@@guyledouche7939me too but also I feel privileged to have watched this at the time in the old fashioned way, having to wait week by week and year by year for new series - before I even had my first smartphone! 😂
Honestly, what they needed was the showrunners to pay as much attention to details and story as this guy. Because he has done a better job of trying to make sense it as well they did. I know he's an advocate for the show and defending its production and writing, but I honestly think what he has largely succeeded in doing is creating a mythology that makes sense for the most part to fill the gaps that the original showrunners missed.
Kudos to you doing Lost content in 2024. I was so entrenched in the Lost mythos back in the day and those reality games they did really worked well in bringing me extra intrigue. Thanks for doing this.
this channel has the best, most thorough understanding of LOST of any other channel or forum anywhere else on the internet. thank you for making these videos!!!
The island isn't done with us, and your channel is the proof!!! Thank you 🙏🏼 If after 20 years from the first episode thousands of people are still here to talk about the show, the stories, mysteries and more is because Lost in more than a tv series!!!
Every bit of your content is meticulously planned, researched, scripted, recorded, edited, etc... and I appreciate all of the hard work very much. Thank you!
Half the characters in breaking bad were originally going to die in season 1, and plans changed CONSTANTLY, but no one accuses the show of "making it up as it went along".
I think what a lot of people don’t realize about producing tv shows is that sometimes things don’t pan out the way they think and realizations are discovered along the way about what works and what doesn’t. Why kill off a character that turns out better than initially expected just because that was the original idea? There are opportunities to make adjustments that won’t destroy the overall narrative. If I recall correctly, Walking Dead also did this with Carol.
Breaking Bad got better with each season, it was pretty underwhelming for me first season and I bailed on it twice before finally sticking it with it, by the 3rd season I was totally on board, on watching breaking bad again from 1 straight through to the finale 2/3 times now, the quality was consistent and if anything got slightly better with each season ,, the ending was pretty satisfying but not perfect for me where as lost absolutely blew me away from the pilot episode, I was 100% invested by episode 2 , difference with bb being lost went downhilll right from season 2 and consistently went down in quality each season and the ending wasn't satisfying at all, not just the finale but for me the initial promise of some profound greatness that was on its way from the pilot, never quite arrived, there was profound truths in lost and lessons about life etc (in my opinion) but ultimately it didn't deliver what the first season hinted at .... If they did 5/6/7 seasons at least as good as the first season and an ending that actually saw them get off the island, or at least most of them, then I've no doubt lost would never of been matched, the location, the music, the casting, the general idea were all genius but the writing was all over the place, I felt cheated watching the finale and it only took me around a month to finish it, if I invested 6 years I think I might of cried, lost is still great but it could of been so much better, I can't think of any ways that breaking Bad could of been better, I don't think breaking Bad will ever be surpassed now but if the lost creators done the show justice lost would be the greatest show made.. Tragic
I personally love all the “filler” episodes like Hurley getting the dharma van working. Idk why anyone dislikes those. Because even if the writers didn’t do what I’m about to say intentionally, they portrayed things that would actually happen while people were on an island. If I was stranded on the island w a group of people and we found a van and someone was a mechanic, why WOULDNT we try to get it up and running?
The haters of the ending are the Jacks of the world. Takes some of us longer to let ourselves believe. For me, this show put all my inner questions and wonderings into such a brilliant format. I will never forget waking up an hour earlier than I needed to before school to binge as much as I could of the DVD’s me and my friends were sharing around and the way I sat and sobbed with a smile on my face at the ending. It perfectly showed the experience of finally letting yourself believe in something. After all of Jacks dismissing anything not based in science, he was healed by the realisation that we all matter. All of us.
Hi! I just got caught up on the videos I missed. I got chills watching all of them. And I'm really sad that The Theory of Everything is over. WOW. No words to describe how much I enjoy your content. I think YOU should be the one to write a sequel/requel/prequel. I would definitely watch it❤
This has been your best video so far. I’m always glad to learn new information about the creative process behind Lost, so this was invaluable. I’m really looking forward to part 2.
It’s ironic but I honestly think season 4 is one of the tightest seasons of all time. It pays off the ending of 3 (we have to go back), it has an overarching mystery though the whole piece (the oceanic 6) which are revealed through the whole season, some interesting new characters who are pivotal to the lore and an ever growing sense of dread about what happened to the people who didn’t get off the island - are they alive, are they dead, are they still there? It’s beautifully handled and perfectly put together.
This is very eye opening. Thanks ! Gives me some ammunition whenever I come across the people who completely bash it saying they didnt know anything. I've always thought, no one ever has a whole story written up in their mind. And even if they do its subject to change. Ask literally any novelist that has ever existed since the beginning of time. Not knowing where you are going is not an inherently bad thing. Of course just like them, any writer knows what big ideas they want to hit on, clearly its the same here.
This reminds me a bit of some things Stephen King once said about his Dark tower series: He talked about his inspirations, one of them being Tolkien with TLOTR. He wanted to write something equal, but he was only 19 and if he had started writing then, it would just became his (Tolkien's) story again. Furthermore he talked about how people wrote to him asking about the ending of the dark tower because they wouldn't be around anymore because of sickness. But he couldn't answer this. He didn't know. He had to write it to discover how it goes! He always said he did not write the dark tower he just wrote down what the Ka (something like fate or destiny in the dark tower universe) showed him.
A prime example to back this up is watching how the two shows Games Of Thrones and The Handmaid’s Tale BOTH surpassed the books and a lot of changes were made in the show that contrasts the books.
Great deep dive about the Behind the scene stuff of the show that I didn't know about. Glad this channel exists for one of my favorite shows. Keep up the good work. And stay Lost.
I recently finished watching all seasons of Lost for the first time and so far I have been pleased by it all. Aside from wishing Jack had found a way to defeat…Dark John and lived to protect the island.
Some aspects were no doubt deliberate, including the often repeated one eye symbology shown throughout the show. That always tells me that there’s a mysterious agenda we likely wont uncover..
Thank you for making this! I was obsessed with LOST to an unhealthy level back in the day. And the truth is absolutely in the middle. I am doing a rewatch and analyzing what they intended when the episodes aired. I think they intended purgatory as the big reveal but the audience figured it out and they called an audible to the flash sideways. They even admitted they didn't develop Jacob and the man in black until between season 1 and 2. The fog analogy or road trip one do indeed explain where the show is going. Something like time travel was probably an ungrounded idea when Cuse mentioned it but it wasn't concrete at the time. And considering this was loosely based on the stand I think the sickness was going to play a bigger role and Walt was the token psychic Stephen King child. I firmly believed he conjured the polar bears from the comics but the show called an audible and created the frozen donkey wheel to explain the polar bears. Things like this kinda explain the writing process as it went along.
I just binged the show and it’s now one of my favorite shows ever. I think for me the best thing about the show is not the mysteries but the characters and how those mysteries affect them. I could go on all day about different things about how incredible these characters are. What’s super cool is to see something happen and you getting to see the actions that led to that action happening. It plays with Human perspective in amazing ways and adds to the depth of the characters and feeling connected to them. It’s just like in our lives we see people do things but not what led them to that point their stories. And all main characters have very unique defined personality that are all different from one another habe different motivations and backstories and they all feel like I could have crashed on a plane and been with people like this. I think this is what makes the first few seasons so special. I personally enjoy the later ones but that’s because I enjoy mythology and mystery and also once I’m connected to characters I have to see how their stories end. I could see why others don’t enjoy the later seasons as much tho. Overall for me the show is a 8.5/10 and definitely a top 5 favorite of all time for me.
I just finished this series for the 5th or so watch, and decided it’s my all time favorite series. Then I discovered this channel, and you’ve done an EXCELLENT job with your videos. Watching this almost makes me want to start it over again! 😂
This was brilliantly well done, thank you so much for spending so much time researching this put this together. I've always been to die hard fan of the show, but I knew almost none of this. I miss the fun i had when watching along back in the day, scouring lostpedia to learn as much as i could. I was doing an internship I hated during s6, but I kept myself sane sending back and fourth thousand word long essays to a close friend, with Visio block flow diagrams trying to explain the timeline. Such great memories. Please keep up this channel, it brings me so much joy. I went to Hawaii with my wife and in-laws last year and under the guise of tourism sneak took them to as many filming locations as I could. It was surreal going for Chinese food next to the place they shot Ekos Africa scenes, then driving a few minutes to go sit on the survivor beach the rest of the day.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 I love this video series. I came to the LOST bandwagon MANY years after it was already off tv, so the people that I would have chatted with about it weren't even watching it when I was. But that did give one benefit they didn't get. I got to binge watch it. My brain got to STAY focused on it. I don't think I would have liked it as much had I had to try n remember all of that every week n had to deal with the time delays between finale episodes n new seasons starting up etc.
I just recently discovered this channel and have been watching your videos everyday. I don't really have the words to describe how impressed I am by this body of work. I'm completely blown away. LOST is and has been since it aired my favorite TV show of any genre. I have long since given up on arguing with people about the ending and trying to defend the writers so I'm grateful that this channel is doing that in a much more educated and classy way than I could ever achieve. Thank you so much for all the time and effort that must go into this. I will definitely be directing people to this page from now on. ❤
I really appreciate the kind words, thank you 🙏 I am honoured if anyone shared my videos as a way of combatting some of the negativity and criticism surrounding the show online. That is a very high compliment!
