document_title: Lark Rise to Candleford (TV series)

question_text: who plays miss lane in lark rise to candleford

text: Lark Rise to Candleford (TV series)

text: Premise[edit]

text: The series is set in the small Oxfordshire hamlet of Lark Rise and the wealthier neighbouring market town of Candleford towards the end of the 19th century.  The series chronicles the daily lives of farm workers, craftsmen, and gentry, observing the characters in loving, boisterous, and competing communities of families, rivals, friends, and neighbours.

text: The story is seen through the eyes of a teenage girl, Laura Timmins (Olivia Hallinan), as she leaves Lark Rise to start a new life under the wing of her mother's cousin, the independent and effervescent Dorcas Lane (Julia Sawalha), who is Post Mistress at the local Post Office in Candleford. Through these two characters, viewers experience the force of friendship as Laura and Dorcas see each other through the best and worst of times.

text: Cast[edit]

text: Main cast[edit]

text:
Character
Portrayed by
Seasons

Series 1
Series 2
Series 3
Series 4

Dorcas Lane
Julia Sawalha
Main

Laura Timmins
Olivia Hallinan
Main

Emma Timmins
Claudie Blakley
Main

Robert Timmins
Brendan Coyle
Main
N/A

Victoria May 'Queenie' Warrener Turrill
Linda Bassett
Main

Thomas 'Twister' Turrill
Karl Johnson
Main

Thomas Brown
Mark Heap
Main

Margaret Ellison Brown
Sandy McDade
Recurring
Main

Caroline Arless
Dawn French
Main
N/A
Main

Alf Arless
John Dagleish
Main

Winifred 'Minnie' Mude
Ruby Bentall
N/A
Main

Zillah
Liz Smith
Main
N/A

Prudence 'Pearl' Pratt
Matilda Ziegler
Main

Ruth 'Ruby' Pratt
Victoria Hamilton
Main

Sir Timothy Midwinter
Ben Miles
Main
N/A

Lady Adelaide Midwinter
Olivia Grant
Main
N/A
Guest
N/A

Phillip White
Oliver Jackson-Cohen
Main
N/A

Mr. Paxton
Gerard Horan
Main
N/A

Matthew Welby
Stephen Marcus
Main
N/A

James Dowland
Jason Merrells
N/A
Main
N/A

Nan Carter
Rebecca Night
N/A
Main
N/A

Daniel Parish
Ben Aldridge
N/A
Main

Gabriel Cochrane
Richard Harrington
N/A
Main

Narrator (Adult Laura Timmins)
Sarah Lancashire
Recurring

Edmund Timmins
Thomas Rhys Jones
Recurring

Frank Timmins
Fergus Drysdale
Recurring

Ethel Timmins
Martha Murdoch
Recurring

Sally Arless
Sophie Miles
Recurring

Lizzie Arless
Hope Yeomans
Recurring

Archie Arless
Harry Miles
Recurring
N/A

Sydney Dowland
Edward Darnell-Hayes (Oscar Lloyd in 1 episode in Series 2)
N/A
Guest
Recurring

Fisher Bloom
Matthew McNulty
N/A
Recurring
N/A

text: Casting notes[edit]

text: From Series 1 to 3, the cast were credited alphabetically. Series 4 cast members were billed in the order of prominence within each episode.

text: Dawn French is credited as a main cast member in every episode in which she appears; in series 2 and series 4 she appears in one episode.

text: Although they appear in almost every episode, the actors playing the Timmins (Edmund, Frank and Ethel) and Arless (Lizzie, Archie and Sally) children as well as Sydney Dowland are not credited as main cast members.

text: Guest stars[edit]

text:
Lorraine Ashbourne as Lil Spicer (Series 2, 1 episode)
Samantha Bond as Celestia Brice-Coulson (Series 2, 1 episode)
Rosie Cavaliero as Mrs Mullins (Series 3, 1 episode)
Camille Coduri as Patty (Series 1, 1 episode)
Tom Conti as Mr. Reppington (Series 3, 1 episode)
Ben Daniels as Mr. Rushton (Series 1, 1 episode)
Phil Davis as Arthur Ashlow (Series 1, 1 episode)
Oliver Dimsdale as George Ellison (Series 2, 4 episode)
Michelle Fairley as Elizabeth Patterson (Series 2, 10 episode)
Burn Gorman as Benedict Marley (Series 4, 1 episode)
Nigel Harman as Samuel Braby (Series 1, 1 episode)
Matthew McNulty as Fisher Bloom (Series 2, 3 episodes; Series 3, 2 episodes)
Stephen Campbell Moore as James Delafield (Series 1, 1 episode)
Hattie Morahan as Miss Enid (Series 3, 1 episode)
Ronald Pickup as Old Peg Leg (Series 3, 1 episode)
Robert Pugh as Walter Arless (Series 2, 1 episode; mentioned throughout Series 1)
Paul Ritter as Mr Steerforth (Series 4, 1 episode)
Claire Skinner as Mrs Macey (Series 1, 2 episodes)
Sheridan Smith as Cinderella Doe (Series 2, 1 episode)
Maggie Steed as Mrs Herring (Series 2, 1 episode)
Peter Vaughan as Reverend Ellison (Series 1, 2 episodes)
Danny Webb as Mr Macey (Series 1, 1 episode)

text: Filming[edit]

text: Interior scenes were shot in a warehouse on Beeches Industrial Estate, in Yate, South Gloucestershire. The villages of Lark Rise and Candleford were both created from scratch on farms in Box and Neston Park, near Corsham in Wiltshire.[5] According to the BBC planning application, Hatt Farm in Box was used because of its proximity to existing cornfields and farm buildings, and Park Farm in Neston Park was chosen for its unspoilt character and attractive traditional buildings.[6]

text: The outdoor filming at these locations for the first series took 25 days, spread over a 5-month period.[6] The country scenes, including all the comings and goings of the lord of the manor, were shot at Chavenage House north of Tetbury, Gloucestershire.[7][8]

text: Episodes[edit]

text: Series 1 (2008)[edit]

text:
#

Episode

Writer

Director

Original air date

Viewing figure[9]
1"Episode 1"Bill GallagherCharles Palmer13 January 2008 (2008-01-13)7.27 million
Young country girl Laura Timmins leaves her friends and family in the hamlet of Lark Rise to start her first job at the post office in the nearby town of Candleford. Postmistress Dorcas Lane gives Laura a warm welcome, but other residents of Candleford aren't so generous. When Lark Rise residents challenge the post office's 'eight-mile rule' that forces them to pay for delivery of telegrams, Laura finds herself torn between communities. By the quiet intervention of Dorcas, a way is found for the hamlet to be included within the limit. The episode ends with the inhabitants celebrating their victory.
2"Episode 2"Bill GallagherCharles Palmer20 January 2008 (2008-01-20)7.01 million
Postwoman Mrs Macey receives news that her husband Dan has escaped from prison. Before long the whole town is abuzz with gossip, and Mrs Macey fears that the damage to her reputation will force her to leave Candleford. Meanwhile, her son Freddy has been secretly meeting a mysterious stranger in the woods. The stranger turns out to be Dan, but he is persuaded to turn himself in to the local squire and magistrate.
3"Episode 3"Bill GallagherCharles Palmer27 January 2008 (2008-01-27)6.66 million
When local widower Old Amos buys lace gloves for his maid Patty, Dorcas and Laura become suspicious that she may be after just his money. Robert refuses to let his children sing a song in praise of the Tories at the local church concert, which results in their being banned from the concert altogether. Robert's stubbornness incurs the wrath of his children, family and even the village.
4"Episode 4"Paul RutmanJohn Greening3 February 2008 (2008-02-03)6.72 million
A strange old man arrives in Candleford looking for his estranged daughters — who turn out to be Ruby and Pearl Pratt. Horrified to see him out in public, playing scams on the local residents, the girls must decide whether they can forgive him for deserting them when they needed him most. Meanwhile, Caroline is being pursued by a bailiff collecting debts for the brewery.
5"Episode 5"Bill GallagherCharles Palmer10 February 2008 (2008-02-10)6.85 million
Dorcas is thrown by the surprise arrival of a new Post Office inspector, Mr Rushton, who starts to unearth anomalies in the way Dorcas runs the Post Office. Robert has been carving a decorative angel on the schoolhouse for which he is not getting paid.
6"Episode 6"Bill GallagherJohn Greening17 February 2008 (2008-02-17)6.68 million
Robert takes pity on a homeless family and brings them to stay at his house for the night. In the morning the family have departed, leaving their little daughter Polly behind. Lady Adelaide meets the girl and falls in love with her, wanting to adopt her, but Sir Tim thinks that adopting Polly would be inappropriate. Tim takes Polly to the Post Office where everyone struggles to think of a solution to the problem.  Twister's delusions grow worse as he sees visions of his dead sister, and Queenie worries about his health.
7"Episode 7"Carolyn BonnymanMarc Jobst24 February 2008 (2008-02-24)6.70 million
The residents rally around Susan Braby when they realise her husband Sam has hit her. Meanwhile, Timothy commissions Matthew to make new gates for the manor, Adelaide becomes frustrated with how much time Tim is spending with Dorcas and decides to cancel the order for the gates, and Laura brings Phillip home for tea.
8"Episode 8"Gaby ChiappeMarc Jobst2 March 2008 (2008-03-02)6.48 million
A violent storm hits Lark Rise and Candleford, and the arrival of a new teacher, Mr Delafield, causes divisions in the two communities.  Mr Delafield's radical views raise plenty of eyebrows in Candleford, while in Lark Rise he endears himself to the residents. When Dorcas delivers some books to Mr Delafield they initially rub each other up the wrong way, but this tension soon turns to chemistry.
9"Episode 9"Bill GallagherJohn Greening9 March 2008 (2008-03-09)6.21 million
Queenie finds a beautiful embroidered panel on a grave that has the residents of Lark Rise and Candleford intrigued. Twister starts dreaming of everything he could buy if they sold the panel, while Dorcas and Sir Tim set about getting to the bottom of the mystery of who created it. Alf and Phillip's rivalry continues.
10"Episode 10"Bill GallagherJohn Greening23 March 2008 (2008-03-23)6.25 million
It is Zillah's birthday and all her friends and locals visit the post office for a party. Tensions mount between Dorcas and Sir Tim as painful truths about the past begin to surface and Dorcas decides to sell the post office. Phillip becomes increasingly possessive of Laura and she expresses doubts about their relationship.

text: Series 2 (2008–2009)[edit]

text:
#

Episode

Writer

Director

Original air date

Viewing figure
11"Episode 1" (75-minute Christmas special)Bill GallagherAlan Grint21 December 2008 (2008-12-21)6.58 million
Lark Rise and Candleford are transformed as the inhabitants prepare for the Christmas festivities. However, loyalties are tested as the arrival of the ghost of a ragged, bare-footed young woman drives residents to speak difficult truths amid the gift giving and carol singing.
12"Episode 2"Bill GallagherAlan Grint4 January 2009 (2009-01-04)6.53 million
James Dowland is the new man in town who takes the woes of the Lark Rise tenants under his wing. He also takes the heart of Dorcas Lane into his keeping, while putting Candleford on the map with the opening of a new hotel.  Robert Timmins is suspicious of Dowland's motives, and is less than accepting of his financial help. Emma Timmins and the other Lark Rise tenants are, however, more than happy to see the return of a once Lark Rise boy.  Meanwhile, Dorcas has her own heart strings pulled with her new maid, Minnie. Minnie can do no right; she means well, but with her troubled past she struggles to contain her excitement, testing Dorcas and those around her to the end.
13"Episode 3"Bill GallagherAlan Grint11 January 2009 (2009-01-11)6.13 million
Battling with conflicting emotions towards new arrival James Dowland, Dorcas Lane sets out to defeat the dashing property developer in the parish council elections.  Meanwhile, the grind of making ends meet in Lark Rise proves too much for Robert and Emma Timmins, and Robert's reluctance to change grows stronger.
14"Episode 4"Carolyn BonnymanMaurice Phillips18 January 2009 (2009-01-18)6.49 million
The death of Miss Ellison's father unites the communities of Lark Rise and Candleford, but amid the sadness Miss Ellison is confronted by her brother George, whom she blames for her father's death.  Overwhelmed with grief, Miss Ellison is oblivious to Thomas Brown's affections for her and his desire for her hand in marriage.  Eventually Thomas assists in effecting a reconciliation between brother and sister.
15"Episode 5"Bill GallagherJulian Holmes25 January 2009 (2009-01-25)6.31 million
Time rests heavy on the residents of Lark Rise and Candleford, as baby Annie Timmins stirs up emotions of days gone by and loves yet to be found.  And with Emma Timmins feeling the strains of family life, Dorcas Lane offers to lend a helping hand, unaware of the consequences that her generosity will bring. Meanwhile, newcomer Fisher Bloom arrives to build the candleford clock on Mr Dowland's orders, and stirs up mixed feelings in Laura.
16"Episode 6"Gaby ChiappeMoira Armstrong1 February 2009 (2009-02-01)6.54 million
Lark Rise and Candleford rally round to show support for Laura's new role in the post office when Dorcas Lane is taken ill, but Laura feels pressure mounting when anonymous letters begin to arrive.  Minnie sees the delivery of one of the letters, and fears that her past is catching up with her.  Dorcas and Laura help Minnie to escape the threat presented by her brutal father.
17"Episode 7"Gaby ChiappeSue Tully8 February 2009 (2009-02-08)6.14 million
Lark Rise and Candleford anticipate with the inauguration of a clock, paid for by James Dowland.  But when Robert Timmins loses his stonemason's tools, his means to work is lost, and there is a possibility that Fisher Bloom may leave Candleford unless Laura can find a way to stop him.
18"Episode 8"Kate GartsideAlan Grint15 February 2009 (2009-02-15)6.20 million
The hot summer brings a surprise visitor to Candleford in the form of Celestia Brice Coulson, who stays at the Golden Lion Hotel and becomes acquainted with Dorcas Lane. Dorcas has other things on her mind, however, when she begins 'walking out' with James Dowland.  And in Lark Rise, Emma's father, Old Edmund, arrives for his birthday. But problems arise when Emma asks him to live with them permanently.
19"Episode 9"Kate GartsideDavid Tucker22 February 2009 (2009-02-22)6.32 million
A feud between Lark Rise and the neighbouring village of Fordlow has been simmering for three generations, but it takes young love to bring the two communities together and save the day. In Candleford, the path of true love runs less smoothly for Thomas and Miss Ellison; will they ever set the date for the wedding?
20"Episode 10"Carolyn BonnymanPatrick Lau1 March 2009 (2009-03-01)6.34 million
Every autumn, Constable Patterson is used to his wife taking to her bed with a mysterious illness. But this year is different, as she gives him permission to seek a new wife. The constable has no intention of doing any such thing, until a Pratt sister in distress sets his heart soaring; however, the other sister grows jealous and angry, especially when her sister is presented with a very unusual present.
21"Episode 11"Gaby ChiappePaul Marcus8 March 2009 (2009-03-08)6.78 million
A sudden storm reveals a secret romance, but also makes the address on a letter indecipherable. When Dorcas pursues the identity of the letter's recipient, she reveals another secret: a child, kept hidden even from his own father.
22"Episode 12"Bill GallagherMoira Armstrong15 March 2009 (2009-03-15)6.47 million
James Dowland is confined to his hospital bed when his son arrives in Candleford, and Dorcas welcomes the boy into the post office, doing everything she can to make him feel at home.  But this causes a great deal of turmoil when James is released from hospital to be reunited with his son.

text: Series 3 (2010)[edit]

