The Thing (1982 film)/Headscratchers


 * Why doesn't the Thing try to communicate with the humans? It's obviously not a dumb animal operating simply on instict, since it is shown to be able to operate the alien spaceship and attempt to build some spaceship. I always thought what happened in the Norwegian camp was a huge misunderstanding that escalated into shit hitting the proverbial fan, and by the time it reached Outpost 31 it the Thing was as afraid and paranoid as the humans surrounding it. But the prequel shows that it attacked first, without porvocation, so it's just doing it for the evulz?
 * The Thing's intelligence is seriously all over the place. Yes, it does a lot of smart things in the movies, but it also does some pretty dumb stuff than even earth predatorial animals would avoid. My personal guess is that the basic Thing isn't intelligent at all, and as it absorbs sapient beings like the aliens in the saucer and the humans, it has much more info it can use (IE how to operate the space craft) but it doesn't necesarily make it smarter. It would be akin to a person memorizing every word on a book, but not understanding the meaning of the whole thing.
 * How the fuck does The Thing operate? Just assimilating cells does not grant it the capacity of replicating an entire organism, since it has no way of knowing how the cells are meant to be structured. I've seen suggestions of quantum computing and specialized photo-bionics, but is it even possible to achieve such a level of cell coordination in things (hurr hurr) that seem to not rely on nervous impulses? I know there's simple organisms that show cell plasticity, but they communicate by chemicals, and there's no way something that complex is going to change from a dog into Cthulhu's vagina just by shooting chemicals.
 * The Thing operates using the amazing power of This Is A Movie That Is Fiction, Stop Expecting Accurate Science.

Headscratchers for the 1982 film

""Man studied birds for centuries, trying to learn how to make a machine to fly like them. He never did do the trick; his final success came when he broke away entirely and tried new methods. Knowing the general idea, and knowing the detailed structure of wing and bone and nerve-tissue is something far, far different. And as for otherworld birds, perhaps, in fact very probably, the atmospheric conditions here are so vastly different that their birds couldn't fly. Perhaps, even, the being came from a planet like Mars with such a thin atmosphere that there were no birds.""
 * If the Thing's goal is to leave Antarctica and infect the other land masses, why didn't it simply grow wings and fly to where it wanted to go?
 * If it can only imitate life forms it has already encountered then it would need to have encountered something that can fly in Earth's gravity and atmospheric conditions (and in Antarctica's cold) before it could sprout usable wings.
 * Presumably, the Things hadn't assimilated any flying species. Or, for that matter, any species that wouldn't get frozen in Antarctica, until it assimilated the dogs.
 * From the original novel:


 * The simplest explanation for the film is that any form of animal locomotion would have been insufficient to get it out of Antarctica before it froze again.
 * So, if they can't know who's infected, why do they keep going off alone? It's not a perfect solution, but wouldn't staying in one another's company help stave off infection without the Thing revealing itself?
 * Honestly, because it keeps the plot moving. There's no real in-universe explanation that I can think of. In fact, you could ask this same question about pretty much every horror movie made from about the late 70's to the early to mid 90's, and the answer is the same.
 * I actually don't remember anybody going out alone after they find out that they're dealing with an assimilating alien virus. Blair being an obvious exception, who decided to go off alone since he felt he couldn't trust anybody.
 * IIRC, Alan Dean Foster's novelization explained that hole. The base required a bit of maintenance to stay up in the winter, and there wasn't enough workers to allow for a buddy system.
 * Staying in one big group is actually one of the stupider things they could've done. If they're all in the same room together all the Thing has to do is grow its fingers into tentacles with sharps spikes on the end and stab them each in the chest. Bam. Now everyone's infected.
 * Assimilation isn't instant. If it did this way, they'd have time to burn themselves.
 * Not if the Thing cells are inside them.
 * Even if assimilation isn't instant, there's nothing to say they'd be able to resist. We don't even know what happened to  exactly, but  is quite obviously incapacitated during assimilation.
