Ghost in the Machine

Season 1, Episode 7, Aired
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Episode Summary

A new intelligence gropes its way to life in the depths of wires and circuit boards - only to find itself perched on the edge of immediate extinction. When it fights back, killing Mulder's former partner in the process, he and Scully must find a way past its considerable defences.moreless
7.4
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Fan Episode Reviews (27)

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  • A rather primitive episode

    6.0
    "Fair"
    By UdithaDevapri, Jan 23, 2012 Report Abuse
    Although not one of my more favourite episodes, and I think fairly enough that its depiction of Artificial Intelligence was rather in poor taste, I also believe Ghost in the Machine did manage to have a convincing (though somewhat confusing) storyline. The best part lay in its portrayal of Scully as a strong figure - notice the resolute way she battles against the COS in the shaft (being the first time she uses a gun in the whole series). However, as stated before, I was rather disappointed in its main antagonist - the machine. As a monster-of-the-week it was unconvincing, mainly because it didn't look or feel particularly frightening. Although it had elaborate booby-traps and all, still for all I think instead of a virus, the COS could have been gotten rid of using a simple axe and bomb. However in fairness it was rather enjoyable, but when it comes to AI episodes in the series, it clearly pales in front of 'First Person Shooter' and 'Kill Switch'. A rather primitive episode, I may add.moreless

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  • The monster of the week may have been a Hal 9000 wannabe, but getting to see Scully barefoot made it all worth while for me. lol.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By MattMTRUSTNO1, Oct 22, 2011 Report Abuse
    To me Gillian Anderson is the most beautiful woman to ever walk the earth. I have always had a thing for Scully. She was my first crush when I first saw this show at the tender age of ten. She is responsible for my prefering women older than me.Anyhoo, not only am I completely gaga for Gillian, I also have a bit of a foot fetish. So any episode that involves a shoeless Scully is a-ok with me.
    I confess that I rather enjoyed the scene where a sockfooted Scully crawled around in the air vent. But what was even better was when Scully was asked to take off her shoes upon entering that guy's home.
    The plot may not have been all that great, and the monster of the week was nothing more than a Hal 9000 wannabe, and the storyline may not have been all that interesting, but getting to see a barefoot Scully made it all worth while. lol. I give this a ten out of ten. One point for each toe on Scully's lovely little feet. I realize my rating is way off, but what can I say, I'm smitten for Scully.moreless

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  • A hi-tech super computer reaches an unprecendented level of self-awarness and proceds to kill in order to survive.

    7.0
    "Good"
    By johndoe70, Jul 19, 2010 Report Abuse
    It is always a tricky business basing a speculative fiction tv episode around computers; the technology will quickly become dated and its hard to find the right balance between making it accurate, without alienating viewers who are not technology experts and still manage to tell a good story. This episode does an OK job, but could have been much better.

    The early 1990s computer technology, even with the sci-fi elements, cannot but help looked dated as this was made during an era when computers were just starting to transition into the CD-ROM medium and more mainstream people were just startinig to look at computers in terms of multi-media capabilities, CGI animated graphics, the Internet and making much more advanced and interactive games, such as Doom, Myst and 7th Guest.

    The basic ideas of a computer that becomes violent after becoming an artificial lifeform is not a new sci-fi plot element. It was done [better]
    in classic films such as 2001, Terminator and Tron. Granted, television presents itself different limitations in terms of budget, episode length and content restrictions. However, this super computer is not as well, 'super' as it needed to be to really sell the sci-fi elements, which attempt to raise serious questions about the potential dangers of new thinking technoology and the shadowy military-industrial complex.

    The computer's idealistic creator is a terrific character [played by a great actor] and the episode does feature a creative plot twist at the end. Yet, the murder of a fellow FBI agent does not produce much of an emotional response because we hardly know the character and some of the locations used, especially inside the office building, get a bit dull.moreless

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  • A learning computer - it's been done before, and the threat just isn't great enough to make this anywhere near a classic.

    7.5
    "Good"
    By qstevie, May 26, 2010 Report Abuse
    Some SPOILERS follow...



