THE THING - confused about something

I always read that scene as the thing being surprised by the chest pains. It's as if the real Norris had a heart condition, but the thing had no way of knowing that when it replaced or absorbed him or whatever. The heart condition then starts acting up, taking the thing completely by surprise. I could be way off on that one, though.

There's also the question of why Palmer would point out the alien head ("You gotta be fuckin' kidding...") if he wasn't a perfect imitation.

The way I always took it was that it knows what it is. After all, it's smart enough to become "the thing" when it's threatened or an opportunity presents itself, like when the dog goes to visit Norris, or Blair finds Garry alone. Till then it's just playing along like a perfect copy.

Sure, but it could have waited as the dog too. But, i think the THING still had that need to "assimilate" more lifeforms.

I believe that's exactly what it was doing. It didn't like being zapped so it defended itself out of instinct.

I also figured that anytime the Thing is betrayed by another assimilated copy (like Palmer) it was doing so to gain the trust of the people around it. Sort of a "Hey would I point that out if I was one of them?" kind of thing.

The movie's not full of watertight logic; it's a paranoid nightmare, so the rules are bound to shift to suit the narrative a bit.

(Heston never notices all them apes are speaking english, either.)

I thought the heart attack was him dying while turning into the thing from the inside out.

John Carpenter himself doesn't always know who the thing is when he watches the movie.

these questions are what make The Thing great. it's so ambiguous that everything is open to interpretation. since each cell of the thing acts independantly (yet still part of the whole) it would make sense for palmer to call out the escaping head spider because it knew that that spider had little chance of surviving. yet if palmer managed to successfully integrate himself he could make it to the mainland.

the thing almost operates like an ant colony. each respective ant plays a part in the greater good of the colony without question. each respective cell of the thing is like an ant. it instinctively knows (and never questions) what it has to do in order for the other ants to survive. it only reacts when it is in immediate danger (the head escaping the flame thrower, norris' stomach eating the defibulator. blair attempting to stop them from blowing the dynamite) it's only interest is to survive.

I think you could take that scene one of three ways:

1) Norris had a heart condition while human in that window scene, then got taken over and duplicated by the Thing, including the heart condition

2) The Thing had taken over several people and thought that sacrificing Norris might make the others think they got it.

3) The "Thingified" Norris was not conscious of being alien, while the Thing within (as it were) began making "alterations" to his innards, the Norris Consciousness thought it was a heart problem

The Thing really seems to operate out of instinct to survive, not out of any kind of intellect as we would understand it. Does it really "know" how to build a spaceship, or did it simply absorb the specs for one from the spaceship's former pilot?

Great post! I'd add that (as I remember it) the group pretty much saw that "Head Crab" at the same time, Palmer had maybe a few seconds notice ahead of the others. Head Crab wasn't trying for being inconspicuous, being in the middle of the door way and all.

probably the latter, I've always considered it and intergalactic parasite

probably infected the alien crew, crash landed on earth, frozen for centuries, then thawed out be exploring humans

something else to chew on I found googling

never considered that theory and i like it. the alien crew crash landed in a desolate area in hopes of killing the thing that was onboard.

Except that scene on the wall isn't Norris.

I saw 'The Thing' yesterday at a digital screening (Universal are showing 5 films digitally in the UK for some reason) and it looked fucking stunning. One thing is clear though, and it's that the shadow isn't Norris. In actual fact the shadow was played by a crew member on set, and you can clearly see that he doesn't have the fat face that Norris has.

From what I can tell general fan chatter seems (And by that I mean Outpost 31) seem to make the assumption that it's Palmer who gets assimilated then (Though there is the argument to be made that it should've taken Childs at some point as well, given that they bunk up together). The reasoning for that is given the timeline of the rest of the film, Palmer isn't left alone at any other point long enough to be assimilated.

Still, the shadow on the wall has always irked me, mainly BECAUSE it's so obtuse. If they had just had the Dog walk into someone's room then I think the point would've been made well enough.

For me the bigger mystery is when exactly does Blair get taken over? I don't think he's become assimilated when he's tearing up the radio room, I just think he's aware of the damage the Thing can do before anyone else is and it drives him a little mad.

