What exactly IS The Thing?

What exactly IS The Thing?

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imdb.com/title/tt0044121/
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a doggy

An alien from outer space. There's a scene where they find the ship.

a parasite organism from space

A Galactic level NEET.

Probably an alien parasite that took on the form of the ship alien and then crashed to earth.

But what exactly piloted that ship? Does it have a natural form?

i have not seen the film but I know the original form is never shown

It's a metaphor for our insecurities and how we fear other's judgements of our actions and bodies.

could be some kind of e-stim or neural system conected to ship systems

It's a cell which transforms and mimics other cells, you see it in the space invaders illustration where it becomes a doggo cell

donald trump. It was a political statement on trumps america far ahead of its time

>has not seen film
>discusses the film

you're what's wrong with Sup Forums. it's on netflix go watch it

>But what exactly piloted that ship? Does it have a natural form?

Probably not.
It's heavily speculated (but never confirmed) that the thing was some kind of biological weapon that got out of control and killed its creators.

Agressive alien lifeform that can mimic any living cell. It was collected by original crew of alien "saucer" ship as one of the specimens to study.

So who would win, aliens or the thing?

Is molecular acid enough to destroy the thing?

There was an original pilot. The thing tried to mimik it to control the.

>aliens

Could be any form. Wilford Brimley Thing nearly built a ship with materials around the camp mind you.

When you see the Thing at the end, it's just imitating countless lifeforms it has destroyed in the past

>So who would win, aliens or the thing?
>
>Is molecular acid enough to destroy the thing?

I think if The Thing got the jump on a Xenomorph, it could mimic one and then walk right into the hive undetected and decimate everything

If all "The Things" came from one how come they don't work together? If there are four people and only one is a human do they know that there's only one human or do they think they're the only Thing?

Hard to say since we don't know what the Acid does to The Thing.
Could be a stalemate since Xenomorph can never destroy The Thing in it's entirety since it will always dissolve into smaller matter and consume something else until it grows again, nor neither The Thing can imitate and consume the Xenomorph because of the acid blood that probably destroys all the cells of The Thing on contact.
Predator on the other hand is truly fucked against The Thing

>When its stomach splits open and a dog comes out
Doesn't this pretty much confirm that Blair was infected directly from a dog?

great fucking movie

I think they do, at least I remember Palmer Thing and Morris Thing covering each other with alibis in the original though I might be mistaken since I last saw the film years ago.

I never understood how the thing infects others. If it splashes you with its goo it infects you faster, but can it infect you with a single cell except it takes much longer? Or it doesnt work like that?

They test the blood with a heated wire, indicating that different parts of the thing operate as independent organisms

I think predators are advanced enough to detect the thing with ease

It can infect you quickly though it's a messy process and leaves you vulnerable to others (see Bennings) or it can do it quietly by infecting your cells by either poisoning food or water or getting into your body fluids through other means. Then I always assumed it quickly took over your cells and killed you from within

The Thing is a perfect imitation
Unless they have some kind of "Thing vision" in their helmets, they're fucked.

Yes but the real question is, was the action, sound track, effects, and suspense just so fucking good that there is an over looked metaphor like puberty or losing virginity or something?

never understood why it didnt go the slow way with all of them, just being in the proximity of an infected dog should be enough if it can infect through food and fluids

Fucking humans found a way to detect them

And predators have a hobby which can end up in brining an alien life form onboard in your chest

I think they just would detect it in a standard procedure of being on their ship

He fucked up when he went to kennels and revealed it self. After that, it was too late for that and it needed to dispose of the others as quickly as possible before they can reveal to the outside of the world of it's existence.

ye that makes sense

...

If you don't have that swing, don't even ask.

>Yes but the real question is, was the action, sound track, effects, and suspense just so fucking good that there is an over looked metaphor like puberty or losing virginity or something?

Well in the original film "The Thing From Another World", The Thing was clearly a metaphor for Communism. The country was in the midst of the red scare, and it was a suitable theme, just like The Thing, literally ANYBODY you met could be a commie in disguise and you wouldn't know until it was too late

What bases are there for that speculation?

Don't the Xenomorphs have acute senses though? Like extra sensitive smell or something, which would probably detect the Thing right through its disguise. Also, I would not be surprised if the Xenomorphs use some form of pheromone communication between each other, something the Thing could not really mimic

>1938
>in the midst of a red scare
>"the Thing" was an allegory for communism
all wrong

The end of the world

An extremely resilient cell which is able to rapidly attack and imitate other biological cells. This ability gives rise not only to "mimic" cells, but mimic organisms. Both are then able, under ordinary circumstances, to quickly spread among closely neighboring cells, organisms etc.

