THE THING (2011): Discussion, Spoilers, Reviews

[Galileo7]

NJOberheim wrote:

---

Or, maybe the writers took some artistic freedom just to set things up for a possibe sequel. Maybe Kate, McGready, and Childs some how find each other and they make their way to the Russian camp.

Agreed.

[Trekker4747]

Moodib wrote:

---

1982's movie was NOT THE ORIGINAL!

The original was made in 1951 called The Thing from Another World, while that movie was good it was a poor adaptation of the book "Who Goes There" by John Campbell because they had to make it a bit romantic and they didn't have the right technology for special effects to make the creature a shapeshifter, instead we got a killer carrot vampire alien.

1982's version had better improved technology and was the quintessential faithful adaptation of the novel as it finally had the shapeshifter including the characters from the book.

Why, thank you Captain Pedantic!

For the purposes of this movie and this discussion Carpenter's version is "the original" as this movie is direct prequel to it and the 1950s movie is immaterial and irrelevant to this discussion, hell it's irrelevant to any discussion about Carpenter's version. In fact, as you noted, the two movies are so different that comparing the two is, well, silly.

For all intents and purposes -especially in this conversation- Carpenter's movie is "the original." Also, note in my post the use of quotes around "original" which should imply that I'm acknowledging that the Carpenter '82 version isn't the original but it is in the context of this discussion.

I like this idea, but at the same time I'm not sure how they'd pull off having Childs and McReady in any possible future movie without re-casting the parts or using an obviously very aged Russell and Keith David and, frankly, I don't think you can recast Russell.

[OsmiumJohnnycake]

Every time I referred to Carpenter's version as "the original" in the back of my mind I wondered if someone was going to object to that. But yeah, in this context, discussing a prequel, I think it's fair to call Carpenter's version the original. The 2011 version is not even remotely interested in the 1950s version and treats the 1982 film as the original.

[Trekker4747]

I'd say for all intents and purposes the Carpenter one is "the original", the 1950s one is hardly related at all and can pretty much be considered a completely different movie/"franchise."

I mean if we're really going to get nitpicky about something not being original because some movie was made half a century ago for teenagers to neck to then there's a lot of movies that aren't "originals."

[Admiral2]

Can I put in my "I liked all three" vote now or do we all need to kvetch about this some more?

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Trekker4747 wrote:

---

I mean if we're really going to get nitpicky about something not being original because some movie was made half a century ago for teenagers to neck to...

Hawks' movie was considerably more sophisticated than drive-in fare, kid.

[davejames]

I don't know why, but for some reason I've always seen Carpenter's movie as being a sort of vague sequel to the 1950s movie, with the Norwegian camp standing in for the camp of the original movie.

Especially when we see that video footage of them standing around the spaceship like that.

Not sure if that was Carpenter's intention, but it certainly feels that way to me.

[Admiral2]

My Name Is Legion wrote:

---

Hawks' movie was considerably more sophisticated than drive-in fare, kid.

Indeed. It is well-written and acted, fast-paced, drop-dead funny in some moments and all-round great fifties sci-fi. The only thing the 1982 movie has over it is a faithfulness to the original story. If that's all you care about, fine, but the lack of faithfulness doesn't mean The Thing From Another World is irrelevant to any conversation.

[getpat2]

Hi all, saw THE THING last night. Hoping someone on the forum can explain a few things to me.

(SPOILER ALERTS BEWARE)


At the end, the woman is about to get into the helicopter with the pilot to go to the Russian base.

1) She then blasts him with a flamer because she knew he was an alien because the "earring was in the wrong ear." (did I hear that correctly?) If this is so, 1) why did she head with him in the ice mover to the spacecraft location in the first place? 2) and, if the pilot was an alien, why did he save her from one of the creatures while underground near the spacecraft? 3) and if the pilot were alien, then after she doused him with the flamer, why didn't the alien emerge from the body (albeit on fire) as it was torched? or 4) are we to believe that SHE was the alien and just torched the pilot?

And then she jumps into the other ice mover and leaves. What became of her?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I did enjoy the movie but must say the "original-original" THING, 1951, is my all-time favorite movie. For what it was when it was, it is a classic!

Thanks!

[Spaceman Spiff]

Admiral2 wrote:

---

Indeed. It is well-written and acted, fast-paced, drop-dead funny in some moments and all-round great fifties sci-fi. The only thing the 1982 movie has over it is a faithfulness to the original story. If that's all you care about, fine, but the lack of faithfulness doesn't mean The Thing From Another World is irrelevant to any conversation.

Exactly. I enjoy both movies very much, albeit for different reasons.

It's annoying to keep having to qualify it just to keep pedants at bay.

On a related subject, people who insist on pointing out that Frankenstein is the scientist and not the monster need a few thousand volts, themselves.

[Trekker4747]

My Name Is Legion wrote:

---

Hawks' movie was considerably more sophisticated than drive-in fare, kid.

Yeah, I know. I was being more broad in my statements that was probably necessary.

[Mike Farley]

It wasn't that the earring was in the wrong ear, it was MISSING because the Thing couldn't duplicate non-organic material. Her suspicions were double confirmed when she asked about the earring and he reached for the wrong ear.

He wasn't taken over by the alien until after they entered the alien ship.

As written, Kate was supposed to unambiguously die, walking off into the freezing wasteland. The studio changed it to leave her fate up in the air, presumably for a possible sequel.

