DOUBTS

One thing is clear from reviewing the LOST's Writer's Guide, the creators and network executives had some doubts whether the idea of lost survivors could be a sustainable series. It is also clear that the producers of the show DID NOT have the main story line set in stone from the very beginning, including the end.

Even after the grand, cinematic pilot episode was finished, the producers still had to sell the network to green light an entire series. How could TPTB maintain the survivors' stories? How could a diverse ensemble of characters sustain the stories over several seasons? And the unanswered question: what would be the payoff to the viewers?

There were many things in the writer's guide that I found good and interesting concepts or story ideas.

Fans today have a wishy-washy opinion on Kate. We now know that Kate was supposed to be a stronger character in the series. But Kate's role changed from a co-leader to a wishy-washy secondary player/love interest. Even her revealed deep, dark secret of murder was blotched by poor writing and unbelievable plot twists. Instead of the spunky Midwest girl-next-door character, Kate turned into a loathsome cardboard figure to some fans.

The same holds true with Hurley. The original Hurley character was supposed to be an international repossession man, which means that he had well developed problem solving skills and social charm to be the top in his profession. Instead, the writers downgraded Hurley to a meek, loner with mental problems.

Also, instead of dancing around the mental issues floated during the series, the original guide had us headbutting with a more developed character of Boone, a dangerous schizophrenic off his meds. The original Boone would have been headstrong, confrontational, abusive, and paranoid, which would have immediately set him off from the other characters. It would have created a major predicament for the survivors camp unable to handle a deranged mental patient - - - what to do with him? Banish him (and lose Sawyer's stash of supplies since he was to hook up with Shannon early in the show), cage him like an animal or kill him? The latter would hark to elements of Lord of the Flies, and the harsh judgments in places where there is no civilized law and order.

Even Shannon was supposed to have a bigger role. She was going to be the "it girl," the one the island men would want to be around. She would use her good looks to play them off each other. In the pilot, Charlie was immediately enamored with her, so much so when she went on the first mission he joined in even though he had nothing to contribute. If Shannon was to hook up with Sawyer, that would have caused more tension in the beach camp - - - the means of creating splinter groups within the whole community. People having to take sides would have brought out more character development.

Even the undeveloped concepts of a new visitor no one expects to parachute into the story, or the human bite mark on Vincent's ear, or the mysterious fruit orchard and cocoons, or the Others, or the military submariners, do lead to possible interactions, clashes or alliances of the 815ers with other islanders. The guide actually points to numerous groups on the island besides the Others: the submariners, the primitive inhabitants who attacked Vincent, and a flight path for potential smugglers, drug dealers, explorers, etc.

What the guide does not extract is the supernatural elements that found their way into the series. In fact the more supernatural elements that were brought into the show, the more the show started to come off the rails because there were no plausible explanations presented to explain the diversion from original concept. In fact, the use of supernatural elements (such as time travel, immortal beings, magic, smoke monsters, shape shifting, and unique light force energy) opened the door to criticism of the entire premise of the series (including it being all in the after life, to it all in Hurley's head.)

What was really lost from the guide's original proposed story line is the sense of building a new community on the island. All the elements in regard to re-creating a new society, a potential utopia, were discounted and disregarded by the writers. It seemed that the writers fell into a format of throwing something strange at the main characters to just get a reaction. There was no practical application of action to build a better settlement, to instill a moral code or rules on their own behavior, or a sense of community to work together to solve problems. It was all individual decision making that moved the stories forward with no touchstone of community belief. So nothing that was done could truly be deemed right or wrong.

Also, many of the story ideas in the guide had the group muster themselves "to action" such as salvaging a reefed submarine in the hope that it could lead to rescue. But in the story format that was in the actual show, the characters merely "reacted" to things happening around them. Initiative, questions, demands for answers, and open problem solving discussion were sparse to non-existent in the group.

Another thing that led LOST off its story rails was leaving the island. No one should have EVER LEFT the island. In retrospect, all the off-island stories were sub-par to unbelievable. If the goal of the show was to have a sense of community building along with the hope of rescue, rescue should have never been accomplished because the "returns" to the island by characters made little to no sense.

Many people had no doubts when the producers told the viewers that they had "everything" worked out to the climatic end of the series. Well, there is no evidence that is true. Instead of building a solid foundation of characters and continuity facts, the show began to meander its own course, especially in the realm of not resolving mysteries from episode to episode. The biggest failure of LOST was the fact it did not follow its original network mandate: self-contained episodes with a beginning, middle and end. By stringing along mystery upon mystery, the writers were only stringing along viewers to continue watching the show. If the writers had doubts on whether they could answer the questions or mysteries they posed in the series, then they should not have done it. But I guess the overriding concern from TPTB that LOST had to have its own edge, and constantly be "unexpected." As a result, you have a series of edgy plot points that never got resolved or at best, abandoned, contradicted or lost in continuity errors.

The recent weeks of posting the writer's guide with commentary was to further explore the show which most fans never really get to see: what the insiders themselves were thinking about at the very beginning. With that insight and with hindsight of the actual series, there is no doubt in my mind that there were several core concepts that the writers did not use that would have made the series much better.