If you spend all your time doing scientific research in a frozen tundra, one might suspect you’d be less likely to enjoy a film about a bunch of alien parasites who brutally murder scientists doing research in a frozen tundra. You’d be wrong, because that’s apparently what the the crew down at the South Pole Telescope do every year.
The viewing marks the changeover between the summer and winter crews stationed down in Antartica, and sees the crew watch all three movie versions of J.W. Campbell’s short story: 1951's The Thing From Another World, 1982's The Thing, and the 2011 prequel to the 1982 film, also called The Thing.
They even watch it just after the last flight away from the station has left, knowing they’re trapped there for months! Like, sure, you could say they’re just conducting a safety drill in the form of a classic movie. Me? I say they’re tempting fate—or at least extraterrestrial parasites, with the ability to blend among humans, who desire to murder them all.
UPDATE 5:32 PM: Amy Lowitz, who has been stationed at the South Pole Telescope, reached out on Twitter to clarify that the station crew doesn’t just watch the classic The Thing From Another World, but in fact marathons all three cinematic adaptations of Campbell’s short story. This article has been updated to reflect that.