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Alien Behavior and fate of the spaceship crew

posted 8 years ago by tkell31
4 replies | jump to latest

Just watched this again and was much more impressed then I remembered being the first time.

One thing I couldnt figure out was why sometimes it would mimic a person perfectly right down to emotions, but other times it would reveal itself and stay in some weird form.

Examples are when the first woman infected pulled Kate to the side then ripped apart and the guy in the helicopter. Don't get me wrong, the double headed, gargoyle like Thing was pretty horrifying, but why stay in that form if you want to blend in?

On the other hand, Peder, expressed concern for his recently shot friend and then showed real fear when he saw the fuel about to ignite. It wasnt until he was unconscious that his form fell apart and set he set on his "friends."

Was the deal that it couldnt absorb someone without revealing it's true form?

As for the spaceship. This thing seems far too predator like to have invented space travel. Is the lore behind it that it boarded the ship somehow and infected a crew member and then the last crew member crashed the ship on a desolate area of a planet without intelligent life?

Amazing that we get 6, 7 and 8s of mindless action movies, but cant get more of a history on this or a sequel to find out what would happen if the Thing did reach a large human settlement.

Oh well, enjoyed it and maybe in another 20 years they will do another one.

[–] glaeken777 8 years ago

It may be an accident but the stark change in behavior fits both films.

In the prequel it's rudely awoken from a block of ice, faced with beings its never encountered and are openly hostile to it. It reacts aggressively, like a cornered animal would.

In the original the creature is crafty and seeks to completely blend in, only revealing itself when there's no other options.

It could be argued that, when the two movies are taken as a whole, the thing "learned" a great deal of lessons from the Norwegian camp, and adjusted its behaviors accordingly in the second encounter w/the Americans.

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 8 years ago

Nice post glaeken.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 8 years ago

As for the spaceship. This thing seems far too predator like to have invented space travel. Is the lore behind it that it boarded the ship somehow and infected a crew member and then the last crew member crashed the ship on a desolate area of a planet without intelligent life?

According to the trivia section, that's what the filmmakers envisioned at first.

I was wondering the same thing myself. I just couldn't imagine this "beast" flying a spacecraft.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

[–] manchof1 8 years ago

The Thing learned that being aggressive with the humans was foolish so it became more stealthy in the Carpenter film.