Thing from 1951, The

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Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1982
Original Running Time:
109
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
99
Time Cut:
14
Time Added:
4
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
Arrow Parallel present, for the first time, John Carpenter's 'The Thing' from 1951. While some damage inevitably remains due to the nature of interdimensional travel, the content has been painstakingly restored and largely remains in excellent condition. Please enjoy this insight into an alternate history through what is, quite literally, "The Thing" from another world...
Intention:
This edit is presented as a real film from an alternate 1951 running parallel to our own, restored and made available by Arrow Parallel and PFI, organisations dedicated to traversing timelines and capturing film data for educational purposes. This is not a grindhouse edit; rather, it is intended to come across as a nice restoration of an old film. That being said, film damage has been added to specific moments for effect and some film damage from newly added footage is unavoidable; reasoning for this is provided in the Arrow Parallel disclaimer at the start of the film. The vintage trailers feature additional audio and visual damage which is not present in the full edit, since they are intended more as "world-building" and part of a window into another world. Extras and older trailers rarely get the same treatment as the feature film they come with, and so that is reflected here.

Initially, all I wanted to do was make a version of The Thing that would be suitable for some of my family to watch. This process eventually led to the removal of bad language and a conversion to black and white, in order to tone down some of the more gruesome elements. Inevitably, I ended up associating the edit with a 1950s aesthetic, and the project grew into a full-blown reverse homage to The Thing from Another World and 1950s sci-fi in general.

Even though this concept was embraced, I still wanted to be able to present a more pure version of the film to my family, and I also wanted to see how the film would function with a traditional non-electronic rescore. This is why the edit is presented with multiple audio options:


"1950s Dramatic rescore" (default) - A complete rescore of the entire film, bar one brief instance of the original music (which is mashed up with another piece of music). A handful of previously unscored scenes are now scored.

"1950s Restrained Rescore" - All electronic elements rescored, with the majority of original orchestral portions retained. Minimal scoring of originally unscored scenes.

"1950s Isolated score" - The complete dramatic 1950s rescore in isolation. This is not 100% identical in terms of my edits and the mix, but the general content remains the same.

"1980s Original score" - The source 5.1 surround mix lifted from Arrow's blu-ray. This still retains all the changes to dialogue/cursing.

"Faneditor's Commentary" - I watch back the edit and reflect, going into more detail on the intention, cutlist and editing process.


The project has been in the works a long time and I hope you enjoy the result. I plan to bring you more films from parallel universes in the future, and I'll try my best to keep it form taking this many years each time!
Additional Notes:
Please note: while gore has been trimmed for the concept, this is still an intense film with scenes of body horror. I do not recommend showing it to young children.
Other Sources:
The Thing from Another World (1951)
Universal & 'The Thing' title elements, prepared by TM2YC
Turner classic movies interview with John Carpenter
Various film grain and damage overlays
Various foley, sourced from freesound.org and others
Various pieces of music from 1950s science fiction films (complete list in edit credits with some specifics given in commentary)
"Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston
Special Thanks:
- Thank you both to Dwight Fry and TM2YC for previewing the workprint and providing detailed and invaluable feedback.
- An extra special thanks to TM2YC for the work they did for 'The Thing' title card, the vintage Universal Logo, and the flying saucer animation. Their advice on masking that one split diopter shot also opened up a whole new world of possibilities for what I could achieve with the framing of the edit.
- Thank you to my family for encouragement and for previewing the penultimate version of the film.
- Thank you to everyone who took the time to provide feedback/suggestions, give encouragement, or simply show an interest in the project:

addiesin
asterixsmeagol
ClarkWayne
DawnRazor
DigModiFicaTion
Dwight Fry
freemanforgothispassword
hbenthow
iridium_ionizer
Jrzag42
Last Impressions
LastSurvivor
Malthus
MusicEd921
Plissken1138
QuickestEditInTheWest
Rogue-theX
TM2YC
Wraith

I hope I haven't forgotten anyone! If I have: thank you! (and apologies)
Release Information:
Digital
Special Features
- An archival interview with John Carpenter, in which he relays his experience working with Howard Hawks on the film.​
- The original, dramatic 1950s score in lossless mono​
- Alternate 'restrained' 1950s score in lossless mono​
- Isolated 'dramatic' 1950s score​
- Ennio Morricone's 1982 score from our timeline, re-edited to fit the 1951 cut, including the absence of language.​
- Commentary track by The Scribbling Man​
- Viewing guidelines for extra-dimensional content​
- Trailers​
- English Subtitles (dramatic rescore)​
Cuts and Additions:
Tons of modifications throughout. A broad summary of the main changes:

- Black and white
- Complete shot-by-shot reframing to 4:3 aspect ratio (involving masking and recut scenes)
- Mono audio and various processing of individual elements to sound period-appropriate
- All coarse language removed
- Gore significantly toned down
- Completely rescored with music from 1950s science fiction films
- Addition/replacement of sound FX
- Incorporation of unused stop motion elements
- New opening and ending titles, modelled on the original Thing from Another World (credit to TM2YC for vintage Universal logo)
- Various subtle changes throughout, including a visual easter egg for The Thing from Another World
Teaser Trailer


Comparison Teaser


Extended Alt. Vintage Trailer


Extended Alt. Vintage Trailer (Comparison)


Preview Clip ("Dogs-in-Progress")


Preview Clip ("I Cut Him Loose")


50s/80s Comparison Demo

User reviews

10 reviews
 
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Overall rating
 
9.7
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.6(10)
Audio Editing
 
9.8(10)
Visual Editing
 
9.4(10)
Narrative
 
9.7(10)
Enjoyment
 
9.9(10)
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
I'm calling this 'The Sunday Afternoon Thing' in honour of Scribbler's angle on good old classics likely shown in the family friendly hours. This one can't quite fit that bill as no doubt the freakyness will encourage nightmares in childeren of an impressionable age. Still pretty close and definitely elderly folks will appreciate; if only for the vibe. Its in 4:3 and should be watched on a proper BoxTV with aerial and dials if at all possible. If we are getting more transmissions from the dawn of television I can see these coming back into fasion.

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Yes
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Digital
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(Updated: May 05, 2023)
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
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10.0
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10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
After reading all the marvellous reviews on here I don't have anything else to add, except that I really did enjoy watching it and I recommend this as one of those few fan edits that have truly stood out as being something rather special on here. I don't believe there are many fan edits of John Carpenter's "The Thing" around, so it was a fresh brave new attempt at something different and of course, it works!

It obviously looks brilliant in B&W with the snowy backdrop and the music fits into the scenes seamlessly somehow, both the visual and audio tones are just right. They fit with the cinematography and the editing cuts have been made at the right places to make the film feel better paced. It's honestly better as a shorter film.

Overall the editor has a keen creative eye and has done a superb job and whenever I decide to watch "The Thing" again, I'm pretty sure I will come back to this version over the original. I truly think it's an improvement on the original edit. Fantastic!

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Yes
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Digital
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Overall rating
 
10.0
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10.0
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10.0
Inventive rework of Carpenter’s masterpiece and the Arrow Parallel idea including its attached lore is entertaining.

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Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
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10.0
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9.0
Narrative
 
10.0
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10.0
Probably one of the best fan edit's I've seen in a long while. When I was younger I used to watch "De-Make" trailers on youtube (essentially a concept trailer for a modern film as if it came out in the 1930's-50's), and its really awesome to see this concept fully realized. The re-scoring and audio work is a highlight, really capturing an authentic 1950's feel without being distracting. I'm someone that is generally against censorship, but in this case it fits the entire concept of the movie, so the omit-ion of some swearing and a few moments of gore feels very authentic. Another highlight is the amount of effort put into cropping the movie to academy ratio. for the most part it feels as if it were always shot that way. The use of alternative shots or even in some cases, compositing shots to fit in the 4:3 frame was artfully done. My one real critique would be the couple shots where an older television was composited in to cover up the 80's tv. As much as I love the idea, I don't think it works since none of the other tech is covered up that way and the compositing was the only moment that took me out of the edit. Other than that, this is a keeper for sure!

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Yes
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Owner's reply March 26, 2023

Thank you very much for taking the time to review. I agree that some of the TV scene is probably one of my weaker edits here. So glad you enjoyed the edit as a whole though :)

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Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
What can I say? It's a bold little experiment that succeeds in converting Carpenter's Thing into the product of a different time, the 4:3 damaged footage that somehow never feels like you''re missing anything, the added 50s sci-fi tracks and cuts are so good I can't even pick out an issue! The fact this comes in different tracks is a nice bonus, though I think the default option is the best one in terms of authenticity to the idea. It's a bold new way to experience one of Carpenter's best movies, an edit definitely worth watching if only out of curiousity.

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Yes
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