 * That the Thing never actually did this, while having the good occasion more than once, is actually one of the best pointers against the "one cell" theory. The Thing doesn't do or even try this, so we can assume that it's not capable of it. The Thing is not a virus in the microbiological sense.
 * Uh, yeah, it pretty much is. We clearly see in Blair's computer simulation that each cell is capable of assimilating and infecting surrounding cells. Honestly it's the only possible explanation for how the Thing's physiology would work. Otherwise there would be no way for Norris' head to detach from his body, sprout legs, and scuttle away on its own.
 * The novel also explains, that they figured out from previous examples, that the Thing needs around an hour to fully assimilate someone, so they agree to meet every 20 minutes. Who does not show up, will be hunted down and killed on sight.
 * To put it simply, they didn't trust one another. Initially they did try to stick together after they found the UFO in the Norwegian camp, but that changed after they killed Thing!Bennings and realized someone else had been assimilated. Suddenly Blair goes batshit and destroys the helicopter, radio equipment and kills the rest of the dogs, Clark gets despondent, and Childs is suspicious of MacReady. They could have stayed together, it's just that everyone thought one another was infected, and they knew they couldn't let themselves be rescued when one of them could be assimilated. Note that they do eventually decide to stick together once they've confirmed who was really infected and had dealt with them.
 * Because it gives the ending more of a hook. Is one or the other assimilated? Also, the Blair-Monster got more biomass from assimilating Gary.
 * This troper has always loved this film. But one thing has always bugged me: The radios. Wouldn't there have been multiple transmitters around the compound and wouldn't there have been a strict radio contact schedule in place in case of emergencies. Even if you were able to destroy all of the radio (and in a manner where they couldn't be repaired) how do you handle the contact schedule?
 * Didn't the incoming storm prevent them from radioing out?
 * Yes it did. Windows mentions during the beginning that they can't get a signal in the snow.
 * Blair was either insane or assimilated at that point. If he was insane, he was being overly paranoid and didn't want them to be able to call anyone, who would come in and risk those people getting infected or transporting a Thing to populated areas. If he was assimilated, he didn't want the humans to be able to warn anyone on the outside about the Things.
 * So, what was The Thing planning to do? What was the point of taking over the Earth by assimilating into every living being? Is there an advantage to it being everywhere or is The Thing's goals not logically sound?
 * We don't know anything about The Thing's backstory, so really it's impossible to say what it was actually thinking the whole time, or what it was doing on Earth in the first place (did it end up on Earth by accident or pure chance, or was an invasion planned from the beginning? Was The Thing acting on its own initiative, or was it a sort of biological weapon sent by another alien species - there are many theories out there). It is likewise unclear whether the assimilation process is necessary in order for The Thing to sustain itself (ie: providing it with nutrition), a purely defensive tactic used to conceal itself and eliminate potential enemies, or simply a means of reproduction. Since the events are shown almost entirely from the perspective of the human crew, and the audience shares in their ignorance the whole time, the finer details are irrelevant for the purposes of the story - all we know is that the thing is a very real and immediate threat which must be safeguarded against at all times.
 * What's the point of a viral pandemic?
 * Viruses' whole purpose for existsance is to make new viruses. The thing is a very virulent, very complex, even intelligent virus.
 * The Thing is not a virus. More like an a bacteria or amoeba. Each one is a highly complex cell. At the very least, they're acting like any invasive organism does when introduced to an environment with no natural predators. Essentially assimilation is a combination of feeding (eating the dead cells from the organism) and reproduction (turning the live cells into more Things). So, global assimilation would simply be a means of them doing what any other life form would do.
 * We don't know that the Things would assimilate the entire world. That's solely based on Blair's ideas. It could be that they don't like Earth and just want to get the hell off the planet...
 * That doesn't follow logically. While it's still possible the thing's motive was something other than total assimilation the evidence points heavily in that direction. After all, if it just wanted to go home then why bother assimilating the dogs, which drew attention to it? Analysis of the movie indicates that Palmer or Norris was assimilated before the kennel scene, which would mean there was no tangible benefit to assimilating the dogs beyond a predatory instinct.
