The Evolution of The Thing
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had brought to the country. “Carpenter’s apocalyptic, pessimistic, and graphic
tale of paranoia and alien invasion was met with lukewarm box-office receipts
and an almost overwhelming critical condemnation” (Phillips 143) with
respected critics such as Harlan Ellison, representing science fiction/fantasy, and
Roger Ebert, representing film, finding the movie appallingly bad. As with
Jimmy Carter, but not to as severe an extent, the film damaged John Carpenter’s
career as a film maker. The film only later gained popularity among science
fiction/fantasy aficionados and in time became a cult favorite. Once again, the
story of the Thing offered a resonant trope for the times, even though the general
viewing audience found the film too grim to square with their hopes in the new
Reagan administration.
The film version of the original story now became simply The Thing
(John Carpenter). Its echoes of its 1951 predecessor were the title burning its
way ominously on to the screen and the early scenes of the spaceship buried in
the ice. In nearly every other way, it reverted to the original “Who Goes There”
story, but with an entirely different cultural message. A dimension largely
missing from the earlier film was the ominous music of Ennio Morricone. From
the first scene with the helicopter mysteriously chasing the sled dog, the music
creates a tone of dread, especially as it is coupled with the stark scenery, now in
color, of Antarctica.
The 1982 film follows “Who Goes There?” in the names of the
characters. R. J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) is literally a darker version of the
original, with a dark mane of hair and beard, not bronze. The other characters
largely follow the original names—Blair, Bennings, Copper, Garry, Norris,
Clark—while adding new ones—Nauls, (cook), Windows (communications),
Childs (mechanic), Fuchs (assistant to Blair), and Palmer (second string chopper
pilot and pothead). The group is smaller than the original 37 men and strictly a
scientific operation, although Garry seems to have a military background. And,
in this film, paranoia dominates, in contrast to the 1951 version, with none of the
crew trusting each other as the action progresses.
Differing from the original story, the scientific team follows up the
unexpected and tragic visit of the Norwegian helicopter, through tr avelling to
the ruined Norwegian camp site. There, they discover the charred remains of the
Thing, the ice case in which it had been carried to the camp, another echo of the
1951 film, and several video tapes recording the Norwegian discovery. It is only
on a second trip that they discover the buried space ship, which in contrast to the
original and the 1951 movie, survived the thermite charges. As in the 1951
movie, the age is estimated at 100,000 years instead of the millions of the
original story. Unlike in the original story or the 1951 film, the team does not
discover the full impact of the Thing’s threat until well into the movie after the
infected dog from the Norwegian camp, a factor not present in the preceding
versions, has a chance to infect at least one member of the team, either Norris or
Palmer. The dramatic battle follows the original printed version with the Thing
revealing its presence only when it is confined with the sled dogs who sense its