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Lost - Season 1 (DVD)

WARNING: THE COMMENTS TO THIS ARTICLE CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2

The Pilot has turned on the passenger seatbelt sign...
The Pilot has turned on the passenger seatbelt sign...

I know I’m a little late with this, but, you know, these American TV box sets are expensive so I’ve only just been able to afford it through Play’s Promotional Price.

So, before I begin reviewing this boxset, I'll state that I will be revealing absolutely no spoilers from any episode. Aside from the premise of the show, nothing of the plot will be revealed to allow any of you who plan to catch up any time soon to do so at your leisure.

However, for anyone reading this now that’s not yet invested in this TV show then take this bit of advice from someone who has just finished watching the season 2 finale - Watch it. Watch it right now. Let the cat go hungry for a bit and use the money to buy this boxset and revel in the sheer enigmatic joy that is Lost. Your cat's too fat anyway.

The show was originally conceived by ABC executives who wanted a live action drama equivalent to reality shows such as Survival. After a terribly unsuccessful pilot script was written, writers JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof were brought on board. A complete re-write later and the show was commissioned and one of the most impressive pilots to ever be made was shot in Oahu. Since then the show has gone on to be a huge worldwide success of unprecedented proportions and sparked a level of debate and theory mongering not seen since the days of X-Files or Twin Peaks.

The Episodes

What Abrams and Lindelof have done with Lost is incredible. They took a proposal from a network wanting nothing more than a fictional re-hash of a reality show and pulled off the TV equivalent of a Trojan Horse invasion. Superficially the show is a character drama packed with fascinating interactions, emotions flying all over the place and personal mysteries. About one third of each episode is taken up with character flashbacks, usually designed to run in parallel with events on the island and, hopefully, to give us fresh insight into how a certain character is behaving on the island and to help the audience achieve greater knowledge and understanding of that person. Each episode we have one (or two) characters in focus both on the Island in the flashbacks and it is the perfect way to help maintain interest with such a large main cast.

But, that's not the half of it, as there's another character thrown in to the mix. The character of The Island. Mysterious locations, lifeforms and events crop up all over the place, with certain characters reacting differently to every last one. Bit by bit mysteries are unfolded, sometimes explained, but often used to reveal yet more mystery. And this is where the Trojan Horse manoeuvre comes in - Abrams and Lindelof have, essentially, created a Science Fiction show and sold it to the mass market without them even realising. Fantasy and drama have been mixed in such a wonderful, please all fashion, which is something I’ve not seen done since New Who.

And so, on to the characters. The wood in which this sci-fi Trojan Horse was crafted (look, it’s my analogy and I’m *not* letting go of it!). At first glance you can easily pick out the clichés from several paces; the oppressed Asian wife, the red neck, the All American Hero™, the socialite bimbo, the useless pretty boy and so on. This can be dispiriting to start with, until you realise that each character has been lovingly crafted with quite substantial back stories. For a show that starts with such a huge dollop of cliché, it moves on to fresh and unexpected character building and developments pretty quickly .

Mr. Locke, there. Never tell him what he can't do or he'll have yer arms off.
Mr. Locke, there.  Never tell him what he can't do or he'll have yer arms off.

If we are to believe the Executive Producers/Head Writers (JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse) the show has a very definite path and the arc should come to a conclusion within 4 or 5 years. This degree of pre-planning allows the layering of mystery upon mystery until you're completely lost (haha) in a sea of questions and intrigue. And, as a result, season 1 can be a tad frustrating at times. This is the establishing season so there's far more questions than answers laid out for you, but that's ok. Patience is the key with this show. Slow yourself down, take it all in and enjoy it layer by layer. Things will be revealed all in good time. Enjoy the fantastic characters, acting and writing and you'll wonder how TV could get any better.

