“Watch the skies!” Well, while we do that, Wilford Brimley is watching isolated research stations right here on earth. The former Quaker Oats spokesman and star of John Carpenter’s The Thing — based on John W. Campbell’s 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" — may have been got by the shapeshifting alien in the 1982 film. But in the real world, the actor is keeping us all safe from the unnamed thing from another world.

Brimley took to social media on Wednesday to point out a real-world event that seems suspiciously similar to events from the Carpenter film. “It is happening. #TheThing” Brimley tweeted in response to a news item whereby a man suffering an emotional breakdown stabbed and injured a colleague at a research station in Antarctica.

Fortunately, since no one was actually killed in the attack, we think we’re allowed to laugh at this.

We’re not sure if it’s because Halloween is approaching or because scholars recently discovered that a novel-length version of Campbell’s classic novella exists, but whatever the reason, it certainly seems that The Thing is getting a bit of a renaissance. (It also doesn’t hurt that the movie is freaking awesome and arguably one of Carpenter’s best—if not the best.)

Video of The Thing--Wilford Brimley goes nuts

So, while Brimley watches the research stations in Antarctica for odd activity from possible evil extraterrestrials, we’ll continue to watch the skies. As Brimley would tell us, it’s the right thing to do.