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John Carpenter Confirms He Knows Who Was Human at the End of 1982's The Thing (www.syfy.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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"Yes, I know. I know who's the Thing and who's not in the very end," he said during an interview with ComicBook.com. But if you were hoping for any elaboration, then keep on hoping. "Nope," Carpenter added when probed for more information. "Cannot tell you. Sorry,"

It was pretty much the same answer he gave SYFY WIRE last summer: "I know, but I'm not telling you ... I just feel like it's a secret that must be kept. The gods came down and swore me to secrecy."

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I know exactly the scenes you're talking about, but I interestingly(and instinctively) came to the opposite conclusion, that it had mostly copied his brain, but hadn't yet copied the right hardware for speech to become possible, since all of the autopsied organisms we see are largely alien inside.

I'm definitely going to rewatch it again, I have the DVD and I just took it out to make sure I still had it ready to go.

So the things I'm going to look at are weather. The thing can duplicate a multicellular organism perfectly, what the indications for the efficacy of retaining memories following that duplication (whether it's more like a reference book or like automatic perfect memory), and what else should I be looking for?

Oh I'll definitely be marking down the voids, basically anytime someone or something is not on screen and could have been infected.

I wonder also if there's any indication that the creatures don't know each other. If they're infected and they signal to each other or test each other to see if they're infected are real.

I'm definitely going to watch it again, soon, and this will be my most detailed watch ever where I'm actually taking notes. Taking notes. I'm even going to come up with questions beforehand. Written down so I don't lose track while I get caught up in the movie.

What else is worth looking into?

[–] Bytemeister 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Hmm, a theory I've had for a while is that the thing isn't making careful calculated plans. It's actually kind of desperate, feral, and afraid of the people.

I don't think the Things are coordinated/working together, or are aware of other Things that they haven't created. Consider that when Bennings gets attacked, Palmer is already a thing at that point. It didn't need to do anything else to get off Antarctica.

I think Things are greedy. It wasn't enough to just get away, It was compelled to quietly assimilate all the life at the outpost. Only at the end, when it became clear that the people had the tools and knowledge to deal with it, did it try to just kill everyone and freeze again.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, definitely think the thing is terrified and desperate and also that they're separate beings.

But I just found out that the 2011 movie and the 2002 video game are supposed to be canon, at least the 2002 video game. Everyone is claiming that John Carpenter explicitly stated it was canon, which would answer the childs question definitively, but I haven't found that interview that everyone is talking about yet.

I'm going to do more research before I rewatch the movie I think and try and figure out how Canon the other entries into the series are first.

Great excuse to go read a bunch of essays and analyzes and watch interviews about a movie and lore I love