Customer Reviews

Who Goes There?: The Novella That Formed The Basis Of "The Thing"

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John W. Campbell's classic tale of isolation and paranoia is the literary equivalent of 50 year old scotch (in this case, 70 years.) It just keeps getting better with age. If your only familiarity with this story is the cinematic adaptations, this your big chance. From the first paragraph, Campbell establishes a sense of foreboding and crushing claustrophobia that just doesn't translate to film. As a bonus, you get William F. Nolan's 1978 screen treatment. I thought it had a quirky 70's vibe. Sort of, Philip Kaufman's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" meets Disney's "Escape to Witch Mountain."

A quick note on the cover art. Too much of today's science fiction is jacketed in cluttered, over painted, or just repetitive imagery. However, Rocket Ride Books took the high road with a restrained, well balanced, but still eye-catching cover piece that captures the essence of the story. In fact, they've done an all together first rate job with this re-issue. I look forward to whatever they have planned next.

Who Goes There? is a novella written by John W. Campbell that was first printed in 1938. It is the book that was later adapted for The Thing From Outer Space and The Thing. I was eager to read this since The Thing is one of my top 5 horror movies of all time. I immediately noticed that a lot of the characters have the same name which was great since I felt like I could put a face with the characters. One small difference is there are more characters at the research facility. One of the things I loved about the movie is the feeling of isolation. Since you have more characters the isolation terror is not as pronounced, but that does not take away from the book at all. One other difference is the novella seems to focus most of its attention on the physiology of the alien. You get a lot of focus on the researchers debating on what they should do with the recently discovered alien.

There are more little differences in the book, but I am not going to get into all of them since I think fans of the movie should read this novella. The main story is only a little over 100 pages, so it doesn't take that long to read. I'm glad I read it because it changed my mind about calling The Thing a remake of The Thing From Outer Space. I'm sure when talking to other horror fans, I will reference The Thing as a remake just for conversations sake, but I don't think that's quite accurate. If anything, it's more of a re-imagining of the story. When you compare the movies, I would say The Thing is a more faithful adaptation to Who Goes There? Obviously, some situations and tools had to be adapted since technology and science had advanced, but the changes were minimal. So, is The Thing really a remake since it is more faithful to the original story? I'll leave that for you to decide.

After reading the novella, there is a 36 page screenplay written by William F. Nolan, which is his take on the Who Goes There? novella. As many people may know, William Nolan was the author of Logan's Run. This screenplay definitely has the same feel as those old, classic sci fi movies. There is not much in the way of horror in this screenplay. If a movie was created from this screenplay, it would probably be rated PG-13 since most of the scenes where aliens convert humans seem to be cut aways. If there was to be another movie based on the Who Goes There? novella, I hope it would be more of a sci fi movie than a horror movie since I think The Thing still holds up and would be hard to improve on.

So from reading the novella and the screenplay in this book, I really have an appreciation for the original source material. It truly is an incredible piece of writing considering here we are, over 70 years later, and people can still find ways to take the original story and put a modern spin on it. I am amazed at how flexible and influential Who Goes There? is. It has influenced so many of the movies we have seen over time. I would recommend this novella to sci fi movie and book fans so they can appreciate how influential this story is for themselves.

Campbell's masterpiece finally gets the royal treatment in this new edition. What really sets it apart is the added material - a new Introduction by William F. Nolan of Logan's Run fame, and the inclusion of his Screenplay (1978) as an added bonus. Nolan's treatment is NOT the basis of the Carpenter film, so it offers yet a third cinematic prism through which to see Campbell's situation and characters realized - a satisfying way to round out this offering. SF Signal calls it the definitive edition. There's also an AUDIO edition available from this publisher.

This is probably one of the best horror stories of the 50's, it is ground-breaking in the style too, in the setting, in the characters, if you compare this to Lovecraft's "At the mountains of madness", it is much scarier, much more emotional.

Prior to receiving this version of "Who Goes There?" as a gift, my only experience with this story was seeing - and being sufficiently scared AND disturbed by - John Carpenter's film version based on this novella, entitled "The Thing" and released in 1982. (Another movie version, much more loosely based on this novella and entitled "The Thing from Another World," was released several decades earlier in 1951.)

