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Study 140 - The Father-Thing (Patreon)

Published:
2025-08-21 22:06:27
Imported:
2025-08
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Content

Philip K. Dick spins a tale about losing that dad bod with horrifying results: The Father-Thing!

Special thanks to reader Heather Klinke!

Next up: a classic episode and extra-credit on the movie MEN!

Comments

The Spider Incident

I love the depth of analysis you two can pull out of a story that neither of you particularly cared for. Good work gents, you are masters of your craft

Cole Caron

Children make good speculative fiction protagonists because listening to a story puts you in the position of a child automatically. You have all kinds of questions about the world you’ve been placed in and you can’t always apply your existing worldview as-is.

REO Jackwagon

Dang, Heather's on fire on this one!

S Jayne Bradley

This story also shows that when it comes down to it kids of different social groups will drop all animosity to check out a scary looking bug

Jack Saul

This just made me think about that tweet "me and my friends would have killed ET with hammers, I'll tell you that much." The earth saved by 11 year old boys' capacity for systematic and instinctive violence.

Rick Lyter

I was excited to see this was getting covered. I read this when I was a kid in grade school and I loved it. This one and Heinlein's A Time For The Stars were my earliest entries in sc-fi/horror

Jb Lee

Read that one at about 9 years old. Now THAT's a nightmare in the making. The ELECTRIC DREAMS version can't hold a candle to it. Got a painting out of the story a year or two ago, though! https://www.deviantart.com/gomro/art/The-Father-Thing-as-if-on-OUTER-LIMITS-993237904 And I sure hope you guys DO read Finney's novel. You'll find the ending -- rather unique. Don't want to spoil too much, but I'd sure like to hear what you think of that conclusion.

Andrew Neisess

Body double story twists these days had me expecting one of the kids was secretly a thing that wanted to get one over on the father-thing. There always is another body double close to you!

Rick Hound

It could also be an intentional or not so intentional exploration of the more paranoid aspects of mental illness to a member of a family, since we know Dick suffered all sorts of mental afflictions and which affected his relationships with love ones.

Newk

Chad's being organized comment resonated with me. I'm a very organized person, everything has a place and every place has a thing. The rest of my family, however, is not. I can greatly relate to what he's talking about and even in so far as growing up. My room was also my sanctuary for the same types of reasons. It's almost like I'm actually an alien insectoid masquerading as a Chad-Thing

REO Jackwagon

Ok substantive comment. I liked this one the best this month so far. I like metaphors and symbology as much as the next pseudo intellectual, but this was just right there and straightforward. I even bought into the other kids playing along without question. Many times in my youth, someone (sometimes me) would say something like, "you wanna see the moss man?" Or, "there's an arm buried under 2nd base!" And we'd just go along, often with pellet guns. If the game turned real, I could easily see us just cracking on.

Our old pal Brendan Gardiner

In my experience, ALL bullies are inquisitive. They ask questions like “Why are you such a dork?” And “Why are you hitting yourself? And “How come you don’t you stop hitting yourself?”

ESTY

Stay vigilant! Authority figures don’t have your best interests in mind: question everything. Must not sleep— must warn others.

Thunk

> He was huddled in a tense little bundle as far from his father as possible. His lips were moving, but she couldn't catch what he was saying. "What is it?" she demanded, leaning towards him. Hang on, is this The Wall?

Anne Ominous

I love a good kid gang story - the fun of Goonies without all the screaming Federal and State laws generally prohibit pouring kerosene down holes in the ground, but there were certainly extenuating circumstances here

Jason Labash

I grew up with the same kind of Jykell and Hyde father, never knowing who would come home after work. I understand him more the older I get and still fear becoming like him.

Stewart

This story and Chad's comments resonated with me in an odd way. I was born late in my father's life, after he'd mellowed out considerably and gotten his alcoholism under control. One of my older siblings was occasionally comment, with considerable bitterness "Is this the old dad or the new dad?" but it took me many years to understand what he meant.

Jim Cannon

Something you don't see much in the 1950s: the Black character calling all the shots and saving the day. A welcome inversion of the expected trope.

Jim Cannon

An inherent vulnerability to them, too, they're always going to be on the backfoot no matter what happens. They're just kids!

Patrick Ziselberger

I know how they used to control mosquitoes with kerosene! Mosquito larvae poke their tails up out of the water to breathe. If you flood the top of a pond with kerosene, it will float on top of the water and smother the larvae. Needless to say, this is a horrible thing to do to the environment and is now extremely illegal. But they did this back in the middle of the 20th century.

