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.