The Evolution of The Thing
77
move forward in a somewhat awkward walking or running pattern to pursue its
victims. As in all other versions, fire is the only sure way to kill it.
The plot advances rapidly from this point. Using the fact that the aliens
cannot imitate inorganic materials, Lloyd devises a test much simpler than the
laborious, time-consuming blood tests of the original story and of the 1982 film.
She simply checks the mouths of each crew member to see if they have dental
fillings. From this simple test, she is able to isolate the humans from the
suspected aliens. Her allies, Carter and Jameson have remarkably survived the
helicopter crash and have returned to her ai d. The two scientists are primary
suspects, although they claim to have porcelain fillings or to have practiced such
excellent dental health that they have no fillings. As in the printed text and the
1982 film, the test quickly flushes out the aliens. After a fire fight that destroys
most of the compound, Halvorson escapes in a sno-cat and heads toward the
spacecraft with Lloyd and Carter, nearly the only human survivors, pursuing. He
descends into the spaceship and ignites its engines, apparently planning to take
off for either Earth’s civilization or for his home planet. In a scene reminiscent
of Aliens, Lloyd finds her way into the interior of the craft, staves off the
transformed Halvorson, with help from Carter, and throws a grenade into the
ship’s engine.
Lloyd and Carter escape and plan to travel to the Russian camp.
However, Lloyd sees the telltale sign of Carter now missing the ear ring that had
been her assurance that he was human. She destroys him with the flamethrower,
and as in the 1982 film, is left to ponder whether it is better for her to die in the
storm or to travel to the Russian camp, perhaps risking the destruction of the
world if she has been contaminated through contact with the Halvorson alien.
The film ends with Lars and one other survivor pursuing the last living Thing, a
sled dog, as segue to the 1982 film.
In essence, the newest version of The Thing serves as a credible
prequel. The action of the film is consistent with action that follows in the 1982
film. It does offer a few new ideas about the nature of the alien and about how it
could be detected through looking for dental fillings. In the end, it sacrifices
suspense for action and advanced computerized images of the alien, a criticism
many expressed about the 1982 film, and much in the way Aliens does with its
predecessor Alien.
The cultural significance of the film is that it, like its predecessors,
plays on the dominant current fear, terrorism and the economic instability it has
created to attack America. The appropriateness of the trope of shape shifting
applies well here, since terrorists can appear in the form of women, children,
airplane passengers, or other seemingly innocent civilians who blend seamlessly
into society, appearing to be normal citizens. In other words, the prequel to The
Thing parallels the War on Terrorism which has lasted since 2001 and before in
earlier attacks on the World Trade Center and other targets. Another similarity
occurs in the implacable nature of the terrorists, their lack of regard for human
life, and their willingness to attack civilians as well as military personnel. A last