Commentaries

Now *this* is how you do commentaries. You know that age old problem of commentaries repeating a large amount of stuff you’ve just heard in the documentary? Well, the commentaries for the first two episodes (The Pilot) actually combines the two. When a scene worth further discussion and analysis comes along the episode stops in its tracks and in comes some behind the scenes footage to expand on what you’ve just seen. After that, the episode starts up again and you carry on. It works wonderfully well, especially as they manage to avoid repeating information by adding an extra layer of interest that you can’t get in standalone documentaries. On top of that the writers give a brilliant informative commentary that even matches up to Joss Whedon’s efforts.

The other episode commentaries don’t use this feature (I assume it’s horribly complicated and expensive to implement) but they do feature some key stars. Terry O’Quinn (Locke) and Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) are especially good value, one for being so incredibly likable and interesting and other for being laugh out loud funny.

The only gripe I’d have is that there’re not nearly enough of them. Out of 25 episodes there’s 5 commentaries which is pretty sparse, considering Doctor Who manages to chuck out 13 in a boxset.

Bonus Features

Plentiful and excellent; this is the bonus content:

The Genesis of LOST

A 9 minute mini-documentary about how Lost came to be. It’s tantalisingly fascinating hearing about the failed first few pilot scripts and how JJ Abrams came on board, but I can’t help but think I wanted so much more of this. Everyone involved is interesting and I just wanted more and more of them nattering on. JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof are two very interesting men and I could have happily sit through hour upon hour of those two talking about *everything* complete with annotated diagrams of their bowel movements. But, you know, these 9 minutes of stuff is better than nothing and as you’ll see, there’s plenty more documentary stuff to satisfy.

Before They Were LOST

Now, this is a bit more like it. An all together more substantial 22 minutes is dedicated to covering the casting of all of the main Lost characters, together with a great deal of audition tapes. It’s very interesting to see this process and a joy seeing these actors you’ve grown to love reading for various parts. Especially interesting was the story of how Evangeline Lilly was cast as Kate, mainly because she almost wasn’t at all due to Visa problems.

Again, though, if I had my own way I’d have about 2 hours of this stuff, but, then again, I’m a massive twat.

Welcome To Oahu – The Making of The Pilot

More documentary goodness, here, this time covering the making of the pilot episodes. And it’s ace. I find extensive behind the scenes footage like this to be really interesting, especially when you see just how astonishing and expansive some of the crashed plane locations are. There’s the added interest of the show being shot almost completely on location in the Oahu jungle so there’s all sorts of hilarious situations with flooding and rain to keep you amused. As for me, I get overly excited just seeing different takes of scenes I know so well and hearing the director shout “Action!”, so I’m happy. This, combined with ‘Before’ and ‘Genesis’ you’ve got yourself a very decent documentary. I want more, though! More!

The Art of Mathew Fox

A collection of wonderful and very professional stills, as taken by Mathew Fox (Jack) all set to his own commentary. It’s a great addition. Little things like this really make you feel that someone’s thought about what to include and realised that little gems like this can really *make* a release.

Lost @ Comicon

Another short, this time with footage of the Lost cast at Comicon. Amazing, really, as at this point the show hadn’t even aired at this point, yet they were clearly the stars of the convention.

Lost on Location

A collection of 6 short mini-mini documentaries covering 6 different episodes. They’re basically just shortened versions of ‘The Making of The Pilot’ so in absence of one gargantuan documentary covering every last episode, this fills the hole nicely enough. Once again, I personally utterly love behind the scenes footage like this, watching directors talking to their actors, watching alternate takes, just *seeing* such a wonderful show being made is so exciting and interesting. If nothing else, it shows great foresight from whoever decided to record such detailed footage at the time of filming, clearly knowing what a huge DVD this show deserved.

On set with Jimmy Kimmel

One of those ‘funny’ TV chat shows hosts that America seems to be bursting at seams with, takes a tour on set of Lost, interviewing actors and generally being just like every other supposedly amusing chat show host. A nice enough feature, and certainly worth slapping on the DVD, but I just dislike Jimmy Kimmel.

Back Stage with Drive Shaft

Drive Shaft is the name of the band Charlie belonged to before he crashed on the island. As we see this band through various flashbacks, this featurette covers the actor Dominic’s Monaghan’s take on his character and the band and a rather amusing story behind how the truly terrible song ‘You All Everybody’ came to fruition. Extra marks for mentioning Ocean Colour Scene, too.