text:
#

Episode

Writer

Director

Original air date

Viewing figure
23"Episode 1"Bill GallagherSue Tully10 January 2010 (2010-01-10)7.49 million
A young journalist, Daniel Parish, arrives in Lark Rise with exciting news for the Timmins family: Emma is set to inherit a fortune, enough to move the family to a big house in Candleford. Daniel plans to write their rags to riches story for his newspaper, but Dorcas is suspicious of his motives, and when the article is published, it sends shockwaves through the community.
24"Episode 2"Bill GallagherDavid Tucker17 January 2010 (2010-01-17)7.07 million
The Bishop is coming to consecrate the church font and Thomas cannot contain his excitement. But when a Lark Rise tree starts to 'bleed', the hamlet becomes rife with talk of witchcraft, and Thomas is horrified. Dorcas loses her composure and makes a blunder with terrible consequences for Pearl and Ruby. Also, Laura is thrown off balance when Daniel returns to try to win back her affections — but first he has to get around an angry Robert and Emma.
25"Episode 3"Gaby ChiappePatrick Lau24 January 2010 (2010-01-24)6.94 million
Alf throws a party to celebrate moving into a cottage of his own. He entertains his guests with a new song, and its haunting words have a profound effect on all of them. Edmund rebels against his parents; Thomas and Margaret have their first marital tiff; and Dorcas's plans to prepare Minnie for marriage and motherhood backfire terribly.
26"Episode 4"Gaby ChiappePatrick Lau31 January 2010 (2010-01-31)6.82 million
It's harvest time — the most important time of the year in Lark Rise, when everyone helps to bring in the wheat that will feed them through winter. So when an epidemic hits, it couldn't come at a worse time — with so many sick, how will they gather the wheat and prevent a winter of starvation? For Lark Rise, help comes from an unlikely source. But just when it looks as though their problems are solved, they discover the worst is yet to come.
27"Episode 5"Bill GallagherMoira Armstrong7 February 2010 (2010-02-07)6.98 million
There's a mystery in town as Mr. Reppington takes residence in the Golden Lion but remains firmly isolated from the world, and Dorcas Lane is determined to find out why. Emma Timmins fears that the romance has gone out of her marriage and worries over a possible secret admirer, whilst Daniel Parish believes there may be more to Mr. Reppington than meets the eye, not least a story that could make his career. Meanwhile, Ruby Pratt agonizes over whether she should at last leave Candleford to meet her suitor in Pontefract, but cannot face telling her sister Pearl.
28"Episode 6"Bill GallagherSue Tully14 February 2010 (2010-02-14)7.02 million
Daniel has opened a newspaper in Candleford and is on the lookout for a big story. So when old Peg Leg, a Crimean War veteran, arrives for his annual visit to the Timmins', and Daniel learns he has received no war pension, he starts a newspaper campaign against this injustice. But just as Peg Leg's plight looks set to become a national cause celebre, Emma learns that he is not all he seems, a discovery that threatens to break hearts and destroy Daniel's new venture.
29"Episode 7"Bill GallagherPaul Seed21 February 2010 (2010-02-21)6.83 million
The locals are rehearsing for their annual production of St. George and the Dragon when they hear rumours that Sir Timothy has returned. They are thrilled at the prospect of performing it for the squire himself, but with the play fast approaching and no sign of Sir Timothy, Dorcas decides to pay him a visit. She finds only Lady Adelaide. As the two women come face to face they are forced to confront their shared history, learning more about each other than they could have imagined.
30"Episode 8"Rachel BennetteDavid Innes Edwards28 February 2010 (2010-02-28)6.88 million
Pearl is in a state of panic. She has received a dressmaking commission which could save her ailing business, but without Ruby, there is no way she can do the work in time. So when Enid, a talented seamstress, arrives in Candleford looking for a job, it seems Pearl's prayers have been answered. Pearl and Enid form an instant bond, based on mutual admiration and respect. But when Pearl discovers the seamstress is not who she says she is, she is forced to choose between their friendship and her deepest prejudices.
31"Episode 9"Bill GallagherSue Tully7 March 2010 (2010-03-07)6.61 million
When the Lark Rise school loses its teacher, Emma steps in and discovers a talent she never knew she had. But Margaret also covets the role of schoolteacher, and the two women become rivals for the job. Over in Candleford, Thomas and Dorcas are at odds. The postman is agitating for better working conditions, and Dorcas isn't taking it well.
32"Episode 10"Bill GallagherPatrick Lau14 March 2010 (2010-03-14)6.33 million
When the local Lark Rise gossip Mrs. Mullins discovers her daughter Emily is pregnant, she leaps to the conclusion that Daniel is the father. Everyone, including Laura, rallies round to defend him. But when Daniel's behaviour starts to arouse suspicion, and people begin to doubt him, Dorcas is determined to uncover the truth.
33"Episode 11"Bill GallagherPatrick Lau21 March 2010 (2010-03-21)6.39 million
Mischief Night is approaching and the folks of Lark Rise and Candleford are excitedly planning tricks to play on their neighbours. But Laura is in no mood for silly pranks — Fisher Bloom has returned, intent on winning her back, and it has thrown her feelings for Daniel into turmoil.
34"Episode 12"Bill GallagherSue Tully28 March 2010 (2010-03-28)6.51 million
When the postmaster at Inglestone, with an old score to settle, tries to force Dorcas into selling up, she is faced with the heartbreaking prospect of losing her home and denying Sydney his dream of running the post office one day.

text: Series 4 (2011)[edit]

text:
#

Episode

Writer

Director

Original air date

Viewing figure
35"Episode 1"Bill GallagherSue Tully9 January 2011 (2011-01-09)7.68 million
Gabriel Cochrane, the once-wealthy owner of a large iron foundry arrives in Candleford. The bank has repossessed his home and business, his young wife has died, and Gabriel finds himself looking for a new start. The people of Candleford take him to their hearts, and Dorcas offers him a job and a home. But will their kindness be enough to save him, or will he let his vendetta against the bank, and his grief over his dead wife, prevent him rebuilding his fortunes and finding happiness again?
36"Episode 2"Bill GallagherSue Tully16 January 2011 (2011-01-16)7.31 million
When Daniel announces that his newspaper is launching a poetry competition, it sends the inhabitants of Candleford into a frenzy of creative excitement. Laura has high hopes of taking home the trophy and begins writing feverishly; Pearl indulges in plagiarism after her own efforts are found wanting; and even Margaret embarks upon an epic poem based on her husband’s postal rounds.
37"Episode 3"Bill GallagherSue Tully23 January 2011 (2011-01-23)7.02 million
Thomas is euphoric when he lands the job of organising the church bazaar. But his joy soon evaporates when the vicar falls ill, and the controversial and free-thinking curate Reverend Marley takes charge. Thomas is convinced that Marley is evil incarnate, and when he comes across a snake on his postal rounds, he sees it as a sign that the devil is indeed amongst them.
38"Episode 4"Rachel BennettePatrick Lau30 January 2011 (2011-01-30)6.90 million
The Fair has come to town, and the locals are celebrating - Alf has been crowned King of the Fair, while Queenie has won a whole Berkshire pig! The Lark Risers start fattening up the pig in preparation for a sumptuous pig feast, but Twister cannot resist the temptation of selling off-cuts of the animal to the people of Candleford. At the post office, Gabriel is proving to be a less than perfect house guest; can Dorcas adapt to having a man under her roof? And will Twister survive the wrath of Queenie when she discovers he has sold her pig from under her?
39"Episode 5"Bill GallagherSue Tully6 February 2011 (2011-02-06)6.96 million
Daniel is planning a cricket match against a neighbouring village team, who he is convinced cheated in their last match. He is determined to restore Candleford's honour, but most of Daniel's regular players are away, and the men of Lark Rise are cricketing novices. A humiliating defeat looks certain, until Daniel discovers that the finest batsman in the county is right under his nose. The only problem is, his batsman is a batswoman, and the rules state women cannot play.
40"Episode 6"Bill GallagherSue Tully13 February 2011 (2011-02-13)7.01 million
Gabriel has finally completed the machine which he hopes will restore his fortunes, and farmers are soon clamouring to buy his ingenious invention. Dorcas is delighted for him, until she realises it could mean his departure from Candleford. Meanwhile, Caroline has returned to Lark Rise, and Minnie assumes it's only a matter of time before Alf comes to propose, now that his ma is back to look after her children. But will Caroline settle this time, and allow Alf his freedom? And how will Gabriel react to a surprising admission from Dorcas?

text: Cancellation[edit]

text: It was announced on 22 January 2011 that the show would not be returning for a fifth series.[4] The decision caused viewer complaints, prompting BBC One controller Danny Cohen to say, "Lark Rise to Candleford has been a truly wonderful part of the BBC One schedule and we are incredibly grateful to writer Bill Gallagher and the team. But we feel the time is right to make room for new dramas which we hope will be taken to the nation's hearts in the same way."[10]

text: Following that announcement, many viewers took to setting up and signing online campaigns to see the show recommissioned.[11] In response, Ben Stephenson of the BBC finally announced the decision was based on the departure of writer and executive producer Bill Gallagher, whose "creative energy" was considered essential to the series.[12]

text: DVD and Blu-ray releases[edit]

text:
DVD release

Release date

Blu-ray release

Release date

No of discs

No of episodes

The Complete First Series

7 April 2008

The Complete First Series

20 April 2009

4

10

The Complete Second Series

20 April 2009

The Complete Second Series

26 April 2010

4

12

The Complete Series 1–2

11 January 2010

N/A

N/A

1

22

The Complete Third Series

26 April 2010

The Complete Third Series

26 April 2010

4

12

The Complete Series 1–3

26 April 2010

N/A

N/A

1

34

The Complete Fourth Series

7 March 2011

The Complete Fourth Series

TBA

1

6

The Complete Series 1–4

7 March 2011

The Complete Series 1–4

TBA

14

40


document_title: Book censorship in the United States

question_text: when was the first book banned in the united states

root

text: Book censorship in the United States

text: History of Book Censorship in America[edit]

text: During the 1600's, a very prevalent form of book censorship in the United States was book burning. In October of 1650, William Pynchon's pamphlet, The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption, was criticized and promptly burned by the Puritan government. This book burning in Boston, Massachusetts is often referred to and even considered the "first book burning in America". [14]

tag: p

text: On March 3, 1873, the Comstock Law was passed by the United States Congress under the Grant administration; also referred to as an Act for the "Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use". The Act criminalized usage of the U.S. Postal Service to send any of the following items: erotica, contraceptive, abortifacients, sex toys, personal letters alluding to any sexual content or information, or any information regarding the above items. The Act not only restrained the distribution of pornography but also the spread of medical journals that held subsequent information regarding contraceptives and abortion.[15] In places such as Washington, D.C., where the federal government has direct jurisdiction, the act also made it a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment, to sell, give away, or have in possession any "obscene" publication.[16] Half of the states passed similar anti-obscenity statutes that also banned possession and sale of obscene materials.[17]

text: Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman's famous collection of poetry, was withdrawn in Boston in 1881, after the District Attorney threatened criminal prosecution for the use of explicit language in some poems. The work was later published in Philadelphia.[18] This version went through five editions of 1,000 copies each.[19] Its first printing, released on July 18, 1882 sold out in a day.[20]

text: Mark Twain's notoriously challenged book, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published in the United States in February of 1885 and was promptly banned by librarians in Massachusetts in March of the same year. [21] The book was banned due to Twain's frequent use of the word “nigger” as well as the novel being described as “racially insensitive,” as well as “perpetuat[ing] racism.”[22] It has since, and still remains among the top 100 most challenged books up to date. [23]

