The Thing (2011 film)/Headscratchers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Why doesn't the Thing try to communicate with the humans? It's obviously not a dumb animal operating simply on instict, since it is shown to be able to operate the alien spaceship and attempt to build some spaceship. I always thought what happened in the Norwegian camp was a huge misunderstanding that escalated into shit hitting the proverbial fan, and by the time it reached Outpost 31 it the Thing was as afraid and paranoid as the humans surrounding it. But the prequel shows that it attacked first, without provocation, so it's just doing it for the evulz?
    • The Thing's intelligence is seriously all over the place. Yes, it does a lot of smart things in the movies, but it also does some pretty dumb stuff than even earth predatorial animals would avoid. My personal guess is that the basic Thing isn't intelligent at all, and as it absorbs sapient beings like the aliens in the saucer and the humans, it has much more info it can use (IE how to operate the space craft) but it doesn't necessarily make it smarter. It would be akin to a person memorizing every word on a book, but not understanding the meaning of the whole thing.
  • How the fuck does The Thing operate? Just assimilating cells does not grant it the capacity of replicating an entire organism, since it has no way of knowing how the cells are meant to be structured. I've seen suggestions of quantum computing and specialized photo-bionics, but is it even possible to achieve such a level of cell coordination in things (hurr hurr) that seem to not rely on nervous impulses? I know there's simple organisms that show cell plasticity, but they communicate by chemicals, and there's no way something that complex is going to change from a dog into Cthulhu's vagina just by shooting chemicals.
  • Not sure if this counts as a "headscratcher" per se, but since the prequel shows that at least SOME people outside Antartica are aware of Norwegians' findings, does that mean that sooner or later somebody is going to obtain an alien spaceship in (more or less) working condition?
  • So from what I have read, this takes place /three/ days before the first movie. It is about the Norwegians who discover the buried saucer and some how manage to get a radio transmission through at the time to have an /American/ paleontologist sent to help them. Exactly how will they manage to explain this in a movie that is set in the 1980s, in Antarctica where the nearest base may be the American base in the original that did not have a female member? Never forget that it's winter in Antarctica so they'd be hard pressed to get a radio message out given the complications in the first. Now add in they also manage to get an American, /female/ paleontologist sent there in that time.
    • the timeline of the prequel is not nearly so compressed, as it turns out. The Norwegians find the UFO, 48 hours later they contact an Outside scientist, who brings in Kate the Paleontologist because she's an expert on exhuming frozen remains without causing significant damage. an Undocumented amount of time passes between this point and when she arrives, and then the actual plot of the film happens over the course of a few days. The silence is explained as the Norwegians wanting to keep it secret that they discovered a verifiable Alien Life form until they can keep anyone else from claiming credit, and a request to contact the American Outpost is directly shot down to prevent this.
  • Is the dog!Thing that escapes from the Norwegian base intended to be a Thing-replica of Lars' husky (who left a blood stain in its kennel soon after the Thing's thawing and went MIA for the rest of the main feature)? This troper would assume so, being as that appears to be the only dog kept at Thule Station -- yet Lars' dog and Thing!dog look different, even though the Thing has an established reputation for being able to replicate its victims down to the cut of their hair.
    • I found this a moot complaint when watching it. I mean, where are the guys from the photo? I didn't see a Bill Lancaster.
      • The Norwegian crew from the '82 movie's photo not matching up with the '11 film's cast is prerequisite suspension of disbelief for admission to the prequel. The imitation-dog not matching the original dog is a headscratcher because, unless I'm mistaken, there is footage newly filmed for the prequel where dog!Thing leaves Thule Station, and it looks like dog!Thing, not Lars' dog... meaning that they had at least two dogs "cast" for the film, and they deliberately look different, when they should have simply cast a wolfish-looking husky for Lars' dog in the first place.
        • That is actual footage from the original intercut with the ending.
    • Canines have what is called "slippery genetics", which allows all of them to be able to interbreed. Basically, it means that all canines have the makings of all other canines within their genetics. So, Lars' Dog Thing could become Jed-Thing by playing around with the dog genetics a bit. Things basically are capable of using genetics in the same way that we use Legos. It simply re-built Lars' Dog into Jed.
  • Why did the Thing transform on the chopper? He himself was reassuring one of his human companions that they would be out of there soon, and just needed to wait a moment more. Why did he then blow his own cover and ensure the chopper's destruction? I've heard that he feared detection, but transforming turned what one person suspected into an undeniable truth. One could argue that maybe he wanted to take control of the chopper and fly back himself, but then why didn't he attack the pilot? Moreover, why did he do something that basically guaranteed the chopper would crash, stranding him AND the humans? Had it been implied that maybe he wasn't quite used to the human shape yet and fell apart, I'd be fine with this, but there is absolutely nothing to suggest this. There are SO many reasons NOT to transform, and he did anyway!
