The Thing 2011 prequel **Heavy spoilers!!**

[retroborg]

So I watched the new “The Thing 2011” prequel.
Even though it was not as scary or thrilling as the 1982 film with Kurt Rusell, I must say that it was quite good and it had the old-school sci-fi thriller feel into it!
It was very nicely linked to the sequel as it finishes directly at the point where the 1982 film picks up! The scene with the chopper chasing the dog in the Alaskan wilderness is identical. Also many things are explained, even the axe Kurt Russel finds at the Norwegian base stuck in the wooden door is shown in the prequel, the guy with the severed wrists and throat frozen on the chair, as well as the half burned monster with the 2 linked faces that is taken back to the US camp in the 1982 film, is shown how it was created!

But there were a few mistakes:
In the 1982 film, there is a video shown with the Norwegian guys blowing up the ice revealing the buried space-ship and them being photographed circling around the round hole, however in the prequel there was only a tunnel they had dug up and the entire ship was revealed only after its engines were activated thus melting the ice on top and around it.

There were also 2 things left open (Or plot holes depending on the definition) for another sequel or even a prequel before the 1982 film! Half way through the movie, when the chopper leaves to transport the sick guy to the military hospital, they decide to land again when the girl calls them back. At that point the other guy turns into a monster attacking the poor sick guy and the chopper is seen crashing some miles away behind the mountain. Later the 2 pilots return on foot to the base, however it is not made clear what happened to the monster and the sick guy who was attacked on board the chopper?!
For all we know, it could have survived roaming around Antarctica like the dog, or frozen into the ice until another team finds it and then this whole thing could have happened all over again, this time in a populated area which it would have been transported to.

Also, what happened to the girl at the end after she burned the guy who was missing the earring in his left ear? Did she freeze to death in that tracked snow vehicle?! Did she drive to the other Russian camp/base the guy told her about before she burned him? Or did she turn into a monster too as the alien dig grab her leg and drag her out violently at some point in the end?!

The guy she burned at the end, was he really possessed by the alien or did she make a mistake, as her facial expression in the end seems to portray some guilt & doubt?!

Either way, when Kurt Russel’s team arrive with the chopper at the space-ship dig sight, we see none of the 2 tracked snow vehicles which were left there at the end of the prequel and she could not have driven away using both of them!
So what happened to them?!

Also at the end of the 1982 film Kurt Russel and the black guy are left at the destroyed base waiting to see what happens. So we never know if any of the 2 or both of them had been possessed by the monster.

I’m pretty sure there will be another film based on this story, as there is plenty of room left & elements to be used.

So what do you guys think about all this and what other plot holes and interesting details did you spot on these 2 films?

[bendixG15]

Ooooops ..... Thought you meant this one with James Arness

[retroborg]

Nope! never seen that!

[boodechan]

me too though I know even if it’s a remake there are scenes that has to be changed ‘coz some viewers might find it boring if they’ll see the exact replica of the other one.

[chowmein]

I recently read John Campbell's 1938 novella "Who Goes There?", which all the movies are based on. I was nicely surprised that the story more closely follows John Carpenter's film than the 1951 flick "The Thing FromAnother World" - complete with all that paranoia, shape-shifting alien & nice freaky stuff!

The 1951 film however is still very cool, and creepy in its own way. That recent "prequel" thing was OK, but it has nothing on its predecessors.

On this same note: DOES anyone recall that Canadian (?) made-for-TV mini-series that pretty much used the whole John Campbell/John Carpenter story, except it (like the 1951 film) was set in the Arctic? It really played up the whole paranoia thing. The "infected" had marks on the backs of their necks. I remember, at the end, the US President is giving a televised speech, and we zoom in to his neck, and see that he has the mark too!! It was real creepy, must've seen it ;ate-70s/early-80s. If anyone can help me identify this, I would be eternally grateful. I've been searching for this for years!

[Noahtuck]

I did not really read through your initial post as i still might watch it.

But i did not realize who was in it and i was scanning through a trailer one day and saw a familiar face!!

Eric Christian Olsen, who plays Deeks in N.C.I.S. L.A.

When i saw he was in it, and i am so used to watching him in N.C.I.S. L.A., I am not sure if I can watch it without me constantly thinking of smartass Deeks!!
LOL!!!

But yeah, the original with Kurt Russel is one of my top all time favs!!

[chowmein]

On this same note: DOES anyone recall that Canadian (?) made-for-TV mini-series that pretty much used the whole John Campbell/John Carpenter story, except it (like the 1951 film) was set in the Arctic? It really played up the whole paranoia thing. The "infected" had marks on the backs of their necks. I remember, at the end, the US President is giving a televised speech, and we zoom in to his neck, and see that he has the mark too!! It was real creepy, must've seen it ;ate-70s/early-80s. If anyone can help me identify this, I would be eternally grateful. I've been searching for this for years!

I found it! "Distant Early Warning"... but as for finding a copy of it anyway...pfft!