    It's a neat set-up and nowhere near as bad as it could have been, but it's just not that thrilling. Death by building - it's not like Eugene Tooms or some of the other threats that are really creepy. Maybe at the time it was made it showed up how computers might take over the world, but looking at it now it just seems slightly farfetched - and again, as in Independence Day, a floppy disk can take out a supercomputer?

    Obvious allusions to 2001 A Space Odyssey, especially towards the end. But even a learning computer would surely need to have the components installed first, so how does it 'learn' to talk, when its inventor clearly says there is no voice synthesizer installed. Surely it can only 'learn' through the technology of the machine and the software installed. It can't invent something new, or nip down the local store for an upgrade.

    I like the way they set up Mulder's old friend and partner as a good bad guy - nice enough but doing stuff that made you dislike him so that his eventual death was a kind of payoff.

    As someone else has already noted, the emergency brakes shouldn't have been overridden anyway, computer or no computer.

    A very dissatisfying episode, but it still holds your attention. It's only afterwards that you think of the holes! One of the few episodes of X Files to look quite dated (except for the cell phones in several episodes of course!).moreless

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  • Eurisco-I discover things

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By mrsKrycek, Apr 25, 2009 Report Abuse
    In Ghost in the machine a building is taken over by its operating system. Somehow it has learned how to think and now it is killing people. It kills one of the guys in charge who was trying to get rid of it. It kills mulder's friend (Nasty elevator accident). Mulder and scully try to break in to stop it. Harder than it sounds. It sees with the security cameras. The elevators have a bad habit of killing people and the vents aren't taht good either. Mulder has a virus taht he had to put into it's main 'Unit?' the only problem is getting there..moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Episode Title: The Ghost in the Machine May also be derived from the title of the book The Ghost in the Machine by Arthur Koestler, which also inspired the album by the band the Police and the franchise and cyber-punk anime series Ghost in the Shell. Edit
    • Scully uses her gun for the first time in this episode. She uses it to stop the fan blades in the vent shaft. Edit
    • Revealing Mistakes: Toward the end, when Mulder and Scully are climbing the stairs of the building to get to the main computer headquarters, Gillian Anderson trips on one of the stairs just before the lights go out. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • An early version of this episode's script had Lamana and Mulder recalling the bachelor party Mulder threw for his friend. Edit
    • Scully says her FBI ID# is '2317-616'. 616 is the area code for Grand Rapids, Michigan; where Gillian Anderson went to High School. Edit
    • Writer Howard Gordon once said that this episode qualifies as one of his biggest disappointments. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Deep Throat: You won't find him. Mulder: They can't just take a man like Brad Wilczek without an explanation. Deep Throat: *They* can do anything they want. Mulder: Where is he? Deep Throat: In the middle of what we in the trade call "hard bargaining". Mulder: Wilczek won't deal. He'll never work for them. Deep Throat: Loss of freedom does funny things to a man Edit
    • Scully: So the machine killed Drake out of self-defense? Mulder: Self-preservation. It's the primary instinct of all sentient beings. Scully: Mulder, that level of artificial intelligence is decades away from being realized. Mulder: Then why was our government trying to usurp Wilczek's research? Edit
    • Mulder: You're afraid of the government but you're willing to accept the risk that your machine will kill again. Wilczek: The lesser of two evils. Mulder: What about a third option. You created that machine. Now you tell me how to destroy it. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Plot & Characters: Tron The relationship between Brad Wilczek and Benjamin Drake is the inverse of that portrayed by Ed Dillinger and Dr. Walter Gibbs in the 1982 movie Tron. The difference is that in Tron, it was the executive (Dillinger) that created the rogue program. In an opening scene, Dillinger tells Gibbs, "Encom isn't the business you started in your garage anymore." Another similarity is work theft. In this episode, Agent Jerry Lamana steals some of Mulder's profile files. In Tron, Dillinger steals video game files from Kevin Flynn. Edit
    • Wilczek: I started Eurisko out of my parents' garage. I was 22 years old. I'd just spent a year following around the Grateful Dead. The Grateful Dead was an American jam band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band had a devoted fan base who called themselves Deadheads. Edit
    • COS: What are you doing, Brad? This line from the Eurisko computer and the way it sounds and speaks is reminiscent of Hal 9000, the insane computer from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Edit

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