The Lost Flashbacks

Two deleted flashbacks here, which are great but were obviously cut for time. One features Sayid buying a tie in the airport and then seeing that tie on the Island after the crash; the other is of Claire and the Pilot of Oceanic 815 having a chin wag before the flight. I assume that these are just two of many cut flashbacks, and they were chosen for the DVD as they do still hold relevance and are interesting to see.

Deleted Scenes

Six short deleted scenes here, all obviously removed to keep the episodes as flab free as possible. The fact that there’s only around 15 minutes of deleted footage here either means the shows were *very* tight, the rest of the deleted scenes were awful or they just ran out of space on the disk. Still, these scenes are wonderfully rough, with the sound mix being hopeless at times due to no post production. But I love that sort of thing.

Bloopers from the set

A short montage of bloopers (four years of writing red Dwarf DVD reviews means I almost wrote Smeg Ups, there) which are always good for a laugh, especially as the cast apparently has such a large proportion of likable and funny actors. It’s a nice inclusion and not something I normally expect to see with US shows, so top marks for that.

Live from Museum of Television and Radio

A lovely 10 minute clip of a Q&A session filmed at the museum, with pretty much all of the main cast sat on stage and generally having a big laugh. It’s a joy to watch everyone clearly get along like a house on fire and joking around. I’m disappointed it was sort, but it’s an incredibly heartening experience realising that the cast of such a great show so obviously get along so famously. This was the last extra I saw and it left me happy.

Menus and Packaging

What a lovely menu.
What a lovely menu.

In a word: lovely. The box is sufficiently slim as it contains each DVD in a thin plastic case. The design itself is very nice, with a group photo on the front contained in a stripe running through the middle, which also houses the season number on the spine. This is clearly DYING to be placed next to 3 or 4 more seasons.

The menus, however, are even better. Each disk (seven in all) has its own backdrops for the various menus and sub-menus. These are looping video clips of a recognisable location from the show (the cockpit, Jack lying down in the wood, the beach camp etc) which seem to have been specially shot for the purpose. In the background there’s quiet, unobtrusive ambient sound that lends its self very well to looping. They’re gorgeous, functional and non-irritating - perfect examples of how to do menus properly.

And, so…

I realise I may still be giddy with fanboy enthusiasm after recently witnessing the astonishing season 2 finale, but my opinion still stands: I love this show one hell of a lot and I would happily recommend it to anyone.

However, if you find yourself thinking this is a bit boring or too slow moving then I implore you to stick with it. It took me half a season to realise I even liked this show, let alone love it. It’s the ultimate slow burner and needs room to breath. What’s more, it quite honestly has something for absolutely everybody; character drama, sci-fi, mystery, action, gorgeous direction and plenty of exposed flesh.

So, I know it’s a little late in the game, but anyone out there who’s not yet got this yet then I strongly recommend you do.

Go!

5 Stars

About this entry


Comments

> Abrams and Lindelof have, essentially, created a Science Fiction show and sold it to the mass market without them even realising.

Exactly! This is what makes it so great! But it also gives the show a lot of haters because they just want the island 'mythology' to be pushed forward and less time on flashbacks and the less-important characters. No matter what, this show has huge balls to aim at a general audience used to something like Sex and the City or Desperate Housewives (which started at the same time as Lost).

I'm a massive fan of where it's gone in the two seasons, and I'm predicting it will last for 6 or 7 because the potential is SO huge. I still don't have this DVD set though because of the cost (and because I already own them in another way) but the extras actually sound better than I expected they would be. Only 5 commentaries sucks, but they probably just don't have any time to record them, especially with the cast who are on an insane schedule.

By performingmonkey
May 31, 2006 @ 12:57 am

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Exactly! This is what makes it so great! But it also gives the show a lot of haters because they just want the island 'mythology' to be pushed forward and less time on flashbacks and the less-important characters.

