The Thing Homages

John Carpenter's The Thing is an undisputed horror classic.  Being a classic the movie has had it's share of imitators.  They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so here are two of my favorite imitators of The Thing.


The X-Files- Ice 
Season One/Episode Eight

Mulder and Scully are sent to an arctic research facility to investigate some bizarre deaths.  

The Ice episode written by Glen Morgan and James Wong is probably of the most famous imitators of The Thing. 

If the sets and general look of the episode remind you of The Thing it could be because production designer Graeme Murray worked on both.

The armed stand off! 

"Ice" does a great job of capturing the paranoia and isolation from The Thing.  This episode is one of the breakout episodes from the first season of the X-Files. 

Star Trek Deep Space Nine- The Adversary 
Season Three/Episode 26

The third season finale of DS9 finds the crew confined on-board the Defiant with a shapeshifting alien called a Changeling.  The Changeling sews confusion and paranoia among the crew. 

This episode borrows liberally from The Thing in several scenes.

The crew scanning each other to try and determine who the Changeling is just the first.

When they do discover his identity he reverts to his natural shape and escapes.

The Changeling also has a fondness for using tentacles to murder crew members.

No Thing homage would be complete without an armed stand off.

This episode even features a blood test scene.

The Thing has influenced multiple generations of filmmakers and will probably continue to for years to come.