Lost
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 0755 hrs
To save everyone from further bad resolution related puns, I'm going to write this post now.
I just finished season one of Lost last night. Oh. My. God.
The pilot? The pilot! Best. Pilot. Evar. Usually pilot episodes are pretty lousy, but every once in a great while we get a gem. Perhaps it was because it cost them over $10 million to produce the pilot (it's the most expensive pilot episode in network television history), but I suspect it had more to do with the writing than the budget. I also think that (I can't believe I'm about to use this phrase. Don't hate me) in a post 9/11 world (sorry!), plane crashes evoke a very strong, visceral reaction in us.
Let me back up a bit.
We don't have cable, and for some reason, we don't get ABC over the air. Well, if we bypass the VCR and hook the antenna up directly to the TV we do, but then that's all we get. I had heard some people at work raving about the show, and it sounded pretty interesting, so I found a torrent and downloaded season one (the internet is truly beautiful). Wow. I wasn't even halfway through season one when I knew that I needed to get season two (it's still downloading. Download faster!)
Anyway, I don't want to say too much here for anyone who hasn't seen the show (you really should watch, it's a well written and well produced show).
A couple of fun things: because the show is shot in Hawaii (entirely! Scenes that are supposed to take place all over the world are all shot in Hawaii), I often recognise the locations. I'll often shout, "Hey! I've been there!" or "I know where that is!" or "That's not an airport in real life!"
Also, for other graphic art/font geeks out there, I ran across this forum a while back (I think it was posted on BoingBoing). This sort of thing fascinates me. What can I say, I'm a total geek.
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7 Comments
On 19 July 2006, Andrea said:
Do not do this to me. I have been fighting the urge to watch this show for an entire year, not wanting to get myself sucked into something I feel compelled to watch every week, like Survivor can do to me.
This post is not helping my resolve.
On 19 July 2006, Thomas J. Brown said:
I was also pretty well set against it at first. Then I started to hear more about it and the whole Hawaii aspect got me interested, since I grew up in Honolulu.
It's a pretty cool show. I can't wait until season two finishes downloading so I can get caught up in time for season three.
On 19 July 2006, Phoenix said:
Now that you have said this, it's official. EVERYONE has told me to watch the show. Previously, it was just everyone except Thomas, and so when people said "Well, everyone is watching it!" I'd say "Not Thomas." You were my hold-out anchor.
Damn it. Now I have to watch it. :-( Bear in mind that I'm still on season 3 of The Sopranos, so it takes a while for me to come around to a good show. I only recently watched Arrested Development.
Now, if only I had a nice long break coming up with lots of free time to watch TV shows... (I'm typing this during my last day of scheduled work; hello, August!)
On 19 July 2006, Tom Dineen said:
Hey Pheonix, here's another Thomas who's been holding out on the Whole Lost thing, so, If you need, I'll be your "Surrogate" Thomas.
On 26 July 2006, Phoenix said:
Sorry, other Thomas, I've started watching the show. You're the only one left now...
The thing is, I don't know what's significant and what may just be an error. And everyone else has already seen the show, so I can't exactly ask without fear that they may let slip more than I need to know.
I've only seen a few episodes so far. I think the last one I saw was #4 or so (where they reveal that whats-his-name's miracle was that he can walk now). I think that might have been intended as a surprise, but they mention previously that he "experienced a miracle" and at the very beginning of the episode they show his surprise at being able to move his toes, followed by a clear close-up of his un-scuffed shoe bottom. So, not very surprising at the end. In every scene in the whole episode where you see his flashback, you see him sitting down, and I thought "THIS is the scene where they show that the wheelchair is his..." but no. Anyway.
The girl said she was a vegetarian, but in the previous episode you see her eating eggs on the farm (and there's bacon on her plate). Is that significant? Or a writer-error?
Earlier than that we see the boy reading a comic book (not one of his) with a polar bear in it, and then the group in the jungle runs into a polar bear. Clearly that's a connection. Whose comic book is it? The boy found it; how can we be sure it was from the plane? It could be tied to the island somehow. And why is the comic in Spanish? Is that significant?
And in the very first episode, when the guy gets sucked into the engine and it explodes...there's a shadow thing that hits the engine and flies off when it explodes. Is that significant or a graphical glitch?
Gah, I need to find time to watch more. Everyone tells me to "PAY ATTENTION", but I can't catch every detail and I don't have time to watch an episode more than once (or even at all, lately). There's just too much!
On 26 July 2006, Thomas J. Brown said:
Holy fuck, Phoenix, you're pointing out crap that I didn't even notice!
I suppose the wheelchair-as-surprise thing is a lot like the book Ten Little Indians. If you're as smart as Phoenix, you can figure it out by seeing the little clues. If you're only as smart as me, then you need the reveal. I hadn't even noticed that his shoe was unscuffed. That's a nice detail and good thinking on someone's part.
Some of your questions will be answered, others won't. Be patient...
On 26 July 2006, Thomas J. Brown said:
I just took a look at the exploding engine scene in the first episode again. I'm pretty sure that black thing that flies away is just a piece of debris.
On 9 January 2009, said: