Lost (spoilers)

Started by MacGuffin, October 07, 2004, 01:10:26 AM

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Derek

Spoiler Alert (?): if you don't want to know any details about the LOST Epilogue, stop reading this now!

Via Kristin Dos Santos:

"It will address some of the issues, like the food drops, and it will deal with what happened on the island after Hurley took over and how he handled things," Garcia reveals of the DVD bonus feature he shot. "It will give you a taste of what took place after Hurley took over as the new number one. There's a little epilogue thing going on with the DVD."

Inside sources also told me that Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) will be shown in the bonus material. "We'll find out what happens to Walt," says the insider. But when asked who else he worked with, Jorge replied coyly: "There are other people in it, but I'm not going to tell you who."
It's like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black.

©brad

Fuck this. We all have to go buy an overpriced DVD to find out important stuff that should have been in the finale, like what happened to Walt?

Pas

Quote from: ©brad on June 09, 2010, 10:14:07 AM
Fuck this. We all have to go buy an overpriced DVD search for a torrent to find out important stuff that should have been in the finale, like what happened to Walt?

Fixed.  :yabbse-undecided:

RegularKarate

Yeah, the DVD is just an excuse to get more money from the Network to make this little chunk of information that is just intended to slightly clam up people who give a shit about stupid stuff like "Where's Walt?" and "What about the food?"

abuck1220

i don't know if i like this. if the producers want to sit there and say "the food came from ______" on the dvd, whatever. but i don't know if i need actually footage of like hurley ruling the island. that would be...i don't know...tacky?

Kal

I miss this shit. I would watch anything they fucking give me.


polkablues



I lost my shit at the Jack/Ben exchange.
My house, my rules, my coffee

blackmirror

#1838
I am certain the DVD will not tap into LOST's theological details and metaphysical revelations.  However, I hope one day to find a credentialed discussion that examines these influences.  Going back to Season 1, I have often wondered if the Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State predominantly inspired LOST.  It is Tibetan in nature, and as we are aware, the program drew from multiple sources of faith.  If you are familiar with it, you know it presents three states upon entering the afterlife: moment of death, reality of death, and our rebirth.  This is not to discount the Judeo-Christian themes that have also graced LOST from the show's beginning.  I only invoke this funerary text as we now know how the program concludes.  The idea of death to the Tibetan Buddhist is much different than the typical Judeo-Christian thinking on the subject.  To the Tibetan Buddhist, leaving the physical body (your last outer breath) does not signify the end of your life.  You still possess an inner breath.  This inner breath means that you have a mind and awareness that will carry you through several realms of existence before you ultimately reach enlightenment.  If you cannot see the clear light which eventually reaches enlightenment, you will suffer the fate of rebirth where you risk being reincarnated into any variety of species (think Michael being stuck on the island as a whisperer.)  So for the Tibetan Buddhists, your life is not technically over until you reach enlightenment and this can be long after you have left the physical realm.  It is only when you reach enlightenment that you are no longer in danger of rebirth.  (I believe the final scenes of the series evoke and illustrate this theme as the castaways from Oceanic Flight 815 have reached the stage upon entering the light.)  Although not non sequitir, 815 can be translated into the date August [8] 15 and interpreted as the Feast Day of the Assumption of the Immaculate Virgin into Heaven.  Nonetheless, I digress, as that depicts Christianity.  To sum it up, all of the stuff between your physical death and enlightenment is still a very real part of your life cycle, according to the Tibetan Buddhist ideal.  Personally, it is food for thought that I will continue to indulge in this mere fledgling period that prefaces our near-fathomless post-LOST experience.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/7162/theendqd.jpg

admin-edit: margin-fucking image has been linked to.

RegularKarate


Pozer

^ they cut that one down and removed it entirely elsewhere.. if anyone's about at the moment, watch it here quick 'fore it's gone

http://videogum.com/

mogwai

Lost fans complete TV marathon

A hardcore group of fans of the TV series Lost have spent four days in a London cinema watching all 121 episodes back-to-back.

