JMS & Damon Lindelof?

[NotSoWize]

Yesterday, Damon Lindelof tweeted: " DamonLindelof

Et tu, JMS? "

Anyone know what that's about?

[vakie]

Maybe JMS has been critical of the Lost ending/story somewhere..?

[JoeD80]

Dunno; haven't seen any comments about Lost or Lindelof from him anywhere.

[Jan]

Dunno; haven't seen any comments about Lost or Lindelof from him anywhere.

Oh! Superman 702! (Highlight for dialogue from the comic)

The aliens are wondering what to watch on TV. One mentions a LOST rerun and another says "After *that* ending? What's the point? I mean..."

Jan

[vakie]

Hahah, that must be it. Gotta sting, sitting down to read Superman, and then suddenly.. *ZING*.

[Jan]

It's possible that JMS loved LOST and the final episode. It's just become standard to complain about finale episodes, from LOST to The Shield to BSG...and of course, Sleeping in Light got its share of complaints.

Lindelof should know better than to assume that what a writer writes is what the writer feels.

Jan

[spelldazer]

So, can I take this tweet to mean that the similarities between the two shows were deliberate...uhm...homages (dare I say rip-offs of B5)?

Does anyone know whether Lindelof is a B5 fan?

[Jan]

So, can I take this tweet to mean that the similarities between the two shows were deliberate...uhm...homages (dare I say rip-offs of B5)?

I don't see how. First off, if you did say that Lindelof ripped off B5, you'd be accusing him of plagiarism, a very serious charge. Secondly, the phrasing of Lindelof's tweet is an indicator that he felt betrayed by JMS.

Jan

[spelldazer]

Doh! I guess I should have added a smiley to my previous post. I didn't mean for it to be read in such a serious tone.
Sorry!

To me, a lot of the things in Lost, especially in the last season, felt reminiscent of B5. But that's a matter for another thread.

I was just wondering about any references Lindelof might have made in the past to JMS's works.

[Jan]

Thanks for clayrifying (I thought it was kind of odd...). Dunno about lindeloff being a fan or not. I didn't watch LOST past the fist half of the second season or so. Anybody else know?

Jan

[JoeD80]

To me, a lot of the things in Lost, especially in the last season, felt reminiscent of B5. But that's a matter for another thread.

Well we can use more threads around here. I'm interested in what you think was similar, because I don't follow at this point.

Dunno about lindeloff being a fan or not. I didn't watch LOST past the fist half of the second season or so. Anybody else know?

This is one of the only times I've been aware of him saying anything about JMS. Most discussions about Babylon 5 in reference to Lost I have seen were from fans. The show I usually saw Cuse & Lindelof talk about in reference to previous shows influencing theirs was Twin Peaks. Interestingly enough Joe also has referenced Twin Peaks, but they interpreted the problems with that show differently: Joe's take was that Twin Peaks was unwilling to answer questions; Lindelof/Cuse's take was that once questions were answered, the show would be over.

[Belbo]

Well, there was the "Stu Radzinsky" character in Season 5, who was namechecked as early as Season 2. A truly amusing/exasperating performance from Eric Lange, who would be a lock for the "Best Comedy" Hugo if such a thing existed.

A particularly nice touch was the use of "Jankowsky" as the code name when they were casting him. One for the real obsessives, that ....

[Flynn2000]

Back around the time of season two of Lost, I read an interview with one of the producers, I think it was David Fury, who had left to produce on '24', and he said that they had been inspired by JMS's Babylon 5 arc concept. I remember this because it was the only time over the years that I had ever heard one of the many TV producers that were 'inspired' by Babylon 5, give credit and admit to this. He also admitted that they had no idea where the story was going at that time.

I'll point out another thing. The Lost season five episode, and what many consider to be the series best story 'The Constant', is a direct rip off of 'Babylon Squared'. It was a great episode though, but Babylon Squared is still better.

[Jonas]

Well, there was the "Stu Radzinsky" character in Season 5, who was namechecked as early as Season 2. A truly amusing/exasperating performance from Eric Lange, who would be a lock for the "Best Comedy" Hugo if such a thing existed.

A particularly nice touch was the use of "Jankowsky" as the code name when they were casting him. One for the real obsessives, that ....

I was just going to mention that. Also: Mira Furlan.

If JMS really didn't like the ending, that would be very odd. It was perfect, and very much the sort of thing that JMS might have done. Sidetracked by the sci-fi maybe? Led to expect something different?

[JoeD80]

He hates "character and audience find out later that it's all a dream" stories, so that might spill over to "character and audience find out later that he's dead already" stories like the flash-sideways as well.