Ghost in the Machine

From X-Files Wiki

Series:	The X-Files
Original Airdate:	October 29, 1993
Production Number:	1x06
Date(s):	Unknown
Written by:	Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon
Directed by:	Jerrold Freedman

The agents must survive in a building that is controlled by a murderous computer.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Background Information 3 Guest Cast 3.1 Guest Starring 3.2 Featuring 4 References

[edit] Summary

SUMMARY

[edit] Background Information

• This is the second episode in which Jerry Hardin appears as Deep Throat. This fact is significant, as the writers had originally intended for Hardin to appear only in the episode, "Deep Throat".

• In this episode, Scully's phone number is given as (202) 555-6431. 555 is the standard prefix used in movies and television series, as it is not used by the phone company and therefore helps to prevent people from receiving hoax calls.

• The original script features more action in an elevator shaft than the final episode does. At the last moment, the sequence was deemed too expensive and was subsequently replaced by the scenes where Scully is pulled toward the blades of a huge fan. According to producer Howard Gordon, who wrote the episode with partner Alex Gansa, the rotating fan blades "looked good, and it was a hell of a lot cheaper".

• In a successful attempt to stop the spinning fan blades in this episode, Scully uses her gun for the first time in the series.

• Writer Howard Gordon once called this episode "one of my biggest disappointments", feeling that the artificially intelligent computer was less well-defined than its predecessors in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Demon Seed. According to Gordon, "Fox felt it was a bit too pedestrian to be an X-file, and it was one of those instances where I'd have to agree with them".

[edit] Guest Cast

[edit] Guest Starring

• Jerry Hardin as Deep Throat
• Rob LaBelle as Brad Wilczek
• Wayne Duvall as Agent Jerry Lamana
• Blu Mankuma as Claude Peterson

[edit] Featuring

• Tom Butler as Drake
• Gillian Barber as Agent Jane Spiller
• Marc Baur as Man in Suit
• Bill Finck as Sandwich Man
• Theodore Thomas as Clyde

[edit] References

SEMICOLON-SEPARATED LIST OF ITEMS/LOCATIONS REFERENCED IN EPISODE (BUT NOT LINKED TO IF ALREADY LINKED IN SUMMARY OR GUEST STARS SECTIONS)

Previous episode: Shadows

The X-Files Season 1

Next episode: Ice