"They Live" as the sequel to "The Thing"?

John Carpenter's "They Live" could be the most influential film in history for conspiracy theorists. If I recall correctly, I've heard many of the biggest names in the genre including Alex Jones, David Icke, Michael Tsarion, and Jordan Maxwell refer to the film and rave about its accurate portrayal of reality.

I'm here to present a theory I couldn't find anywhere else on the Internet. I'm proposing that "They Live" works perfectly as the sequel to John Carpenter's "The Thing."

In "The Thing", it was estimated that the alien would have assimilated every living thing on earth fairly quickly. In my opinion, there is only one assumption that we need to make to make this whole theory work:

The alien realized that it needed to leave some animals alive as a food source and it decided that humans were the best choice.

If we make that assumption then "They Live" follows perfectly as a sequel to "The Thing" in my opinion.

Why would the alien (singular in this theory) in "They Live" set up the elaborate system of control to keep the actual humans in line and under control? What was the motive? I've seen "They Live" many times and I cannot recall the motive being stated. I could be wrong.

If we take "They Live" as being a sequel to "The Thing", everything would fall into place. The alien was running a farm, fattening up the humans and keeping them happy in their pen for their eventual use as food.

Any thoughts on this theory?

a reply to: Profusion

I love a good fan theory, but this one has a couple of holes.

The creature from The Thing wouldn't need a sophisticated illusion generating device for concealment. It could morph into the form it desires.

In They Live, the aliens were essentially businessman types exploiting the natural resources of Earth, both natural and human. Humans as food doesn't really play into that plot. Human intelligence made them more useful as labor. You eat the cow, but you use the horse for work.

originally posted by: Profusion

Any thoughts on this theory?

Yes, I am here to Kick ass and chew bubblegum. I am all out of bubblegum.

originally posted by: VictorVonDoom
a reply to: Profusion
The creature from The Thing wouldn't need a sophisticated illusion generating device for concealment.

Can you point to the exact place in "They Live" where "a sophisticated illusion generating device for concealment" is shown or discussed? I don't remember that being part of the story.

Even if it was part of the story, remember, "The Thing" came from a gigantic spaceship with technology far beyond that of humans. Even if it was apparently using the technology you say, it may have been a sham to confuse humans and thus protect its identity.

However, I still need your claim to be proven.

originally posted by: VictorVonDoom
a reply to: Profusion
In They Live, the aliens were essentially businessman types exploiting the natural resources of Earth, both natural and human.

You're wrong on this point. In the following clip you can see that the alien (continuing my theory) was everywhere. I've always thought it looked like about half the population was the alien. Of course, we only saw a tiny sample size but the alien clearly existed at every level of society.


www.youtube.com...

To this day, I laugh when I think of a scene in "The Thing". I saw it at the theatre with a buddy of mine who was a programmer. The scene in question is where Wilford Brimley calculated how long it would take for the alien organism to infect the entire Earth population. My friend said "Wow, he wrote that program fast!"

Still, it's one of our favorite films. Kurt Russell (MacReady) carried that film, much as Val Kilmer did 10 years later in
Tombstone. (Also a Kurt Russell film)

a reply to: Profusion

Can you point to the exact place in the film where that is shown or discussed? I don't remember that being part of the story.

It occurred throughout the entire film. It was the film's plot. The Thing could mimic any organism. It also had an uncanny survival mechanism. Hence, it layed dormant, frozen in the ice for millenia, waiting for someone to come along and get it. That's probably what was so different, and so trippy about the film.

I've always wanted someone to remake They Live in a more serious tone. Maybe Christopher Nolan.

originally posted by: ColeYounger
a reply to: Profusion

Can you point to the exact place in the film where that is shown or discussed? I don't remember that being part of the story.

It occurred throughout the entire film. It was the film's plot. The Thing could mimic any organism. It also had an uncanny survival mechanism. Hence, it layed dormant, frozen in the ice for millenia, waiting for someone to come along and get it. That's probably what was so different, and so trippy about the film.

I rephrased the question to make it more clear:

Can you point to the exact place in "They Live" where "a sophisticated illusion generating device for concealment" is shown or discussed? I don't remember that being part of the story.

great movie!

Here's Roddy Piper years later talking about it.

a reply to: Profusion

you know. the thing that makes the aliens look human? they destroy it at the end

You need to rewatch the movie till the end then

the final was him destroying a transmitter on top of the tv station that masked the aliens actual appearance, after he destroys it you see different scenes of people freaking out when they see the aliens for the first time, the creature in the thing had no need for a transmitter as it had the ability to tranform, 2 distinctly different creatures.

originally posted by: toddy3174
a reply to: Profusion

you know. the thing that makes the aliens look human? they destroy it at the end

I found the clip below. It appears to be a possible problem with my theory. Does it really make sense that that small satellite dish was somehow "a sophisticated illusion generating device for concealment"?

How would that actually work? You're talking about very primitive technology compared to what the aliens had. Why would they use such primitive (for them), weak, and old-fashioned technology for something so important? They're literally putting their lives on the line with something like that when they had the super high technology that's shown in the film?

I've got an explanation for the final scene. What if the final scene shows a hallucination that the Roddy Piper character had as he was dying? That would give a happy ending to the film while staying true to the story (if my theory is right). I feel the happy ending we see is highly improbable if it's real.