Yeah, and I must admit that I'm guilty of this at times, too. With season 2 I was watching it weekly with the US audience, so when I got an episode that simply refuses to address the things I *want* it to address I get annoyed and that can reflect badly on the show. But looking at both seasons as a whole, I realise now how very well paced and considered they are. They trickle out information at just the right pace (expect for maybe the last 5 episodes of season 2 being a bit mythos heavy compared to the rest) and the seemingly boring character development plots are actually quite essential and *very* satisfying when you finall, and inevitably, get the payoff in a later episode.

It's very carefully planned and written, and I love it for that.

Also, another note to new viewers: never listen to people who claim the writers don't know where they're going with the show. They've assured us time upon time that they know where they are going, with the bigger picture, but they also leave plenty of room for new ideas to blossom as they're writing, too.

By Cappsy
May 31, 2006 @ 1:53 am

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Also, another note to new viewers: never listen to people who claim the writers don't know where they're going with the show. They've assured us time upon time that they know where they are going, with the bigger picture

This cannot be stressed enough. When it started a lot of people started calling it "the next X-Files" meaning that we'd get 10 series of mystery and no adequate payoff. 2 seasons in, you can go back and see things from the first episodes that are only beginning to pay off. We can't be sure until it ends, but I think they've proven it's not being made up as it goes along. *cough*24*cough*

By James H
May 31, 2006 @ 10:24 am

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I don't know, though, you know - I thought they provided a pretty succint summary on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue last week, in the "ten-second attention span" round :

"So, I expect there's a story attached as to how you came to be getting this particular plane that crashed?"

"Yes."

"Is it interesting?"

"Not really, no, but I'll tell you it at some point. What's that thing in the bushes?"

"It's a metaphor for everyone's fear that if they ever stop watching something will happen one week and they'll miss it..."

Incidentally, this is the ONE THOUSANDTH comment on NTS. Go us!

By Seb
May 31, 2006 @ 1:05 pm

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Heh, that's quite amusing. But it is pretty unfiar. I mean, the flashbacks really do need to be there to allow us to actually bring our knowledge in line with the characters when the time is right. Personally, I love see how various people got on the plane, why they were in Sydney and why they were going to LA. Even though it's a cheap trick, I still love it when the characters cross over in flashbacks.

Basically, I'll not have anything bad said against Lost. Apart from Jack - he's a bit rubbish.

1000 comments. That's pretty damn impressive, innit?

By Cappsy
May 31, 2006 @ 8:04 pm

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>We can't be sure until it ends, but I think they've proven it's not being made up as it goes along. *cough*24*cough*

Woah. As someone who thinks 24 pisses all over Lost from a great distance (as does Prison Break, incidentally), I don't think I can let that pass. 24 may occasionally wander off tangent, but Lost is just a series of questions with no answers. If they're not making it up as they go along, then it's the weirdest masterplan I've ever seen. I find it all reminiscent of the mythology episodes of 'The X-Files' where there were so many elements of weirdest that the conclusion could never be satisfactory.

The first season was pretty good, the second has been frustration city. I think I'll leave things there, as will most of that mainstream audience...

By Pete Martin
May 31, 2006 @ 9:41 pm

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Oh, come on, Pete, season 5 of 24 has been one big implausibility after another. And it doesn't even have the excuse of being a sci-fi show. Season 5 has just screamed 'make it up as they go along' from the very start. The big twist just after half way (you know the one) just seemed to ludicrous I almost gave up. And I have loved 24 up until this point.

As for Lost, I don't think you can lambast a show for not answering quesitions when it's 2 seasons into a 5 or 6 season run. The producers have stated categorically that they know the big picture, and they know where all of the sub mysteries they've started will go. It's all planned, it's just a little slow at times. But the payoffs will come, unlike the X-Files (which is a situatio the writers said they will not get themselves into).

By Cappsy
May 31, 2006 @ 9:56 pm

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I thought it was public knowledge that the creators of Lost knew little about where the show was going. Anyway, it is an enjoyable show but it is far from perfect. There are too many plot conveniences - like that awful couple of episodes where Claire gets kidnapped and just happens to get amnesia when she returns and that bad guy Ethan just happens to get shot just before he can give them information to tell them what is going on. In fact, there's an example of plot being suspiciously withheld because it may not be there. I do like the show though and at its best its fantastics. I'd probably give it a 3.5/5.