text: In 1915, architect William Sanger was charged under New York law for disseminating contraceptive information.[24] His wife Margaret Sanger was similarly charged in 1915 for her work The Woman Rebel. Sanger circulated this work through the U.S. postal service, effectively violating the Comstock Law. On appeal, her conviction was reversed on the grounds that contraceptive devices could legally be promoted for the cure and prevention of disease.[25]

text: The publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1859 "unleashed a controversy that resonates even today. In presenting a revolutionary theory of evolution, the British naturalist challenged the biblical creation story and provoked the ire of detractors who accused him of 'dethroning God'. Despite the surrounding controversy, On the Origin of Species remained uncensored in the United States all the way into the 1920s, when high school curricula started to incorporate the theory of Darwinian evolution."[26] Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was soon after banned in parts of America, notably Tennessee.[27] The Tennessee ban remained on the books until 1967, "when the Supreme Court declared it in conflict with the First and Fourteenth Amendments".[28]

text: The banning of books became more prevalent during the twentieth century as modernist and progressive writers such as James Joyce, Theodore Dreiser, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and John Steinbeck began their literary careers.[27] These authors did not refrain from revealing their opinions about controversial subject matter. For example, Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms depicts the grim realities of World War I,[29] and the story of the two lovers, Frederic Henry and Catherine Barkley, includes graphic details of a childbirth gone awry. This story strays greatly from traditionalist literature, the majority of American literature at the time, which depicted good prevailing over evil. Some cities, including Boston, banned A Farewell to Arms in 1929, labeling the book "salacious."[29]

text: In addition, Boston in the 1920s censored other novels such as The American Mercury, Elmer Gantry, An American Tragedy, Strange Interlude, and Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The rise of censorship in Boston aroused local opposition.[30] The Harvard Crimson in 1929 wrote, "it has become so tiresome to reproach Boston for their constant repression of creative work, that we are beginning to surrender in despair."[31] The Boston censors countered that the censorship was justified because according to the U.S. federal political system, it is the duty of the states to implant their educational policies.[32] The texts selected for the schools are ultimately approved by the state. School boards, as part of the Tenth Amendment, do have the right to select which state-approved text should be placed in the libraries. Over the years, parents on school boards have challenged their state’s selection of certain books for their libraries. The main reasons of the parents and school boards is to protect children from content deemed by them as inappropriate.

text: School boards[edit]

text: School boards have frequently been involved in litigation involving the rights of freedom to read, which is considered by some organizations to be encompassed in the First Amendment. Some legal cases have reached state supreme courts and the United States courts of appeals. Cases like Evans V. Selma Union High School District of Fresno County in 1924 ruled "The mere act of purchasing a book to be added to the school library does not carry with it any implication of the adoption of the theory or dogma contained therein, or any approval of the book itself except as a work of literature fit to be included in a reference library."[33] In Minarcini V. Strongsville City School District in 1976, the court upheld the school district's decision to not allow certain texts to be used in a curriculum, but "found the removal of the books from the library to be unconstitutional, referring to the library as a 'storehouse of knowledge.'"[34]

text: Censorship has also been addressed by the United States Supreme Court in the case Island Trees School District v. Pico in 1982. This case involved the school board’s desire to inculcate certain values in children, going against students’ First Amendment rights. The court came to the conclusion that, "The First Amendment imposes limitations upon a local school board's" discretion to remove books from high and junior high school libraries.[35] The case was brought to the Supreme Court by five students who challenged their school board's decision to remove nine books from the school's library, after a challenge came from an organization called Parents of New York United.[36] The Supreme Court ruled that, under the First Amendment, "Local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books".[37] Justice William Brennan, who wrote the opinion, reasoned that "Local school boards have broad discretion in the management of school affairs, but such discretion must be exercised in a manner that comports with the transcendent imperatives of the First Amendment".[37] Brennan continues that school boards do have "absolute discretion to choose academic materials"[37] and what texts are used in classrooms, so removing books from curriculum would not be unconstitutional, as long as a school board's discretion is not "exercised in a narrowly partisan or political manner."[37] Finally, he comments on the library, saying it is a distinct institution as it represents the First Amendment's "role in affording the public access to discussion, debate and the dissemination of information and ideas."[37] The result of this Supreme Court case has not stopped the protests of parents and school boards against content which they believe is “anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic or just plain filthy."[35]

text: Reasons for censorship[edit]

text: Books are often challenged by concerned parents who desire to protect their children from the themes or content within books. Books can be banned for more than one reason as well. As of the ten years preceding 2016, the top three reasons cited for challenging materials as reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom were:

text:
The material was considered to be "sexually explicit".
The material contained "offensive language".
The material was "unsuited to any age group".[38]

tag: ol

text: According to the American Library Association, there are also more than twenty other reasons for censorship, including the material containing or being: anti-ethnic, cultural sensitivity, racism, sexism, anti-family, nudity, offensive language, other offensive item, abortion, drug/alcohol/smoking, gambling, gangs, violence, suicide, homosexuality, sexually explicit, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, occult/satanism, unsuited for age group, inaccurate, technical errors, and other objections.[39] According to the People for the American Way, an organization that fights to protect equal rights and freedom of speech, "sexually explicit"[40] material was the most frequent cause of book challenges in the decade from 1990 to 2000, while "offensive language"[40] was responsible for the second-most number.

text: Social[edit]

text: Numerous books have been suppressed “because of language, racial characterization, or depiction of drug use, social class, or sexual orientation of the characters, or other social differences that the challengers viewed as harmful to the readers.”[41] There are many examples of books being suppressed on social grounds in the United States. Dawn Sova authored Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds, a novel that lists books that have been banned or challenged on the preceding grounds to raise awareness of why books are censored. A few examples of this type of censorship are J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. All of these stories have main characters who disrespect authority and live not according to societal norms and social rules.[41] Holden Caulfield, Randle McMurphy, and Huck Finn are similar in their use of vulgar language and anti-traditionalist world views.[41] All of these books have themes of characters who are idolized for breaking the rules and living life that is full of pleasures instead of listening and adhering to traditional order. Sova suggests that censors have sought to ban these books because they fear that the rebellious nature of the characters will lead children to follow them, meaning they will have no respect for their parents, the law or teachers.[41]

text: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark Twain was listed by the American Library Association as the 5th most commonly banned book in the U.S. due to supposed racism in 2007.[42] NewSouth Books received media attention for publishing an expurgated edition of the work that censored the words nigger and Injun. A parent in a school district in Arizona attempted to have the novel banned in a case that reached the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case Monteiro v. The Tempe Union High School District (1998).[43]

text: In August 1939, the Board of Supervisors of Kern County, California passed a resolution to ban The Grapes of Wrath from county libraries and schools. The head librarian of the Kern County Free Library, Gretchen Knief, despite personally protesting to the supervisors, complied with the ban. The ban is said to have been largely a product of the county's reliance upon agriculture, and Knief’s compliance, along with a lack of official support from librarians. The ban was rescinded in 1941.[44]

text: Political[edit]

text: Books have been suppressed for their political content by both local governments and the federal government. In particular books that some perceive to promote anarchism, communism or socialism have a history of being suppressed in the United States.[45] The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels was frequently challenged and widely restricted in libraries because of its communism themes, especially during the Red Scare in the 1950s.[45] George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four was challenged in Jackson County, Florida in 1981 because it was deemed "pro-communist and contained explicit sexual matter."[46] In 1980, Irwin Schiff published the Federal Mafia which was declared by the United States' courts that Schiff's book was found to be fraudulent. The reasoning for it being labeled fraudulent by the courts was that it contained information on how to legally evade income tax.[47]

text: Sexual[edit]

text: Reviews for Theodore Dreiser's The "Genius" (1915) were mixed at best. The Kansas City Star, like many Midwestern dailies, labeled the novel "a procession of sordid philandering," while the Milwaukee Journal derided Dreiser as a "literary Caliban," wallowing in depravity.[48] Many libraries and bookstores refused to stock the book, and the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice threatened legal action, leading Dreiser's supporters to issue their own call to arms.[49] Critic Willard Huntington Wright, a former editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review and The Smart Set and a Dreiser fan of long standing, threw himself "wholeheartedly into an anti-censorship campaign on behalf of [the novel]. Along with Alfred Knopf, John Cowper Powys, [publisher Ben] Huebsch, and H. L. Mencken, [he] circulated petitions and drummed up support wherever he could for the man he believed to be the most significant, unjustly harassed writer of the day."[50] Eventually, five hundred writers signed an Authors' League petition on behalf of The "Genius", including Willa Cather, Max Eastman, Robert Frost, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, Amy Lowell, Jack Reed, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Ida Tarbell, and Booth Tarkington.

