mythology. People have complained that this episode was stupid and that it was littered with “lame dog jokes, such as ‘you get a biscuit Skully,” and was “an obvious rip off of ‘Cujo,’” People have also complained that it made no sense and that this was one of the weakest episodes out there… I can’t agree with this because I am not going to nitpick through mundane details like this when the horror aspect of this episode was so strong for me.

People need to stop critiquing things like that to the bone… even I don’t do that when it comes to bad movies.