About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Lost (TV series)

Encyclopedia : L : LO : LOS : Lost (TV series)

 

 This article or section contains information about an in-progress television show(s).
It may contain information of a speculative nature on future episodes, based on aired episodes, commercials for the show, its website, or other advance publicity. The content may change as future episodes are broadcast and more information becomes available.

This article is about the current drama series. For the short-lived 2001 reality show, see Lost (2001 TV series).

Lost is an American drama television series that follows the survivors of a plane crash on a mysterious tropical island, somewhere in the South Pacific. It was created by Jeffrey Lieber, J. J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, and is filmed primarily on location in Hawaii by Bad Robot Productions. The show is produced by Touchstone Television and airs on the ABC network in the US. Its music is composed by Michael Giacchino.

The series began development in January 2004, when then-head of ABC, Lloyd Braun, ordered an initial script that was based on an idea he claimed to have had for quite a while. Unhappy with the result and a subsequent re-write, Braun contacted J. J. Abrams, creator of the TV series Alias, to write a new pilot script. Initially hesitant, Abrams warmed to it, and eventually collaborated with Damon Lindelof to create the series' style and characters. The gestation of the show was constrained by tight deadlines, as it had been commissioned late in the 2004 season's development cycle. Despite the short schedule, the creative team remained flexible enough that they did not hesitate to modify or create characters to fit actors they wished to cast.Abrams, J. J and Lloyd Braun, Lost Season 1 DVD (extras), Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 6 September, 2005.

Lost's pilot episode was the most expensive in the network's history, reportedly costing between USD$10 and USD$14 million. The show became one of the biggest critical and commercial successes of the 2004 television season and, along with fellow new series Desperate Housewives, helped to reverse the flagging fortunes of ABC. Yet, before it had even aired, Lloyd Braun was fired by executives at ABC's parent company, Disney, because he had greenlighted such an expensive and risky project.

Contents

Ratings and critical response

The pilot episode debuted on September 22, 2004 and garnered 18.6 million viewers, easily winning its 8pm timeslot, and giving ABC its strongest ratings in six years — beaten only the following month by the premiere of Desperate Housewives. According to Variety, "ABC sure could use a breakout drama success, as it hasn't had a real hit since The Practice. Lost [represents] the net's best start for a drama in 18-49 since Once and Again in 1999, and in total viewers since Murder One in 1995."

Based on its strong opening, Reuters dubbed it a "hit drama" noting that "the show appeared to have benefited from an all-out marketing blitz that included radio spots, special screenings and ABC's first billboard advertising campaign in five years." After four episodes aired, ABC announced Lost had been picked up for a full season order.

Lost's second season premiere was even stronger: pulling over 23 million viewers, setting a series record.

For its freshman season, Lost averaged 16 million, ranking it 14th in viewership among prime-time shows, and 15th among the critical 18 to 49 year old demographic. Its second season fared equally well: again, Lost ranked 14th in viewership, with an average of 15.5 million. However, it improved its rating with 18-49 year olds, ranking it 8th.

Awards

Capping its successful first season, Lost won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series and Abrams was awarded an Emmy in September 2005 for his work as the director of the pilot. In January 2006, it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Drama. In 2006, Lost won the Writers Guild of America award for outstanding achievement in writing, and the Screen Actors Guild nod for best ensemble.

Episode structure

Each episode begins with a cold open, preceded by a recap of events that have a bearing on the upcoming narrative. At a dramatic juncture, the screen cuts to black and the show's title graphic, slightly out-of-focus, glides towards the viewer accompanied by an ominous, discordant sound. The opening credits appear over the scenes that immediately follow. While there is a progressive story arc, events on the island are told concurrently with flashbacks relating to the history of a particular character. Some episodes end with a suspenseful twist or cliffhanger, revealed just seconds before a smash cut to black. Others, following a plot resolution, finish with a reflective closing scene that precedes a simple fade out.

Filming location

Lost is filmed entirely on location on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The original island scenes for the pilot were filmed at Mokuleia Beach, near the northwest tip of the island. Later beach scenes take place in secluded spots of the famous North Shore. Cave scenes were filmed on a sound stage built at a Xerox parts warehouse, which had been empty since an employee mass shooting took place there in 1999. Various urban areas in and around Honolulu are used as stand-ins for locations around the world, such as Los Angeles, New York, Iowa, South Korea, Iraq, Nigeria, England, Scotland and Australia. For example, scenes set in a Sydney airport were actually filmed at the Hawaii Convention Center, while a World War II-era bunker was used as an Iraqi Republican Guard installation.