    • Causing the chopper to go down not only saved him from detection but it did leave it with the chance to assimilate three people while it could.
      • Except of course that it was even more likely to go out in flames and die.
        • Would you rather risk it, or would you rather wait around for your impending detection and destruction?
    • At that point of the movie nobody cared about her opinion on the matter (hey, even after the crash they still didn't care much), and if I recall correctly she suspected of the wrong person. Plus, the Thing in the chopper had an accomplice that erased the evidence of assimilation, so it isn't logic that he assumed for sure that it had been found.
  • The ending just bugged me. If the pilot at the end had been the Thing, why didn't it kill Kate when it was alone in the vehicle with her, chasing Sander to the UFO? Or if it was converted later, why did it hand over the flamethrower?
    • He was most likely assimilated after they got separated at the UFO, not before since we get a clear shot of his earring before they enter. And as for him handing over the flamethrower, the thing wants Kate to trust him , after all it's been through it just wants to make it out alive, acting strange or otherwise defensive about things would tip her off to his nature.
      • Then why didn't it just torch her, call it a day, and zoom of on the other vehicle?
        • It might have wanted to assimilate her, and there ain't no better place than in a small snowcat in the middle of nowhere, but he would need to seem trust worthy for her to get in. Or maybe it thought having a human that trusted it would give it some leverage when they got to the Russian Base.
          • But the Russians (assuming they existed at all) had no idea about The Thing. it could've easily come up with any number of excuses for getting stranded, and would have had an easy time assimilating all of them before they knew what was going on.
            • Leverage in that Kate would never have reason to suspect it and it could be saved once they reached the ambiguously existing base.
              • The Thing wouldn't have needed Kate's trust if it had just turned the flamethrower on her and left her a charred corpse in the snow. And when it got to the base, it could just make up an excuse. Seriously, this is really striking me as a massive case of Why Don't You Just Shoot Her.
              • Neither would've trust been an issue, had it simply assimilated her.
    • It's learned to wait until the opportunity was right. And the opportunity wasn't right yet. Or maybe they just have an aversion to certain people. Maybe it wanted to keep her unassimilated so that she could be its ticket out of there.
      • Uhm, why? They were alone - what other opportunity would it need? Just lunge at her and stab her. "ticket out..." - again, how would the non-assimilated, aware and suspicious Kate be better than the assimilated and cooperative one?
        • Or dead Kate for that matter.
    • I see two possibilities there. 1) The pilot was human. The only evidence you saw about him being transformed was the ear ring. He might have lost it and then put it on the other ear for some reason. Just a bad coincidence. 2) He was transformed, wanted to assimilate her but could not do so just yet. It's implied that he was assimilated just a moment ago - maybe they need time to finish the transformation before they attack another victim.
      • 1) When torched, it let out an inhuman scream, so no. 2) Then torch her.
        • 1) A burning human played back in slow-mo could sound just like that. 2) And lose the possibility to assimilate her. The thing's priorities may be different from yours.
        • Also, how exactly would the pilot of 'lost' his earring? The only way that could possibly happen is if it for some bizarre reason he decided to take it off, or it was torn off, which would've left him with a bloodied ear. Secondly, even if he did somehow lose it, why the hell would he put it in the wrong, unpierced ear?
          • Is losing an earring while running around bumping into things really THAT rare? How do you know his other ear was unpierced? For that matter the thing seems to possess the memories and skills of the assimilated person. Why would IT put the earring into an unpierced ear?
            • If Carter was human and he'd really lost the earing - not got it torn off but just had it fell out, do you really think he'd bother looking for it and reinserting it, that is if he'd felt it at all (i've never worn one, but don't people usually only realise it's gone long after it's gone)? And if he did notice it and decided to find and put it back, least Kate thinks he's the Thing, then he'd certainly not botched up the ear.
            • And I seriously doubt that a human scream could ever sound like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zur-Q 1 w Us Jc&feature=related, even when in slo-mo.
    • Carter-Thing didn't give her the flamethrower. He put it beside him in the cabin as he was climbing in, and Kate saw his ear while he did it and realized what he was. She then grabs the flamethrower and tells him she's going to put it in the back. She then reveals that she knows he's the Thing because of his missing earring, and he reaches up to touch his right ear. Then she tells him it was his left ear and torches him.
      • Fair enough. So that leaves the earing part. How in the world could the Thing make such a blunder? It knows he was supposed to have the earing, and that Kate pays attention to little details, It had nowhere to rush after assimilating him. So, why?
  • When did The Thing ever get the opportunity to infect anyone other than its first victim? It implicitly stayed whole after it escaped the ice block and was thus burned. So how did it sneak up on one of its victims (who were traveling in groups) or someone in the shower?