text: The foreword to the 1923 reissue of the novel addressed the censorship issue directly: "It has been urged that this book is detrimental to the morals of the young and might have had a bad effect upon people with weak moral sense, but are thousands of perfectly normal and responsible people to be denied this form of aesthetic stimulation simply because it is harmful to children and perverts?"[51]

text: Copies of the literary journal The Little Review containing episodes from James Joyce's novel Ulysses were seized by the United States Postal Service under the Comstock law.[52] James Joyce's Ulysses was suppressed in 1921 for obscenity, because of a scene that involved masturbation, first published in The Little Review.[53] Ulysses was then the subject of a court challenge in 1933, United States v. One Book Called Ulysses.[54] Judge John M. Woolsey's ruling that the book was not obscene, marked a notable change in how the courts viewed obscenities in novels.[54]

text: Henry Miller's novel Tropic of Cancer has been described as "notorious for its candid sexuality" and as responsible for the "free speech that we now take for granted in literature".[55]:22[56] It was first published in 1934 by the Obelisk Press in Paris, France, but this edition was banned in the United States.[57] Its publication in 1961 in the U.S. by Grove Press led to obscenity trials that tested American laws on pornography in the early 1960s. In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the book non-obscene. It is regarded as an important work of 20th-century literature.

text: The children's book And Tango Makes Three has been one of the most challenged books in the 21st century due to the plot, which focuses on two homosexual penguins in the Central Park Zoo.[58] Tango is one of several books that have been censored because of homosexual themes. In 2003 the children's book The Family Book was removed from the curriculum of the Erie, Illinois school system due to the book's representation of same-sex families.

text: Flowers for Algernon, a science fiction short story and subsequent novel written by Daniel Keyes, is on the American Library Association's list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999 at number 43.[59] The reasons for the challenges vary, but usually center on those parts of the novel in which Charlie struggles to understand and express his sexual desires. Many of the challenges have proved unsuccessful, but the book has occasionally been removed from school libraries, including some in Pennsylvania and Texas.[60] It won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960.[61] The novel was published in 1966 and was joint winner of that year's Nebula Award for Best Novel (with Babel-17).[62]

text: Religious[edit]

text: In the United States, books have also been challenged for attacking or disagreeing with religious beliefs.[63] On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin has been challenged and suppressed since its publication in 1859 due to its theories on Evolution, though not until 1925 in the US, when the Butler Act was enacted in Tennessee, banning the teaching of evolutionary theories statewide.[64] Works, such as the Harry Potter series, have also been challenged because they are perceived by some to promote witchcraft and the occult.[58]

text: Security[edit]

text: Operation Dark Heart, a 2010 memoir by U.S. Army intelligence officer Lt. Col Anthony Shaffer, is notable for the lengths the U.S. Defense Department went to in an attempt to censor information that the book revealed, even after it had already been distributed free of changes. Both censored and original copies of the book are available in the public domain.[65]

text: Parenting[edit]

text: As an author, John Green said, “Text is meaningless without context. What usually happens with Looking for Alaska is that a parent chooses one page of the novel to send to an administrator and then the book gets banned without anyone who objects to it having read more than that one particular page.”[66] The number of helicopter parents are increasing year by year. Some parents love and care about their children so much that they do not want extra shields/protection for their children. Some parents do not want them to read certain books, containing LGBTQ themed, violent, or certain religious. They asked the school to ban the books from curriculum and the library, and year by year the number of banned books, brought the action by parents, increases.

text: Examples of "Banned" Books[edit]

text: Brave New World[edit]

text: Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel, Brave New World (1931), was challenged in various school districts. In 2003 in the South Texas Independent School District, Mercedes, Texas it "was challenged but retained". Parents had "objected to the adult themes—sexuality, drugs, suicide—that appeared in the novel. Huxley's book was part of the summer Science Academy curriculum. The board voted to give parents more control over their children's choices by requiring principals to automatically offer an alternative to a challenged book."[67]

text: Of Mice and Men[edit]

text: John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, first published in 1937, is considered an American classic and listed as the 12th best novel of the 20th century by the Radcliffe Publishing Course.[68] It has remained a popular choice for teaching in English curriculums because of its simplistic nature, but profound message.[8] Regardless, the novel appeared on the ALA's top ten most frequently challenged books in 2001, 2003 and 2004.[69] H.N. Foerstel, the author of Banned in the U.S.A., a novel documenting the cases of censorship in the United States, states that "the censors claim to be protecting the young and impressionable from this tragic tale of crude heroes speaking vulgar language within a setting that implies criticism of our social system."[8] The main reasons for censorship, as noted by the Office of Intellectual Freedom, are "offensive language, racism, unsuited to age group, violence".[69]

text: A case against the novella began in Normal, Illinois in 2004 when a group of parents and community members in the school district, proposed a set of books that could be read instead of Steinbeck's novel that addressed the same themes as Of Mice and Men, but did not have the racial slurs that the group objected to.[70] The group also suggested that the book should be removed from the permanent, required reading list for a sophomore English curriculum, however, they did not ask that the book be banned.[70] The group appreciated that the novel addressed injustices of the past, but believed the alternative books that they proposed "address multicultural and socially sensitive issues in a meaningful, respectful manner",[70] whereas Steinbeck's novel does not.

text: To Kill a Mockingbird[edit]

text: To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), by Harper Lee, rose to fame quickly after winning the Pulitzer Prize and has since been considered an American classic. The novel confronts issues of rape and racial inequality, but is highly regarded for its universal themes that can appeal to many readers.[8] The novel has been censored since its 1960 publication and appeared on the ALA's top ten most frequently challenged books in 2009 and 2011.[69] The novel is objectionable because it deals with racial injustice, class systems, gender roles, loss of innocence while discussing violence, rape, incest and authority, while using strong language.[71] In July 1996, the Superintendent of the Moss Point School District in Mississippi announced To Kill a Mockingbird would be reviewed by a group of parents, community members and teachers after a complaint came from Reverend Greg Foster about the novel's racial descriptions and discussion of sexual activity. The novel was ultimately banned from being accessed in the school district.[8] Another case began with a resident in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in 2008, who objected to having To Kill A Mockingbird as part of a high school English curriculum. The challenger had problems with how African-Americans were treated in the novel and feared that the descriptions may upset black students who were reading the novel. Instead of banning the book, the school board voted unanimously to keep the book in the curriculum and instead responded to fears of upsetting black students with racial sensitivity training for teachers who used the novel in their classrooms.[72]

text: The Catcher in the Rye[edit]

text: The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, was first published in 1951 and has since been both frequently challenged and taught. In the 1980s, it "had the unusual distinction of being the nation's most frequently censored book, and, at the same time, the second most frequently taught novel in the public schools."[8] The American Library Association deemed it the tenth most challenged book from 1990 to 1999.[73] The novel also appears as the second best and most classic novel of the 20th century based on a list developed by the Radcliffe Publishing Course.[68]

text: The majority of the objections have been over the novel's inappropriate language, but the book also has mentions of prostitutions, sexuality and underage drinking, as cited by the book review published by the organization Focus on the Family, an American, conservative group.[74] The ALA cites the reasons for censorship as "offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group".[69] The first case of censorship the book ever witnessed was in 1960 when it was ban in a Tulsa, Oklahoma school district and the eleventh grade teacher who had assigned the book was fired because of the questionable content of the book.[75] A case in Paris, Maine in 1996 allowed for The Catcher in the Rye to continue being taught at the district high school, but mandated practices that would tell parents what books their children read, ultimately leaving it in the hands of parents to decide what their children should read, rather than the school.[8]

text: The Harry Potter series[edit]

text: The seven-book Harry Potter series by J.K.Rowling has been highly popular since the first novel came out in 1997, leading to the release of eight movies based on the series and an amusement park inspired by the characters. Harry Potter has brought similar amount of controversy as it has obsession: the series was the most frequently challenged book in 2001 and 2002, before falling to second-most challenged book in 2003.[69] The ALA cites the reasons for censorship as "anti-family, occult/Satanism, religious viewpoint, violence",[69] but the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas's "Free People Read Freely" report also cited concerns over sexual content.[76]

text: In one case in Lawrenceville, Georgia in 2007, a parent asked that the Harry Potter books be kept out of classrooms, suggesting that the novels promote the practice of witchcraft and contain violent content that is not suitable for her fifteen-year-old daughter to read as she was becoming inspired to try witchcraft like the characters do in the series.[77] School board attorney, Victoria Sweeney, presented evidence for why the novels should be kept in the classroom, noting that they encourage children's fascination with reading and explore themes such as good triumphing over evil.[77] The board ultimately unanimously decided to keep the books in the classroom since they had the potential to spark creativity and imagination, as well as a love for learning and reading.[77]

text: Fun Home[edit]

text: In October 2006, a resident of Marshall, Missouri attempted to have the graphic novel Fun Home by Alison Bechdel removed from the Marshall Public Library.[78] The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, dysfunctional family life, and the role of literature in understanding oneself and one's family. These challenges are significant because the fact that they are filled with illustrations make them more likely to be accessible to younger children, and therefore, more susceptible to challenges when the content is considered mature for the audience.[79]

text: Organizations opposing book censorship[edit]

