I just watched this one again last week and it's still one of my favorites... Some of the dialogue is truely poetic, like when Frank talks about the hearing the desert and the wind in the phone lines. And there are some real creep out scenes too; the way alien George stares at the sun, or alien Ellen's cool and unflinching regard when John realizes she wanted him to fall into the crevasse in the mine (she looks like she's watching a bug!)... I think the alien design fairs better when seen in 3-D, but it's still credible and impresses me more than - for instance - the James Arness THING makeup ever did (which in no way diminishes my love for The Thing, btw). One of the central ideas I've always liked is the apparent indifference the aliens exhibit towards us Earth critters - they don't want to be here, they don't want to know us, they don't want any trouble, they just want to get on their way; a refreshing change from the eventually typical extremes of conquest or alliance...