1x09 - Space

[u/FederalWord]

You, watching "Space"

Rewatch time. This episode is profoundly boring and silly. Carter may not be a great writer, but he's a curious guy, and was clearly reading the science headlines of the day and engaging with them. There are themes and ideas in "Space" -- lamenting NASA's fall in the public eye, the danger of hero worship, the face on Mars -- that are somewhat explored here.

Yet, everything in "Space" is compromised. Intended to cleverly use recycled NASA footage to come in underbudget, production found themselves with less footage than they needed. Also, turns out it costs a lot more money than you think to replicate NASA mission control. Most critically, the central 'monster' conceit has no substantial science or lore behind it; it really is just 'What if the face on mars' got you?! Dude, that'd be so crazy!' AND the story isn't there. Like, in the writers' room, with the index cards for story beats, what beats were actually put up on the corkboard?

Share your thoughts below, and rate this episode on my new beta X-Files Watchlist / Rating site!

[u/brittyn]

This episode is universally hated but I’ve always enjoyed it!

[u/LordyIHopeThereIsPie → u/brittyn]

Me too and my kids really enjoyed it when we watched it which I didn't expect. Solid 90s tv.

[u/mjp31514 → u/LordyIHopeThereIsPie]

My daughter loves x files, but space really scared her when she was little 🤣 We laugh about it now, but at the time she made me turn it off.

[u/Wetness__Pensive → u/mjp31514]

[u/BeastofBlueRock]

This is a comfort episode for me. Sure it's silly, its ridiculous, but it's so campy I find it fun and enjoy it every time.

[u/FederalWord → u/BeastofBlueRock]

It's a different kind of bad than, like, First-Person Shooter (SO out of character for Scully) or 3 (too Red Shoe Diaries). Mulder and Scully are fine here, even cute and, yes, comforting at times. The '93, almost ST:TNG-like cozy-thriller plot is comforting too -- they don't make 'em like that anymore. So, yeah, I'd rather watch this than some of the other low points of the series. Heard!

[u/rratzloff]

I might be in the minority, but I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. So traditional x-files.

[u/flouncearound]

I love this one and am prepared to stand alone.. I love how nonsensical it is (the alien obviously but also Mulder and scully going through all that paperwork!!). Nasa is near and dear to my heart. I love the nostalgic concern  of the face on Mars. And I've been on acid looking at a stucco ceiling so I relate. 

[u/jordo3791 → u/flouncearound]

The only time I've watched Space I was on shrooms, spent the whole episode not sure if what I was seeing was actually on the screen lol

[u/The_Amber_Cakes]

He watches over me:

This episode is only made better when compared to something like ‘Fight Club’.

[u/Gazcobain]

We've got to deliver the payload!

[u/you-are-here]

This episode is a lot of fun, a little camp, and captures a time when everyone was obsessed with the face on Mars. I never skip it.

[u/Firm_Tomorrow_1725]

One of my least favorite episodes.

[u/Crazybexy]

I kind of have a soft spot for it. But it is probably the worst s1 episode.

[u/JakeFromSkateFarm]

I like the episode because in my head it’s a cross between aliens and ghosts. The entity being the ghost of an alien that’s attacking humans who dare leave earth.

The writing is definitely saved by the acting IMO. A better script would have made this an early season classic.

[u/kauan1983 → u/JakeFromSkateFarm]

This is something that I personally really appreciate about the episode as well. As ridiculous as it might be for most people, I genuinely like the concept and even design of the entity despite being simply a ghostly face.

[u/thesilvs]

Nah, so overhated. It isn’t a bad idea or script, it just doesn’t have the budget to pull off. 

[u/InkedinSilver]

I just had my dad skip that episode two days ago! Lol 😸

[u/kanatrex]

I always skip this one but tried again on my last rewatch and couldnt finish it lol it has so much potential but it’s just too slow and boring

[u/Repulsive_Dust_3697]

Lol, snickering because we've put a disk on at random this evening and my husband insisted on putting Space on as it's first on the disk (watching now) even though I said "eh, none of these are brilliant but I'd go with Fire before this one...".

He just got so indignant when I read out "profoundly boring and silly" so now I'm just sat here chortling to myself with a smug grin and a beer.

(I mean I'd still rather watch a naff episode of The X Files than a lot of other things, so it's not like the evening is a write off either way).

[u/Quiddity131]

Worst episode of the first season for me; the face from Mars is really interesting but that wasn't enough for them to make a good episode.

[u/FederalWord]

This gave me a sense of how hard it must have been to do this episode -- https://x-files.fandom.com/wiki/Space/Background_Information

[u/MulderXF]

Worst episode of season 1 easily, definitely one of the worst in the entire run.

[u/Realistic-Pay-9087]

It's bad by early season standards but more middle of the road when compared to later seasons

[u/bb_waluigi]

an absolute waste of Ed Lauter but otherwise pretty harmless fun

[u/Fabius_Fulgrim]

I think it’s a great episode myself.