text: Established in 1876, the American Library Association, is the oldest and largest library association in the world “to provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.”[80] Also The American Library Association's website has noted the top three reasons for book censorship in the United States. The motives for this controversial practice are as following: the material was considered to be "sexually explicit”, the content contained "offensive language”, and the book was "unsuited to any age group."[81] The Freedom to Read Foundation focuses more on the legal issues regarding book censorship. One of their main objections is to, “to supply legal counsel, which counsel may or may not be directly employed by the Foundation, and otherwise to provide support to such libraries and librarians as are suffering legal injustices.”[82] Founded on November 20, 1969, the association made its first U.S. Supreme Court appeal in Kaplan v. California.[83] The case involved an “adult” bookstore owner who was convicted of, “violating a California obscenity statute by selling a plain-covered unillustrated book containing repetitively descriptive material of an explicitly sexual nature.”[84] The Freedom to Read Foundation brought the case before the Supreme Court and filed, “a motion asking the Court to consider an amicus brief addressing constitutional questions posed by the new three-prong test for obscenity in Miller v. California.” The motion was ultimately denied as the Court ruled that First Amendment rights only applied to, “serious literature or political works”.[84]

text: Banned Books Week[edit]

text: On ALA's website there is a section of “Banned & Challenged Books” and they release most banned and challenged books every year; however, they also organize Banned Books Week, “an annual event celebrating the freedom to read."[80] usually taking place during the last week of September. Banned Books Week is the product of a national alliance between various organizations who strive to bring awareness to banned books.[85] Founded by first amendment and library activist Judy Krug and the Association of American Publishers in 1982 with the goal of bringing banned books “to the attention of the American public".[86][87] By the year 2000, the intention of this event expanded to “bring[ing] together the entire book community; librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types, in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.”[88] The coalition that now sponsors the week each year consists of American Library Association (ALA), the American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), Association of American Publishers, American Society of Journalists and Authors, and has support from the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Now the goal of Banned Book Week is not only to invite students and other readers to look at censored or challenged books, but also advocates for literary freedom in schools, libraries, and all places involving books. Its most current goal is “to teach the importance of our first Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed availability of information in a free society".[85] In recent years banned book week has expanded from just books to addressing the filtering any academic material by schools. This includes software that removes services such as YouTube, social media, and games. The American Association of School Librarians stance on all filtering is that it is important for students to go past “the requirements set for by the Federal Communications Commission in its Child Internet Protection Act”.[89]

text: However, while the week generally receives a positive reception, that does not mean it is criticism free. Tom Minnery, vice president of Focus on the Family, claims that “the ALA has irresponsibly perpetrated the ‘banned’ books lie for too long” and that “nothing is ‘banned’“ and Ruth Graham from Slate Magazine agrees.[90][91] She thinks that celebrating book banning week conflates issues of book censorship in a public library versus a school library were actual cases of censorship are rather minimal.[91] Groups who generally challenge numerous books, such as Focus on the Family, often stand opposed to Banned Book Week, but that doesn’t mean everyone is. Maddie Crum, a writer for the Huffington Post, argues in defense of the week, stating that the week helps to keep us aware of the fact that Americans’ right of free expression is often limited and in many cases not easily won.[92]

text: Voices of Banned Authors[edit]

text: John Green[edit]

text: An American author, John Green’s novel Looking For Alaska has been challenging for young adults due to “offensive language” and “sexually explicit descriptions”.[66] He defends himself by voicing “In context, the novel is arguing really in a rather pointed way that emotionally intimate kissing can be a whole lot more fulfilling than emotionally empty oral sex.”[66] ALA also protect him by saying “Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. As such, they are a threat to freedom of speech and choice.”[66] However it is still named as one of the most challenging books.

text: David Guterson[edit]

text: His first novel “Snow falling on Ceddars” named one of the most banned books even though he won many awards with the book. The censors “compared the book to PORN”[93] and sexually inappropriate. When he was writing the second novel, he looked back “it is always hard to write another book” and “deathly afraid.”[94] However, he did not seem unhappy about getting banned, "the novel seems to have made a social contribution that I did not expect, corollary to my main concerns, but nevertheless a good thing."[94]

text: List of other banned books[edit]

text: The American Library Association, specifically the Office of Intellectual Freedom, has maintained a list of books, since 1990, that have been banned or censored in the United States. This is an incomplete list of books, both fiction and non-fiction, that have been challenged or censored in the United States. (See List of Banned & challenged books at the American Library Association].)

text:
Black Boy
Candide[95]
The Canterbury Tales[95]
Captain Underpants
Carrie
Catch-22[96]
The Decameron[95]
Fanny Hill[97]
The Federal Mafia[98]
Homo Sapiens, withdrawn from sale by the publisher after being labeled obscene[99]
The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption[100]
Moll Flanders[101]
My Life and Loves[102]
Naked Lunch[103]
Operation Dark Heart[104]
Uncle Tom's Cabin[105]
United States – Vietnam Relations: 1945–1967[106]
Women in Love[107]
Drama (graphic novel)
And Tango Makes Three
Absolutely True Diary
Looking for Alaska

tag: ul


document_title: The Thing (1982 film)

question_text: who was chasing the dog at the beginning of the thing

text: The Thing (1982 film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: In 100,000 BC, a flying saucer flies towards Earth, landing in Antarctica. In 1982 in Antarctica, a Norwegian helicopter pursues an Alaskan Malamute to an American research station. Upon landing, a Norwegian accidentally drops a thermite charge, destroying the helicopter. The surviving Norwegian raises a rifle at the station personnel and is shot dead by Garry, the station commander. The Americans send a helicopter pilot, R.J. MacReady, and Dr. Copper to the Norwegian camp for answers, but they find only a charred ruin containing corpses. Outside, they discover the burned remains of a humanoid corpse with two faces, which they bring back along with some video tapes. Their biologist, Blair, performs an autopsy on the corpse, finding a normal set of human internal organs.

text: Clark kennels the Malamute with the station's sled dogs; it soon metamorphoses and attacks them. When he hears the commotion, MacReady pulls the fire alarm, and Childs incinerates the creature. Blair performs another autopsy which leads him to believe the creature perfectly imitates other organisms. The Norwegians' records lead the Americans to the now-buried flying saucer. Blair becomes increasingly paranoid and withdraws, calculating that if the alien escapes to a civilized area, all life on Earth will be assimilated within a few years. Fuchs tells MacReady that he is worried about Blair, and according to Blair's journal, the creature's "dead" remains are still active on a cellular level. The camp enacts safety measures designed to reduce risk of assimilation.

text: The creature assimilates Bennings, but Windows catches him outside before his metamorphosis is complete and MacReady burns the creature. They discover Blair has wrecked all the transports and killed the remaining sled dogs. The team subdue Blair as he is destroying the radio and lock him in an isolated tool shed. Copper recommends a blood-serum test to determine who is assimilated, but the paranoid men turn on each other when they find the blood stores have been sabotaged.

text: MacReady takes charge and orders Fuchs to continue Blair's work, but Fuchs disappears; MacReady, Windows, and Nauls find his burnt corpse outside. Windows returns to warn the others while MacReady and Nauls investigate MacReady's shack, noticing that the lights were on even though MacReady states he turned them off earlier. On the way back, Nauls cuts MacReady loose from the tow line, assuming that he has been assimilated when he finds a torn shirt with MacReady's name on it when they were at his shack. As the team debate MacReady's fate, he breaks in and threatens to destroy the station with a bundle of dynamite if they attack him. Norris appears to suffer a heart attack after he and Nauls unsuccessfully attack MacReady from behind.

text: When Copper attempts to revive him, Norris transforms and kills Copper by biting his arms off. MacReady incinerates the creature and orders Windows to tie up everyone for a new test. Clark attacks MacReady, but is killed. MacReady explains his theory that every piece of the alien is an individual organism with its own survival instinct. One by one, MacReady tests everyone's blood with a heated piece of copper wire. Everyone is still human except Palmer, whose blood flees from the hot wire. Exposed, Palmer transforms and infects Windows, forcing MacReady to burn them both.

text: Leaving Childs on guard, the others head out to test Blair, only to find that he has tunneled out of the tool shed. They realize that Blair is assimilated and has been scavenging equipment to build a small escape craft. Discovering that Childs is missing and the station's power generator is destroyed, MacReady speculates that the Thing now intends to hibernate until a rescue team arrives. MacReady, Garry, and Nauls decide to dynamite the complex, hoping to destroy the Thing. As they set the explosives, Blair kills Garry and Nauls disappears. Blair transforms into a much larger monster and attacks, destroying the detonator, but MacReady still triggers the blast with a stick of dynamite, destroying the base.

text: MacReady sits nearby as the camp burns, and Childs reappears, claiming he was lost in the storm, pursuing Blair. Exhausted and with no hope of survival, they acknowledge the futility of their distrust and share a bottle of scotch.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady
A. Wilford Brimley as Blair
T. K. Carter as Nauls
David Clennon as Palmer
Keith David as Childs
Richard Dysart as Dr. Copper
Charles Hallahan as Norris
Peter Maloney as George Bennings
Richard Masur as Clark
Donald Moffat as Garry
Joel Polis as Fuchs
Thomas Waites as Windows
Norbert Weisser as Norwegian
Larry J. Franco as Norwegian Passenger with Rifle
Jed as Dog Thing (uncredited)[14]

text: Production[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: In 1980, Fantasy Newsletter reported that Wilbur Stark had bought the rights to several old RKO fantasy films, intending to remake them. It suggested the most significant of these purchases was The Thing From Another World.[15] When The Thing came to be made, Stark was executive producer.[16]

text: A number of early drafts for the film were written by Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel, co-creators of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.[17] The final screenplay was written in 1981 by Bill Lancaster, son of Burt Lancaster.[18] Carpenter later recalled that he did not meet or collaborate with any of the screenwriters.[19] The film was shot near the small town of Stewart in northern British Columbia. The research station in the film was built by the film crew during summer, and the film shot in sub-freezing winter conditions. The only female presence in the film is the voice of a chess computer, voiced by Carpenter regular (and then-wife) Adrienne Barbeau, as well as the female contestants viewed on a videotaped episode of Let's Make a Deal.

text: According to the sign post outside the camp, the Antarctic research team is stationed at the United States National Science Institute Station 4. However, in early drafts of the script, the base was called, "U.S. Outpost 31".[20] When making a recording of events, Kurt Russell's character, MacReady, signs off as, "R.J. Macready, helicopter pilot, U.S. Outpost #31".

text: The film took three months to shoot on six artificially frozen sound stages in Los Angeles, with many of the crew and actors working in cold conditions.[18] The final weeks of shooting took place in northern British Columbia, near the border with Alaska, where snow was guaranteed to fall.[18] John Carpenter filmed the Norwegian camp scenes at the end of production. The Norwegian camp was simply the remains of the American outpost after it was destroyed by an explosion.[21]

text: The Thing was Carpenter's eighth time directing a full-length feature and his first film under the production of a major film studio (Universal Studios).

text: The Thing was the fourth film shot by cinematographer Dean Cundey (following Carpenter's Halloween, The Fog, and Escape from New York) and the third to feature Kurt Russell as the lead actor. Russell would appear in two additional Carpenter films following The Thing: Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from L.A. Most of the special creature effects were designed and created by Rob Bottin and his crew, with the exception of the dog creature, which was created by Stan Winston.[21] Winston was brought in when Bottin's team found themselves overloaded with work on the other creatures seen in the film.[21]

text: The film was shot anamorphically for the 2.39:1 "scope" ratio.

text: In the documentary Terror Takes Shape on the DVD, film editor Todd C. Ramsay states that he made the suggestion to Carpenter to film a "happy" ending for the film, purely for protective reasons, while they had Russell available. Carpenter agreed and shot a scene in which MacReady has been rescued and administered a blood test, proving that he is still human. Ramsay follows this by saying that The Thing had two test screenings, but Carpenter did not use the sequence in either of them, as the director felt that the film worked better with its eventual nihilistic conclusion. The alternate ending with MacReady definitively proven to be human has yet to be released.

text: According to the 1998 DVD release, the "Blair Monster" was to have had a much larger role in the final battle. However, due to the limitations of stop-motion animation, the monster appears for only a few seconds in the film.

text: One of the film's associate producers, Larry J. Franco, has a credited cameo as the Norwegian rifleman from the beginning of the film. Director John Carpenter and his then-wife Adrienne Barbeau have uncredited cameos as a man in the Norwegian video footage and the voice of the chess computer, respectively.

text: Although the production's helicopter pilots are not characters within the film and only serve as body doubles when the helicopters are in flight, they are listed under the credits. Nate Irvin is listed as Helicopter Pilot and William Zeman is listed as Pilot.

text: Two names were changed from Bill Lancaster's second draft of the script.[20] The character Windows was originally named Sanchez, who was described as "hating it here" and "lousy at his job". The second character changed is the Norwegian rifleman, who was identified as "Jans Bolan" in a deleted scene from his dogtags and named Lars according to the 2011 prequel.

text: The film's musical score was composed by Ennio Morricone, a rare instance of Carpenter not scoring one of his own films,[22] although Carpenter did score a few pieces of music with Alan Howarth which were also used in the final film.[23] In 2012, Morricone recalled,

text: Regarding The Thing, by John Carpenter, I've asked him, as he was preparing some electronic music with an assistant to edit on the film, "Why did you call me, if you want to do it on your own?" He surprised me, he said - "I got married to your music. This is why I've called you." I was quite amazed, he called me because he had my music at his wedding. Then when he showed me the film, later when I wrote the music, we didn't exchange ideas. He ran away, nearly ashamed of showing it to me. I wrote the music on my own without his advice. Naturally, as I had become quite clever since 1982, I've written several scores relating to my life. And I had written one, which was electronic music. And [Carpenter] took the electronic score.[24]

text: Release[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: After its cinema run, the film was released on VHS, RCA VideoDisc, and laserdisc, and a re-edited version was created for television by TBS and Universal Studios's executive Sid Sheinberg, who recut the film to add narration and an alternate ending.[25]

text: The Thing has subsequently been released twice on DVD by Universal in 1998 and 2005. The 1998 edition was a Universal Collector's Edition, featuring The Thing: Terror Takes Shape, an extensive 83-minute documentary. It details all aspects of the film and features interviews from many of the people involved. There are detailed stories from the cast and crew concerning the adapted screenplay, the special effects, the post-production, the critical reception, and more. Other features include deleted scenes, the alternative ending shown in the television version, a theatrical trailer and production notes. Additionally, John Carpenter and Kurt Russell provide commentary throughout the film.[citation needed] An anamorphic widescreen transfer was not included, but this omission was remedied with the second DVD/HD DVD release in October 2004, which featured identical supplements to the 1998 release, with the exception of the isolated score track from the documentary. The film was released on Blu-ray Disc in Europe on October 6, 2008.[citation needed]

text: Unlike the American version of The Thing released on Blu-ray, the European version features most of the extras from the 1998 and 2005 DVD releases. These extras include the documentary The Thing: Terror Takes Shape although several extras, most notably the alternate ending, were not included. The Blu-ray version also includes various Blu-ray-only features, such as a HD version of the film (although the extras are still presented in 480i/p, depending on the extra) as well as a picture-in-picture mode that pops up at various points of the film. Although the feature is new, the footage included in the picture-in-picture mode is all taken from The Thing: Terror Takes Shape documentary.[citation needed]

text: In October 2017 the film was remastered in 4K from the original negative and re-released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video.[26]

text: Box office[edit]

text: The Thing opened #8 and remained in the top 10 at the box office for three weeks. The film was released in the United States on June 25, 1982 in 840 theaters and was issued an "R" rating by the Motion Picture Association of America. It debuted at #8 at the box office, with an opening weekend gross of $3.1 million. It went on to make $19,629,760 domestically.[2] Carpenter and other writers have speculated that the film's poor performance was due to the release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial two weeks earlier, with its more optimistic scenario of alien visitation (which received a "PG" rating from the MPAA). The Thing also opened on the same day as Ridley Scott's science fiction film Blade Runner, which debuted at #2.[27]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Initial reviews[edit]

text:
"I take every failure hard. The one I took the hardest was The Thing. My career would have been different if that had been a big hit...The movie was hated. Even by science-fiction fans. They thought that I had betrayed some kind of trust, and the piling on was insane. Even the original movie's director, Christian Nyby, was dissing me."

—John Carpenter on the reception of The Thing[28]

tag: div

text: The film received negative reviews upon release.[29] The film's makeup special effects were simultaneously lauded and lambasted for being technically brilliant but visually repulsive and excessive. Film critic Roger Ebert called the film "disappointing", though said he found it scary and that it was "a great barf-bag movie." However, he criticized what he felt were poor characterizations and illogical plot elements, ultimately giving the film 2½ stars out of 4.[30] In his review for The New York Times, Vincent Canby called it "a foolish, depressing, overproduced movie that mixes horror with science fiction to make something that is fun as neither one thing or the other. Sometimes it looks as if it aspired to be the quintessential moron movie of the 80s."[31] Time magazine's Richard Schickel wrote, "Designer Rob Bottin's work is novel and unforgettable, but since it exists in a near vacuum emotionally, it becomes too domineering dramatically and something of an exercise in abstract art."[32]

text: In his review for The Washington Post, Gary Arnold called the film "a wretched excess."[33] Jay Scott, in his review for the Globe and Mail, called the film "a hell of an antidote to E.T."[34] In his review for Newsweek, David Ansen wrote, "Astonishingly, Carpenter blows it. There's a big difference between shock effects and suspense, and in sacrificing everything at the altar of gore, Carpenter sabotages the drama. The Thing is so single-mindedly determined to keep you awake that it almost puts you to sleep."[35] David Denby of New York magazine wrote that the original story may have influenced Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Alien, but a new adaptation seems derivative.[36] In his book Science Fiction (1984), Phil Hardy described the film as a "surprising failure" and "Carpenter's most unsatisfying film to date."[37] The review noted that the narrative "seems little more than an excuse for the various set-pieces of special effects and Russell's hero is no more than a cypher compared to Kenneth Tobey's rounded character in Howard Hawks' The Thing".[37]

text: Retrospective acclaim[edit]

text: Despite negative contemporary reviews, the film has been reappraised substantially in the years following its release. An early positive review of the film was provided by Peter Nicholls in 1992, who called The Thing "a black, memorable film [which] may yet be seen as a classic".[38] The Thing now maintains an 81% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes; the site's consensus states: "Grimmer and more terrifying than the 1950s take, John Carpenter's The Thing is a tense sci-fi thriller rife with compelling tension and some remarkable make-up effects."[39] It has been listed as one of the best of 1982 by Filmsite.org and Film.com.[40][41] The film ranked #97 on Rotten Tomatoes' Journey Through Sci-Fi (100 Best-Reviewed Sci-Fi Movies), and a scene from The Thing was listed as #48 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.[42] Similarly, the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 17th scariest film ever made.[43] The Thing was named "the scariest movie . . . ever!" by the staff of the Boston Globe.[12] In 2008, the film was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.[44] John Kenneth Muir, writing in Horror Movies of the 1980s, called it "Carpenter's most accomplished and underrated directorial effort". Muir goes on to say that it is "the best science fiction-horror film of 1982, an incredibly competitive year, and perhaps even the best genre motion picture of the decade".[13]

text: In 2011, The New York Times asked prominent horror filmmakers what film they had found the scariest. Two, John Sayles and Edgar Wright, cited The Thing. "The theater was full, and I had to sit in the front row," Sayles recalled.[45]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: The Thing received nominations from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films for Best Horror Film and Best Special Effects, but lost to Poltergeist and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, respectively. The film was nominated in the Razzie Awards for Worst Musical Score.[46]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
The Thing (Music from the Motion Picture)