Around 100 fans began the marathon session on Monday at the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square - complete with sleeping bags and pillows.

But only 21 were left when the final episode screened in the early hours of Friday morning.

Short breaks were taken every four hours, and paramedics were on-site.

'High spirits'

One of those who went the distance was Donna Lalek, 28, from Chester.

Speaking to the BBC a few hours before the end, she said: "I feel absolutely fine - still enjoying it. There's good camaraderie.

"Most people are still into it - some are starting to get a bit tired. But everyone's still in high spirits."

The bank administrator took a week's holiday take part in the event.

"Before Lost I was perfectly normal, so I've never done anything quite like this before - most people think I'm absolutely insane."

She said she had managed to grab some sleep while the episodes were screened.

"It's really confusing. I have no concept of time any more - I don't know if it's night or day."

The screening marathon was held to mark the DVD release of Lost: The Final Season this week.

The TV series came to an end in May. For 121 episodes over six series, viewers followed the trials of a group of plane crash survivors stranded on a tropical island.

The first instalment was broadcast in the UK in August 2005 and was reportedly the most expensive pilot episode ever made.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11325597

Jeremy Blackman

So... I am actually a huge Lost fan, but I haven't gotten around to talking about it here yet. I would love to have a discussion if anyone has any responses to what follows...

I started watching Lost in January, got rather obsessed, and finished five months later in June. Here are some reactions I posted at another forum:

---


6/9/10

Just got to the finale tonight. I absolutely loved it. Perfect in every possible way.

I would like all the people who are complaining about continuity errors and unanswered questions to take a step back and think about what this show actually is. The puzzle is certainly important, but it's really about the characters.

And that's why I loved the finale so much. I felt the characters ended up exactly where they belonged. Especially Jack, Hurley, and Ben... their developments were all enormously satisfying. I think it was clear from the lighthouse episode that Jack and Hurley would be key in saving the island, but I'm just really happy with how it played out. It all seems so right for the story and true to the characters. That's the best thing about it.

It seemed that Jack was doing exactly what he wasn't supposed to do (bringing the Man In Black to The Light instead of protecting it) but of course that's exactly what he had to do, because that led to a number of crucial developments: the otherwise impossible defeat of the Man In Black, finding Frank (the pilot) and having an urgent reason to get off the island, Ben getting all humbled and awe-inspired (and redeemed) by the whole affair, and Hurley becoming the protector.

I thought it was especially interesting and poignant that Ben decided to stay in purgatory because he still had "a few things to work out." And to extrapolate, the whole existence of the purgatory makes complete sense. If you look at what happened in that world, it was all a series of corrections (do-overs, as Jack said a number of times), from Jack reversing the cycle of "daddy issues" with his son (I remember an episode called "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"), to Locke fixing things with his girlfriend, to Ben making things right with Alex and Danielle (even abandoning his power play for principal). Everyone was "working things out." In fact, I should re-watch season 6 sometime to pick up on this. Since none of us knew it was a purgatory, I'm sure there's plenty we didn't see.

I started watching Lost about 5 months ago. I was actually drawn to it because people were complaining about how confusing it was. The series never really delivered on that promise. I was honestly waiting to be confused, and I'm still not sure what people were talking about. Does confusing mean "not yet explained?" Are television audiences really that uncomfortable with this concept? Anyway, the show did deliver some things I wasn't expecting, which turned out to be even more rewarding. I'm just now realizing that I mostly liked The X-Files for its mythology episodes. With Lost, the whole thing is a mythology. An epic, slow build that can be excruciating and endlessly rewarding. In retrospect, it's exactly what I wanted in a TV show. Would it be too grandiose to say that Lost has accomplished the potential of the medium?



