Spoilers The Ending of Carpenter's The Thing

And how does the Thing survive long enough in an acid environment to take over? It's a built in defense, hell with a little exposition from a human character we might find out it's a natural defense that developed to survive the Things. They could be from the same planet.

 

^ It doesn't take that long. A Thing only has to be in contact with its target for a few seconds to infect it. After that, even if the original Thing dies, it's too late.

 

And I'm saying that the acid is a natural defense that prevents the infection.

 

It's always been a bit ambiguous whether The Thing was a creature that replaced other organisms wholesale or an infection that converts them. From what I recall of the DVD commentaries & features even the cast & filmakers were still debating tht point during production.

So yeah, if it's the former then it's not likely to replace a xenomorph anytime soon. But if it's the latter then yes it probably could, acid or no acid. Remember that despite what some seem to think, the xeno's "molecular acid" doesn't burn though *everything*. I mean for one it doesn't burn through the xeno's own tissues and the outer skin of the creature itself isn't acidic. All the Thing would have to do is mimic the properties of it's skin and tissue and it'd be immune to the corrosive effects of it's blood. That's even assuming it hasn't already mimicked a creature in the past that has non-reactive tissues.

Not much of a story in this scenario though. I mean surely xeno's don't get paranoid so either they can sense a fake in their midst and tear it apart, or they don't and it just quietly infects the whole hive. Not much drama either way and we have no idea what would happen when one of these things fully infiltrates an ecosystem.
A Predator scenario has a little more potential since prey that can mimic any other creature would be extremely challenging to hunt and kill. But again it wouldn't make for an interesting story. This kind of hunting isn't much of a spectator sport. Just a lot of observing, maybe setting a trap or two.

Plus of course Things aren't really fighters like Xenos and Preds. They're parasites that generally only get aggressive when cornered. Don't get me wrong, from what we saw at the end with MacReady, they can be powerful when enraged, but they just don't have good instincts for a fight. They're more like ambush predators in that sense. It's all brute force and borderline frenzied panic. Half the time it seems like it's not trying to fight so much as intimidate and scare off it's attackers.

 

That's why it would make a better story with the aliens being immune to "infection" by the Things. With humans stuck in the middle as the only route for either creature to "reproduce", you have a fight. It even works with Prometheus as part ofthe setting. Maybe the grey giants from that movie had originally developed the xenomorphs as some kind of watchdog to fight the Things?

 

If humans are the only vector, then the aliens just kill all the humans. I mean it's not like they'd care if the humans all die, right? So both from the human and alien POVs it'd just be an indiscriminate slaughter.

 

Hmmm, seems a little nihilistic for the xenomorphs to just kill their only way to reproduce.

 

If a facehugger was to plant itself on a human-disguised Thing, I wonder which lifeform would be in for the bigger surprise...

Make it a video game, then all you need are the voices and likeness rights. The old PS2 sequel game rocked, but one today - done Alien Isolation style with Russell, David and Winstead - would be a must-buy.

 

They could call it "And Another Thing!"

 

Since that's what always happens when xenos reproduce, then...what's so surprising?

 

A life cycle based on that of the Ichneumon wasp. Not a good idea for it to eliminate all its potential hosts, of course, or it also goes extinct. However, it is ideal as a bioweapon if you want to sterilise a planet.

 

Where does The Blob fit into all of this?

 

Just to reiterate why I think Alien vs. The Thing is a non-conflict since it seems to have gotten lost in the minutia: Xenos don't suffer from paranoia. If they detect a foreign presence they'll either kill it or impregnate it. If they can't, then they won't and the whole nest will be converted. The End.

Because they're otherwise so very upbeat and optimistic? You're also assuming they care or are capable of thinking about their future beyond the immediate, instinct (read: program) driven actions.

Exactly. Why people persist in attributing "natural" behaviour to a creature that was always conceived as artificial is beyond me. There's a reason bombs and bullets generally don't have long term self preservation instincts, much less plans for the future.

The Blob is basically The Thing with a *really* bad hangover.

 

Um, doesn't that shoot down your own argument that the xenomorphs would just kill the humans?

And why would the xenomorphs need to "suffer from paranoia" to be in conflict with the Things? We've seen in pretty much every movie that they'll attack any living creature it can find either to impregnate or kill. Why would it suddenly give the Things a pass? There's your conflict.

Do you really think if you put a Thing, a xenomorph, and a human in a locked room you'd find them playing cards with each other after an hour?

 

I want a movie that explores this hypothesis!

 

I think that was when we were talking about having the Predators in the mix as well. Point being, they're there's no drama in worrying about who's been turned and who hasn't if one were to go on the assumption that the Thing can't mimic a xeno. It would make very little to no difference to the xeno, they're going to kill/impregnate them all either way.

Again, as I explained already the point of 'The Thing' as a dramatic foil is that they're infiltrators, not fighters. Similar in a sense to pod people and thus the drama is derived from which one of "us" is secretly one of "them". That is utterly irrelevant to a third party like the xenos.

That all said, I got the mildly amusing mental image of a human, all cocooned up and as the face hugger leaps at them, the head splits in two like a giant filled mouth that's just a mass of teeth and crazy tendrils and chomps it in one bite. What happens next depends on whether the thing has mimicked a creature with non-reactive tissue before. If not then that head promptly dissolves which the body freaks out, splits into five pieces and skittles away.

It's a fun image, but it's not like you can build much of a narrative around it.

Where exactly did I say anything of the sort?

 

Every time you say that there would be "no conflict". The "conflict" of the story is these poor humans caught in the middle of this pair of meat grinders. It's not Shakespeare mind you, but it sounds damn exciting to see how things would turn out.

 

Reminds me of those "Alien Vs. Predator" posters where they're playing pool or chess.

 

If the bulk of the creature is intact, it can endure. Blood on its own--that will jump away from a hot needle. A thing getting a tattoo would keep it together.

There was an image of a facehugger latched on the the spider-headed Norris thing over at Outpost#31, which is a great site dedicated to THE THING. I can't find it now

Here is an example--before Bottin became involved, Carpenter's thing would have looked like this:
http://www.outpost31.com/movie/dalekuipers.shtml
http://thethingfan.fr.yuku.com/topic/4176/The-Thing-Abilities-and-Limitations#.WEw5VtIrKUk


The acid blood probably would be a stumbling block--but who can say?

To me--a more interesting question would involve a fight between The Thing and The Blob

The thing is very complex--the blob--rather simple.

Would the Blob simply break down The Thing like everything else--or would The Thing absorb it like a big culture dish of nutrients?

 

I thought it was kind of clear that the Thing infected and assimilated other creatures instead of merely creating imitations. Look at what it was doing to Bennings. It had its' tentacles going all through him while he was resisting painfully.

Basically the Thing envelops you and spits you back out. Except now the "you" is another Thing. It takes your mass and infects/converts it.