Mulder Gets A Faith Refill And Wanders The Sewers In "Little Green Men" / "The Host!"

The Good: "Little Green Men" has decent moments of character
The Bad: "The Host" is a very average "monster of the week" episode.
The Basics: A fair episode and a good one make for an average video with "Little Green Men" and "The Host" from The X-Files.


The X-Files had a first season that was plagued - when one watches it in order - by episodes that are too close to one another in terms of the theme or paranormal phenomenon being explored. Episodes like "Ghost In The Machine," "Born Again" and "Roland" all involve dead people who were killed for some form of personal or corporate gain possessing others to finish off their loose ends. There is a pretty decent shortage of conspiracy mythology episodes and there are even surprisingly few "monster of the week" stories.

The second season begins with the X-files shut down, as a result of their investigation in "The Erlenmeyer Flask" (reviewed here!). The first two episodes of the season deal with the fallout of that episode, with the season premiere finding Mulder in need of a faith refill and the second episode doing nothing terribly noteworthy other than increasing the stature of Assistant Director Skinner and introducing the idea of X, Mulder's new friend at the FBI.

In "Little Green Men," Mulder and Scully have been separated and reassigned as a result of their investigations into the X-files. Scully becomes worried about Mulder, who appears increasingly despondent while working on the most banal wiretapping assignment. Shortly after meeting with Scully, Mulder is contacted by Senator Mattheson, Mulder's champion in Congress. Mattheson has evidence that an extraterrestrial signal has been intercepted by one of the radio telescopes in Puerto Rico.

Mulder goes rogue to retrieve the evidence of the signal, abandoning his post at the FBI. Assistant Director Skinner and the Cigarette Smoking Man attempt to locate Mulder, using Scully. Scully manages for find Mulder and as she pursues him to Puerto Rico, Mulder has a close encounter . . .

In "The Host," Assistant Director Skinner sends Mulder to Newark, NJ when a dead body is found in the sewers. Convinced it is a standard crime syndicate body dump, Mulder returns to D.C. irritated to discover that Skinner wants the case handled in a serious fashion. Scully, distressed over Mulder's reaction to the case, volunteers to assist him by performing an autopsy. When a Newark sewer worker is attacked while making a repair to a sewer line, Mulder becomes intrigued about what might have done it.

While Mulder investigates the attack, Scully finds a flukeworm in her autopsy. Mulder soon hypothesizes that there is a giant flukeworm killing people and is soon found to be correct, much to Scully's amazement. Apprehending the creature is only part of the process and Mulder is forced to deal with the political implications of the find when Skinner calls him up for review and the creature is transported for prosecution.

Skinner walks a fine line in these two episodes between casting off the influence of the Cigarette Smoking Man and acknowledging that he is a pawn in a larger scheme. Mulder's interactions with him tend to be defiant declarations that if the X-files were still being investigated, there would be a lot less blood on everyone's hands. These scenes tend to trend toward the melodramatic, especially in the way Mulder expresses his defiance and anger toward Skinner. On the other hand, these scenes give actor Mitch Pileggi the opportunity to stretch and lend some presence to a role that was seen once and mentioned one other time in the first season.

"Little Green Men" is both a conspiracy/alien episode and a fairly substantial character examination of Fox Mulder. Disturbed by the mundane assignments he has been placed on, Mulder becomes despondent and the feeling of the weight of the months that have passed between the prior season's finale and the beginning of the first episode is well-portayed. Mulder is realistically disenchanted and beginning to question the veracity of his own memories and beliefs. Senator Mattheson makes for an intriguing on-camera ally for Mulder to become a reasonable supporter.

Unfortunately, "The Host," viewed multiple times over several years, comes across now as a very simple idea that is played out far too long. Fortunately, Christ Carter does not attempt to insult the viewer by keeping the question of what the killer is for too long. Unfortunately, once the flukeman is identified and caught, there are still two acts to complete and the bulk of them feels largely like filler. This makes it an unfortunate example of how weak a "creature of the week" piece can be on the show when the initial concept is a simple monster piece.

In both episodes, Scully is relegated to her medical role as she is now teaching FBI forensic medicine at Quantico. Part of the reason for Scully's character direction is that actress Gillian Anderson got pregnant near the end of the first season and she returned to working on The X-Files rather pregnant. Leading up to her being written out for part of the season, Anderson is relegated to a supporting role.

This leaves a lot for David Duchovny to do more or less on his own as Fox Mulder. He is physically active in both episodes and he keeps the pace of "Little Green Men" taut as a result. "The Host" is a lot of exposition and background plot work (in the two scenes with X, on the telephone), but Duchovny makes the best of it. Far better is "Little Green Men," where he must play Mulder exhausted and unsure of himself. Duchovny does more than just deliver lines written with melancholy, he transforms his posture into that of a more or less broken man and it works to sell the concept of the episode.

On VHS, both episodes feature behind the scenes notes by Chris Carter as part of the little bonus "A conversation with Chris Carter..." The information is very basic commentary on the episodes, but it is a nice touch.