 * My one and only beef with the movie: The Norwegians could have shot the dog pretty easily if the pilot had flown his helicopter like a helicopter, and not like an airplane that can't, you know, hover.
 * Jed was assimilated. Shooting him honestly wouldn't do anything more than either piss him off, or slow him down a little. Originally, they had a scene with Clark mending a bullet wound and mentioning how lucky it was that he survived being shot. It was cut out for pacing reasons. Presumably, they were hoping to incapacitate him so they could thrown kerosine and thermite grenades on him.
 * They weren't exactly thinking straight at that point, and the prequel shows the the actual pilot of the helicopter had no real idea why the hell Lars wanted to kill that dog so badly.
 * My brother and I were watching the movie today and we both have one major beef with one part in this movie: When you see some Norwegians in a helicopter going after a dog with guns, kerosene and grenades, wouldn't you figure that there was something wrong with this 'dog' and just end its life?
 * They probably figured the Norwegians (who had up to that point shot at a dog, blew themselves up with grenades, and shot at the Americans, accidentally or otherwise) were deranged and that they needed to be stopped before they do anymore harm.
 * The dog was behaving perfectly innocently at the time. Its first reaction, upon seeing the American crew, was to run up to them and start licking them. The Norwegians, on the other hand, seemed completely crazy and out of control. I can see why the latter would come off as the ones who had something "wrong" with them.
 * Note that the Norwegian who blew up the helicopter was actually planning on blowing up the guys standing around the dog. That is not behavior that screams "the dog is sick or something and we're trying to save you!". It screams "we're sick or something and trying to kill you!".
 * At one point Norris was left alone and in charge of three of the cast (Copper, Garry and Clark) who were tied up, doped up and helpless to resist. A few minutes later, Norris was revealed as a Thing. The rest of the movie shows that none of the three was secretly a Thing. Why didn't Norris just take advantage of the situation and inject them with some of his Thing cells (using the hypodermic that he used to give them the morphine) and turn them into Things?
 * He would have been the only non-tied-down person there at what the others would conclude was the only time in which they could have been infected. It would have exposed him.
 * The same reason that Jed was alone with Clark and didn't assimilate him: The Things can probly tell who's a high-risk target. The men were already under suspicion. And Clark was the most obvious candidate for assimilation, even to the humans.
 * This is one that Spoony brought up, and it's a good one: While it's cool that Blair is building his own flying saucer in the basement, what would it have run on? Gasoline?
 * In the Campbell short story, the Thing has used its leisure time to whip up not only an anti-gravity machine but a pocket-sized atomic generator to power it.
 * Spoony is wrong and that short story is unrealistic (where did he get the nuclear material required for the generator? to say nothing about the exotic tech required to cancel gravity) fact is, they never once use the word space ship - all they say is that it's a flying machine cannibalized with parts from the helicopter. Best guess it was designed to fly him to a nearby country - nothing more nothing less. So yes, he probably could power it on gasoline.
 * I've always pictured the mini-ship as more along the lines of a high-speed sled. Just something to either get to the ocean, or outside of the range where the humans could safely travel. The humans no longer have any dogs, or a working helicopter. All they have is the snow dozer, which would be slower than walking. And they can't really walk very far in the antarctic winter. Also, they were using kerosine, not gasoline to power the generator, dozer, and copter. The back of the rocket sled looks very much as one would expect the back of a rocket sled to look: Like that's where the flames come out of. They don't need to get into space with it, or even to another country. Just far away enough that the humans can't follow, and then shift back into a dog and jump into the ocean, where they can assimilate all life on earth from.
 * Now, I'm no expert, and I've only seen pictures of Antarctica, but are there even mountains made of visible rock there? I was under the impression the everything above sea level was nothing but solid ice, but at the start of the film there are sweeping shots of mountains. So, am I wrong, or did the filmmakers muck up?
