Much has been said about John Carpenter’s The Thing since its release in 1982. The horror movie that bombed at the boxoffice and got a cult following on video, has now been released in a deluxe edition by Turbine Media in Germany, full to the brim with bonus materials which can tell you almost everything you ever wanted to know about “The Thing” … …however, just about almost. A quite interesting, though little regarded aspect is the Audio Commentary by the director John Carpenter and the leading actor Kurt Russell. This commentary has been recorded for the Signature Edition laserdisc by Universal (released 1998); the first non-anamorphic DVD from the same year also contained this commentary. In fact, this audio commentary is one of the reference works in the home theatre history, as it is very informative on the one hand, and very entertaining on the other hand. The viewer can practically feel the fun that Carpenter and Russell had when they were recording it. Since 2008 is John Carpenter’s masterpiece also available in several editions on BluRay , including sublicensed versions released by Shout! Factory (USA) and Arrow (UK). And since 2008 rumours on internet forums came up, pointing out that some pieces of the commentary that might be interpreted as not being politically correct, have been deleted. Later sublicensed re-releases (like Shout!, Arrow or the latest joint venture release with Turbine) also contained this new version of the commentary. We suppose that Universal only approves this version for release nowadays. However, because of internet rumours being incomplete and incohesive, this analysis has been made in order to bring final clarity into this matter. Changes in the Commentary The following info up front: yes, the BluRay version of the commentary is censored. However, these changes are by far not the only ones. Direct comparison shows that the commentary has been completely re-edited and re-timed with the picture. Some sequences have been trimmed – not only filler words or moments where the speaker is looking for words, but also complete sentences. In some places the commentary has been re-ordered to correspond with the described scenes better. Some sequences which allowed to date the recording of the commentary (it must have taken place somewhere around 1996) have been removed as well. However, there is more: in some scenes the BluRay features alternative takes of the commentary! That means, sometimes, same scenes are commented entirely differently by both participants. This last aspect is the most curious one: while one can understand the logic behind the other changes, here one needs to ask the question: “why?” Why were different takes used in 2008 (and not in 1998)? Why were different takes recorded at all? Why were they kept? This is a question we cannot answer. What we can answer is the question which version is the better one. Alone for the reasons of censorship the DVD commentary from 1998 is clearly the better one. This is also valid for several other aspects changed by Universal in 2008: because it still has all these imperfections, the filler words, the pauses, the 1998 commentary sounds livelier, less sterile, and has a more natural speaking rhythm. On the other hand, the 2008 version features some exclusive alternative information not available on the 1998 version. Where Can I Get It? One cannot escape the censored commentary nowadays: all the BluRay versions available so far feature this version from 2008. On the other hand, it is still quite possible to get the uncensored commentary. The non-anamorphic DVD from 1998 (as well as its R2 version) can be obtained on second-hand market for a few bucks. In the USA, there also was an anamorphic „Collector’s Edition” from 2004, which also contains the uncensored commentary version. Scenes This analysis compares the uncensored audio commentary from the DVD editions from 1998/2004 (“DVD Audio Commentary”) with the censored and re-edited commentary from the 2008 Blu-Ray (“Blu-Ray Audio Commentary”), both from Universal. There are 49 differences, some of which has been merged together. The timecodes are in NTSC/BluRay format (24 fps) and indicate the times where the changes occur. Quotes in square brackets are adjoining commentary sections not affected by changes. Screenshots are also specified to help finding where the changes occur in the progress of the movie. Missing pieces of commentary are marked blue.
Scene 1
Timecode DVD: 00:04:47 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:04:47 ALTERNATIVE TAKE DVD Audio Commentary: John Carpenter: And I... So here we're setting up our... an arctic station, a new character we're about to introduce now, is MacReady, the helicopter pilot. [Likes to have a drink of J&B] Blu-Ray Audio Commentary: John Carpenter: And I think that's Keith David working on that Thiokol. There we go, now we're in our sets inside Universal, and that's Richard Dysart, Will Brimley, and here you are, your introduction in the picture! MacReady, the helicopter pilot.[Likes to have a drink of J&B] Remark: Here, the Blu-Ray version is actually more informative.