Numerous writers have taken to journeying to Hawaii to find the locations in which episodes are set. In March 2005, one Los Angeles Times columnist described how he sneaked onto the set during filming on one such trip, which has led to other travel writers following his tracks. An extensive archive of filming locations is now tracked at [About.com].

Distribution

Lost has been at the forefront of new television distribution methods. It was one of the first series to be issued through Apple's iTunes Music Store service for playback on an iPod or within the iTunes software. Since October of 2005, new episodes, without commercials, have been available for download the day after they air on ABC.

In April, Disney announced that Lost would be available for free online in streaming format, with advertising, on ABC's website, as part of a two-month experiment of future distribution strategies. The trial, which ran from May to June 2006, caused a stir among network affiliates who were afraid of being cut out of advertising revenue. The streaming of Lost episodes via ABC's website was only available to viewers in the United States.

The UK's Channel 4 has also allowed access to the series online.Channel 4 Lost Episodes Online [Channel 4] As of April 27 2006, both parts of "Pilot" are available to watch for free, and other episodes will cost 99p each. Season two installments will be issued one week after their Channel 4 debut.

Music

Lost features original music composed by Michael Giacchino, whose score is primarily orchestral and incorporates several recurring themes for events and characters. The score is performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra. Pop culture songs are used sparingly, and are usually intended to originate from some on-screen source, such as when Desmond plays Cass Elliot's "Make Your Own Kind Of Music" on the phonograph in the hatch, or when Hurley's portable CD player runs out of batteries in the first season.

According to the Lost podcast from January 9, 2006, Giacchino achieved some of the sounds for the score using unusual instruments, such as striking suspended pieces of the plane's fuselage.Official Lost Podcast ["Official Lost Podcast"] 9 January 2006.

On March 21, 2006, record label Varèse Sarabande released the original television soundtrack for Lost. The soundtrack includes full-length versions of the themes heard on the show, including the main title which was composed by series creator J.J. Abrams.

Cast and characters

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=36305

Season synopses

Season one
Season one began airing in the United States on September 22, 2004 and featured 25 episodes. A plane crash strands the surviving passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 on a seemingly deserted tropical island, forcing the group of strangers to work together to stay alive. However, their survival is threatened by several mysteries including a metal hatch buried in the ground, an unseen creature which roams the jungle, and the motives of the island's malevolent inhabitants known as the "Others". The survivors discover that one of the members in their group is not what he seems. They also encounter Danielle Rousseau, a Frenchwoman who was shipwrecked on the island over sixteen years earlier.

Season two
Season two began airing in the United States and Canada on September 21, 2005 and featured 24 episodes. The story, which continues 44 days after the crash, focuses on the conflict between faith and science. While some plot mysteries are resolved, more questions are raised. Several new characters are introduced including the tail-section survivors and other island inhabitants. More plot details, island mythologies, and insights into the survivors' pasts are divulged. The existence of The DHARMA Initiative and its benefactor, The Hanso Foundation, is established. The truth about the mysterious "Others" begins to unfold and a traitor among the survivors is revealed.

Season three
Season three will begin airing in the United States and Canada on October 4, 2006. It will feature 23 episodes that will be delivered in two blocks: an initial autumn arc of six episodes and a second run of seventeen consecutive episodes beginning in February 2007. The story will continue 65 days after the crash, and Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have planned for the coming season to focus on the Others (as led by "Henry Gale") and their history, ranks, and goals.Aurthur, Kate. ["Dickens, Challah and That Mysterious Island"] The New York Times. 25 May 2006.According to executive producer Damon Lindelof, the audience will meet more survivors of the plane crash as new characters in the third season, and these new survivors' flashbacks will be featured as a unique and central component of the series (existing cast members' flashbacks will accordingly be fewer than in previous seasons). ["New 'Lost' Characters Part Of Third Season"], 04 May 2006.

Thematic motifs

There are several recurring thematic motifs on Lost, which generally have no direct impact on the story itself. For some fans, these repeated elements and references expand the show's literary and philosophical subtext.

Black and white

The colors black and white, which traditionally reflect opposition or dualism (i.e., yin and yang), appear frequently throughout the series. Their dichotomy is laid out in the show's pilot episode — Locke explains backgammon to Walt by holding up one black and one white piece, saying, "Two players, two sides — one is light, one is dark."

The colors are often used to represent ambiguous or contradictory natures within a character's own personality. In the opening sequence of "Raised by Another", Locke appears as an ominous image in Claire's nightmare about her unborn child, with one eyeball black and the other white. In "Deus Ex Machina", the glasses that Sawyer wears to accommodate his hyperopia are created from the frames of two different pairs of glasses: one side white, the other black.

