Alan dean Foster draft #1
Hi gang, Just read Foster's first draft novella. Good read, really sad it only lasted a couple of sittings though. I haven't read draft two..sorry, waiting to print it off, I can't read from a monitor for too long. I'd rather have it in paper, to read while lounging around. My point is...ahhh...I hope I articulate this properly...how many story threads was Carpenter filming? The static "deleted" shots from the DVD match the novella: Fuchs impaled, the greenhouse full of frozen weed show that these threads were considered. Was filming ever attempted with the Bennings/ snowmobile death? In the deleted scene with Bennings shocked by something in the dog shed...what does he see? I'm thinking it was the "set up" to surviving dogs having escaped and the snow mobile chase. I find the commentary on the DVD ambivalent at times. I like the fact that nearly thirty years on, it is still stirring fierce debate, but I do find it frustrating when he implies they were making it up as they went along, at times. Not as frustrating, though, as some of the IMDB site "facts" :lol:

I have never heard of the scene with Bennings' snow-mobile crash before.

Bennings,Macready and Childs set off on two adapted snow mobiles to destroy the three, escaped, surviving dogs. The pursuit ends when they find one dog eating a fellow husky. Bennings is pulled beneath the snow and ice by the second dog which has reverted to it's true "thing" state. Seeing as there is a still of Fuchs pinned to the wall, I wondered how far, if at all, filming had occurred for this.

I don't think they filmed this scene as it seemed very expansive... The bennings death in the movie is not really a scene with wonderful special effects but it was probably much cheaper. If they do a remake of the Thing, it would be cool if they included these scenes, but I doubt it. I would have loved some more "light out" scenes, though.

All of the Norwegian-Thing and Bennings-Thing SFX were crated, shipped north and set-up/shot on location in Stewart with the on-site FX crew. T

What did Bennings see in the kennels in the deleted scenes? After reading the book a little part of me melted to the idea of a remake. The dog chase was really creepy and the "lights out" could be better exploited. I liked the scenes were the music is blasting them into submission and the nasty suicide of Nauls. Some good stuff.

I would've loved to see Nauls' alternate death sequence filmed. I personally don't think it would work quite right in the film itself, but to just see it would be very satisfying indeed.