Scene 2 Timecode DVD: 00:08:06 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:08:03 TIME PERIOD DVD Audio Commentary: JC: We had... had some adventures that I think we really can't talk about here on this laserdisc. Remark: Nothing dates an audio commentary as much as a reference to an obsolete video medium for that it was initially recorded.
Scene 3 Timecode DVD: 00:11:26 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:11:26 CENSORSHIP DVD Audio Commentary: [Kurt Russell: He's a funny guy, TK.] John Carpenter: He was constantly worried if we're gonna be, all of us are racist. KR: Hahahahaha! JC: He was very very worried about it. [KR: He is funny. I've seen TK a number of times since then.] Remark: Well, and here is the first instance of censorship. The word "racist" is actually uttered. This cannot stand.
Scene 4 Timecode DVD: 00:14:36 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:14:36 SWAP DVD Audio Commentary: JC: One of the great parts of working with Jed, the dog, was that he, once he got to know the crew, he would... you could do a dolly shot with him, and he would not look at the camera. Or the director. Or the crew. And... really amazing work for an animal. There is a shot coming up in a minute. KR: This is TK's domain. JC: TK's domain, that was kind of... shooting the sets. And also, one of the problems was to make the location realistic. It's really a kind of a pre-fabed building that they would have... the rooms look identical. KR: And you have to be able to blow the actual structure, and we were living in it lot of the times. JC: Yes. KR: There was always 31 degrees. JC: Could be extremely cold. [Here comes the dog.] Blu-Ray Audio Commentary: KR: This is TK's domain. JC: TK's domain, that was kind of... shooting the sets. And also, one of the problems was to make the location realistic. It's really a kind of a pre-fabed building that they would have... the rooms look identical. KR: And you have to be able to blow the actual structure, and we were living in it lot of the times. JC: Yes. KR: There was always 31 degrees. JC: Could be extremely cold. JC: One of the great parts of working with Jed, the dog, was that he, once he got to know the crew, he would... you could do a dolly shot with him, and he would not look at the camera. Or the director. Or the crew. And... [Here comes the dog.] Remark: Here pieces of the commentary were swapped around to make them correspond easier with the shown scenes. One little line had to be dropped though.
Scene 5 Timecode DVD: 00:22:46 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:22:36 CENSORSHIP DVD Audio Commentary: [KR: Because there was no... *clicks with a lighter, lights a cigarette* [...posture of any kind.] Remark: an absolute no-go: smoking during the audio commentary!
Scene 6 Timecode DVD: 00:23:38 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:23:43 CENSORSHIP DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: Because this smoke is extremely pungent. They've changed it now, these are sensitive times where people can't handle cigarette smoke anymore. So...] KR: Is the AB smoke a little more politically correct in terms of *laughs* being able to breathe it? [JC: I remember as a director...] Remark: Censorship because of political correctness includes any mentioning of political correctness itself, of course.
Scene 7 Timecode DVD: 00:34:09 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:34:09 ALTERNATIVE TAKE+TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: We're going to the] sequence that... [timecut, that Brimley's explaining the imitation.] Blu-Ray Audio Commentary: KR: He's finding worlds after worlds in here, ain't he? JC: Yeah. We're trying to indicate that this Thing keeps imitating, like, all the way down to its core, there's nothing about it that's original. [JC: We're going to thetimecut that Brimley's explaining the imitation.] Remark: Here the Blu-Ray version offers more information once again. However, a piece of Carpenter's line got trimmed.
Scene 8 Timecode DVD: 00:35:10 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:35:14 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: Brimley's performance here is incredible. His subtlety and his] fear, and the [suspicion that something is going on...]
Scene 9 Timecode DVD: 00:35:59 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:35:59 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: JC: We began to kinda pile up... pile up the story a little bit, 'cause... [We're looking at videotapes]"
Scene 10 Timecode DVD: 00:36:29 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:36:29 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [KR: This was the expedition of the Norwegians. JC: That's right. And in black and white, and....] JC: There's Norbert up there. Remark: The Norwegian pilot makes an appearance on the videotape - however, we only find it out in the DVD version of the commentary.
Scene 11 Timecode DVD: 00:37:17 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:37:15 ALTERNATIVE TAKE DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: And you're on your way here for a helicopter sequence to find out what we're on.] JC: So now we're getting ready for the helicopter trip to the great crater which holds the flying saucer. Here we are again in the Alaskan ice fields up in our Juno, and you're flying alone, or at least it looks like he's flying alone. A beautiful shot here. We're on our way to basically a matte-painted sequence that we put together, Albert Whitlock oversaw it. KR: Now did we have a gimbal for this shot, or are we up there, 100 ft off the ground? JC: Actually, we're on a mountain. You touched into the top of the mountain for that shot. [Then we're back to our second unit and then we're landing. Uh. This is extremely beautiful music by Ennio Morricone...] Blu-Ray Audio Commentary: [JC: And you're on your way here for a helicopter sequence to find out what we're on.] JC: You and Hallahan, and Clennon, off you go, I think Clennon's with you. KR: And there's a storm moving in here? JC: I think that was the idea. This was rather one of our lucky shots we got up in Alaska in the preproduction unit, it's... it's beautiful clouds in the background, you can actually see for miles, 30-40 miles back there. And... KR: Not easy to get those days, was it? JC: No, we usually had nothing. KR: Yeah. JC: Now we're up on the mountain for this stuff. And there's a matte painting. Kind of amazingly done with all the bumps in it. [Then we're back to our second unit and then we're landing. Uh. This is extremely beautiful music by Ennio Morricone...] Remark: Here the same scene was commented twice, absolutely differently. On the Blu-Ray we find out more about the hardships of filming landscape shots. Like we mentioned: it is a mystery why this entire sequence was commented twice, with different contents.
Scene 12 Timecode DVD: 00:38:21 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:38:22 ALTERNATIVE TAKE DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: You're looking down a real glacier.] [KR: Yeah.] This was amazing, because as far as I remember this was about 400 ft above the ground, and if we didn't know exactly what the next step was, you literally couldn't tell a difference between the next step and 500 feet down. JC: And you didn't fall in? KR: Yeah. And it was very strange. JC: And now... you're throwing over ropes, but actually people who look a great deal like you are gonna be climbing down. There you guys are. That's a real cliff you're on there, starting down, but it's matte-painted in the front, the entire saucer. There you go, down they come. KR: That ice was hard. JC: Oh boy. KR: This was amazing. I got to go down one time with Lawrence there in the helicopter, down, down, 1000 feet inbetween two glaciers. And it was fascinating, and spooky. JC: Now Charlie Hallahan is going to describe how long this saucer has been under the ice here. That the back scatter has been melting it down. Great hat Kurt. KR: I was gonna say, that's... that kinda commands the scene, doesn't it? *laughs* A scene about a hat! And a pair of goggles! [JC: Now the famous studio shot...] Blu-Ray Audio Commentary: [JC: You're looking down a real glacier.] [KR: Yeah.] JC: You're looking down and what we have there is a matte-painting that Whitlock oversaw, of the original saucer buried in the ice. Now it appears as if the three of you climb down the wall, but in fact some stuntmen did it. I think, our helicopter pilot was one of the guys going down. KR: That was a long way down! JC: That's a real shot in the background. As they start down, in the foreground we matted in the painting, but... here we go, that's a huge side of a glacier. And it's all ice, it's all real. Down they go. This is one of the sequences where we barely got the footage. And now you're walking up and the hatch is real, but everything else is painted in. And the background is real. I love shots like this. KR: So the hatch, we have there? JC: Yeah, we had the hatch, now we cut in the close to you. KR: I was looking at gobos again? JC: Yeah, nothing. And there's your hat, I love the hat. KR: Oh boy, I'll tell you what! *laughing* Johnny, you sure this is gonna be ok? It's gonna be great. JC: It's such a cool look! KR: It really is! [JC: Now the famous studio shot...] Remark: The contents is similar, though the Blu-Ray version is slightly more informative.
Scene 13 Timecode DVD: 00:40:00 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:40:03 ALTERNATIVE TAKE DVD Audio Commentary: JC: Pretty... blue ice under there.... Amazing. Blu-Ray Audio Commentary: JC: That blue ice is real! KR: That's real ice? That's not... JC: Real ice! Remark: Once again, the Blu-Ray version offers more information here.
Scene 14 Timecode DVD: 00:48:45 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:48:45 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: He has a job to do, and...] he doesn't have time. [He's accepted what...] the others, [some of the others, can't accept.] JC: Here we are... KR: They don't wanna believe the truth. [JC: Here we are, we have to take care of business and get it done, so...]
Scene 15 Timecode DVD: 00:49:30 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:49:31 CENSORSHIP DVD Audio Commentary: [KR: That flamethrower is a pretty cool rig.] JC: I always was a *cough* little afraid having actors standing in front of me with those things. [There you go.] Remark: One has a feeling that anything that might suggest even a slightest conflict, has been deleted.
Scene 16 Timecode DVD: 00:49:44 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:49:46 CENSORSHIP DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: We had a] Canadian crew with us, because we had a British-Columbian crew we had to take with us. [They were a lot of fun.] Blu-Ray Audio Commentary: JC: We had a British-Columbian crew with us. They were a lot of fun. Remark: Some creative editing took place here. One also has a feeling that anything that might suggest that the director was forced to do something, has been deleted. Like the crew from British Columbia which was apparently forced upon the director from higher levels.
Scene 17 Timecode DVD: 00:50:11 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:50:14 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: JC: And... we're about to get into the Blair sequence, one of my favorite scenes where Blair goes nuts and destroys the radio. [I love the lighting that Dean did, with blue lights...] Remark: Only on DVD we find out that this is one of Carpenter's favorite scenes.
Scene 18 Timecode DVD: 00:52:57 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:53:01 CENSORSHIP DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: Now you might notice Keith's left hand he hides behind you. KR: *laughing fit* JC: He had broken it in a car accident. He had this gigantic bandage on it, so we had to put a glove over it and paint it black, so he could continue acting. KR: *still laughing*] As I remember, the only car he drove prior to that one was a stolen car in New York City! *laughing* [JC: Oh yes. KR: Oh, go for it Will.] Remark: This was the beginning of it all! The omission of this line actually set the ball rolling, starting suggestions that the commentary might have been tampered with.
Scene 19 Timecode DVD: 00:54:43 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:54:41 ALTERNATIVE TAKE BluRay-AK: KR: Now this one, this is okay, I don't remember the scene... had Will... was the idea that somebody had gotten in there and killed one of the dogs? JC: Yeah. Kill all the dogs. KR: Kill all the dogs? [JC: Now you're leading Blair out to this shack...] Remark: Interestingly, this part was missing from the DVD's audio commentary, for unknown reasons.
Scene 20 Timecode DVD: 00:54:43 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:54:55 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: Now you're leading Blair out to this shack where you're gonna keep him. This looks like pretty terrible weather for us here.] As it was during most of our shoot up there. Except for a couple of nice days. KR: I think that was one of the... one of the earliest shots that we did, wasn't it? JC: Uh-huh. [They're barricading him in, and...] Remark: A couple of small infos is missing from the Blu-Ray: that the weather was bad and that was an early shot.
Scene 21 Timecode DVD: 00:58:34 Timecode Blu-Ray: 00:58:49 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: KR: *laughs* [JC: The paranoia is the kinda glue that holds the movie together... ]
Scene 22 Timecode DVD: 01:00:37 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:00:52 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: KR: *laughs* [KR: Nobody wants it... ]"
Scene 23 Timecode DVD: 01:02:39 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:02:43 CENSORSHIP DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: ...kicking my heels.] JC: It's a pretty brisk little wind that night we had. It's pretty cold material out there. I wasn't very happy with being that cold. [JC: We were shooting up the characters with drugs...] Remark: Once again, a line is missing where Carpenter states being uncomfortable. Nothing world-shaking, could also be a trim.
Scene 24 Timecode DVD: 01:04:45 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:04:47 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: JC: And [Joel was about to... we're about to have lights out, and Joel was about to run outside, and meet his doom.]
Scene 25 Timecode DVD: 01:06:45 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:06:47 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: JC: [It was really great the way you assumed control over the situation here.] I really felt that you're, you know, in charge of it. [So in a minute you're gonna be framed for something that isn't true...]
Scene 26 Timecode DVD: 01:07:52 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:07:52 CENSORSHIP DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: I'm all better now, I wanna come back inside.] JC: Come on, man! KR: *laughs* [JC: This was actually shot on a soundstage...] Remark: Here you have a feeling that KR and JC are making fun of Wilford Brimley's character. Probably why this was cut.
Scene 27 Timecode DVD: 01:10:15 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:10:11 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [KR: There was nothing to look at but the people!] JC: And you have the kind of a... [The inside of the set is very bland...]
Scene 28 Timecode DVD: 01:12:16 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:12:17 CENSORSHIP DVD Audio Commentary: [Film: What if we're wrong about him?] KR: If they're wrong, he's gonna die, that's for sure! Charles is right there! JC: Now we had to... [We had to have Keith David break through that door with an axe...] Remark: Here it also feels like KR is making fun of TK Carter's Character. Probably too much for our day and age.
Scene 29 Timecode DVD: 01:14:08 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:14:06 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [KR: Trying to get one more line in!] JC: Quick, can you say it a little faster this time? [JC: Now we're into the scene where they try to rescucitate...]
Scene 30 Timecode DVD: 01:14:27 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:14:39 TIME PERIOD DVD Audio Commentary: KR: [This... People still talk about this one], they... they... I worked with Charlie Hallahan just a couple of weeks ago and he said that of all the movies he's done, this is the one, this is the scene they talk to him about. [It's really something. JC: Rather than give all the secrets away...] Remark: At this harmless and quite informative line one has to ask oneself why it was deleted. However, considering that Charlie Hallahan died 1997, and the movie where he worked with Kurt Russell "a couple of weeks ago" was probably "Executive Decision" (1996), one can guess when this audio commentary was recorded. The studio probably wanted to prevent that the commentary can be dated.
Scene 31 Timecode DVD: 01:15:56 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:16:01 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: JC: And... he pulls... [The head moves away...]
Scene 32 Timecode DVD: 01:16:24 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:16:29 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: JC: And [the head] crawls across the... [pulls itself across the floor...]
Scene 33 Timecode DVD: 01:16:35 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:16:36 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: Incredibly genious ideas.] Rob came up with this stuff. Remark: A pity: a compliment to the legendary Rob Bottin has been cut.
Scene 34 Timecode DVD: 01:16:52 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:16:54 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: It's a phony floor and we're just pushing everything out.] And...
Scene 35 Timecode DVD: 01:17:04 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:17:09 SWAP DVD Audio Commentary: KR: This line here is my favorite! [*laughs* JC: Pretty bizarre...] Remark: At this point, Kurt Russel's phrase about his favorite line has been cut. However, not for censorshop reasons, as this line has been moved to a different spot, see Scene 36.
Scene 36 Timecode DVD: 01:17:18 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:17:18 SWAP DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: It's crawling away!] KR: *starts laughing* JC: Here it comes! [Film: You gotta be fucking kidding. KR: *laughter* KR: Oh man.] Blu-Ray Audio Commentary: [JC: It's crawling away!] KR: This line here is my favourite! [Film: You gotta be fucking kidding. KR: *laughter* KR: Oh man.] Remark: The line about Kurt Russell's favorite line has been moved here.
