X-Files S1E9: Sculder, we have a problem

Editors' Note: On the rewatch of The X-Files, Lorrie plays the part of Sestra Amateur and Paige serves as the resident "expert," aka Sestra Professional.

Sestra Amateur: The Final Frontier. Last week, I snagged the "Ice, Ice Baby" pop-culture reference out from under Sestra on the episode "Ice." And now we have an obvious Star Trek correlation, so it can’t be avoided. Moving on.

Remember when the Weekly World News – the tabloid magazine that was more outrageous than the National Enquirer – ran stories and images of the Face of Mars? Essentially it was a rock formation on Mars that looked like a face, but people liked to think it was left by an ancient Martian civilization. That seems to be the basis for this episode. 

Former astronaut-turned-NASA program director Colonel Belt denies rumors about the alien civilization, but we learn he’s been having nightmares about his spacewalk. When a shuttle is about to launch, the mission is aborted three seconds before liftoff. Mission Control Communications Commander Michelle Generoo – does that even fit on a business card? – suspects sabotage and secretly reaches out to Mulder and Scully. 

Sculder head to Houston for the next scheduled launch. Mulder goes all fanboy when he meets his childhood idol, Colonel Belt. You know the theory that you should never meet your heroes because you’ll probably be disappointed? I think that’s going to happen to Mulder. Belt pooh-poohs the idea of sabotage, but agrees to let Sculder watch the next launch from Mission Control. Scully and I make the same sarcastic comment about Mulder’s star-struck behavior. The liftoff takes place without incident and Michelle stupidly lets Belt know she’s the one who tipped off the FBI. Guess she didn’t read Informants for Dummies.

Later that night, there’s a problem with the shuttle. While hurrying to Mission Control, Michelle sees the Face of Mars and crashes her car. She survives and they get there after an act break, but Michelle learns someone disabled the computer link to the shuttle and the ship is drifting toward the sun. Didn’t we see that plot in Airplane II? Belt arrives and authorizes Houston to disconnect the link so the crew can regain manual control of the shuttle. His plan works and Houston reestablishes contact with the crew. 

Belt seems calm and in control in public, but is acting weird in private. Mulder is concerned because his hero lied to the press about the mission, but Belt explains that the future of the program hangs in the balance. Can’t say I disagree with him on that one.
 

The colonel returns home and appears to be possessed by the Face of Mars. The apparition rises out of Belt’s body and floats out his apartment window. Then the shuttle crew reports to Houston that something is “thumping” their ship. That causes an oxygen leak, so the crew is in peril again. This situation is just like the one Belt experienced when he was in space. Sculder go to Belt’s apartment to tell him about the new emergency, but the colonel ain’t looking so good. Still, when they return to Mission Control, he takes charge. 

Michelle gets upset when Belt puts the mission completion above the lives of the crew. Sculder scours through all kinds of NASA files, looking for a needle in a haystack. Despite the enormity of this task, Scully -- of course -- finds a document that links Belt to this sabotage as well as the Challenger shuttle explosion. Meanwhile, the crew delivers their payload, then report seeing a ghost. Belt has a complete breakdown – no bouncing back from this one without repercussions. 

Belt has a seizure and Sculder see the distorted Face of Mars when they look at him. Belt tells Mulder the shuttle will be destroyed during re-entry, but the colonel finds himself long enough to impart information on how to save the crew. After a few tense moments, the shuttle lands safely in Albuquerque. 

At the press conference, Michelle takes a lesson from Belt and claims the crew experienced a problem-free mission. While in the hospital, the possessed Belt takes care of his problem -- and everyone else's -- by jumping out the window to his death. Scully later tells Mulder that Belt suffered from dementia. Guess she forgot what she saw with her own eyes. That happens a lot on this show.
 

Show creator Chris Carter wrote this episode. Sestra Pro can probably tell us if Fanboy Mulder represents Carter. It probably was to be expected that the episode contains references to the Challenger shuttle disaster in 1986. But there’s some eerie foreshadowing between the fictional shuttle’s re-entry plight and what happened to the Columbia shuttle in 2003. Now thinking about future X-Files episodes that will deliver such predictions.

Sestra Professional:

This is one of the fandom's most disliked episodes, and even Chris Carter himself once said it was one of his least favorites. But like Mulder, I have a fascination with the space program, and as such, I'll say at the outset that I kind of enjoy it. Now I haven't watched it nearly as much as last week's spectacular "Ice," and I won't put it anywhere near that level. But I'll defend it all the same.

'Tis true, Sestra Am has commandeered some potential blog titles of late. But it just makes me dig deeper -- the task inherent to the Sestra Pro anyway. While I can't speak to Carter being the real NASA fanboy, the correlation to the Face of Mars photo was right on target. In the official episode guide, Carter recalled lying in a hotel room and thinking, "Wouldn't it be weird if that face came down on me?"

What we've learned so far in the rewatch is that the series doesn't work too well when Sculder merely react to what's going on around them. In "Space," they can't do much to affect the outcome, which probably goes a long way to explaining the general antipathy for this episode. They're glorified gofers -- finding the colonel, looking through records and passing on information.

But there are some nice elements. When they're originally brought on the case with Michelle's X-ray evidence of tampering, she doesn't understand how and when anyone could have done the sabotage, which would require a lot more than one disgruntled saboteur able to do something undetected. An outside contractor contributes an even more telling line: "There about 17,000 things that can go wrong with the shuttle and about 17,000 people who make sure they don't."  

For all the ways in which Mulder and Scully have grown together, we get another look at the basic differences between them once again. "You never wanted to be an astronaut, Scully?" he asks. "I guess I missed that phase," she retorts. But even more importantly, Fanboy's fascination does give us an opportunity to see Mulder with his guard down when it comes to an authority figure. Until now, he's been highly suspicious and downright ornery.

Actual NASA footage gets more play in the episode than it probably did on nightly news programs at the time. Mulder's so giddy at Mission Control that he's shooting uncharacteristic thumbs-up and clapping. But because he's geeking out, he can also impart technical information to Scully (and us).

The threats to shutting down the space program also feel very real. Belt faces the possibility of killing the astronauts while trying to ensure they deliver the payload. Wasting millions of dollars would be all the impetus Congress needs to shut down the program. And that leads to the press conference whitewashes. So what do we know that's true about the real space program, I wonder (and apparently so does Carter).

It was probably not a good idea for a man who was on record as encountering an unknown entity in space to be put in charge of the whole program. Because as we know, possession (even of a hero colonel by a ghostly alien) is nine-tenths of the law. Luckily, in the last tenth, Belt's humanity is able to save the day.

The episode does get awkward when they blame the Challenger tragedy on Belt. It's clunky and it doesn't work, because it takes away from The X-Files fantasy element and forces us think to think about real-world events. Nevertheless, I still get that same rush off the denouement as Dana. Now even she's clapping and whooping. Meanwhile, Mulder finds the silver lining and keeps his hero's status intact. "He gave his own life. As an astronaut, that was something he was prepared to do." 

GUEST STAR OF THE WEEK: In The Complete X-Files, Chris Carter found something in the episode to be proud of -- the performance of Ed Lauter (possibly best known for recurring on ER) as the beleaguered colonel. Copy that, he's quite believable as both the unbending colonel and the overwhelmed human being.