FAQ: WHOSE SHADOW WAS ON THE WALL?

In our old forum, camorgan posted comparison pictures of Palmer's and Norris' shadows. Palmer turned out to be the victor. :wink: I wish we still had them to show you and it would be a lot more convincing. It's possible. I too thought it was Palmer. But yesterday i watched Thing on big TV with high resolution and I swear i saw typical Norris chin. That shadow has typical "pit" in his chin like Norris. Palmer has normal chin. If it was palmer, why dont he attacked Childs? Maybe 'cause it wasn't right time, but that chin realy convinced me. But I never noticed it before i saw movie on high resolution TV, on PC you realy cannot see that chin, I think. At las, I do not :D

Did it ever occur to anyone that one man might have been in another man's room? Palmer may have gotten the munchies and, knowing food was to be found in Norris' room, went in there and was eating potato chips when he received an unexpected visitor. This is the theory I like the most, maybe Norris was in there stealing a puff from Childs/Palmers stash, who knows. Maybe he was in there because that was the closest doorway to a bed because his ticker was acting up and he needed to sit down, fast. I know you all want to discredit the shadow on the wall and that’s your prerogative but for story purposes, it works. I don't care who said what because many portions of this movie are subjective and as such, opinions will ALWAYS vary. I like to hold onto the Norris theory simply because he was assimilated at some point prior to the heart attack so when was it exactly? This scene provides the perfect time for when Norris was assimilated regardless of whether or not he was in the correct room. I like to think of Palmer being the shape that drew Fuchs outside because it was a pretty tall character that passed by the door. If it wasn't Palmer being assimilated in the Fuchs scene, who was it?

The whole Fuchs thing I'll leave for another topic.

The whole Fuchs thing I'll leave for another topic. Well I have a theory that goes back as far as the doggies that I'll post in a new topic because it's something I've wondered now for a long time and it was hinted at a number of times in the movie.

Like FF,I originally thought the Shadow on the Wall was just to arouse suspicion.By now,the audience knew something wasn't right with the dog.I figured if the dog had been with Clark for an hour/hour and a half and didn't assimilate him,why then did it necessarily go after Palmer or Norris alone in their room? That brings the single-cell theory full circle.If 'ole Jed assilimated Palmer or Norris how was it able to retain it's dog form for the attack on the kennel dogs? If it attacks in its anomalous form and assilimates its new host can another part reshape itself back to what it was?When Bennings was taken over didn't the Norwegian split-face thing become him solely or did just sections of it,leaving the rest under the blanket?When a 'thing' attacks doesn't it leave its former self behind and become the new target? If the Jed-thing was able to do a single-cell takeover,wouldn't have Bennings been infected by the saliva earlier,thenceforth making the storageroom almost-assilimation not necessary?

Like FF,I originally thought the Shadow on the Wall was just to arouse suspicion.By now,the audience knew something wasn't right with the dog.I figured if the dog had been with Clark for an hour/hour and a half and didn't assimilate him,why then did it necessarily go after Palmer or Norris alone in their room? That brings the single-cell theory full circle. No, it doesn't. If 'ole Jed assilimated Palmer or Norris how was it able to retain it's dog form for the attack on the kennel dogs? How was it not able to do so? If it attacks in its anomalous form and assilimates its new host can another part reshape itself back to what it was? Yes. When Bennings was taken over didn't the Norwegian split-face thing become him solely or did just sections of it,leaving the rest under the blanket?When a 'thing' attacks doesn't it leave its former self behind and become the new target? No, because then there would only be one Thing, which we know isn't the case. If the Jed-thing was able to do a single-cell takeover,wouldn't have Bennings been infected by the saliva earlier,thenceforth making the storageroom almost-assilimation not necessary? Saliva? What are you talking about? I don't think Jed ever bit or licked Bennings. He got close in the beginning, but never touched him. I don't want to delve into why the single-cell theory is so obscure again. If it were that easy, why didn't the Thing employ it? Obviously, it isn't.

When the shadow man is facing to the right, it looks like Norris, mostly because of the hair. When he turns around, it looks like Palmer.

it could be Alfred hitchcock, but im going with palmer as the shadow. he would be a very good candidate because of his being a pilot (as mentioned earlier) and someone who seems to favor the back of the group. Just as a question , wasn,t it Macready, Palmer and Norris that went to the alien craft in the helicopter? 2 things and Mac? Hmmmm.....

I was reading the Norris heart attack thread. The Shadow person was most likely to have been the first infected thus would have been totaly assimilated before Norris's heart attacks. I believe that the norris-thing was only mostly assimilated by his small "heart attack" ".(Norris was alone for this so its not likely faked) and thus fully assimilated by his Big "heart attack. If you believe that norris was totaly assimilated by that late in the movie(2nd H. attack) then he couldn't have been infected in the shadow room, that early in the movie, (to long to assimilate him) and the shadow would have to be Palmer.

I too think it is Palmer.

When the men are listening to Bennings talking about the weather closing in as they are planning to go to the Norwegian camp, Palmer says that he'll take Copper himself, which leads me to think he was already assimilated by that point - he could then assimilate Copper at the Norwegian camp. They could make up any story they liked so that the rest of the Outpost wouldn't be aware of what had happened...

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