The Thing - A Novel

"Back in July 1982 I went to see John Carpenter’s The Thing at the Ritz Theater on Clinton Street. The film had rather quickly gone from the first-run theaters to the second-run theaters like the Ritz, which offered admission for –if I remember correctly – only $ 2. Part of the reason for the film’s lack of success was the fact that ‘E.T.’ was out at the same time and everyone was goin... read more

Description: The Thing has gone through some interesting evolution from its original story, "Who Goes There?" In Who Goes There?, 30+ men working at a Cosmic Ray facility in the Antarctic discover, well, a thing. And that thing is part disease, part animal, part predator. It's a mimic that can replicate any form. And it has a desire to propagate. If it escapes from the facilities in the frozen wasteland, it will spread to humanity and ultimately take over every living thing in the world, all of them part of the original creature. I had the privilege of reading the short story, the novelization, and watching the movie all within th The Thing has gone through some interesting evolution from its original story, "Who Goes There?" In Who Goes There?, 30+ men working at a Cosmic Ray facility in the Antarctic discover, well, a thing. And that thing is part disease, part animal, part predator. It's a mimic that can replicate any form. And it has a desire to propagate. If it escapes from the facilities in the frozen wasteland, it will spread to humanity and ultimately take over every living thing in the world, all of them part of the original creature.
I had the privilege of reading the short story, the novelization, and watching the movie all within the span of a few days, so the differences and similarities were fresh in my mind. There are quite a few significant changes between the book and the movie, and the short story and the book.

Did I mention the men have cattle down in some weird storage facility? Cattle? I get the impression the original author never visited an Antarctic facility -- but hey, that's why it's called science fiction.

The short story is much more about the paranoia of men cooped up in close quarters, than about the alien itself. Everyone's too damn jovial -- they smirk and grin about everything even in the face of danger. It's all very pulpy too -- McReady is a "bronze god." He's strong, he's smart, and gosh darn it, everybody likes him!

In the short story, combat is so brief that in one case, it took several readings to recognize the men had attacked another transformed Thing. They "do their work" -- that sums up over a dozen man hacking a Thing to bits.

On the other hand, a lot of questions that I've seen on web sites dedicated to The Thing are explained. Do you know if you're a Thing? Yes, according to the short story. In fact, The Thing is telepathic -- that's how it can gain instant knowledge of everything about a person and imitate them so well. It also explains how the Thing is always one step ahead of the men in the movie.

I like to think of the short story as a summary of what happened to the Norwegians.

The novelization, extrapolated from the original script of the film, is one of those rare books that's better than the movie. There are less characters than the short story, but they react much more realistically. They are all seriously flawed (far more than the morons from Who Goes There?). Most importantly, the presence of guns heighten the tension.

The novelization makes the movie make more sense. Most specifically, the dogs don't run away from the Thing -- they attack it. This changes everything. The dogs become infected and run off, only to be chased by McReady and Childs. It's a shame the scene wasn't included -- it gives a hint of just what the Thing can do. It also explains how the Thing can be so large (another FAQ about Things).

One character (was it Saunders?) uses his roller skates to race for his life against the Thing as it plows behind him, only to get trapped in the bathroom and ultimately kill himself with a sharpened piece of wood.

There's a lot more discussion, but I understand why much of it was cut down. There's also better emphasis in the movie than in the book -- HOW the actors say their lines changes everything.

The most important discovery is that the Thing takes ONE HOUR to change into something else. This simple number changes the entire tone of the book. With a hard and fast rule, the character's paranoia and reactions are tempered by the knowledge that they have time on their side. Very different from the movie.

If you're a fan of the movie, buy the book. ... (more) (less)