Ben Gilbert

Another great Dick story that deals with people being replaced by a double is Second Variety. It was made into the movie Screamers.

Richard Upton Sinclair Lewis Pickman

Came here to mention this! I am fairly sure my grandfather (now 95) used to use oil or diesel and spray it on the top of standing water. 😐 There is certainly a generation that has no concept of environmental pollutants.

Ben Gilbert

I can remember when the used a plane to fly around and spray DDT over everything and also spray for fire ants.

Ethan Cordray

I don't mind dogs with human faces, but big alien millipedes make me go "Gah!" But one thing I can't understand: why do body snatches always have to give the game away by being sinister and menacing? The father-thing could have gotten away with it if he'd just been nice, maybe bought the kid some baseball cards, played catch, taught him how to smoke - you know, good dad stuff!

Ethan Cordray

*Sigh* They really did have everything figured out back then.

HRPrice

I’ve definitely heard of pouring kerosene down fire ant hills, which seems more relevant to the story than mosquito control.

HRPrice

That’s basically the inciting incident of Attack the Block, come to think of it

Christopher T.

This is coincidental imposter-dad timing for me. I've been showing a friend the anime 'JoJo's Bizarre Adventure' and the part we're at revolves around a serial killer who has stolen a man's face and identity to hide and it falls to the son of the man he's impersonating to figure out his father is a fake and warn the heroes about it.

Philip Cowan

Can’t believe, Chad, it has taken all these years for some inkling of your childhood trauma to come out. Anyway, I can relate to that - and so can so many of the other listeners, going by the comments. Weird this PKD story came out within a month of ‘The Body Snatchers’ but these things happen. You might wonder ‘which is the real one’ but they both are, which makes these ‘aliens in a body-double stories even weirder. If we are all taken over by aliens - who is to say the old humans aren’t the aliens!? No wonder, some nights I can’t sleep… …and your multiple moves. I imagine you are some rogue podcaster, getting bundled from safe house to safe house, staying just one step ahead of the feds, but one step behind the truth.

Richard Upton Sinclair Lewis Pickman

Some of us grew up in the Northcountry and have no reference for fire ants! 🤣🤷🏻‍♂️ Where’s MonsterTalk? He talked about experiencing the ‘impending invasion.’

Leigh Candalino

This story reminds me of something my sister said to me when I was pretty young - still potty training - don’t worry that’s relevant. My sister and I have a big age gap and I was the annoying younger sister in every way. One day when my sister just wanted to be left alone and possibly was in the bathroom. I just kept saying her name right outside the door. She never answered me when she came out of the bathroom. She still did not acknowledge me so, of course, I just kept saying her name. Finally, she looked at me and said that she was not my sister Heather, but instead she was Christine, the toilet monster. She then went on to explain that she lives in the toilet until some unsuspecting person uses it, and then she’ll grab them and shove them down the toilet where they will have to live, and she takes on their appearance. However, my sister did not stop there. She told me that she will get me one day and shove me down the toilet and take on my appearance and everybody will know that it's Christine, the toilet monster and not me but they will like Christine more and won’t look for me. My parents were so angry but not for the crazy story and veiled way of Heather telling me she doesn't like me... but because I would not go to the bathroom alone for at least a year. I would also be unconsolable every time WPIX would show the trailer for their late night feature - The Blob! Since the scene with someone peering over the toilet bowl right before the blob grabs them was featured prominently in that trailer. So, anyway therapy works and I still love my sister.

Ben Gilbert

It reminds me of the 50s SF movie Invaders From Mars. A boy sees a flying saucer. His father investigates and returns a changed man. Soon others are acting strangely. The original is a pretty good movie by 1950 standards but the remake isn’t as good.

Daniel Weber

Brilliant older sibling terrorizing! This would make a great short story. Thanks for sharing!

Daniel Weber

I was filled with hope listening to the start of the episode - finally some catharsis for the trauma of The Time of the Worm! And the kids did triumph this time, but this story weirdly unlocked a new fear for me. After lifelong bachelorhood, I met my Person in my 40’s and, when we got married, I got four amazing step-kids in the bargain. Costco Family Starter Pack! I love them and brag on them to random strangers (like I am here) as though I had anything to do with how great they are. But halfway through this episode, I went, “Wait. Am *I * the Father-Thing for them?!” If so, hopefully a benevolent version that takes them to sports practices and plays video games with them. Nobody has poured kerosene down my bug hole yet, so I’m calling it a win. Being a grown up is weird. Being a step-parent doubly so. Thanks for another great episode!

