The Unexplored Third Season‎

We have just gotten word about the Season 3 box set DVDs. For all of you who constantly complain about the fourth season of our favorite show not being broadcast until February 2008, we'll have to wait just for six months until this bad boy of DVDs comes out. They have set the current release date for "Lost - The Unexplored Third Season" for December 11th. Of course, this doesn't exactly mean that it will come out on December 11th, given last year's Season 2 DVD date switch-around. Anyway, it looks like it's going to be a boring hiatus, in my opinion. Really, the only thing that we have to look forward to now is the release of the (supposed) video game.

Read related story...

Holiday Weekend Shopping Suggestion

It's Memorial Day weekend and if you find yourself at the mall, here's a suggestion for Lost fans. Go to your local GUESS store, and check out the men's clearance sales rack for tee shirts. Among the shirts you may find the very shirt that Charlie was wearing the last few episodes of Season 3, and the shirt he was wearing when he met his fate in the finale (Through the Looking Glass) at the blinking yellow light. Yes, it's a current 2007 Guess Jeans tee shirt: it reads "The Strong Survive", and features a weathered double-hammer graphic with some Chinese characters. The one in the store I visited was marked down to $11.99, and they came in several alternate colors. Go celebrate your inner Lost geek and buy one today.

UPDATE: Specifically it's a "Guess Jeans" Men's "Vintage 1981" line Tee from 2007, MSRP $29.00. The specific color used in Lost is "Durango Grey". The tag reads: DUG A7, as well as M64DX391 and US MN. The UPC bar code is 6 05576 56649 5. It's a fitted tee, so its sizing is that of regular men's shirts, a size smaller than Tees. If you're a "L" in tees, you'd probably be a "M" in this one.

Marco... Boone?

Hey guys, just found something fairly interesting: Ian Somerhalder (Boone, for those of you who forgot all about the poor guy), will be portraying Marco Polo in a made-for-tv movie about Marco Polo. It looks like an interesting movie. Check out Ian Somerhalder in "Marco Polo", 8 p.m. June 2, on the Hallmark Channel. Story continues below.

____________________________________________________________________

Ian Somerhalder has long been fascinated with the Far East.

"Places call you," says the 28-year-old actor. "Usually the Virgin Islands call people. China was calling me."

Which is why Somerhalder, not seen on TV since his fateful end in the first season of "Lost," took the role of the most famous Westerner to travel the Silk Road in the Hallmark Channel's "Marco Polo," airing 8 p.m. Saturday.

The three-hour movie about the 13th century Venetian trader's odyssey through Asia is loosely based on the explorer's celebrated chronicles, "The Travels of Marco Polo."

In the film, Somerhalder plays the young, wide-eyed adventurer who accompanies two priests on a mission to convert Mongol conqueror Kublai Khan (played by Brian Dennehy) to Christianity. But the priests turn back during the journey, unconvinced that China even exists.

Eventually, Polo forges ahead through treacherous mountains and blinding desert blizzards to reach the fabled land where he is accepted as a confidant in Khan's court, discovering, among many things, the delicacies of ice cream and pasta, as well as the advantages of paper currency and a postal system.

Read the rest...

Episode Blog - Through the Looking Glass

Well the final episode blog of 2007, let's make it memorable. So much to discuss, so many things to question. Just where to begin?

First stop, the flashbac... forwards. Unfortunately the reveal was lost on me after spoilers were so horrific online, even though I tried not to look I heard about it. It seemed a bit obvious too though, a very placid Jack who's turned into his father. I got the impression the message here was "you don't know how lucky you are to be on the Island until you leave", though I thought that was a little dumb as some of them desperately want to escape, like Juliet. At any rate, I was interested by all the info learned, especially the supposed dead person - just who is it then presuming its someone we know? And is the "him" Kate's with Sawyer d'ya reckon?

Moving on, my favorite element to the finale was the Naomi thing. I loved that communication with Penny, TV gold, the chill when she says "I'm not on a boat, who's Naomi?!" - brilliant. But how'd Charlie get her frequency (as she put it), or how was she on comms at the exact moment? And who the hell IS Naomi then? Does she work for Penny's father? Is she government black ops?

Next, the deaths, and surprising to see that only one Losties actually died considering. I thought it was interesting that the Losties are now the majority, and the Others are the ones living in fear (reinforced by Bonnie saying about Charlie, "but he's one of them!" - nice continuity thing). Best way to go out? Gotta be Pryce getting by Hurley in a DHARMA van - who saw that one coming? A close second being Sayid's scissor choke.

It was weird how Ben was quite happy to reveal the truth to Alex? Had she thought her mother died giving birth to her? Liked Ben's reasoning for keeping Karl away though, "I didn't want you to get pregnant... I overreacted". Another thing that bugged me was the radio tower. Rousseau said the Others controlled it in Season 1, yet then says "oh I've never been there since I did my signal 16 years ago, oh and its completely abandoned" - bit of a goof there? Furthermore, Locke bugging me by killing Naomi, no he can't kill Cooper or Jack, he doesn't "have murder in him", yet he has no trouble throwing a machete into a woman's back for absolutely no reason in cold blood. I know many are in the love Locke camp, but seriously when is someone gonna give him the smack in the face he deserves with all his destiny claptrap.

Finally, to poor Charlie and psycho Mikhail. It was typical that Charlie started to become a decent character again with a good flashback last week, and then completely gets the chop. But what a way to go huh? It was quite poignant how he could have locked the room on the other side with Des, yet knew it was the only way to save Claire by him dying. That whole five min scene with Penny and stuff I just thought was brilliant. Even psycho Mikhail, who had better be dead this time otherwise I'll get very annoyed - the man has more lives than Jack Bauer!

So are they rescued? Not likely when there's three more Seasons. Who are Naomi's people? How are they "bad"? Will their evil presence ally the Others with the Losties? Will Penny find them? Will the Monster (assuming its those apparitions) now actually kill Locke cause he failed his "work to be done"? Will we be able to wait eight whole months with no interluding easter eggs for all these answers?

Until then, I'll be on Lostpedia making it an even better Lost resource. Hope to see you on there for your Lost fixes! If not, enjoy your time away and lives of normality while you can, as your world will be rocked once again no doubt in 2008.

A fragile feeling inside...

I've just finished watching the finale of this season of Lost, and for the first time in a long time, I've wanted to contribute something about episodes to the wiki, which I normally leave to my regular blogging colleagues Marik and Nick. The thing is.... I'm completely torn in two. The introduction of a new element which could alter the whole perception of Lost, and we all should have seen coming, has arrived, and I am well.... confused!

The introduction of flash-forwards, showing us life after the island is a completely new phenomenon and something absolutely nobody was expecting, if you hadn't read the mega-spoiler, which was sadly spread over the internet.

In one aspect, I think its a strange move, they are telling us information about who makes it off the island now, removing some levels of suspense. We know characters are going to be safe. This is such a sea-change I don't know what to make of it. On one hand, I think its brilliant, as we all know the fans would be clamouring, in 48 episodes time, to find out what happened to the rescued people, and we know that the show ends then and extending the show via other mediums, such as comic books wouldn't have the same lure, which would annoy many fans of the TV show... But, on the other hand Lost has evolved into a new beast, one that teases us about what happened in their past, and how they all met... and another teasing us about their connections in the future, and the effect the Island had on these people. Bringing a whole new skew on how we see things... Does anyone else feel excited, yet sucker punched?

I'm so flummoxed, confused and bewildered and I don't want to wait 8 months. At least with the Season 2 and 3 formats, the waits were much shorter between episodes overall. I just hope the fans who complained about those two formats know we've got a long wait ahead of us!

Flash-forward clues

Hey guys, just though that I'd post a blog explaining the several flash-forward clues that we were treated to, before the big reveal, of course. And believe me, there were many of them.

*As Nick stated earlier, an anagram for "Hoffs/Drawlar" is "flash-forward".'

*The show referenced the Grand Avenue Project, announced in 2007.

*The phone that Jack was using is a Motorola KRZR, released in the fourth quarter of 2006.

*The headline on the LA Times that Jack picks up is from April 5, 2007.

If there are anymore, please let us know, and we'll add them.

Flash! Ohhhhhh

Wow that takes me back. Even though I wasn't born in 1980, Flash Gordon was awesome anyway.

Anyway, here's the lame link for that title - the funeral home Jack went to was "Hoffs/Drawlar" or to put it another way, an anagram of "flash forward."

So looks like the writers were dropping little clues in the episode for us to find. Good stuff.

N.B. Cause the wiki is down right now, all the images aren't working. They'll be back on soon guys, Jacob said he would take care of it personally.

Not exactly easy reading

Can you make out what that newspaper clipping actually had written on it? I sure couldn't, my mere guess being it must be an obituary of some kind, possibly one of our dear Losties post-Island.

