The Blazing Magnesium Intro
Have you ever been so excited about playing an upcoming video game or watching the next supposed blockbuster movie that there was no way it could exceed your expectations. Or even match them for that matter. That seems to be the consensus with a lot of entertainment medias, especially with the internet today adding fuel to the fire, there will always be a hype over something and it rarely lives up to it.
For me, I built up a lot of hype for myself over a book. And no, it’s not the seventh (and last) Harry Potter book that everyone else got caught up in the hype over. Actually the book I was really hyped up to read happen to be written back in 1938, first published in the still running sci-fi magazine ‘Analog Science Fiction and Fact’, back then called ‘Astounding Stories’.
That story being “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell, Jr, a sci-fi novella, a novella being a book that is shorter then your average novel.
The Hype with Three Red Eyes
The story behind my growing interesting in the book actually birthed on the internet and had grown over years.
My interest first began back during Noah ‘Spoony’ Antwiler’s days on youtube, when he reviewed the PC game based on the Movie: John Carpenter’s “The Thing.”
Spoony Reviews 'The Thing' Part 1
Spoony Reviews 'The Thing' Part 2
I heard of the movie before and did a little looking into, since sci-fi and anything Halloween-ish (especially from the 80s) always interest me, and I found out that the movie was based on “Who Goes There?”
Time passed and I started to watch James “AVGN” Rolfe’s movie reviews. One such review dealt with Sci-Fi remakes and guess which movie gets mentioned:
Rolfe's sci fi movie reviews Part 1
Excuses me, movieS. Yes, while many people maybe familiar with Carpenter’s gore fest, it was not the first to be based on the novella. In 1951 there came the first movie loosely based on ‘Who Goes There?” called ‘The Thing from Another World’ which from what I can tell from James’ review, strays from the book more so then the Carpenter movie. And yes there apparently will be another remake coming that may be more fateful to the book. James even mentions the book which peaked my interest in it again.
Finally, I visited Cracked.com and one article came up that put my hype in Campbell’s story in overdrive.
Cracked.com: 8 Kick-Ass Movies You Didn't Know Were Based on Books
Yes, 8 kick-ass movies based on books. Check out the other 7, you will be pleasantly surprised.
Three different website were pitching this story to me. So I caved and recently picked ‘Who Goes There’ up at Barnes & Nobel and gave it a read.
My Hairy Blue Thoughts on the book
“That’s Dead. As dead as the mammoths they find frozen in Siberia.” Dr. Cooper (p39)
The book follows the same structure as the movies. A camp of Scientists are studying various sciencey things at the Antarctic. One team of the scientists find a spaceship with an alien frozen in ice. They attempt to blow the (magnesium plated) ship free from the ice but instead it turns into a Super Light Bright (magnesium mixed with heat tends to do that). Their find was not a complete loss, they managed to carve out the alien in the ice (without thermite this time) and take the Thing-icles back to their camp. After some debate they thaw out the alien which can shape shift into whatever it consumes and it escape. And that is when the real fun begins.
I will say this right now, I have not seen either of the movies so I was going into this story blind. Now as for my expectations, even though they were very high they actually were met. I think expectations towards a book can be a little more forgiving then a video game or movie. For a movie or game you have trailers influencing your perception and you create a wild fantasy that raises the bar too high. For a book though, you only have word of mouth to inform you. No rendered cut-scene that have nothing to do with the book or best parts of the book already spoiled by a trailer. Just a book and your own imagination. As I read this book I started to get consumed by the plot and the very intrigued conversations exchanged by the characters. The hype dies down but was replaced with excitement and interest.
In many sci-fi stories, there is always moments were the characters analyze their situation and that is a great deal of this story. What is interesting about this book is that the alien’s method of turning into other life forms is actually explained in a reasonable way. Remember Alex from the game ‘Prototype’? Well his ability to consumes people and takes their likeness can scientifically be explain by ‘Who Goes There?’
Plus the different methods the scientist come up with to combat the alien is also quite interesting. I especially like the main character MacReady’s last method to combat ‘The Thing’ that actually works.
‘The Thing’ is never given a consistent name. It’s always something negative like ‘The Thing’, ‘That’, ‘The Monster’, 'The Creature’, the last one being the most dominate title towards the end. I just find it weird that ‘The Thing’ really is only called ‘The Thing’ in a few narratives and conversations, less then ‘the monster’ or ‘the creature’ and yet ‘The Thing’ becomes the chosen name for the movies. My guess is that ‘Monster’ and ‘Creature’ are so overused in movie titles, ‘The Thing’ sounded a little more catchy.
Campbell build up ‘The Thing’ as something hellish and evil filled with hate. Well if I were ‘The Thing’, I would be pissed off too after a bunch of humans (aliens to ‘The Thing’) had blown up my ship and crewmates (the book hits there were more aboard the ship) and plan to study me like a lab rat. The scientists even speculate that ‘The Thing’ wants to take over the world. Well, that is homeostasis for you, is that not what humans have done? Really, I do find some horror in this book but I kind of sympathize with ‘The Thing’ in that it only wants to live and that does detract from the horror somewhat. Grant it, as a human myself, I of course am going to root for the home team.
Now I said I was walking into this book blind but it was not with a clean slate. For those of you who have seen the Carpenter Movie and have not read the book, I have got to say, Kurt Russell really fits as MacReady and I almost can picture him as MacReady while reading the book. Oh and get this, the book also has a character named ‘Norris’ and I will give you three guesses who I thought of playing as that character. Here is a line from the book that cemented my choices:
“If MacReady was a man of bronze, Norris was a man of steel.” (p29)
Bad-ass!
The main selling point of the book is the ambient paranoia created by the science team’s speculation of who might be ‘The Thing.’
“Each man eyeing his neighbor with the grandest exhibition of faith and trust.” Bennings (p79)
Although trust and friendship is the theme of the book there is conflict from the very beginning. When ‘The Thing’ is frozen and brought to the camp, there is the cliché exchanged between scientists who feels ‘The Thing’ should be studied and those who feel it should be put back from whence it came. But keep in mind that this was written back in the 1930s when sci-fi was still fresh and new, so you really cannot take it as a cliché and the dialog really does add to the suspense and builds the atmosphere for the rest of the book.
And once the following quote has passed, you know shit has hits the fan:
“It’s a wonder the hellish creature didn’t eat me in my sleep.” Connant (p48)
My Mewing Recommendation
I highly recommend this book for not just sci-fi fans but for everyone. It is a novella so the average person probably can finish it in one sitting. The story has no tell-tale signs from the era it was published in, so you could imagine it taking place in modern times. The pacing, plot and characters are well done but what do you expect from an award winning writer like Campbell. And last but not least, it has a creature that even puts Norris on the edge.
Now before I end, I would like to address one thing. I recommend either loaning the book from the library or buying it. If you check out the article I linked from Cracked.com, you will find that the book is in full online. But I strongly disagree with actually reading the book off the internet mainly because of the complaint of induces eye strain much like from a Kindle and other e-Books. I still believe there is a place for actual printed books in this world. Plus, there is some extra content in the printed book featuring commentary and a screen test for ‘Who Goes There’ both by William F Nolan (who is better know for his work on ‘Logan’s Run’).
In conclusion, for this October season, you just cannot go wrong with a sci-fi horror about a group of scientists fights a shape-shifting monster in the barren tundra of Antarctica.
Peace Out & Read On.
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr is publish by 'Rocket Ride Books'
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