Ultimately, though, "Little Green Men" is a necessary episode as far as plot and character, but "The Host" is a tough sell to anyone who isn't already a fan of The X-Files or science fiction television. As I am a fan of both, there is enough to come back to on this video.

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete Second Season, reviewed here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy and my review may be accessed by clicking here!
Thanks for reading!]

"Little Green Men" - 7/10
"The Host" - 5/10
VHS - 6/10

For other television episode and season reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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One Dull, One Terrifying, The X-Files Balances Out With "Conduit" And "Ice"

The Good: Character development, Tension in "Ice," Generally the acting
The Bad: "Conduit" is largely boring and predictable, "Ice" neglects character development in favor of mood.
The Basics: "Ice" is terrifying and tight, while "Conduit" is pretty much for science fiction lovers only, making for an erratic video.


Once in a while, I come to dread the simplicity of reviewing the old VHS tapes. With two episodes each, The X-Files videos sometimes paired tremendous episodes with complete lemons. "Conduit" and "Ice" is an example of one such pairing. "Ice" is a tense psychological horror with a creature of the week plot that is likely to keep most viewers guessing well into the last act, while "Conduit" is a somewhat standard alien abduction storyline with a very slight twist.

The X-Files had some truly great episodes and "Ice" might well be one of the first that truly knocked it out of the park. Following on a string of strangely similar corporate crime mystery episodes, "Ice" popped up to freak out viewers with a very straightforward frightening bottle episodes. Sadly, "Conduit" seems like one of those episodes that had a one line pitch and the writer struggled to make it into a full forty-three minute show.

In "Conduit," a young woman goes missing in Iowa while sleeping out under the stars next to her eight year-old brother. Her mother, who as a girl witnessed a UFO at the same lake her daughter disappeared from, is gratified when Mulder picks up the case and arrives to investigate. Scully is deeply skeptical about the abduction, more so when it appears that the girl is something of a wild child.

Soon, though, even Scully is doubting when the body of the girl's boyfriend is unearthed and Mulder discovers strange burns around the campsite the girl disappeared from. But none of it is as strange as her brother, who is writing ones and zeroes that he is receiving from television static, binary codes that are anything but random!

In "Ice," Scully and Mulder are sent up to the Arctic Circle to a scientific research outpost that is studying ice samples from deep in a crater. The members of the drilling team are all dead, having killed one another and the final two scientists taking their own lives while claiming "we are not who we are." The FBI agents arrive at the outpost with a geologist, two doctors and a pilot to try to determine what happened to the original expedition.

Soon, though, it becomes clear that the ice that the scientists were studying contained something living and possibly extraterrestrial. When a dog at the facility bites the pilot, it quickly becomes clear that the bite transferred something into him and when Mulder and Scully determine what it is, they struggle to maintain a quarantine to prevent it from being released upon the population at large!

Perhaps the only thing that works in "Conduit" is the character development. Viewers are reminded of the open case of Samantha Mulder, abducted while Fox Mulder was in the room with her. Mulder takes a tabloid journalism piece and turns it into and FBI case in part because he is still hunting his sister. "Conduit" does an excellent job of presenting Mulder as a man so lost in his own grief and sense of self-absorption over the loss of his sister that he will follow any clue to try to discover what really happened to her. This is played out and played up in "Conduit," with Mulder using every possible opportunity to mourn the disappearance of his sister again.

Conversely - and ironically given the overall quality of the episode - "Ice" is a plot-driven episode that does not include much in the way of character development at all. Instead, Mulder and Scully are turned against one another when one of the members of the team is murdered, leading the audience to legitimately wonder who in the group killed their fellow and what, exactly, it is that possessed the scientists. "Ice" does not belabor its decisions or cause the characters to question why they are doing anything; they are afraid for their lives and one person is contaminated with something that might drive him to kill!

The performances in "Ice" are very tight. In addition to wonderful performances by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson - who finally seem to be in their groove as Mulder and Scully - the episode features an appearance by Felicity Huffman. Long before she got work on Sports Night (reviewed here!) or Desperate Housewives, Huffman appeared on an episode of The X-Files and she gives such a strong performance as one of the doctors sent to investigate the outpost that one is forced to wonder if she auditioned for the role of Scully originally. Character actor Jeff Kober makes a similarly distinctive appearance as Bear, the pilot.

Just as everyone seems to bring their a-game to "Ice," they seem to let "Conduit" flow with little or no enthusiasm for the script. Gillian Anderson presents her usual lines of disbelief in the phenomenal with a surprising amount of boredom and detachment, as if she's beginning to wonder why Scully isn't opening up to extreme possibilities yet. None of the guest actors make much of an impression either in "Conduit."

This is not to say that "Conduit" is a complete wash; the episode is fairly clever in that it has a neat gimmick/concept. The boy appears to be a conduit and how that manifests is that he sits in front of his television writing binary codes that turn out to be snippets of music or famous images or defense department transmissions. It's a cool concept, but it doesn't go anywhere. By the end of the episode there is no greater sense of what the boy is than when the gimmick is first introduced and that tends to make the viewer feel like a tool as opposed to entertained.