This show still stands as my favorite! I was 29 years old when this premiered. Before every season I would rewatch the show up to that point so by the time we got to the final season I’ve seen season 1 - 6 times.
First... to get lost. Also, I was rewatching Angel and Sawyer is in the first episode. It was pretty weird to see Vamp Sawyer. Also, the Proto-Dharma idea named Medusa reinforces my idea that greek mythology played a huge role in the story. And that the island is Calypso's Ogygia.
When I saw you had created a new video I just knew my Sunday was going to be good a one. I started to watch Lost for the 21th ? 22nd? 25th? time last week. Can't actually remember how many times, but it definitely won't be the last, and your work plays a big part in it. I'll never thank you enough... And can't help thinking that a drop of the Source helped create this masterpiece and inspired (or not, but still..) all the humans it touched. (OMG, I sound like Locke in the first seasons 😄, but you know what I mean...)
Thank you and a lot of things said kept it so great for me as well! A tv show like that with so much ambitions should've been loved and respected but I never took it for granted because Lost is always gonna be up there as the best TV show
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 yeah youre really talented. have you considered creating another channel about movies in general where you dissect them like you do lost to solve unanswered questions and mysteries. eventually youll have spoken all there is about lost and id love to see you do something else as youre a really smart guy
That's true, once I complete the episode guide I will have completed my LOST journey. Although it will take several years to finish the episode guide so there is some time before we reach 'The End', as it were. But you're right, at some point I should broaden my focus. Perhaps once the episode guide becomes a well-oiled machine, I can launch a new channel to run alongside it to discuss other things. It's certainly something I am open to doing, I just need a unique take and approach. Really appreciate the kind words and encouragement!
@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Yes!! There's still so much to discover with lost. If and when you decide to do the movie channel, please let Groundhog Day be the first you dissect! I've always wondered what really may have happened to him there, and with your attention to detail, I know you could come up with some solid theories.
You've done a fantastic job exploring and deepening the mythology of Lost. A show which I loved. Yet, they clearly had a rough road plan, but no real plan. You've also got to remember how many episodes a season there was back then. It sounds like it was absolute chaos behind the scenes. I, personally enjoyed the time travel parts back in the Darma initiative. That shit was kewl
Yes, during Season One I think it was chaos behind the scenes. But they found their equilibrium by Season Two and I think they had more than a rough road plan by that point. They had the backstory of The Island and the major mythological milestones of where they wanted to take the overall story (which I shall get into in more depth in Part Two). The problem was the treading water between the milestones, which for a long time was a result of the network's paternalism over not ending the show nor revealing the answers behind mysteries. However, I would agree that producing 22-episode seasons was a big part of why the show ended up being so uneven generally speaking. Had they been making 10-episode seasons from the start, it would have been a tighter narrative, but we would have lost all that time with the characters, building those emotional connections. I also love the time travel stuff! Wouldn't lose that for anything.
I'm caught between selling my DVD:s or just keeping them for the future. After seeing this video, a third option was revealed; Maybe watch them again? Very good video!!
I do love how the first episode I saw of your channel answered some of my questions. I personally think they had a plan for the show- that they were in Purgatory- but once people started guessing that they had to change the entire premise of the show
I think that might have been the “break glass in case of emergency” answer had the show gotten cancelled after 13 episodes. Lindelof speaks about how he thought (and hoped) that the show was going to get cancelled before the Pilot came out. By that point they were about 7-10 episodes deep and developing the middle run of the season. So I absolutely think had the show been cancelled due to low ratings, the writersroom would have triggered a resolution like this in which they could wrap up the on-island story by revealing that the characters had died in the crash. It would have been inelegant and unsatisfying to do it that way, but it would at least have been something. Lindelof says how he was hoping it would become a weird cult classic show like The Prisoner in this way. So, I agree that the purgatory answer might have been considered and discussed early on as there are implications made in the first half of Season One in particular, but I disagree that this idea was reconsidered because audiences guessed purgatory as the solution early on. It was more like a back-up answer in case the Pilot flopped. That’s my take on it anyway.
Fascinating insight into the story of how LOST came to be the way it came to be and the games showrunners/writers had to play with clueless network executives interfering with the creative process. As with any serialized series-LOST was a work in progres. Looking forward to your coverage of Seasons 4-6. ............... Initially I drifted away early in Season 1 then stumbled onto the episode where the HATCH was discovered and after they blasted it open, I had to find out what happened next and was hooked. Every series of the nature (like Battlestar Galactica that ran concurrently) has seemingly pointless episodes that did not seem to move the story forward-had bits that made sense later on. When viewed as a whole, upon rewatching a few times, it was amazing how sell the pieces came together by the series finale - which many drew the false conclusion "They Were Dead The Whole Time". I was really hoping the 12-minute epilog shown only during the AFTER SHOW and as a special edition DVD, that eventually a sequel series would happen with Hugo, Ben and Walt running the Island. Where they would create their own Dharma Initiative, recruiting scientists and archaeologists to unlock the islands known (and yet to be discovered). With appearance by some of those who left aboard Flight 316. Along with children of the Losties.
Awesome and very thoroughly and clear breakdown! I always chuckle if I read 'they were making it up as they went along'. Lemme tell you a secret. That is how TV is made, especially at that time. It's how creation goes, things are discovered and expanded upon or reduced. Recently it's changed a little because of the reduced nr of episodes, making it possible to write a whole season before the first episode airs. It's still being made up as it went along, just before it's aired. It's also not always great, cause it often feels like a stretched out movie where you don't have random amazing character episodes like the dharma-van episode of Lost. It doesn't enable you to bond with characters, and it's why older shows with like 70+ episodes are way more popular on streaming. And I think that's where they're slowly moving towards again. Why invest $200M into 6-8 episodes when you can make like 16-18 for less that enables people to become more engrossed and put in more time watching your content. Looking forward to the next part, since the second half isn't covered as much as the inception and the first half! As well as you're episode by episode guide!
Ill always feel a bit cheated. If you dont think monetary gains dictated keeping the audience on edge over completing an arc or resolving a mystery for good story telling and art then...youre wrong. These same models are seen in f2p games today. Spike people's "fever" and then give them minimal doses to supress withdrawl. I still love the show and it was good....but the criticism is 100% credible.
Great video and your whole channel is great. As someone who spent countless hours on lostpedia back in like 2009/2010 and doesnt have the patience to put all this together i salute you. I love this show so much and despite not really needing explanations it‘s almost like a rewatch of a different kind to experience the show in this manner
I'm incredibly grateful and flattered to receive any amount. Thank you so much 🙏 I've also been reading some of your other lovely comments on various videos too. Really appreciate your personal takes and interactions with others. You're a gem!
I provide some links in the further reading section to some of the sources I used. Javier’s essay - The LOST Will and Testament - is particularly illuminating about those first two seasons. Worth a read on its own!
I watched it all back in 2004-10; and again last Aug-Sep on Netflix. Generally, I absolutely love it, although some arcs and some characters are better than others. Ultimately, Lost has to go down as one of the most epic tv shows in history.
I write long epic fantasy books and I rarely have more than the current book plotted. Then I build on things. I plant seeds and grow them over books. I have the advantage of writing words. I don't have to worry about the actor playing my character quitting or dying or budgets considerations or time constraints. I don't have set hours of programming that i have to fill. Each season of the show feels outline, espeically the last three stories. I can say, I know that sometimes your plans seem good, but don't work when you go to implement them and force you course correct. Sometimes, inspiration hits you deep into a series that can take you in an unplanned direction. Creating longform fiction is a messy process for a novelist working alone. And if you don't realize that, ask yourslef why GRR Martin hasn't released the next SOIAF novel in 13 years.
Great comment! And totally agreed. I'll be touching upon this a little bit in the next part -- the difference of being a sole author with full creative control over a novel versus running a TV show that employs roughly 500 people and not having full control over every aspect of that production as a result. There's a lot of nuance to what happened behind the scenes of this show.
Lost is at it's best as something you can binge watch. I watched when it was fairly unknown on Channel 4 in the UK, and the biggest questions were about polar bears, whispers and smoke....it took so long, with network interference, writer's strikes and tonnes of public pressure, so it makes sense that it's concepts weren't executed with perfection...but damn it's a great and memorable experience, that's great than the sum of its parts if you can relinquish a miniscule amount of criticism.
I always thought that the writers had an overall plan, but also "winged it" a lot too. The long breaks and the gaps between character-specific episodes allowed for fan input to shape certain aspects of the narrative. LOST was one of the first shows of the internet era.
Great video. Even as a huge lost fan I actually never knew all of this about how the writers had to trick the network about being self-contained. Your point about people being overly nostalgic about season 1 is really good. Even though I love season 1, I agree that it is was less good than the other 5 seasons because it had less purpose. It also makes so much more sense now why the pacing of the last 3 seasons was so much better now.
