Who Goes There?
WHO GOES THERE? (John W. Campbell, Jr.) - Four Stars
Okay, this is a little bit of a cheat, as Who Goes There? is a forty-page short story. But my current book is 800-pages, and I figured not posting anything for two months might alienate my hundreds and hundreds of (meaning: six) avid readers.
Who Goes There? is one of my favorite short stories of all time. It was the first major science fiction short story to present the "aliens masquerading as humans" concept. The story was adapted (very loosely) as the 1951 film "The Thing from Another World" and (much more closely) as the superior 1982 film "The Thing" by John Carpenter. It was also the inspiration for many other films of a similar vein, including "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."
The basic story structure: a group of research scientists in Antarctica come across a spaceship that has been buried in the ice for hundreds of millennia. The occupant, also buried in the ice, still has life at the cellular level. As this "thing" awakens, the human researchers realize with horror that it is the perfect chameleon: it can duplicate itself as anything it eats, right down to the cellular level. It eats a dog, it can turn into the perfect dog copy. It eats a person, it can turn itself into a perfect copy of that person (even the person's mannerisms, if it's observed them long enough). Thus the meat of the story: an increasingly tense atmosphere of fear and paranoia, as no one knows who's who.
Campbell tosses out a few five-dollar words where they don't belong, and his characterizations are thread-bare with the exception of a few characters. But the novelty of concept and the excellence of execution in creating an atmosphere of fear and mistrust makes the story. I highly recommend the 1982 movie version by John Carpenter. It not only remains my favorite horror movie of all time, but has possibly the most incredible non-CGI special effects of all time. It also has Kurt Russell with a cowboy hat and Chuck Norris-beard kicking all ass in room, and it has a pre-Diabeetus commercials Wilford Brimley going nutso with a fire ax. This alone makes it worth the price of admission.
"Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr.
Okay, this is a little bit of a cheat, as Who Goes There? is a forty-page short story. But my current book is 800-pages, and I figured not posting anything for two months might alienate my hundreds and hundreds of (meaning: six) avid readers.
Who Goes There? is one of my favorite short stories of all time. It was the first major science fiction short story to present the "aliens masquerading as humans" concept. The story was adapted (very loosely) as the 1951 film "The Thing from Another World" and (much more closely) as the superior 1982 film "The Thing" by John Carpenter. It was also the inspiration for many other films of a similar vein, including "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."
The basic story structure: a group of research scientists in Antarctica come across a spaceship that has been buried in the ice for hundreds of millennia. The occupant, also buried in the ice, still has life at the cellular level. As this "thing" awakens, the human researchers realize with horror that it is the perfect chameleon: it can duplicate itself as anything it eats, right down to the cellular level. It eats a dog, it can turn into the perfect dog copy. It eats a person, it can turn itself into a perfect copy of that person (even the person's mannerisms, if it's observed them long enough). Thus the meat of the story: an increasingly tense atmosphere of fear and paranoia, as no one knows who's who.
Campbell tosses out a few five-dollar words where they don't belong, and his characterizations are thread-bare with the exception of a few characters. But the novelty of concept and the excellence of execution in creating an atmosphere of fear and mistrust makes the story. I highly recommend the 1982 movie version by John Carpenter. It not only remains my favorite horror movie of all time, but has possibly the most incredible non-CGI special effects of all time. It also has Kurt Russell with a cowboy hat and Chuck Norris-beard kicking all ass in room, and it has a pre-Diabeetus commercials Wilford Brimley going nutso with a fire ax. This alone makes it worth the price of admission.
"Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr.
posted by Kevin at 3:52 PM
2 Comments:
PLINKPLINKPLINK... Hello? Is htis thing on??? (( hearing a mighty echo )) WHERE ARE YOUUUUUUU?!?!?!?!?!
I'm here. Don't Panic. :-)
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