22 quotes
Survival and Trust in Desperation
MacReady
I'm gonna hide this tape when I'm finished. If none of us make it, at least there'll be some kind of record. The storm's been hitting us hard now for 48 hours. We still have nothing to go on. One other thing: I think it rips through your clothes when it takes you over. Windows found some shredded long johns, but the nametag was missing. They could be anybody's. Nobody... nobody trusts anybody now, and we're all very tired. Nothing else I can do, just wait... R.J. MacReady, helicopter pilot, US outpost number 31.
[talking into tape recorder; turns off tape recorder and takes a drink of whisky. He looks at the torn long johns and turns it back on; turns off recorder]
Organism's Perfect Imitation Explained
Blair
You see, what we're talkin about here is an organism that imitates other life-forms, and it imitates em perfectly. When this thing attacked our dogs it tried to digest them... absorb them, and in the process shape its own cells to imitate them. This for instance. That's not dog. It's imitation. We got to it before it had time to finish.
[showing the remains of the dog-thing to the entire camp]
Norris
Finish what?
Blair
Finish imitating these dogs.
Trust and Identity in Uncertain Situations
MacReady
Somebody in this camp ain't what he appears to be. Right now that may be one or two of us. By Spring, it could be all of us.
Childs
So, how do we know who's human? If I was an imitation, a perfect imitation, how would you know if it was really me?
Humanity and Paranoia in Isolation
MacReady
I know I'm human. And if you were all these things, then you'd just attack me right now, so some of you are still human. This thing doesn't want to show itself, it wants to hide inside an imitation. It'll fight if it has to, but it's vulnerable out in the open. If it takes us over, then it has no more enemies, nobody left to kill it. And then it's won.
Trust Issues Among Neighbors
Taglines
Look closely at your neighbors. Don't trust anybody.
Testing Blood to Identify the Alien Threat
MacReady
We're gonna draw a little bit of everybody's blood... cause we're gonna find out who's The Thing. Watching Norris in there gave me the idea that.. maybe every part of him was a whole. Every little piece was an individual animal.. with a built-in desire to protect its own life. You see when a man bleeds.. it's just tissue. But blood from one of you Things won't obey when it's attacked; It'll try and survive. Crawl away from a hot needle the same.
Trust and Uncertainty in Challenging Times
MacReady
How you doin', old boy?
Blair
I don't know who to trust.
MacReady
I know what you mean, Blair. Trust's a tough thing to come by these days. Tell you what - why don't you just trust in the Lord?
Tension Amidst Uncertainty in Isolation
Norwegian passenger with rifle
Se til helvete og kom dere vekk. Det er ikke en bikkje. Det er en slags ting! Det imiterer en bikkje. Det er ikke virkelig! Kom dere vekk, idioter! (Get the hell away. That's not a dog. It's some kind of thing! It's imitating a dog. It's not real! Get away, idiots!)
Clark
I don't know what the hell's in there, but it's weird and pissed off, whatever it is.
Garry
I know you gentlemen have been through a lot. But when you find the time... I'd rather not spend the rest of the winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!
[after passing the blood test]
Norris
This is just what it wants! To pit us against each other!
Windows
Are you guys gonna listen to Garry?! Are you gonna let him give the orders?! I mean, he can be one of those things!
Blair
Hey, wait a minute. Wait a minute, man. I want to come back inside, don't you understand? I'm alright, I'm much better. And I won't harm anybody. Now you gotta let me come back inside.
Buried Terror Awakens in Isolation
Taglines
Twelve men have just discovered something. For 100,000 years, it was buried in the snow and ice. Now it has found a place to live. Inside. Where no one can see it. Or hear it. Or feel it.
[from theatrical trailer]
The Antarctic Question Is Settled Forever
Taglines
] Now, somewhere in the Antarctic, the question is being settled forever.
[from teaser trailer; [w:Fire and Ice (poem)|Some say the world will end by fire. Others say it will end by ice.]
Isolation and Suspicion in the Antarctic
MacReady
Blair's been busy out here all by himself.
[on finding a partially-assembled spaceship beneath the tool shed]
Conflict Over Team Assignments
MacReady
All right, we gotta find him. Nauls, why don’t you come with me and we'll go outside. Palmer, you and Windows check the inside.
Palmer
I ain't going with Windows. I ain't going with him, I'll go with Childs--
Windows
Hey, FUCK YOU, Palmer!