But as with 'Prince Of Darkness' things fall apart a bit when they're looked at too closely. Whether it's deliberate or unintentional there's always counter evidence to whatever point you try to speculate on.

Lets not mention Windows amazing antiseptic jeans.

That screening yesterday is probably one of the best things I have ever seen.

Man it looked good.

Didn't it just? Did you get any dropouts at your showing? Occasionally the screen would go to black for a fraction of a second. It wasn't for very long but it was noticeable. It did it when I went to see 'From Russia with Love' as well.

Nope, nothing visually wrong at all - but then I guess if i'd blinked I might have missed it? Tom Logan rightly pointed out a lack of surround sound which I found a bit jarring. The sound quality was exquisite though, so I couldn't complain.

I saw it yeterday too, and it did look absolutely stunning. I'm so pleased I had the chance. Such a great, great movie.

Speaking of Blair I love the ambiguity created by that scene where Blair says he's all better and wants to come back inside..all the while a noose hangs in the background. You could take that either of two ways:

a. Blair was assimilated outside while preparing for suicide and BlairThing is trying to trick them

or

b. He just really wants to get back in to further ensure no one escapes.

I've always favored a over b but it's one of the little details that I love about the film itself.

Again technically it's none of them since it was a stunt man that was used (So Carpenter can create more confusion). There was also an uber geeky thread somewhere where someone used profile shots from the film of the cast and compared it to the shadow. The whole point of that scene is to show *SOMEONE* is assimilated, not necessarily *WHO* is assimilated.

As for Blair, I thought he was taken out AFTER he'd been put into the shack. If he is The Thing beforehand his motives don't make any sense (Why run the computer simulation if he was assimilated?). Even freaking out was a risky move as he risked the men just killing him.

Again though, the film doesn't actually hold much logic, and there's not really enough evidence in the film to support anyone's claims. It's also a problem that hampers 'Prince of Darkness' (On the commentary Carpenter admits that the green goo etc holds so significance at all and was just put into the film because it "looked cool").

If you start taking the novelization/script into account then you might get some answers. But using the film itself just brings you up to a brick wall.

The original Thing was a Cold War allegory. Carpenter's deals with disease. I always interpreted that the thing taking you over was akin to a cancer. So you didn't know you were the thing. The beast inside reacted and activated itself when its host was attacked. So Windows discovers he's the thing when they burn his blood. And so on. It eventually takes over completely when it needs to (that's the case with Blair).

Looking at it that way has always worked for me. Try it.

Fuck. Another double dip in the Blu-Ray/DVD fiasco. Worth every penny though. Has anyone actually READ the novelization? I'd like their take.

This animal is so beautiful. Let's rip it to pieces to see what's inside.

Right, because shadows are exact recreations, and incapable of being distorted by quirks of lighting and shadow.

Sorry for the faux pas. I meant Palmer not Windows.

I meant outside as in outside in the shack.

I always figured Norris didn't take the leadership because of the focus he would get because of it. It's much harder to take over and assimilate people if everyone is looking toward you for what to do next. He'd just get too much attention.

That's really my two cents anyway.

But it's inexact, and deliberately so, so why lose sleep over it? There isn't a "canon" answer endorsed by the filmmaker, and as you point out, it can really only be two of them, so just pick one and go with it.

Shake That Bear.

Do you mean the film novelization or the original source material ('Who Goes There?')?...I have both sitting not five feet from me as I type.

Both vary from the film.

That's signature worthy.

[QUOTE=James;2696153
As for Blair, I thought he was taken out AFTER he'd been put into the shack. If he is The Thing beforehand his motives don't make any sense (Why run the computer simulation if he was assimilated?). Even freaking out was a risky move as he risked the men just killing him..[/QUOTE]



Maybe he wanted to be locked up so he could build the space ship without anyone knowing.

Here's a crazy idea - Does it really matter?

Can't it just not make according-to-Hoyle exact sense as long as Carpenter is simply putting together a series of scenes to set the audience completely on edge?

Because using that criteria it all works like clockwork.

Great film. Just watched for the first time in years. Love the ending and the lack of quick-cuts. Strong acting and loads of mood that is born out of character and story (and setting). And man-o-man does the film hold up well!