    • The dog was attacked first. It had this mouth that would have just chewed it up and spit them out. The dog probably got Griggs sometime afterward but before the autopsy because Griggs is shown giving Juliette a creepy look as she heads to the bathroom. Whether or not she or Edvard got it in the shower is up to preference.
  • Assuming what the Things want to do is spread and therefore presumably infect as many people as possible, what happens after the entire earth is infected? If the Things do operate independently, and particularly if it's true that the Thing imitations are so perfect that they don't know they're Things until they're exposed, would we have a world full of Things who can no longer infect real humans and so just basically take the place of our society, or would the Things wander around, stupidly trying to infect each other and then getting a bit embarrassed when the recently stabbed/impaled/whatevered victim says: "Well, actually, that was a bit pointless, I'm already a Thing"?
    • My guess is that, since the Things seem to obtain all knowledge and intelligence from those they assimilate, that they'd try to construct spacecraft to go out and take over life on other planets.
  • The Thing is clearly shown to be able to detach parts of itself to attack enemies inaccessible to the main body. So why doesn't it do that in the finale, where it has Kate trapped in a crawlspace but is too big to fit inside?
  • Why would the Thing leave out the fillings instead of putting them back on its new teeth? They are no longer dental tissue - they are the same stuff the rest of its body is made of, and it's so pliable I don't see how that'd be a problem. Sure, it's a minor thing, but it was emphasised again and again that the imitations the Ting creates are supposed to be perfect, so why'd it be so negligent of all a sudden?
    • In fairness, I think it was supposed to come off as being really unreliable, and maybe casting a bit of doubt on Kate's identity. One of the characters even lampshades this, mentioning that 'she knows as well as him that the fillings prove nothing.' Backed up again at the ending, when a Thing demonstrates the ability to re-insert an earring.
      • But puts it in a wrong ear. As for the fillings, well, Kate rightfully notes that "it is better then nothing". After all, they were not going to instantly torch everybody who lacked them, so she acted reasonably, while the Thing committed a completely uncharacteristic blunder.
    • I don't think that the Things are perfect imitations. I think that that's just a misconception that people have about them.
    • Possibly, humans are the only species the Things have encountered that use artificial stuff like fillings and metal splints and whatnot.
      • Highly improbable, but even then so what? The Thing copies the identity as well as the body, so it has to have some access to the mind/memory of the assimilate and thus know where those metal things should go.
      • The answer is simple, until Kate pointed out the fillings it had no reason to assume anyone would have figured out it couldn't absorb inorganic matter. Edvard was probably assimilated before Kate discovered the fillings and thus had no defense when she brought it up.
        • And? If you were the Thing and you wanted to copy somebody and you saw that they have fillings, and you knew what those were, having absorbed their mind or something, wouldn't you realize that it if somebody notices their absence, they would become suspicious? I'm not familiar with the health care procedures in Antarctica, but I wouldn't be surprised if regular dental survives are par for the course, to watch out for scurvy, for instance. But regardless, the core question is why not do it, when it took so little? It obviously had time.
          • You're assuming The Thing perceives the world in the same way we do and it probably doesn't. Most of it's forms seem to lack sensory input (eyes, ears, so on) so it must perceive things in a completely alien way, like how Richard Dawkins said it's possible that bats hear in color. Maybe it "feels in color" (kind of stretches the metaphor though). It seems to get progressively more clever with each incarnation, maybe a big part of that was figuring out exactly how we perceive the world.
          • Besides, if it had absorbed their mind or memories, consider this: if you have fillings, how often do you think about them? I know I'd forgotten about mine by the time I went to bed the day I got it. Just because the Thing is a perfect imitation doesn't mean it thinks of everything. Especially if it was living in terror of being discovered and incinerated.
      • At the point Edvard and Juliette are taken over, the Thing was probably still running on animal instinct and replacing the fillings wasn't quite as important as getting the fuck out of there and maybe taking as many humans out as possible.
  • The way they "disable" their vehicles. In the original they demolish all the controls and, apparently, engines as well, beyond repair. Here they... cut the wires. The fuck? Whom are they trying to prevent from leaving, a bunch of kids? Hell, Kate doesn't even bother to actually cut the wires out, she just leaves them to be so conveniently "jump-started" or whatever it is called, later.
  • Even after 29 years, the question of how you can cut your own throat with slit wrists remains a mystery.
    • Easy, you slit your neck first and then your wrists before you pass out from blood loss. You'd probably have a few seconds from slitting your throat to handle your wrists. Given the circumstances, I'd imagine the overkill was justified.
    • A deleted scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj_57s-8y9w&feature=relmfu) shows that Colins only slit his right wrist and throat.
  • Considering that the movie takes place in the eighties, therefore taking place during the Cold War, why on God's green earth would you go to a RUSSIAN base when the US and Russia are clearly not too friendly with each other?
    • ...it's a science base and despite what you might think actual US and Russian personnel got along quite well with each other outside of wartime maneuvering.
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