As the title asks do you think that "the thing" is an intelligent alien race, or a parasite that has infected an intelligent race?
This is just a question that my family argues about every time we watch the original movie, personally I tend to think that the thing is just a parasite that caused the UFO crash in the first place, but I want to hear what some of you think.
I think it's its own intelligent parasitic alien race to be honest.
shareI think it is really an alien virus that exists on a cellular level.
shareAlso wonder if the thing is a seperate entity or same.
What I mean with that is as it can exist in multiple host does it share the same mind or does each new split off have its own identity?
I mean even a host that is infected seem too go to such length to hide itself from being discovered that it kills its own counterparts from other exposed hosts.
But I guess it is as already stated here like a virus.
I wonder how the original aliens looked like that own the space ship?
If it was that bug like corpse or yet another assimilated host.
I doubt a creature who acts like a virus would bother creating such technology...or??
But that is what I like with both The thing movies all is not explained.
I mean even a host that is infected seem too go to such length to hide itself from being discovered that it kills its own counterparts from other exposed hosts.
It doesn't, because I was looking for that during the movie. I think the poster is referring to that moment in the space ship, when she throws the bomb in the monster's mouth, and we see the guy with torch as if he was about to light it up.
shareHenkm, if you watch the extras on the bluray/dvd (or youtube) you can see what the design for the pilot was before it was scrapped. Originally there was also some light explanation about what caused the ship to crash and 'sort of' what the thing was... Lots of awesome stuff never made it to film though
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A lot can be learned from how the characters in the original short story "who goes there," by John w Campbell, debate the Things nature. John carpenters film is much more an adaptation of this story than the 50s take
shareI'd say the aliens from Dark City would be immune to assimilation. Maybe the Blob, too?
The alien from The Astronaut's Wife might also be immune. Of the little we know of it, I'd say so.
Others?
As the title asks do you think that "the thing" is an intelligent alien race, or a parasite that has infected an intelligent race?
This is just a question that my family argues about every time we watch the original movie, personally I tend to think that the thing is just a parasite that caused the UFO crash in the first place, but I want to hear what some of you think.
I like to think it was created on purpose, possibly intended to be the final phase in the evolution of intelligent life.
Its goal is to assimilate all life, everywhere, into a single cooperative species.
Or it was a biological weapon gone wrong.
Either way, it seems to "perfect" to have evolved naturally
Thanks for this thread. It comes closest to my main problem with the movie:
How could this wildly shapeshifting creature, with all those spewing tentacles and random, useless appendages been able to pilot a spaceship, much less design and build it?
Remarks in this thread suggest the answer: The ship WAS designed by intelligent aliens but was somehow hijacked by this monstrosity, which probably caused it to crash.
I believe the thing is an intelligent parasite. Im not sure if the things victims were unaware that they were infected, or even in the process/completely replaced? Its a lot more horrific to think the thing was just hiding out inside the completely oblivious host, and that the host human fully experiences the fear, horror and pain when the thing reveals itself.
shareaccording to both movies, it's a virus that can take over a larger organism, absorbing it, then doing so, time, and time again, until it has absorbed all of the host, or race] it has infected, into becoming it......
shareSo that must mean that the super high tech spacecraft was built by some highly intelligent life forms, not the thing? It could be that the virus was picked up by the travelling aliens and the thing worked its way through them until there was only one left who crashed into earth for some reason.
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