I remember coming up with my own sort of head canon to explain just why the smoke monster sounded the way that it did both based on an old quote I saw DL gave once (saying that the sound designer of the show came up with what to use at the start after they gave him a general description of what the "monster" was), and with what we eventually learned exactly what the monster was by the end. That is, I liked the idea of every sound we first heard of the monster during those first couple seasons, it's a mixture of several different elements, but they key thing being NONE of them are HUMAN. They're basically either mechanical sounding, or animalistic. And since when we later see Lock as the Man In Black, he even describes the experience as having his humanity stripped away from him when Jacob turned him into this thing. so that's kinda where I settled in my mind.
I always viewed the MiB monster as essentially a mimic. He copies the dead, absorbs their personas, and imitates them down to the finest detail. The sounds he makes in smoke form, whether animalistic growls or those steam pressed mechanical howls, could be a mix of noises from the jungle wildlife and the various electromagnetic sounds generated by the island. He even mimics the whispers, according to a small chestnut of lore that Damon Lindelof dropped in an interview a few years back. But from a practical production standpoint, I think when the monster sound effects were first created for the show’s Pilot episode, the writersroom certainly seemed to imply that Smokey was more mechanical in nature.
With all the drivel and slop we have been given over the last few decades by cable network channels, it's surprising to hear how micromanaging the network was on LOST even after the raving reviews of season 1. Smart management should have seen the success and immediately taken a hands-off approach, letting the showrunners do what they do. It doesn't get much worse than executives in a board room ruining a good show because they want something different than what the viewers want.
I remember Damon saying in a podcast that the idea for "the incident" (first mentioned in s2) was always that the characters were going to go back in time and end up causing it
31:53 You nailed it. It's all based on a personal bias/belief system that has to utilize a contradictory logical fallacy to be true. Having a "lack of plan" is a relatively nascent/bandwagon-jumping complaint permeated in internet culture imo. It's exactly how people seem to hate the recent Star Wars movies because they "didn't have a plan" but in reality, when George Lucas made "A New Hope" he has mentioned MANY times in public that he didn't have Empire or Return of the Jedi mapped out either and yet the criticisms for those OT films are completely absent.
I'm a "season 1 is my favorite" person, but solely because the character development was such a strong focus across the first few episodes. I feel like, in service to the larger plot, the characters became much less important in later seasons. I watched and became a fan because this was a group of people that were interesting and i wanted to hang out with, not because I wanted to find out what the cave was all about. To me, the writers strike marked a very abrupt disruption to a really fun narrative mythology that was being slowly unfolded, and I felt like they never completely recovered the rhythm. I really enjoyed the first and last seasons and episodes here and there in the other seasons.
I discuss the impact from the writers strike in Part 2 and document what exactly in their plans changed. I agree that the character development was exceptional in Season One, but that’s because they couldn’t flesh out the mythology so they mainly focused on character. As the network let them off the leash in later seasons they could implement all their crazy ideas without as much resistance, but as a result the characters became pawns of the plot far more than before.
Didn't have time to deeply check your channel, but I will! Was the showrunners making it up? I don't care, the result is great and Lost will always be my favorite TV show, not objectively the best, let's be honest, but my favorite, a marker of my life.
u should make a video on how season 4 was supposed to be since it was ment to be longer. love the show. re watching rn for the 4th time. showing it to my girl. were almost thru season 5!
I will say this about the Dharma van: It did become relevant when the people who stayed behind at the beach used it to run over the "Others" when they tried to surprise attack them. The second I saw that scene I remember saying to myself "See, everything they introduce DOES come around full circle"..........
Won’t be too long of a wait. I’m just completing the final edit of it now. It will be released to Patreon first then it will go live on UA-cam a couple of weeks after that. Should be some time in March 🙏
When “Alias” was pitched to the network, I wonder if JJ Abrams made it clear that there would be supernatural elements? Eventually it became a somewhat spy version of Buffy so of course there were fantasy / supernatural elements. But like Lost, we didn’t really realize this until near the end of season 1.
ABSOLUTELY LOVE how many times you shouted out "Desperate Housewives" in your video. "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" were and STILL ARE my two favorite TV shows from NETWORK TV. Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and Lost all became iconic and instant hit show all at the same time in the same year. Desperate Housewives went through a similar conundrum of trying to end their series they way Marc wanted to end it. These networks are so greedy that they were willing to let hit TV shows go on and on and on till it faded away from existence but when the ratings kept going down ABC finally caved and let Marc Cherry end his serial Comedy/Drama series the way he wanted. This is me just theorizing at this point. Since Grey's Anatomy is going on to 20th season it seems to be the ONLY show that is still bringing high ratings to the network ABC is currently doing to them what they TRIED to do with "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" and milking for everything they got. We're seeing in REAL time the consequences of a show like "Grey's Anatomy" overstaying their welcome. Ending Desperate Housewives and Lost was right decision to make. PS: The Creator of Lost and Desperate Housewives did an interview together regarding 2008 writers strike if you want to see it and use as a resource for Part 2 of your vid.
@@SirReptitiousOh yeah Grey’s Anatomy is going last I checked. I don’t think they made it all up. I had to do Wordpress article for school about my favorite TV shows and I referenced Desperate Housewives and Lost because it was the TV shows I grew up watching and seeing how both shows evolved. The first three seasons of Lost were slow because I’d all the expeditions but the last three seasons really showed clear purpose and direction and a lot of the story arch’s circled back around to the beginning. In my opinion no TV show has ever come close to the phenomenal that Lost was. I’m sorry you feel like the entire show was made up.
I’ll always wish that they’d kept the Smoke Monster, conceptually, as a security system/Cerberus. One created by the DHARMA Initiative would have made even more sense, and given their experiments with psychic phenomena, the mind-reading element could’ve have remained. I wonder, could the series have moved forward and reached a satisfying conclusion if they retained the good vs. evil mythology but not introduced Jacob and The Man in Black as the avatars? I think it could have. Those two characters were, for me, the midi-chlorians of the plot. Most of the things caused by them could have been attributed to The Island. I wish they’d kept Claire’s astronomy hobby, too. It would have added more depth to her character. Thank you for another great video. Looking forward to part 2.
The problem with Smokey being nanobots created by DHARMA is that it would have resolved that question by Season Two because we all guessed that. And I think that reveal would have been as disappointing to viewers as The Island turning out to be purgatory and that everyone on it is dead. While it would have been a cleaner answer, it also wouldn't have been particularly imaginative nor exciting. The smoke monster was clearly a major threat to characters from the start and for it to be just a malfunctioning guard dog would have been underwhelming. At least, for me (I can only speak for myself here). What they went with -- Smokey having ancient origins that are connected to the power beneath The Island -- was far more comprehensive and satisfying. And it tied Smokey into the show's whole concept of consciousness and souls. Whereas had Smokey just been a machine made by science experiments, it would have felt very disconnected from the overall mythology, if you know what I mean? Could they have explored the good vs evil ideas without Jacob and MiB? Yes, for sure. They had started to do that a bit with Oceanic 815ers going to war with The Others, until those relationships and dynamics between the groups became more complex and not so black and white. But they eventually needed two characters to embody those light and dark concepts so they could explore and deconstruct them. Could The Island really have stood in for everything Jacob & MiB did? I think it would have been difficult to tell the rest of the story without someone or something coming to embody good and evil within the story as physical beings. The smoke monster was an obvious choice for embodying the darkness while a character representing the light needed to be created to give a balance to the equation. A version of the show without Jacob and MiB is hard to imagine for me, because I personally like that part of the mythos. However, I can absolutely imagine a version of the show that only lasted three seasons (as Lindelof originally hoped for) that never introduced the Jacob vs MiB conflict. And I think plenty of people might have preferred a more concise, less mythologically dense narrative. Although I just cannot picture what that final season would have been about in terms of the big conflict beyond more battles with The Others, which felt played out by the end of Season Three. I think the story needed those bigger stakes to create a climatic final season. Also, with shortened seasons, it's impossible to know what would have been lost, if you'll pardon the pun! The flashforwards, the time travel, the flash sideways -- they wouldn't have been able to fit all of that in. For some that might be preferable lol! But I wouldn't give those arcs up for anything since they are my favourite overall movements from the series. Anyway, fascinating to think about what might have been! Make the smoke monster a machine and you change everything basically.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 thank you for the incisive reply. To be clear, I loved ‘Lost’, and I was very satisfied with the ending. Still, I’ll always regret that there wasn’t more…consistency? Cohesion? Clarity? I would have liked a more science or science-fictiony, less overtly supernatural explanation for some of the Island’s mysteries. In fact, a few could have remained mysteries, as far as I’m concerned. In any event, your videos have only made me appreciate the show more, even those aspects with which I was slightly disappointed. Thanks again. P.S. The whispers should have been The Others!
I know what you mean. Had the narrative been clearer and more consistent then there would be far less sour grapes out there! I personally like the balance struck between science fiction and the supernatural, it's an unusual mix we don't often get in stories (usually it's one or the other). But I totally get where you are coming from and I appreciate what you are saying. p.s. I would have accepted the whispers coming from The Others only if The Others turned out to be supernatural themselves, otherwise the idea that people like Tom and Danny were hiding in the trees and whispering random, creepy phrases at people is too silly for me to accept lol.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 ha! Yes, Tom and particularly Danny aren’t subtle enough for whispering or hiding. That would had to be delegated to the many nameless background Others. Ethan’s first fight with Jack, who admittedly was caught off guard, and the way he managed to single-handedly subdue Claire and string up Charlie, gave the impression that The Others were supernatural. I wonder if that was an early idea.
I did a breakdown of all the whispers on the show in my video on Faith and the Supernatural, and I counted the number of times they were correlated with appearances from The Others. It's not as many as it seems. In the first season episode 'Outlaws' the whispers include a voice that repeats Frank Duckett's last words to Sawyer -- "It'll come back around" -- which makes these voices clearly connected to the realm of the dead. I think it would have been hard to then make the whispers non-supernatural in nature, which is maybe why the writers flipflopped on them so much. I agree that during the first season the writers left the origin of The Others open so that they could make them into a supernatural group if they wanted, hence their initial conflation with the whispers. Had the show been cancelled in Season One, or naturally ended at Season Three, perhaps that would have ended up being the case. So many possibilities!
From the series bible: That being said, launching a series requires a great deal of trial and error. Much of the first season is committed to finding what works, what doesn't, and most importantly, what the show IS. The greatest architect in the· world can-draw up a-blueprint for a building, but construction is a whole new ball of wax.
Why doesnt the Smoke Monster just go over the ultrasonic pylons? We know it's possible to go ver and under them because locke, sayid, kate and the others did so, why didnt he do it? Considering they're there to protect everyone from the monster
Why didn't they just let him off the island? That's all he wanted, and it's not like he was bad guy - much more sympathetic than Jacob. The whole "The world will end" seemed like a lie.
@@TokyoXtreme they didnt let him off the island because everyone (rightly or not) thought that the world would end if they did so, also he clearly wasnt a good person, he killed many people, also when he was talking to Claire he said that after Kate had finished helping him get Sawyer and Jack off the island she could have killed her
If you watch that scene back, you'll see that the smoke monster doesn't actually make it close enough to the pylons to go over them. A human being can literally walk between the pylons before being affected by the sonar waves (it's like once they are directly between the pylons that they become affected), which can either kill or incapacitate them. But the smoke monster can't even get that far between the pylons. He hits the invisible barrier like a brick wall. Smokey doesn't react the same way to the pylons as people do. The field repels him instantly. He can't get close enough to go over them. He's bound by different rules than human beings.
Completely unrelated fun fact (that you probably already know) is that only 2 scenes were shot outside of Hawaii. It wasn't when Said was in Germany. It wasn't when Locke was in the Tunisian desert. It wasn't any of the scenes in Korea or Thailand. It was when Sun confronts Whidmore, and also later when Ben confronts Whidmore in his hotel room. Every other scene in the show was shot in Hawaii. It really showcases just how innovative the set designers/location scouts were.
Really great work! I already look forward to bringing this to the attention of anyone who complains about the showrunners "making it up as they went along". Especially the breakdown of all of the mythology already set up in season 2 is very helpful and informative. I don't fully agree that the people that prefer season 1 over the others do so simply because everything was still a 'mystery'. I think the show was simply better written. In fact, I would argue that the mysteries raised and answered in the last three seasons are less consistent and satisfying than the ones from seasons 1 - 3. Give me a Danielle Rousseau, Nigerian Beechcraft, cable in the sand or doomsday button over Jacob, The Tempest, Team Ilana, Charles Widmore etc. any day of the week! But you are right that the people that claim that the show 'lost its way' during later seasons are pretty much factually wrong, at least when it comes to that aspect of it. Looking forward to part 2!
Thank you 🙏 Please feel free to share whenever encountering that kind of response. I get comments under videos often making that same claim and after a while you get tired of having to repeat the same arguments/information. That's ultimately why I made the video lol. Although I've got to say, those comments are usually in the minority. As for the people preferring Season One part of the video, I was only referring to a specific type of viewer/commenter. The type who claims Season One was the best season but then goes onto complain about how the rest of the show sucked because they didn't have a plan and made it all up. That, to me, is an inconsistent position. Season One is the only season where they were legitimately making it up as they went along with very little overall control of the narrative and its direction; the brakes were on the storytelling possibilities. So, I just wanted to point out the slight hypocrisy of those who make that criticism about the show yet celebrate S1 as the gold standard and why I think that is actually a double standard. I have no issue with people who simply prefer Season One overall! To each their own. I am the type of LOST viewer who much prefers where the show went to where it started out. For me, Season One lacks a strong narrative drive and has whole episodes that I consider pure filler with lots of playing for time, more so than anything that came later IMO. I think it has some great episodes and we get to spend quality time with our Losties, but I always want to power through it all so I can get to the Exodus finale (where LOST really becomes LOST imo). I know that might be considered a hot take lol. This is why I want to do the episode guide because I have lots of thoughts about the show and what works versus what doesn't. I can finally unleash the critiques! I take your point about preferring the Season One mystery/reveals to what came later -- they are cleaner -- but I would add that for every cool hatch/doomsday button or cable on the beach we got a Claire-has-amnesia plotline or Charlie having sketchy dreams that make him steal babies episode, and for every Outrigger or Team Ilana narrative dead end of the latter seasons, we got Desmond finding his constant or a Richard Alpert origin story, etc. The tide ebbs and flows there.
I still think they knew the beginning and the end but didn't know the route in between 👍🤔 they didn't know how they'd get from A to B, but they knew what A and B were as plot points...
Back watching your videos as I am currently in the middle rewatching the series. I really appreciate the insight you have and the effort you put into these videos, truly remarkable. One question though - I’ve very picky about shows in general and LOST is pretty much the only series I have a deep connection with. I’m assuming LOST is also your favorite show, but can you recommend any other shows that are similar?
Thank you 🙏 LOST is probably my favourite show - it’s certainly the one I have the deeper knowledge of. Although I also have to give love to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files for being my formative TV experiences as a young lad. I think those two shows had a heavy influence over LOST as well in terms of their mythological elements. I have never seen any show that did what LOST did. It really is unique. The closest I have ever come to something like it was a British miniseries called The Third Day starring Jude Law, which often felt like LOST meets The Wicker Man; sort of an English folk horror version of The Island. Imagine a traditional John Locke episode where he is following weird signs and forces while The Others try to crown him their leader only it is stretched out as its own standalone story. It’s a very different show, but it has similar concepts and vibes. Otherwise, I’ve seen very few shows that come even remotely close.
LOVE the content and absolutely BRILLIANT, we;; thought out and perfectly time documentary on the story shaping of the best series ever! you're work is well appreciated and ty!!(id love to hear your take on Game of Thrones if u ever get a second channel!)
20 years have passed and I still have goosebumps when Locke's smiling at the rain...
Terry O’ Qiuinn and Michael Emerson were the capstones of this series for me.
Damn I feel old...
@@guyledouche7939me too but also I feel privileged to have watched this at the time in the old fashioned way, having to wait week by week and year by year for new series - before I even had my first smartphone! 😂
@@tinygold772 the show really does have a different feel when you binge watch vs. week to week.
@@tinygold772same. I can still remember being so excited every Wednesday night! Would get my chickfila and Ben and Jerry’s just for the occasion!
I truly 10000% believe that the world needed this channel
I hope the world finds me. That would certainly help boost my subs count! 😂
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 The funny thing is your catalog might reach the whole series in length by the time people find you.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 If it makes you feel better. We both started producing Lost videos at the same time, and you've got 20,000 more than me 😢
Honestly, what they needed was the showrunners to pay as much attention to details and story as this guy. Because he has done a better job of trying to make sense it as well they did. I know he's an advocate for the show and defending its production and writing, but I honestly think what he has largely succeeded in doing is creating a mythology that makes sense for the most part to fill the gaps that the original showrunners missed.
@@michaelcorcoran8768My thoughts exactly
Im currently watching the whole series again for the 6th time, "you're timing is impeccable John" as Ben Linus said.
Same here. Uncanny.
*your
@@wompastompa3692 it's a minor grammar mistake, I'll leave it like that just to annoy you.
@@harrisonmckenzie4905
>doubling down on IESLB
Done.
Ben : « How did you know when to be here »
Flocke : « The island told me »
Follow the leader , beechcraft seen
Kudos to you doing Lost content in 2024. I was so entrenched in the Lost mythos back in the day and those reality games they did really worked well in bringing me extra intrigue. Thanks for doing this.
this channel has the best, most thorough understanding of LOST of any other channel or forum anywhere else on the internet. thank you for making these videos!!!
I’ve started to rewatch lost.. even tho I’m still lost watching it I have to give them credit.. it’s brilliantly written and stands on its own league
Same, facts
The island isn't done with us, and your channel is the proof!!! Thank you 🙏🏼
If after 20 years from the first episode thousands of people are still here to talk about the show, the stories, mysteries and more is because Lost in more than a tv series!!!
The haters work hard, but LOST Explained works harder! What a great idea for a 2-parter. Really loving this so far!
Every bit of your content is meticulously planned, researched, scripted, recorded, edited, etc... and I appreciate all of the hard work very much. Thank you!
There will never be a series like Lost...no words to describe the absolute incomparable genius of the creators...
I can’t imagine how deflated they must have felt that so many people just didn’t get the ending at the time!
Heroes was the closest I’ve seen
It's a thing of beauty, folks! As always.
Half the characters in breaking bad were originally going to die in season 1, and plans changed CONSTANTLY, but no one accuses the show of "making it up as it went along".
I think what a lot of people don’t realize about producing tv shows is that sometimes things don’t pan out the way they think and realizations are discovered along the way about what works and what doesn’t. Why kill off a character that turns out better than initially expected just because that was the original idea? There are opportunities to make adjustments that won’t destroy the overall narrative. If I recall correctly, Walking Dead also did this with Carol.
The scene where we see the machine gun in Walts trunk, the writers had no idea yet what they were going to do with that
The big difference is the payoff felt earned. Lost feels more cobbled together where Breaking Bad felt a lot more deliberate.
@danielclark-hughes692 one is a crime/family drama the other is a scifi/fantasy about an island... completely different
Breaking Bad got better with each season, it was pretty underwhelming for me first season and I bailed on it twice before finally sticking it with it, by the 3rd season I was totally on board, on watching breaking bad again from 1 straight through to the finale 2/3 times now, the quality was consistent and if anything got slightly better with each season ,, the ending was pretty satisfying but not perfect for me where as lost absolutely blew me away from the pilot episode, I was 100% invested by episode 2 , difference with bb being lost went downhilll right from season 2 and consistently went down in quality each season and the ending wasn't satisfying at all, not just the finale but for me the initial promise of some profound greatness that was on its way from the pilot, never quite arrived, there was profound truths in lost and lessons about life etc (in my opinion) but ultimately it didn't deliver what the first season hinted at .... If they did 5/6/7 seasons at least as good as the first season and an ending that actually saw them get off the island, or at least most of them, then I've no doubt lost would never of been matched, the location, the music, the casting, the general idea were all genius but the writing was all over the place, I felt cheated watching the finale and it only took me around a month to finish it, if I invested 6 years I think I might of cried, lost is still great but it could of been so much better, I can't think of any ways that breaking Bad could of been better, I don't think breaking Bad will ever be surpassed now but if the lost creators done the show justice lost would be the greatest show made.. Tragic
This video deserves so many more views. Should be essential viewing for every lost fan and critic.
I personally love all the “filler” episodes like Hurley getting the dharma van working. Idk why anyone dislikes those. Because even if the writers didn’t do what I’m about to say intentionally, they portrayed things that would actually happen while people were on an island. If I was stranded on the island w a group of people and we found a van and someone was a mechanic, why WOULDNT we try to get it up and running?
The haters of the ending are the Jacks of the world. Takes some of us longer to let ourselves believe. For me, this show put all my inner questions and wonderings into such a brilliant format. I will never forget waking up an hour earlier than I needed to before school to binge as much as I could of the DVD’s me and my friends were sharing around and the way I sat and sobbed with a smile on my face at the ending. It perfectly showed the experience of finally letting yourself believe in something. After all of Jacks dismissing anything not based in science, he was healed by the realisation that we all matter. All of us.
Hi! I just got caught up on the videos I missed. I got chills watching all of them. And I'm really sad that The Theory of Everything is over. WOW. No words to describe how much I enjoy your content. I think YOU should be the one to write a sequel/requel/prequel. I would definitely watch it❤
Thank you 🙏 While The Theory of Everything has ended, the LOST Episode Guide is about to begin. One door closes and another opens. Stay tuned!
Thank you for your commitment into making this video. Lost is truly one of the few tv shows that i would rewatch for the third time.
41:55--The transition to Lindeloff's words to Jin speaking them is mind-boggling.
This has been your best video so far. I’m always glad to learn new information about the creative process behind Lost, so this was invaluable. I’m really looking forward to part 2.
41:15 If you look closely you could see the smoke monster in Locke's eye ball reflections. And that was as early as episode 4 season 1.
It’s ironic but I honestly think season 4 is one of the tightest seasons of all time. It pays off the ending of 3 (we have to go back), it has an overarching mystery though the whole piece (the oceanic 6) which are revealed through the whole season, some interesting new characters who are pivotal to the lore and an ever growing sense of dread about what happened to the people who didn’t get off the island - are they alive, are they dead, are they still there? It’s beautifully handled and perfectly put together.
This is very eye opening. Thanks ! Gives me some ammunition whenever I come across the people who completely bash it saying they didnt know anything. I've always thought, no one ever has a whole story written up in their mind. And even if they do its subject to change. Ask literally any novelist that has ever existed since the beginning of time. Not knowing where you are going is not an inherently bad thing. Of course just like them, any writer knows what big ideas they want to hit on, clearly its the same here.
This reminds me a bit of some things Stephen King once said about his Dark tower series: He talked about his inspirations, one of them being Tolkien with TLOTR. He wanted to write something equal, but he was only 19 and if he had started writing then, it would just became his (Tolkien's) story again. Furthermore he talked about how people wrote to him asking about the ending of the dark tower because they wouldn't be around anymore because of sickness. But he couldn't answer this. He didn't know. He had to write it to discover how it goes! He always said he did not write the dark tower he just wrote down what the Ka (something like fate or destiny in the dark tower universe) showed him.
A prime example to back this up is watching how the two shows Games Of Thrones and The Handmaid’s Tale BOTH surpassed the books and a lot of changes were made in the show that contrasts the books.
Excellent argument. So glad the channel's still cookin. Makes me wanna watch again every time.
I was one of those "former fans" who lost faith in it when it first aired. After recently binge watching the entire series over 3 weeks. I get it now.
Great deep dive about the Behind the scene stuff of the show that I didn't know about. Glad this channel exists for one of my favorite shows. Keep up the good work. And stay Lost.
Such a great video! Keep up the good work! Love your videos! Lost needs to stay alive. No other show like it.
I recently finished watching all seasons of Lost for the first time and so far I have been pleased by it all.
Aside from wishing Jack had found a way to defeat…Dark John and lived to protect the island.
Some aspects were no doubt deliberate, including the often repeated one eye symbology shown throughout the show.
That always tells me that there’s a mysterious agenda we likely wont uncover..
Thank you for making this! I was obsessed with LOST to an unhealthy level back in the day. And the truth is absolutely in the middle. I am doing a rewatch and analyzing what they intended when the episodes aired. I think they intended purgatory as the big reveal but the audience figured it out and they called an audible to the flash sideways. They even admitted they didn't develop Jacob and the man in black until between season 1 and 2. The fog analogy or road trip one do indeed explain where the show is going. Something like time travel was probably an ungrounded idea when Cuse mentioned it but it wasn't concrete at the time. And considering this was loosely based on the stand I think the sickness was going to play a bigger role and Walt was the token psychic Stephen King child. I firmly believed he conjured the polar bears from the comics but the show called an audible and created the frozen donkey wheel to explain the polar bears. Things like this kinda explain the writing process as it went along.
Such great and amazing context. Just want to thank you again and say you are - so - awesome - !
I just binged the show and it’s now one of my favorite shows ever. I think for me the best thing about the show is not the mysteries but the characters and how those mysteries affect them. I could go on all day about different things about how incredible these characters are. What’s super cool is to see something happen and you getting to see the actions that led to that action happening. It plays with Human perspective in amazing ways and adds to the depth of the characters and feeling connected to them. It’s just like in our lives we see people do things but not what led them to that point their stories. And all main characters have very unique defined personality that are all different from one another habe different motivations and backstories and they all feel like I could have crashed on a plane and been with people like this. I think this is what makes the first few seasons so special. I personally enjoy the later ones but that’s because I enjoy mythology and mystery and also once I’m connected to characters I have to see how their stories end. I could see why others don’t enjoy the later seasons as much tho. Overall for me the show is a 8.5/10 and definitely a top 5 favorite of all time for me.
I just finished this series for the 5th or so watch, and decided it’s my all time favorite series. Then I discovered this channel, and you’ve done an EXCELLENT job with your videos. Watching this almost makes me want to start it over again! 😂
The details in these videos are insanely accurate, great work! Thank you, as always, for putting in the effort, really appreciated
Love this series! ❤ Hurley was always my favorite!
This was brilliantly well done, thank you so much for spending so much time researching this put this together. I've always been to die hard fan of the show, but I knew almost none of this.
I miss the fun i had when watching along back in the day, scouring lostpedia to learn as much as i could. I was doing an internship I hated during s6, but I kept myself sane sending back and fourth thousand word long essays to a close friend, with Visio block flow diagrams trying to explain the timeline. Such great memories.
Please keep up this channel, it brings me so much joy.
I went to Hawaii with my wife and in-laws last year and under the guise of tourism sneak took them to as many filming locations as I could. It was surreal going for Chinese food next to the place they shot Ekos Africa scenes, then driving a few minutes to go sit on the survivor beach the rest of the day.
You can BE a fan n still be critical.
Absolutely. They are not mutually exclusive things. I have my own criticisms of aspects of the show too.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 I love this video series. I came to the LOST bandwagon MANY years after it was already off tv, so the people that I would have chatted with about it weren't even watching it when I was. But that did give one benefit they didn't get. I got to binge watch it. My brain got to STAY focused on it. I don't think I would have liked it as much had I had to try n remember all of that every week n had to deal with the time delays between finale episodes n new seasons starting up etc.
I just recently discovered this channel and have been watching your videos everyday. I don't really have the words to describe how impressed I am by this body of work. I'm completely blown away.
LOST is and has been since it aired my favorite TV show of any genre. I have long since given up on arguing with people about the ending and trying to defend the writers so I'm grateful that this channel is doing that in a much more educated and classy way than I could ever achieve.
Thank you so much for all the time and effort that must go into this. I will definitely be directing people to this page from now on. ❤
I really appreciate the kind words, thank you 🙏 I am honoured if anyone shared my videos as a way of combatting some of the negativity and criticism surrounding the show online. That is a very high compliment!
This show still stands as my favorite! I was 29 years old when this premiered. Before every season I would rewatch the show up to that point so by the time we got to the final season I’ve seen season 1 - 6 times.
First... to get lost. Also, I was rewatching Angel and Sawyer is in the first episode. It was pretty weird to see Vamp Sawyer.
Also, the Proto-Dharma idea named Medusa reinforces my idea that greek mythology played a huge role in the story. And that the island is Calypso's Ogygia.
Your channel is awesome!
When I saw you had created a new video I just knew my Sunday was going to be good a one. I started to watch Lost for the 21th ? 22nd? 25th? time last week. Can't actually remember how many times, but it definitely won't be the last, and your work plays a big part in it. I'll never thank you enough... And can't help thinking that a drop of the Source helped create this masterpiece and inspired (or not, but still..) all the humans it touched. (OMG, I sound like Locke in the first seasons 😄, but you know what I mean...)
Thank you and a lot of things said kept it so great for me as well! A tv show like that with so much ambitions should've been loved and respected but I never took it for granted because Lost is always gonna be up there as the best TV show
your editing, timing and creativity is sublime. amazing channel
What a lovely comment! Thank you 🙏
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 yeah youre really talented. have you considered creating another channel about movies in general where you dissect them like you do lost to solve unanswered questions and mysteries. eventually youll have spoken all there is about lost and id love to see you do something else as youre a really smart guy
That's true, once I complete the episode guide I will have completed my LOST journey. Although it will take several years to finish the episode guide so there is some time before we reach 'The End', as it were. But you're right, at some point I should broaden my focus. Perhaps once the episode guide becomes a well-oiled machine, I can launch a new channel to run alongside it to discuss other things. It's certainly something I am open to doing, I just need a unique take and approach. Really appreciate the kind words and encouragement!
@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Yes!! There's still so much to discover with lost. If and when you decide to do the movie channel, please let Groundhog Day be the first you dissect! I've always wondered what really may have happened to him there, and with your attention to detail, I know you could come up with some solid theories.
Great choice! Groundhog Day is one of my favourite movies of all time! 🙂
AHHHHH new Lost Explained dropped!!
You've done a fantastic job exploring and deepening the mythology of Lost. A show which I loved. Yet, they clearly had a rough road plan, but no real plan. You've also got to remember how many episodes a season there was back then. It sounds like it was absolute chaos behind the scenes. I, personally enjoyed the time travel parts back in the Darma initiative. That shit was kewl
Yes, during Season One I think it was chaos behind the scenes. But they found their equilibrium by Season Two and I think they had more than a rough road plan by that point. They had the backstory of The Island and the major mythological milestones of where they wanted to take the overall story (which I shall get into in more depth in Part Two). The problem was the treading water between the milestones, which for a long time was a result of the network's paternalism over not ending the show nor revealing the answers behind mysteries. However, I would agree that producing 22-episode seasons was a big part of why the show ended up being so uneven generally speaking. Had they been making 10-episode seasons from the start, it would have been a tighter narrative, but we would have lost all that time with the characters, building those emotional connections. I also love the time travel stuff! Wouldn't lose that for anything.
I can literally count on you to post something and it makes me go back and rewatch LOST lol I don’t know who to blame at this point
I take full responsibility 😂
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 could be worse addictions I guess😂
I'm caught between selling my DVD:s or just keeping them for the future. After seeing this video, a third option was revealed; Maybe watch them again? Very good video!!
Why the hell would you ever sell that stuff? Won't be long until none of that will be available at all
@@idiot_city5444 True.
I do love how the first episode I saw of your channel answered some of my questions. I personally think they had a plan for the show- that they were in Purgatory- but once people started guessing that they had to change the entire premise of the show
I think that might have been the “break glass in case of emergency” answer had the show gotten cancelled after 13 episodes. Lindelof speaks about how he thought (and hoped) that the show was going to get cancelled before the Pilot came out. By that point they were about 7-10 episodes deep and developing the middle run of the season. So I absolutely think had the show been cancelled due to low ratings, the writersroom would have triggered a resolution like this in which they could wrap up the on-island story by revealing that the characters had died in the crash. It would have been inelegant and unsatisfying to do it that way, but it would at least have been something. Lindelof says how he was hoping it would become a weird cult classic show like The Prisoner in this way. So, I agree that the purgatory answer might have been considered and discussed early on as there are implications made in the first half of Season One in particular, but I disagree that this idea was reconsidered because audiences guessed purgatory as the solution early on. It was more like a back-up answer in case the Pilot flopped. That’s my take on it anyway.
Fantastic as always. Can't wait for Part 2!!
Fascinating insight into the story of how LOST came to be the way it came to be and the games showrunners/writers had to play with clueless network executives interfering with the creative process. As with any serialized series-LOST was a work in progres. Looking forward to your coverage of Seasons 4-6. ............... Initially I drifted away early in Season 1 then stumbled onto the episode where the HATCH was discovered and after they blasted it open, I had to find out what happened next and was hooked.
Every series of the nature (like Battlestar Galactica that ran concurrently) has seemingly pointless episodes that did not seem to move the story forward-had bits that made sense later on.
When viewed as a whole, upon rewatching a few times, it was amazing how sell the pieces came together by the series finale - which many drew the false conclusion "They Were Dead The Whole Time".
I was really hoping the 12-minute epilog shown only during the AFTER SHOW and as a special edition DVD, that eventually a sequel series would happen with Hugo, Ben and Walt running the Island. Where they would create their own Dharma Initiative, recruiting scientists and archaeologists to unlock the islands known (and yet to be discovered). With appearance by some of those who left aboard Flight 316. Along with children of the Losties.
Awesome and very thoroughly and clear breakdown! I always chuckle if I read 'they were making it up as they went along'. Lemme tell you a secret. That is how TV is made, especially at that time. It's how creation goes, things are discovered and expanded upon or reduced. Recently it's changed a little because of the reduced nr of episodes, making it possible to write a whole season before the first episode airs. It's still being made up as it went along, just before it's aired. It's also not always great, cause it often feels like a stretched out movie where you don't have random amazing character episodes like the dharma-van episode of Lost. It doesn't enable you to bond with characters, and it's why older shows with like 70+ episodes are way more popular on streaming. And I think that's where they're slowly moving towards again. Why invest $200M into 6-8 episodes when you can make like 16-18 for less that enables people to become more engrossed and put in more time watching your content.
Looking forward to the next part, since the second half isn't covered as much as the inception and the first half! As well as you're episode by episode guide!
Ill always feel a bit cheated. If you dont think monetary gains dictated keeping the audience on edge over completing an arc or resolving a mystery for good story telling and art then...youre wrong. These same models are seen in f2p games today. Spike people's "fever" and then give them minimal doses to supress withdrawl.
I still love the show and it was good....but the criticism is 100% credible.
Been waiting!
Great video and your whole channel is great. As someone who spent countless hours on lostpedia back in like 2009/2010 and doesnt have the patience to put all this together i salute you.
I love this show so much and despite not really needing explanations it‘s almost like a rewatch of a different kind to experience the show in this manner
That’s music to my ears! 🙏
Hey! I was on the lostpedia forum back in the day too. Spent ages there discussing theories with people. Fun times!
@@sparkycjs Yeah i loved the theories and reading all the whisper transcripts etc.
@@Ryusevi I remember when they were theorising a map with the stations etc too.
Thank you - it’s not much but I hope it conveys appreciation for all your effort in creating these brilliant Lost Explained series
I'm incredibly grateful and flattered to receive any amount. Thank you so much 🙏 I've also been reading some of your other lovely comments on various videos too. Really appreciate your personal takes and interactions with others. You're a gem!
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 ❤️
As ever, thank you for the awesome content!!!
Nice work. I thought I was a lost fan, but most of these quotes I’ve never seen before. Especially from the writers that are not Lindelof and Cuse
I provide some links in the further reading section to some of the sources I used. Javier’s essay - The LOST Will and Testament - is particularly illuminating about those first two seasons. Worth a read on its own!
So glad I'm finally watching this one.
I watched it all back in 2004-10; and again last Aug-Sep on Netflix. Generally, I absolutely love it, although some arcs and some characters are better than others. Ultimately, Lost has to go down as one of the most epic tv shows in history.
You are so awesome! Thank you for your work!
I write long epic fantasy books and I rarely have more than the current book plotted. Then I build on things. I plant seeds and grow them over books. I have the advantage of writing words. I don't have to worry about the actor playing my character quitting or dying or budgets considerations or time constraints. I don't have set hours of programming that i have to fill. Each season of the show feels outline, espeically the last three stories. I can say, I know that sometimes your plans seem good, but don't work when you go to implement them and force you course correct. Sometimes, inspiration hits you deep into a series that can take you in an unplanned direction. Creating longform fiction is a messy process for a novelist working alone. And if you don't realize that, ask yourslef why GRR Martin hasn't released the next SOIAF novel in 13 years.
