ABC's "Lost"

[vakie]

No, they settled on doing 3 more seasons (4, 5 & 6) with 16 episodes each. But as it turns out, season 4 will have only 13.

[JoeD80]

The original plan was five years, and then ABC later asked for six, and the producers agreed.

[colonyearth]

They have also "locked" the story, knowing exactly where it's going and how it will end and how they'll get there. This makes for much better storytelling than making it up as you go (see X-Files). This places LOST in B5 territory and that I'm always up for!


CE

[I love Lyta]

..., knowing exactly where it's going and how it will end and how they'll get there.

I had pretty much that impression when I saw the Sayid in Berlin part. I like the "flashforwards" (word creation as opposed to flashbacks ).
I'm not overly happy though that they want to continue for another two seasons. I was about to quit watching after season 3 already but when I heard that season 4 might be the final one I thought I should keep watching.
This whole story is getting to long winded for my taste.

[JoeD80]

They didn't learn this lesson from jms, that you should answer some questions and ask new ones, instead of having the same questions for all five (or six) years, or the viewer gets frustrated:

8/29/93:

my feeling is that, unlike Twin Peaks, you *cannot* extend things indefinitely. In other words, you don't have to wait five years to find out what's going on now, in questions you have in season one. Questions raised in season one will be *answered* in season one. It's just that, we hope, *new* questions will arise over the course of season one that we can then answer in season two. And so on. I don't think it's right, or fair, or smart to keep people on the hook that long. Which is why we'll find out what happened on the Battle of the Line midway through season one...it's just what this then MEANS that will become the new question.

12/20/93:

yes. "Babylon Squared" answers the B4 question...though posing new questions about *why*. Basically, every question we ask going into the first season we will answer, because I don't think it's right or fair or smart to keep people hanging around 3 years to get a simple answer to a simple question. Season 1 of B5 is what I generally call the "what" season...you find out WHAT the Psi Corps is, WHAT happened at the Battle of the Line, WHAT happened to Babylon 4, and so on...whereas Season 2 is the "why" season...WHY did that happen to Sinclair? And so on. New questions arise, and we proide new answers, generally within the course of the following season, but while at all times making sure that each episode stands alone, regardless of where and which season you enter the series as a viewer.

12/22/93:

Season one will generally answer 90% of the questions raised in season one; season two will answer the remaining 10%, and answer 90% of the questions raised in season two...and so on. There will not be a sense of unfulfilled waiting.

3/15/94:

Nope. You can't string folks along that long. A goodly portion of it will be out by season's end. Not all, but a *lot*.

10/29/94:

I said, from the very beginning, that once the series got rolling, no single primary question could be allowed to go more than about one season before answering it, otherwise you get into a frustrating Twin Peaks situation where *nothing* is resolved. Basically, the events begun in "Chrysalis" bleed over into three episodes; the Battle of the Line answers were initially only a couple of episodes further down in my outline, about episode #3. Making the change, for one thing, allowed me to move that storyline forward to episode #1, blow through it and get the story moving in year two faster, rather than delaying further with loose threads from season one.

[vakie]

Anyone else surprised by what happened to Mira Furlan's character?

spoiler text in case someone hasn't seen it yet..

..it seems they offed both her and her daughter. Prior to this it seemed like they had other plans for them, and now we won't get to see a flashback episode for her. This came out of nowhere and has left me baffled. What a way to waste a character.

[nottenst]

Anyone else surprised by what happened to Mira Furlan's character?

spoiler text in case someone hasn't seen it yet..

..it seems they offed both her and her daughter. Prior to this it seemed like they had other plans for them, and now we won't get to see a flashback episode for her. This came out of nowhere and has left me baffled. What a way to waste a character.

The producers have not rules out more information about her character or even a flashback. I would not be surprised if we see Mira Furlan on Lost again.

Neil

[Jonas]

Personally, while I do enjoy Lost (the first season was especially awesome), I do think they're making it up as they go along. They've already created a number of inconsistencies and plot holes, and more than a few plot threads were just thrown out for no reason. Having an actual plan would've helped.

Then again, it's still better than most television these days, and they do occasionally come up with some good episodes, so I won't give up on it. But they're nowhere near B5.

[vakie]

Season 4 finale. Wow.

How do you say, WHAM? WHAM. WHAM.

[I love Lyta]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
This is FAR out...!
Negative exotic matter... it's like LOST meets EUREKA...!
Now they've really got me hooked for season 5...

[Radhil]

Just saw the whole thing yesterday morning.

The most priceless thing in the whole episode is the look of derision on Ben's face when they're down in the station. Yes, John, magical time travelling bunnies.

I just hope, going forward, that this show remembers what makes it good. Namely, not the shock of the body in the box, not the mystery flash and the empty ocean, but the reunion of Penny and Desmond, and the look on Sawyer's face when he does what he does, and Sun's look of horror. Lost is always better when it's personal; the island is a grand mystery but in the end we'll never get every answer. And I think the finale (and maybe half the episodes this season) struck a great balance between the two. May they keep it up for another 2 years.

[I love Lyta]

Hehehe, yeah. The time travelling bunnies thingy was also very funny.

Btw: Whoever here who has ever played Wing Commander IV might have realized that the guy who is on all the instructions vids from the Greg Initiative is non-other than your old wingman Vagabond.

I think they will. Now that it's going to be more n more about what happens AFTER the rescue, the personal aspect will be playing an even bigger part, but I really do think with more than enough reference to ongoings on the island.
By mid season I wasn't very thrilled about it going to continue for two more seasons. NOW I'm quite thankful, actually.

[NotSoWize]

Ooh, I have to disagree about the personal issues being more important than the crazy Dharma installations, the smoke monster, Jacob, seeing the dead, etc. etc. It's the combination of all of that craziness with memorable characters that makes Lost so amazing.

I really liked the last half of last season and just about all of this season. Having a set number of episodes left (even if they "lost" three of them to the strike) seems to have tightened up the plotting. I'm already looking forward to next season. Is Locke really dead? If so, can the Island resurrect him? Are Jin and Michael dead? Can Ben somehow return to the island? Why did Sun approach Mr. Whitmore? Who is Charlotte and was she born on the island?

Geez, all of those questions pretty came just from the finale!

[Radhil]

a) Michael is so dead. Extinct. Definitely deceased. Wouldn't voom if you put 4000 volts through him. Bleedin' demised. Passed on. No more. Bereft of life. Ex-Michael.

Magical mystery island or no, Artz didn't survive a stick of dynamite from a range of arm-length. Ergo, Michael did not survive a heaping tableful of C4 from a range of oh-shit (especially given his... dismissal).

b) Locke is a better question, especially as I haven't heard of any contract renegotiations or what-have-you. He's dead, or so we're told, but we don't know 1) how 2) when 3) why. Could be he's just mostly dead. Call up Miracle Max (or Jacob, or Jack's Evil Daddy Ghost (Christian))

c) I'd give good odds that Jin is dead, from the boat blast, given that 1) no one survives boats blowing up that easy (except John McClane) 2) even if he was somehow thrown clear of the wreckage, odds of making it to shore faster than a helicopter (which didn't make it) are none to nil. I'd give even better odds that Sun *thinks* he's alive, and this has everything to do with her approaching Mr. Widmore.

d) I betcha Ben *can* get back. He's just very aware of how hard finding and then getting to the island is. Finding it once is a miracle (or fate), and he's not the kind of man to rely on such things. Or maybe he can't because the time-travelling bunnies won't let him. Who knows.

e) I'm hoping that Charlotte doesn't have some uber-mystery part to play behind the whole island-children tangle, because that would suck, and I get that kind of vibe. But if she, like Aaron is now, had been there before, I wouldn't mind seeing that.

f) What really worries me isn't all that, but the fact that Claire shows up as an island-ghost-dream-thing in the far flung Oceanic Six future for Kate... and that usually doesn't happen unless someone's dead....

[NotSoWize]

c) I'd give good odds that Jin is dead, from the boat blast, given that 1) no one survives boats blowing up that easy (except John McClane) 2) even if he was somehow thrown clear of the wreckage, odds of making it to shore faster than a helicopter (which didn't make it) are none to nil. I'd give even better odds that Sun *thinks* he's alive, and this has everything to do with her approaching Mr. Widmore.

I guess I was thinking that if Desmond could escape the ship (he did didn't he?) then so could Jin. BUT, even if he did I guess The Island would have disappeared before he could reach it. So, I agree, Jin's dead.

[EDIT] Except wasn't the physicist still heading out toward the freighter in the zodiac? I take the above back, Jin lives! [/edit]

f) What really worries me isn't all that, but the fact that Claire shows up as an island-ghost-dream-thing in the far flung Oceanic Six future for Kate... and that usually doesn't happen unless someone's dead....

Ooh, I hadn't thought of that. So that would mean that Claire's joined the choir invisible!

I wonder if Walt also has to return to the island?