If you liked the LOST ARGs, then you should consider this…
http://www.abc.net.au/innovation/bluebird/what_is_bbar.htm
it’s not a ABC (the TV network) produced thing. It’s a separate project by an Australian company. And it has nothing to do with LOST. But it has a very LOST, hiatus-y, feel to it.
Let me know if you plan to particpate. I’m working on freeing up some time in my schedule to do the same.
-Scott Copperman-
I was listening to the Official LOST Audio Podcast from May 7, and I was struck by what Damon and Carlton said about how they’ve basically edited a feature film in a fraction of the time normally allotted to such a task.
When you think about it, they do that pretty regularly… maybe not a 2.5 hour episode, but a 1 hour episode… far more nuanced than your standard sit-com, that is basically a mini-feature film.
It’s pretty impressive.
What I’d love to know see is the cutting room floor material. We get a glimpse of it in the Geronimo Jack’s podcast but it’s been pretty conspicuously not part of the DVDs. There are some deleted scenes, but they’re deleted from the final cuts… very polished looking and all. I’m curious what some of the raw deleted, we changed our mind completely, footage might be. There must be quite a bit from over 120 hours of LOST.
Still, it must be said, I’m very impressed by the work the show’s producers do and and have done… especially with the high quality of the finished product.
-Scott Copperman-
Which actor on LOST do you think will be the first to appear on one of those celebrity reality shows?
Watch for this to be a topic on a coming episode of ReThinking LOST.
-Scott Copperman-
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/magazine/25FOB-medium-t.html
Many thanks to Virginia Heffernan of the NY Times for recommending the ReThinking LOST podcast in her April 19 article, “‘LOST’ in Translation.”
We’ve very proud and appreciative of this honor.
-Scott Copperman-
*note: this entry has NOTHING to do with the episode of LOST which aired in the US on April 20 – only makes reference to the episode a week earlier… “Every Body Loves Hugo”*
So, one of the great things about LOST is that people can have their own opinions and interpretations of what is going on in the show. And, although I come across plenty of theories that make me shake my head, I usually sit and say nothing.
However, I have to say I’m very surprised by the number of people who think that Desmond’s actions in this scene
are motivated by the fact that Smoke-Locke threw him in the well on the island. As if he believes this is a chance to retaliate for that attack.
I see how people could think that in the absence of a better explanation, but I was stunned yesterday to read that theory being touted in my local newspaper. It just seems to me that there’s a much more reasonable and plausible explanation…
Charlie told Desmond that his near-death experience is what triggered his awareness. To bring Desmond to the same state, he drove their car into the ocean. Why wouldn’t Desmond be attempting to enlighten Locke in the same way?
More later…
-Scott Copperman-
Wow, we may have actually gotten something right!
**Be warned, this entry makes reference to the episode of LOST which aired Tues, April 6 in the USA **
Spoilers for that April 6 episode follow…
If you’re a fan of our ReThinking LOST podcast, and you listened to our preseason 6 prediction show, (I think that’s where it was) then you heard Elton and I discuss the possibility that our Losties might be living in an Alternate Reality post-incident and that it might unravel as one by one they found themselves with the sneaking suspicioin it just didn’t feel right.
Well, that’s starting to look like that might be the case with the Flash Sideways.
(admittedly, I did bail on this theory about 4 episodes ago, but I will happily point out that we did think this was the route it might go back before the season started)
I will also posit that the Flash Sideways are the result of the incident AND consequently the MIB getting set free. I find it interesting that when Desmond touched Penny’s hand, he snapped back to the island. And when he followed Sayid, the was back in the Flash Sideways.
So, when Widmore says all that Desmond and Jin love will be gone, it’s because the Flash Sideways life will result. The MIB is indeed planning to fulfill his promises, by bringing about the Flash Sideways timeline.
Good stuff… my question is “why does Hawking say that Desmond isn’t ready to look for Penny yet?”
-Scott Copperman-
I know the obvious interpretation of MIB and Jacob is that of evil personified and a guardian angel keeping the evil contained on the island: a sort of villian/jailer analogy… and many people are making it very religious, going so far as saying it’s a devil and a god or an angel.
I don’t agree. That’s too obvious to me. I go instead with the interpretion supported by Dogen’s explanation of the good and evil within all men, the fact that we have not yet been told the name of the man in black, the fact Jacob and MIB cannot harm each other directly, and the man in black’s assertions that Jacob stole his humanity… Jacob and the smoke monster are two parts of a single man.
Suppose that Jacob was once whole…. a fairly ordinary man with hopes, loves, dreams, but like Captain Kirk in the TOS episode “The Enemy Within” (full episode viewable here)
If you don’t feel you can stomach Leonard Nimoy describing how he revolutionized the Spock character and invented the Vulcan Neck Pinch, you should at least watch the first 2 minutes of Leonard Nimoy’s 7 minute commenatry on the episode in the video below:
Did you hear Nimoy say “telling us in effect, we all have a positive and a negative side, a light side and a dark side… and they can’t survive, one without the other” ?
If you have time, it’s worth watching the full episode. For all it’s glorious cheese, it’s classic Trek… and if you’re a LOST fan, it’s food for thought.
