This Ain't no Alien rip-off
If it were a rip-off, it would have been in space.
shareI guess you're right, then again the only thing people can compare this to Alien is that there is a crew chock full of sterotypes that all get killed leaving one or two people alive. There was one rip, the ending, when sharks came.
shareWith the genetic alteration and creature infection, the well-meaning doctor who cuts off the only means of escape, and the torn up blood supply, I'm a little more reminded of The Thing than I am of Alien.
shareSure...but can we not forget that they are miners in a big claustrophobic, metal, industrial, Ron Cobb designed station? That two of them, in very big space-looking suits find a lost ship, one that carries something within it to infect those that discover it? And please...the creature very reminiscent of a chest burster (that actually does the opposite of what a chest burster does...ironic anyone?)! Ooohh...and the doctor goes crazy too...Ash was the science officer/medical officer in Alien...if I recall correctly, he goes crazy too (though...he was a robot). Hmmm...what else is there? Aaahhh yes...the final scene underwater with Peter Weller in the suit trying to destroy the creature in the airlock. Hmmm...remind anyone of the end of Alien. Sure it's a little different...but come on! Oh yeah...and Jerry Goldsmith did the score. Am I fogetting anything else...? OOOOOHHH YEAH! The evil company. That's the dead giveaway. Plus the little spider creature looked like a face-hugger minus the tail. People, this is more of an Alien rip off than a Thing rip off. Sure, the creature is The Thing...but the story is Alien. No question. I noticed that when I was 9. It doesn't have to be in space to be a rip off...duh. Everyone knows (or should) that setting is only PART of a story...it is NOT THE STORY. Unlike 2001 or Solaris...Alien was not about 'being in space.' It was a haunted house movie really. It ripped off "The Thing From Another World" and that DID NOT take place in space.
I love this movie, don't get me wrong. Just don't be an idiot about it.
"Last survivor of the Nostromo...signing off..."
it's not a rip off it's an entire movie, a true movie, a good movie, it's the best movie of all time
shareActually, ALIEN did not rip off THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. It really ripped off: IT, THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE! which did take place in space. (I agree with most of your statements but just thought I'd let you know)
shareAnd please...the creature very reminiscent of a chest burster (that actually does the opposite of what a chest burster does...ironic anyone?)!
It's also reminiscent of the transforming Thing, and it's just as ironic that it does the opposite of what the Thing does (assimilates you into it rather than making itself a copy of you).
Ooohh...and the doctor goes crazy too...Ash was the science officer/medical officer in Alien...if I recall correctly, he goes crazy too (though...he was a robot).
Blair goes crazy too, and cuts off their means of escape. And he's at least as close to a "doctor" as Ash is. Neither of them is a medical doctor, but Blair is a biologist and probably doing some kind of biomedical research.
Plus the little spider creature looked like a face-hugger minus the tail.
There's also a spider creature in The Thing.
The creature also gets to the blood supply in both this movie and The Thing, and there's a hint in The Thing that infection could possibly be passed by sharing a bottle of liquor.
People, this is more of an Alien rip off than a Thing rip off.
I don't know; I'd say the influences are about equal. That's not surprising, since one of the influences on Alien itself, both directly and by way of other movies, was the very same novella of which The Thing was the second screen adaptation.
----
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.