Scene 37 Timecode DVD: 01:18:45 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:19:01 CENSORSHIP DVD Audio Commentary: [KR: And again you know that 'testing the blood' thing. It does remind me now, it makes you] politically [think about things like,] as AIDS was coming into the world at that time: [identifying as quickly and succinctly as possible.] Remark: This censorship is, IMHO, the worst in this commentary. In the Blu-Ray version it is but an incomprehensible torso. Political thinking and AIDS comparisons seem to have become unmentionable in 2008.
Scene 38 Timecode DVD: 01:21:53 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:21:49 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: KR: They couldn't let each other... they couldn't let them... [They couldn't let both of them die.]
Scene 39 Timecode DVD: 01:25:29 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:25:30 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: Who's left as a creature?] KR: And now... that's great, that's... JC: And, we're down to two. And I thought that summarizing the entire situation was Donald Moffat's last line. KR: Yeah. JC: I thought he did a great job with it now. Well, [Keith David wants to get away from Donald...]
Scene 40 Timecode DVD: 01:26:36 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:26:36 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: Kind of a perfect summation. KR: *laughing*] KR: *still laughing* Oh, that was great.
Scene 41 Timecode DVD: 01:28:13 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:28:13 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [JC:Down goes the commander. Actually, this is...] KR: He was reassuming control, actually, [he was sort of reassuming control. JC: Uh-huh.]
Scene 42 Timecode DVD: 01:31:48 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:31:50 CENSORSHIP JC: [And now you guys, the three of you, are gonna set fire to our stages at Universal from the inside. ]Which was not... Well, they had little questions about that. [We had the fire department standing by...] Remark: The studio doesn't seem to want to admit it had some reservations about setting fire to their soundstages.
Scene 43 Timecode DVD: 01:33:49 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:33:51 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: JC: [We have water dripping down as the place is melting...] and, uh... [actually, it was a very big set.]
Scene 44 Timecode DVD: 01:34:52 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:34:56 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: KR: Again, I... [you think about this, and you'd hate to be one of those three guys.]
Scene 45 Timecode DVD: 01:39:03 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:39:06 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: KR: That was the last day, [that must have been the last night.]
Scene 46 Timecode DVD: 01:40:53 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:41:00 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: You guys did a great job here, I thought, just really playing this moment out.] KR: Oh yeah, they had to have it. [JC: That is the light that's kinda getting darker and darker on you...]
Scene 47 Timecode DVD: 01:42:53 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:42:45 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: KR: [...expressive,] if just one... JC: Yep. KR: If just one gets it right... JC: Yep! KR: [one person enjoys it, then you feel like you...]"
Scene 48 Timecode DVD: 01:43:52 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:43:45 TRIM DVD Audio Commentary: [JC: And what I found to be the most incredible part of making a studio film, was,]uh, the amount of, uh, set... set and.... I don't know how to put it... [the amount of professionalism you could put into a scene that you're doing.]
Scene 49 Timecode DVD: 01:45:19 Timecode Blu-Ray: 01:45:03 TIME PERIOD + TRIM [KR: We got to do this for Escape from New York,] and I hope we'll get to do it for Big Trouble in Little China... JC: That'd be fun! KR: That's another film that took a special kind of sense of humor at the time. JC: That's right. Oh, I think it was terrific. KR: And, uh... [but seeing this again does bring all those memories back, and the fabulous time we had, and again, the great time that I had making that movie with you, and I...] I... I... [they can't take that away from me.] Remark: Once again, the mentioning of "Big Trouble in Little China" has probably been cut because Kurt Russell was expressing hope to record an audio commentary for that movie in the future. Which of course has already happened. So a dating of "The Thing" commentary needed to be prevented.
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