at bay with dynamite. During the encounter, Norris appears to suffer a heart attack. As Copper attempts to defibrillate Norris, his chest transforms into a large mouth and bites off Copper's arms, killing him. MacReady incinerates the Norris-Thing, but its head detaches and attempts to escape before also being burnt. MacReady hypothesizes that the Norris-Thing demonstrated that every part of the Thing is an individual life-form with its own survival instinct. He proposes testing blood samples from each survivor with a heated piece of wire and has each man restrained, but is forced to kill Clark after he lunges at MacReady with a scalpel. Everyone passes the test except Palmer, whose blood recoils from the heat. Exposed, the Palmer-Thing transforms, breaks free of its bonds, and infects Windows, forcing MacReady to incinerate them both. Childs is left on guard while the others go to test Blair, but they find that he has escaped, and has been using vehicle components to assemble a small flying saucer, which they destroy. Upon their return, Childs is missing, and the power generator is destroyed, leaving the men without heat. MacReady speculates that, with no escape left, the Thing intends to return to hibernation until a rescue team arrives. MacReady, Garry, and Nauls agree that the Thing cannot be allowed to escape and set explosives to destroy the station, but the Blair-Thing kills Garry, and Nauls disappears. The Blair-Thing transforms into an enormous creature and breaks the detonator, but MacReady triggers the explosives with a stick of dynamite, destroying the station. Childs returns as MacReady sits by the burning remnants, saying he got lost in the storm while pursuing Blair. Exhausted and slowly freezing to death, they acknowledge the futility of their distrust and share a bottle of Scotch whisky. Cast Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady, the helicopter pilot A. Wilford Brimley as Blair, the senior biologist T. K. Carter as Nauls, the cook David Clennon as Palmer, the assistant mechanic Keith David as Childs, the chief mechanic Richard Dysart as Dr. Copper, the physician Charles Hallahan as Norris, the geologist Peter Maloney as George Bennings, the meteorologist Richard Masur as Clark, the dog handler Donald Moffat as Garry, the station commander Joel Polis as Fuchs, the assistant biologist Thomas G. Waites as Windows, the radio operator The Thing also features Norbert Weisser as one of the Norwegians, and an uncredited dog, Jed, as the