Lost - Season 2 (No spoilers please, we're British)

[terminallyrelaxed]

Theres an interesting article in yesterdays Gaurdian's The Guide about the writing of this. Its pretty much made up on the fly.

[mikeyg27]

Is it a Twin Peaks for the 90s?

Considering it is in actual fact 2005, I highly doubt it.

And when was Twin Peaks?
Just checked on tv.com: premiered April 8th 1990

Me wonders if there was any irony in the comment...

[mothman]

Theres an interesting article in yesterdays Gaurdian's The Guide about the writing of this. Its pretty much made up on the fly.

Yeah, but so was The X-Files and look how screwed-up and insanely complicated the central story ended up. Mulder's sister was abducted by aliens, only she wasn't, and she grew up being told Cigarette-Smoking Man was her real father, only he was really, and she tried to run away, so they killed her, only she was saved by fairies. . .

[terminallyrelaxed]

Yeah, but so was The X-Files and look how screwed-up and insanely complicated the central story ended up. Mulder's sister was abducted by aliens, only she wasn't, and she grew up being told Cigarette-Smoking Man was her real father, only he was really, and she tried to run away, so they killed her, only she was saved by fairies. . .

Exactly, because they made it up as they went along. Thats why people rave about the Babylon 5 'story arc' - the general plot was decided before a single scene had been shot, and while there were filler episodes with one-off plot devices, every few episodes would be an installment which would take the overall storyline forward a bit more.
There might have been a vague arc at the beginningof the X Files, but once they realised how much money they were making it just became about prolonging it for as long as possible.
This guy was told to do a plane crash survivor series and given 5 days to come up with it, and doesnt seem to make any secret of the fact that some things will be deliberately contrived to give that slightly weird sci-fi feel without any coherent idea of why - as if the dwarf dream sequences in twin peaks were still there, but without the talking backwards or saying anything at all, but just put there because its kooky and weird and the kids'll love it, man.
Why doesnt he just put some spooky music on a loop (and leave Portishead the fuck alone) and wank himself to death while screaming 'leftfield!' over and over, ffs.

[mothman]

I am curious about the timeline of the conception of the show - the mental processes involved. Before this guy was brought onboard to make the show actually work, someone had to have had this idea to make a show about survivors of a plane crash on a 'desert' island (why are they called desert islands anyway? They're certainly not deserts. . . is it because they're deserted?).

But why? Did they think they could emulate the success of the Survivor shows but with total control of what happens? They have that on Survivor anyway, it's all half-scripted and when they don't get something on camera right they make them re-do the scene again! Was it some bet betwen two execs that they could get an island-castaways show on the air without the studios turning it down because it'd already been done, as Gilligan's Island?

There are some obvious parallels here with Babylon 5. JM Straczynski came up with the idea of that show after helping run shows like Murder She Wrote; since then he's mainly been brought onboard to run shows like Jeremiah and some new one that hasn't (as far as I know) been announced yet; but the fact is he didn't come up with the initial idea. The creator of Lost ran Felicity, came up with the idea for Alias, but is now being given a show someone else thought up to run.

[jimbobsyouruncle]

from the Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguide/tvradio/story/0,14676,1542319,00.html

"He said he had a show he wanted to put on the air about the survivors of a plane crash and would I please help him do it," remembers Abrams. "I thought, 'How is that a show?' And then I thought if I were to do this it would be far too weird and borderline sci-fi and he'd never want to do it. But his response was no, I love that idea."

What Abrams actually said to Braun was the island they crash on "can't be a normal island" and it must have a very specific history. Braun gave him a week.

"I couldn't believe it," says Abrams. "I started on a Monday and turned in the outline on a Friday. On the Saturday they called and said, 'OK, we're making it.'"

[mothman]

Yeah, I read that article. But it doesn't say who had the idea - Braun, or one of his tame in-house writers?

[splattermac]

I don't want to read this thread in case I see a dirty great spoiler as I'm only up to episode seven.

