MONDO - THE THING

[Remembermyname]

Caved....ordered following much deliberation baby blue hoodie too. The discussion on this thread has been of considerable benefit. I shall probably part with some of the standard set.

 

[karamazov80]

I watched it again a few weeks back (that's perhaps the 9 or 10 times over the years) - I LOVE it - probably the best prequel I can think of - ever!

To each their own, but you might have forgotten about one prequel:

 

[HMC117]

The CGI is TERRIBLE. Nothing beats the magic of practical effects.

I watched it again last week, the CGI wasn't as bad as I remembered for the first half at least. It got really noticeable when they recreated the two-heads-joined-together thing, that was loaded with CGI. Its a shame because they built some great practical effects and then the studio covered them with CGI. The movie itself is pretty good. Nowhere near the original though obviously

 

[Space Jockey]

I watched it again last week, the CGI wasn't as bad as I remembered for the first half at least. It got really noticeable when they recreated the two-heads-joined-together thing, that was loaded with CGI. Its a shame because they built some great practical effects and then the studio covered them with CGI. The movie itself is pretty good. Nowhere near the original though obviously

Overall I like it. There are two scenes that bug me. The first is the scene where split-face tears out of the kitchen to the outside on fire. It doesn't tie in with what we see in Carpenter's version, which was further away from the building and burned with kerosene, and it looks different. The second is the cgi thing at the end. Other than that though, pretty good.

I'm interested to see what people do with the Mondo figure in terms of mods when they get them.

 

[HMC117]

I watched it again a few weeks back (that's perhaps the 9 or 10 times over the years) - I LOVE it - probably the best prequel I can think of - ever!

There are some inconsistencies with the 1982 movie, but it's still a great rollercoaster of a ride.

.

Temple of Doom, Saw X, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Pearl, Red Dragon, Prey, Prometheus, X-men: First Class, Orphan: First Kill, etc. Are all some good-great prequels

 

[karamazov80]

Temple of Doom, Saw X, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Pearl, Red Dragon, Prey, Prometheus, X-men: First Class, Orphan: First Kill, etc. Are all some good-great prequels

First Class is a great example of a prequel outdoing most of the contemporary entries. I'm also a fan of Red Dragon, though Manhunter is better. As I think it through, it's hard to come up with prequels that are good at all, much less ones that rival the movies that came before.

 

[R_R_X]

I personally found the 2011 prequel do be disappointing and wasted potential, when it was announced I was so excited since The Thing franchise had been forgotten for so long with promises of a TV show and a sequel to the 2002 video game ending up dead in the water.

The very first Comic-Con teaser trailer looked fantastic and didn't reveal too much, giving us a glimpse of the practical effects however I never liked that they showed the bustling streets of the city and was glad that was cut in the final movie.


Unfortunately when I finally watched the movie I was so disappointed, while the city scenes were cut the isolation aspect was still lost when they showed Mary Elizabeth Winstead working in a city facility being asked to come down to Antarctica to research the alien specimen the Norwegians found. I wish the movie just started with her flying down to Thule Station so that the setting could be preserved.

The story and characters themselves were also very underwhelming, I didn't mind the American characters like a lot of fans of the 1982 movie did because after all the movie has to sell to the American audiences above all but the real issue was just how bland most of them were. None is as memorable as MacReady, Childs, Blair, even supporting characters like Windows, Garry, Nauls eclipse every main character in the prequel.

The inclusion of a human villain with Dr. Sanders was completely unnecessary as well, at times all he needed was a moustache so he could twirl it while acting like a prick to everyone. Having him as the final Thing creature felt so stupid especially when you find out the original ending would see the Thing assimilating a dead Alien pilot on the spaceship and attempt to fly out of Antarctica, the Alien pilot prop that was used in the movie ended up being covered by a blue Tetris effect in the final cut while Sanders-Thing became the final big bad.

