The Thing from Another World: Book vs. Movie

Christian Nyby's 1951 film The Thing from Another World adapts John W. Campbell's novella Who Goes There? An Arctic outpost faces an alien visitor, with Kenneth Tobey as the officer trying to protect its occupants.

PollBook or movie, which was better?
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About the book and the movie
Book
Who Goes There? cover
Author
John W. Campbell
Year
1938
Pages
158Buy book
Audiobook length
3 hr 51 minGet audiobook
Narrator
Yuri Lowenthal

An Antarctic research expedition brings a frozen alien back to camp, expecting to study a creature that has been dead for ages. Once thawed, it can absorb a living organism and reproduce its appearance, leaving the men unsure whether their companions are still human. McReady and the others search for a reliable test before an imitation can escape the isolated station.

Movie
The Thing from Another World poster
Director
Howard Hawks, Christian Nyby
Writer
Howard Hawks, John W. Campbell, Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer
Year
1951
Runtime
1 hr 27 minWatch on Amazon
Cast
Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer
Genre
horror, monster, science fiction
IMDb
View on IMDb

Airmen and scientists at a remote Arctic outpost investigate a crashed flying object and recover a frozen body from the ice. When the creature thaws, the station becomes a hunting ground for a visitor that needs blood to survive. Captain Hendry's efforts to protect the group clash with a scientist's determination to preserve and communicate with the discovery.

Other adaptations of this book

  1. Who Goes There?The Thing · Movie · 1982
    Details
    The Thing poster
    Director
    John Carpenter
    Writer
    John W. Campbell, Bill Lancaster
    Year
    1982
    Runtime
    1 hr 49 min
    Cast
    Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T. K. Carter, David Clennon

    A helicopter chasing a dog brings violence to an American research station in Antarctica. The men soon discover that something capable of imitating living creatures has entered their isolated base, leaving no reliable way to recognize an infected colleague. As pilot MacReady tries to organize a defense, suspicion spreads faster than they can establish who is still human.

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