Soundtrack album by Ennio Morricone

Released
June 25, 1982

Genre
Film score

Length
49:37

Label
MCA Records

Producer
Ennio Morricone

text:
Professional ratings

Review scores

Source
Rating

AllMusic

Austin Chronicle

text: Though they did not speak a common language, Carpenter and Morricone collaborated on the soundtrack. Carpenter said that he urged Morricone toward a more minimalist direction.[47] MCA released the soundtrack in 1982; Varèse Sarabande released it 1991 on compact disc.[48] It was also available as an isolated score track on the 1998 DVD release, but is not present on the 2005 edition. The soundtrack has since gone out of print. A re-recording of the soundtrack, produced and arranged by Alan Howarth and Larry Hopkins, is currently available. It is the only version of the soundtrack that contains the unused Carpenter and Howarth pieces.

text: Three unused tracks from Morricone's original soundtrack for The Thing—"Eternity", "Bestiality" and "Despair"—were used in the 2015 Quentin Tarantino film The Hateful Eight, also starring Kurt Russell.[49]

text: Original soundtrack[edit]

text: All music composed by Ennio Morricone.

text:
[show]Track listing

No.
Title
Length

1.
"Humanity (Part I)"
6:59

2.
"Shape"
3:20

3.
"Contamination"
1:06

4.
"Bestiality"
2:59

5.
"Solitude"
5:58

6.
"Eternity"
5:36

7.
"Wait"
6:30

8.
"Humanity (Part II)"
7:16

9.
"Sterilization"
5:09

10.
"Despair"
4:50

Total length:
49:37

text: Re-recording by Howarth and Hopkins[edit]

text: All music composed by Ennio Morricone except where * is indicated;

text: (* denotes John Carpenter in association with Alan Howarth).

text:
[show]Track listing

No.
Title
Length

1.
"Main Title*"
1:45

2.
"Main Theme - Desolation"
4:29

3.
"Humanity 2"
2:42

4.
"Despair"
4:46

5.
"Humanity"
6:51

6.
"Shape"
3:18

7.
"Burn It*"
1:27

8.
"Solitude"
5:32

9.
"Fuchs*"
2:27

10.
"To Mac's Shack*"
2:52

11.
"Wait"
6:21

12.
"Sterilization"
3:42

13.
"Eternity"
5:26

14.
"Contamination"
1:01

15.
"Bestiality"
2:55

16.
"Main Theme - End Credit"
4:34

Total length:
60:45

text: Legacy[edit]

text: Prequel and cancelled sequels[edit]

text: The Sci Fi Channel planned to do a four-hour mini-series sequel to the film in 2003. Carpenter stated that he believed the project should proceed, but the Sci Fi Channel later removed all mention of the project from their homepage. In February 2009, a positive review of the abandoned screenplay for the Sci-Fi miniseries was published on Corona's Coming Attractions.[50]

text: In 2004, John Carpenter said in an Empire magazine interview that he has a story idea for The Thing II, which centers around the two surviving characters, MacReady and Childs. However, Carpenter felt that due to the higher price associated with his fee, Universal Studios will not pursue his storyline. Carpenter indicated that he would be able to secure both Kurt Russell and Keith David for the sequel. In his story, Carpenter would explain the age difference of the actors between the two installments by having frostbite on their face due to the elements until rescued. The assumption of the sequel would rely on a radio signal being successfully transmitted by Windows before Blair destroyed the communications room. Thus, after the explosion of the base camp, the rescue team would arrive and find MacReady and Childs still alive. Carpenter has not disclosed any other details.[51]

text: In September 2006, it was announced in Fangoria magazine that Strike Entertainment, the production company behind Slither and the Dawn of the Dead remake, was looking for a writer or writers to write a theatrical prequel to The Thing.[52] After accepting a script from Eric Heisserer, Strike Entertainment began production to the prequel, also titled The Thing and was filmed in 2010.[53] In the prequel, the Norwegian crew discovers the alien three days prior to the dog-thing arriving at Outpost 31. Surviving characters of the prequel, Matias and Lars, become the two Norwegians chasing the dog by helicopter in the opening of the 1982 film. The 2011 film was directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., shot in Toronto, and released on October 14 of that year.[54]

text: Theme parks[edit]

text: In 2007, the Halloween Horror Nights event at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, the film property was designed as a haunted attraction called The Thing - Assimilation.[55] Guests walked through Outpost 3113, a military facility where the remains of Outpost 31 were brought for scientific research. Scenes and props from the film were recreated for the attraction, including the bodies of MacReady and Childs. In 2009, the event's icon house, Silver Screams, contained a room based on the film.

text: Universal Studios also featured Haunted Attractions based on The Thing's 2011 prequel at both the Florida and Hollywood editions of Halloween Horror Nights in 2011.[56]

text: Books and comics[edit]

text: A novelization of the film based on the second draft of the screenplay was published in 1982 by Alan Dean Foster. Although the novel is generally true to the film, there are minor differences: the Windows character is named Sanders, and an episode in which MacReady, Bennings and Childs chase after several infected dogs which escape into the Antarctic wastes was added (this sequence was featured in Lancaster's second draft of the screenplay). The disappearance of Nauls is also explained in the novel; pursued by the Blair-Thing into a dead end, he kills himself rather than allow it to assimilate him.

text: Dark Horse Comics published four comic sequels to the film in the form of three mini-series and one serial (The Thing from Another World, The Thing from Another World: Climate of Fear, The Thing from Another World: Eternal Vows, which sees the return of MacReady as he pursues the Thing to New Zealand's Stewart Island, and The Thing from Another World: Questionable Research (which was serialized in Dark Horse Comics #13-16), again featuring the character of MacReady as the lone human survivor of Outpost #31 and depicting Childs as infected (The Thing From Another World: Climate of Fear issue 3 of 4).[57] Questionable Research explores a parallel reality where MacReady is not around to stop the Thing and a suspicious scientist must prevent its spread after it has wreaked destruction on Outpost 31. The comic series was titled The Thing from Another World after the original 1951 Howard Hawks film in order to avoid confusion and possible legal conflict with Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four member, the Thing. Much later, Dark Horse released a digital comic called The Thing: The Northman Nightmare as a prelude to the film's 2011 prequel.[58]

text: In January 2010, Clarkesworld Magazine published "The Things", a short story by Peter Watts which retells the film events from the alien's point of view and paints it in a much more sympathetic light by describing the Thing as an alien with an innocent impulse to share with the human race its power of communion and its frightened, not to mention severely saddened, reaction when they attack it. The story received a nomination to the Hugo Award in 2011.[59] The Thing Itself (2015), a novel by British author Adam Roberts, remixes The Thing with Kantian philosophy.

text: Video games[edit]

text: In 2002, The Thing was released as a survival horror third-person shooter for PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox, acting as a sequel to the film. The video game differs from the comics in that Childs is dead of exposure, and the audiotapes are present (they were removed from Outpost 31 at the start of The Thing from Another World: Questionable Research). At the completion of the game, R.J. MacReady is found alive and helping the main character complete the last mission. The game used elements of paranoia and mistrust intrinsic to the film. Some retailers, such as GameStop, offered a free copy of the 1998 DVD release as an incentive for reserving the game.[60][61][62] In 2011, a region of the Entropia Universe was created based on the theme of The Thing.[63]

text: Action figures[edit]

text: In September 2000, as part of the third series of its "Movie Maniacs" line of toys, McFarlane Toys released two figures based on the film. One was the Blair Monster[64] seen near the ending of the film, and the other is the Norris Creature seen during the defibrillator scene. The latter included a smaller figurine of the disembodied head with spider legs also seen in the film. SOTA Toys, under its Now Playing line, released a boxed set of MacReady action figure in the kennel scene, showing the Thing imitating the dogs, as well as a bust of the Norris Spider Head.[65]

text: Annual viewings[edit]

text: The Thing is annually viewed by members of the winter crew at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station during the first evening of winter. Another traditional feature is The Shining.[66] It is also viewed by scientific personnel at the Summit Camp on the apex of the Greenland Ice Sheet.