The Thing

Visible crew/equipment: After MacReady says, "The generator room," toward the end of the film, he, Garry and Nauls walk down a flight of stairs. Then Garry and Nauls walk down a set of three steps whilst Mac is holding a flare. As they walk the shadow of a guy holding a boom mic is clearly visible on the floor. (01:30:05)

Visible crew/equipment: At the end of the film, where MacReady is about to fight 'the thing' you can see the shadow of a guy holding a boom mic, on the ground just behind him.

Visible crew/equipment: When Nauls is in the kitchen cooking and the camera moves towards the room next door, the shadow of the camera is visible on the right wall. (00:14:35)

Mortug

Visible crew/equipment: When the "Palmer Thing" attacks Windows it lifts him up in the air. As it does this you can easily tell the monster is played by a member of the stunt team by the dark green T-shirt it's wearing. Palmer's clothing is different before and after this shot. (01:23:46)

Jack Vaughan

Visible crew/equipment: When we see the huge dog alien, right before Childs burns it, a crewemember controlling the puppet is seen on the center of the monster's head.

Fireball

Visible crew/equipment: Bennings tells Nauls to turn down the Superstitious song and Nauls skates over to the radio, but then doesn't turn the radio down at all. The shot then cuts to a shot of the medicine room which then continues as a panning shot and pans into the next room. Just as the camera stops panning and the shot remains still, there are a few stage lights visible reflected in one of the cabinets on the right hand side of shot. Those certainly aren't lights because all of the lights in the room are switched off. (00:15:10)

Casual Person

Visible crew/equipment: When Windows is in the radio room, he is trying to communicate with McMurdo. Doctor Blair then enters the radio room and approaches him, tapping his shoulder. Windows then pulls his headphones down from his ears and has them placed around his neck and he then says to Doctor Blair, "Nobody." Just as he says this, there are two white screens visible in his glasses. (00:11:00)

Casual Person

Visible crew/equipment: When the "Thing" monster bursts out of Norris' chest it rises up to the ceiling and grabs onto an oblong-shaped ventilation shaft. MacCready steps forward with his back to the camera (getting ready to burn it) and in this shot if you look at the adjacent pipe on the ceiling you can see the hand of a crew member. It looks like the crew member is there to steady or grab the monster puppet if it falls. (01:15:45)

Jack Vaughan

Visible crew/equipment: Just after Nauls is told by Bennings to turn down the music the film cuts to a tracking shot going towards the rec hall. At the very beginning of this tracking shot keep an eye on the lower half of the medical cabinet, and you can easily see the dolly that the camera is being pushed on. If you look just above the dolly you can make out the blue sweater sleeve of the crewmember pushing the camera as well. (00:14:55)

Jack Vaughan

Plot hole: As the gun-toting Norseman approaches the buildings, Garry smashes the single-pane window with his handgun. It is inconceivable that the glazing in a structure near the South Pole would be single-pane glass, that could be broken so easily.

More mistakes in The Thing

Clark: I dunno what the hell's in there, but it's weird and pissed off, whatever it is.

More quotes from The Thing

Trivia: The ruins of the American and Norwegian camps are actually the same set. Carpenter saved $750,000 by only filming the one set with different lighting rather than building a second one.

More trivia for The Thing

Question: Why did Kurt Russell sound the alarm when the thing was attacking the dogs? He was nowhere near the area and could not see what was going on. Also before he pulled the alarm, the sound he would hear was too faint to think something was wrong.

lartaker1975

Answer: Remember that he'd just spent the whole day investigating how something mysterious and horrible destroyed the Norwegian camp, so he's already in a spooked state of mind. Hearing the dogs screaming at night is already unusual on its own, and also reminds him how this whole episode all started with a crazed Norwegian trying to kill a dog. Deep down he knows whatever happened to the Norwegians is now starting at their own camp.

TonyPH

Chosen answer: He sensed something was wrong and wanted as much help from the others as possible.

Answer: Having investigated the Norwegian camp, he could have conceived that the use of fire would be helpful. As such, he would need fire extinguishers after combating whatever the thing might be with the flamethrowers. It could have been foresight on his part that by ringing the fire alarms, somebody was more likely to bring fire extinguishers with them, thus allowing better control of the fire.

More questions & answers from The Thing

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