First, we need to briefly recap the X-Files episode in question and how this special effect was used. “Fallen Angel” has Mulder trying to investigate a UFO crash, but he is initially foiled by the military personnel who are charged with securing the area. He finds an unexpected ally in the form of alien abduction survivor and conspiracy theorist Max Fenig, but that may not be enough to stop the show’s deadliest threat yet: a deadly alien whose invisible nature makes him nearly impossible to stop.
As you may have suspected, the invisible alien in this X-Files episode is the focus of the special effect we are discussing. Onscreen, the effect looked great, and all of the effects throughout the episode look impressively polished. They look especially good compared to the previous episode “Space,” where the closest thing to a decent effect was all the recycled NASA footage.