Original Thing

Original-Thing
Background Informatiom
Portrayed by	Not applicable
Biological Information
Anatomy	Insect-like limbs, harpoon-tentacle assemblage and digestive orifice.

The Original-Thing was a Thing which survived the crash-landing of its UFO in Antarctica. The progenitor of all subsequent Things in the Thing film franchise, the creature appears in the 2011 prequel film The Thing.

History

It was discovered cryogenically frozen in the ice near the crashed remains of its transport. The creature - still encased in a block of ice - was transported to the Thule Station, where lead scientist Sander Halvorson took a tissue sample of the creature using a long drill. It can be assumed that the drill's disruption as well as a new fault area in the ice's integrity both contributed to the Thing's awakening. While the crew celebrated about their new discovery, American helicopter co-pilot Derek Jameson went to view the block of ice and was startled by a comical "BOO" delivered by another Norwegian base member. When Derek turned his back to leave, the creature burst out of its icy prison and escaped through the ceiling of the room.

Derek went back to inform the others that the creature escaped. The team split up into groups and began searching throughout the base for it. While Henrik and Olav were searching, they noticed something under one of the buildings. As Henrik turned around, the Original-Thing attacked, shooting out a spear-like tentacle that impaled Henrik. As it pulled Henrik into it's body, Olav screamed out, alerting the rest of the team. When the others arrived with gas containers, the Original-Thing had already begun to assimilate Henrik. Before it could finish the process, it was set on fire by Carter. The Thing screamed with pain and tried to escape as the fire ravaged the building. It tried to crawl its way out of the building, but it too was engulfed in flames and fell to the ground, dead. The team took the remains of the Original-Thing for an autopsy. It revealed a partly-digested Henrik within the creature's abdominal region, wrapped in an amniotic sac, and this provided the first data about the creature's ability to assimilate and replicate living beings.

Trivia

• It is unknown if the form of the Original Thing is its true form or just one from another planet it assimilated before arriving on Earth. It may also be a monstrous combination of traits from various extraterrestrial lifeforms the Thing had "sampled" earlier, rather than imitating any single organism as a whole.
• The Original Thing may be the result of partial assimilation of one of the UFO's crew prior to the crash landing in Antarctica.
• This is notably the only time that the thing is shown with its original body in the Carpenter film chronology. Aside from the Kennel-Thing, this is the only time it has been shown not in the form of a human that has been mutated in a "form" of the cell intruder organism.
• The Original Thing has tentacles/feelers that resemble an arthropod.
• The Original Thing is one of the few if only Thing that actually consumes its prey similar to most predators, in that it pulled Henrik into a sort of "mouth" and began digesting/assimilating in a makeshift stomach. The stomach also doubles as a "uterus" where the imitation is formed.

Images