That's probably why it came here. It had just used up the previous planet it was on, and now is searching for a new place to finish off...You know, it just hit me: Exactly WHY does the Thing assimilate people?
It is clearly sentient, so it doesn't do this just on instinct. Does it somehow get nourishment the more creatures it assimilates?
And if it DID somehow manage to infect every living creature on Earth, then it would have had nowhere to go from there. Surely it knew that?
IT'S BENNINGS!!!!
- Thread starter Rowdy Roddy McDowall
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You know, it just hit me: Exactly WHY does the Thing assimilate people?
It is clearly sentient, so it doesn't do this just on instinct. Does it somehow get nourishment the more creatures it assimilates?
And if it DID somehow manage to infect every living creature on Earth, then it would have had nowhere to go from there. Surely it knew that?
Look at it this way: he/she/it would no longer have to pay for a single thing, and there'd be countless descendants.
The Thing doesn't have a collective consciousness, does it? Can individuals who have been assimilated recognize each other as Things?
Well, yeah, but there must be a reason WHY it does this. There must be a reason it has to take over other liivng things. We just don't know what it is.
And as I said, the Thing must be intelligent and sentient, otherwise it couldn't possibly masquerade as the people it assimilates...
Well, yeah, but there must be a reason WHY it does this. There must be a reason it has to take over other liivng things. We just don't know what it is.
And as I said, the Thing must be intelligent and sentient, otherwise it couldn't possibly masquerade as the people it assimilates...
Presumably, yes. We never see a Thing-person try to assimilate another Thing-person.
In some ways, yes. And in other ways it just blatantly contradicts it.
You know, it just hit me: Exactly WHY does the Thing assimilate people?
It is clearly sentient, so it doesn't do this just on instinct. Does it somehow get nourishment the more creatures it assimilates?
And if it DID somehow manage to infect every living creature on Earth, then it would have had nowhere to go from there. Surely it knew that?
Blair thing was already building something that looked very much like a small flying saucer, that was just with parts from the chopper and whatever was lying around. I always presumed once it had infected humanity it would have built itself another saucer to leave (always assuming the Thing was what was flying the original saucer rather than a prisoner aboard it.)
As for why it assimilates people (and animals) I don't think we're supposed to understand it's reasoning. It's absolutely alien.
In '82, we see the Norwegians form a perimeter around part of the buried spaceship. They plant thermite charges and set them off.How so?
This never happens in '11, nor can it happen off-screen as the ship remains under ice until the finale when it starts to take off.
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I believe yes to both. After all, Norris, Palmer or Blair, separately or together, managed to implicate Copper, Clark and Garry to isolate the group further....and Macready somewhat later was framed. They won't necessarily fight for each other as they're stronger individuals now, but the hive-mind concept makes perfect sense even if Carpenter isn't as sure.
The day has come for me to properly divide into my two original beings....Windows and Sanders. Windows from the movie. Sanders from the book. I'm borrowing and reversing Seth Brundle's genetic mixer for that purpose tonight.
For those of you who never read Alan Dean Foster's fantastic tie-in THING adaptation, Sanders lasts a bit longer than Windows, but he has to take cyanide before the Blairmonster gets him. Many others die differently besides me. Bennings dies on a remote ice flow and only Mac and Childs see it. Fuchs gets the ax, Palmer literally inhales Copper's head, Nauls stabs himself in the neck and Garry is electrocuted. And Childs' disppearance is more dramatic.
Carpenter ran out of cash and had to streamline the ending somewhat. Anyway, cyanide is slightly better than being spaghettioed by a mutating pothead. Farewell....
Has anyone here read 'Who Goes There?' and/or 'Frozen Hell', the first draft of what would become 'Who. . .?' and does it match up with 'The Thing'?
I know Blumhouse has the rights to 'Frozen Hell' and expects to start production once the actors strike is over.
I know Blumhouse has the rights to 'Frozen Hell' and expects to start production once the actors strike is over.
@Windowsanders, I'm curious to hear your take on the '82 ending re: whether or not Mac and Childs are human or Things.
IMHO, they're both human. I highly doubt Kurt Russell would have intended Mac to be a Thing, and Childs (barely visible) is wearing an earring - and we know Things can't assimilate inorganic material like fillings, earrings, etc.
IMHO, they're both human. I highly doubt Kurt Russell would have intended Mac to be a Thing, and Childs (barely visible) is wearing an earring - and we know Things can't assimilate inorganic material like fillings, earrings, etc.
There's no reason they can't wear something the original wore though.
Clothing, yes. Earrings, no. Those pierce the skin and are thus unwearable by a Thing.
I've read both. "Who Goes There" is a tighter story. The additional material in "Frozen Hell" really didn't add much and would be of value only to completists (like myself). I would recommend the book of short stories named, appropriately enough, "Short Things".
As to how it "matches up" I'm not sure if you mean how close does the movie follow the story or just if it's as good. So, I'll answer both. The plot follows fairly closely, but some folks assimilated in the story weren't in the film and vice versa. This was intentional so that people who read the story wouldn't be able to anticipate the film. Is it as good? Well, the story was written 85 years ago, so bits of it seem somewhat archaic. But, still a damn good read.
I didn't realize we were talking about The Thing, I haven't watched it in a while. It's still one of my favorite movie endings of all time.
Have Carpenter or any of the other people involved ever said anything about if they had any ideas about whether or not one MacReady or Childs were a Thing?
Have Carpenter or any of the other people involved ever said anything about if they had any ideas about whether or not one MacReady or Childs were a Thing?
Why can't a Thing-person pierce their skin? (Or better yet, simply "grow" an opening in their ear?)
We saw Thing-people have their fingers cut, in what way is that different?
I just don't get the breath or "MacReady gives him something bad to drink" theories. The Thing imitates a person perfectly including their memories but it doesn't have working lungs, or can tell when it's given something noxious or deadly to drink?
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