Customer Reviews

The X-Files: Conduit/Ice [VHS]

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This X-Files VHS contains two episodes, both with original airdates in 1993. I like the VHS because it contains commentary by X-Files creator Chris Carter. The commentary airs before the show, and does contain a bit of spoiler, but if you have already seen these episodes years ago on TV, watching the commentary enhances the viewing experience.

"Conduit" - A teenage girl with a reputation for running away has disappeared from her trailer home. Her mother has a reputation as a crackpot who believes in UFO's, so the police are not taking her story that her daughter was taken by aliens seriously. The mother's only ally is Mulder, who is instantly reminded of his sister's disappearance twenty-one years ago. The girl's little brother is receiving strange transmissions from the TV that might hold clues to his sister's disappearance.

This episode gives us a look into what drives Mulder to believe, even as he is haunted by his missing sister.

"Ice" - The scarier of the two episodes. In a nail-biter inspired by "The Thing," Mulder and Scully are sent to an Arctic research station to investigate what happened when a group of geophysicists mysteriously spiraled out of control psychologically. Three scientists accompany the agents.

Excellent acting in this episode especially.

Both episodes have sweet beginnings of Mulder and Scully romance, as well as tight, superbly executed scripts that are what made the early X-Files such an amazing and standout show.

As a die-hard fan of "X-Files", I have always had a fondness for "Conduit", one of the very earliest episodes. This is a thoughtful and somewhat melancholy story which gives some of the first background about the disappearance of Mulder's sister when they were kids, and how that event continues to play into Mulder's adult life. This ep has some lovely "X-Filey" images: bikers riding in the woods at night; Kevin Morris' haunting drawing of the missing Ruby; the white wolves at the lake campsite; Mulder contemplating a snapshot of Samantha at the end. It's also nice to see Carrie Snodgress (who, sadly, just passed away) in the lead guest role. "Conduit" is a more emotional and introspective story, while "Ice" is more of an action/thriller. "Ice" is also a good ep, but I've always thought it to be overrated in the series. It IS derivative of "The Thing" - not that that's so awful (after all, "Conduit" samples "Poltergeist"). But the "science" of the writers' premise keeps falling into rather large plot holes, the guest characters are somewhat paint-by-numbers, the CGI effects leave something to be desired, and the identity of the "villain" is really not set up effectively, so to me it's just not as good an ep as it's often made out to be. The increasing paranoia of the characters is done well though (which helps to disguise the weaknesses in the story), and director David Nutter does a terrific job with the claustrophobic location - the ep looks just great. I would recommend this tape to someone who's unfamiliar with the show and wants to start at or near the beginning, but I think the other two tapes in Wave 1 ("Pilot"/"Deep Throat" and "Fallen Angel"/"Eve") are stronger.

I am going to give a summary of Ice because frankly, I don't care about Conduit. Mulder, Scully, Two Doctors and a Geologist fly up to an Arctic outpost to investigate several girsly deaths. Almost immidietly, the pilot is killed by a worm like parasite that controlls it's host's mind. A storm suddenly hits the post and the rest are stranded with the worms. I won't say anything else because I would ruin the episode. I will say buy this tape over every other one.

Conduit is a very intense movie. But, I really liked Ice the best, I have the box set (vol.I) and this is definately the best episode. Scully and Mulder are both in this episode, it is really cool. The acting is superb. It's not that scarry, but it is really interesting. Ice is my personal fave!

With its setting reminiscent of the classic "Thing from the Other World" and the slam-bang fight scene between two possessed Artic scientists, "Ice" is the one show that made me an staunch fan of Agents Mulder and Scully.

NO other single episode has the tenseness, the brilliant acting by the principals and guest performers, and the sharp writing and direction such a standard for this outstanding series.

"Ice" is COOL that makes it one HOT property!

This tape contains two of the best episodes of X-Files ever aired. In "Conduit", it appears that a teenage girl is the subject of an alien abduction. The supposed abduction takes place at a lake in western Iowa and it turns out that the mother was a witness to a UFO sighting years before. This generates an interest in the case in Mulder and so Scully and Mulder travel to the site.
As they delve into the case, they find that the abducted girl is no angel and they are told that she ran away because she was pregnant. However, when Mulder and Scully find the shallow grave of the man who supposedly got her pregnant, it becomes a murder case and they quickly find the perpetrator. However, at the end, there is physical evidence that the girl was exposed to prolonged weightlessness.
What makes this episode work is that at one point you are certain that it was an alien abduction yet there are events that drive you to believe that it is a simple case of a jealous girlfriend committing a double murder. Such situations are when X-Files is at its best, as you don't know until the end whether there is a normal explanation.
"Ice" relies heavily on the "worms in the ear" plot device used so effectively in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." A scientific team is drilling ice core samples in a glacier in Alaska and their drill encounters a meteorite. When the core sample brings up worms embedded in the meteorite, they reanimate and infect the scientists. The worms cause violent paranoid behavior, leading to the scientists killing each other and themselves. Before the last one of them dies, they are able to send a distress signal.
Mulder and Scully are part of a team flown in to investigate and they discover the carnage and soon identify the worm. When their pilot is infected, they remove the parasite, which leads to his death. This causes all remaining members of the team to become extremely paranoid and suspicious of each other; even Mulder and Scully are at odds.
Mulder discovers the body of a team member and he is suspected of being infected, so he is locked up. When Scully discovers a cure for the infestation, they try to perform it on Mulder. However, he resists because the cure is a second infestation of the host. At the last moment, the team realizes who is infected and all remaining team members are saved.
The tremendous creepiness of the worms crawling in the ear is what makes this episode work, Scenes involving the movement of the worms are difficult to watch; yet they are too attractive to ignore. This episode is one that you can watch several times without finding it dull.

I dont know what it was but conduit just wasnt that great of an episode, but it still wasnt a bad one either. But the money maker for this tape has to be ICE. Ice is about a parasite that gets into the back of people necks and can infect others with it. And of course mulder and scully, and a few other people are trapped in with whoever has it in their neck. i wont say who, but this episode is in my top 5. But i would say only rent it, because of conduit braught this tape down, if they would of replaced conduit with eve or something like that this would be perfect

I have owned this video for almost four years now and this evening I decided to watch it for only the second time, I was asked by my college to analyse a piece of audio/video media text and being a fan, decided to use this episode.

Having studied closely the lighting and camera techniques used in the 'Conduit' episode for the last three and a half hours, not to mention the plot and entire script, I feel that this video explores Mulders emotions towards his sisters abduction thoroughly and would highly recommend it to any new viewers.