 * There certainly are mountains in Antarctica. Indeed, one of the reasons the base existed is for geological research, so naturally it was established near exposed rock.
 * There are some parts of the movie that were necessary goof-ups, too. They couldn't fly everyone down to Antarctica and film down there, so they flew them to Alaska and filmed there. They had enough problems with filming in the cold in Alaska. Antarctica is much colder, more inhospitable, and further away. Plus, if something broke down or someone got hurt, they'd be in big trouble down there. It's routine for those stationed in Antarctica to completely lose contact with the outside world for up to a month or so at a time. Other minor goofs included the time of day. Most fans of the movie don't know enough about Antarctica to pick up on these goofs. Just the nitpickers.
 * If each individual Thing acts independently of each other, and another Thing is just as likely to kill a previous Thing as a human, then why do they bother to infect more people and turn them into Things? What does it gain from this?
 * The Things are in it for their own survival. It's similar to why villains team up: because they stand more of a chance to surive by cooperating, most f the time. If another Thing (or Thing colony) is screwing up their chances of survival, or just getting in the way, they'll kill them. Individually, each Thing cell may only be as smart as an ant. But they have the ability to form hive minds to become smarter. The general perception is that the bigger a Thing colony (body) is, the smarter they can be. Note that the Norris Head Thing acts rather stupid, compared to the other Things. It just runs out into the open. Palmer Thing, seeing a chance to make itself look more human, points out the stupid Norris Head Thing, thus ensuring his own survival for longer and lowering any suspicions the others may have about him. Really, it's one of the ways that they're not so different from humans.
 * So... Is there any hints as to who the Thing is or isn't at the end?
 * The debate ranges on. Some say yes, others say no.
 * Carpenter states that originally, Mac was supposed to survive and prove that he was human with another blood test. But that ending was too upbeat, so they scrapped it in favor of the ambiguous ending.
 * There's also the infamous alternate ending, which makes it a moot point. Jed Thing lives...
 * Here's my reasoning. If both were Things, then why would they need to have that little chat? Misison accomplished, just wait for the rescue party. If one of them was the Thing, then wouldn't it try to assimilate the other, since neither had any weapons to defend themselves with? That only leaves the "both are human" variant.'
 * Neither had weapons? Did you miss the flamethrower Childs was packing?
 * When MacReady goes to check on Blair, there is a noose hanging in the shack. Yet Blair tells MacReady that he's fine and wants to return back . So what the hell?
 * This was roleplaying by blairthing, in the original script blair says that he will hang himself before the monster breaks in to absorb him.
 * In the "blood test" scene how the hell did the Thing!blood scream when stabbed with a needle?
 * The scene was generated with a monster puppet(which you can see if you look really closely). Presumably, upon being burned, the blood briefly took on a more animal shape in order to escape.
 * Yes, but even so it didn't look more complex than an amoeba. Did it even have anything to scream with?

Headscratchers for the 2011 prequel
 * Not sure if this counts as a "headscratcher" per se, but since the prequel shows that at least SOME people outside Antartica are aware of Norwegians' findings, does that mean that sooner or later somebody is going to obtain an alien spaceship in (more or less) working condition?


 * So from what I have read, this takes place /three/ days before the first movie. It is about the Norwegians who discover the buried saucer and some how manage to get a radio transmission through at the time to have an /American/ paleontologist sent to help them. Exactly how will they manage to explain this in a movie that is set in the 1980s, in Antarctica where the nearest base may be the American base in the original that did not have a female member? Never forget that it's winter in Antarctica so they'd be hard pressed to get a radio message out given the complications in the first. Now add in they also manage to get an American, /female/ paleontologist sent there in that time.
 * the timeline of the prequel is not nearly so compressed, as it turns out. The Norwegians find the UFO, 48 hours later they contact an Outside scientist, who brings in Kate the Paleontologist because she's an expert on exhuming frozen remains without causing significant damage. an Undocumented amount of time passes between this point and when she arrives, and then the actual plot of the film happens over the course of a few days. The silence is explained as the Norwegians wanting to keep it secret that they discovered a verifiable Alien Life form until they can keep anyone else from claiming credit, and a request to contact the American Outpost is directly shot down to prevent this.