On other occasions, the colors represent opposition between individuals. In the closing scene of "Collision", Jack and Ana-Lucia, ostensibly leaders of their respective factions, face each other with Jack wearing white and Ana-Lucia wearing black; in "The Long Con", Jack and Locke, immediately following an argument between the two, are seen wearing opposing white and black shirts.

However, on other occasions, the colors are featured in unexpected or unexplained ways — such as in "House of the Rising Sun", when Jack finds a pouch containing one white stone and one black stone on a pair of mummified corpses.

Eyes

References to eyes appear frequently in Lost. A close-up image of an eye opens many episodes of the first season, often being the eye of the character whose flashbacks are to be featured. In "White Rabbit", Locke hints at his experience in confronting the island's mysterious "security system" saying, "I've looked into the eye of this island. And what I saw was beautiful." Later, in "Raised by Another," Claire has a nightmare in which Locke appears with opaque eyes, one white and the other black. The tail-section survivors also discover a glass eye in the DHARMA Initiative's abandoned storage locker, and in the episode "Lockdown," when the map of the underground bunkers is revealed by blacklight, it is briefly shown reflected in Locke's eye.

Dysfunctional families

Most of the major characters have dysfunctional parents, particularly fathers, who are either absent, reluctant, or destructive. Most notably, Locke is the victim of a betrayal in "Deus Ex Machina" by both his natural parents. Jack's broken relationship with his alcoholic surgeon father, Christian, is the impetus for him to travel to Australia, at the behest of his mother. Sawyer's mother has an extra-marital affair with a con-man; after finding out, his father kills her and then commits suicide. Kate murders the abusive man she had believed to be her step-father, after discovering that he is actually her biological father. She is forced into a life on the run after her mother reveals her crime to the police. While the troubling parental relationships of these individuals have been the most explored, nearly all the protagonists have had serious difficulties with their families. In many cases, the ways in which the survivors dealt with these relationships led to their being on the island.

Literature

Episodes often mention or incorporate literary works, a point of interest to fans who try to connect them to Lost's mythology.Oldenburg, Ann. "Is 'Lost' a literal enigma?" [USA Today], 4 October 2005. While certain books are read by characters, others are referenced in dialogue, and some have just been glimpsed.

Sawyer is frequently shown reading, initially the books he finds in the plane wreckage, a habit which eventually leads to his hyperopia. In "Confidence Man" he spends time with Watership Down, an account of a group of rabbits trying to find a new warren. In the later episode "Numbers," Sawyer starts A Wrinkle in Time, a children's fantasy novel about a group of adolescents seeking a lost father, which contains Christian undertones about a universal battle between darkness and light. name=SparkNotesWrinkle> Kurshan, Ilana. "Wrinkle in Time Study Guide, Chapter 4, 'The Black Thing'," [SparkNotes.com], 16 March 2006. In "The Whole Truth," Sawyer is reading Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, a teen novel about menstruation, when Sun asks him for a pregnancy test. He calls the book "predictable."

Biblical stories and psalms are pointedly used by Mr. Eko, such as the story of King Josiah (from 2 Kings, chapters 22 and 23), which he relates to Locke in "What Kate Did," and the recitation of the 23rd Psalm in the following episode.

The Third Policeman is seen when Desmond is packing before fleeing the underground bunker in "Orientation." Craig Wright, who co-wrote the episode, told the Chicago Tribune that, "Whoever goes out and buys the book will have a lot more ammunition in their back pocket as they theorize about the show. They will have a lot more to speculate about — and, no small thing, they will have read a really great book." Reardon, Patrick T. "Lost book mention may be good for small press." [IndyStar.com] (reprint of Chicago Tribune article), 29 September, 2005.

In "One of Them," a man who claims to be "Henry Gale" is captured and imprisoned by the survivors. Series writer Damon Lindelof has said that the character's name alludes to Dorothy's uncle from The Wizard of Oz. Lindelof, Damon and Carlton Cuse. "Official LOST Podcast." [ABC.Go.com], 1 March, 2006.

Locke gives a copy of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov to Gale during his captivity in "Maternity Leave." Gale asks if he could have a Stephen King novel instead. Shortly afterwards, Locke relates to Jack that Ernest Hemingway felt that he lived in Dostoyevsky's shadow, a situation which Gale takes to refer to the relationship between his two main captors.

The dialogue between characters occasionally refers to literature, sometimes in off-the-cuff remarks, to add context to the plot. In "White Rabbit," John Locke converses with Jack, who believes he may be going crazy chasing someone who is "not there." Locke refers to this as "the white rabbit" from Alice in Wonderland and makes his first declaration of the special nature of the Island, "Is your White Rabbit a hallucination? Probably. But what if everything that happened here happened for a reason?"

