German title: Der Zweite Koerper
translation: The Second Body
French title: Corps Astral
translation: Astral Body
Italian title: Fuori dal corpo
US Airdate: November 10, 1995
writer: John Shiban
director: Rob Bowman
STARRING:
David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully
Guest Cast:
Frances Callahan ...... Andrea Barclay
Quinton "Roach" Freely ...... Willie Garson
Army Doctor ...... Deryl Hayes
General Thomas Callahan ...... Thomas Kopache
Trevor Callahan ..... Brennan Kotowich
Amputee ..... Rob Lee
Ward Nurse ...... Paula Shaw
Captain Janet Draper ..... Nancy Sorel
Lt. Colonel Victor Stans ...... Don Thompson
Leonard "Rappo" Trimble ..... Ian Tracey
Burly Nurse ..... Beatrice Zeilinger
SOLDIERS IN A VETERANS HOSPITAL ARE TORMENTED BY AN INVISIBLE PRESENCE THAT ATTACKS
THEIR LOVED ONES AND TAUNTS THEM BY THWARTING THEIR SUICIDE ATTEMPTS.
Several inmates at a veteran's hospital have attempted suicide recently, with varying
degrees of success. Mulder and Scully come into the case on the strength of Mulder's
curiosity about the latest effort, prevented, so the inmate says, by an invisible man. The
men, all veterans of the Gulf War, are afraid of something that walks where no man can
walk, that sees them no matter where they hide, and seems to know all their secrets.
Mulder and Scully's investigation uncovers tragedies hidden from the official record, a
General more afraid of the truth than of war, and the bizarre retribution of a man whose
spirit is larger than his body.
Notes
The title refers to the "phantom soldier" and its
"walk", created by the mind of Leonard 'Rappo' Trimble, a Gulf War veteran
quadraplegic.
Actor Ian Tracey is NOT a quadraplegic, his legs and arms were removed digitally with
special effects. Believable looking though, very...
Quotes
____________________
Mulder: "What? We didn't sign in at the front desk?"
Leonard: "You got that... 'I'm freakin out' look on your face...What's the
matter?"
Roach: "It's nothing."
Leonard: "Bull. I spent 2 years with your sorry ass in a gun turret, I think I
know when you got something on your mind. C'mon Private, make your report!"
Mulder: "No, what I can't figure out is why a man who's so deliberately and
methodically set out to commit suicide would leave the one entrance to the room unsecured.
But then again I obviously have a feeble grasp of army protocol and procedure."
Leonard: "How's that? Oh, he's only the guy that turned me into second base by
getting my arms and legs blown off. Other than that he was a real good guy."
The countdown had stalled at 'T' minus 69 seconds when Desiree, the first
female ape to go up in space, winked at me slyly and pouted her thick,
rubbery lips unmistakably -- the first of many such advances during what
would prove to be the longest, and most memorable, space voyage of my
career. Winning sentence, 1985 Bulwer-Lytton bad fiction contest.