"The X Files" Firewalker (1994)

Director:

David Nutter

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
Howard Gordon (written by)

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

18 November 1994 (Season 2, Episode 9)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

A distress signal is received from a volcano research team in the Cascades. The last captured image from their robot...

Plot Keywords:

Flare Gun As Weapon | Title Spoken By Character | FBI | FBI Agent | Alien

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Bradley Whitford	...	Daniel Trepkos
Leland Orser	...	Jason Ludwig
Shawnee Smith	...	Jessie O'Neil
Tuck Milligan	...	Dr. Adam Pierce
Hiro Kanagawa	...	Peter Tanaka
David Kaye	...	Reporter
David Lewis	...	Vosberg
Torben Rolfsen	...	Technician

Runtime:

Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Goofs:

Errors in geography: There is no Mt. Avalon in the Cascade Mountain Range.

Quotes:

Mulder: I'm going to find Trepkos.
Scully: What if he's already dead?
Mulder: Then he'll have a lot of trouble answering my questions.

A very good episode, unfairly dismissed as a 'remake' of "Ice"

Prior to this viewing, "Firewalker" was one of only five X-Files episodes I had only seen once. I figured there was no need to watch it again, because I found it neither bad nor good, and just boring. Imagine my surprise as I re-watched "Firewalker" and found it very entertaining, and actually a very good episode in every way.

If you've read any of my comments on "The X-Files" episodes you would know that I am not a fan of Howard Gordon (who would go on to become the boss at "24", a show I'm really not a fan of), especially with his former writing partner Alex Gansa, not that I like him much on his own either. I find his scripts to be generally flat and uninspired, and the dialogue to be fairly poor, which is something you can usually expect great things from when it comes to "The X-Files". With "Firewalker" I think he's done extremely well, in spite of the inconsistencies others have pointed out. I still prefer "Ice" (which certainly is very similar to this) because it's got an absolutely classic script with memorable dialogue, but "Firewalker" is still a fine episode.

"Firewalker" actually has a much stronger atmosphere (thanks to the creepy and mysterious volcano setting) and group of guest characters than "Ice" does. Another IMDb user noticed that you could read Trepko and Jesse's characters as parallels to Mulder and Scully, which is not only a sound observation, but something I can't believe I didn't pick up on. David Nutter (who also directed "Ice") returns and does a great job of creating genuinely claustrophobic atmosphere. The guest cast is outstanding as well.

"Firewalker" is not a great episode, but it's very good, almost surprisingly so, and deserves more credit than it gets.

8/10