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"Space" is the ninth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. It premiered on the Fox network on November 12, 1993. It was written by series creator Chris Carter, directed by William Graham, and featured guest appearances by Ed Lauter and Susanna Thompson. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Space" earned a Nielsen household rating of 6.5, being watched by 6.1 million households in its initial broadcast, and received negative reviews from critics. The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. When investigating possible sabotage in NASA's shuttle program, Mulder and Scully find that an astronaut who had been Mulder's childhood hero may be possessed by an extraterrestrial spirit. Series creator Chris Carter was inspired to write "Space" after reading about news of the "face on Mars"—an instance of pareidolia wherein a mound in the Cydonia region of Mars was taken to resemble a human face. The episode was conceived as a low-budget bottle episode, due to several earlier episodes having exceeded their budgets. Although the episode made use of a significant amount of inexpensive stock footage from NASA, the construction of the command center set was subject to cost overruns, eventually leading the episode to become the most expensive of the first season. ==Plot== The episode opens with news footage from 1977, showing the discovery of water on Mars and a face sculpted into the planet's landscape. Lt. Col. Marcus Aurelius Belt (Ed Lauter), the commander of the mission, is plagued by flashbacks of an encounter with the disembodied face during a spacewalk. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are approached by Michelle Generoo (Susanna Thompson), a communications commander for NASA's Mission Control. Generoo believes that someone within NASA is sabotaging launch attempts. A recent space shuttle liftoff was aborted seconds before commencement, and Generoo fears that the next launch will be similarly compromised. She also has a personal interest, as her fiancé will be aboard the next mission. Mulder and Scully travel to NASA and meet Belt, a childhood hero of Mulder's. Belt, who now manages the shuttle program, dismisses the agents' concerns and states that nothing can possibly go wrong with the mission. He allows the agents to watch the launch from Mission Control. However, contact is lost with the shuttle once in orbit. While driving with Mulder and Scully to Mission Control, Generoo sees the face come at her through the windshield, causing her to crash her car. The shuttle has moved into direct sunlight and Mission Control is unable to rotate it into a safe position, putting the astronauts' lives in danger. Generoo believes that the uplink is being sabotaged. Belt orders the uplink to be cut, allowing the astronauts to rotate the craft manually. Over the objections of Generoo and the agents, Belt orders the mission to proceed and lies to the press about its progress. Belt tells Mulder that the shuttle program may be cancelled if the mission is not completed successfully. Belt returns home and has another flashback, screaming as an astral presence leaves his body and flies out the window, heading into the sky. The astronauts then report hearing a thump outside the shuttle and begin to experience an oxygen leak. One of them reports seeing a ghostlike entity outside the ship. The agents examine NASA records and find evidence that Belt played a role in other failed missions, including the ''Challenger'' disaster. Belt collapses, saying the astral force had lived inside his body and possessed him. At his urging, they alert the shuttle to change its trajectory and are able to land it successfully. In the hospital, Belt continues to wrestle with the presence, and eventually leaps from the window to his death, experiencing a lengthy flashback to his last space mission as he falls. Mulder theorizes that, while Belt was compelled to sabotage the launches by the entity possessing him, he was also the one who sent Generoo the evidence of what was taking place. He lauds Belt's final sacrifice, stating that in the end he gave his life for the mission, as befits a true astronaut.〔Lowry, pp.120–121〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Space (The X-Files)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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