Also, I think this is worthy of a news item because its Blade Runner and its amazing: http://www.sfx.co.uk/news/blade_running_again

By Rad
May 31, 2006 @ 10:18 pm

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> There are too many plot conveniences - like that awful couple of episodes where Claire gets kidnapped and just happens to get amnesia when she returns and that bad guy Ethan just happens to get shot just before he can give them information to tell them what is going on.

In episode 15 of season 2, Claire's kidnap is resolved. I know it's quite a convenient device that she has amnesia, or selective memory loss or whatever, but if they had revealed what really happened at the time it wouldn't have worked.

The writers are NOT making it up as they go along. It just feels that way because it's such a huge mystery. Season 2 proves this by answering a lot of questions from season 1 (such as Claire's kidnapping). Some characters and moments in the flashbacks are way more important than they first seem. The fact is, if you don't like drama TV series' you won't like Lost.

Oh yeah, and even though I'm a big 24 fan, sometimes it feels like they panic and decide to kill someone for no reason, or press the reset button halfway through the season (I remember feeling this about season 3) or start a plot thread they can never properly realise (Driscoll's daughter in season 4).

By performingmonkey
June 01, 2006 @ 2:34 am

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>Also, I think this is worthy of a news item because its Blade Runner and its amazing: http://www.sfx.co.uk/news/blade_running_again

Agreed that it's interesting (and good) news...but my goodness, how pissy and moany can you get in a DVD preview? For crying out loud someone take the keyboard away from this guy.

By Philip J Reed, VSc
June 01, 2006 @ 3:00 am

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I thought it was public knowledge that the creators of Lost knew little about where the show was going.

Find somewhere they claim this. The writers have, since the start, claimed they've started with enough to material to make 4-5 seasons of story. It's not as tightly done as Babylon 5 was, but it's more planned than something Buffy, which did have a rough outlne spanning several seasons.

Woah. As someone who thinks 24 pisses all over Lost from a great distance (as does Prison Break, incidentally), I don't think I can let that pass.

As for this, the writers of 24 *have* stated that there's no plan in place and that they just make it up as they go. Kiefer Sutherland on Jonothan Ross claimed that the writers "work best under pressure" when asked how far in advance the plots were made up. This would explain why Elisha Cuthbert was kidnapped, attacked by mountain lions, and then told the world had ended (all in one day) as I understand it.

By James H
June 01, 2006 @ 9:09 am

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As much as I am a fan of Lost, I can't help thinking that you're all giving it too much credit. It's based on a gimmick and in many ways has as lazy and cynical a hook as your average soap opera. As I say, I'm addicted, but it's nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is.

By Andy M
June 01, 2006 @ 10:32 am

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Too much credit how, though? It's a serial story that works in the context on single episodes, it has an original premise and two years in they're proving that things have been planned well in advance in many cases. It's just a great example of the format - okay, it's not as clever as it thinks it is, but then neither is it the tedious, gimmick-riddled glorified soap that others would claim.

You only have to look at the amount of information hidden in the show that's never directly referenced to see that they're not painting a picture so much as slowly unveiling one. Anyone who says the mysteries don't have any resolution is just plain wrong - we have answers. I can give examples. Sometimes they lead to bigger questions, but you can plainly see in television when something has been made up to try and fit the past facts (24, and Angel Season 4) and something that was planned in advance, because the former is full of holes and unanswered questions that are ignored, and the latter, as seen in the current crop of high-concept shows (Lost, Prison Break, Desperate Housewives to an extent) are almost entirely water-tight.

I know this doesn't just boil down to people who believe it's got a planned story behind it, and people who think the writers don't know where they're going, but I think that's a major part of the issue. Half the fun in watching, for me, is trying to find the clues. The other half is seeing how things play out. The fact that the characters are interesting and their backstories are usually compelling is just a huge bonus.