At any rate, its a good thing Lostpedia has some HD fans with freakishly sublime vision. So what we got, well a number of things:

1) Its a man found dead (man of New York, i.e. must be his home state)
2) First name possibly begins with a J.
3) Last name ending in "antham"?
4) Found after 4a.m.
5) Died in "The Tower" (Apartments?) on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, possibly a reference to the as-yet-unbuilt Grand Avenue Project.

Like the last point, nice continuity. Thoughts?

UPDATE - Like this I read on Lostpedia's article - "Ted", "The Tower", and "beam" are all references to central characters or places in Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series of books, and other books that allude to the Dark Tower, such as "Hearts in Atlantis"

We know the writers love King's work, so a good easter egg possibility. Also liking the idea that it could be a reference to the philosopher guy, Jeremy Bentham. Again, something the writers like.

Wow

Well as far as witty blog titles go.... sorry, just watched the ep, confused would be one word for my head right now.

I'm on the hunt for some easter eggs now (I like to at least enjoy the episode before pausing every frame), so I'll get back with anything good ASAP, and naturally episode blog tomorrow. In the meantime, think about the future Jack and Kate (I bet Fox and Lilly are loving the job security right now), think about Desmond and Penny (how'd she phone so quick), think about Naomi (who the hell are her team then if they're not working for Penny?!), and think about dear Charlie and heroic Hurley.

What will happen next? The Others on the run, some with the Losties, a new array of cast members from Naomi's ship (all bad guys). No point scratching my head too much today, I've got eight months to make sense of it.

Here we go again...

Well its been a long Season this time round, and we've come a long way. No more re-runs, the end date set for 2010, we now actually know quite a leap forward about the Others (though it doesn't really feel like it, does it?).

A three pronged storyline at the beach, the jungle and underwater, essential viewing! Oh and I hear from EW that Jack might actually smile in this episode... twice! Here's some trailers to get you all set, be reminded that there could be potential spoilers as usual (ABC tend to ditch the mystique when it suits them). The first two are official US trailers, the latter are "Sneak Peek" clips.

See you on the other side, Lost fans.

Schematics in Hi-res

Hi all, thought I'd post these high quality versions of The Looking Glass schematics. They were in the ABC press release, its nice to see that the photographer I think is responding to demand and is taking the time to photograph important documents and the like - we very much appreciate!


Anywayz, the thing that I really noticed was the logo. Click the boxes to view them in high quality - the black circle on the bunny has a white line in it - almost like a clock pointing to 8:15

Episode Review - Greatest Hits

The first Charlie flashback to actually be beyond the scope of "Liam betrayed me, band band band, did some heroin", wow! A decent Charlie story for a change. And then in realtime some cool preparation for the finale, everyone given their roles to play.

As always, flashback first, and loved the first scene, with Drive Shaft on the way to Clitheroe, Lancashire (which actually used to be my neck of the woods). Woods being the operative word, as Charlie rightly pointed out, it is in the middle of nowhere, but a nice reference nonetheless. Next to that swim scene, interesting if the comment I read is true that someone in the background says, "come on Desmond" - another Lost crossover there perhaps? Also I wanted to mention about the playing in the rain bit - was it actually the "real" reality minus Desmond. I got more of an impression that it was just a different day. I mean even in the alternate reality Desmond was like "this happened before", and Charlie was wearing different clothes (you'd think production would at least sort that out). Why couldn't it have also rained on another day I mean its England, and its not like you wouldn't play at the same spot on a different day, right? Finally, the Dextor Stratton thing was interesting - was it a flippant issue or will this sort of history have any future relevance? Why was his ring the family heirloom?

To realtime, and I was quite impressed with Naomi, the first character I've ever seen on US television with a proper Manc accent, "you avin' a laugh?" - well that's more dialect but at least she didn't talk with any posh or clear RP tone.

Next I wanted to address was the Looking Glass station. Like the logo (yeah, Alice and Wonderland reference I totally spaced on Thursday about). It was a bit of a questionable continuity though, the fact that Sayid took that file from the Flame, and so actually probably has details on every DHARMA station. When exactly was he gonna share that? And why hasn't he been the first to go and check em all out? I did like the whole idea though, and it explains the interference rather than its cause of the electromagnetism. Maybe the underwater station will also explain why the tides seemingly circle (why Desmond's boat came back to the Island when he went full-steam West, why Juliet said "they can have fun going on circles" on hearing the Losties had the boat).