6/10/10

I want to be clear. When I say "characters," I'm talking about the whole package. Since every character has a relationship with the island (and the island is, as they say, a character itself), the island, and how the characters develop with the island, because of the island, is the point of the whole thing.

Do I have a few remaining questions? Sure. Do I want these questions explicitly answered? Not at all. The finale resolved the story without explaining away the mystery that made the show great.

Furthermore, the extent to which people in general are complaining about unanswered questions is an insult to everyone's intelligence. Seriously, watch Inland Empire, then tell me Lost has unanswered questions. I feel like the writers walked right up to the line. They explained almost everything, including what the island is (remember the bottle?), even what The Light / The Source is ("life, death, and rebirth," its importance to the world, maintaining the balance between good and evil, etc). Would you really want them to get more explicit than that?

It's simply a balance between keeping the sense of mystery and getting enough answers. I think it was balanced quite well.

Answering all our questions is so far from being the purpose of the show. I feel like some people were misled (perhaps by the show itself, in a way) into thinking that the show would finally answer the big questions (which it did, let's not forget), and that that would be enough... that those answers would be profound enough to conclude the show all by themselves. Obviously, the revelations are not enough. If you spent the show waiting for answers and forgot to watch the characters develop with the island, you basically missed the whole show. This is precisely why the end of Jack's story was so satisfying. It was the perfect way to consummate his relationship with the island. And seriously, his character arc alone constitutes its own epic story. He went from the short-tempered man of science to the brooding/tortured introvert to the man of faith who believes in destiny and saves the island. Was that good or what? Did we need any more information for that to be meaningful and satisfying? Absolutely not. Same for Hurley, Ben, and all the rest. The extent to which these characters were completed, and the elegant way in which it was done, is absolutely breathtaking to me.



6/11/10

A few other random thoughts, while I remember them...

I think the nuclear device was "the incident" after all. Since the purgatory revelation, there's no better explanation. The device certainly didn't create purgatory (Christian says the purgatory is a place the Oceanic survivors collectively created to reunite), and obviously there's no longer any evidence that it changed the course of events. I don't think it sunk the island, either. We do see the island sunk at the beginning of season 6, but I think that just goes with everything else. The island, as one of the characters, is also appearing in purgatory in its dead form. Since Christian tells us "there is no when here," the island appearing sunk in purgatory doesn't tell us when it died/sank. (It could have been far in the future.) Or, this being a fake created world, it could have been a simply frivolity of their creation.

There was some question about how Christian could appear off the island, if Christian is the smoke monster. I think the answer is that an appearance of Christian is not always the smoke monster. MiB can take the forms of people who have died on the island (or whose dead bodies have ended up there, in Christian's and Locke's cases), but that doesn't mean dead people are always him. Images of people and things dead, alive, and otherwise have always been appearing on the island. Not only Christian, but Kate's horse, Hurley's imaginary friend who appeared to become real on the island, Walt (alive elsewhere, but still appearing), etc. There are no strict rules for these appearances.



7/17/10

Some more random thoughts about Lost...

I watched the finale again last night (second time), and I was surprised by the power it still had. In fact, I think I cried like a baby even more on this second viewing. It was crazy. Keep in mind, I only spent about 5 months with the show from start to finish. I can just imagine how powerful it might have been for people who had spent 6 years with these characters.

In fact, I keep wondering what the differences are between the 5 month and 6 year experiences. My big disadvantage was that I didn't have much time to get attached to the show, to keep each episode in the back of my mind for a week, and to let it sink in gradually, and to get attached to all the characters. I don't think that was a significant disadvantage, though, because I still got attached to the characters, and everything seemed to sink in just fine. I think I agree that Lost is well-suited for compression.

