Lost... The tv show

IntheLabyrinth

Well-known member
How many people wish they were on the island? When the show was on the air I so desperately wanted to be on that island. For some unknown reason, I felt like all of my problems and fears would be gone on the island. I love that series! The music, acting, scenes, themes, characters, and mysteries were all amazing. I realize that this is far removed from when the show was on the air but If I had been a member of this forum back then, I would have posted this a long time ago.
 

Xervello

Well-known member
It was my favorite show. I wanted to be on the island just so I could hang out with Hurley. How fun would that be. :) The best part of that show was during the hiatus between seasons, eagerly anticipating what came next, swapping theories with other Losties and so forth. I once joked that I would refuse to die until I lived long enough to see the Lost finale. It's long been over now. And I'm still here. *Sigh*
 

Xervello

Well-known member
By the way, I was never quite clear as to who exactly kept funding the Dharma Initiative after "the purge". I mean, I always assumed it was Charles Widmore but it was never really said. Clearly Ben and his "others" got their money from various other means. He could hop off the island whenever he wanted for whatever purpose. But he and "the others" weren't responsible for the continual food drops. I watched the DVD extra final scene with Ben relieving those two Dharma workers, but, in my mind, it was never fully addressed as to whom was financing that prior to the Man-in-Black's demise.
 

IntheLabyrinth

Well-known member
Yeah, i loved going on to lost forums and talking about theories too... I don't think it was Widmore since he was searching for the island after he was banished. It was either Jacob somehow or... actually, i don't have a clue how they were funded. I haven't watched it since it went off the air, and my memory was shot back then because of my daily visits with mary jane.
 

jaim38

Well-known member
This show is confusing. So many flashbacks and flasforwards mixed with present moments. I gave up watching it somewhere along the way.

The island's pretty scary - I wouldn't live on it.
 
I we're talking pre-season 4 Lost, then sure. I feel they started to over-elaborate on the mysteries and functions in upcoming seasons. The island lost a lot of its romance after that. It was all a bit too corny in concept.. But I digress.

If not that island, any bit of peaceful natural land would do for me. ;3
 

Xervello

Well-known member
I we're talking pre-season 4 Lost, then sure. I feel they started to over-elaborate on the mysteries and functions in upcoming seasons. The island lost a lot of its romance after that. It was all a bit too corny in concept.. But I digress.

To be fair, all shows in the beginning are at their best because they're all premise and expectation-building, but once they begin filling in the lines with specifics it just can't compete. In Lost's case, after season 3 they were given three additional seasons to finish it off. So they had to start explaining things (and displeasing some people), plus season four was during the writer's strike and the number of episodes allotted got cut in half. So they were handicapped quite a lot, but still managed to pull it off relatively well.
 
To be fair, all shows in the beginning are at their best because they're all premise and expectation-building, but once they begin filling in the lines with specifics it just can't compete. In Lost's case, after season 3 they were given three additional seasons to finish it off. So they had to start explaining things (and displeasing some people), plus season four was during the writer's strike and the number of episodes allotted got cut in half. So they were handicapped quite a lot, but still managed to pull it off relatively well.

It wasn't all bad. But they did mess up on the whole island functionality thing. I don't see why they had to strip it down to its bare skeleton, sometimes mystery and unanswered questions is a good thing. Especially when the show is based around that premise.

[spoilers] I just feel that they should have left the island as a character in itself, and not tie everything to Jacob and The man in Black. They made the most significant part of the island the most corny one by doing this. Things like the black mist creature for example lost almost all its appeal when it turns out it's just some guy. Why give such things an overly extensive identity? It was interesting and riveting enough as just a creature that is nothing but black mist. I also didn't care for that what it all boiled down to in the end was magic and a fight between siblings. Considering how strongly the show started, that felt lazy in concept. These were irredeemable errors in story to me. [/spoilers]
 

Xervello

Well-known member
Well as to your specific complaints, fair enough. You're entitled to what you prefer and not prefer. But to your larger one about the island, I think they DID leave it alone as far as being its own character. Because they never did explain exactly what it was or how it operates. Yes, it's a source/spring of goodness. But that in and of itself is at once both specific and generic. Personally I could have gone on watching Lost for twenty years. And if I did, they still probably wouldn't have answered everything to my or others satisfactions, ha ha.
 
By the way, I was never quite clear as to who exactly kept funding the Dharma Initiative after "the purge"...

Eh that was not all that was left unclear hahahaha what a mindfup that show was!!!! By the end I watched it for the lols, it was embarassingly bad, cringey and just plain silly!

I loved the first series but the truth of it is, they got greedy! They originally only had a pilot episode and weren't expecting to get anywhere with it but they got picked up and blagged their way through season one (very well actually, better than most shows who have a storyboard) They wrote in a load of overly complicated storylines that they didn't think through because they didn't envisage there would be a season 2 or 3...because they had no promise of a contract and most new shows get axed.