That brings me to the Thing itself, I found it to act more like a mindless Hollywood monster than the creature/organism we know from the classic movie. Of course I've read many arguments saying that's because The Thing is having it's first interaction with humans and accessing/assimilating their behavior and that's why it's more methodical in the first movie but I just don't buy it. Remember this organism has been around for who know how long and has assimilated countless species, some more intelligent than humans and yet it acts like a mindless monster transforming at the worst times, grabbing Kate multiple times at the end of the movie and yet not assimilating her for some reason and chasing people around the outpost like a headless chicken. That is is how they explain the destruction of the Norwegian Outpost too, instead of having the humans destroy and kill each other from the paranoia that would set in it was just the creatures running amuck, the paranoia itself is another aspect that's severely missing as in this one as there's obvious good guys and Sanders trying to sabotage the rest of the group so he can keep the glory of finding and Alien specimen.

Then there's the whole "Thing can't assimilate non-organic material", it makes a lot of sense actually but that still wouldn't stop the Thing from incorporating stuff like earrings into the host copy when it's done assimilating it, because if we accept this new bit of lore as canon then Childs is 100% human at the end of the 1982 movie since he still has his earring and funnily enough a missing earring is what ends up giving away Carter as an assimilated host at the end of the prequel. Again I don't really mind this since I understand they wanted to do something different than the blood test but it does take away from the ending of the first movie.

And of course and probably the reason most of us didn't end up enjoying the prequel that much, the horrible CGI. The CGI is still awful in my opinion and that is because the special effects team they hired to completely replace every practical effect had very little time to do it. Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. co-founders of Studio, were in charge of the Thing designs and practical effects and at the premiere of the movie they had no idea all their work ended up being completely replaced with CGI I can only imagine what they felt when they watched it for the first time.

After the movie was release Alec posted a statement about their effects being completely replaced by CGI when they had promised the fans practical effects would have a very important role in the movie, of course it was all decided behind their back by studio execs and as a result of that the final product ended suffering greatly, what would've been the prefect blend of practical and CGI was now barely passing as PS3 graphics and it completely ruined the immersion and practical effects legacy of The Thing. The slithery, very real, bloody and monstrous physical threat the thing presented when it transformed was now clearly a fake computer generated effect that wasn't there interacting/assimilating these characters.

Luckily for us Studio ADI ended posting a series of videos of the unseen practical effects, even giving us glimpses into what the original ending would've been and they look fantastic. I remember watching these back then marveling at the work and dreaming of a world where the studio execs didn't ruin it for everyone. Many still dream of a possible Director's Cut with restored practical effects, deleted scenes and original ending but it will never happen so all we have is these videos.


At the end of the day I don't really hate the movie, I understand it's shortcomings and that the director and crew were unfortunately done dirty by the suits above them, I still watch it from time to time but it really holds no candle to the all time classic that is John Carpenter's The Thing and as a prequel it doesn't really feel it does a good job of expanding upon the creature or the original Norwegian crew, the connective tissue that's there are visual cues they had to put in because they were in the first movie, we still have no idea what happened to Kate either and why Macready and the others didn't find her or the snowcats when out exploring the spaceship and Thule Station, if you want a really strong prequel the most recent examples to come to my mind are Better Call Saul and Red Dead Redemptions 2, two different entries in two different mediums that are not without their flaws but that do a very good job at expanding upon the established lore of their worlds and eclipse their predecessors/successors in a lot of meaningful ways.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

I personally found the 2011 prequel do be disappointing and wasted potential, when it was announced I was so excited since The Thing franchise had been forgotten for so long with promises of a TV show and a sequel to the 2002 video game ending up dead in the water.

The inclusion of a human villain with Dr. Sanders was completely unnecessary as well, at times all he needed was a moustache so he could twirl it while acting like a prick to everyone. Having him as the final Thing creature felt so stupid especially when you find out the original ending would see the Thing assimilating a dead Alien pilot on the spaceship and attempt to fly out of Antarctica, the Alien pilot prop that was used in the movie ended up being covered by a blue Tetris effect in the final cut while Sanders-Thing became the final big bad.

I agree completely. They absolutely wasted the actor. He was really fantastic in Banshee. So the potential was there if they wanted it.

The 2011 prequel is close to devoid of any practical tension at all. If it was me, it would have no Americans and would need to be fully subtitled. But while you and I might enjoy something like that (IIRC, you mentioned you also loved Black Sails like I did, so maybe we share some of the same tastes here) , the majority of the movie going audience in the world might not.

But it's hard to step into the shoes of a legend. Not everyone can end up as Steve Young to Joe Montana. Or Aaron Rodgers to Brett Favre.