Great comment! And totally agreed. I'll be touching upon this a little bit in the next part -- the difference of being a sole author with full creative control over a novel versus running a TV show that employs roughly 500 people and not having full control over every aspect of that production as a result. There's a lot of nuance to what happened behind the scenes of this show.
Lost is at it's best as something you can binge watch. I watched when it was fairly unknown on Channel 4 in the UK, and the biggest questions were about polar bears, whispers and smoke....it took so long, with network interference, writer's strikes and tonnes of public pressure, so it makes sense that it's concepts weren't executed with perfection...but damn it's a great and memorable experience, that's great than the sum of its parts if you can relinquish a miniscule amount of criticism.
Yes, I think that is absolutely a fair way of looking at it.
I always thought that the writers had an overall plan, but also "winged it" a lot too. The long breaks and the gaps between character-specific episodes allowed for fan input to shape certain aspects of the narrative. LOST was one of the first shows of the internet era.
Great video. Even as a huge lost fan I actually never knew all of this about how the writers had to trick the network about being self-contained. Your point about people being overly nostalgic about season 1 is really good. Even though I love season 1, I agree that it is was less good than the other 5 seasons because it had less purpose. It also makes so much more sense now why the pacing of the last 3 seasons was so much better now.
I think and hope they do it again with another series. It can't be related to lost, but it can be just as awesome.
Stavo aspettando questo 😅 e ...grazie,... come sempre, sembra 😊ieri. Ogni volta.❤ Grazie.
I remember coming up with my own sort of head canon to explain just why the smoke monster sounded the way that it did both based on an old quote I saw DL gave once (saying that the sound designer of the show came up with what to use at the start after they gave him a general description of what the "monster" was), and with what we eventually learned exactly what the monster was by the end. That is, I liked the idea of every sound we first heard of the monster during those first couple seasons, it's a mixture of several different elements, but they key thing being NONE of them are HUMAN. They're basically either mechanical sounding, or animalistic. And since when we later see Lock as the Man In Black, he even describes the experience as having his humanity stripped away from him when Jacob turned him into this thing. so that's kinda where I settled in my mind.
I always viewed the MiB monster as essentially a mimic. He copies the dead, absorbs their personas, and imitates them down to the finest detail. The sounds he makes in smoke form, whether animalistic growls or those steam pressed mechanical howls, could be a mix of noises from the jungle wildlife and the various electromagnetic sounds generated by the island. He even mimics the whispers, according to a small chestnut of lore that Damon Lindelof dropped in an interview a few years back. But from a practical production standpoint, I think when the monster sound effects were first created for the show’s Pilot episode, the writersroom certainly seemed to imply that Smokey was more mechanical in nature.
With all the drivel and slop we have been given over the last few decades by cable network channels, it's surprising to hear how micromanaging the network was on LOST even after the raving reviews of season 1. Smart management should have seen the success and immediately taken a hands-off approach, letting the showrunners do what they do. It doesn't get much worse than executives in a board room ruining a good show because they want something different than what the viewers want.
I remember Damon saying in a podcast that the idea for "the incident" (first mentioned in s2) was always that the characters were going to go back in time and end up causing it
Babe, wake up, new video from Lost Explained dropped
LOST was one of a kind
Patiently awaiting your new videos ❤❤
Thank YOU for this video.
has it really been 20 years? wow.
September 22 this year is the pilot episode anniversary!
@@josephbrown9685wow
31:53 You nailed it. It's all based on a personal bias/belief system that has to utilize a contradictory logical fallacy to be true. Having a "lack of plan" is a relatively nascent/bandwagon-jumping complaint permeated in internet culture imo.
It's exactly how people seem to hate the recent Star Wars movies because they "didn't have a plan" but in reality, when George Lucas made "A New Hope" he has mentioned MANY times in public that he didn't have Empire or Return of the Jedi mapped out either and yet the criticisms for those OT films are completely absent.
I'm a "season 1 is my favorite" person, but solely because the character development was such a strong focus across the first few episodes. I feel like, in service to the larger plot, the characters became much less important in later seasons. I watched and became a fan because this was a group of people that were interesting and i wanted to hang out with, not because I wanted to find out what the cave was all about. To me, the writers strike marked a very abrupt disruption to a really fun narrative mythology that was being slowly unfolded, and I felt like they never completely recovered the rhythm. I really enjoyed the first and last seasons and episodes here and there in the other seasons.
I discuss the impact from the writers strike in Part 2 and document what exactly in their plans changed. I agree that the character development was exceptional in Season One, but that’s because they couldn’t flesh out the mythology so they mainly focused on character. As the network let them off the leash in later seasons they could implement all their crazy ideas without as much resistance, but as a result the characters became pawns of the plot far more than before.
Here we go!
"Oh they were dead all along"
Didn't have time to deeply check your channel, but I will!
Was the showrunners making it up? I don't care, the result is great and Lost will always be my favorite TV show, not objectively the best, let's be honest, but my favorite, a marker of my life.
u should make a video on how season 4 was supposed to be since it was ment to be longer. love the show. re watching rn for the 4th time. showing it to my girl. were almost thru season 5!
I will discuss the impact that the writers strike had on Season Four in Part Two.
My favourite TV series ever, Season 2 & 5 were my favs but overall just a masterpiece
2 & 5 are my favourite seasons overall too! 👍
I will say this about the Dharma van: It did become relevant when the people who stayed behind at the beach used it to run over the "Others" when they tried to surprise attack them.
The second I saw that scene I remember saying to myself "See, everything they introduce DOES come around full circle"..........
22:09 loving this video so far 100%
Just finished it, so when is the next upload, part 2?
Won’t be too long of a wait. I’m just completing the final edit of it now. It will be released to Patreon first then it will go live on UA-cam a couple of weeks after that. Should be some time in March 🙏
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Okay, thanks, I'll be here waiting.
OMG! THIS IS SO FASCINATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When “Alias” was pitched to the network, I wonder if JJ Abrams made it clear that there would be supernatural elements? Eventually it became a somewhat spy version of Buffy so of course there were fantasy / supernatural elements. But like Lost, we didn’t really realize this until near the end of season 1.
ABSOLUTELY LOVE how many times you shouted out "Desperate Housewives" in your video. "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" were and STILL ARE my two favorite TV shows from NETWORK TV. Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and Lost all became iconic and instant hit show all at the same time in the same year. Desperate Housewives went through a similar conundrum of trying to end their series they way Marc wanted to end it. These networks are so greedy that they were willing to let hit TV shows go on and on and on till it faded away from existence but when the ratings kept going down ABC finally caved and let Marc Cherry end his serial Comedy/Drama series the way he wanted. This is me just theorizing at this point. Since Grey's Anatomy is going on to 20th season it seems to be the ONLY show that is still bringing high ratings to the network ABC is currently doing to them what they TRIED to do with "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" and milking for everything they got. We're seeing in REAL time the consequences of a show like "Grey's Anatomy" overstaying their welcome. Ending Desperate Housewives and Lost was right decision to make.
PS: The Creator of Lost and Desperate Housewives did an interview together regarding 2008 writers strike if you want to see it and use as a resource for Part 2 of your vid.
@@SirReptitiousOh yeah Grey’s Anatomy is going last I checked. I don’t think they made it all up. I had to do Wordpress article for school about my favorite TV shows and I referenced Desperate Housewives and Lost because it was the TV shows I grew up watching and seeing how both shows evolved. The first three seasons of Lost were slow because I’d all the expeditions but the last three seasons really showed clear purpose and direction and a lot of the story arch’s circled back around to the beginning. In my opinion no TV show has ever come close to the phenomenal that Lost was. I’m sorry you feel like the entire show was made up.
@@SirReptitiousI be curious to know what about Lost you thought was made up. Any examples you can provide?
You are the GOAT. Thank you for your content!
Lost is the greatest show ever written!
I’ll always wish that they’d kept the Smoke Monster, conceptually, as a security system/Cerberus. One created by the DHARMA Initiative would have made even more sense, and given their experiments with psychic phenomena, the mind-reading element could’ve have remained.
I wonder, could the series have moved forward and reached a satisfying conclusion if they retained the good vs. evil mythology but not introduced Jacob and The Man in Black as the avatars? I think it could have. Those two characters were, for me, the midi-chlorians of the plot. Most of the things caused by them could have been attributed to The Island.
I wish they’d kept Claire’s astronomy hobby, too. It would have added more depth to her character.
Thank you for another great video. Looking forward to part 2.
The problem with Smokey being nanobots created by DHARMA is that it would have resolved that question by Season Two because we all guessed that. And I think that reveal would have been as disappointing to viewers as The Island turning out to be purgatory and that everyone on it is dead. While it would have been a cleaner answer, it also wouldn't have been particularly imaginative nor exciting. The smoke monster was clearly a major threat to characters from the start and for it to be just a malfunctioning guard dog would have been underwhelming. At least, for me (I can only speak for myself here). What they went with -- Smokey having ancient origins that are connected to the power beneath The Island -- was far more comprehensive and satisfying. And it tied Smokey into the show's whole concept of consciousness and souls. Whereas had Smokey just been a machine made by science experiments, it would have felt very disconnected from the overall mythology, if you know what I mean?