The Others flashback was most unusual, I think the first ever non-centric flash that has ever occurred when there's a separate flashback centric narrative going on at the same time (if that makes sense). I'm not knocking it though, it was good, with Ben clearing accelerating his plans after being flustered by Locke, who I guess will probably survive and make a dashing return to rescue everyone in the finale.

Loved the scene after Karl arrived though, with everyone being given their missions. I noticed that they've tweaked the main theme score wise, and I really liked it to reflect the sort of "about to go to war" nature of the scene, quite Buffy-esque actually ala the final season. It just all gave a sense of "some of us are probably gonna die", and it worked really well. I fear for Sayid's group though, Bernard being the generic almost-background third shooter! Its like an Enterprise away mission, the poor random guest star is surely the one who will get killed. I really should add a poll on here so we can all call the five characters we think will die this finale. My predictions, perhaps shocking, are (taking it as it'll probably be 3 Losties and 2 Others): Bernard, Charlie, Jack, Ben and Tom. Controversial?

And that's it really, usually there's much more to address, but I think really this episode was all about building up, and to try and keep that pressure rather than debate-provoking in any great respect. Its definitely waiting for that finale punch, which no doubt will keep us all talking. Evangeline Lilly said it gave her goosebumps and that it was the first development in the show that really got her genuinely excited, but then again, she has to say that when she's there to plug the May sweeps, doesn't she?

Darling its better, down where its wetter...

Damn you Disney classics, gonna be humming that all day. Well anyway let's hope its better, for Charlie's sake, but let's take a better look at these two ladies.

K first up in the rogues gallery we've got Bonnie, seemingly the one in charge? Well they gave her a close-up so you'd think. She looks a little familiar actually, but the actress hasn't appeared in other episodes so it must just be a "she's guest starred on another show I like" thing.

Next we got Greta, who I've heard people saying looks a lot like Cassidy. However, the actress is different, so highly unlikely its a press bluff. Not much to say about her either, other than you might recognize her as Sarah Gavin from 24 Season 4? There's also the crackpot theory that Greta is a diminutive form of Margaret which means Pearl. Also, St Margaret is a patron saint of expectant mothers. Watertight.... excuse the pun.

Not much else easter egg wise, I'll hold off til tomorrow's episode review. Some good stuff to comment on, including Charlie's excellent parenting style, wisely putting a small metal choke-able object in a baby's crib.

Hero complex

Well we know where he got it from, Nadia. Great to see her back, and my god that girl is well traveled, she seems to turn up everywhere. I was wondering about timelines, I think Sayid went to London for a spell, right? So was he on Nadia's trail, but she'd since left to America at this point (where she'd then meet Locke).

Confusing stuff, but minus Christian Shephard it makes her probably the most appearing flashback character, so far in Sayid's life, Locke's and Charlie's.

Side note, all Charlie's flashbacks seemed to have a water theme going on I notice apart from the Claire one (possibly in reference to his realtime mission?). The van in the rain, the pool, a drink with Liam, Nadia in the rain - maybe its no big deal but a nice little thing.

Easter bunny!

I'll admit that I haven't actually watched the ep properly yet, hence why I'll wait til later today before I post more eggs, but I couldn't resist searching "The Looking Glass" on Lostpedia first.

Check it out, a bunny station! Is there some pop culture reference I'm missing here? Why a rabbit? See the brushed up Lostpedia version too, thanks to the graphics guys for that one. And is it a production error that its called "hatch" - isn't that a castaway name for the stations, I didn't think DHARMA also referred to them like that.

And those two mystery women, named Greta and Bonnie by the way, thanks once again to ABC's press release giving more than its share.

There was also a really weird equation on those documents. If any of you are mathematical experts, drop us a line. Apologies for the blurryness:








UPDATE! - Well check this link out, bottom of page 30 (by the way it takes a lil time to load):

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/engineering/hydraulics/hydrology/hec25.pdf

Well done to Frenkmelk there for that one. The equation has also been broken down:

Ht(t) = Astronomical tide at time t (ft, m)
a = Tidal amplitude (ft, m)
t = Time (hr)
T = Tidal period (hr)
Z = Vertical offset or datum adjustment (ft, m)

Looks like its all to do with the tides and such, interesting stuff!

3x21 Sneak Peeks - Potential Spoilers

Looking forward to tonight's episode? Well here's two ABC sneak peeks to wet your appetites, both very cool (though I really like the latter one). I won't say anything about them for spoiler's sake, so if you want complete unawares then avoid them, otherwise click and enjoy.

Ben's exact birthday date?

Hey Lostpedians, just saw something interesting on Lostpedia, on the Main Page, first off, and then on the Autos page. On the main page it states that "None of the cars used during the scenes where Ben was born were made after 1963", and on the Automobiles page, it's a 1960-1974 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia convertible.

So have we have pinned down Ben's exact birthday?

December 22, 1960-1962, making him 38-40 on-island. Seems plausible to me.

EDIT: I've recently eliminated the 1963 model. The windows in the episode are silver, while on the 1963 are black. Still searching for the correct model. If there are any better shots of the car, please let me know.

Episode Blog - The Man Behind the Curtain

Talk about a hectic week, not only has it been one of the most immense ratings for ABC, Lostpedia has also had its share. Only on two other occasions have we had such pageviews (and that was a finale and a premiere respectively). Nearly 2 million views combined with forum and blog on one day - oh how we wait for the finale. By the way, we know "Lostpedia has a problem" (and yeah that message got annoying real fast for me too), but rest assured by next week there should be some nice new extra servers to cope with the excess traffic, so we'll be all ready for that 22nd ep. And we might even have the lostbook on by then.... Anyway, like the unanswered question section for this episode article, there's a hell of a lot to address, so let's get going with the flashbacks.

DHARMA, how we've waited to see them in their element. But how established were they when Ben arrived? They seemed to have just about started up operations after building, having already met the monster apparently as the sonar fence was there. Did that have relevance to the Hostiles attacking too? And why did the ground shake when they did - my guess is from the "explosions" Roger mentioned. Maybe that's the crossed out station on the blast door map - Others blowed it up. Speaking of the Others, when they say native, is their consensus that that means like hundreds of years? Seemed to me more like they'd been there 50 years-ish before DHARMA, but then are they still seen as "natives"?

More focusing on Ben, it was interesting to see his progression from passive to assertive - if only his first act of assertion wasn't genocide huh. I quite liked the dolls addition though, adding the whole symbolism of nuclear families and the maternal one which Ben kept, filling that void of his that he never felt like he had good parental figures. I wondered later as he ran in the jungle if the whispers were in his head? Or are they more of the mystic side of the Island? And then he met Mr Eye-liner, who apparently drinks from the foundation of youth. Why didn't they just use another actor to play Young Richard? It was a little bad trying to make him pass for like 20, and then while Ben completely changes, he looks like he's just had a haircut and quickly fixed the mascara, and then just put on a gas mask. Not that I wasn't quite impressed with his acting though, and his character is more interesting by the episode. Final note in flashback, how come they can gas the staff in an unenclosed area, outdoors? Was it some kind of biological anthrax kinda thing? Oh and that Horace guy - a mathematician - always wearing an Arrow jumpsuit - interesting.... maybe that station was more Valenzetti equation focused?

In realtime, nice to see Locke trick Ben into taking him to see Jacob (damn right they finally go looking for answers). And then Alex, did she know Ben might try and kill Locke? Or was she showing that she cares about his safety while not at all for Ben, hence his surprise about it all? Maybe he hadn't seen her in days and she appears on his birthday to help the man who held her hostage? There's definitely major issues between them too, and not just her choice in boyfriend. But my attention was soon drawn away to that line of powder. So, dynamite for security mechanism or voodoo magick circle keeping evil spirits in, pick your side of the realist-supernatural sonar fence! I should really add a voting poll for this one, as I'm still undecided and need some opinions.

Regarding Jacob, did anyone else think that Ben was genuinely just being crazy with an imaginary friend? I was thinking that DHARMA were all hippy, maybe he took a few too many psychedelic drugs. In fact I think I preferred the imagination thing, before than the spirit within (I really am weary of the "its all magic" jumping of the shark road).

Lastly, to the main camp, and Juliet's secret revealed. Is she really playing double agent though, and when the teams arrive to kidnap Sun, will she switch sides yet again? Looks like a big finale though, a big fight and rescue only a few miles away. All the main narrative themes together. Who will live, who will die? My money is on Jack going, and to be honest I won't mind as he's really been laying it on these last few weeks. Talking over the top of people, especially this episode with Sawyer - who is he to say effectively "answer my question first" after the tape revealed his friend is a traitor. Jack really needs to get his priorities straight.

So is Jacob a prisoner? Why was Ben so shocked that Jacob spoke to Locke and said "help me." Will we actually find out this Season?

The mystery mutt revealed

A little update on that dog painting. Earlier today I got an email from one of my sources (I say sources to make it sound like I have a legion when in reality I have about two). Anywayz, she told me a little more about the whole production side of things. Apparently, that pooch you see in Jacob's house is a painting of Lulu, as in the dog of Jack Bender, executive producer director and all the rest on Lost. Interesting stuff, especially as we know he picks up his brush quite a lot for the show - like the mural in the Swan, those Thomas paintings and those in the Widmore office. There does seem a little discrepancy though as, indeed I'm no artist connoisseur, but the Lulu pic seems a bit different to some of Jack's other work. At any rate, it answers the question of the dog's breed - female Airedale-terrier mix - ha I'm really not surprised nobody has clocked that one yet.....

By the way, here's the proof on this claim as well (my sources know I won't take any theories without citation, I'm a Lostpedian), check out the Honolulu Advertiser. Permit me to quote: "...Lulu is also scheduled to make an appearance in one of this season's upcoming episodes. Which one? Bender won't say."

So we know the "actor" as it were, but who exactly is Lulu portraying? She has made a few appearances on the show, not only in an Eko flashback in Nigeria, but also at the Others camp. So maybe Jacob's painting was just of the dog seen in the Barracks (well I say seen, but the only shot I've found is this promotional photo). Let's call it a half-solved mystery, and call it a day.

Grey and black

What was this grey-y substance? My first thought was gunpowder, but it could be anything. And why was it in a trail, where did it lead to? And was it just me but did it look like there was metal on the ground (like a hatch) in shot, as in the powder was a diversion.

I think there must be some kind of DHARMA connection there. Could it lead back to another station? Why was Ben so insistent that they immediately move on?

Also, there's this smokey-chair thing people have been mentioning quite a lot. Essentially, there's a shot of Jacob's chair which has a little bit of a black shadow on, causing the theory that its the monster. I personally don't agree with it, but I'll let you all judge for yourselves (unfortunately I don't have cap of my own but I see that the meticulous DarkUFO does here :-D).

Tomorrow - full episode review, including why eye-liner Alpert was apparently born in his late 30s/early 40s and stayed that way.

Invisible man's best friend

Damn, hardly any easter eggs to report this week as far as I can see, the face and this painting is about as good as it gets. I checked out the teacher blackboard for clues and found nothing but boring volcano stuff they probably pulled from a textbook, I looked at every DHARMA logo I could see to find nothing new (other than that Horace worked in the Arrow a lot - possibly a restocker or something I'd guess). I listened to Marvin speak about the sonic fence and about the mission to preserve life and stuff, but nothing extremely eye-catching.

Anyway, to this painting. An interesting one really, I'm not a dog owner so I don't know the breed - if anyone else does please drop us a comment. I don't see a Vincent resemblance though like some people have said (how does that look like Vincent?!). I like the theory that maybe its a self-portrait - cause you'd wanna be invisible if you were a dogman - great logic. I must say when Ben said "John meet Jacob", and there was nothing there, I was expecting the camera to tilt down and reveal some mutt, the big reveal that the Others follow orders from a lovable pooch (i.e. that Ben has deceived them, not that they all have a screw loose).

So is the dog Jacob's? Does it hold any actual relevance? Obviously its not a famous painting as it looks like it was still on an easel, but who painted it?

Who Is this Man Behind the Curtain?

I'll let Nick add some more later, but thought I would share with everyone the face of Jacob. Here's some initial observations about this episode: 1) Richard Alpert is much more important and way cooler than we previously imagined. He has been in Ben's life for at least 30 years, but still looks as young as the first day they met. He knows more than he let's on with the others in Ben's fold. 2) Does Ben have some power over Jacob? It seemed to me that when things started flying in that house it wasn't in reaction to the flashlight, but to stop Locke from revealing to Ben what he heard.

FYI HC RE LP, TTS, DU, J&J

Just thought we'd clarify what's been happening these last few days. Basically, you might have noticed that we've taken down some of the links to the Hugo Cup. This is because the voting in the next few days will probably be reset, so there's little point right now asking our members and visitors to vote when they'll just have to start all over again soon.

The reason why it is being reset is mostly to do with how easy it was to game the system and cheat with bots. There's little point arguing about if this was already occurring, but the fact that one could do it if they wished so effortlessly made the system a bad way to sort out such an important competition to so many Lost fans.

We chatted with Jay from Jay and Jack, along with DarkUFO and DocArzt at The Tail Section, and we all pretty much agreed about getting a captcha on the vote to make sure its always a human casting the votes. Of course, you can never be 100% free of foul play, but manual multi-voting will have a minimal affect on the outcome of the vote, whereas a bot can ensure victory (or more appropriately, loss) for some parties. When it was possible for us to create a script in minutes that could give Lostpedia 10,000 votes in less than a day, it was obvious something needed to be changed, and the fellow Lost sites we talked to kindly agreed that they didn't mind a rematch and understood our point of view.

And in fact, this new round might actually be better, as we could find a way to embed the vote frame on all five sites, meaning its only a one-click vote. That could make the total number of votes into the hundreds of thousands, which probably would make it the biggest Lost vote the Internet has ever seen.....

At any rate, when the new voting system is sorted, Lostpedia will be linking to it again once more, and hopefully we can then have a more secure contest, all in good fun still.

The Hugo Cup reaches its climax

The Hugo Cup has now posted its final five nominations. For those who don't know, the Hugo Cup is essentially an annual award given to a Lost site in recognition of the service they provide to fans worldwide. Unlike last year, however, the final decision this time is down to you, the fan, to vote for which website you think is the most valuable Lost resource.

The nominees include big contenders like Lost-media (one of the most visited Lost sites around), and TheTailSection (often gaining exclusive interviews)

With some of the most popular Lost sites around on the list, it should be a very close contest!

Lost will end in 2010

And so, after much whispering and promises of possibly one of Lost's biggest true mysteries being solved, we learn that Lost will finish in the year 2010.

USA Today reports that Lost will run for three more Seasons, though shortened to only 16 episodes each, airing February-May each year. Quite an unusual move its fair to say, will they be able to keep their fans when their hiatus lasts each year for like eight months? I'm sure they will, though.

I'm guessing this new format will run with immediate effect of Season 4, the first episode of which will then air February 2008, and run without interference of recap shows straight down to May.

Comments though - is six Seasons too much? About 117(ish) episodes? The writers I believe had always wanted about 4/5 Seasons and about 100 episodes? Is this a good compromise considering the writers desperately wanted to end it on their own terms and not drag out the mysteries more than they had planned? Would you prefer a fourth and fifth Season with 24 episodes each, rather than four five and six with sixteen? And what will you, the fan, do each year for 8 months without a Lost fix?!!

Episode Review - The Brig

A manipulative episode if ever I saw one. Ben tricking Locke, Locke tricking Sawyer, Juliet apparently tricking everyone, Naomi possibly doing the same. Who can you trust on Lost right now? Even Hurley is keeping secrets.

Firstly, lets look at Ben's tactics. I'm slowly picking up on some of his little nudges that push people in the right directions. Like him advising Locke to see Kate, thereby adding to the plan of her with Juliet. Then allowing Locke to hear Juliet's tape and disclosing him about details of his plans, either to make him feel like he was on the in-crowd, or knowing full well he'll tell the beach camp (for some greater deception planned). Furthermore, I noticed that Ben seemed to quickly dispose of Locke the moment he was fully healed by presumably having him around. Was that all Ben wanted him for, so he could heal up and then embarrass him? It was nice to hear him explain things a bit though, mainly that the magic box IS a metaphor (I'm guessing the writers just wanted to clarify that for all those who thought he was actually being literal).

Now to Naomi's possible deception. Is she lying? She seems like she's telling the truth, and Cooper seemed to support her claim by also adding that he thought Locke had died in the plane crash (though then again he could assume they died without knowing Naomi's story). Its a plausible tale though, the plane crashed off the coast of Bali in an ocean trench four miles deep. They sent cameras down and the bodies were all there. And if they are not all dead - then how is it possible without leading to "their subconsciouses were sent through a wormhole" or some other elaborate cop out theory. The only explanation I like is the government cover-up thing, good that no human has seen the wreckage, just cameras. Anyone notice that Rousseau's maps look a lot like the topography of the Bali area though?

Also with Naomi's story - her company was hired by Penelope Widmore, seems fair enough, we know Penny has enough money and determination to find Desmond. But her story about the Island was interesting - in the middle of the ocean, one day the clouds suddenly parted and she saw land. So is the Island like Lemuria or Atlantis then? Can we establish that if its at the coordinates Penny gave, at least the Island doesn't actually move? But then why would you need a sonar beacon to find it?

Going back to the Others again, a few things seemed to not add up. First, how are the Others supposed to be the good guys yet are advocating cold blooded murder on Cooper's behalf? A gesture of free will, but I was surely expecting it to be a faith test ala Mt. Scottish plonk and the test of Abraham. And then with Richard saying the pregnancy issue is a novelty. Obviously the Island has bigger mysteries, and he must think Ben is focusing on a side-effect rather than the real issues. Maybe Ben is taking the Others on that kind of pointless side-mission as he knows they can never research the Island's true mysteries? Ben does seem to care a lot about his image and quelling unrest amongst his group.

Next to Anthony Cooper, or his other countless names. Well done to those who spotted the Tom Sawyer thing - Huck Finn really was taken I guess. Tom Sawyer was a character in books by Mark Twain, apparently mischievous in nature who liked to con the people around him playfully. Also, Lostpedians have added that he was often barefooted, perhaps something the writers reflected on when they wrote the episode that Sawyer should be barefooted as he followed Locke? But back to the reality, and did Locke actually imagine Cooper to the Island? To be honest, I think the Others took him there ("The man in the ambulance actually smiled at me" - that's got evil Ethan / Alpert written all over it I think).

Lastly, things to look forward to. First we got why Rousseau needs dynamite. Is she intending to get Alex back through force? I'm guessing this'll probably be resolved for the explosive season finale ABC keep peddling. Then there's Sayid and why he was digging a hole, if it is even relevant at all? It must be though, right? But then again I doubt any on-Island flashbacks with Sayid, so the issue will have to be resolved some other way pretty quickly, if it is an issue. Then last but not least, Jack, who seems to be getting more annoying by the millisecond, no wonder no-one trusts him. What is his and Juliet's secret? Its obviously something to do with the Island... that ships that come to rescue them will never leave cause of the tide? We know Juliet knew something about the water from The Glass Ballerina, where she said about the Losties having a boat "Going in circles will keep them busy". Is that the secret, or does Jack know more about how the Island is invisible to the outside world?

With Sawyer on his way back with the tape, and Locke heading for Ben for Island answers, it looks like a number of mysteries will hit the fans next week, particularly if the whisperings about the next flashback are anything to go by.

I left my transceiver in San Fransisco...?

When Sayid was trying to fix the satellite phone, the origin of the signal seemed to show the West Coast of North America. But what does that mean? Is the signal showing where the phone signal is sending from, or is it showing simply where Naomi would call from the phone (e.g. it was trying to connect to a recently phoned area). Could Naomi's company be based in the California zone? Does she have someone in her life there? Or is the Hydra Island literally more like Alcatraz than Ben let on!

Tomorrow - a full episode rundown.

More Easter Island Than Easter Egg

An "old place" according to Ben. But what exactly is this thing? After doing a little more encyclopaedic research, it became clear that civilizations as far back as the Egyptians liked their column designs. There seems also quite a lot of connection to the Romans and Greeks, which reminded me of the Colossus of Rhodes, an ancient statue which a lot of people saw connections with to the four-toed statue Sayid and co saw. I don't think its too far of a stretch to see a connection to the foot, I mean both pieces of architecture cry out ancient civilization. But what does that mean for the Island? Some kind of Lemuria or Atlantis, which doesn't appear when investigated by Naomi, but then one day suddenly does for no explained reason. There's a lot of evidence about ancient groups in the Pacific - like Easter Island being the big example - seems like another clue to the fact a group possibly lived on the Island - a very advanced group by the sounds if they invented some sandals and made that big foot. But, if you were that advanced you'd surely have built a huge empire of an Island, not just a couple of random structures.

Maybe next week's flashback will shed a little more light on what came before the DHARMA, or maybe that's Season 4's focus (seeing as each season seems to take us further back in time into the Island's history).

Charlie: "The French are coming!"

Maybe Charlie isn't far wrong. Check out Sawyer's file that Locke was reading. A quick glance and you'll notice that the top document is in French. I'm also hearing, from those more advanced speakers, that it looks like a police report of some kind. Indeed, I tried translating gendarmerie to little avail, but putting it through Wikipedia brought home interesting information about the French military national police force. Here's some links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Gendarmerie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarmerie


So it seems like Sawyer had some involvement with these guys, maybe he visited France for a time? Could be interesting, maybe show Shannon in the background or something (she lived there for a while, right?).

If I can get any more/better translation tidbits, I'll update.