These poor bastards in the snow. They were clueless, now they know. It’s a special brand of nightmare that I bring. Yes, they thought I was a dog – but I’m the Thing! Let’s fire up the flamethrowers for The Thing, by Alan Dean Foster.
Synopsis:
A strange unknown creature attacks the inhabitants of a secluded outpost in the Antarctic
Source: Goodreads
SPOILERS BELOW
The manuscript that began life as Frozen Hell became the short story “Who Goes There?”, which was adapted into the film The Thing, which was then adapted back into print for the novelization – and so the circle is complete. It’s a bit odd, to have a novelization of an adaptation; but it also makes for an interesting comparison. After all, John Carpenter’s interpretation is markedly different from its source material: Frozen Hell and “Who Goes There?” were developed an atmosphere of pre-WWII atom age optimism and strong-jawed science heroes saving the day, whereas The Thing was produced amidst Cold War paranoia and the nihilistic despair of Mutually Assured Destruction.
Looking at the two side-by-side, there is no doubt in my mind that The Thing is narratively stronger than Frozen Hell. This ultimately boils down to two changes. First is the addition of the Norwegian base. Rather than following a single team all the way through from the creature’s initial discovery through to its final destruction, having the Americans stumble into the story in the middle allows for much greater intrigue and suspense as they try to unravel the mystery of what they’ve gotten themselves into. If the main change from Frozen Hell to “Who Goes There?” was trimming the slow beginning to drop us into the action in medias res, then The Thing is simply the next logical step in that progression.
Even more important in my mind, however, is the characterization. While the protagonist’s name is still Macready (as it is herein spelled), he has almost nothing in common with the McReady of the original work. McReady was a somewhat outdated character type: the scientist-hero of old black-and-white serials, preternaturally composed and intelligent, impeccably moral. There’s nothing in particular I could offer as an explanation as to why that particular mild-mannered meteorologist would emerge as the main protagonist of the story as opposed to any of the thirty-plus other scientists at the base. Macready, on the other hand, has the immediately iconic introductory scene where he destroys the chess-playing computer before it can checkmate him. In just that single moment, of destroying the game rather than be beat, we can understand why he will inevitably become the main protagonist. A scene this simple yet powerful transcends merely being character-developing to become theme-defining. On the strength of that set-up, the narrative can have no other logical ending but for Macready tear down the entire base around himself, not caring about his own survival but determined only to deny the Thing victory out of sheer cussed spitefulness. Macready is in many ways a less admirable hero than McReady; but he is a far more memorable one.
Generally, I prefer stories with happy endings, so it may surprise you to see me rank The Thing above it, given the adaptation featuring a somewhat bleaker ending than the original. However, sucker for happily-ever-afters as I am, even I can tell that this is the thematically appropriate ending for the story which this adaptation has been telling. Textually, it is about men fighting a monster; but thematically, it is about men being torn apart by paranoia, and ultimately pushing the button on M.A.D. So, for the ending to have the “winners” slowly freezing to death but finally setting aside the distrust between them? “Who Goes There?” didn’t need that kind of ending because that’s not what it was thematically about; but that’s most definitely the ending that The Thing needs.
Of course, in coming to a final rating for the novelization, I must confront that age-old dilemma: how much credit for the success of the story should go to Alan Dean Foster for writing this adaptation, versus the director and scriptwriter who translated “Who Goes There?” into the film which he adapted, versus John W. Campbell for coming up with the concept in the first place? Certainly, I cannot call this a perfect adaptation of the film – most significantly, it doesn’t include the famous scene of the Norris-Thing’s head growing legs and attempting to escape, which in turn weakens Macready’s deduction of the selfish nature of the Thing’s components. Nevertheless, the writing style was effective enough at conveying the suspense and horror of the situation that I was fully enraptured in the book from beginning to end, and I came away with a stronger impression than was left by Frozen Hell. As such, I ultimately have to rank it a notch above the original.
Alan Dean Foster’s The Thing is a very powerful book, one that exceeds the quality of the story that provided its source material and which stands as an excellent-quality novelization.
Final Rating: 4/5
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