And, related to previous discussion, I'd like to point out I'm not a Lost fanboy. That scene where Jack gives Boone a blood transfusion FROM HIMSELF, using a REED, DURING AN OPERATION was falls amongst the stupidest things I've ever seen on TV. It was, however, one of very few missteps. I watched all of Star Trek: Enterprise and that set whole new benchmarks for crap writing every episode.

By James H
June 01, 2006 @ 11:34 am

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> It's based on a gimmick

No, it isn't.

By performingmonkey
June 01, 2006 @ 8:41 pm

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"Oh, come on, Pete, season 5 of 24 has been one big implausibility after another."

That's the genius of the show! If the show was twice as believable it would be half as exciting. Even Season one, which was grounded in reality, lost sight of that with a second half that was compiled on the fly, was frequently daft but was fantastic fun.

Season 5 has been a bit up and down, but the shocks (including atleast 5 'whaaa?@ moments) have made it unmissable. If Lost is as entertaining in its 5th year, I'd be surprised.

"As for Lost, I don't think you can lambast a show for not answering quesitions when it's 2 seasons into a 5 or 6 season run. "

Don't you think it's slightly presumptious of the producers to assume that they'll make it to six seasons, whereby they can finally reward the longterm viewers by answering questions? I'm struggling to think of one significant mystery that has been solved so far.

As for the masterplan itself, I read an interview with one of the producers (alas their name escapes me) in the Culture magazine of The Sunday Times shortly before the first episodes aired on Channel 4. He said that the story could continue *off* the island. If this storyline never materialises, it may be time to consider that this supposed six-year plan is a load of old bollocks. Also the deaths of the two main characters in season 2 seem to seriously jar with this theory. The first was odd when you consider what happened towards the end of season 1, the second was an obvious gut reaction to real-life events

By Pete Martin
June 01, 2006 @ 11:23 pm

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I'm struggling to think of one significant mystery that has been solved so far.

What is in the hatch? Why did the plane crash? Where did the polar bear come from? Why did the hatch respond to Locke when he was hitting it? Where did Ethan take Claire? Did anyone from the tail section survive? What happens if they don't press the button? I could go on. At some point in the last two years these may have been considered "significant mysteries" but as the story develops they are being replaced by different mysteries.

He said that the story could continue *off* the island. If this storyline never materialises, it may be time to consider that this supposed six-year plan is a load of old bollocks.

It just did, in the last episode of season 2.

As for the deaths of those two characters at the end of S1 and the start of S2, that proves nothing besides the fact you can't count on every assumption. Again, see Babylon 5, which had an incredibly tight 5-year plan that was shot to pieces multiple times by network changes, actors quitting, the threat of cancellation and in some cases just the organic development of the characters. I have no doubt Lost will occasionally be forced to deal with the same issues. That doesn't, however, mean that the writers don't know where they want it to go.

By James H
June 02, 2006 @ 12:33 am

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> I have no doubt Lost will occasionally be forced to deal with the same issues.

True, but I think Lost's future is way more secure than most shows, which means that actors are more likely to want to stay on, and the network won't screw around with the show (even though the structure of the season is changing for season 3, this isn't ABC fucking around, it's a response to the fans and Lindelof/Cuse being pissed off at the amount of reruns during the season)

Oh, and James you just spoiled for anyone who didn't want to know that we see off the island at the end of season 2. I watched that scene open-mouthed, I didn't think it was part of the episode for a moment! Talk about opening up possibilities for the show.

By performingmonkey
June 02, 2006 @ 1:26 am

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I agree with Mr. H 100%. There's been plenty of decent mysteries revealed about the island. However, this show was never intended to blow its load in one go. If they wanted, the writers could have thought up pretty entertaining, and quick, answers to absolutely everything and then moved on to more stuff, which would have got very boring very quickly, in the same way that 24s cliffhangers are now shit, beacsue you expect the bastards in every episode. There's no restraint and Lost thrives on restraint.

