The Best Parts of The Thing Were Used in a Classic Cartoon for Kids

“It qualifies only as instant junk.” This is what Vincent Canby said in his review of 1982’s The Thing. Director John Carpenter’s sixth feature film (which mixed the genres of science fiction and horror) told the tale of deadly extraterrestrials in Antarctica through the use of extreme visuals and constant paranoia. While both of these trademarks found in this novella adaptation were initially torn apart by many critics upon release, the Kurt Russell starring movie later found immense success through these same two attributes when it was later released on home video and syndicated on television.

Considering the fact that The Thing was later re-evaluated and regarded as one of the best horror and science fiction films of all time, it’s no surprise that many of the film’s more stark elements made it into other Hollywood projects. While movies like 1992’s Reservoir Dogs transplants the feeling of deceptiveness into a more urban setting and 2016’s The Void puts the cosmic horror into a hospital instead of a research facility, the small screen tended to be a bit more creative with Carpenter’s original work.

While the tribute was respectable but rather tame in the eighth episode of the first season of the X-Files (only so much can be shown on cable television), a 1997 episode of Fox Kid’s Sam and Max: Freelance Police swung the extreme opposite way and saw two animated, anthropomorphic animals try to take down a similar creature — in theory — the “alien” was located in a supporting character’s literal refrigerator. Too comical? Yeah, we thought so, too. What about a classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, that consistently dared to push the envelope? They not only have the gall to adapt The Thing (in a non-comedic fashion), but they even put their own spin on Split-Face. Let’s check it out and see if this is an honorable homage to Carpenter’s film...