 * Is the dog!Thing that escapes from the Norwegian base intended to be a Thing-replica of Lars' husky This troper would assume so, being as that appears to be the only dog kept at Thule Station -- yet Lars' dog and Thing!dog look different, even though the Thing has an established reputation for being able to replicate its victims down to the cut of their hair.
 * I found this a moot complaint when watching it. I mean, where are the guys from the photo? I didn't see a Bill Lancaster.
 * The Norwegian crew from the '82 movie's photo not matching up with the '11 film's cast is prerequisite suspension of disbelief for admission to the prequel. The imitation-dog not matching the original dog is a headscratcher because, unless I'm mistaken, there is footage newly filmed for the prequel where dog!Thing leaves Thule Station, and it looks like dog!Thing, not Lars' dog... meaning that they had at least two dogs "cast" for the film, and they deliberately look different, when they should have simply cast a wolfish-looking husky for Lars' dog in the first place.
 * That is actual footage from the original intercut with the ending.
 * Canines have what is called "slippery genetics", which allows all of them to be able to interbreed. Basically, it means that all canines have the makings of all other canines within their genetics. So, Lars' Dog Thing could become Jed-Thing by playing around with the dog genetics a bit. Things basically are capable of using genetics in the same way that we use Legos. It simply re-built Lars' Dog into Jed.
 * Why did the Thing transform on the chopper? He himself was reassuring one of his human companions that they would be out of there soon, and just needed to wait a moment more. Why did he then blow his own cover and ensure the chopper's destruction? I've heard that he feared detection, but transforming turned what one person suspected into an undeniable truth. One could argue that maybe he wanted to take control of the chopper and fly back himself, but then why didn't he attack the pilot? Moreover, why did he do something that basically guaranteed the chopper would crash, stranding him AND the humans? Had it been implied that maybe he wasn't quite used to the human shape yet and fell apart, I'd be fine with this, but there is absolutely nothing to suggest this. There are SO many reasons NOT to transform, and he did anyway!
 * Causing the chopper to go down not only saved him from detection but it did leave it with the chance to assimilate three people while it could.
 * Except of course that it was even more likely to go out in flames and die.
 * Would you rather risk it, or would you rather wait around for your impending detection and destruction?
 * At that point of the movie nobody cared about her opinion on the matter (hey, even after the crash they still didn't care much), and if I recall correctly she suspected of the wrong person. Plus, the Thing in the chopper had an accomplice that erased the evidence of assimilation, so it isn't logic that he assumed for sure that it had been found.
 * The ending just bugged me. If the pilot at the end had been the Thing, why didn't it kill Kate when it was alone in the vehicle with her, chasing Sander to the UFO? Or if it was converted later, why did it hand over the flamethrower?
 * He was most likely assimilated after they got separated at the UFO, not before since we get a clear shot of his earring before they enter. And as for him handing over the flamethrower, the thing wants Kate to trust him, after all it's been through it just wants to make it out alive, acting strange or otherwise defensive about things would tip her off to his nature.
 * Then why didn't it just torch her, call it a day, and zoom of on the other vehicle?
 * It might have wanted to assimilate her, and there ain't no better place than in a small snowcat in the middle of nowhere, but he would need to seem trust worthy for her to get in. Or maybe it thought having a human that trusted it would give it some leverage when they got to the Russian Base.
 * But the russians (assuming they existed at all) had no idea about The Thing. it could've easily come up with any number of excuses for getting stranded, and would have had an easy time assimilating all of them before they knew what was going on.
 * Leverage in that Kate would never have reason to suspect it and it could be saved once they reached the ambiguously existing base.