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens is mentioned repeatedly throughout the season 2 finale. Desmond says he has read every Dickens novel except this one, because he is planning for it to be the last book he reads before he dies. It is also the hiding place for his key that he uses to discharge the electromagnetic build-up in the bunker.

Other books that are briefly glimpsed on screen or alluded to in conversation include: Heart of Darkness, Lord of the Flies, The Turn of the Screw, Walker Percy's Lancelot, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Philosophy

By admission of the show's writing staff, some characters on Lost reference famous philosophers through their names and connection to each other. Franklin, Garth. "Paul Dini Gives 'Lost' Spoilers", [Dark Horizon Web site], 9 November 2005. The two clearest examples, John Locke and Danielle Rousseau, are both named after social contract philosophers who dealt with the relationship between nature and civilization.

The character Locke shares his name with English philosopher John Locke. The latter believed that in a natural state, all men had equal rights to punish transgressors; to ensure fair judgment for all, governments were formed to better administer the laws. His concept contended that humans are born with a "blank slate" — a tabula rasa — without any innate knowledge or experience, and their identity is therefore a product of their decisions and choices in life. Locke believed that the state should be guided by a natural law. Danielle Rousseau shares her surname with Franco-Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who argued that man is born weak, ignorant, and virtuous. He maintained that the individual is corrupted by his interactions with a larger society. His theory of the Noble Savage hypothesised that a child raised in the wilderness, independent of human society and culture, would behave according to a fully internalized code of universal ethics. In other words, a child raised in this manner would have a completely self-consistent set of beliefs. Such a child would not necessarily be more just or more fair, but rather would behave in a way more true to his experience. Rousseau stated that "man is born free, but everywhere, he is in chains," and coined the phrase "all men are created equal."

Introduced in the second season, the character Desmond David Hume is named after David Hume, a philosopher famous for his criticism of induction. In particular, Hume believed that it is logically impossible to justify a belief about something in the future from what has happened to that thing or what that thing has done in the past, as there is no reason one should believe the past should resemble the future. He dismissed belief in miracles, claiming that a miracle can only be rationally believed to have occurred if there is absolutely infallible evidence for its having occurred. Russell, Paul. ["Hume on Religion"], 22 June 2006.

The show also references Eastern philosophies. The DHARMA Initiative, uses an acronym which refers to Dharma, the "way of higher truths" in sects of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. The symbol used by the Initiative is called a bagua, a wheel of balance often used in feng shui.

Mythology

As a "genre" show, Lost includes a number of mysterious elements which have been ascribed to science fiction or supernatural phenomena. The creators of the series refer to these as part of the mythology of the series.Benson, Jim. [The 'Lost' Generation: Networks Go Eerie], Broadcasting & Cable, May 16, 2005.

The Monster

The "monster" is the first piece of mythology introduced. It appears on the night of the crash when the survivors hear a loud, unidentifiable sound coming from the jungle and witness trees being torn down in the distance. The next day, Jack, Kate, and Charlie see the power of the "monster" first-hand when it rips the pilot from the cockpit and leaves his mangled body in a tree. In "Walkabout", Locke also has a direct encounter but is spared. He later relates to Jack, "I looked into the eye of the island, and what I saw was beautiful." In "Exodus, Part I" Rousseau refers to it as a "security system" whose purpose is to protect the island. In "The 23rd Psalm", Eko has a confrontation similar to Locke's. As he stares down the "monster", it appears to be a cloud of black smoke, in which brief images of Eko's past are flashed.

Crossovers

Prior to their arrival on the island, both major and minor characters had occasion to interact, often unknowingly, sometimes affecting each others' lives. These are revealed through characters' flashbacks, and are typically only obvious to viewers, with the characters themselves oblivious to the ways their pasts have intersected. Some crossovers are merely fleeting, with characters appearing on televisions or being glimpsed in the background of scenes. Damon Lindelof has stated that these are not "Easter eggs", but rather a larger part of the mythology of the series.