I'm guessing about some of this, but I think these were my advantages:


  • Didn't get overly annoyed by the cliffhangers, because the next episode was always within reach. Had I been faced with huge mandatory gaps of time, I can see myself caring less and less, sort of as a defense mechanism.
  • Could remember what happened 4 episodes or 2 seasons ago and easily make connections. There was never a point during the series when I was really confused.
  • Never had commercial breaks.
  • Didn't have time to develop or attach to complex crackpot theories that would probably end up being false.
I'm also thinking about favorite characters. Around Season 2, it was Locke, no question. Obviously, things changed, so here's my current list:

1. Jack. The obvious choice, as MiB might say, but he holds up. I described before how perfectly planned and executed his whole character arc is. Phase 1: Reluctant leader and chronic skeptic ("man of science") with a short temper, hero complex, and daddy issues manifested as intense episodes of self-doubt. This character is so good to begin with that he doesn't even need an arc. Phase 2: Complete wreck off-island, full of regret, tortured about how wrong he was, guilty about Locke's death, realizes his gung-ho rescue antics had not saved his friends, that in fact he had violated and reversed destiny. Phase 3: Wanting to turn things around, but not sure how (he knows he can't simply "fix" things), Jack lies low with some seriously extensive brooding and introspection in Dharmaville. Phase 4: After five seasons of psychological torment, he has worked out his issues and believes in destiny. Guided by Jacob's gentle prodding and Locke's ideals, Jack realizes his entire metaphysical potential, saving the island in a pure act of self-sacrifice and faith. His story then concludes with the happiest, most fulfilling death one could possibly imagine.

2. Ben. I can't gush about Ben's character as much as Jack's, except to say that his transformation was just as dramatic and just as carefully considered. The best stretches for Ben's character, I think, were the times when we didn't know whether he was good or evil, whether he was lying or telling the truth, whether to root for him or Widmore, whether he was helping our Lost friends or was about to stab them in the back. The mystery and tension of his character pretty much extended to the end of the series, with a surprisingly plausible redemption. Strong candidate for best character IMO.

3. Locke. Truly a great character, and as I said, my early favorite. Reasons are obvious. The whole handicap bit ("Don't tell me what I can't do!") was always interesting, but the tension between his knowledge and his ignorance about the island (and how that affected his sense of self-worth) was probably the best part. As a Lost viewer, I think it was easiest to identify with Locke (not Hurley, as many suggest) because of that dynamic, and because of his unstoppable curiosity. The only problem with Locke is that he peaked early, and obviously his character was significantly blemished and obfuscated with MiB taking over his body.

By the way, I think Matthew Fox's acting is under-appreciated and probably had something to do with the success of his character. I also think it got much better toward the end of the series. Seriously, some of his moments in the finale in particular are so supernaturally perfect that I think my jaw dropped when I saw them. Thinking especially of the whole sequence after he brings back the light. Also the scene where he confronts MiB in the field (the "I'm going to kill you"/"It's a surprise" moment). Truly stunning stuff there.

modage

The biggest thing you missed was the communal aspect of the week to week theorizing and dissecting of each episode.  Particularly in the middle seasons it was just great to get your mind blown each week and try to figure out with friends/co-workers/online peeps where the show might be headed.  I'll accept the disappointments that come from extended viewings not meeting your expectations just for that.  It was the best part of the show.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Jeremy Blackman

That's totally true. I never experienced that, and I guess I'll never know what I missed. I also did very little active theorizing myself and definitely didn't seek out theories. I just wanted to let the show happen to me, as it were, and the urgency of "the next episode" outweighed any desire I might have had to go outside of the show. I took the intensity of the mysteries as just a part of the show's enjoyment, and I sort of reveled in the suspense. Maybe not the way it was meant to be seen, but that's how it played out.

A friend started the series (while I was nearing the end) and is on Season 5 now, so we've had plenty of substantive conversations (which usually involved me cleverly tip-toeing around spoilers). I also managed to get my dad hooked recently, and we've been exchanging emails. His first one was: "I started watching the rest of Lost. Big mistake. Now I can't stop." So I guess I have a post-show communal thing going on.