Imitation Leather if you are reading please can you change your thread title to show where this thread is up to with spoilers? i.e spoilers up to episode 5 etc.

[mothman]

Well, so far it seems to be spoiler-free - wouldn't it be nice if it remained so, for those of us who're going to start watching it on Wednesday?

[Deadman97]

Yeah, like myself- can I request a warning on the title and green-o-vision if it has to get spoilericious?

[terminallyrelaxed]

'Some people crash land on an island; oh and it can't be a normal island' - Christ, I've had that idea, who hasnt? Its taking it further into an interesting story without trying to be deliberately wierd for the sake of it thats the challenge though, isnt it?

[wheatgod]

this programme real good
theres my 4 word review - lump it

[imitationleather]

Since I am King of the thread I've decided that we're only going to discuss episodes that have aired on Channel 4.

It'll also give me an opportunity to sneer at your rubbish and inaccurate predictions concerning the series. You idiots.

[Paul Dee]

Haha, ace. This isn't on until tomorrow is it? That's when I thought I'd be watching it.

[Munday's Chylde]

I thought it was on tonight?

[mothman]

Immy, you, sir, are a God amongst men. Good call. Now if only my fucking in-laws weren't coming round for dinner tonight because they hadn't seen their grand-daughter for a couple of weeks.  I tell you, one bowl of Tuscan bean soup, a slice of ciabatta and they're out the door by 8:30.

Think I'd better torrent onight's ep - fuck, no, TWO eps, double fuck - just in case.

[Paul Dee]

All the previews for it keep saying 'Well it looks like we'll all be staying in on Wednesdays from now on!' type stuff, which puts me off. But I'll give it a go.

I trust the man.

[Neil]

I'm looking forward to this as I can hardly ever be bothered to switch music off to watch the telly nowadays, but this sounds worth the effort.  If like me you've been watching the Desperate Housewives repeats on E4 then it would appear that the one you'll have to miss tonight is repeated on C4 on Friday night at 15 minutes past midnight.

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

Woohoo, heads up folks, this is starting in a minute.

[Purple Tentacle]

Why is it on so early?

Please please tell me that it isn't cut. Please.

I really liked the beginning, very disorientating.


And it's got a hobbit in it!

[Hypnotoad.]

Sooooo.....we've got a plane that crashed on a beach, full of beautiful people, except the black woman and the fat guy, a jet engine that kept running despite being seperated from any fuel source......hope it gets better

[wasp_f15ting]

As far as I can remember no, I hope they leave it on a 9pm - 10pm slot though, since there is a fair bit of gore in the latter episodes. (compared to other TV shows )

I followed this show since it aired in the US, its a quite enjoyable experience.

[wasp_f15ting]

Sooooo.....we've got a plane that crashed on a beach, full of beautiful people, except the black woman and the fat guy, a jet engine that kept running despite being seperated from any fuel source......hope it gets better

Eh? was the engine not on a wing? the wings house tons of fuel.

[Purple Tentacle]

Yeah, I think the engine thing is fine (and even if not, a damn cool action-device), I'm more skeptical about cutting the nerves out of the base of someone's spine, and being able to fix it!

[Hypnotoad.]

yeah but the wing was no longer attached the aircraft, looked all wrong to me, it just wouldnt still be running

[terminallyrelaxed]

?

[Ghost of Troubled Joe]

Cheers terminallyrelaxed, that's my new wallpaper.

[terminallyrelaxed]

("What do you think of it so far?")

Just search google images for 'staler and waldorf' and you're bound to get a better resolution one. Theres even one with a monster behind them in thebooth which would have been quite topical, but I didnt want to detract from the main question.

[Blumf]

This is fucking dire! So they landed on Jurassic Park have they? Except it's not velosoraptors stalking them, it's metaphors for living in a post 9/11 world.

[Gazeuse]

The music is pissing me off. It's a mixture of the bleeding obvious and 1980s
serial music.