Vance Norris was the Geologist of the U.S. Outpost 31. He was portrayed by the late Charles Hallahan.
History
During the winter of 1982, the Norwegians were chasing an Alaskan Malamute around the outpost, the pilot was killed when he accidentally dropped a grenade and the passenger was killed by Garry thinking that he was hostile, the crew adopted the dog. During the night, he was woken up by the fire alarm that was turned on by MacReady, he saw an unknown creature assimilating the dogs, MacReady ordered Childs to bring the flamethrower and ordered him to incinerate it. Windows along with Bennings quarantine the remains of the dog-creature and the Norwegian cadaver in the storage room, but moments after leaving, strands of tentacle-like sinew emerged from the remains of the dog-creature and the Norwegian, and proceed to assimilate Bennings, the Bennings replica was then burned by MacReady. Blair suffers a mental breakdown, he destroyed the helicopters, tractor and radio with an axe, and killed the remaining sled dogs, containing further contamination, luckily the others were able to subdue Blair and locked him up in the tool shed. Paranoia quickly sets in as the first attempt to develop a test using uncontaminated blood samples is sabotaged by an unknown party. He and the others begin to suspect MacReady is infected when a scrap of torn shirt containing his name tag is found at the camp, and locked him outside in a severe blizzard. Somehow finding his way back to camp without a guide line, MacReady breaks into a storage room and threatens the rest of the crew with dynamite. In the course of the standoff, Norris suffers a heart attack. When Copper attempts to revive him by defibrillation, Norris' body transforms and bites off Copper's arms and he bleeds to death. Norris' head detaches from his body and the alien uses it in an attempt to escape as the others burn the body, but the head is discovered and incinerated.
Trivia
- The infamous "Defibrillator scene" in which Norris is exposed and Copper is killed never actually happened in Who Goes There?. In fact, not only does Norris survive but he says the final lines.
- In the scene where the dog enters the room, a shadow can be seen on the wall. Fans have speculated this to be either Palmer or Norris. The shadow has the body type to be Norris but his hair resembles that of Palmer's. Its a possibility that this could've been Norris as Palmer is roomates with Childs and as the team was sleeping, the shadow is shown to be alone when he notices the dog. Its possible that this was Palmer and his shadow appeared larged as he was closer to the wall but if the dog had assimilated him, Childs had to be in the room as well to notice and if Childs was infected as well, he would've been found out in the blood test scene, rendering this possibility slim at best. Its most likely that it was Norris who was attacked and assimilated by the Dog-Thing when it entered his room.
spider creature
the copper chopper
Spider Head