The Others

"The Others" are what Rousseau dubs the unknown inhabitants of the island, who kidnapped her daughter, Alex, as an infant. Initially, they are a mystery to her, and she sets traps to ensnare them. The Others infiltrate the survivors' camps, lying about their origins. They are portrayed with superior understanding of the island, and have a secret agenda with respect to the castaways. After the survivors of Flight 815 arrive, Ethan Rom is discovered to be a spy from the Others. He captures the pregnant Claire, taking her to a DHARMA medical station to give birth, but she escapes with the help of a young woman, whom Claire later believes to be Alex. This is confirmed in "Live Together, Die Alone". At the end of the first season, the Others seize Walt on the high seas. During the second season, they also capture twelve tail-section survivors. Eventually, a man calling himself Goodwin is revealed as an Other to Ana-Lucia and killed. Rousseau later catches a man who claims to be "Henry Gale from Minnesota", who also turns out to be a member of the group. Michael is captured by the Others while attempting to find Walt, and is taken to what appears to be their camp. There, he is given an ultimatum: free the captured "Henry Gale" and bring a select group of four survivors or never see his son again. Walt whispers to his father that the Others are not what they seem. In "Live Together Die Alone," both Desmond and Kelvin refer to the Others as "the Hostiles."

The numbers

The numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 appear throughout the series, both in sequence and individually. They were broadcast from the Island's radio transmitter, and it was this message that drew Rousseau's expedition there. Although she later changes the message after the deaths of the rest of her team, the digits had also been heard by other people, eventually making their way to Hurley, who used them to win a lottery. After those around him suffer a series of misfortunes, he begins to believe the numbers are cursed. His search for their origin leads him to Australia and, through the crash, to the island, where he ultimately discovers them engraved on the hatch. They also appear inside the bunker, on medicine bottles, and constitute a code that must be entered into the Swan station's computer. The sum of these numbers, 108, has also become significant in connection to the DHARMA Initiative. It appears on a mural inside the Initiative's [[DHARMA Initiative stations#Station 3: The Swan|Station Three]], and the full sequence of numbers must be entered into its computer every 108 minutes.

DHARMA Initiative

The existence of the DHARMA Initiative is established by the film that Jack and Locke find in the Swan Station. It was founded in 1970 by University of Michigan doctoral candidates Gerald and Karen de Groot and financed through the Hanso Foundation. It comprises a group of "scientists and free thinkers" from around the world who were brought together at a "large-scale communal research compound" to conduct research into various disciplines, including meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, sociology, zoology, and electromagnetism. According to the Swan's orientation video, the DHARMA Initiative has placed a number of research stations around the island. Four have been featured in the series thus far. The Swan station, commonly called "the hatch," is being occupied by the survivors. As part of the Lost Experience, DHARMA has been revealed as an acronym for "Department of Heuristics And Research Material Applications".

Animals

There have been a number of occurrences in which the survivors encounter animals that either shouldn't be there or have special attributes.

Discredited theories

At the heart of the series is a complex and cryptic storyline, spawning numerous unresolved questions. Encouraged by Lost's writers and stars— who often interact with fans both online and in person— viewers and TV critics alike have taken to rampant theorization in an attempt to unravel the mysteries. Such theories mainly concern the nature of the island; the origins of the "security system" and the "Others"; the meaning of the numbers; and the reasons for both the crash and the survival of some passengers. Several of the more common fan theories have been discussed and refuted by the show's creators:
Spoilers end here.

Lost in other media

The series is highly intertextual. In addition to the television series, the characters and setting of Lost have appeared in the following official tie-ins:

Licensed merchandise

Lost in popular culture

Due to the show's popularity, references to the series and elements from its story have appeared in parody and popular culture usage:

In the news:

On television:

On the Internet:

In print:

In music:

References

External links

Listen to this article (2 parts) · [(info)]
[Part 1] · [Part 2]
This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2006-06-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ([Media helpAudio help])
[[:Spoken articles|More spoken articles]]

Official tie-in sites
Sponsored forum
  • [The Fuselage]: forum sponsored by J.J. Abrams and the show's creative team
    • Network sites
  • [ABC: Lost] (US): official Lost Season 2+ website
  • [Oceanic Flight 815] - official Lost Season 1 website
  • [ABC: Lost Podcast]
  • [channel4.com/lost]
  • [Promotional site for the UK Series 2 Part 1 DVD release]
  • [CTV.ca Lost]
    • Lost
    Production: Episode List | Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3
    Main characters: Ana-Lucía | Boone | Charlie | Claire | Eko | Hurley | Jack | Jin | Kate
    Libby | Locke | Michael | Sawyer | Sayid | Shannon | Sun | Walt
    Secondary characters: Bernard | Desmond | "Henry Gale" | Rose
    Organizations/groups: Oceanic Airlines | DHARMA Initiative | Hanso Foundation | The Others
    Miscellaneous: Lost Experience | Island stations'' | Soundtrack

     

    From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
    All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

    Search Titles
    0123456789
    ABCDEFGHIJ
    KLMNOPQRST
    UVWXYZ?

    E-mail this article to:

    Personal Message: