Episode 2: Deep Throat

I apologize to those of you following me that I haven't kept these posts up.  I just didn't quite have the time I had hoped.  I will continue to post though and here is my analysis of the second episode.  I actually noticed that I had already written a bunch of notes on this one but just never got around to typing it up so here goes.

The episode starts with us seeing a SWAT team raiding a house where an air force test pilot has gone cuckoo.  Col Budahaus is found sitting in the fetal position in the corner in his whitey tighties covered with some sort of rash.  No comments are made as to what exactly his condition is other than "he's gonna need a doctor or something" and that the test pilots are apparently aware of the risks of flying "experimental aircraft".

"Col Budahaus"


So let's talk about what are some of the known side effects of the kind of stress that test pilots are exposed to.  Namely, could they cause rashes and psychosis?  Well this is a pretty easy one.  Stress can easily cause skin conditions including rashes and fever blisters.  And frankly, psychotic episodes are pretty common for people under a lot of stress as well.  Test pilots are typically less prone to these symptoms otherwise they wouldn't be able to be test pilots, but its not unheard of.  What kind of stress do typical test pilots have to deal with?  

Wikihow lists 5 easy steps (yeah right).

1. Obtain a Class I medical certificate:  This includes being off most if not all medications, never having a seizure, never having any issues with any internal organs, no history of mental issues involving psychosis, no criminal convictions, no illicit drug use, and a whole bunch of other stuff.  This is probably the hardest part for a lot of people.  You pretty much have to have a perfect medical and criminal history.
2. Become a professional pilot:  Yeah spend all the money to go through flight school and of course actually pass.
3. Have a background and passion for science: You're going to need at least a bachelor's probably in aeronautical engineering which includes lots of math and physics.
4. Good verbal and written communication skills: Lots of oral and written reports.
5. Go to test pilot school or join the military.

You can probably now see why Mulder saw so interested in the fact that multiple test pilots were suffering the same kinds of side effects as Col Budahaus.  These guys aren't supposed to crack under pressure.

Scully's hypothesis is that Budahaus is suffering from stereotypy.

A stereotypy is a repetitive or ritualistic movement, posture, or utterance. Stereotypies may be simple movements such as body rocking, or complex, such as self-caressing, crossing and uncrossing of legs, and marching in place.

 Scully mentions that POWs have been known to suffer from it and it has been studied in zoo animals.  The problem I seem to see with Scully's theory is that the information I can find seems to indicate that stereotypy is brought on as a way to release frustration or tension in captive animals or people in the case of POWs; however, there is nothing that seems to indicate that it could be brought on by extreme stress or anxiety.  The following distinction is mentioned on the wikipedia article however.

Like tics, stereotypies are patterned and periodic, and are made worse by fatigue, stress, and anxiety. Unlike tics, stereotypies usually begin before the age of three, involve more of the body, are more rhythmic and less random, and are associated more with engrossment in another activity rather than premonitory urges. Examples of early tics are things like blinking and throat clearing, while arm flapping is a more common stereotypy. Stereotypies do not have the ever-changing, waxing and waning nature of tics, and can remain constant for years. Tics are usually suppressible for brief periods; in contrast, children rarely consciously attempt to control a stereotypy, although they can be distracted from one.

So while stereotypy can be aggravated by stress, it doesn't appear to be caused by stress.  Scully also mentions something about tetronyl-D but I couldn't find anything online that explained what she was referring to.

"Sonic booms, stealth weaponry, etc"

Throughout the episode, Mulder and Scully hear sonic booms but when they look overhead, the planes are already gone.  This is perfectly normal, as is the existence of airforce bases that test experimental aircraft.  One question I still have though is could a sonic boom produce the kind of force need to bust out a car window?




ChaCha gave me my first answer:

The amount of force it takes to break a car window depends upon so many different factors it's impossible to give an exact number. Most windows are made of tempered glass, which is designed to hold over 200 lbs.

Ok but can a sonic boom break a car window?  The answer is of course yes.

