The Thing Thread

Started by Nobody, Feb 27, 2009, 12:27:02 AM

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The Thing Thread (Read 438,824 times)

Local Trouble

Local Trouble

#3165
Quote from: Xenomrph on Jul 02, 2022, 11:07:32 PM4. Possibly related to #3, have a character get isolated and then get definitively outed as a Thing in front of everyone else. Do they Thing out and find a creative way to escape their confinement? Do they pathologically try to convince the other characters that they're human?

One thing I've always been interested in seeing is one of the human characters try to talk to the Thing.  Like, ask it questions.  I kinda wanted Kate to do that at the end of the prequel before she torched it.

BigDaddyJohn

BigDaddyJohn

#3166
Honestly, the prequel had good aspects (good actors and production design most notably), but midway it turned into a silly slasher.

We went from a masterpiece playing on paranoia that scans the darkest sides of humanity and perhaps the greatest horror movie in history, to a simple, plain silly slasher. What a disappointment it was.

Highland

Highland

#3167
Quote from: Local Trouble on Jul 03, 2022, 12:06:32 AM
Quote from: Xenomrph on Jul 02, 2022, 11:07:32 PM4. Possibly related to #3, have a character get isolated and then get definitively outed as a Thing in front of everyone else. Do they Thing out and find a creative way to escape their confinement? Do they pathologically try to convince the other characters that they're human?

One thing I've always been interested in seeing is one of the human characters try to talk to the Thing.  Like, ask it questions.  I kinda wanted Kate to do that at the end of the prequel before she torched it.

That kinda already happened in the Blood Bank scene. I think it's Palmer that turns when he get's outed.

Local Trouble

Local Trouble

#3168
I mean an actual conversation between a human and a Thing after it's been discovered.  Before it erupts into a disgusting monster.

SiL

SiL

#3169
I think an interesting scenario is you've drawn blood, the main organism is discovered through other methods - could the main organism want to try to talk it out while the blood crawls away?

That would be a hell of a reveal.

BlueMarsalis79

BlueMarsalis79

#3170
Quote from: Local Trouble on Jul 03, 2022, 01:20:17 AMI mean an actual conversation between a human and a Thing after it's been discovered.  Before it erupts into a disgusting monster.

Eh I prefer the ambiguity, feeds into the paranoia.

Highland

Highland

#3171
Quote from: Local Trouble on Jul 03, 2022, 01:20:17 AMI mean an actual conversation between a human and a Thing after it's been discovered.  Before it erupts into a disgusting monster.

I mean that's kinda happened all the way through, although I get what you mean, you want the Thing saying Thing like things (hows that for a sentence). Like why it's doing this etc.

I actually didn't mind the sequel, it aged ok.


NecronomIV

NecronomIV

#3172
Quote from: Highland on Jul 03, 2022, 07:25:59 AM
Quote from: Local Trouble on Jul 03, 2022, 01:20:17 AMI mean an actual conversation between a human and a Thing after it's been discovered.  Before it erupts into a disgusting monster.

I mean that's kinda happened all the way through, although I get what you mean, you want the Thing saying Thing like things (hows that for a sentence). Like why it's doing this etc.

I actually didn't mind the sequel, it aged ok.

I think that would undermine the effectiveness of the creature - once you have it talking, you have insight into the way it thinks. When you get that, it's suddenly less alien.

But that's no fun. So how could it be done?

I think its responses would need to be oblique and highly susceptible to multiple interpretations, so maybe a sort of word-salad that perhaps is the result of an alien intellect trying to communicate in a way that is alien to it.

Might be a thing you could train an AI to write weird dialogue. That could be interesting. AI itself is kind of alien.

BlueMarsalis79

BlueMarsalis79

#3173

SiL

SiL

#3174
I like the idea that the Thing, in Carpenter's version, isn't that intelligent. It just keeps the facsimile as it had been to hide and once it's found it freaks out and enters pure fight or flight mode.