Could they have explored the good vs evil ideas without Jacob and MiB? Yes, for sure. They had started to do that a bit with Oceanic 815ers going to war with The Others, until those relationships and dynamics between the groups became more complex and not so black and white. But they eventually needed two characters to embody those light and dark concepts so they could explore and deconstruct them. Could The Island really have stood in for everything Jacob & MiB did? I think it would have been difficult to tell the rest of the story without someone or something coming to embody good and evil within the story as physical beings. The smoke monster was an obvious choice for embodying the darkness while a character representing the light needed to be created to give a balance to the equation. A version of the show without Jacob and MiB is hard to imagine for me, because I personally like that part of the mythos.
However, I can absolutely imagine a version of the show that only lasted three seasons (as Lindelof originally hoped for) that never introduced the Jacob vs MiB conflict. And I think plenty of people might have preferred a more concise, less mythologically dense narrative. Although I just cannot picture what that final season would have been about in terms of the big conflict beyond more battles with The Others, which felt played out by the end of Season Three. I think the story needed those bigger stakes to create a climatic final season. Also, with shortened seasons, it's impossible to know what would have been lost, if you'll pardon the pun! The flashforwards, the time travel, the flash sideways -- they wouldn't have been able to fit all of that in. For some that might be preferable lol! But I wouldn't give those arcs up for anything since they are my favourite overall movements from the series.
Anyway, fascinating to think about what might have been! Make the smoke monster a machine and you change everything basically.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 thank you for the incisive reply. To be clear, I loved ‘Lost’, and I was very satisfied with the ending. Still, I’ll always regret that there wasn’t more…consistency? Cohesion? Clarity? I would have liked a more science or science-fictiony, less overtly supernatural explanation for some of the Island’s mysteries. In fact, a few could have remained mysteries, as far as I’m concerned. In any event, your videos have only made me appreciate the show more, even those aspects with which I was slightly disappointed. Thanks again.
P.S. The whispers should have been The Others!
I know what you mean. Had the narrative been clearer and more consistent then there would be far less sour grapes out there! I personally like the balance struck between science fiction and the supernatural, it's an unusual mix we don't often get in stories (usually it's one or the other). But I totally get where you are coming from and I appreciate what you are saying.
p.s. I would have accepted the whispers coming from The Others only if The Others turned out to be supernatural themselves, otherwise the idea that people like Tom and Danny were hiding in the trees and whispering random, creepy phrases at people is too silly for me to accept lol.
@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 ha! Yes, Tom and particularly Danny aren’t subtle enough for whispering or hiding. That would had to be delegated to the many nameless background Others.
Ethan’s first fight with Jack, who admittedly was caught off guard, and the way he managed to single-handedly subdue Claire and string up Charlie, gave the impression that The Others were supernatural. I wonder if that was an early idea.
I did a breakdown of all the whispers on the show in my video on Faith and the Supernatural, and I counted the number of times they were correlated with appearances from The Others. It's not as many as it seems. In the first season episode 'Outlaws' the whispers include a voice that repeats Frank Duckett's last words to Sawyer -- "It'll come back around" -- which makes these voices clearly connected to the realm of the dead. I think it would have been hard to then make the whispers non-supernatural in nature, which is maybe why the writers flipflopped on them so much. I agree that during the first season the writers left the origin of The Others open so that they could make them into a supernatural group if they wanted, hence their initial conflation with the whispers. Had the show been cancelled in Season One, or naturally ended at Season Three, perhaps that would have ended up being the case. So many possibilities!
From the series bible:
That being said, launching a series requires a great deal of trial and error. Much of the first season
is committed to finding what works, what doesn't, and most importantly, what the show IS. The
greatest architect in the· world can-draw up a-blueprint for a building, but construction is a whole
new ball of wax.
Why doesnt the Smoke Monster just go over the ultrasonic pylons? We know it's possible to go ver and under them because locke, sayid, kate and the others did so, why didnt he do it? Considering they're there to protect everyone from the monster
Why didn't they just let him off the island? That's all he wanted, and it's not like he was bad guy - much more sympathetic than Jacob. The whole "The world will end" seemed like a lie.
@@TokyoXtreme they didnt let him off the island because everyone (rightly or not) thought that the world would end if they did so, also he clearly wasnt a good person, he killed many people, also when he was talking to Claire he said that after Kate had finished helping him get Sawyer and Jack off the island she could have killed her
If you watch that scene back, you'll see that the smoke monster doesn't actually make it close enough to the pylons to go over them. A human being can literally walk between the pylons before being affected by the sonar waves (it's like once they are directly between the pylons that they become affected), which can either kill or incapacitate them. But the smoke monster can't even get that far between the pylons. He hits the invisible barrier like a brick wall. Smokey doesn't react the same way to the pylons as people do. The field repels him instantly. He can't get close enough to go over them. He's bound by different rules than human beings.
Thank you for this video!! 🎉
Completely unrelated fun fact (that you probably already know) is that only 2 scenes were shot outside of Hawaii. It wasn't when Said was in Germany. It wasn't when Locke was in the Tunisian desert. It wasn't any of the scenes in Korea or Thailand. It was when Sun confronts Whidmore, and also later when Ben confronts Whidmore in his hotel room. Every other scene in the show was shot in Hawaii. It really showcases just how innovative the set designers/location scouts were.
Really great work! I already look forward to bringing this to the attention of anyone who complains about the showrunners "making it up as they went along". Especially the breakdown of all of the mythology already set up in season 2 is very helpful and informative. I don't fully agree that the people that prefer season 1 over the others do so simply because everything was still a 'mystery'. I think the show was simply better written. In fact, I would argue that the mysteries raised and answered in the last three seasons are less consistent and satisfying than the ones from seasons 1 - 3. Give me a Danielle Rousseau, Nigerian Beechcraft, cable in the sand or doomsday button over Jacob, The Tempest, Team Ilana, Charles Widmore etc. any day of the week! But you are right that the people that claim that the show 'lost its way' during later seasons are pretty much factually wrong, at least when it comes to that aspect of it. Looking forward to part 2!
Thank you 🙏 Please feel free to share whenever encountering that kind of response. I get comments under videos often making that same claim and after a while you get tired of having to repeat the same arguments/information. That's ultimately why I made the video lol. Although I've got to say, those comments are usually in the minority.
As for the people preferring Season One part of the video, I was only referring to a specific type of viewer/commenter. The type who claims Season One was the best season but then goes onto complain about how the rest of the show sucked because they didn't have a plan and made it all up. That, to me, is an inconsistent position. Season One is the only season where they were legitimately making it up as they went along with very little overall control of the narrative and its direction; the brakes were on the storytelling possibilities. So, I just wanted to point out the slight hypocrisy of those who make that criticism about the show yet celebrate S1 as the gold standard and why I think that is actually a double standard. I have no issue with people who simply prefer Season One overall! To each their own.
I am the type of LOST viewer who much prefers where the show went to where it started out. For me, Season One lacks a strong narrative drive and has whole episodes that I consider pure filler with lots of playing for time, more so than anything that came later IMO. I think it has some great episodes and we get to spend quality time with our Losties, but I always want to power through it all so I can get to the Exodus finale (where LOST really becomes LOST imo). I know that might be considered a hot take lol. This is why I want to do the episode guide because I have lots of thoughts about the show and what works versus what doesn't. I can finally unleash the critiques!
I take your point about preferring the Season One mystery/reveals to what came later -- they are cleaner -- but I would add that for every cool hatch/doomsday button or cable on the beach we got a Claire-has-amnesia plotline or Charlie having sketchy dreams that make him steal babies episode, and for every Outrigger or Team Ilana narrative dead end of the latter seasons, we got Desmond finding his constant or a Richard Alpert origin story, etc. The tide ebbs and flows there.
God, I needed this today.
I still think they knew the beginning and the end but didn't know the route in between 👍🤔 they didn't know how they'd get from A to B, but they knew what A and B were as plot points...
Only show i cried at when Jack closed his eyes rip Jack
Back watching your videos as I am currently in the middle rewatching the series.
I really appreciate the insight you have and the effort you put into these videos, truly remarkable.
One question though - I’ve very picky about shows in general and LOST is pretty much the only series I have a deep connection with. I’m assuming LOST is also your favorite show, but can you recommend any other shows that are similar?
Thank you 🙏 LOST is probably my favourite show - it’s certainly the one I have the deeper knowledge of. Although I also have to give love to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files for being my formative TV experiences as a young lad. I think those two shows had a heavy influence over LOST as well in terms of their mythological elements.
I have never seen any show that did what LOST did. It really is unique. The closest I have ever come to something like it was a British miniseries called The Third Day starring Jude Law, which often felt like LOST meets The Wicker Man; sort of an English folk horror version of The Island. Imagine a traditional John Locke episode where he is following weird signs and forces while The Others try to crown him their leader only it is stretched out as its own standalone story. It’s a very different show, but it has similar concepts and vibes. Otherwise, I’ve seen very few shows that come even remotely close.
Great documantary! Thanks a lot!
Thank you 🙏 Don't forget to check out Part 2 here: ua-cam.com/video/GI2kCWoXKnk/v-deo.html
LOVE the content and absolutely BRILLIANT, we;; thought out and perfectly time documentary on the story shaping of the best series ever! you're work is well appreciated and ty!!(id love to hear your take on Game of Thrones if u ever get a second channel!)