The result is a wildly uneven viewing experience. On the plus side, like all of The X-Files videos, there are bonus features! Long before DVD, Fox Video decided to add some value to the VHS releases of The X-Files by including snippets of an interview with Chris Carter, the creator of the show, wherein he discusses the episodes. This is a decent little bonus and his thoughts on both episodes are interesting enough, but will likely just be appreciate by the fans.

Ultimately, I recommend this video because "Ice" is just that good and "Conduit" is not the worst hour of television by any means. But largely this will be enjoyed by fans of science fiction and horror more than general aficionados of drama in general.

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete First Season, reviewed here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy! That’s reviewed here!
Thanks for reading!]

“Conduit” – 4/10
“Ice” – 8/10
VHS - 6/10

For other television show reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Legitimization of the Fringe: The X-Files Begins With "Pilot" And "Deep Throat!"

The Good: Interesting Characters, Good balance
The Bad: Awkward acting, Simplistic plots
The Basics: A geek's delight, "Pilot" and "Deep Throat" are a must-see for fans of The X-Files and something truly different for people fed on typical network programming!


It's not every day that the geeks get their airtime and the first two episodes of The X-Files present the geek population with something to cheer about. If you became a fan of The X-Files after the first season or if you've never seen an episode, you might find this opening a bit incongruent with your experiences. In the first episodes, Fox Mulder is your classic conspiracy theorist geek (before they changed David Duchovny to a Hollywood-mold hunk) and Dana Scully is your bland, unimaginative government worker (before Gillian Anderson was forced to dye her hair TOO red).

In the "Pilot," Dr. Dana Scully, who works as a field agent for the FBI is assigned to investigate a case with Special Agent Fox Mulder, an agent who is an expert profiler, but who spends his time in the basement of the FBI working on unsolved cases called "X-files." The first case to come across their desk is a murder of a young woman out in Oregon whose body shows no cause of death and no marks save two bumps on her back that are filled with an organic compound.

Mulder and Scully go out to investigate the case and discover that she is not the only person in her graduating class to have unexplained phenomenon occur to her. Her classmates, Billy Miles who is in a catatonic state and Peggy O'Dell, who has been confined to a wheelchair since an accident around graduation have been inexplicably wounded. The duo exhumes a body of another member of the class of 1989, which appears to be a monkey and the coroner's daughter, fearing that she is next, appeals to Mulder and Scully for protection.

In "Deep Throat," Agents Mulder and Scully begin to investigate the disappearance of an Air Force test pilot out in Idaho, when Mulder receives a visit from a mysterious man who insists that the pair stop their investigation. Defying that, Mulder and Scully head to Idaho and Ellens Air Force Base where they find that Colonel Boudahouse is not the only pilot to have gone missing and some who have returned after disappearing seem to have memory loss that is rather selective.

Soon, Scully and Mulder find themselves under intense surveillance by shady government operatives with agendas that are far from clear and nowhere near benevolent. After witnessing maneuvers from two UFOs over the Air Force base, the test pilot is returned, Mulder is captured and Scully finds herself in a dangerous predicament!

The X-Files opens with a level of truthfulness that it lost as the series went on. It presented two very adult characters who were very strongly individual and had them exploring the unknown elements in today's world. The first two episodes are an excellent investment of anyone's time and effort, especially those who think The X-Files is just some weird, scary science fiction show. In "Pilot" (the most unimaginative episode name of the series) the plot pacing and characterization is more in tune with a "chick flick" than a horror. There's nothing scary in the first two episodes and that's a selling point. In fact, it's probably why the series failed to knock the socks off of people from the first episode; it's fairly unremarkable.

The strengths of the first episode are the characters and the fact that it defies our expectations of what the show should be. After spending four acts on talks of UFOs and aliens it's almost laughable that we see neither of them in the series premiere.

"Deep Throat" is actually a better representation of the mythology of The X-Files. It introduces an unnamed character who sort of helps Mulder by giving him leads to a case. He's intriguing and he's a good hook to keep people watching the show.

The weaknesses of the first two episodes are in the acting and the simplicity of the plot and characters. The actors often appear uncomfortable in the first few episodes, they often seem like they don't know what to make of the situations or the show and it comes across on camera. More than that, there's an unrealistic level of trust at the beginning between Mulder and Scully. While the subtle sexuality is a welcome change from most television, one of the awkward scenes in "Pilot" has Scully partially disrobing in front of Mulder, whom she barely knows and who she does not share many of the same fundamental beliefs.

The X-Files is a rare gem and because so few people saw it from the beginning, the "Pilot"/"Deep Throat" tape is a good investment - it's good television and it's more than just entertaining! And besides, it's nice to see geeks on television, for however long they last!

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete First Season, which can be found by clicking here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy, which is reviewed here!
Thanks for reading!]

"Pilot" - 8/10
"Deep Throat" - 7/10
VHS - 7/10

For other television reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2011, 2008, 2001 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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