Steve

I never talk to myself. It's seems weird to me to say out loud what I can already hear.

Steve

You pour kerosene on water to kill any mosquito larvae. It's typically used where rainwater is collected and a low dose of kerosene is consider safe to drink. It breaks the water tension which allows the larvae to breathe and they drown.

Aragonewrong

The Father Thing really hit home and I think everyone can relate to its theme - hopefully only in small ways. I also can't help but thinking of those poor people who grew up and later found out their dad was The Golden State Killer or some other monster. It seems adjacent to the same kind of horror as in this story.

Robby Haentze, a consumer of silliness

I've heard that in Japanese culture, millipeds or centipedes are symbols of stagnation or corruption. So maybe the millipede being the controlling alien can be seen as a corrupting influence of humanity. Though I dont know how much Dick knew about Japanese folklore and cultural symbols.

Fraser Burnett

Great episode, chaps. Lovely personal insights from the pair of you. I start to choke up whenever I hear Chad getting emotional. Thank you.

Jaemin Jang

I think people who connected with this story and the other brutal worm story would also enjoy the new movie that came out, Weapons. The director mentioned in an interview that his childhood experience with his father’s alcoholism, how it felt like a sinister entity that moved into his home that he couldn’t share with those outside, directly shaped the movie (I won’t say more to avoid spoilers). Another stellar episode as usual.

Eric - Speaker in Digressions

- Interesting to have the bully part of the team. If this were a Stephen King novel, the protagonists would, of course, be having to dodge the bully as well as the monsters. - I don't remember it myself, but I've often been told by my parents that the first time my dad shaved his beard in my toddlerhood, they sat me down in the room so I could watch the process. I was apparently calmly fascinated through the whole thing, but at last when he finished, washed off the shaving cream, and looked at me, I scream-cried inconsolably. — Come to think of it, I'm not sure he has ever shaved his beard since then. It's been just over half a century, so I should probably let him know I'd be okay with it now.

Shane W

Hello, Gentlemen. The Watch Out for Fireballs podcast introduced me to your show when I was playing Dark Souls 2 (thank you Gary and Kay.) Great to hear Gary on the show the other week. I'm now listening in real time after years of reading ahead before listening to each podcast. Something you discussed on the Father-Thing study hit me like a ton of bricks - the unstable nature of relationships. "You don't know why they change …" and "… you may never know why." For years I've struggled with why I was abused growing up and also why my highschool/college girlfriend broke up with my after 3.5 years. Sometimes there just aren't answers. The only closure you can attain is acceptance. It may seem small, but your words really helped me. Thank you and keep up your strange (and wonderful) work. Shane

witchhousemedia

Glad to hear it and thanks for the kind words, Shane! -CF

Tara Murphy

I don't have much of an inner voice so I talk to myself a fair bit.

Tara Murphy

I live in Newfoundland and they've managed to make this far North and on an island no less.

Tara Murphy

You guys just HAD to mention Loni Anderson, didn't you... You know, there are some names I wouldn't object to you using your black magic on, guys. Come to think of it, has anyone checked on the named patrons lately?

Witchy Mary

Wow! Recently saw Kurosawa’s “Throne of Blood” in the theater and the MacBeth character’s clan flag features a centipede. I love learning about symbolism based on cultures that I am unfamiliar with, it’s like finding the secret decoder ring.

Jeremy Impson

If your kids haven't teamed up with their neighborhood bully and started hanging out in your basement, I think you're in the clear!

Jeremy Impson

Chad has made reference to the subject in the past.

Philip Cowan

Guess you are a closer listener than I am, Jeremy.

Jeremy Impson

The story ending with the loss of a parent reminds me of the end of Time Bandits (1981). Other than the obvious parental deaths, there's really no other similarity with Father-Thing, except that if I had read this story as a kid, it would have freaked me out just as watching that movie did back when I was 10 or 11. I think that's a taste of feeling lack of control and certainty that Chad was discussing.

Eldritch Golem (JPM)

A lot of comments on this one already, but I just wanted to say that as someone who has read Jack Finney's The Body Snatchers (1954) I support Chris and Chad covering it on the show. As I've mentioned in the past about of other authors that you have covered, Finney was a Fortean and as a result The Body Snatchers is in many ways much weirder than any of its many film adaptations. Also if you want to tackle a shorter work by Finney I highly recommend his short story "I'm Scared" (1951) which anticipates some of the Creepypasts you've discussed in that it is a fictional story that many readers came to believe was real.