Aparently the guy who built the program reeased it onto the world via the 'net , so how was this program able to build all of those computers in that trailer? How would it get all of those parts out to there? Then how did it build them?

Robots, Chris, robots and the net. It probably
stole someone's credit card number and ordered a
bunch of 'puters

Actually, this is a very good episode. Much better than Chinga. Gibson's style is much more in the X-Files vein, and this was very true to Gibson -- must have been very little editing...

I agree, this was a very good ep. I especially
liked the part where the computer-generated
Scully came in the room and started karate-kicking
all the nurses. Speaking of which, on the Dana
Scully/Gillian Anderson sites tere has been a bit
of controversy whether, apropos Kill Switch, her
middle inatiel actually stands for Katherine. :-)
If you didn't get that, i'm not going to tell you.
Speaking of Chinga, I've really started to
dislike it, mainly because of a girl at church.
She has a doll that looks exactly like Chinga, and
at coffee hour she waits until I'm reading my book
or something, then comes up behind me, thrusts it
in my face and says, "I want to play!" It's very
annoying.

Invisigoth/Esther Nairn has a very striking appearance - clad from head to toe in skintight leather, a nose ring, and raccoon-like eye makeup. In a heroin-chic kind of way, she looks stylish. What I don't understand is the WHY-after all, her main concern is staying alive, and going unnoticed by the program. Plus, I cannot imagine her outfit is very comfortable.

Cause she's a hacker. It is a certain mentality of breaking away from society, of
living on the edge that we... I mean, *she* posseses. :-O

I think it was a pretty good disguise. Just looking at her, would you think she was a computer genius? Plus, she probably didn't look that way when she had her driver's license picture, etc., taken.

The best place to hide something is in plain sight.

Yes, she does look like a computer nerd. Look at the Lone Gunmen!

That's typical Gibson cyberpunk dress/appearance.

Well, ScottN, I have never read Gibson, so I will take your word for it. OK, I get the picture. Esther's appearance begins to make sense for the purposes of disguising herself.

But her outfit STILL looks uncomfortable!

I like Roger Ebert's alternative name for cyberpunk - hacksploitation.

Since when has fashion, whatever style, supposed to be practical? Just look at those bulimic waifs wearing those ridiculous clothes down the catwalks of Milan each year. Yes, I can just see myself popping down the shops in one of those numbers.

Ugh. I prefer the nose rings.

I wonder how much of her programming time she pents futily in the jim and shopping for make up

She would have to use *cash* because checks and credit cards could be monitored by the evil computer. It's not like she had much else to do.

I love he name (Ester). IMHO it is one of the funniest sceenes in the episode.

if this nit has been established, disregard this post.

over a week ago i was watching this episode and something struck me as weird. as scully chases esther after she shocked mulder, he doesn't pursue her. upon recovering mulder decides to look around. i'm no cop and all my police knowlegde comes from t.v. but shouldn't mulder have followed scully especially after hearing a shot.

Tom Carissimi has very high praise for this ep and gives it his top rating.

I'd just like to comment that I'm surprised they never figured out the Kill Switch CD password. It was 12 characters... personally, I'd have at least tried "twilighttime", the name of the song also present on the CD.

Those particle beams that were destroying everything---a few points.

First, whoever owned them should have noticed that they were being used. Since placing weapons in space would be a treaty violation for anyone who could do it (this not being the realm of SPECTRE), the owners should have shut the system down to prevent detection (and further unauthorized use). (I suppose that they might have been Soviet, and been "lost". . .)

Next, the particle beams are mentioned with "Brilliant Pebbles". Just to clarify, these things aren't Brilliant Pebbles; Brilliant Pebbles are small, highly maneuverable satellites that are designed to throw themselves into the path of ballistic missles (at high speeds, missles go boom).

Finally, there seems to be some association of this weapon system with the Strategic Defense Initiative, i.e., with anti-ballistic missle technology. Why would an anti-ballistic missle system, presumably designed to take out ICBMs and SLBMs, be capable of destroying targest on the ground with precision of within a few meters?

I also found the opening scene entertaining, but implausible. The diner was filled with criminals out for blood and two agressive Marshals. Fine, violence is likely, but it's going to be one-sided---the criminals will shoot the Marshals and then assess the threat from their fellow diner patrons, and the Marshals will shoot people with guns out. With 4-to-1 odds against the law (and the criminals likely to shoot first) there shouldn't have been many bullets flying into the back of the diner; if Gelman had hit the floor as soon as the Marshals announced their presence, he should have been fine. Moreover, Gelman was only one keystroke away from finishing, and had presumably been paranoid (not using the phone, etc.) for a month; he should have been leaning on that return key, anxious to be done. Instead, he paused when the Marshals burst in, giving him a chance to die.

Why would an anti-ballistic missle system, presumably designed to take out ICBMs and SLBMs, be capable of destroying targest on the ground with precision of within a few meters?

Side effect of the ability to target a missile moving at several thousand miles per hour with a precision of less than a few meters? (you miss an ICBM by a few meters, and a city is slagged).

When Mulder and Scully first discover Invisigoth/Esther in the cargo container she claims they are violating her constitutional rights. She was found trespassing at the docks; it's doubtful she owned the container for security purposes, and there's already probable cause to at least look for the thing; finding someone inside negates the need for a search warrant. She's also likely using an illegal internet connection, and is the only connection to the unexplained incident at the diner. I'm sure she was just saying that to let M&S know that she is at least somewhat aware she has rights but there's still no violation that I could see.

I may have missed it but I don't recall anyone pointing out that M&S have encountered AI before; a little continuity could've been achieved by one line and a nice touch.

TWS: The diner was filled with criminals out for blood and two aggressive Marshals... if Gelman had hit the floor as soon as the Marshals announced their presence, he should have been fine...
Good points TWS, and if I may add to them it's doubtful the marshals would've simply burst in through the front door without at least checking their options first. That whole situation seemed very contrived.