I believe when you talk to a Thing you're not talking to a Thing, you're talking to the person the Thing is copying. Our minds and consciousness are just the product of a specific bit of biology operating a specific way; copy that to the cell and why would it think anything has happened? If it has no memory of the assimilation, it has no reason to suspect itself.

Palmer thought he was Palmer.

And then his head started splitting open.

Immortan Jonesy

Immortan Jonesy

#3175
Quote from: SiL on Jul 04, 2022, 08:30:24 PMI like the idea that the Thing, in Carpenter's version, isn't that intelligent. It just keeps the facsimile as it had been to hide and once it's found it freaks out and enters pure fight or flight mode.

I believe when you talk to a Thing you're not talking to a Thing, you're talking to the person the Thing is copying. Our minds and consciousness are just the product of a specific bit of biology operating a specific way; copy that to the cell and why would it think anything has happened? If it has no memory of the assimilation, it has no reason to suspect itself.

Palmer thought he was Palmer.

And then his head started splitting open.

So when the Thing was trying to build a flying saucer, it was science that it got from assimilated alien species? I guess the Thing didn't build the ship it came to Earth in.

Local Trouble

Local Trouble

#3176
It could be the like the aliens from Blindsight.  The Thing could very well be highly intelligent, but lack sapience.  Even when communicating with it, it doesn't really understand what you're saying.  The memories that it absorbed are simply used to mimic the proper behavior to maintain its disguise.

In other words, it's a "Chinese room."

https://absurdbeingblog.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/blindsight-4-the-chinese-room-argument/

Xenomrph

Xenomrph

#3177
Quote from: SiL on Jul 04, 2022, 08:30:24 PMI like the idea that the Thing, in Carpenter's version, isn't that intelligent. It just keeps the facsimile as it had been to hide and once it's found it freaks out and enters pure fight or flight mode.

I believe when you talk to a Thing you're not talking to a Thing, you're talking to the person the Thing is copying. Our minds and consciousness are just the product of a specific bit of biology operating a specific way; copy that to the cell and why would it think anything has happened? If it has no memory of the assimilation, it has no reason to suspect itself.

Palmer thought he was Palmer.

And then his head started splitting open.
I think it's plenty intelligent. Aside from the aforementioned space ship it tries to build, Blair-Thing tries to talk his way back into the camp.

One thing I really like is how open to interpretation all of it is. The actor who played Norris said he wasn't sure if Norris knew he was a Thing or even suspected he might be a Thing, which would have informed his decision on whether or not he should accept command from Garry when he offered it. It's clear that the Thing can control imitated bodies (Blair when he begs to come back inside, also Blair when he face-grabs Garry, and whoever got to the blood) but it's also ambiguous how far they'll push the imitation - Palmer-Thing could have conceivably known that he was about to be outed at the blood test and tried to argue against it or possibly Thing-out on more favorable terms, instead he just lets it happen and only goes nuts when he's been revealed.

Also for the record I think the shadow on the wall when the dog-Thing enters someone's quarters is Norris. I know the shadow is intentionally meant to be ambiguous (and isn't even a shadow of one of the actors) but we see Palmer alone in his quarters with Childs watching TV and Palmer doesn't nail Childs which makes me think he's human at that point, and after that Palmer and Norris go to the crashed UFO with Macready and they don't double-team him, which means they're not both Things at that point.

SiL

SiL

#3178
I forgot about the spaceship!

But I still think the Thing copies aren't aware they're copies. The Thing might be able to take over, but I imagine the human brain part blacks out - after all, why not? It's the perfect cover.

Blair trying to get back in really depends on when he was infected, as it's one of the film's great ambiguities - was he the Thing then? If he was, did he know? Since he was happy to dig a tunnel and build his little ship, it doesn't seem to matter to it whether it gets let in or not.

The Thing is such a perfect imitation it even copies a shitty heart that compromises itself, which is why I think the facsimiles are unaware of their own nature. The Thing consciousness doesn't operate in our brains.

Sabres21768

Sabres21768

#3179
In the prequel, when Julia changes, the look on her face seems to indicate she's not really wanting or understanding what is happening.

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