- "It's bloody absurd."
- ― Colin's reaction to the fillings test
.png){kind=link}
Colin's body.
Colin was an English radio operator stationed at the Norwegian Antarctic research station, Thule Station. The character first appeared in the 1982 film The Thing as an unidentified corpse in the ruins of the Norwegian base. His background was further explored in the 2011 prequel film, portrayed by actor Jonathan Walker. The character's corpse also appeared in the 2002 videogame The Thing.
History[]
The Thing (2011)[]
Following the sudden crash of the American helicopter that carries Sam Carter, Jameson, Olav and Griggs, Kate reveals to the other outpost personnel, along with Colin that The Thing is still alive and one of them here could be an imitation. He was then suspected by Juliette that he was the last person to leave the shower room and could be covering up of what happen in that room which was seen by Kate, but he wasn't the one who did it. As the paranoia increases Colin begins to become increasingly unstable starting by angrily reprimanding Sander for not giving them information on their current events.
Later, Adam and Sander are preparing a test in a lab to figure out who is human and who is not and when both of them leave for short while, the lab is sabotaged by an unknown individual. Colin then accused Adam of sabotaging the lab, resulting in a heated argument between the Americans and the Norwegians. A different test was then conducted, and it singles out Colin (much to his dismay), Adam, Edvard and Halvorson.
When Edvard was knocked out after the explosion of the flamethrower of Peder, Colin was ordered to help Jonas with taking Edvard to the recreation room - something which he was very unwilling to do. He immediately left the recreation room when he saw Edvard's arm being attached to Jonas leaving both Kate and Carter to deal with the merged faces of Adam and Edvard.
He eventually hid in the Radio Room where he killed himself by slitting both his wrists and his throat with a razor, in fear of being found and assimilated by The Thing.
The Thing (1982)[]
His frozen decomposed body is later found by R.J. MacReady and Copper when they arrived at the outpost.
The Thing (2002 game)[]
During the 2002 videogame The Thing, when looking for a med-kit for Carter (Engineer). Colin's corpse can be found in the same room. When Blake approaches the body, the camera pans and zooms in on his face.
Trivia[]
- There are inconsistencies between the way Colin's body is found in the various portrayals. In the 2011 prequel, he only seems to have made a deep cut. Meanwhile, in the Carpenter film, when Mac and Copper find his body, he is missing a significant amount of flesh, his head being close to decapitation. The expressions of both characters are also noticeably different, as he seems much calmer in the prequel, while in the Carpenter film, his mouth is wide open as if he was screaming. The 2002 videogame takes the greatest liberties with the character, radically altering his appearance and location.
- His death was shown only as a deleted scene from The Thing (2011), where he learns there is a Thing either in the room with him or right outside. In a grisly scene, he brings out a straight razor and slashes his wrist, then proceeds to sit in the radio chair and then cut his throat.
- Another deleted scene shows Colin attempting to contact the American outpost from the 1982 film and is met with no success.
- He is the only person in the franchise who was confirmed to have committed suicide (as the circumstances of the death of Fuchs are not clear).
- From four people who were potential Things (with Edvard, Sander and Adam) because of the absence of tooth fillings he is the only one who never became the Thing.
- Similarly as Clark in the original movie, he is a red herring during the movie (for example Juliette claims that she saw him coming from the shower where someone cleaned the blood, he is paranoid to the others similarly as Palmer in the Carpenter's movie - who was revealed as the imitation, he belongs between people without tooth fillings).
Images[]
.png "Discovery of the suicide victim - The Thing (1982).png (1.25 MB)")
.png "Discovery of the suicide - The Thing (1982).png (1.15 MB)")
.png "Norwegian suicide - The Thing (2002).png (1.15 MB)")