Welcome to the South Pole.

[Trekker4747]

Here's your orientation literature.

Link

Pretty funny stuff.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I don't have time to read that now, but there was a show on one of the science channels not too long ago about life at the South Pole. It was very interesting indeed. I especially liked how people would hang out in the greenhouse just to be around all the plants. I imagine it's a preview of what life will be like at some of the first off-Earth outposts.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

The multiple reviews of 'The Thing' were hilarious, especially 'Man is the Warmest Place to Hide.'

http://www.bigdeadplace.com/the_thing05.html

Homoeroticism:
Besides the Tagline, none, especially when you consider the fact that you have twelve men living together several thousand miles from the nearest woman. This is sort of understandable, because with the exception of Russell and Keith David, the most attractive man in the base is Wilford Brimley.

Corpse Count:
Counting the five dogs that get it, 17 deaths happen on screen. Which is very low. However, when you realize that out of twelve characters, ten die, the Corpse Count Percentage is through the roof! Even higher when you factor in the two Norwegians who get killed. So, out of fourteen humans, two live, giving us a kill rate of 86%, Not too shabby. Factoring in the dogs, that figure rises to 89%. Plus, only two people die by the gun. Everyone else is either burned to death, or eaten by an alien. Awesome.

In fact, I had my doubts about putting it in the Ruthless Guide to 80s Action at all. It is basically here only because when they take the alien corpses outside to burn them, they douse them with gasoline and then hit them with a flamethrower! Just dropping a match would be pretentious, cinema verite shit. Seriously, the almost constant use of flamethrowers is the equivalent of Peckinpah's double blood pack philosophy.

Novelty Death:
Wow. So many to choose from. The dog getting attacked by the alien's silly-string is pretty good, but the best has to be when Dr. Cooper is trying to resuscitate Norris with those electro-chest shocker things (you know, "clear!") and Norris's chest turns into a giant saber-toothed mouth and bites his arms off. That was fucking inspired.

Stupid Political Content:
None. Well, I'm sure Kurt Russell's snow-sombrero is offensive to Mexicans in some way, but I'm just not sure how.

 

[Trekker4747]

Their reviews inspired me to buy and watch "The Thing" - a movie I've not seen since I was a kid.

God, what a fucking fantastic movie. One of the 80's "sci-fi/horror" genre's best, fantastic work by Carpenter and just an awesome movie.

I had no idea Antarctica was so well stocked with flame-throwers. South Pole research must be fascinating.

It's so awesome the X-Files ripped it off. That says something.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Yeah, it's a classic, and one of my favorites. Carpenter had a great run in the 80s.

 

[MIB]

Does anyone else think it would be freaking awesome to serve a year's stint at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station? Or am I just really that insane to actually want to spend that long in a place that has no sunlight for 6 months out of the year?

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I don't know about the South Pole station (too bland and unchanging for me) but one of the coastal stations like McMurdo might be interesting. I've always wanted to visit Antarctica, but I doubt you can truly know how you would react to spending a year there until you've actually done it.

 

[RJDiogenes]

It seems like a fantastic adventure when you read about it or watch it on TV; something about these remote outposts is very Romantic, in the broad sense. However, I don't really do well in the cold.

 

[Colonel Midnight]

I don't know about the South Pole station (too bland and unchanging for me) but one of the coastal stations like McMurdo might be interesting. I've always wanted to visit Antarctica, but I doubt you can truly know how you would react to spending a year there until you've actually done it.

You're actually required to be psychologically screened when you sign up for either the year-long or 'winter crew' contracts.

When I was on the icebreaker, I talked to a bunch of the winter crew folks -- they were a bit... odd. One of them admitted that the place seemed to be for all the people out there who didn't "fit" into the rest of the world, and just "fall to the bottom".

So, yeah, sign me up!

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[Kryton]

The "snow-sombrero" qualifies Kurt to be in Trek XI!