"Lasers on the clouds"

Scully, upon seeing the lights says, "aircraft can't maneuver like that, could be lasers reflecting off the clouds."  Well first of all, its obvious from what we see that no aircraft we know of can maneuver the way the lights do in the episode.  But Scully's statement about them being lasers reflected on the clouds seems like a stretch to me.  I have personally seen lasers reflecting on clouds, but there don't appear to be any clouds in the sky during the episode, and if they were lasers, they wouldn't look like that.

"Ellen's Airbase"

Mulder mentions Ellen's Airbase as a place that has been rumored to have built planes using UFO technology.  I wasn't familiar with what he was referring to so I looked it up.  First of all the Aurora Project that Scully mentions I am somewhat familiar with, but Scully uses that as a possible non-UFO explanation of the events which I find ironic considering I have heard more theories about the Aurora Project involving UFO technology than not.

I found a lot of other stuff about experimental aircraft and top secret testing sites similar to Ellen's Airbase (which appears to be fictional), but instead of listing it all I'm linking a pretty thorough article from another avid phile.

"Immelmann turn that sustained 4Gs"

Mulder asks Col Budahaus a question about a pilot friend who claims he did an immelmann turn that sustained 4Gs and wants to know if that is possible.

What's an Immelmann turn?  Best show than try to explain.

As for the answer to the question... well I couldn't find anything too specific, but I looked up how many Gs the human body can endure and most places seem to agree that the untrained person can sustain around 5Gs of positive force so I'm going to say that the answer to Mulder's question is yes it is possible.  And heck just for fun here's some myth busters.

Col Budahaus can't seem to remember the answer however.  He remembers everything about his life except pretty much everything he ever learned as a pilot.  So now the question is does he suffer from selective amnesia or were his memories extracted.

Lacunar amnesia can occur and is the loss of memory about a specific event.  Usually brought on by severe trauma.  This doesn't seem to explain how memory of a specific skill or training can be extracted however.  As for removal of very specific memories, well this is pure science fiction.

Well that about does it for this episode.  It would seem that the explanation of pilots breaking under stress of top secret experimental aircraft is perfectly valid and everything we see in the episode seems to fit that explanation.  The only holes that can't be explained very well are the lights seen flying around and the very specific and selective memory loss experienced by Budahaus and later by Mulder.  But, just because something isn't publicly known doesn't mean the military isn't keeping it secret.

Introduction

I guess I should do a little intro here as well as to what this is all about and why I'm doing it. I am a long time fan of the show The X-Files and have watched it many times. Each time I watch the show through, I like to take notes on different topics. This time through I've decided to make notes about the scientific theories presented and do my own research on them to find out as much as I can about it. I plan of doing at least an episode a week.

One of the things that I like so much about the X-Files is that it is so real and believable even though it is presenting information that is obviously not true. I think a lot of that is due to the presentation of the scientific evidence. There is so much lazy science fiction out there that just expect you to believe whatever crap they make up without explaining it. The X-Files for the most part avoids this. Some episodes were not as good at this but for the most part I think they did a great job and my main goal here is to learn. I'm not a doctor or chemist or anything like that myself although I do know a lot about computers so for the most part I'm going to be looking at Google and Wikipedia for some of the info I present. As such I invite anyone who reads this and knows better or has input on it to please comment or contact me and I will update as needed. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

EDIT: After some feedback, I've decided it might be fun to also do these by request.  If anyone has a request for a specific episode just send me a message and I'll focus on those.  Otherwise I'll probably keep going in order.

Episode 1: The Pilot

The first scientific facts we are presented with here were hard for me to find much information on and I couldn't do much better than Scully at my attempt to explain them using conventional science. They come in the scene of Mulder and Scully's first meeting where Mulder presents her with the slide show of images representing evidence of alien abductions in Oregon. The first image is of two "distinct marks" on the body of a dead girl. He prefaces this image by saying the autopsy of the girl showed "Zero. Zip." I can only assume he is referencing cause of death because he then proceeds to show the evidence that was found. I'm going to approach these somewhat chronological but I will jump from topic to topic as well.

"Two Distinct Marks"

These marks show up as possible puncture wounds or insect bites. The inference is that they are the result of the abductees being experimented on by the aliens. There are plenty of other likely explanations for the wounds, however and without further knowledge there isn't much to see here. I did find some interesting information about marks of unknown origin showing up on people. If you are interested check them out here.

The next interesting fact is the substance found in the tissue around the wounds. This appears to really grab Scully's attention.

Now I must apologize but I only made it as far as Chem101 in college and I barely passed that class so all I really know about what I'm seeing here is it is a molecular diagram with the elements Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Carbon, Oxygen, and CH which is apparently a "highly reactive charged ion" according to Answer.com (yeah I know great source but so what, I'm not writing a term paper here). From Scully I learn that this is an Organic Compound, meaning that technically if it is known to man it should be one of the compounds found here. She also guesses that it is some sort of "synthetic protein". Synthetic meaning it is artificial or not natural in origin. In chemistry it is important to note the definition of synthesis is "formation of a compound from simpler compounds or elements. In other words Scully has no idea how this thing came to be. It is a protein because it appears to made up of a chain of amino acids.

UPDATE:  So I asked a friend who knows a little more about chemistry than myself about this and got a little more understanding.  He's not a professional chemist or anything but he is getting a degree in Biology so he's taken a lot more chemistry than me.  Anyway, I showed him the photo above and asked him to tell me everything he could deduce about what it was simply from the picture.  The follow conversation resulted:


Mike: Why do you want to know about this?
Is it a synthetic protein backbone?
me: what do you think it is?
Mike: cause that is a freakishly small protein
me: tell me everything you know about it. I don't know what it is at all.
Mike: Um...no
why are you asking?
It looks like a representation of a protein backbone
with weird symbols I have never seen
me: I'm trying to analyze how accurate some of the science stuff on the X-Files is
Mike: haha really?
me: what weird symbols?
Mike: I don't think I can analyze it enough to say it is valid
the thing on the bottom left
me: I think those are supposed to be electrons
Mike: Why would they chart electrons on there?
there are a ton of electrons that aren't showing
free radicals?
Mike: that is a protein backbone
or the bottom one there
alright you are right
it looks like an 0 with 4 dots...
me: I don't know, remember I barely passed Chem101
I just assumed
blind guess
Mike: yeah
They are showing unbound electrons
kind of pointless on that...but it is a normal protein backbone

Based on this conversation I would venture to guess that Chris Carter took a normal protein backbone diagram and maybe added some of the dots to make it look abnormal or unnatural... but he definitely did his homework.

The final detail about the marks is that they disappear as they do on Billy Miles at the end when he snaps out of his coma. Seeing as the marks were on all the victims seemingly long term, it is unlikely that they healed that rapidly. In fact it is safe to say that they were scars at that point. I've gotten bug bites that left scars before. So how could a scar or mark suddenly disappear? That fast I really don't know, but it would seem that the most common remedies for making scars go away are Aloe Vera and Vitamin E Oil. So maybe he had a really strong shake before running into the woods, or maybe a nurse started using a new body soap in his sponge baths.

(P.S. you'll notice that I'm avoiding the explanations that Mulder would have us believe and I'm doing so on purpose. The point of this exercise is to analyze the scientific validity of the evidence shown in the X-Files not to prove Mulder right.)

"Ray Soames"

Mulder and Scully order the exhumation of one Ray Soames', an alleged abductee and victim of similar nature to perform a post-mortem autopsy and see for themselves what might be the cause of these strange deaths. Upon exhuming the body they find not the body of a dead teenager but that of something else.

Scully's results from the autopsy are roughly the following. The body is 156cm in length (5 feet 1 inch) weighing 52 lbs (not sure why Scully jumps between metric and imperial units...) It has suffered decay and desiccation as one might expect having been in a coffin. It has large ocular cavities and an oblate cranium. Its species is mammalian, possibly a chimpanzee or other member of the ape family such as an Orangutan.

Well I don't have any arguments there. Although it is more likely an Orangutan who average around 5 feet in height whereas chimps average 3 to 4 feet. If it is a chimp then its a very tall one. The only other thing they find is a small metallic implant in the nasal cavity which is made of a material that can not be identified.

Well unidentifiable metals have been found before. Many of the stories seem to indicate that they originated in space. Either on mars or in meteors. Some examples of such stories can be found here, here, and here. There doesn't appear to be many cases that don't carry some sort of CT spin with them however. As for it being implanted, with medical procedures being what they are these days we don't really know why it was implanted but it isn't at all impossible. Could have been a new way to track the monkey as a wildlife study for all we know. Strange yes, caused by aliens, not likely.

The next section will look into the mental state of the victims.

"Other side affects"

Many of the kids who were allegedly abducted suffered other mental and physical side effects as a result of their experience. The dead monkey, Ray Soames suffered from clinical schizophrenia, an inability to grasp reality, and from some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder. Billy Miles lived on the veggie ward in a waking coma and Peggy O'Dell suffered from undescribed symptoms as well as paralysis as a result of a car crash. We know she has more than just paralysis wrong with her because when Mulder requests a cursory medical exam on her she gets irrationally upset and violent.

Peggy and another girl we meet named Teresa suffer from frequent unexplained nose bleeds.

Well schizophrenia and PSTD are kind of self-explanatory. But it is evident that they were brought on by some event that was extremely traumatic. The waking coma in Billy and Peggy's problems are blamed on the car accident. As for nosebleeds, there are many possible causes of them, one of which is indeed a foreign object in the nasal cavity, however if this were the cause, you'd think the doctors who took care of Peggy would have found and removed it so we can safely rule this out. Other causes from emedicinehealth.com which could explain them for Peggy and Teresa are: sinus infection, hay fever, vigorous nose blowing, cocaine use, inability of blood to clot due to illness or medications causing thinning of the blood, liver disease, vascular malformations, high blood pressure, the list goes on.

"Ash and Lost Time"

First of all lets talk ash. The ash Scully finds all over the ground at the abduction site is said to cover the ground and when it is analyzed it is also an unknown substance. Conveniently enough. I don't really know what we are expected to think it is. The foliage in the area isn't burnt so even if they are saying it came from the UFO they still aren't claiming that it burnt the plants or anything. Apparently it just leaves ash around like a molting parakeet? As for precedence... There is a city in Oregon called Ash but it is named after the Ash trees in the area. There are several potentially active volcanoes in Oregon, and the kids did say they were out camping. These are only a few things that come to mind. The only cases of ash covering an area that I could find were all volcano eruptions. So I guess the UFO is like an active volcano or something... Maybe its their burnt trash being dumped off. Next is Mulder's claim about lost time and the flash of light in the car which happens on the same spot where Mulder noticed interference early in the day.

The events surrounding this occurence are: static on the radio, electrical devices malfunctioning, "lost time" or the clock jumping ahead, a compass gone wacko, and a flash of light. These are obvious signs of some sort of electrical or magnetic event. The flash of light might lead one to think of lightening. Very possible due to the fact that it was raining, but remember the interference was there earlier as well. But the flash of light and the time jump didn't occur earlier. So here is an alternate hypothesis as opposed to alien abduction. The spot is characterized by some sort of magnetic or electrical charge much higher than usual. Caused by? Maybe a power station, some sort of natural build up of magentic metal in the earth (forgive me geologists) whatever. And as Mulder and Scully drive by there in the middle of a rain storm, a flash of lightening is attracted to the charge in the area and hits their car causing it to temporarily lose power and their watches to spin out of control just like their compasses. I know there's some holes, but the point is that there are other possible explanations here as well.

In conclusion, there are many pieces of scientific evidence and other facts used to tell the story of The Pilot. They do all appear to have precedence in the scientific world and they are accurate to the extent of their use in the episode. Many of them also have alternate and more likely explanations than being caused by alien abduction. All in all however, I think the Pilot did its homework very well in presenting its scientific facts. As an audience we aren't expected to suspend our beliefs in any kind of scientific facts we are simply asked to look at other explanations for their existence.