 * The Thing wouldn't have needed Kate's trust if it had just turned the flamethrower on her and left her a charred corpse in the snow. And when it got to the base, it could just make up an excuse. Seriously, this is really striking me as a massive case of Why Don't You Just Shoot Her.
 * Neither would've trust been an issue, had it simply assimilated her.
 * It's learned to wait until the opportunity was right. And the opportunity wasn't right yet. Or maybe they just have an aversion to certain people. Maybe it wanted to keep her unassimilated so that she could be its ticket out of there.
 * Uhm, why? They were alone - what other opportunity would it need? Just lunge at her and stab her. "ticket out..." - again, how would the non-assimilated, aware and suspicious Kate be better than the assimilated and cooperative one?
 * Or dead Kate for that matter.
 * I see two possibilities there. 1) The pilot was human. The only evidence you saw about him being transformed was the ear ring. He might have lost it and then put it on the other ear for some reason. Just a bad coincidence. 2) He was transformed, wanted to assimilate her but could not do so just yet. It's implied that he was assimilated just a moment ago - maybe they need time to finish the transformation before they attack another victim.
 * 1) When torched, it let out an inhuman scream, so no. 2) Then torch her.
 * 1) A burning human played back in slow-mo could sound just like that. 2) And lose the possibility to assimilate her. The thing's priorities may be different from yours.
 * Also, how exactly would the pilot of 'lost' his earring? The only way that could possibly happen is if it for some bizarre reason he decided to take it off, or it was torn off, which would've left him with a bloodied ear. Secondly, even if he did somehow lose it, why the hell would he put it in the wrong, unpierced ear?
 * Is losing an earring while running around bumping into things really THAT rare? How do you know his other ear was unpierced? For that matter the thing seems to possess the memories and skills of the assimilated person. Why would IT put the earring into an unpierced ear?
 * If Carter was human and he'd really lost the earing - not got it torn off but just had it fell out, do you really think he'd bother looking for it and reinserting it, that is if he'd felt it at all (i've never worn one, but don't people usually only realise it's gone long after it's gone)? And if he did notice it and decided to find and put it back, least Kate thinks he's the Thing, then he'd certainly not botched up the ear.
 * And I seriously doubt that a human scream could ever sound like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zur-Q 1 w Us Jc&feature=related, even when in slo-mo.
 * Carter-Thing didn't give her the flamethrower. He put it beside him in the cabin as he was climbing in, and Kate saw his ear while he did it and realized what he was. She then grabs the flamethrower and tells him she's going to put it in the back. She then reveals that she knows he's the Thing because of his missing earring, and he reaches up to touch his right ear. Then she tells him it was his left ear and torches him.
 * Fair enough. So that leaves the earing part. How in the world could the Thing make such a blunder? It knows he was supposed to have the earing, and that Kate pays attention to little details, It had nowhere to rush after assimilating him. So, why?
 * When did The Thing ever get the opportunity to infect anyone other than its first victim? It implicitly stayed whole after it escaped the ice block and was thus burned. So how did it sneak up on one of its victims (who were traveling in groups) or someone in the shower?
 * The dog was attacked first. It had this mouth that would have just chewed it up and spit them out. The dog probably got Griggs sometime afterward but before the autopsy because Griggs is shown giving Juliette a creepy look as she heads to the bathroom. Whether or not she or Edvard got it in the shower is up to preference.
 * Assuming what the Things want to do is spread and therefore presumably infect as many people as possible, what happens after the entire earth is infected? If the Things do operate independently, and particularly if it's true that the Thing imitations are so perfect that they don't know they're Things until they're exposed, would we have a world full of Things who can no longer infect real humans and so just basically take the place of our society, or would the Things wander around, stupidly trying to infect each other and then getting a bit embarrassed when the recently stabbed/impaled/whatevered victim says: "Well, actually, that was a bit pointless, I'm already a Thing"?
 * My guess is that, since the Things seem to obtain all knowledge and intelligence from those they assimilate, that they'd try to construct spacecraft to go out and take over life on other planets.
