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.
There's a cool short story "The Things" by Peter Watts which is the same plot but told from an alien's perspective. It has some interesting thoughts on the nature of the thing
shareIt's very stupid/unaware of the concept of stealth in this movie compared to the 82 movie.
Listen, do you smell something? -Ray Stantz
It's basically not explainable by my understanding of biology. I'm a failure of a scientist but I'm still pretty confident that this thing defies possibility. I think scientific inaccuracy is a concession that is often made to produce an entertainment.
shareThis. The movies simply don't give you nearly enough information to answer any of these questions, and you're not meant to
The Thing isn't really possible. It would require rearranging matter in a way that no living thing ever could
Parasite is not the right word.
My theory is that it is some kind of combination insect/cephalopod with the ability to dopplegang any creature it comes in contact with.
At least in this remake, I am postulating that the normal body of the creature lacks the necessary limbs to create such a space ship or anything else for that matter.
I believe that some poor alien species probably came across these beings and none survived. One of the dopplegangers probably transformed into one alien species and few the ship. How or why it got to earth 100,000 years ago is a mystery. But for whatever reason the ship crashed here and it looks like changed back to its normal body and attempted to leave the ship but was overcame by the extreme cold.
Obviously the 1982 version as well as Alien, some how allowed their creature to create space ships with no opposable limbs.
Well, it knows how, and has the appendages for, operating the saucer at the end.
I like the "cargo animal out of control" concept, though. It worked even in the cheapo but entertaining "Dark Star."
Oh, and maybe the Things can't create ships, but have enslaved a race which can. Or they assume a different form depending on the work they must do.
N.B: At least the original "Alien" did have opposable thumbs. In fact, it had an extra finger, too. It had a prehensile tongue and tail, too. Probably quite a productive worker!
:D
"As the title asks do you think that "the thing" is an intelligent alien race, or a parasite that has infected an intelligent race?"
I think it has to be some form of intelligent parasite. Since it takes on all the capabilities of its host it has to have some form of intelligence. For example the Griggs version of the thing knows when the helicopter is going to land again it's plan to spread that way has been foiled so it attempts to assimilate them. I'm not sure that was smart, but it does suggest an intelligence. Clearly the Juliette thing recognized Kate as the biggest threat to it spreading so tried to eliminate her. Once again suggesting intelligence although the execution left a lot to be desired. The leader guy, Edward, is pretty much a dead ringer until he gets knocked out. Apparently with the host unconscious it cant hold the form anymore which suggests it needs the host as part of the disguise. Not sure if that would apply to sleep or not.
I dont think they are very consistent with how it acts or spreads, but it's clear it doesnt always need to turn into some freaky thing to assimilate people because too many are converted too fast for it not to use some subtler methods.
My question is does the host that has been reproduced even know it's a replica or do the cells come complete with a set of memories and the "thing" just hangs out in the background like some kind of puppet master.
My thought is it did infect someone on the original crew of the ship, it spread, and the last crewmember, in an effort to isolate this thing, crashed into a planet with no intelligent life where it was dormant until they found it.
Would love to see a sequel to the original.
My question is does the host that has been reproduced even know it's a replica or do the cells come complete with a set of memories and the "thing" just hangs out in the background like some kind of puppet master.
*That means Norris-Thing genuinely believed it was having a heart attack, when in fact its heart was preparing TO attack.*
That is an interesting concept. I always thought the Thing created a perfect imitation of Norris right down to a Congenital Heart Defect, where his normal heart had a malformation that wouldve lead to a heart attack even if he was still human. But having his insides already moving around preparing to form a "splinter off" Thing to go and aid Blair-Thing in construction of the UFO makes an interesting idea.
That is so cool i never saw it from that perspective
shareIt's a hive with a collective mind made up of stem cells that can morph into any other cell. The ultimate stage of life, pure perfection of nature. It's evolved into an evil creature because bad guys are always more successful than nice guys, and natural selection prefers successful.
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I don’t think it’s a hive mind.
Remember, the Palmer-thing ratted out the Norris’s-head-thing and kept it from escaping. MacReady himself speculated, as a result of that incident, that each part of a Thing was its own organism. That led to his hot-wire blood test, and it appears he was correct.
A hive-mind would tell the petri-dish blood to stay quiet despite getting burned.
I also don’t think there’s anything “evil” about it, per se. It just wants to assimilate everyone. It probably thinks it’s doing us all a favor. And if we can all cooperate as a unified species, who’s to say it’s wrong?
When a hive is split into two, it becomes two separate entities, since the cells can only communicate when they are connected. Just like in Star Trek, when some of the Borg got separated from the collective, they became a new collective, and each hive mind behaves in its own best interest, even when it has to kill the other one when it's necessary.
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