# If you are not excited about The Thing, then you are the Thing and must be purged **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 29, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077 "2011-09-29T22:31:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/21 "2011-09-30T01:22:01Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’ve never seen the original _The Thing_. It was never on my radar as I was growing up, in fact I hadn’t even heard of it until relatively recently (mid-90s). I’ve just never got around to ever seeing it. It’s probably not really my kind of movie. > > So by the rules of the OP Title, that makes me a Thing. Am I “Thing 1” or “Thing 2”? I think you might owe it to yourself to see Carpenter’s The Thing. It’s a perfectly crafted film of paranoia. And Rob Bottin’s special effects were really bar-none. Even now, they hold up pretty well. There are genuine “Holy Shit!” moment’s you’ll never forget. Just be sure to watch it alone, with the lights off and at 3am. I’m down for the remake, it looks like they struck the right tone. I just hope they’re able to pull off some really nightmarish CG Thing creations. (is it really a prequel?) _“Would somebody… GET ME OUT OF THIS FUCKING CHAIR!!!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/22 "2011-09-30T01:33:48Z")
\ "I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time, I’d rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH! " ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/23 "2011-09-30T01:38:54Z")
but the Thing doesn’t infect people. The Thing kills people, then copies their form. Every Thing knows what it is. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/24 "2011-09-30T01:44:08Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > but the Thing doesn’t infect people. That’s debatable, to put it charitably. > [@](#): > > The Thing kills people, then copies their form. Every Thing knows what it is. Yes, the creature knows what it is. But the question is, does the person it’s imitating know that it’s an imitation? When someone’s talking to Blair after the thing gets him, is Blair thinking, “Ha ha, puny human!” Or is he thinking regular Blair thoughts, unaware that deep in his subconscious is this alien entity, watching and waiting? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/25 "2011-09-30T01:56:44Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That’s debatable, to put it charitably. In fact, if you listen to the commentary track with John Carpenter and Kurt Russell, they weren’t sure if you did know. So if the director and lead actor aren’t entirely sure, then it wasn’t settled at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/26 "2011-09-30T02:34:14Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The kennel scene is the only time you see the creature in the process of infecting other creatures, and I think it’s pretty instructive. Maybe; there’s also a scene where a guy turns around and the old-doctor-Thing rams its hand up his face, then drags him off still attached. > [@](#): > > One thing I always forget is the part where the creature sprays down one of the dogs that’s attempting to escape with some sort of liquid. Apparently, this isn’t enough by itself to infect the dog, because it follows this up by impaling the dogs on tentacles. My guess is that infecting another creature requires a fairly sophisticated biological structure - a single alien cell can’t work as a vector, it needs enough cells to build a special “infector” cell, which it injects into its victims via one of its tentacles. > > Alternatively, inhaling a few cells isn’t a strong enough dose to reliably infect: our own immune systems can handles a couple of cells caught in our mucous membranes. But pumping a super-load of infected cells directly into our blood streams overwhelms our defense systems and allows the monster to take over. Or to go back to my own theory; the dog-Thing may simply not have been smart enough to know what it was doing; notably, it went to no effort to avoid notice when it attacked the way the human-Things did, it just openly went all tentacled and attacked the dogs. And the purpose of the tentacles may be what I suggested earlier; to infuse enough Thing biomass to copy over its knowledge and personality. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/27 "2011-09-30T02:37:37Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > \ > > "I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time, I’d rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH! " That’s it! [thanks] 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/28 "2011-09-30T03:27:51Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Maybe; there’s also a scene where a guy turns around and the old-doctor-Thing rams its hand up his face, then drags him off still attached. I’d forgotten that one. > [@](#): > > Or to go back to my own theory; the dog-Thing may simply not have been smart enough to know what it was doing; notably, it went to no effort to avoid notice when it attacked the way the human-Things did, it just openly went all tentacled and attacked the dogs. And the purpose of the tentacles may be what I suggested earlier; to infuse enough Thing biomass to copy over its knowledge and personality. I just popped the movie in, and the dog clearly seems to be up to something before the kennel scene. When Mac and the doc get in the helicopter to go to the Norwegian camp, the dog appears to be listening to the sound of the helicopter leaving. Then it’s shown wandering around the compound, as if it’s scouting the place. Finally, right before they cut to the Norwegians, the dog walks into a bedroom where you can see the shadow of someone through the doorway. The shadow looks over at the dog, and the scene ends. It’s not clear whose shadow it is: Might be the Keith Richards-looking dude. At any rate, that guy probably gets eaten and replaced right there. When the helicopter gets back, the dog is standing on a writing desk, watching through a window. When they bring back the twisted up corpse from the camp, its watching from the doorway. Its not until some time later (it appears to be a few hours later) that someone notices the stray dog underfoot and puts it in the kennel. After the attack, the bearded guy who’s in charge of the dogs and Wilford Brimley are talking. The bearded guy says the dog’s been wandering around the camp “all day,” and admits to having spent “maybe an hour” alone with the dog. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/29 "2011-09-30T03:27:52Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > > [@GuanoLad](#): > > > > I’ve never seen the original _The Thing_. > > I think you might owe it to yourself to see Carpenter’s The Thing. John Carpenter’s _The Thing_ was a remake of Howard Hawks’s original _The Thing From Another World_ (usually called _The Thing_). ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/30 "2011-09-30T03:42:22Z")
> [@Ferret Herder](#): > > There’s a scene where one of the bodies is dripping blood from under the tarp/blanket covering it, as one of the guys (I forget which one) is looking out a window or something. He turns up be-Thinged soon after. This was before they figured out that body parts will split off, blood will attempt to flee destruction, etc. Just saw that scene. Bennings (the bald guy with the red beard) and Windows (the radio operator) are putting the twisted corpse from the Norwegian camp into the store room. Windows moves the blanket to look at the thing, then replaces it and walks out. As his back is turned, you can see the blanket move by itself, then the camera pans down to blood, and something more solid, sliding out from under the blanket. A few minutes later, Windows walks back into the room, and sees a pile of bloodied clothes, and, in the corner next to the corpse from the Norwegian camp, a blood soaked Bennings wrapped in tentacles, which are extruding from under the edge of the blanket. He runs for help, and this leads to the scene of a partially transformed Bennings kneeling in the snow, howling inhumanely at the rest of the cast while they douse him in gasoline and set him on fire. Interestingly, the partially consumed/transformed Bennings has enough presence of mind to grab his coat before he runs out in the snow. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/31 "2011-09-30T03:46:42Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > John Carpenter’s _The Thing_ was a remake of Howard Hawks’s original _The Thing From Another World_ (usually called _The Thing_). I’ve seen neither. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/32 "2011-09-30T04:01:07Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The kennel scene is the only time you see the creature in the process of infecting other creatures … > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Maybe; there’s also a scene where a guy [Garry] turns around and the old-doctor-Thing [Blair] rams its hand up his face, then drags him off still attached. Yes. There is also Bennings, left alone in the storage room with the “dead” Thing. Bennings was presumably human when we see the others leaving him alone in the room. When Windows returns, Bennings is being quite thoroughly invaded by a tentacled Thing. There is also Palmer-thing attacking Windows, in the exciting “couch” sequence of events. Palmer-thing descends from the ceiling, splits open to reveal some tentacles, some of which glom onto Windows. Palmer-thing leaves, and a mangled, bloody Windows slumps down to the floor. Perhaps Windows is simply dying at this point — however, he is also gurgling and twitching, so it would seem that a chunk of Thing is in him, taking over. > [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Well, one will have to tell me how the Thing, which apparently is only one organism is supposed to take over the world in thirty six hours, all by itself. If you’re referring to the computer simulation that Blair ran, the estimated time for world take-over was 27,000 hours — or about 3 years. If the new film has its own, different scenario going on, then never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/33 "2011-09-30T04:02:21Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > John Carpenter’s _The Thing_ was a remake of Howard Hawks’s original _The Thing From Another World_ (usually called _The Thing_). Actually, both are derived from the novella [Who Goes There?