The Thing prequel

[Kiddarqo]

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since i've seen the thing prequel and my mind is starting to hurt from all the thoughts/questions/theories that race through my head since i've seen it.
where to begin!!
is it any good??...it's entertaining... but it should have been so much more...it's a prequel and that in its very nature means explaining its origins, the why, the what and the who. Somewhere along the line the writers forgot this and just delivered more of a remake than an actual prequel. But it does have some redeeming features, it does show how some stuff happened( the axe in the wall, guy cutting his own throat, end credits that lead up to the beginning of the thing 1982, ...) Attention to these details shows that an effort was made to explain but sadly enough the main character (The Thing) didn't get this treatment, while it should have been the main focus of the movie.

what's wrong with this movie??? well...(spoiler alert here!!!)

For me it was the ending. The Thing goes back to the spacecraft...i mean why...WHYYYYYYYYYY... it crashed...the thing 1982 begin credits...spacecraft swerving out of control and entering earth's atmosphere...it's the first THING!!!!! we as an audience are told. A ALIEN SPACECRAFT CRASHES INTO THE ANTARTIC... it doesn't laaaaaaand... no no no it crashhhhh-esssssh... that's probably why the alien got out in the first place because the ship was kaput...and what do they do in the prequel in the third act...the alien returns to the ship to start up old bessy there and try to fly away...NOOOOOOOOOooo!!!
sadly enough there a couple of moments where they just make the thing do stuff it just wouldn't do...bummer!!
if you like me are a real fan of the 1982 version, and you want to talk about this movie post a comment alright
I just need to talk about the thing, i've spent hours, days trying to figure out the lifecycle of this creature and if you're interested in hearing some theories let me know or have some of your own post it
this will be my therapy

grts
The ThingDarqo

[Emp]

Ok, now I have to watch it. I only read your first part bro, so I am spoilerfree. I might pick it up on rental this afternoon....once this damn hangover goes away...

[Old Dwarf]

God I remember seeing the orginial 1951 version in a movie theater,James Arness(Matt Dillion of Gunsmoke)
played the Thing.Sort of a vegetable mummy.But hey at 9 years old it was scary.

OD

[Kiddarqo]

(02-26-2012 12:34 AM)Old Dwarf Wrote:  God I remember seeing the orginial 1951 version in a movie theater,James Arness(Matt Dillion of Gunsmoke)
played the Thing.Sort of a vegetable mummy.But hey at 9 years old it was scary.

OD

hehe, it's a classic isn't it, i love that movie, i've got three different versions of that one, they did a colored one and a remastered one + the original and boxed them in 1 DVD package for a cheap price, you just can't go wrong.
ofcourse I didn't see it in the theater but I remember that they had a like sci-fi spot on monday evenings at 19.00 on BBC2 and I saw most of the classic sci-fi movies then, I think I must have been around the same age
the story didn't really follow the short story by John W. Campbell but at that age I didn't know so it didn't matter.

I didn't even see the 1982 version in the theater, I was 8, so that wouldn't have been a good idea I think. But when I did eventually saw it, I was blown away and I still think this is one of the best sci-fi movies around ( and alien ofcourse )
And it's just that what makes it so frustrating when they do these remakes/prequels, 9 out of 10 of these types of movies just doesn't pay attention to how the story was told before.
In short, they should have showed me the new thing prequel first so I could have slapped them for each stupid idea they put in there.
But what do the fans know right??
maybe I'll rip the movie of the blu-ray which I will probably buy anyway and edit my own version
and while I'm at it rip the star wars trilogy too and cut out all the added footage and revert it to it's original cut, because Lucas...you ruined Star Wars, good thing he didn't make episode I, II and III because they would probably suck with nothing but special effects and poor acting....yeah good thing he didn't make those ...... ah...right...he did!!
:/

ltr OD

[Emp]

By all means, my good man, share those thoughts and feelings with us!
It has always been fun to hear you talk about movies....mostly under the influence of alcohol in our local wateringhole...and that has been a long long time ago in a ga.... Oops

I watched the new Thing yesterday...can't say that it impressed me much.

So what is The Thing?

[Kiddarqo]

(02-26-2012 10:34 AM)Emp Wrote:  By all means, my good man, share those thoughts and feelings with us!
It has always been fun to hear you talk about movies....mostly under the influence of alcohol in our local wateringhole...and that has been a long long time ago in a ga.... Oops

I watched the new Thing yesterday...can't say that it impressed me much.

