Fresh Lost News!

(Hello again. Remember me? I used to write some painfully long over-analyzing Emails about a little TV show called "Lost". Eventually, they grew into the website you're reading right now. But then, with a cruel twist of fate, we entered the dark season known as "summertime." No new Lost episodes, no new Lost information, no way to tell one weeknight from another except by watching the Real World and Laguna Beach... er, I mean "sports".

But we finally, some new material! Check out this interview with Series Creator Damon Lindelof...)

What's in Store on Television's Most Talked About Drama?

"Who survives [the raft attack], how they survive, where they end up and how they reconnect with the other characters" will drive the story.

From the opening moments of the first episode of its sophomore season, Lost won't waste a minute in providing further information about the major storylines on the show.

What's at the bottom of that tunnel?
Who are the Others?
What the heck is the island all about, anyway?

"Right out of the gate we're addressing some of the big mysteries of the island," Lost co-creator and executive producer Damon Lindelof tells MediaVillage.com. "We'll go right inside the tunnel, and what you'll see in there changes everything." Indeed, whatever they discover in that tunnel "will change the fundamental state of existence" of the characters, Lindelof continues. Viewers won't see quick glimpses of strange things but rather will get a good long look around. "We're erring on the side of giving away too much rather than too little," Lindelof says. "They found that hatch in episode 10. Thirteen episodes later they opened it up. It's got to be good." What the characters won't find inside, Lindelof promises, are aliens, a time travel portal or "a ship they can blast off in."

Whatever is in there will involve those mysterious numbers that led to Hurley's lottery win and streak of bad luck in that character's famous backstory. "Right from the start, in the season premiere, the numbers become a fundamental plot point for the season," Lindelof says. "People aren't going to be disappointed in how we use them." He says the producers of the show wanted to make certain that whatever the characters find inside the tunnel will be "great, cool and risky." But, Lindelof cautions, he can "guarantee some people are not going to like what they find in there."

While some characters are exploring the tunnel, others will be dealing with the aftermath of the destruction of the raft and the kidnapping of little Walt by a band of creepy men who are presumed to be among the community of Others on the island. "Who survives [the raft attack], how they survive, where they end up and how they reconnect with the other characters" will drive the story through the first seven or eight episodes next fall, Lindelof adds.

Lindelof also confirms that the character played by newcomer Michelle Rodriguez will be someone who was seated in the back of the plane when it exploded and has been living on another part of the island. He will not say whether she has been living alone or with other survivors. He also says that Boone, the one main character who died last season, will definitely stay dead. "So many times in genre shows when you kill someone off they come back. On Lost the rules are different. When you're dead, you're dead!" Lindelof declares.

The other big nagging mysteries in the story – why did Ethan kidnap Claire, what happened to her while she was held prisoner, what if anything happened to her baby – will be addressed later in the season, Lindelof says. "But we have bigger priorities first: The hatch and Walt's kidnapping." He says the story about the kidnapping of Walt is especially intense, because "a child taken from a parent by strangers is the scariest thing of all." When the Others take Walt, there is no Amber Alert, no Fox News Channel and CNN reporting the story, nowhere for his father to get help. There is only fear, frustration and rage. Early episodes, Lindelof says, will deal with the repercussions of this harrowing incident. "That is the big mystery of the island," Lindelof explains. "Who are these other people and what do they want?"

Lindelof welcomes ABC's decision to move Lost from 8 to 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, because more people are available to watch television. He also thinks the show is "very intense" and says, "children should not be watching," which they are apt to do at an earlier hour. "By the finale of season two viewers will know why the plane crashed," Lindelof says.

He envisions Lost running "somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-5 seasons." "I know what the ending [of the story] is," he concludes. "At a certain point you can only stall [the audience] so long."



What excites me the most? This line: "We're erring on the side of giving away too much rather than too little". I think that the number one complaint of everyone who watched Season One, myself included, is that the Season Finale gave no big answers. People started musings of "this is going to be another X-Files, where they just add mysteries without answering anything until it's such a mess, you don't care and can't follow." But this line makes me think they have seen the error of their ways.

I remember reading an article shortly after the Season Finale with JJ Abrams where he said "We actually shot a lot more than we aired in the finale. We kept editting and editting, and ended up removing, I think, too much." There were more answers there. Some drunk in the editting room (no offense to drunks, I think they're fun and fabulous people) got a little crazy with the knife and took out some of the good stuff. Well, it sounds like we're getting some good stuff back right from the start of Season Two.

Our good look inside the Hatch? I'll defer to my prediction for the end of Season One and my "How They Could Have Made The Season Finale Better" Rant in my LOST Recap Memo.

I still can't really get a good grasp around the Numbers. Damon mentions they are going to be a fundamental plot point of the season - but does that mean their importance will be explained? Or will they simply find the numbers plastered all over stuff inside the Hatch and then the Islanders themselves will work to figure it out? I'd bet for the latter.

The good news is that we know have a date for the Season Two Premiere!

September 6, 2005 - Lost Season One comes out on DVD
September 7-20, 2005 - Brian compulsively watches every minute of material on the DVDs
September 21, 2005 - Lost Season Two Premiere!

That's all the Lost for now. Time to write on my first true obsession: no, not Kelly Kopawski - the Dave Matthews Band.