In order for what we see in the ending to happen in reality, we have to assume:

1. The aliens were using very primitive technology (for them) for a crucial part of their plan.

2. The satellite dish was capable of being "a sophisticated illusion generating device for concealment."

3. There was NO back-up system.

Now that I think about it, the ending is completely unbelievable to me. However, watch closely when the woman in the clip below says, "Come with me", she may have wanted to assimilate him to the collective thus saving him in a sense. Otherwise, him coming with her would have been suicidal. They were totally surrounded and they would have been known fugitives.


www.youtube.com...

a reply to: VictorVonDoom

You beat me to it. I was just typing the same thing when I happened to see your post so I scrapped what I was typing. I agree, the creature from The Thing wouldn't need a device to mask it's features.

originally posted by: Skid Mark
a reply to: VictorVonDoom

You beat me to it. I was just typing the same thing when I happened to see your post so I scrapped what I was typing. I agree, the creature from The Thing wouldn't need a device to mask it's features.

Here's the part of the plot that reveals that:

Nada and Frank meet one of the homeless drifters (George 'Buck' Flower) whom they previously met in the workers shantytown, whom is one of the many human collaborators with the aliens. Thinking that they have been recruited as he has, the Drifter shows them around the underground facility which leads them to the studio offices of a local TV station.

The Drifter leads Nada and Frank to the basement of a local TV station, Cable 54, and the source of the aliens' signal.
www.imdb.com...

So, the only evidence that we have from the film that the satellite dish at the end was "the source of the aliens' signal", was from "one of the many human collaborators with the aliens."

Let's consider that for a second. First, the only thing in the film that would give us the impression that "the source" was important was from this message apparently from humans:

The revolution... ...we cannot break their signal, our transmitter is not powerful enough. The signal must be shut off at the source.
jahtruth.net...

That's just an unsubstantiated rumor of course.

Let's look at what we've got then:

1. An unsubstantiated rumor about how "the signal must be shut off at the source." There's no information there about what the signal is or where it's coming from.

2. "One of the many human collaborators with the aliens" shows the Roddy Piper character to a satellite dish that (unless it had some serious modifications) could not be "a sophisticated illusion generating device for concealment."

Therefore, we have to assume that the aliens chose to use primitive (for them), weak, and old-fashioned technology for probably the most critical part of their whole plan. And we have to assume that they have no back-up system of any kind. Just that satellite dish, that's it.

3. According to the story from "The Drifter", the satellite dish was "the source" and a "sophisticated illusion generating device for concealment" for the whole world.

I hadn't realized it before this thread but we've got serious problems here. If we're going to believe that that satellite dish was "the source" we have to trust an unsubstantiated rumor AND one of the many human collaborators with the alien(s) based on only his word AND we have to believe that the alien(s) were using a piece of old-fashioned human technology to do something that it was not designed for. It would seem to me that making the satellite dish into a "sophisticated illusion generating device for concealment" would be more trouble for them than just developing an entirely new machine to do the job.

If anyone wants to believe all that, that's their choice. I think there's a decent probability that the first message was credible. But after that the credibility of all this falls to zero for me.

Oh and one of my favorite lines from The Thing is when Curt Russel was asked what that was. He said, "I don't know, but it's weird and pissed off".

originally posted by: network dude
He said, "I don't know, but it's weird and pissed off".

Sounds like you when you run out of Natty Ice.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Anything "ice" = ice pick to the head the next day. Homie don't play dat.
I do get a bit figity if the bud light starts to run low.

Could always be like the original V mini-series....where they were here for resources AND food, hehe.

I don't think the theory really jives, to be honest, but it is an interesting idea.

Two totally different alien beings though. So maybe if they were in cahoots?

One essential problem with the "aliens want to eat humans" idea.

If so, why wouldn't they simply clone us and raise us like we raise chickens to be slaughtered? Would certainly be more efficient and make harvesting simpler.

As for other resources, they can be gained far easier on other, uninhabited worlds, so a space-faring alien race has NOTHING to gain by engaging humans in warfare. Indeed, war would pretty much be a non-issue for races who had the run of the cosmos.

originally posted by: Gazrok
Two totally different alien beings though.

The alien from "The Thing" was capable of mimicking anything. How can you claim it's "two totally different alien beings" when the alien from the "The Thing" could mimick anything?

Also, "The Thing" wasn't detailed enough or long enough for us to get much of an idea of how it operated. I think that the way the alien(s) in "They Live" operated could easily be the way the alien in "The Thing" operated. I don't see any contradictions or problems with that at all.

originally posted by: Gazrok
One essential problem with the "aliens want to eat humans" idea.

If so, why wouldn't they simply clone us and raise us like we raise chickens to be slaughtered? Would certainly be more efficient and make harvesting simpler.

It was stated in the film:

Bearded Man: We could be pets, we could be food, but all we really are is livestock.

Bearded Man: They are dismantling the sleeping middle class. More and more people are becoming poor. We are their cattle. We are being bred for slavery.

www.imdb.com...

Recall "Bearded Man" was the character that appeared in the television transmission shown below.


www.youtube.com...

If we can consider him to be a credible source of information then those quotes would not only answer the points you brought up but also change my theory.

First, he states "we could be food" which would imply that we aren't. So, if we take his words as absolute truth then my theory from the original post is disproven.

He states "all we really are is livestock" and "We are their cattle. We are being bred for slavery." If we take those statements as truth then I think your points become moot.

Livestock are "Domestic animals, such as cattle or horses, raised for home use or for profit, especially on a farm."
www.thefreedictionary.com...

Cattle are "Any of various domesticated ruminant mammals of the genus Bos, including cows, steers, bulls, and oxen, often raised for meat and dairy products."
www.thefreedictionary.com...

What "use" could real humans have? "Bearded Man" stated that slavery is one thing we're being used for. Cattle are often killed and used for meat so that could actually support the theory stated in the original post of this thread. I think that may answer the points you brought up.

Well, considering the "Thing" was effectively dead in a block of ice for 100,000 years, all they have to do is freeze it and keep it frozen....problem solved.
They know how to test to see who is Human or not....a hot needle up ones a**.

Sort of back to front Alien probing.