Ice (The X-Files)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Ice


Caption = "Ice"
Series = The X-Files
Season = 1
Episode = 1X08
Airdate = November 5 1993 (Fox)
Production = 08-108
Writer = Glen Morgan
James Wong
Director = David Nutter
Guests = Xander Berkeley
Felicity Huffman
Steve Hytner
Jeff Kober
Ken Kirzinger
-
Prev = Ghost in the Machine
Next = Space

"Ice" is the eighth episode of the first season of "The X-Files" which was originally broadcast November 5 1993. It dealt with extraterrestrial parasitic organisms. It was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong and directed by David Nutter. Guest stars included Xander Berkeley and Felicity Huffman.

Plot

When an Arctic research team mysteriously kill each other and themselves only days after drilling deeper into the ice than ever before, Mulder and Scully accompany a team of doctors and scientists to investigate, consisting of Drs. Hodge, Da silva and Murphy. There they find the lone survivor: a dog. This dog attacks Mulder and bites their pilot, Bear. Bear becomes aggressive towards the rest of the crew, and they find a subcutaneous parasite in his neck. Dr. Hodge removes the parasite, but Bear dies. They find that this parasite lives in ammonia, and attacks its host's hypothalamus gland, causing amplified aggression and paranoia. They discover from data gathered by the previous team that they had discovered a meteor crater below the ice, as well as high levels of ammonia in the surrounding ice. They conclude that the parasite (Arctic Worm) lives came to the earth thousands of years ago from another planet that supports life through a ammonia based atmosphere.

When Dr. Murphy is found dead, with Mulder as the prime suspect, they lock Mulder away despite his pleas of innocence. This causes Scully, Hodge and Da Silva to suspect that someone, be it themselves or Mulder to be infected with the Arctic Worm. Da Silva and Hodge are sure that its Mulder, but Scully is not so sure.

During an accident in testing (two samples of infected blood are combined), Scully discovers that the way to defeat the Arctic Worm is to place two Worms inside one host. Two worms will not tolerate another inside a host, and they kill each other. They check over Mulder, and let him out of confinement. But a fracas ensues, and Da Silva locks Scully in Mulder's previous holding cell, and Da Silva and Hodge try to place a Worm in Mulder to cure him (as they believe that he is infected), but at the last second, Hodge sees that it is Da Silva, not Mulder who is infected. So Da Silva flees, Mulder frees Scully, and Hodge and the two agents subdue Da Silva and give her the worm, curing her.

A rescue team arrives, and takes Mulder, Scully, Hodge and Da Silva back to civilization, where they place Da Silva in protective quarantine. Mulder following up on his obsession with all things alien, says that he's going back to the Arctic base, this time fully prepared, but Hodge tells him that shortly after they left the military torched the base, destroying it.

Guests

* Xander Berkeley as Dr. Hodge
* Felicity Huffman as Dr. Nancy Da Silva
* Steve Hytner as Dr. Denny Murphy
* Jeff Kober as Bear
* Ken Kirzinger as Mr. Richter
* Sonny Surowiec as Mr. Campbell

Production notes

The overall setting of a remote icy research base overcome by an extraterrestrial creature is somewhat similar to that of the "Who Goes There?" novelette by John W. Campbell, as well as the movie "The Thing" directed by John Carpenter. Just as in the novelette and movie, people don't trust each other because they are unsure if they are what they seem to be. One of the team members in the episode is named Campbell, probably as a homage to the novelette author. The shots of the station are taken directly from the movie The Thing.

External links

*X-FilesWiki|Ice
*imdb episode|0751141|Ice
*Tv.com episode|498|Ice