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I had the privilege of reading the short story, the novelization, and watching the movie all within the span of a few days, so the differences and similarities were fresh in my mind. There are quite a few significant changes between the book and the movie, and the short story and the book.
Did I mention the men have cattle down in some weird storage facility? Cattle? I get the impression the original author never visited an Antarctic facility -- but hey, that's why it's called science fiction.
The short story is much more about the paranoia of men cooped up in close quarters, than about the alien itself. Everyone's too damn jovial -- they smirk and grin about everything even in the face of danger. It's all very pulpy too -- McReady is a "bronze god." He's strong, he's smart, and gosh darn it, everybody likes him!
In the short story, combat is so brief that in one case, it took several readings to recognize the men had attacked another transformed Thing. They "do their work" -- that sums up over a dozen man hacking a Thing to bits.
On the other hand, a lot of questions that I've seen on web sites dedicated to The Thing are explained. Do you know if you're a Thing? Yes, according to the short story. In fact, The Thing is telepathic -- that's how it can gain instant knowledge of everything about a person and imitate them so well. It also explains how the Thing is always one step ahead of the men in the movie.
I like to think of the short story as a summary of what happened to the Norwegians.
The novelization, extrapolated from the original script of the film, is one of those rare books that's better than the movie. There are less characters than the short story, but they react much more realistically. They are all seriously flawed (far more than the morons from Who Goes There?). Most importantly, the presence of guns heighten the tension.
The novelization makes the movie make more sense. Most specifically, the dogs don't run away from the Thing -- they attack it. This changes everything. The dogs become infected and run off, only to be chased by McReady and Childs. It's a shame the scene wasn't included -- it gives a hint of just what the Thing can do. It also explains how the Thing can be so large (another FAQ about Things).
One character (was it Saunders?) uses his roller skates to race for his life against the Thing as it plows behind him, only to get trapped in the bathroom and ultimately kill himself with a sharpened piece of wood.
There's a lot more discussion, but I understand why much of it was cut down. There's also better emphasis in the movie than in the book -- HOW the actors say their lines changes everything.
The most important discovery is that the Thing takes ONE HOUR to change into something else. This simple number changes the entire tone of the book. With a hard and fast rule, the character's paranoia and reactions are tempered by the knowledge that they have time on their side. Very different from the movie.
If you're a fan of the movie, buy the book.
Like so many of his novelizations, Alan Dean Foster does an excellent job of describing the mood of each situation, but fails when it comes to physical descriptions. If you don't see the film, it's hard to tell what the characters look like.
Foster worked off an earlier draft of the script, so the transformations of man to monster are less outlandish, but more plausible. Though I do not wish to give anything away, I must say that the ending as presented in this novel is far more exciting than the one which was actually filmed.
You should also read the original novella WHO GOES THERE? written by John W. Campbell, Jr. (as Don A. Stuart) which was the inspiration for the film. It is quite obvious that Foster read this in preperation for the book and used its influence to highten the power of the story.
If you're a fan of Foster, you might find this to be one of his best novelizations. If you're a fan of the film, you might enjoy the background given to not only the human characters, but the creature as well. But be warned, there are many differences in the story from the film.