So what is The Thing?

hehe, thx for asking bro, now I can unleash this demon which has been infecting my mind for weeks

the thing is........

well in it's true form it is only 1 single cell but with a couple of really special abilities but before we get to that let's look at the thing and find out what it wants and needs

what drives/motivates this thing? Pretty easy actually because that can be found in almost every creature on earth
1/ Survive: that's pretty clear I think
2/ multiply its numbers/procreation: not by means of the old in and out but by infecting or absorbing other organisms.
3/ Hide: hiding inside organisms to insure survival

infecting: as we see in the 1982 movie, one cell can take over an entire organism just by spreading like an infection, in the special features from the dvd, kurt russel says that they had lots of discussions about this form of procreation, the main point was - if an organism is infected with the alien cell there must be a point where the organism stops being the organism and becomes the thing imitation...I recently read an interesting theory about this, that the subject goes about its business as usual and the alien side stays dormant...for me this theory doesn't fit because the imitation organisms has a plan (multiply, survive), this rules out that a completely infected organism will still be the sentient original organism...still with me?? to put it another way at some point the soul of the organism will disappear/die/dissipate. if this happens in one go or gradually we do not know

absorbing: another way of multiplying its numbers is absorbing organisms directly, "being in close poximity with its victim, the chameleon strikes in the dark" to quote the 1982 movie, this form of procreation has its faults, as long as it's absorbing animals there's no problem, but when we get to absorbing humans there is a drawback...clothing. The Thing when it goes in to its absorbing state it shreds its clothes plus the ones of its victim, leaving the imitations buttnaked when absorbing has finished, mostly this is not that of a problem because The Thing will choose(using human intelligence, more about this later) it's location well thus making sure that there is access to new clothes and getting rid of the evidence( shredded clothes). I've read that in the 1982 Thing when a person has been absorbed and imitated they are wearing different clothes, I have not checked this if this is actual the case but if it checks out that would be a well thought out detail in the movie.

perfect imitation: this Thing makes a perfect imitation: memories, behaviour and even physical faults, again in the 1982 Thing makes a perfect imitation of norris and this leads to the heart attack scene. Note that the actual heart attack does not trigger the Thing to expose itself because this type of death does not mean the Thing will die therefor Norris has the heart attack and passes out; it's only when the doc starts shocking him that the Thing springs into action and does everything in its power to survive that situation...being attacked by electricity, not having a heart attack. In this scene you can clearly see how the alien cell actually reverts to almost pure animal instinct transforming parts of Norris to try and escape (the head with the spider legs...brilliant scene)
perfect imitation to a certain point: in the prequel we find out that the imitation of humans has more drawbacks: teeth fillings, metal plates, anything not organic can not be imitated. I found this to be a good place to go in terms of explaining a bit more about how the absorbing process has its limitations...so points won there

intelligence: how smart is the thing?? for me the alien cell has no intelligence and just uses its primal instincts but here comes the most brilliant ability of the alien cell. It has the ability to use the intelligence of the organism it has obsorbed or infected, meaning if it is an animal it can only use the intelligence the animal has, a dog is smart but can not build a ship to escape, however it can run through the snow to reach a more populated area and that is what happens, when it imitates a human it can use the intelligence of the human to ensure survival, meaning it can build something to reach other places. I think The Thing can access the humans full brain capacity and not just the 13% we use , so it can build a ship based on the technology at hand

what else?? like I said before the prequel does make an attempt to go somewhere with certain aspects of the lifecycle of the Thing but ultimately stumbles over its own feet
the helicopter scene, why did the thing expose itself, it wasn't alone with that dude and it was not in a situation where its cover was blown. I've read that it is because the helicopter gets called back, but even then the thing is not exposed yet or in a life threatening situation...therefor lose points for that
and the ending...Nooooooooo!!!!!

and before I go how about this
opening sequence 1982 The Thing: I always thought that the ship was not the thing's ship but was probably trying to take over the ship by infecting/absorbing the original crew, maybe the original crew was fighting back causing it to crashland on earth, using the intel of the lifeforms that inhabited the ship it sees it is trapped in the ship now and decides to exit the ship into the snow, caught in a snowstorm it finds itself in a life threatening situation, transforming itself into a buglike creature to help it reach safety but the storm is just to strong and it freezes
why the bug transforming idea, simply because the bug thing that is shown in the prequel does not match the technology of the spacecraft so something happened that the Thing causing it to revert to its animalistic instinct of survival creating spiderlegtype legs to hack into the snow and make it move faster

so that's my 2 cents...maybe a little more
any comments are welcome

grts
da kidd

[Emp]

Now that is some serious thoughtprocessing. Nice one mate!