 * The Thing is clearly shown to be able to detach parts of itself to attack enemies inaccessible to the main body. So why doesn't it do that in the finale, where it has Kate trapped in a crawlspace but is too big to fit inside?
 * Why would the Thing leave out the fillings instead of putting them back on its new teeth? They are no longer dental tissue - they are the same stuff the rest of its body is made of, and it's so pliable I don't see how that'd be a problem. Sure, it's a minor thing, but it was emphasised again and again that the imitations the Ting creates are supposed to be perfect, so why'd it be so negligent of all a sudden?
 * In fairness, I think it was supposed to come off as being really unreliable, and maybe casting a bit of doubt on Kate's identity. One of the characters even lampshades this, mentioning that 'she knows as well as him that the fillings prove nothing.' Backed up again at the ending, when a Thing demonstrates the ability to re-insert an earring.
 * But puts it in a wrong ear. As for the fillings, well, Kate rightfully notes that "it is better then nothing". After all, they were not going to instantly torch everybody who lacked them, so she acted reasonably, while the Thing committed a completely uncharacteristic blunder.
 * I don't think that the Things are perfect imitations. I think that that's just a misconception that people have about them.
 * Possibly, humans are the only species the Things have encountered that use artificial stuff like fillings and metal splints and whatnot.
 * Highly improbable, but even then so what? The Thing copies the identity as well as the body, so it has to have some access to the mind/memory of the assimilate and thus know where those metal things should go.
 * The answer is simple, until Kate pointed out the fillings it had no reason to assume anyone would have figured out it couldn't absorb inorganic matter. Edvard was probably assimilated before Kate discovered the fillings and thus had no defense when she brought it up.
 * And? If you were the Thing and you wanted to copy somebody and you saw that they have fillings, and you knew what those were, having absorbed their mind or something, wouldn't you realize that it if somebody notices their absence, they would become suspicious? I'm not familiar with the health care procedures in Antarctica, but I wouldn't be surprised if regular dental survives are par for the course, to watch out for scurvy, for instance. But regardless, the core question is why not do it, when it took so little? It obviously had time.
 * You're assuming The Thing perceives the world in the same way we do and it probably doesn't. Most of it's forms seem to lack sensory input (eyes, ears, so on) so it must perceive things in a completely alien way, like how Richard Dawkins said it's possible that bats hear in color. Maybe it "feels in color" (kind of stretches the metaphor though). It seems to get progressively more clever with each incarnation, maybe a big part of that was figuring out exactly how we perceive the world.
 * Besides, if it had absorbed their mind or memories, consider this: if you have fillings, how often do you think about them? I know I'd forgotten about mine by the time I went to bed the day I got it. Just because the Thing is a perfect imitation doesn't mean it thinks of everything. Especially if it was living in terror of being discovered and incinerated.
 * At the point Edvard and Juliette are taken over, the Thing was probably still running on animal instinct and replacing the fillings wasn't quite as important as getting the fuck out of there and maybe taking as many humans out as possible.
 * The way they "disable" their vehicles. In the original they demolish all the controls and, apparently, engines as well, beyond repair. Here they... cut the wires. The fuck? Whom are they trying to prevent from leaving, a bunch of kids? Hell, Kate doesn't even bother to actually cut the wires out, she just leaves them to be so conveniently "jump-started" or whatever it is called, later.
 * Even after 29 years, the question of how you can cut your own throat with slit wrists remains a mystery.
 * Easy, you slit your neck first and then your wrists before you pass out from blood loss. You'd probably have a few seconds from slitting your throat to handle your wrists. Given the circumstances, I'd imagine the overkill was justified.
 * A deleted scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj_57s-8y9w&feature=relmfu) shows that Colins only slit his right wrist and throat.
 * Considering that the movie takes place in the eighties, therefore taking place during the Cold War, why on God's green earth would you go to a RUSSIAN base when the US and Russia are clearly not too friendly with each other?
 * ...it's a science base and despite what you might think actual US and Russian personnel got along quite well with each other outside of wartime maneuvering.