But what did the writers guide to LOST have to say about the Island? The guide stated:
RIGHT. SO WHAT IS THIS ISLAND EXACTLY?
The answer to precisely that question is the core of LOST's "mythology." Unlike the X-FILES, however, this mythology is compartmentalized as opposed to inter-connected. In other words, the history of our island spans centuries - Every time a new person (or people) arrives on its shore, a new story begins.
This opens the door for almost limitless possibilities. In one story, our group finds what seems to be a NAZI BUNKER. In other stories, we might chance upon evidence that hints at a history that is considerably more ANCIENT. It's also worth mentioning that the island is BIG - as we never see it from above, it's true size remains a continuing mystery.
Most prevalent however is the island's more contemporary history- a series of discoveries which seem to suggest this place was occupied by a CORPORATE THINK TANK/MILITARY CONTRACTOR which built vast underground complexes for cutting edge experiments - complexes we will not only discover and ultimately INHABIT, but also reveal the SOURCE of the mysterious French transmission from the Pilot.
The beauty of this long and storied past is that one thing has nothing to do with the other- there is no "ultimate Mystery" which requires solving. We are well of aware of the lesson learned on ALIAS by dedicating so much of the storytelling to Rambaldi-centric mythology and have no intention of becoming mired in it, further demonstrating our mission statement to tell self- contained stories on a weekly basis.
And this is where things begin to get murky.
In J.J. Abrams show, Alias, the mysterious Plot around Milo Rambaldi is a story of collecting historic artifacts and designs, a struggle for possession driven by obsession, up to belief. In producer J.J.Abrams' own words: "The Rambaldi element was something that allowed us to be larger than life and gave it a seemingly endless and unique series of objectives and obstacles. The detail who Rambaldi was and what he was doing was far less important than what Rambaldi did to motivate our characters and to tell out story." Following the discovery of a 500 year old manuscript and uncovering the hidden text on its page 47, the CIA arrests Sydney Bristow to keep her from fulfilling Milo Rambaldi's prophecy. (Season 1, Episode 16 "The Prophecy") Here is its text:
"This woman here depicted will possess unseen marks. Signs that she will be the one to bring forth my works. Bind them with fury. A burning anger, unless prevented. At vulgar cost, this woman will render the greatest power unto utter desolation. This woman, without pretense, will have had her effect, never having seen the beauty of my sky behind Mt. Subasio. Perhaps a single glance would have quelled her fire."
And this is where things begin to get real murky. Apparently, there is internal criticism of Abrams story engine philosophy of throwing objects, mysteries or events at his characters merely to get "reactions" from the characters, and not to actually explain those throwaway plot devices. The network must have been aware and concerned about this technique for the writer's guide to address it.
Network executives are viewers, too. They want shows that they can enjoy. In order to enjoy a mystery-adventure show (such as Indiana Jones franchise), no matter who strange and wild the ride is for the characters, the mysteries need to be explained for the premise to be accepted by the audience. A promised wild character ride without a payoff is a kiddie roller coaster with a "meh" review in the end.
Also, here the guide really begins to contradict itself. Previously, the writers guide specifically stated that it was not going to be a "sci-fi" series. But now, TPTB reference another hit show, The X-Files, for inspiration, with only minor distinguishing features. The one driving question in The X-Files was "Are We Alone?" In other words, are their aliens inhabiting the planet which may cause a danger to our civilization. Here, LOST's driving question was going to be "what is the Island?" Such a primary question would have to be answered by the end of the series.
But as stated above, it was not.
The island was merely a large canvass to throw objects and questions at the characters (and in turn, the viewers) with no interconnected rhyme or reason. If the island is layered by the past stories of other people finding it (the Romans, the Egyptians, the U.S. Military, Dharma and the 815 survivors), as separate self-contained histories, that do not affect our new characters who arrived on the island, that does not answer the primary question posed by the creators: what is the island?
It is one thing to say that the LOST characters would explore the island to find strange, abandoned sites or technology. Those discoveries may interest, appall, or cause a personal revelation of mental or spiritual awareness, but the plan was not to have those discoveries change the characters or bring them into those past conflicts. Those sites or technology would not overwhelm the characters basic story arcs of island survival and creating their own, new island community.
However, the past island stories quickly began to overlap and merge. The wiped out Dharma group came back to life, literally and figuratively, before the 815 survivors. The Others were past survivors, but we don't know where they came from at all. Then, the most ancient of characters, Jacob and MIB, suddenly came to the forefront in Season 6. So clearly, the premise that the past island artifacts being cob-webbed remains of past visitors with no connection or purpose to the new characters was disregarded early on in the series. It clearly started to become the Rambaldi problem - - - mysteries thrown at the characters without the hope for resolution. LOST became mired in the mysteries thrown at the characters that had no bearing on their ultimate rescue or enlightenment.
The series did have a bunker, we called the Hatch, but it was not a WWII German installation. We did get the vast complex structure built by Dharma, which seemed to specific scientific research tasks. But most of those were abandoned, and the survivors even with a map never went to explore them all. And the survivors never came to "inhabit" them as a source of shelter. Only a small leadership cliche took control of the Hatch in order to continue Desmond's task of inputting the Numbers. We did find the source, the tower, of Rousseau's distress signal - - - even though many fans criticized the actual science behind the alleged jamming frequencies and duration of the message.
So the ideas about strange installations set forth in this portion of the guide came true, the purpose of those sites in the overall plot did not. The promise was not to be bogged down by stories tied to the past relics of the island - - - but each episode to be a self-contained story (beginning story problem, middle story conflict and ending story resolution of the problem). The basic story telling was supposed to be like this: Day 6: beach camp runs out of food and water. Leaders propose various plans to get new sources of food and water, some complex, some simple, some dangerous. This leads to lobbying and fighting among sub-groups. It is out of this conflict that a resolution to the problem found, such as using the aircraft parts to make a giant still to create potable water, or gather seeds to begin cultivating gardens along the beach, etc. With each solution, proposed leaders would garner support like in politics, to be elected ultimate authority over the camp (which then would lead to more conflict over such an authoritative rule). But LOST never got to the stage of building a community --- everyone basically did what they wanted to do. The writers suddenly found the format of getting characters running off into the jungle on missions more action packed than coping with basic survival skills on the beach.
The end of the pilot episode gave us the Big Question: where are we? What is the island? But the island stories never answered that question. It remains the biggest missing puzzle piece.