[OsmiumJohnnycake]

getpat2 wrote:

---

Hi all, saw THE THING last night. Hoping someone on the forum can explain a few things to me.

(SPOILER ALERTS BEWARE)


At the end, the woman is about to get into the helicopter with the pilot to go to the Russian base.

1) She then blasts him with a flamer because she knew he was an alien because the "earring was in the wrong ear." (did I hear that correctly?) If this is so, 1) why did she head with him in the ice mover to the spacecraft location in the first place? 2) and, if the pilot was an alien, why did he save her from one of the creatures while underground near the spacecraft? 3) and if the pilot were alien, then after she doused him with the flamer, why didn't the alien emerge from the body (albeit on fire) as it was torched? or 4) are we to believe that SHE was the alien and just torched the pilot?

And then she jumps into the other ice mover and leaves. What became of her?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I did enjoy the movie but must say the "original-original" THING, 1951, is my all-time favorite movie. For what it was when it was, it is a classic!

Thanks!

I thought he was wearing the earring when they got in the snowcat (or whatever those things are - it wasn't a helicopter) and during the time they got separated, something happened. True, he didn't squeal or anything. Maybe she was wrong about him. At that point she wasn't taking any chances.

And it wasn't the Russian base they were headed to, it was the spaceship so they could kill the Thing before they died, basically.

Afterwards, who knows? If she's human, she likely dies (unless she can survive until the Norwegians send out a search party for the helicopter they sent out at the end*). If she's an alien, she can't make it far before she freezes. If there's a sequel, she's who the Russians are going to find in the ice.

*Which is possibly the only flaw I see that the prequel introduces - in the 1982 film, one assumes the helicopter seen at the beginning is just one that's normally at the Norwegian base. In the prequel, they show it's one that arrives to pick up the woman (I guess?) and take her back to some other base where she'll catch a flight home. Yet there is no search party for that helicopter, which I guess you can blame on the storm in the 1982 version. So right there I answered my own question and it's not a hole and nevermind.

Edited to add: Mike Farley is right about the earring. It's that it was missing and there was no noticeable tear which would be there if it had been ripped out or hole if he had taken it out. Although there's no reason I can see why an alien couldn't intentionally duplicate the hole at least, unless its ability to shapeshift is limited only to the DNA and shifting/mixing the stuff it absorbs and it isn't able to make slight alterations. But again, she wasn't taking any chances.

[Trekker4747]

getpat2 wrote:

---

At the end, the woman is about to get into the helicopter with the pilot to go to the Russian base.

She was getting into a snow-tank/tuck with him not a helicopter.

1) She then blasts him with a flamer because she knew he was an alien because the "earring was in the wrong ear." (did I hear that correctly?) If this is so, 1) why did she head with him in the ice mover to the spacecraft location in the first place?

When she first gets into the truck with him the camera is just behind is ear, showing the earring, and we see her in the B/G noticing this and getting into the truck. At the end we're shown that he no longer has the earring indicating he is now a Thing, this is when she talks to him and blasts him away.

2) and, if the pilot was an alien, why did he save her from one of the creatures while underground near the spacecraft?

The things show themselves to be very adaptable and deceitful. This is mostly noteworthy in the original as the things try to convince others they're fine. This is probably most noteworthy with Blair who tries to talk his way back inside while at the same time building a spaceship under the shack. The alien may have been trying to gain MEW's trust to further its goals.

3) and if the pilot were alien, then after she doused him with the flamer, why didn't the alien emerge from the body (albeit on fire) as it was torched?

The alien may have been trying to continue its ruse or maybe we're to believe that he really was the actual guy but the aura of distrust and horror of events had soured MEW to everything and she had torched an innocent man.

or 4) are we to believe that SHE was the alien and just torched the pilot?

I doubt we're supposed to believe this and there's little evidence in the movie she was ever killed or duplicated.

And then she jumps into the other ice mover and leaves. What became of her?

We don't know at this point. One one hand we can say her fate is as unknown as what happens to Giles and MacReady after the Carpenter movie. On the other hand its inferred the snow-trucks have the gas to reach a nearby Russian base which she'd probably head for and we'd see the results of that in a sequel if one is to be made.

Traveling 50 miles in that truck, depending on its speed and terrain, probably would have taken a couple of hours and that's assuming she even has a direction to go in. She's probably there by the time the Carpenter movie "starts" and whatever adventure or events happens there would occur during the course of the first movie's time line (spanning several days.) It's possible, that the events could be times to allow also for the survivors of the Carpenter movie to meet up with her and the Russian base.

[getpat2]

Mike Farley wrote:

---

It wasn't that the earring was in the wrong ear, it was MISSING because the Thing couldn't duplicate non-organic material. Her suspicions were double confirmed when she asked about the earring and he reached for the wrong ear.

He wasn't taken over by the alien until after they entered the alien ship.

As written, Kate was supposed to unambiguously die, walking off into the freezing wasteland. The studio changed it to leave her fate up in the air, presumably for a possible sequel.

Geez, since I don't recall that we see him being taken over by the alien after they entered the spacecraft, is it just her coming to that conclusion as they were getting ready to get back into the helicopter and she didn't see an earring? And so, I still wonder why, after she torched him, didn't the alien break out of the body as it was burning? Thanks!