A struggle that I noticed immediately, IMHO, is so much homage can actually turn a film meant to be separate into just an unintended remake. Which is what I suspect might have happened here. It wasn't designed as a remake, but ended up as one, without all the best intangibles of the original.

 

[MarkKing]

I still hope against hope that in this era of streaming and "Snyder cuts" that the original cut of the 2011 movie with the practical effects etc will get released

Woouldn't it be great if Hollyweird took all the terrible CGI movies over the yyears and replaced it all with practical effects.

Perhaps removing the awful CGI will be a thing ONE day. Hey might as well since they have zero creativity.

 

[JorjeCroft]

So he won't show up on BBTS or Sideshow? I'm not paying full amount upfront, I have a bombastic side eye on Mondo, their Kratos wasn't my cup of tea and he is pretty downgraded from the presented prototype, so Idk how mass produced Macready gonna look. And yes BOO to the pleather, even third party Indiana Jones I got last year comes with a real leather jacket which was half in price.

 

[MarkKing]

I am waiting till the last day to put my money in. I have 1000 dollars burned by TW....and worried a bit about paying up front, but I LIKE mondos Animated Series line and this is the best McGready figure every done.

I hate pleather and they SHOULD do leather but it is what it is. Either get it or don't at this point with 2 days or so left, yeah....

 

[JustinMP]

I still hope against hope that in this era of streaming and "Snyder cuts" that the original cut of the 2011 movie with the practical effects etc will get released

In our wildest dreams. Sigh* I second this hope

 

[davejames]

I personally found the 2011 prequel do be disappointing and wasted potential, when it was announced I was so excited since The Thing franchise had been forgotten for so long with promises of a TV show and a sequel to the 2002 video game ending up dead in the water.

The very first Comic-Con teaser trailer looked fantastic and didn't reveal too much, giving us a glimpse of the practical effects however I never liked that they showed the bustling streets of the city and was glad that was cut in the final movie.


Unfortunately when I finally watched the movie I was so disappointed, while the city scenes were cut the isolation aspect was still lost when they showed Mary Elizabeth Winstead working in a city facility being asked to come down to Antarctica to research the alien specimen the Norwegians found. I wish the movie just started with her flying down to Thule Station so that the setting could be preserved.

The story and characters themselves were also very underwhelming, I didn't mind the American characters like a lot of fans of the 1982 movie did because after all the movie has to sell to the American audiences above all but the real issue was just how bland most of them were. None is as memorable as MacReady, Childs, Blair, even supporting characters like Windows, Garry, Nauls eclipse every main character in the prequel.

The inclusion of a human villain with Dr. Sanders was completely unnecessary as well, at times all he needed was a moustache so he could twirl it while acting like a prick to everyone. Having him as the final Thing creature felt so stupid especially when you find out the original ending would see the Thing assimilating a dead Alien pilot on the spaceship and attempt to fly out of Antarctica, the Alien pilot prop that was used in the movie ended up being covered by a blue Tetris effect in the final cut while Sanders-Thing became the final big bad.

That brings me to the Thing itself, I found it to act more like a mindless Hollywood monster than the creature/organism we know from the classic movie. Of course I've read many arguments saying that's because The Thing is having it's first interaction with humans and accessing/assimilating their behavior and that's why it's more methodical in the first movie but I just don't buy it. Remember this organism has been around for who know how long and has assimilated countless species, some more intelligent than humans and yet it acts like a mindless monster transforming at the worst times, grabbing Kate multiple times at the end of the movie and yet not assimilating her for some reason and chasing people around the outpost like a headless chicken. That is is how they explain the destruction of the Norwegian Outpost too, instead of having the humans destroy and kill each other from the paranoia that would set in it was just the creatures running amuck, the paranoia itself is another aspect that's severely missing as in this one as there's obvious good guys and Sanders trying to sabotage the rest of the group so he can keep the glory of finding and Alien specimen.

Then there's the whole "Thing can't assimilate non-organic material", it makes a lot of sense actually but that still wouldn't stop the Thing from incorporating stuff like earrings into the host copy when it's done assimilating it, because if we accept this new bit of lore as canon then Childs is 100% human at the end of the 1982 movie since he still has his earring and funnily enough a missing earring is what ends up giving away Carter as an assimilated host at the end of the prequel. Again I don't really mind this since I understand they wanted to do something different than the blood test but it does take away from the ending of the first movie.