In the episode, we see the complete Kirk split into a bland, indecisive, although good at heart half, and a dark, evil, driven half.
Now, Kirk is still Kirk… and his “evil half” isn’t really evil per se, it’s more that he’s uninhibited… he’s carnal, ambitious, all the “darker” qualities of man… qualities which man needs to be, well, a man, but which without a filter … a conscience, a milder half to temper it appears evil and distasteful.
I posit that Jacob (willingly) allowed his darker qualities to be ripped from him and given a separate form (by his “crazy” mother?) as a martyr for all of humanity. Without his darker self, Jacob is mellow, kind of jerky for all his low-key ness… he lacks the everyday Joe charisma guys like Hurley and Sawyer and Frank have, because those qualities are removed from him and are now part of what makes up the Man in Black.
Is the MIB evil? No, he’s just the darker qualities which we all need to be men… and as Dogen said, it’s a matter of balance.
Now, I don’t think it’s quite like the Kirk/Trek thing. Jacob is not incompetent without his dark side, he’s just vanilla. I’m just saying that I think that’s why MIB feels betrayed (cast out, ripped from his host… think of the original Spiderman comics version of Venom and how it learned to hate Peter Parker for rejecting their symbiotic relationship) and says he lost his humanity.
In one sense, it does make MIB “evil incarnate”… but he’s one man’s evil. And perhaps a necessary evil.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the resolution of LOST is the reuniting of these two halves and the acknowledgment on the part of Jacob and/or his “mother” that it is wrong to try to excise or separate the darker half.
I dunno, this is still a theory under construction, and I may not have articulated the thoughts very well. However, I think the parallels are clear and it’s a likely explanation of who MIB is. I’m very surprised by the lack of discussion of the “Enemy Within” parallels. (well, up until now).
What do you think? Would you feel betrayed by this explanation and the introduction of a maternal goddess (maybe not introduction but identification of an existing character as the crazy parent) who thought this split was in the best interest of all?
-Scott Copperman-
At the 8:00 mark of Episode 33 of ReThinking LOST, Elton and I talk about the scene in “The Brig” when Richard Alpert gives John Locke a file on Sawyer…
I believe this scene is significant for multiple reasons.
The whole purpose of having Locke kills his father seems strange. We all thought at the time that it was Ben testing John’s fortitude, but when you watch this scene, it seems like Richard is endorsing the mandate. So… it was Jacob’s will? And his will that Locke make use of this loophole?
Hmmmm…
-Scott Copperman-
If you listened to episode 32 of ReThinking LOST or any episode since, then you know we’re having a contest where you, yes YOU, can win a t-shirt from the ABC store.
This is the deal(-ee-oh)…
Thats it. Simple, eh? All submissions must be received by April 20. We’ll air some of the best, if not all, and choose a winner shortly thereafter.
So, get on it… you’re a creative group. Show us what you’re capable of.
-Scott Copperman-
I’ll admit, so far they seem pointless. Well, not pointless, but unnecessarily long. We get it, life could have turned out differently for the Losties.
So far we’ve seen the first two days or so after the plane lands in LAX over and over again, with an emphasis on Jack, Locke, Kate, and Claire. At this rate, we’re going to have to sit through similar back-up and tell the story flash sideways for Sayid, Hurley, Sawyer, Sun and Jin (the one I’m most intrigued by), and maybe more.
Again, we get it… life is different, more so than simply having landed. I’m ready for it to have a more obvious meaning.
So, what is the point? Well, last night I had the chance to participate in LOSTBlog’s Special Saturday Coffee Talk. I expressed these feelings and as I spoke and listened to others, I could start to see a potential purpose to it all.
LOSTBlog’s Jon said he feels the flash sideways may be the epilogue to the show. I concede that the writers certainly must have a purpose, and I no longer think it’s practical to expect the “timelines” to merge. In fact, I think it’s very important to note that Damon and Carlton have gone out of their way to say this is not an ALTERNATE anything, it’s a flash sideways. And they’ve also used vague terms when describing the apparent connection between the incident and the emergence of this other outcome of flight 815.
Given that the flash forwards and flash backs were both part of the characters, “OUR characters” as some people call them, lives, it seems reasonable to expect that the flash sideways will too. But where does it all fit in? If we were talking about 2006 for Jin or Jack, sure, there’s a whole to fill. But so far, there is no correspondence between the times we’re witnessing in the flash sideways and the gaps created by time travel.
I’ve to theorize this…
the flash sideways are indeed a set of experiences our characters will go through. Jack’s deja vu moments are the result of it being the same Jack we know on island. But, our error is in thinking that the flash sideways are the result of the incident. I suggest that instead they are the result of some event we have yet to see or experience. Something that may happen in the middle or final trimester of the season.
Suppose that Jack and the others are offered a chance (perhaps as a reward or a temptation) to change things in a different way. Through a sacrifice on someone’s part (becoming Adam and Eve?) the losties and key others we’ve seen (Dogen, Ben, Ethan, and ?) get a chance to live life without Jacob’s influence. And that is the life we see in the flash sideways.
This needs to be fleshed out more, but it already reflects a major shift in my thinking about the off island stuff. What do you think?
-Scott Copperman-
Things Scott Copperman wonders about TV 