On September 10, 1993, the first episode of The X-Files made its world premiere. The hit sci-fi series from Chris Carter arrived to an audience of 12 million viewers at the time, a huge viewership for a series shunned to Friday nights. Furthermore, a majority of whom would continue to return week after week to learn more about the mysterious government conspiracies that Fox Mulder was eager to prove (and which Dana Scully seldom gave any oxygen). The fandom for The X-Files quickly formed as both David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson became superstars in the ’90s, cementing their place in pop culture and giving them characters they would return to across three decades.
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The X-Files was shot out of a canon with its first episode, succinctly introducing both the concept of the show and its main characters with expert plotting and pacing, and giving audiences just enough crumbs to keep them interested in the big mystery. For its first nine seasons, The X-Files was produced at a time when network TV shows had an extensive episode count, and in an impressive display, the series managed to deliver week after week, at least for a time. At one point in Season 1, the series almost got completely derailed by just one episode.
The X-Files Season 1 Starts Very Strong With Its First Eight Episodes
After the pilot episode, The X-Files immediately delivered three great episodes to viewers. Episode 2 of the series, “Deep Throat,” pushed the mythology of the series even further, introducing not only Jerry Hardin as the titular informant for Mulder but also showing off the first-ever UFOs in the series. These elements combined to give both Mulder and the audience the push they needed to remain invested. Following that came Episode 3, which gave audiences “Squeeze,” the first ever “Monster of the Week” episode that would continue to define the series as its mythology episodes got a little more limited. That episode also proved to be so popular with fans that it would get a follow-up later in the season with Doug Hutchison returning as the immortal, liver-eating Eugene Victor Tooms.
Additional episodes in those first few months received both acclaim and managed to keep audience interest piqued, but The X-Files‘ first season reached a high point quickly with Episode 8, “Ice,” which is still regarded as one of the best of the series. A take on The Thing, the episode sees Mulder and Scully working with a group of scientists to investigate the mystery of what happened at an Arctic research base, only to succumb to paranoia about who may be hosting an ancient parasite once buried in the ice. What followed one of the very best, however, is one that remains one of the worst episodes of the series, and one that made the audience reconsider their loyalty.
The X-Files Episode 9 Almost Ruined the Series
Then comes The X-Files Episode 9, “Space,” which almost derailed the greatest sci-fi TV show of the 1990s. In “Space,” an astronaut, Lt. Col. Marcus Aurelius Belt (character actor Ed Lauter), is plagued by visions of a mysterious evil face he encountered in outer space while on a spacewalk. Now sixteen years later, NASA’s space shuttle missions are being sabotaged, with Mulder and Scully sent to investigate.
As the episode unfolds, it becomes clear that Belt has actually been possessed by whatever entity he encountered in space, and it has been using him to sabotage multiple space missions (it’s implied he had a hand in the Challenger disaster to boot). The episode attempts to end on an upbeat note, that Belt himself was actually sending news of his own sabotage to superiors to try and stop the entity.
In print, this sounds like a decent enough idea for The X-Files, but in execution, “Space” is defined by the terrible visual effects that permeate the episode. Belt and the mysterious entity that possesses him are shown multiple times with truly awful effects work, lifted from Cydonia, the small region on Mars that appeared to look like a face itself in early photographs.
To illustrate how bad the episode really is, even series creator Chris Carter (who wrote the episode) has derided it, reportedly calling it his least favorite in EW’s old “X Cyclopedia: The Ultimate Episode Guide.” Furthermore, “Space” boasts a 6.2 out of 10 rating on IMDB, the lowest score from any Season 1 episode and the fourth worst rating for an episode in the entire series.
It’s even clear from the ratings that the audience was turned off by this one; even though “Space” managed 10.7 million viewers, the next week’s episode (the much better mythology-centric “Fallen Angel”) fell to 8.8 million, a clear sign that people didn’t enjoy it. Luckily for The X-Files, they bounced back from “Space,” but the episode remains a major low point for the show as a whole.
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