[Bernard Marx]

the Carpenter remake of The Thing last weekend -- my favorite sci-fi movie, BTW

Too bad the real author, John W. Campbell Jr., never gets much credit for his original pulp story "Who Goes There?" It was in the great 1930s style of purple prose and bodice-ripping BEMs (Bug-Eyed Monsters) but Lordy I loved 'em!

The 1950s movie version did something revolutionary for the time. It only showed scary glimpses of the alien monster (aka 'Marshall' James Arness) and built suspense until the final confrontation when the Thing was at last revealed.

[ken5050]

Enjoyed your comment. Perhaps the weirdest, and yet, very successful example of Hollywood deviating from the original was in the very successful film "The Day The Earth Stood Still" Everyone knows Gort, and Clatu Baratu Niktu,. The screenplay faithfully followed the novella on which it was based.."Farewell to the Master"...( IMHO perhaps the finest piece of SF ever penned...) until the LADST page, when it completely deviates, and changes, from the novella, because it was felt that the denoument would be too disconcerting for the public to accept...

I'm not trying to be mysterious..I just don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't read the story...you shouldd be able to find it in any good SF anothology...if anyone wants the answer..just FReepmail me..regards''

[ShadowAce]

Too bad the real author, John W. Campbell Jr., never gets much credit for his original pulp story "Who Goes There?"

That was the first story I read as a kid that kept me awake at night. Scared me to death.