# The Thing: what are they doing in the Antarctic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958 "2011-04-19T14:22:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/1 "2011-04-19T14:22:40Z")
The Thing has been playing everyday non stop for a month and a half. I love it and have it going on the background often. But to this day I have no idea what they were even doing at the National Science Institute Station 4 in the first place. R.J. MacReady - a helicopter pilot, fine. Dr. Blair - makes sense to have a doc. Windows - sure, radio operator Dr. Copper - two doctors? Vance Norris - kennel master? T.K. Carter - cook? Palmer - ? Childs - ? George Bennings - ? Clark - ? Garry - ? Fuchs - ? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/2 "2011-04-19T14:25:35Z")
Important Science Stuff, with Potential Military Applications ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/3 "2011-04-19T14:32:49Z")
They pretty much just needed to maintain a presence so other countries didn’t get a clear title to the Antarctic. The bonus is they could core the ice and study climate and look for spores that the winds dropped on the ice. It’s to bad the spore hunting didn’t work out so well for them. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/4 "2011-04-19T14:37:50Z")
I’d assume the kennel master would be for a dog sled. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/5 "2011-04-19T14:56:03Z")
Did you ever see Forbidden Planet, a 1956 sci-fi movie starring Leslie Nielsen, in perhaps his first role ever? Notice how everyone is really professional, except for the cook? Sure, he’s important, but everything about him, from his whining about deceleration, his freaking apron, his accent, programming the robot to make booze … is so different from everyone else. He’s there for comic relief, but you’d never have such a person on a real expedition. It’s just a horror movie cliche – redundant characters to provide bodies. Even the recent movie Aliens vs. Predator: Charles Weyland is way too weak to be traveling to Antarctica, he actually compromises the mission, and the lady in charge knows this, but we need bodies. Contrast with Guinan on Star Trek, she’s never dead weight, even as the bartender. The cook on the original series? Not there, they didn’t need the body count that time. Simple. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/6 "2011-04-19T15:45:34Z")
Anyone looking forward to the prequel to Carpenter’s movie coming out later this year? Plot centers on the Norwegian exploration site that the US explorers discover destroyed in the 1982 film. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/7 "2011-04-19T16:12:51Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Anyone looking forward to the prequel to Carpenter’s movie coming out later this year? Plot centers on the Norwegian exploration site that the US explorers discover destroyed in the 1982 film. Considering the pile of shit that are the various Carpenter remakes, not really. Anyone played the video game? While it had a cluncky system, it remains to me one of the best movie adaptation ever. And it managed to really create that feeling that you cant trust anyone. Movie kind of failed on that one, the plot isnt very coherent, and had too many redundant characters. Despite all these flaws, what a great movie. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/8 "2011-04-19T17:48:49Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Anyone looking forward to the prequel to Carpenter’s movie coming out later this year? Plot centers on the Norwegian exploration site that the US explorers discover destroyed in the 1982 film. No, not interested in it at all. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/9 "2011-04-19T17:53:04Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Anyone looking forward to the prequel to Carpenter’s movie coming out later this year? Plot centers on the Norwegian exploration site that the US explorers discover destroyed in the 1982 film. I wasn’t interested enough in the 1982 movie to pay much attention to it, I care even less about any prequel. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/10 "2011-04-19T17:53:34Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Dr. Blair - makes sense to have a doc. Chief biologist, not a medical doctor. In charge of alien autopsy, because, y’know, it’s an alien ;). > [@](#): > > Dr. Copper - two doctors? Actual medical doctor. > [@](#): > > Vance Norris - kennel master? No, that was Clark. Norris was a geologist, talking about the age of the ice where the space ship had been embedded. > [@](#): > > Palmer - ? Back-up pilot. He offered to fly everybody out to the site at first, but was dead drunk. > [@](#): > > Childs - ? He’s the only one I’m unclear on or can’t recall. Mechanic? Another pilot? Something blue-collar at any rate, like everyone except the science folks - Blair, Copper, Fuchs, Bennings and Norris. > [@](#): > > George Bennings - ? Meteorologist. You see him checking the weather and commenting on the storm moving in. > [@](#): > > Clark - ? Dog-sled operator/animal handler. > [@](#): > > Garry - ? Base chief. I presumed actual military, but am uncertain. > [@](#): > > Fuchs - ? Junior biologist. I always assumed he was Blair’s graduate student. ETA: The rest you have right. Carter = cook, Windows = radio, MacReady = pilot. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/11 "2011-04-19T18:15:03Z")