This unwanted, microbiological behavior of the Thing (the cell) is therefore easily likened to a virus.

In my personal view, human-things behave, (surprise!) like... human beings. That is, they have both the capacity for cooperation, and for miscommunication and working at cross-purposes.

I believe that Blair-thing was aware that there were some other Things safely installed inside the camp, freeing him to dig around underground and snatch parts to try and get the saucer built in time. In the original short story, the creature furthermore has telepathic abilities so it would be reasonably canon to suggest that thing-organisms of sufficient complexity can communicate telepathically among themselves, even though (IIRC) we never have any explicit evidence of this..

I'm talking about 1951
imdb.com/title/tt0044121/

Granted, "Who Goes There" was written in 1938

I think that in Carpenter's movie each thing is on its own, and can betray the others.
And is possibly confused, scared and immerse on a Lovercraftian Horror on its own.
Like in "I Am the Doorway" form Stephen King, kind of.

Audibly kekked to the idea that predators hunt xenos for a hobby, like it was either fly to the ass end of the universe to stab acid-blood serpents or take up crocheting

A better question is, what isn't The Thing?

altman be praised

Topic aside, we can agree this is the greatest horror film of all time, right?

I rewatched it yesterday, and absorbing was a messy, slow and digestive business, the thing would probably kill itself while trying I even if it got the drop on somebody. Also, if you cinsider the alien comics canon, they can read minds in a basic manner and would snuff imitations out

>Predator on the other hand is truly fucked against The Thing
couldn't he just shoot rockets up The Thing's ass? Probably even see it clearly with one of its techs

Theory 1: the thing is just an extremely powerful alien life form with the ability of assimilating and transforming into any living creature, the alien ship was the things ship that crash landed for X reason

Theory 2: the alien ship pilots aren't the thing but went to a planet where they got infected and killed by the Thing slowly hence the alien ship crash

Theory 3: the thing is a biological weapon created by the alien ship pilots, it was so perfect that the last living alien pilot pursposefully crash landed at the Antarctic to wipe it out


Pick any one. The thing is a great movie.

Whoever wins, we lose

Fuck you and your marker!

So what would Predator do?
Ally? Hunt? Fuck off?

It's my favourite though I haven't seen a ton. Absolutely love the ending.

By the way, I'd like to remind Sup Forums that the 80-year anniversary (fall 2018) of the original publication of "Who Goes There?" is coming up.

A few weeks apart from this, also in fall 1938, Orson Welles' radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds" was broadcast.

Let's just say that fall 1938 was a very important year/season for anglo science fiction.

My biggest question is always 'what would happen if these things took over the world?' Would they just live as the things they mimic or would they conglomerate into some large network beast? What would be their purpose in life once everything is absorbed? Is their sole purpose to mici everything in the universe and thus would they start building ships to fly to other planets? I would like to see an expanded universe based on these ideas. Too many unanswered questions. The Thing is really mysterious.

>mici = mimic

>thus would they start building ships to fly to other planets?
Judging from what the Blair-thing alone accomplished, yes.
This, assuming that there would be no sub-faction, or even extreme individuality.

>never understood why it didnt go the slow way with all of them, just being in the proximity of an infected dog should be enough if it can infect through food and fluids
My head cannon is that our immune system can fight off the thing in small doses. Hence the violent take overs we see.

The Thing is a remake. He's wrong though, in the original its not a shapeshifter, just a plantman.

Good one!

Looks like a fatass in a tracksuit doing a handstand.

user: I've never seen The Thing. I should go in a thread about it and talk about it.

No, they're both adaptations of a novella. John Carpenter's is just like the original shape shifting concept. I haven't seen the so-called original, but I seriously doubt it's as good as Carpenter's when the thing is literally just a veggie Frankenstein. Sometimes, the newer is better.

For its time is good and fair, not that scary.. I remember I watched it the first time as a kid (8-9) before a travel and I loved it.
But cannot beat carpenter.

I suppose I'll give it a shot, then. I love isolated monster movies.

>That's no dog!

>The Thing is a perfect imitation

No it's not. Watch the campfire scene at the end. Only one of the two men is clearly breathing.

>Only one of the two men is clearly breathing.
Not this meme again

Shit, I never thought about it but I guess there's no way to know if the thing was the ship's original occupant or if it killed the pilot and took over. Maybe it crashed because it was unfamiliar with the ship and couldn't fly it very well.

so you're saying "the thing" wasn't a metaphor for penises or sex or something?

An ancient Jew

a alien