And it was an absolute disaster by the end, what a mess they made of it, it could have been a cult hit

Its actually kind of like twin peaks, series one amazing!!! Series 2 not officially released but available on vhs on some sites, and apparently just dire. A good friend got it but advised me not to watch it because they said it was so bad it ruined it for them. So in my mind twin peaks is still a cult hit. I think they should have done the same with lost, axed it while it was still good.
 

Xervello

Well-known member
Eh that was not all that was left unclear hahahaha what a mindfup that show was!!!! By the end I watched it for the lols, it was embarassingly bad, cringey and just plain silly!

I loved the first series but the truth of it is, they got greedy! They originally only had a pilot episode and weren't expecting to get anywhere with it but they got picked up and blagged their way through season one (very well actually, better than most shows who have a storyboard) They wrote in a load of overly complicated storylines that they didn't think through because they didn't envisage there would be a season 2 or 3...because they had no promise of a contract and most new shows get axed.

And it was an absolute disaster by the end, what a mess they made of it, it could have been a cult hit

Its actually kind of like twin peaks, series one amazing!!! Series 2 not officially released but available on vhs on some sites, and apparently just dire. A good friend got it but advised me not to watch it because they said it was so bad it ruined it for them. So in my mind twin peaks is still a cult hit. I think they should have done the same with lost, axed it while it was still good.

Um, what show were you watching? First off, the creators wrote a "Bible" of what the show was about in its first season after the pilot was picked up. And just because a show draws upon references that are above your recollection doesn't make it silly. You can dislike it if you wish, but millions of people loved it. A cult hit? It's considered one of the greatest shows of all-time. I think YOU must be living in a parallel reality.
 
Personally I could have gone on watching Lost for twenty years. And if I did, they still probably wouldn't have answered everything to my or others satisfactions, ha ha.

^lol, same here.
The makers said all along they were not going to let it get to an unsatisfactory ending like the makers of the X-files did. But then they did just that!:eek:h:

I don't know about wanting to live on the island. However, I loved the dynamics between each of the characters, the bonds etc.
 

Xervello

Well-known member
How was it an unsatisfactory ending? I thought it was exciting, moving and clarifying without distilling the mystery. I don't think people appreciate just what they accomplished. I was a fan of The X-Files. I begrudgingly watched its final season and its bad finale. To say they ended it in a similar way is unfair.
 

aNOTfox

Well-known member
I really miss this show. I was the only person at school that watched it, then when I went to college I met loads of people who had watched it but by then It was to late to have interesting convos about it.
But yeah I was happy with the end too, I liked the way they kept the mystery of it all leaving us to have our own interpretations, rather than telling us outright what was going on.
 
Um, what show were you watching? First off, the creators wrote a "Bible" of what the show was about in its first season after the pilot was picked up. And just because a show draws upon references that are above your recollection doesn't make it silly. You can dislike it if you wish, but millions of people loved it. A cult hit? It's considered one of the greatest shows of all-time. I think YOU must be living in a parallel reality.

Hey Xervello it isn't personal :giggle:

The pilot was fantastic, season one pretty good despite their lack of preparation and then.....silly convoluted storylines started creeping in by the dozen. Most of which were never actually explained. Sometimes you thought you were getting an answer but you were really only getting another 10 questions. It got really silly really fast. Viewers tuned out by the millions. The show proceeded to get worse and then they ended it the way they had promised their fanbase they weren't going to end it...because they'd tied themselves into so many nonsense storylines they had no other way of getting out.

They had a great pilot and a good first series and they could have had a classic. But once they got the viewers numbers, they got greedy and they wrecked it by thrashing out sh.itty scripts and overly complicated storylines and getting as many seasons out as quick as they could to make a bucket load of money off it and they destroyed it. A real shame. It became it's name and the viewers who watched 'lost' became just that, lost. Nobody had any idea what was going on.

In answer to the original question I wouldn't like to be on that island because I wouldnt know if I was on an island or dead or alive or in heaven or in hell or in a parallel universe or asleep dreaming or in a post apocalyptic world or awake living or trapped in a cave or stuck on a mountain or reincarnated or... and I couldn't last that many seasons on that god forsaken island to find out.

They completely lost my interest after season 2. I got bored with all the convolution.
 

Xervello

Well-known member
I'm not making it personal. But the way you're describing it it's like you're talking about a different show. Some of what you said is accurate. They did venture down too many peripheral storylines, but most shows do that when they last as long as Lost did. The way they resolved or didn't resolve some of them were clumsy. But again, you keep mentioning how ill-prepared they were. Again, I'll repeat, after the pilot they wrote a Lost "Bible" that laid out the mythology ahead. Then filled it in with details each season thereafter. Midway through the third season ABC gave them three more to end the show. So some of those storylines you thought got away from them HAD to either be abandoned or resolved quickly so they could move forward with the main story.

Another thing, sh*tty scripts? Barring a handful, I repeat, a handful of episodes each episode stood on its own as far as quality. The fact that each episode centered on a particular character enhanced the purposefulness of each episode - something few other shows accomplished.

The only people who were lost watching the show were those that didn't give it the proper attention it deserved. Lost, unlike most shows, asked something from their viewers - to pay attention, to think and to consider - and over ten million people from start to finish did just that. Give both the show and its fans credit.

Lastly, the fact that people still talk about the show's mythology years after its last airing shows just how great the show was.
 
... Most of which were never actually explained. Sometimes you thought you were getting an answer but you were really only getting another 10 questions.....

^ Exactly.
The disappointment of not having many of the parts of the show explained, is like doing a 500 piece puzzle, only to find out in the end that 150 of the pieces are missing! :eek:h:

In answer to the original question I wouldn't like to be on that island because I wouldnt know if I was on an island or dead or alive or in heaven or in hell or in a parallel universe or asleep dreaming or in a post apocalyptic world or awake living or trapped in a cave or stuck on a mountain or reincarnated or....

^:lol: :applause:
 
I'm not making it personal. But the way you're describing it it's like you're talking about a different show. Some of what you said is accurate. They did venture down too many peripheral storylines, but most shows do that when they last as long as Lost did. The way they resolved or didn't resolve some of them were clumsy. But again, you keep mentioning how ill-prepared they were. Again, I'll repeat, after the pilot they wrote a Lost "Bible" that laid out the mythology ahead. Then filled it in with details each season thereafter. Midway through the third season ABC gave them three more to end the show. So some of those storylines you thought got away from them HAD to either be abandoned or resolved quickly so they could move forward with the main story.

Another thing, sh*tty scripts? Barring a handful, I repeat, a handful of episodes each episode stood on its own as far as quality. The fact that each episode centered on a particular character enhanced the purposefulness of each episode - something few other shows accomplished.

The only people who were lost watching the show were those that didn't give it the proper attention it deserved. Lost, unlike most shows, asked something from their viewers - to pay attention, to think and to consider - and over ten million people from start to finish did just that. Give both the show and its fans credit.

Lastly, the fact that people still talk about the show's mythology years after its last airing shows just how great the show was.

Though, 3 seasons isn't a short time to wrap things up in.

Perhaps not all broken plotlines were their fault (Walt being written out due to Malcom David Kelley's grow spurt, for example). But they did, as mentioned, get greedy with content. Short time frame or not, if you don't have an exit strategy with a show of this magnitude then there's something wrong in the planning.

It turned into a swirling vortex of loose ends, jarring turn of events and out of character episodes. The latter applies especially to the last season. Instead of an exciting run towards the finish it felt like you were watching some non-canon alternate reality version of Lost.

The only redeeming factor, for me, about the final season is the actors performances. That has been constantly phenomenal throughout the show. But the writing.. that I really didn't like. There was almost no balance to speak off after season 3. I understood the actual ending just fine too, I just don't think it fits the show at all.
 

Steppen-Wolf

Well-known member
The show was really fun in the beggining, but then the writers showed they had no idea where they were going and just added random misteries for no apparent reason.
 

Xervello

Well-known member
Though, 3 seasons isn't a short time to wrap things up in.

Actually, it IS a short time. The first two seasons were 24 episodes each. The third was 22 or 23, I forget. Then ABC gives them three additional seasons to end it on. But the fourth season was shortened to around 12 because of the writer's strike. And the fifth and sixth seasons were only about 20 each. So, yeah, they weren't given as much elbow room as you might've thought.


But they did, as mentioned, get greedy with content. Short time frame or not, if you don't have an exit strategy with a show of this magnitude then there's something wrong in the planning.

As I stated above, they were given an end date at the end of the third season. Then an unforeseen writer's strike forced the writers to scramble the fourth season's storyline, as well as any set-ups they might've had for the next two seasons. So they were always playing catch-up. In fact, the writers had to PLEAD for extra episodes here or there. That they were given such a difficult cirmcumstance and managed to make the most of it shouldn't go underappreciated. Lost was an expensive show, so I get some of why ABC were so stern with them. But at the same time Lost was always #1 in the demos that made ABC so rich. It was dumb on the network's part. They did to Lost what AMC is doing to The Walking Dead.


I understood the actual ending just fine too, I just don't think it fits the show at all.

I disagree. I think the sideways timeline fit perfectly with the collectiveness aspect of the characters for the show. The flashbacks always centered on a redemptive/everyone-is-connected theme. The sideways timeline concluding with the final episode I thought movingly and poetically linked all these characters together using Buddhism's Samsara conceit. Meanwhile, the island timeline maintained its mystery while also answering certain things the writers felt were relevant in knowing. Obviously everyone wanted more specificity, but too much specificity can also distill its magic and charm. By the way, as for the finale, I teared up each time the characters "awakened" to the truth with each other. And the final image with Jack, the dog and the plane. How can anyone hate on that, really.
 
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