Universal Brings Back "The Thing"
Fri, January 30, 2009 
Prequels. Requels. Sequels. Reboots. Revamps. Reorigins.
I don't know how much longer we are going to continue down this path but my head is certainly spinning on a daily basis because of it. The trades are now confirming a September Latino Review article that announced "The Thing" prequel.
Studio has set "Battlestar Galactica" exec producer Ron Moore to write the script and commercials director Matthijs Van Heijningen to direct the re-imagining.
It is set in a Norwegian camp and chronicles how the shape-shifting alien was first discovered and overcame the inhabitants of that camp. Strike Entertainment's Eric Newman and Marc Abraham are producing. David Foster will be exec producer.
To me "The Thing" is a classic horror flick at its very best and definately one of my favorite Carpenter flicks. It is certainly an interesting idea to give the viewer a glimpse into what happened to the Norwegians, but it might be almost 30 years too late to take advantage of the story.
Reader Comments (2)
I really don't see the point in a prequel, but if they really **wanted** one, forget the Swedes...I mean the Norwegians (heh heh) and have a prequel. Huh? Yeah! Remember? The Thing was iced up for how long before they were found by the Norway scientists? But to make it "about" that Norway camp is lame. Did these folks actually SEE the Carpenter remake, or do they have short memories?
Let's break it down:
*We know at least two of the Swedes, I mean Norwgians, who don't speak much English survive The Thing's onslaught. That's fine...except that they chase The Thing (in the form of a dog) and die in the first five minutes. One by stupidity (mis-thrown grenade) the other by gunshot.
*We know one of the Swed...Norwegians froze to death and (part of) The Thing froze with it. To actually see that might sound cool to some, but it's not as impactful as seeing the end result in Carpenter's film...the same thing with the 'burned' body which regenerated. We don't need to see how that went down, do we? No. It sounds cool, but totally unnecessary.
*Did I mention they all speak Norwegian? Okay, maybe there's a dead Swede...
*WE get to see how The Thing takes over a kennel of dogs, as it had to imitate a dog to escape. Whatcha mean, we already saw that? Oh...that's right....
*The Norwegians don't know who to trust, if they even trust each other. If they speak English in the prequel, why don't they speak it in the opening reel of the Carpenter film. Unlucky selection has the only two survivors of the base who don't speak English, French or...Swedish.
-------and we could be here all night-------
Here is a simple solution: a sequel. Have a joint Norwegian-American rescue/search party discover the remains of MacReady and Childs. Neither one is The Thing. Have them find no traces of The Thing at the American base camp. All records taken from the Norwegian base camp have been destroyed. They go in the Norwegian base camp, and are clueless at what they find. They have no leads, no clues, but they do find....a frozen body with Thing DNA. They take it/other samples ....
bingo.
I'll tell you one thing, I like your version much better.