And of course and probably the reason most of us didn't end up enjoying the prequel that much, the horrible CGI. The CGI is still awful in my opinion and that is because the special effects team they hired to completely replace every practical effect had very little time to do it. Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. co-founders of Studio, were in charge of the Thing designs and practical effects and at the premiere of the movie they had no idea all their work ended up being completely replaced with CGI I can only imagine what they felt when they watched it for the first time.

After the movie was release Alec posted a statement about their effects being completely replaced by CGI when they had promised the fans practical effects would have a very important role in the movie, of course it was all decided behind their back by studio execs and as a result of that the final product ended suffering greatly, what would've been the prefect blend of practical and CGI was now barely passing as PS3 graphics and it completely ruined the immersion and practical effects legacy of The Thing. The slithery, very real, bloody and monstrous physical threat the thing presented when it transformed was now clearly a fake computer generated effect that wasn't there interacting/assimilating these characters.

Luckily for us Studio ADI ended posting a series of videos of the unseen practical effects, even giving us glimpses into what the original ending would've been and they look fantastic. I remember watching these back then marveling at the work and dreaming of a world where the studio execs didn't ruin it for everyone. Many still dream of a possible Director's Cut with restored practical effects, deleted scenes and original ending but it will never happen so all we have is these videos.


At the end of the day I don't really hate the movie, I understand it's shortcomings and that the director and crew were unfortunately done dirty by the suits above them, I still watch it from time to time but it really holds no candle to the all time classic that is John Carpenter's The Thing and as a prequel it doesn't really feel it does a good job of expanding upon the creature or the original Norwegian crew, the connective tissue that's there are visual cues they had to put in because they were in the first movie, we still have no idea what happened to Kate either and why Macready and the others didn't find her or the snowcats when out exploring the spaceship and Thule Station, if you want a really strong prequel the most recent examples to come to my mind are Better Call Saul and Red Dead Redemptions 2, two different entries in two different mediums that are not without their flaws but that do a very good job at expanding upon the established lore of their worlds and eclipse their predecessors/successors in a lot of meaningful ways.

Yeah from what I remember the movie lost me long before the bad CGI showed up. The characters all felt super generic and had none of the authentic realness of the original actors.

Which is frankly the same issue I had with Ridley Scott's recent Alien sequels, as he wasn't able to recapture the authentic documentary style feel of his original movie either, and everything his "ragtag crews" did came across far too scripted.

 

[Ramman81]

So he won't show up on BBTS or Sideshow? I'm not paying full amount upfront, I have a bombastic side eye on Mondo, their Kratos wasn't my cup of tea and he is pretty downgraded from the presented prototype, so Idk how mass produced Macready gonna look. And yes BOO to the pleather, even third party Indiana Jones I got last year comes with a real leather jacket which was half in price.

I keep looking at it (zooming in the photos on the site) and I just can't pull the trigger. It looks like an overpriced 1/6 Hasblow/Sideshow of old. The handgun, shotgun, and boots look cheap. The jacket being pleather and losing the blue hoodie doesn't help either. If this was priced around $150-200, it would be an easier decision. The Norris head is great, but the statue dog serves no purpose for the extra price they want on the exclusive. The head sculpt is the best part, but even then has a cheap paint look to it.

 

[Remembermyname]

Maybe the Mondo team shall make improvements to the figure, I am sure they are aware of the conversation.

Why don't we just wait here for a little while see what happens.

 

[Evil_Deadite]

Thinking of pulling the trigger. Anyone have any promo codes for Mondo that work?

 

[R_R_X]

Maybe the Mondo team shall make improvements to the figure, I am sure they are aware of the conversation.

Why don't we just wait here for a little while see what happens.

 

[R_R_X]

Thinking of pulling the trigger. Anyone have any promo codes for Mondo that work?

I was wondering the same...

 

[Ramman81]

We all know that Child's is THE THING

 

[Remembermyname]

And all this time I thought it was my neighbour, the one across the street. The neighbours next door use the name Burb, they are up all night.