The producers only have one worry at the moment, from what I've heard. It's not that Lost will be cut short (and they *do* have a way to resolve everything in about 5 episodes in the event of this) it's that they might be made to carry on well past its prime, X-Files style. The producers have stated that they never want this to happen, and it seems ABC has responded positively on the matter.

But I have no doubt in my mind that Lost will stay popular enough for the writers to do as many seasons as they want. This show is huge in the US, and shows like that just don't die over night. People will always watch it beacsue, at the end of the day, even people who couldn;t give a shit about the mysteries still want to know how Jack got his tatoos, how Locke lost the use of his legs and numerous other things.

As for the masterplan itself, I read an interview with one of the producers (alas their name escapes me) in the Culture magazine of The Sunday Times shortly before the first episodes aired on Channel 4. He said that the story could continue *off* the island. If this storyline never materialises, it may be time to consider that this supposed six-year plan is a load of old bollocks. Also the deaths of the two main characters in season 2 seem to seriously jar with this theory. The first was odd when you consider what happened towards the end of season 1, the second was an obvious gut reaction to real-life events

As James has mentioned, I think ANY masterplan will change from time to time. It's the nature of TV. But I think you're misunderstanding the nature of Lost's master plan. There's a basic template for the whole thing. All the major mysteries, all the important major plots and all the important details are all their and, presumably, weighted out nicely between the seasons. On top of that, the producers then slot various things in on a season by seaosn baisis to compliment the bigger picture and to allow plenty of felxibility and provide us with some nice mini-arcs. I like this approach as it allows them to run with new ideas that fit in well (like extending HG's tenure from 2 episodes to main cast member) and drop others if they don't work (like, er, Shannon and her stupid face), without affecting the major, set in stone template.

By Cappsy
June 02, 2006 @ 1:37 am

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Oh, and James you just spoiled for anyone who didn't want to know that we see off the island at the end of season 2. I watched that scene open-mouthed, I didn't think it was part of the episode for a moment! Talk about opening up possibilities for the show.

They need to be *very* restrained with it, though.

It might be a ncie idea for people to tone down some of these spoilers, actually. I did, after all, advertise this as a completely spoiler free article...

By Cappsy
June 02, 2006 @ 1:39 am

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I've put in a warning, anyway, but try to be restrained as much as possible.

By Cappsy
June 02, 2006 @ 1:43 am

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Oh, and James you just spoiled for anyone who didn't want to know that we see off the island at the end of season 2. I watched that scene open-mouthed, I didn't think it was part of the episode for a moment! Talk about opening up possibilities for the show.

Oops, sorry about the spoilers everyone. I have been attempting some restraint but I think I was a bit too, er, enthusiastic in that last post. Plus I forget there are people who watch it in a legal fashion who haven't finished S2 yet. Entirely my fault.

Regarding that, though, the end of this season blew me away about as much as the opening episode of the season. It was like all my expectations were thrown out of the window and disorientation turned to open-mouthed amazement. This is a far better cliffhanger that season 1's pretty predictable one, that's for sure.

By James H
June 02, 2006 @ 2:12 am

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Don't talk to me about season 1's cliffhanger... Walt being taken was good, but the hatch... The fact was they just COULDN'T show anymore at that time. They said at one point that the first scene of season 2 was going to be the season 1 cliffhanger (the reveal of someone in the hatch) but they would have had to have built the whole hatch set just for that.

I regards to possible season 3 scenes off the island, I think that maybe the characters that leave the island might somehow meet up with the character we saw off the island. That would be extremely cool. It would also be great to see how the families/friends of the Lostees have been dealing with their loved ones going missing. Surely a plane going missing like that would be serious global news.

By performingmonkey
June 02, 2006 @ 4:11 am

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I sit corrected.

I 'uh' acquired the last batch of season 2 episodes the other day, and yet to watch the last few due to my growing apathy towards the show. That spoiler has picqued my interest, however.

By Pete Martin
June 02, 2006 @ 7:09 pm

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The last three episodes are by far the best of the season, I reckon. Let us know what you think of them!

By Cappsy
June 02, 2006 @ 7:11 pm

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