One of the most memorable aspects of Carpenter's film is how deftly he captures the claustrophobic terror and paranoia that overtakes the characters in this story, who are isolated (trapped, really) in Antarctica with a viciously intelligent alien force intent on taking over the world one body at a time. I was surprised not only to learn that the movie versions of this story were in fact based on a novella first published in the late 1930s, but that author John W. Campbell created such a visceral set of characters undergoing a frightful experience in a hostile environment that seems as real and relevant in 2011 as it did when the story was first published.

While the story is gripping, Rocket Ride Books' superbly designed re-release of this novella makes it an even more compelling buy. You also get an insightful introduction written by Bill Nolan, who was also gracious enough to allow his unproduced 1978 screenplay adaptation of "Who Goes There?" to be published along with the original story. It is interesting to note the differences in characters and events between Nolan's unfilmed screenplay, and the two films that came before and after it. The whole book package exhibits top-notch production values and the additional features enhance and enrich the source content, making it worth even twice the asking price.

If you enjoy classic science fiction from a master like John W. Campbell, then I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of "Who Goes There?" and most particularly, this Rocket Ride Books edition -- you will not be disappointed.

Be advised that this is a digest-sized book and is a very quick read. It does include William F. Nolan's proposed screenplay, which is interesting in its own right, but in my mind just does not measure up to either Campbell's original story or Carpenter's film treatment.

Campbell's tale is an intriguing antigue, so don't expect it to be the best short story you've ever read. The original was published in a pulp magazine in 1938, and it very much retains that feel. The content of the story is astounding however, and as a psychological horror tale wrapped in a sci-fi background, it is truly remarkable.

For fans of The Thing, this book completes the experience - we have the two films (Carpenter's and Hawks') available on DVD, the original story (Campbell), and an alternate version (Nolan). Taken together, they all have interesting things to contribute to one of the more memorable items of lore from the Golden Age of science fiction.

This is a frightening and enjoyable novella. It is much closer to the John Carpenter movie than the Howard Hawks version. This is the first work that I've read of John W. Campbell (to the best of my knowledge). He is a "hard SF" writer so, at every stage of the way, his characters mouth the scientific theories behind all the goings-on.

For those of you who have seen the movie(s), the plot is simple enough. A team of Antarctic researchers find a spaceship at the South Pole. They accidentally blow it up but not before taking its sole survivor back to camp to thaw out. When he does, chaos ensues. The alien has the ability to mimic other life forms. Therefore, nobody knows who is human and who is a monster anymore.

I have to say that I came to this novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell by seeing it on the credits of one of my favorite 50's Sci-fi movies with James Arness, "The Thing from Another World" (1951). Of course the movie had to stay true to its time and was loosely based on this story it still stands as a great presentation of its own. In 1982 John Carpenter took it on himself to add a few more of the original elements of the story. Unfortunately he had to bow to the gooey gory monster era and missed much of the original story including the fact that our antagonist was able to read minds and project thoughts. Not to distract from the two movies but it would be nice if someone tried again to portray this story. Carpenter also leaves his movie with an excellent potential for a sequel "Two things are better than one".

We find that thousands of years ago a rocket crashed and was buried in the Polar Regions. It was found due to a magnetic disturbance. On extraction there is an accident. We find a being from another world and another time. The being has powers of deception and shape shifting. Yet the story is not really of supernatural beings as it is of the people and their relationship to each other. As with many great mysteries it is always the last person you suspect. That is one of the strong points of Sci-Fi, not the technology as it will come about soon enough; what it is really about is how we deal with our fellow humans under duress.

If you are a science fiction fan you are going to love this book. Also if you love the Thing it would be difficult not to enjoy this book. Quick easy read but completely enjoyable would recommend it to anyone who is interested.

This book blew my mind in the descriptions author John W. Campbell wrote. I wish there were more authors that can write like he can. It was well written. I felt being transported back seventy years because of the technology and the concepts that were used during his time period. It makes me sad though when reading this book because I wonder if we have lost our touch of our strive to be better than what we are in a time where there were no cell phones, computers, and internet. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this book. It's different than the movie or novel of "The Thing" which I'm glad it was. If i had to give it a weakness, the characters at times talk very much in the story but those characters are smart people. I hope this review helped out. Oh, also I'm glad they reprinted the book otherwise I might have never found it.