Palmer
I ain't going with you!
Childs
Who says I want you going with me?!
MacReady
ALL RIGHT, CUT THE BULLSHIT! Windows, you come with us. Norris, you stay here. Any of them move, you fry them. You hear anything, anything at all, you cut loose on the sirens. We all meet here in 20 minutes regardless. And everybody watch who you're with, real close.
Trust No One: The Thing Among Us
Taglines
Look closely at your neighbour ... Trust no-one ... They might be THE THING
[UK video box]
Confrontation and Defiance in Tense Moment
MacReady
YEAH, FUCK YOU TOO!!!
[the Thing roars at MacReady; throws stick of dynamite]
Tensions Rise Among Survivors in Isolation
Blair
Nobody gets in and out of here! NOBODY! You guys think I'M crazy! Well, that's fine! Most of ya don't know what's goin on around here, but I'm damn well sure SOME of you do!
[throwing a fit in the radio room]
MacReady
Christ!
Childs
He got most of the chopper and the tractor. And he's killed the rest of the dogs.
MacReady
Garry, wait a minute, wait a minute. Now, Childs, go around to the map room door. Talk to him.
[as Garry advances with his gun]
Childs
Yeah.
MacReady
Norris, get a table from the lab.
Blair
D'ya think that thing wanted to be an animal?! No dogs make it a thousand miles through the cold! No, you don't understand! That thing wanted to be US! If a cell gets out, it could imitate everything on the FACE OF THE EARTH! AND NOTHING CAN STOP IT!
[still smashing up the radio room with an axe while yelling]
Childs
Okay, Blair. Come on, man, you don't wanna hurt anybody.
[appearing in the map room doorway]
Blair
I'LL KILL YOU!
Survivors Question Each Other's Actions
Childs
You the only one who made it?.
MacReady
Not the only one.
Childs
Did you kill it?
MacReady
Where were you, Childs?
Childs
Thought I saw Blair. I went out after him and got lost in the storm. Fire's got the temperature up all over the camp. Won't last long, though.
MacReady
Neither will we.
Childs
How will we make it?
MacReady
Maybe we shouldn't.
Childs
If you're worried about me...
MacReady
If we've got any surprises for each other, I don't think we're in much shape to do anything about it.
Childs
Well...What do we do?
MacReady
Why don't we just...Wait here for a little while? See what happens.
[slumping back]
Desperate Measures in Arctic Isolation
MacReady
Blair... he got back inside and blew the generator. In six hours, it'll be 100 below in here!
Garry
Well, that's suicide!
MacReady
Not for that Thing. It wants to freeze now. It's got no way out of here. It just wants to go to sleep in the cold until the rescue team finds it.
Garry
What can we do? What can we do?
MacReady
Whether we make it or not, we can't let the Thing freeze again. Maybe we'll just warm things up a little around here. We're not gettin outta here alive. But neither is that Thing.
Survival Against an Unknown Alien Threat
Taglines
Its origin: alien. Location: Antarctica. Age: unknown. Intent: survival. Destination: MAN.
[from TV spot]
Skepticism Towards Extraterrestrial Claims
MacReady
I don't know. Thousands of years ago it crashes, and this thing... gets thrown out, or crawls out, and it ends up freezing in the ice.
Childs
I just cannot believe any of this voodoo bullshit.
Palmer
Childs, happens all the time, man. They're falling out of the skies like flies. Government knows all about it, right, Mac?
Childs
You believe any of this voodoo bullshit, Blair?
Palmer
Childs, Childs... ], man. They practically own South America. I mean, they taught the Incas everything they know.
[[w:Chariots of the Gods?|Chariots of the Gods]
Garry
So, come on now, MacReady, Norwegians get ahold of this... and they dig it up out of the ice.
MacReady
Yes, Garry, they dig it up, they cart it back, it gets thawed out, wakes up - probably not the best of moods - I don't know, I wasn't there!
Nauls
Which one of you disrespectful men been tossing his dirty drawers in the kitchen trash can, huh? From now, I want my kitchen clean, all right? Germ free!
[skates in with ripped long johns]
Childs
So how's this motherfucker wake up after thousands of years in the ice?
Bennings
And how can it look like a dog?
MacReady
I don't know how. Cause it's different than us, see? Cause it's from outer space. What do you want from me? Ask him!
[motions to Blair]
Childs
You buy any of this Blair?