Tuesday, June 07, 2022

The Thing by Alan Dean Foster

 

(pb; 1982: movie tie-in novel)

 

From the back cover

“TWELVE MEN

Trapped in the Antarctic.

 

“ELEVEN

Discover the intruder.

 

“TEN

Battle the alien force.

 

“NINE

Agonize for the answer.

 

“EIGHT

Desperate to be spared.

 

“SEVEN

Consumed one by one.

 

“SIX. . . FIVE. . . FOUR. . . THREE. . .

 

“They will all die.

Unless something stops THE THING.”

 

Review

Foster’s movie novelization, based on Bill Lancaster’s original screenplay, like its filmic counterpart, is compelling, paranoid, brutal, horrific, and freezing (in its implications, stakes, and setting). In Foster’s book, though, the characters’ backstories and inclinations are more explicit (e.g., Macready’s acknowledgment of his Vietnam experiences) than the movie. Also, the characters’ relationships are shown more—in the book, Childs and Macready are friends; its theatrical counterpart reveals a terser (prior to their current harrowing circumstances) relationship between them. Not only that, the fates of certain characters (no spoilers) are considerably different than the movie version.

The Thing is one of my favorite remakes (check out the fun, also-great source, 1951’s The Thing from Another World), and Foster’s fast-paced, immediately immersive, and character- and backstory-delving expansion of it makes it one of my all-time favorite flick tie-in novelizations. Out of print, and possibly pricy, it’s worth getting, not only for its relative rarity, but Foster’s consistently worthwhile writing—Foster, for a while, seemed to be one of the busiest book-adaptation authors in the genre, and for good reason.


#


The excellent counterpart film was released stateside on June 25, 1982. John Carpenter directed it from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster.

Kurt Russell played Macready. Wilford Brimley, billed as A. Wilford Brimley, played Dr. Blair. Keith David played Childs. Donald Moffat played Garry. Richard Masur played Clark. T.K. Carter played Nauls. David Clennon played Palmer. Richard Dysart played Dr. Copper. Charles Hallahan played Vance Norris. An uncredited Adrienne Barbeau lent her voice to the “Computer”. 




No comments: