Topic: Lost

[vudu]

They took Walt for the same reason they take children in general, which is the same reason Mother took the two babies in the last episode - to mold them into being a potential "protector" of the island. That's the whole reason the Others are there at all - Jacob brings them there because he is looking for someone to take over as the island's protector. I think that is exceedingly clear at this point.

But Jacob had the list of potential replacements and Walt wasn't on it.  Why would the others take him?

[gbuell]

Jacob's list of potential replacements had dozens of names, and we haven't seen all of them. At this point in the show, all but 5 have been crossed out, but there were originally a lot more people on that list than those 5. You saw the episode "The Lighthouse" right?

[vudu]

Yeah--my understanding was the names got crossed off as the candidates died.  Walt's not dead so if his name were ever on the list it would still be on there.  Plus, if the Others were just wanting to capture potential replacements, why would they only capture Walt?  At the end of Season 2 they had Jack & company and instead of trying to teach them the ways of the island they locked them in cages.

[ShyGuy]

The Dharma initative was founded by Alvar Hanso, he was the great grandson of Magnus Hanso, who was the captain of the Black Rock slave ship that carried Richard Alpert to the island. According to a Dharma Initiative map, he is buried on the island. Charles Widmore was seen buying a journal of the first mate of the Black Rock at an auction, so one assumes that while exploring his family history Alvar Hanso acquired the journal and he learned about the island.
The questions is then, How did the journal leave the island?
The behavior experiments were setup to change the Valenzeti equation. What is the Valenzeti equation? 4 8 15 16 23 42

[gbuell]

Being crossed off the list isn't the same as dying, because Kate was on the list and then got crossed off, but she's not dead.

I think they're more interested in capturing and brainwashing kids because they're moldable, while full-grown adults aren't as moldable. I think Jacob's list actually applies more to adults he thinks might ALREADY be suitable for his job, without the need for excessive molding. Anyway, Jacob's a really poor manager so the Others don't always seem to do things his way. Especially when Ben Linus was the leader, because I'm convinced that he was taking orders from Man in Black by mistake.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I haven't read a single post in this thread since page 14, and now I read the one above this post, but didn't the writers say they had an endgame during an interview back in s3 or s4? that the story was plotted out already and they knew exactly what they were doing the entire time?

They did, but why would you wait 3 episodes to the end?

Marathon. There are so many shows to watch right now and to take the suspense torture out of Lost by not watching it till it's almost over helped lighten the stress of following so many different shows.

The 1 week break between episodes and all the commercial breaks can be avoided and I can still finish the show at or around the same time as everyone else. I just wanted to avoid torrenting the 1st 7 or 8 eps when I already had them saved on my DVR box.
 
Are there any sites that have All of this season of Lost up for?
Is LAX pt 1 the season opener? if so then ABC & Comcast have all the current episodes, but  ABC doesn't list the episode number and Comcast has LAX pt1 & 2 both listed as episode 2. so I wanted to be sure before I start marathoning.

[gbuell]

The behavior experiments were setup to change the Valenzeti equation. What is the Valenzeti equation? 4 8 15 16 23 42

What's your canon source for that?

Yes, it's unknown how the journal left the island, but I don't think that's a particularly interesting question to spend time explaining at this point.

[gbuell]

I haven't read a single post in this thread since page 14, and now I read the one above this post, but didn't the writers say they had an endgame during an interview back in s3 or s4? that the story was plotted out already and they knew exactly what they were doing the entire time?

They did, but why would you wait 3 episodes to the end?

Marathon. There are so many shows to watch right now and to take the suspense torture out of Lost by not watching it till it's almost over helped lighten the stress of following so many different shows.

The 1 week break between episodes and all the commercial breaks can be avoided and I can still finish the show at or around the same time as everyone else. I just wanted to avoid torrenting the 1st 7 or 8 eps when I already had them saved on my DVR box.
 
Are there any sites that have All of this season of Lost up for?
Is LAX pt 1 the season opener? if so then ABC & Comcast have all the current episodes, but  ABC doesn't list the episode number and Comcast has LAX pt1 & 2 both listed as episode 2. so I wanted to be sure before I start marathoning.

LAX is the season opener, yes.

[ShyGuy]

Hulu has every Lost episode up.
LAX Pt1 and Pt2 is the season opener.

[vudu]

The Dharma initative was founded by Alvar Hanso, he was the great grandson of Magnus Hanso, who was the captain of the Black Rock slave ship that carried Richard Alpert to the island. According to a Dharma Initiative map, he is buried on the island. Charles Widmore was seen buying a journal of the first mate of the Black Rock at an auction, so one assumes that while exploring his family history Alvar Hanso acquired the journal and he learned about the island.
The questions is then, How did the journal leave the island?
The behavior experiments were setup to change the Valenzeti equation. What is the Valenzeti equation? 4 8 15 16 23 42

WTF

What episode was that in?  Or is this from one of your stupid podcasts?

[ShyGuy]

The behavior experiments were setup to change the Valenzeti equation. What is the Valenzeti equation? 4 8 15 16 23 42

What's your canon source for that?

Yes, it's unknown how the journal left the island, but I don't think that's a particularly interesting question to spend time explaining at this point.

The mobisodes. Damon and Carlton used the same explanation on the   official Lost podcast, so it's straight from the horse's mouth.

[gbuell]

I don't really pay any attention to anything that's not in the show proper, and I don't think the Lost creators should expect anyone to. But I'm not really upset to not have that explanation in the main show, anyway.

[ShyGuy]

The podcasts aren't stupid, you're face is stupid.

[vudu]

The podcasts aren't stupid, you're face is stupid.

**** this show; I should be able to watch it and understand what the **** is going on without listening to a podcast, playing stupid ARGs or joining an online community.

[ShyGuy]

Okay, Alvar Hanso was mentioned in Orientation from season 2, The Black Rock and it's captain were mentioned in Ab Aterno in season 6, The auction is in The Constant from season 4

[vudu]

Showing bits and pieces of random stuff without tying them together in any meaningful way does not count.

[ShyGuy]

Maybe something like Law & Order:SVU is more your speed...

[Adrock]

They took Walt for the same reason they take children in general, which is the same reason Mother took the two babies in the last episode - to mold them into being a potential "protector" of the island. That's the whole reason the Others are there at all - Jacob brings them there because he is looking for someone to take over as the island's protector. I think that is exceedingly clear at this point.

Assumed, not understood. In fact, most of the things you've said are assumptions based on partial facts the shows provides. No offense intended. I mean, you may be right, but since there's there are so few concrete answers given on the show, they don't really count as answers.

Why was everyone brought to the island? Jacob brought them there in his search for a replacement. IT'S BEEN ANSWERED.

Might be part of it. On a few occasions, it's been said or suggested that Jacob brings people to the island to prove the Man in Black wrong about the nature of man who Jacob believes are inherently good. And one could argue who's really responsible for bringing the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 to the island. It's assumed (there's the word again) that Jacob caused the storm that brought the Black Rock and Richard Alpert to The Island. However, Desmond caused Flight 815 to crash by failing to press the button on time in The Swan station. As of yet, it hasn't be revealed if Jacob and Desmond ever met so Jacob has no influence over Desmond.

[gbuell]

Showing bits and pieces of random stuff without tying them together in any meaningful way does not count.

Yeah, maybe Lost isn't really your speed ... that stuff is meant to be tied together with your brain. I would hate Lost if it held your hand and walked you through explanations the way you seem to want it to.

[gbuell]

They took Walt for the same reason they take children in general, which is the same reason Mother took the two babies in the last episode - to mold them into being a potential "protector" of the island. That's the whole reason the Others are there at all - Jacob brings them there because he is looking for someone to take over as the island's protector. I think that is exceedingly clear at this point.

Assumed, not understood. In fact, most of the things you've said are assumptions based on partial facts the shows provides. No offense intended. I mean, you may be right, but since there's there are so few concrete answers given on the show, they don't really count as answers.

Why was everyone brought to the island? Jacob brought them there in his search for a replacement. IT'S BEEN ANSWERED.

Might be part of it. On a few occasions, it's been said or suggested that Jacob brings people to the island to prove the Man in Black wrong about the nature of man who Jacob believes are inherently good. And one could argue who's really responsible for bringing the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 to the island. It's assumed (there's the word again) that Jacob caused the storm that brought the Black Rock and Richard Alpert to The Island. However, Desmond caused Flight 815 to crash by failing to press the button on time in The Swan station. As of yet, it hasn't be revealed if Jacob and Desmond ever met so Jacob has no influence over Desmond.

Again, the necessity to come to conclusions by making logical connections between pieces of information doesn't mean the show isn't answering the questions - it means the show assumes its viewers are smart enough to figure things out without their hands being held! That, to me, is extremely refreshing. I'm very satisfied with the extent to which they are answering most of these questions.

I think it's clear that Jacob meant for 815 to crash, given that he visited a bunch of the passengers before the flight and that he had their names on a big list. Jacob has magical powers so it's extremely feasible that he could have influenced the events that caused Desmond to miss pushing the button. This is an ASSUMPTION I'm making, yes, but I think it's completely reasonable, and having enough information to make reasonable assumptions like that really should be enough!


By the way, I agree that Jacob also seems to be bringing people to show MIB that people can be good. So Jacob is bringing people to the island for two reasons. Either way, answered.

[Plugabugz]

I haven't read a single post in this thread since page 14, and now I read the one above this post, but didn't the writers say they had an endgame during an interview back in s3 or s4? that the story was plotted out already and they knew exactly what they were doing the entire time?

They did, but why would you wait 3 episodes to the end?

Marathon. There are so many shows to watch right now and to take the suspense torture out of Lost by not watching it till it's almost over helped lighten the stress of following so many different shows.

The 1 week break between episodes and all the commercial breaks can be avoided and I can still finish the show at or around the same time as everyone else. I just wanted to avoid torrenting the 1st 7 or 8 eps when I already had them saved on my DVR box.
 
Are there any sites that have All of this season of Lost up for?
Is LAX pt 1 the season opener? if so then ABC & Comcast have all the current episodes, but  ABC doesn't list the episode number and Comcast has LAX pt1 & 2 both listed as episode 2. so I wanted to be sure before I start marathoning.

No i meant (to the writers) why would you wait 3 episodes to the end to deal with it?

[gbuell]

No i meant (to the writers) why would you wait 3 episodes to the end to deal with it?

To deal with what?

[Adrock]

Again, the necessity to come to conclusions by making logical connections between pieces of information doesn't mean the show isn't answering the questions - it means the show assumes its viewers are smart enough to figure things out without their hands being held! That, to me, is extremely refreshing. I'm very satisfied with the extent to which they are answering most of these questions.

Ehh, I disagree. This goes back to our discussion of subtext. Several logical conclusions can be made based on the information provided by the show. Those aren't answers; they're assumptions. For example, Tom Friendly never explicitly says he's gay, but there was enough evidence to come to that conclusion. Not that it matters in the grand scheme of the show or a anything because it doesn't. I'm just using it as an example where subtext is used correctly in helping the viewer come to a single conclusion.

I think it's clear that Jacob meant for 815 to crash, given that he visited a bunch of the passengers before the flight and that he had their names on a big list. Jacob has magical powers so it's extremely feasible that he could have influenced the events that caused Desmond to miss pushing the button. This is an ASSUMPTION I'm making, yes, but I think it's completely reasonable, and having enough information to make reasonable assumptions like that really should be enough!

But, see, I can make a completely different and still reasonable assumption with the same information. What exactly got answered? Nothing. Seems to me like the writers were trying to cover their tracks and did a bad job of it. The show explicitly states that Desmond caused the crash. Kelvin Inman was secretly fixing Libby's boat, The Elizabeth, and was planning on leaving Desmond on The Island to press the button. Desmond missed pressing the button because he was following Inman, eventually killing him accidentally. Nothing about that suggests Jacob had anything to do with it, especially since we know he's not responsible for the excessive amounts of electromagnetism on The Island. Saying "Uhh, Jacob has magical powers and somehow had something to do with the crash" is cheap and, frankly, just not good enough. That's like how Metal Gear Solid 4 explained almost EVERYTHING with nanomachines. If we can just chalk every mystery up to being magic, why even bother watching the show? Some things are okay to be left up to interpretation simply. Some things are not.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Showing bits and pieces of random stuff without tying them together in any meaningful way does not count.

Yeah, maybe Lost isn't really your speed ... that stuff is meant to be tied together with your brain. I would hate Lost if it held your hand and walked you through explanations the way you seem to want it to.

I would have to marathon Lost from teh beginning to tie together some of the stuff you guys are mentioning (not that I'm reading them, because that would be spoilerish). I guess it also helps that you guys discuss the episodes in detail after they happen and that's why you also retain so much detail from previous episodes; collective awareness or whatever.

I've been lost for most of Lost even though I get the general idea of what's going on(and alot of the other stuff too), but it always helps to jump online afterwards and read other peoples thoughts & questions about what they believed is going on and everyone together kinda sorts out all the details (with links to pics and video as prof that some people are really into a show). Unfortunately I don't have he commitment to listen to podcast, watch mini-sodes, read online comics and keep up with the detailed wiki just to know everything that's going on and helps explain everything by connecting dots that would go unnoticed had it not been for someone who did do all that pointing it out sometimes.

Now I'm gonna watch the latest episode of Community, then check out the 1st episode of lost.

[MegaByte]

Again, the necessity to come to conclusions by making logical connections between pieces of information doesn't mean the show isn't answering the questions - it means the show assumes its viewers are smart enough to figure things out without their hands being held! That, to me, is extremely refreshing.

They actually broke this in the last few episodes, showing some clips that felt out of place, just to convey whatever connection point they were trying to make.