Ice

Season 1, Episode 8, Aired
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Episode Summary

When an Arctic research team mysteriously kills 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. They discover an organism which infects living creatures and amplifies the host's feeling of anger and paranoia, and the new team starts to deteriorate as they wonder who among them are killers.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (39)

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  • My first X-Files ever

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By elanouil, Feb 04, 2012 Report Abuse
    This is the first episode of the x-files I have ever watched back in the days. This is a really well written, played and directed scary story. Just watched it again recently and this episode has not aged a single bit compared to most of the episodes of the first season. Great episode to get into the xfiles

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  • The catch phrase from this episode, "We are not who we are", has echoed down the seasons with an increasing resonance as we encountered the strangers-behind-the-masks in "Shapeshifter", "Irresistible", and Colony/Endgame". Issues of trust and faith are central to "The X-Files", and never more so than in this early and revealing episode.moreless

    8.0
    "Great"
    By MattMTRUSTNO1, Sep 17, 2011 Report Abuse

    When it first aired, "Ice" was part of a younger, considerably less sure-of-itself show. Viewers had had little insight into the characters of Mulder and Scully, and even less into their personal relationship. The first time I saw it, I was disappointed with the imitative plot, but the texture and richness of the characterizations gave it a depth unusual in television prime time.
    By now, virtually everyone is aware that "Ice" borrows heavily from John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?", which was subsequently made into two movies, both called "The Thing". With minor variations, the story is the same: an alien menace frozen in the polar ice for thousands, perhaps millions of years, is accidentally uncovered by a research team. The organism invades its host, turning the victim into a stealth killer while retaining the outward human form. It becomes impossible to tell who is friend and who is foe, even by reliance on that oldest of human skills, intuitive understanding of another human being. The puzzle becomes a race against time to flush the alien killer from hiding before all the humans are killed off one at a time. Granted that it is a familiar story, there is an artful subtext here that transcends the contrivance.
    From the riveting opening sequences, where a fight to the death becomes a mutual suicide pact between two desperate men, this is a very tight story of paranoia and trust. We have seldom seen so claustrophobic a setting in which to work out the dynamics of a relationship. For Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, this is the first real crisis testing their professional and personal relationship. Kudos to Glen Morgan and Jim Wong (may their shadows never grow less) for a subtler script than would appear on the surface. Two absolutely legendary scenes in this episode define the X- Files team's alliance and their interdependence better than anything else in the first season shows.
    The first scene, where Dana Scully and Fox Mulder are caught up in the paranoia of the situation, has them actually holding guns on one another. In most professional law enforcement relationships, this would be the end of this partnership. Few law enforcement agents could ever again work with a partner who had aimed a loaded weapon at them. In this excruciatingly intense scene, anger, fear, and something deeper than mere disappointment wash across David Duchovny's face to show us the struggle taking place within Fox Mulder. At last we see him really giving way to an emotion connected with his partner. Significantly, it is Agent "Trust No One" Mulder who lowers his weapon first. After those first few moments, he never again believes Dana Scully is infected by the alien organism, although clearly she believes he is. For such an innately suspicious man, it is a remarkable act of faith. In the same scene, Gillian Anderson gives us a highly emotional Agent Scully, struggling courageously to maintain her calm and her reason in the face of overwhelming fear. Remember, Mulder is supposed to have had several years of confronting the highly unusual and the downright spooky: Dana Scully is still getting used to the idea that this is not all some weird practical joke of Mulder's. When the mortal danger of her situation finally sinks home, her normal cool facade falls away. We see her true qualities begin to shine through: courage, determination, her trust of science, and most of all a commitment to justice. She will not, for example, make Mulder an involuntary guinea pig if there is some other way. At risk to herself, she goes in alone to his holding cell to try to reason with him.
    The scene between Mulder and Scully in the holding cell is incandescent. Scully's barely masked terror, Mulder's anger at and absolute trust in her, are two of the high points not of the scene or even the episode, but of the series. This is a crucial moment in the character's lives, when they will lose or re-establish the trust that binds them as investigators and as friends. I remember that on my initial viewing, I was astounded at the depth Anderson and Duchovny achieved with so few lines, such a short scene. If I had not been an admirer of the show until then, I would have been afterwards. Their mutual physical examination radiated a repressed sensuality that spoke of the unacknowledged attraction between the two, while witnessing a fundamental trust that words could not have accomplished. It was a superb combination of writing and acting, the first indication (to me) that this show had extraordinary staying power.
    Interestingly, it is the team which does not question one another, Dr. Hodge and Dr. DaSilva, which is flawed at the heart. From the outset these two present a united front against the government agents they distrust, yet as the crisis deepens their fragile alliance, built on cynicism and a shared enemy, begins to fragment. Yet until the very last, Hodge is willing to trust Dr. DaSilva more than anyone else. His basic mistake is that his allegiance is based on the idea that the enemy of my enemy is my friend; Mulder and Scully's partnership is based on faith in one another. Like mirror twins, each pair reverses the image of the other.
    I think of the scene when, after re-establishing their belief in one another, Mulder and Scully stand in the doorway of the holding cell, clearly a team, clearly together again as partners and friends. Like paired electrons, Scully and Mulder spin in opposite directions yet are tightly bound in their mutual (if eccentric) orbit around their search for truth. It takes enormous energy to pull them apart, and the result is likely to generate both heat and light.
    If it had had a more original script, this would have earned a 10. As it is, the mounting tension, taut writing, excellent characterisations, and outstanding acting earn it a strong 8.moreless

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  • My favourite X-Files episode!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By shonedwards, May 11, 2011 Report Abuse
    This is hands down, my favourite X-Files episode. I love episodes with small casts, limited sets, etc. It demands a lot from the actors, I'm sure, but when done well, I feel like they're really going to their full potential. (One other example of this type of idea is a Star Trek original series episode entitled "The Tholian Web", where the Enterprise crew are trying to rescue Kirk from an inter-dimensional world before the alien Tholians complete their web, ensnaring the Enterprise.) I really have difficulty saying, besides that, why this is my favourite episode, but would give it a perfect 10 any day.moreless

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  • a tribute to " The Thing "

    10
    "Perfect"
    By KennyRogersLove, Sep 03, 2010 Report Abuse
    This starts out well, set in Alaska, reminiscent of John Carpenters 'The Thing' - you see a bloodied man in front of a camera, giving a chilling warning message 'we're not who we are!' - this sets the tone for the whole episode. Cold, dark and chilling!!!

    We see Mulder and Scully watching a tape dated 5 Nov. 1993 (Bonfire night for those of us in the UK) - how did the tape get to them so soon? Who went in and retrieved it? Or was it sent via video link?

    Scully wearing a white duffel coat, (she's bound to get lost in a snowstorm). at the airport, given that they're travelling over another country would they need to go through passport control??

    The team of 'experts' start to catalogue who was where, etc Scully takes photos. A dog out of nowhere attacks Mulder and is helped by the Pilot, who gets bitten you know right there, that the Pilot isn't going to last long.
    Checking out the dog, they find black nodules, was any of them wearing gloves while examining the dog?

    Someone suggests it could be the Bubonic plague, but then something is crawling/moving under the skin of the dog again, you can see fear starting to creep in.

    Murphy the geo-physicist finds organisms in the drilled ice core samples, that had started to melt how though???, given that it must be really really cold in Alaska (well it was 13 years ago, okay today it's gotten warmer)

    The atmosphere builds, especially the pilot who seems tetchy/edgy, he refuses to give a blood/stool sample to find out if he's infected you definitely know he's not long for this world, time is definitely running out for him, the others try to calm the situation and it seems as though he would give the sample until he smashes the empty jar over Mulders head which did not mark Mulder at all!
    When glass hits skin, it cuts and the skull has a rich supply of blood going to it, so therefore you'd expect lots of blood pouring out from a wound.. somehow Mulder doesn't get cut! Not a scratch.. who is he? Mr Invincible?

    This is the first time I noticed Mulder getting panicky on the radio, when they extract the organism from the pilot, the worm is alive, but the pilot isn't.. well you knew it was coming.. - So we've learnt that, when retrieving an organism from a host by extraction, the organism kills the host by releasing a toxin.. nice!

    The scientists discuss their theories, and reason out why the organism makes the host aggressive The infection rate is pretty quick, within a matter of hours, the organism seems to take control of your body. Does Ebola work as fast?

    Mulder and Scully argue, it's clear that the situation is stressing everyone out, even 'checking out' each other doesn't alleviate the situation, Scully barricades herself in the room of one of the dead crew.
    Personally I would have done the same.
    Everyone is scared and nervous, Mulder wakes up hearing a noise, he has to investigate (typical Mulder, hear a noise and rush off in search of the source)
    Mulder checks out the lab area, hears/sees the dripping blood from the freezer, as he opens it a dead Murphy falls out (throat cut?) and Scully arrives with Hodge (which to me sounded like Hajj)
    So who is the killer? whoever did it would be covered in blood, you cut a main artery, and you know the blood will come spurting out.

    Scully, being Scully defends Mulder to the hilt, the situation escalates, and becomes a very tense stand-off with guns pointing at people .. Mulder relinquishes his weapon and is locked in the store room.
    DeSilva and Hodge working on the blood samples under the microscope .. communication between the two becomes edgy, DeSilva apparently mixed the wrong batch together, and Hodge spits the dummy. If the guy wanted a job doing, he should've done it himself! pointless having a go at someone else.
    Scully looks the slide with the blood on and notices that the two worms are killing each other. Aha! So they've found a possible cure!

    Taking a worm they try the test out on the infected dog What would Animal Rights have to say about that?! however it works and the dog passes the dead worms out in it's stools, so clearly a fair few hours would've passed by??
    Only one worm left it's for Mulder - oh dear....
    Scully convinces to the other two to allow for her to persuade Mulder to take the worm voluntarily. Mulder telling Scully he's not infected and that if she gave him the worm she'd be infecting him.. Scully rechecks Mulder for the worm he's clear.
    Obviously their partnership is still in it's infancy, so Mulder isn't sure whether Scully is who she says she is. He roughly grabs hold of her to check her, Scully is shocked by his actions we now know they're both clear.

    Scully tells DeSilva and Hodge, that Mulder's not infected, they're having none of it and decide to carry on with the plan. Sigh of relief when thankfully Hodge notices that DeSilva's infected, thus saving Mulder. DeSilva bolts, Mulder instinctively releases Scully from her 'prison' and Hodge picks up the worm.
    Mulder chases after DeSilva with Scully hot on his heals, he wrestles DeSilva to the ground, Scully holding her down, whilst Hodge gives the last worm to DeSilva.
    How and when did she get infected?

    I must say I was disappointed that more people didn't die, 4 survivors and one dog. Even 'The Thing' had two guys trying to keep warm at the end, after 'defeating the enemy'.. leaving the viewer wondering did they make out it out alive?
    The last scene at the air strip, Mulder still wants to go back there and uncover more of the truth and you can see the disappointment on his face when he's told the place has been torched.. so no real investigation can take place, the story of Mulder's life.

    I liked this episode, I love science fiction and I liked the premise of the 'The Thing from another world' scenario. Again Mulder and Scully's characters want to trust each other, even in a tense situation they still respect each other even in those very early days of their partnership.

    I give this a tense and gripping 10 out of 10.moreless

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  • Mulder and Scully find themselves trapped on a base in Alaska with a group of scientists trying to investigate why the previous team went crazy and killed eachother. There they find a parasitic worm that infects people, turning them into aggressive killemoreless

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By Parae434, Aug 30, 2010 Report Abuse
    This, in my opinion, is the first great X-file. The first seven episodes, while on some levels interesting, are all rather boring and weak. Not this one. This one hits just the right notes and is very tense and suspenseful.

    One of the highlites here is how intense Mulder and Scully's relationship plays out, really for the first time. The scenes where Scully has to wonder whether or not Mulder is infected kept me on the edge of my seat.

    Another thing that made this episode work are the notable guest actors Felicity Huffman of "Desperate Houswives" and Xander Berkley of (insert ANY show here)moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Principal setting: Icy Cape, Alaska. Edit
    • Continuity: When Scully is tossing the clips outside, you can see Dr. Da Silva's sleeves are bunched up. When the shot changes back, her sleeves are down. Edit
    • Prop goof: In this episode, Mulder is carrying around a Glock 19. When the caged dog startles him and he raises his weapon, there is the sound of a hammer being cocked. However, the Glock has an internal hammer, so the only way to cock it is by pulling the trigger or racking the slide. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • The character of Campbell was named after John W. Campbell, Jr. who was the author of the sci-fi classic Who Goes There? on which the plot of this episode is loosely based. The story was adapted for the films The Thing From Another World (1951) and The Thing (1982). Edit
    • The character of Richter is played by Ken Kirzinger, the stunt coordinator during the early seasons of the show. Edit
    • Previous episodes had gone slightly over budget, so Fox asked the producers to create an episode that was set in a confined space so only one set had to be built. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Mulder: It's still there, Scully. 200,000 years down in the ice. Scully: Leave it there. Edit
    • Scully: Come take a look at this. The larvae from two different worms killed each other. An individual worm will not tolerate another invading it's host. It does to the invader what it did to humans. It makes them kill. Hodge: It doesn't make sense for a species to kill its own, it needs another to procreate. Dasilva: Worms are hermaphroditic. It can reproduce itself. Edit
    • Scully: Mulder, if we don't kill it now, we run the risk of becoming Richter and Campbell with guns to our heads. Mulder: But if we do kill it now, we may never know how to stop it or anything like it in the future. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Literary Reference: Othello The words "we are not who we are" may have be inspired by Shakespeare's Othello. Edit
    • Episode Plot: Hidden creature in arctic base The plot of this episode is an homage to the John Carpenter movie The Thing (1982) which in turn was inspired by the classic science fiction film The Thing From Another World (1951). Several features of the episode follow the 1982 movie including the mistrust and paranoia of people at the base, the locking up infection suspects, the attempts (by visual exam and blood work) to somehow prove who is who, or in this case who is not who he is. Edit

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