Alternate versions for
The Thing (1982) More at IMDbPro »

• CBS edited 12 minutes from this film for its 1986 network television premiere.
  
  
• In the original Australian video version of the scene between Bennings and Childs where Bennings comes running into the room and says to Childs, "Childs! Mac wants the flamethrower!" Childs turns to look at him, and the next scene starts. But in the DVD version of the film, the scene is extended when Bennings comes in and says "Childs! Mac wants the flamethrower!" then Childs asks, "Mac wants the what?" Bennings replies "You heard what he said now MOVE!" then Childs says lastly, "Dammit!" while getting his flamethrower gear on.
  
  
• The film was cut in Finland back in 1982 to receive the K18 rating, these cuts include:
  • The scene where the dog turns to the weirdo creature is shortened, the scene where the stomach opens and rips doc's hands off is shortened (the stomach opening is intact, but the hand-severing is no more), shots of the alive separate head have been deleted, the scene where one of the team members turns to a weirdo-creature pretty graphically (in the blood test) is shortened, and the burning of Windows is shortened.
  
  
  
• In the theatrical version the cook is listening to Stevie Wonder's "Superstition". Because Universal did not secure rights for the home video release, the song was replaced. However, for more recent releases, Universal was able to use "Superstition" because they relicensed the song.
  
  
• The American syndicated televison version features:
  • A voiceover for title card reading "Antarctica, 1982".
  • A voiceover added and film re-cut introducing each character and providing their back stories.
  
  
  
• The version broadcast on television in the eighties ended with a few shots of a dog running, stopping to look around and heading off into the distance, leading the spectator to believe the Thing had survived. Also, the scene where a man's head tears itself apart from his body, grows legs and eyes and runs off, was cut.
  
  
• The television broadcast version of The Thing sometimes has an unknown person narrate the beginning of the film. He introduces all of the characters as they appear and gives a brief blurb about their goals/reasons for being there. At the end of the film, the narrator returns once more to deliver a haunting speech, and then a shot of the Huskie running away from the burning base is shown. This version often appears on TNT or TBS. This version also has so much of the gore edited out that originally deleted scenes are used as time fillers to extend existing scenes.
  
  
• The American syndicated television version has a slightly extended version of the scene where outside in the tractor Macready and Fuchs secretly discuss Blair's sanity. In the extended version Fuchs remarks that while Blair may be losing his mind he is still a brilliant scientist and his rantings should not be totally dismissed.
  
  

Related Links