As far as training films go, not so bad.
It shows.
As a natural skeptic and someone who has JC’s the Thing in my permanent ‘top 10 fav movies,’ I don’t mind admitting that I was hella wary about the prequel, initially.
I had been totally expecting a load of soulless, unoriginal CGI crap, but I was very pleased to have been wrong; the storyline coalesced with the 1982 version nicely, and they did a great job recreating the creepy atmosphere that permeated John Carpenter’s vision.
Fav throwaway line:
“So I’m gonna die because I floss?!?”
This is nonsense.
Most first world countries Antarctic organisations try and avoid having staff do two consecutive winters due to the psychological risks, however it does occur due to various reasons. As someone who spent over 500 days “on the ice” I can assure you that the danger is far less about going nuts down there than the adaption required when returning back home. The shift that I did, summer-winter-summer, was not an unusual one for the Australian Antarctic Division.
Other countries, my first hand experience was with Russia, are far less concerned with having staff do multiple years.
The Argentinians are working towards a permanent population at Esperanza base, with multiple births, a school, scout troop etc. They have certainly had people live there for two or more years.
It appears my information was out of date then, I apologize for writing in error.
I still think that a permanent, self-sustaining settlement in Antarctica would be orders of magnitude easier to accomplish than a permanent settlement on Mars.
Okay, I believe you. 
You’re still not wrong.
Star Trek is still just pipe dream that’s a long-ass way from fruition; until we get our shit together regarding the planet we actually live on currently, which we still haven’t yet fully explored…
Can confirm that watching “The Thing” is a longstanding tradition. A globe-trotting artist friend of mine, having no technical or military background, trained at McMurdo to take measurements and temperatures and whatnot just to be able to have a quiet place to paint every winter. Did this for several years in a row. And it was the first question I asked him when he returned from his first season!
Actually, the tall man in the suit was James Arness. First acting gig as I recall.
Tekeli-li!
As much as I despise the racism in some of Lovecraft’s works, he could certainly weave a good story together. And one thing I noticed about him and his contemporaries: they shared characters and plot elements, instead of doing the “mine, mine, mine, intellectual property, wharrgarbl!” thing that’s all too common today.
“Corny”? Not a bit of it. “Spin and Marty” is corny, “Beach Blanket Bingo” is corny. “The Thing from Another World”? Not a bit of it. These kids these days need to watch more good movies, to develop their tastes away from the predigested cardboard they have been force-fed.
The most important part of Star Trek’s future is that people aren’t racist anymore. If we can get that done then we can start talking about Mars.
I have to be this person, sorry.
It should be ‘Chalk one up’ as in to make a mark in chalk for a score in darts or some other slateboard-scored game.
‘Chock one up’ could only make sense if you’re trying to prop something up to prevent it from moving or rolling.
Thank you for indulging my madness. Copy editors please stay on your game.
Bottom line; we still have a LONG way to go.
As long as you ignore Dr. McCoy’s constant stream of anti-Vulcan slurs.
Indeed. And one of the more interesting twists of the 2009 reboot movie was the revelation that the Vulcans themselves were bigoted toward the young half-human Spock. That poor guy could never catch a break.
C’mon now, there’s always one old, crotchety White dude; no getting away from that, even in a Utopian future.
(And it’s not like Spock didn’t serve the shade right back.)
So… does anyone do that blood test on the people coming back from Antarctica? Just asking.
Just realized that DeForrest Kelley was only about five years older than I am when he played McCoy in TOS.
Better start practicing my geezing.