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Goes_There%3F); and John Carpenter’s version is a lot closer to the original. And a superior film, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/34 "2011-09-30T04:09:43Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Actually, both are derived from the novella [Who Goes There?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Goes_There%3F); and John Carpenter’s version is a lot closer to the original. And a superior film, IMHO. _Who Goes There?_ wasn’t a movie. I agree that John Carpenter’s film is the better of the two, but I do like '50s monster movies. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/35 "2011-09-30T04:24:11Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Yes, the creature knows what it is. But the question is, does the person it’s imitating know that it’s an imitation? When someone’s talking to Blair after the thing gets him, is Blair thinking, “Ha ha, puny human!” Or is he thinking regular Blair thoughts, unaware that deep in his subconscious is this alien entity, watching and waiting? A better question is does the Thing absorb the thoughts and knowledge of the person it kills? I think there are two reasons the Thing doesn’t just kill and imitate everyone: 1. It probably requires a certain mass to kill/dopplegang someone. We don’t see anyone actually getting infected by a single drop of blood. They get absorbed by a human/animal sized mass of Thing. 2. The Thing wants to get to population. It probably figures it’s easier to tag along with the group than to kill everyone and be stuck with no idea how to contact a ride back to civilization. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/36 "2011-09-30T04:25:58Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > _Who Goes There?_ wasn’t a movie. He didn’t say it was. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/37 "2011-09-30T05:03:27Z")
It’s your Thing. Do what you wanna do. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/38 "2011-09-30T13:02:40Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Actually, both are derived from the novella [Who Goes There?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Goes_There%3F); and John Carpenter’s version is a lot closer to the original. And a superior film, IMHO. Agreed - it’s quite faithful in many respects, and is a well-made modern (for the time) update to the story. I’m not a horror movie fan, but I love this film. There are gory moments, definitely, but the overall atmosphere is one of serious tension, (justified!) paranoia, and the creeping realization that it may be the end of humanity. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/39 "2011-09-30T18:27:39Z")
Here’s my twist: Which one do you mean? The [Keith Richard looking guy](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0166359/) Or [the actor Keith David](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0202966/)? BTW: In the movie, they were roommates. There was that scene where each one was lying in their bunks and smoking a joint while watching Wheel of Fortune tapes. It could have been either one of them. (I can’t find a specific YouTube link, but it’s pretty early in the movie.) ETA: Please ref: Post 26/Miller’s comments. I was answering that, but I goofed on the reply. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077/40 "2011-09-30T23:28:34Z")
Hot chick needs to get Thinged. Seriously. She could pull a Ripley and sacrifice herself for the good of humanity, but there’s no way she’s getting off that ice cube knowing a Thing is around. Or she got Thinged and escaped :eek: I’m fascinated by the Thing’s biomorphs- in the original, one of the Thing’s gets flamethrowered, so it ejects its head and tries to crawl off. In most of the cases, when confronted, the Thing tries to escape- for all of the scary tentacles, heads, spikes n stuff most of it seems defensive in nature. I wonder if the Thing had a native form, if the UFO were full of Things or aliens infested by them (more likely). Some theories: [spoiler]Like cowboys and aliens, the chick turns out to be some sort of ‘good’ Thing that is trying to stop the Bad Things. She either gets killed by accident or sacrifices herself. …Or, the aliens are even more horrible than the Things- the Things being some sort of bioweapon to keep some kind of agressive warlike alien race from rampaging the galaxy. Those horrible mutant tentacly dogs? They’re actually _helping_ us and we dont even know it! :eek: What a twist! [/spoiler] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-not-excited-about-the-thing-then-you-are-the-thing-and-must-be-purged/598077.md?page=3)