Unfinished Business (fanfic)

Unfinished Business by John Hitchcock is a fan-made continuation of John Carpenter's 1982 horror film The Thing, along with its 2011 prequel of the same title. While it is not the first attempt to pick up where the Carpenter film left off, it is notable for its unusually optimistic tone, in contrast to many of the previous efforts, which were much darker in keeping with the tone of the movies.

The plot of the story begins where the 1982 film ends. The two survivors of Outpost 31, are lying outside the ruins of their base, waiting to freeze to death. However, they are found when a Russian expedition team arrives, having seen the explosions. They are brought back to the Russian base, initially somewhat paranoid. It turns out, however, that the Russians have reason to believe their stories about "The Thing" as Kate Lloyd, the lone survivor of Thule Station had also arrived only a few days earlier talking about a similar creature. Soon, Mac, Childs, and Kate find themselves working together and using their knowledge and experiences to try and defeat the Thing once and for all.

Read it here, though it is worth mentioning that it is really long.

Tropes used in Unfinished Business (fanfic) include:

The Alcoholic: Mac, naturally, given his character in the film. Also several of the Russians are seen drinking, though Miroslav is the only person who seems to do so excessively.
Dramatic Irony: While exploring the Norwegian camp, Vladimir finds a body in a closet. Kate is unable to recognize it but suspects it could be Lars. Anyone who has seen both films knows that Lars was the only other survivor of the Norwegian camp.
The Cameo: A somewhat interesting case in that several characters from the films make cameos- Clark, Copper, Windows, Bennings, Fuchs, and Colin... as corpses. There was also the Griggs-Thing from the prequel.
Changing of the Guard: The story is initially told from Mac's point of view, but gradually expands to the point where he's just one out of an ensemble cast, even spending a large chunk of the story hung over whilst Childs and Kate become the main focus. Kate also has more of a supporting role despite being the central focus of the 2011 prequel. In fact if anything, both end up being more closer to The Lancer, while the role they took in their respective films as a leader to their group ends up being taken by Yuri.
Discontinuity Nod: At the end, a rescue team investigating the remains of Outpost 31 is accompanied by a Norwegian doctor named Jans Bolen. A deleted scene in the Carpenter film gave this name to the Norwegian who was shot in the opening scene. Since it wasn't in the final movie, the prequel renamed the character Lars.
- A deleted scene from the Carpenter film involved a second body in the Norwegian camp, which appears in this story.
Fatal Family Photo: Yuri is seen looking at a picture of his wife before risking his life trying to level the Norwegian camp. Subverted in that he ultimately survives
Jerkass: Miroslav, though it's implied that he is only really such when he's had a bit too much to drink.
The End - or Is It?: The rescue team arrives months later at what little is left of Outpost 31 and finds what is implied to be the remains of the Bennings-Thing. Either it is completely dead and what happened remains a mystery, or there is still cellular activity in it and they could be infected.
The Captain: Yuri.
Everybody Lives: Well, unless you count the corpses of the people who died in the films.
Fan Service: At one point an unusually sexy Irina seduces Mac while wearing a sparkling bikini. Brutally subverted when she reveals herself to be a Thing. Double subverted when it turns out to be All Just a Dream by a hung-over Mac, and the first thing he sees upon waking up is a rather plainly-dressed Irina.
Follow the Leader: Averted. Many of the previous efforts at continuing the story were much darker, often involving one of the two survivors either being revealed as or implied to be a Thing.
Fridge Logic: Who exactly was that corpse in the Norwegian camp?
- One possible explanation brings this into Fridge Horror territory: it was a Thing, acting dead in the hopes of infecting an unsuspecting isolated victim.
Old Hero, New Pals: Out of the 11-person cast, only Mac, Kate, and Childs actually appeared in either of the films, with everyone else being original. Justified by the fact that they were the only survivors of their respective films, meaning they were the only ones who actually could be used.
The Leader: Yuri serves as a type II, though Mac and Kate do have qualities of this taken from their respective films.
Mysterious Antarctica: Naturally, given the source material.
Not a Morning Person: Irina, at least whe she's woken up late at night.
Noodle Incident: The full details regarding how Kate was imprisoned are never fully elaborated on, though its mentioned that she had attacked Irina out of paranoia and it is implied that she may have done one or two other things.
Only One Name: Everyone save Kate Lloyd and R.J. Macready. Justified, as Hitchcock was unsure of how to write realistic surnames for the Russian characters, and Childs' first name was never stated in the original film.
Out-of-Character Moment: Irina emerging in an unusually sexy attire, breaking her usual shy character and talking to Mac in plain English when it was established she couldn't speak it. Justified, as this is an indication that it was a dream.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Everyone in the Russian expedition team was loosely inspired by a character from the Carpenter film, and inherited some traits of them, if only filling out a similar job. In order of appearance:
- Irina (Nauls) is the cook, also a minority among the team (a woman this time, rather than black)
- Vladimir (Copper/Blair) is a biologist and physician, and is also much older than the rest of the team.
- Yuri (Garry) is the base commander, though his character arc is ironically the opposite of Garry's.
- Ivan (Norris) is the team's Geologist. He also gets to visit the crater where the flying saucer was buried.
- Nicolae (Palmer) is a mechanic and helicopter pilot.
- Alexei (Windows) is the radio operator.
- Miroslav (Clark) is the dog handler. He's also quite anti-social and has a vaguely similar physique.
- Pavel (Bennings) is the meteorologist.
Supreme Chef: Mac initially builds Irina up as one after trying some of her cooking. Justified as he's spent months in Antarctica eating canned meat and frozen vegetables so he probably has very low standards. Then again, Irina could just be a better cook than Nauls was.
Take That: The whole story originated from a discussion on the IMDB boards. After hearing a fan talking about an idea for a sequel in which the survivors of both the films end up in the Russian camp but have to fight against the Thing again, Hitchcock realized that it would just be repeating the previous films and get pretty tiring. However, he liked the idea of the Russian base and bringing together the survivors of both films, and came up with an alternate idea for a sequel in which Mac and Childs are rescued by the Russians but must confront their paranoia before figuring out how to destroy the Thing once and for all. The idea was laughed at by the other users, who argued that a sequel in which the Thing barely appeared would be incredibly stupid. He then realized that even if John Carpenter himself were to read his suggestion and use the idea it would likely get butchered by Executive Meddling, and so decided to write it himself to prove them wrong.
Team Chef: Irina.
Translation Convention: Out of the eight members of the Russian team, only Vladimir, Yuri, and Ivan speak English (and even then, only Yuri and Vladimir speak it fluently). As a result, any portions of the story focused on the Russian characters is meant to have them speaking their own language with their lines translated. This is made clear by the fact that translated dialogue is marked by curved brackets.