In the original story ([Who Goes There? - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Goes_There%3F)) the team is there to study a magnetic anomaly, which is theorized to have caused the Thing to crash. The wiki article says the team in the story had 37 men, which might warrant two doctors. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/12 "2011-04-19T18:28:58Z")
I’m really interested in the prequel film, but considering how much I love the 1982 film, I’m worried about how wrong the new one could go. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/13 "2011-04-19T18:57:32Z")
Actually now that I think about it I think Windows was a pilot too. Just before they talk MacReady into flying in bad weather, Windows offers to take them up and they shoot it down right away “ok, but thanks for thinkin’ about it though” ETA: Thanks Tamerlane, I figured the others had some role to play. Now I just gotta ask why they’d have an alien autopsy specialist in camp. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/14 "2011-04-19T19:40:04Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > [Garry?] Base chief. I presumed actual military, but am uncertain. Palmer calls him “Captain” or “_El Capitan_” near the beginning of the film, just after Garry has shot dead one of the Norwegians. Perhaps Garry is or was a real captain. Or, perhaps more likely, Palmer is just making wise cracks. > [@Sitnam](#): > > Actually now that I think about it I think Windows was a pilot too. > > Just before they talk MacReady into flying in bad weather, Windows offers to take them up and they shoot it down right away “ok, but thanks for thinkin’ about it though” That’s actually Palmer you’re thinking of, not Windows. (Windows is the skinny guy with the full beard.) ---
**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:** [April 19, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/15 "2011-04-19T21:08:37Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Considering the pile of shit that are the various Carpenter remakes, not really. What else has he remade? > [@](#): > > Anyone played the video game? While it had a cluncky system, it remains to me one of the best movie adaptation ever. Hated it. _Hated._ I’ve got kind of a collector thing going on with video games. Even ones I didn’t like much, I hang on to - I’ve got games on my shelf that have only ever seen the inside of a game console once, but I’m still hanging onto them. _The Thing_, I threw out. > [@](#): > > And it managed to really create that feeling that you cant trust anyone. Movie kind of failed on that one, the plot isnt very coherent, and had too many redundant characters. > Despite all these flaws, what a great movie. This, I also disagree with. _The Thing_ is one of the few movies I consider absolutely flawless, and one of the few so-called horror movies that I consider genuinely frightening. Not because of the gory monster fx (which is great, but not really scary), but because of the sense of choking paranoia that the film evokes. As for the roles all those character fill, I’d expect there to be a fair amount of redundancy. They spend a lot of time totally cut-off up there. If somebody has an accident, it can be a good long while before they can get a replacement. If you only have one doctor, for example, and he gets hurt or sick, who takes care of him? I figure you want at least two people for every critical post at the station. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/16 "2011-04-19T21:18:02Z")
What are they doing in the Antarctic? Not much, just chillin’. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/17 "2011-04-19T21:40:43Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > If you only have one doctor, for example, and he gets hurt or sick, who takes care of him? In Soviet Russia Antarctica, doctor operates on himself! [Auto-appendectomy in the Antarctic: case report](http://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b4965.full) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/18 "2011-04-19T22:00:15Z")
According to Stephen King, in _Danse Macabre_: > [@Stephen King](#): > > We’re never under any illusions that this Arctic base has been set up just for the eggheads, who want to study such useless things as the aurora borealis and the formation of glaciers. No, this base is also spending the taxpayers’ money in important ways: it is a part of the Distant Early Warning line, part of America’s Vigilant and Unceasing Etc., Etc., Etc. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/19 "2011-04-19T22:11:34Z")
The DEW Line is in the Arctic, not the Antarctic. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958/20 "2011-04-19T22:13:20Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > The DEW Line is in the Artic, not the Antartic. That’s just the one the government is willing to tell you about. The real threat to our liberties comes from the creeping threat of Australian Bolshevism. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-thing-what-are-they-doing-in-the-antarctic/578958.md?page=2)