Sunday Mornings with Mulder and Scully – Space and Fallen Angel

On July 25, 1976, the Viking 1 orbiter was orbiting Mars as part of NASA’s Viking program. While photographing an area known as Cydonia, it took an image of what looked like a face on the surface of Mars. Scientists explained it away as shadows on low lying hills, but the image would permanently fuel beliefs of life existing on Mars.

Episode 1.9 –  Space

Chris Carter used that image as inspiration for episode nine of season one, Space. It follows astronaut Marcus Aurelius Belt as he encounters a disembodied face during a space walk and he sees images of the face on Mars. Sixteen years later, he is heading up missions for NASA at the Houston control center during a time when someone is sabotaging launch attempts. Mulder and Scully are brought in by a communications officer to help identify who may be doing this.

Astronaut Belt was a childhood hero for Mulder who quickly becomes disillusioned as the man’s erratic behavior cause Mulder and Scully to believe that he is at fault for the failed launches. Once the spectral being leaves Belt who it had been possessing for sixteen years, the man’s behavior reverts to normal. There is no motivation for this being which leaves the viewer wondering what the point is.

Mulder spends a significant amount of time talking about the government cutting NASA’s budget if they didn’t find who was behind the failed launches. Even his motivations are muddled as he is more concerned with NASA’s funding than he is that an alien being possessed his favorite astronaut for sixteen years. This rewatch leaves me as bored as all the others. One of my least favorite episodes, even by season one standards.

The special effects employed in this episode were pretty terrible and unconvincing, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth since they went to such lengths to recreate the control room at NASA. They went well over budget for this episode, and even Chris Carter expressed disappointment in how this episode turned out.

This episode stars Ed Lauter as Belt who I remember recognizing from Stephen King’s Cujo which also starred Jerry Hardin (Deep Throat). Lauter also was in another Stephen King adaptation of The Golden Years that aired two years previously to this episode and stars so many actors who appeared later in The X-Files. Felicity Huffman who, oddly enough, wears Scully’s hairdo and stars in season one episode Ice. R.D. Call stars in season one episode Miracle Man. Harriet Sansom Harris stars in season one episode Eve. Philip Lenkowsky ended up in an episode of The X-Files in season seven, Signs & Wonders. I always think of these adaptations when I rewatch the first season of The X-Files because of these connections to The X-Files and Lauter plays a military man in both. Of the King adaptations for television, Golden Years is my least favorite, but the links to Chris Carter’s show can’t be denied. The story itself could have been an X-file as the main character ages in reverse after being exposed to a government experiment.

Chris Carter wasn’t the only person to use the face on Mars as inspiration. Brian de Palma’s 2000 film Mission to Mars takes place in 2020 and follows a crew of astronauts as they travel to Mars on a rescue mission. The film utilizes the face by saying that aliens left their ship there as a way to transport someone to them if they solved the audio puzzle to gain entry. Critically, the film was not well received, but I happen to love the film. It’s pretty to look at, and unlike Chris Carter’s episode, actually has an interesting story and a great cast including Gary Sinise, Connie Neilsen, Tim Robbins, and Don Cheadle.

Episode 1.10 – Fallen Angel

Like many episodes that first season, there were stretches where multiple episodes utilized extraterrestrial life for inspiration. While Space is terribly slow, Fallen Angel hits the ground running. This is more evident when you watch them back to back.

Deep Throat sends Mulder to Wisconsin to investigate a coverup of a UFO and he encounters a UFO enthusiast and possible abductee, Max Fenig, who happens to be interested in the X-Files and has been following Mulder’s career. An alien has escaped the UFO, and by the end of the episode, abducts Max. The bureau wants to shut down the X-Files for Mulder’s insubordination during the investigation, but Deep Throat does not allow it so, for the time being, they remain intact.

Max Fenig really reminds me of Woody Harrelson’s character from 2012. He’s a little out there and has a trailer full of disorganized research materials. Scully looks upon Max with skepticism much in the way that John Cusack looked at Woody Harrelson when he first meets him in the movie. These types of characters are never trusted or believed until it’s too late, either for them or for everyone else.

While Space is not part of the larger mythology build by the show, Fallen Angel foreshadows the shutdown of the X-Files later in the series and leaves the viewer wondering what game Deep Throat is playing. I never felt he was really on Mulder’s side, but uses him for his own means. This dynamic is what made the first season so interesting back in the day. Several of the monster of the week episodes aren’t as great in the first season, Space for example, so the mythology episodes really set a more serious tone.

Until next week, the truth is out there.