To understand why The X-Files showrunner hated “Space” so much, you need to know a bit more about the episode itself. This was a story where Mulder and Scully were investigating who was delaying the launch of NASA shuttles.
In the show’s typical spooky fashion, though, it soon becomes clear that something more is going on, and all of this may be connected to one astronaut’s encounter long ago with a malevolent force in outer space.
With the plot out of the way, just what did Chris Carter dislike so much about this episode? For one thing, he resented how the episode’s tight budget meant that his vision “wasn’t realized in the proper way.”
He acknowledged that it was the “least successful” show, though he remains convinced that what he wrote “wasn’t a bad story,” just one held back by the bad effects.