The following is not a theory, but more like a thesis. An analysis of the elements presented by the creators of LOST in order to establish an unknown, unexpressed or clouded explanation for the premise of the show and its disjointed parts. To unlock the mysteries of LOST, which I believe have even escaped the minds of TPTB, one needs to find the Key. In the search for the Key, one has to first try to determine the core of the show's mythology.
If you have the same character in two different places, seemingly at the same time, how does one reconcile this issue?
We were shown characters in action simultaneously on the island and in the sideways world. Example, Jack: in the sideways world he is a divorcee (from Juliet) with a son. In the island world, Jack is a divorcee (from Sarah) without a son. In the sideways world, Jack is a doctor. In the island world, he is a doctor trapped on a crazy island. In the sideways world, his friends "are waiting for him." (Which many have assumed means Jack needs to "die" on the island to go to the sideways world.)
Except, this is not a clear rule. Charlie died on the island. Yet, his ghost physically interacted with Hurley at the mental institution. Yet, Charlie was one of the last to "awaken" in the sideways world, with the birth of Aaron. Which also leads to a problem: how can an alive Aaron in the island universe not be alive in the sideways world?
Likewise, why are certain principal elements different in the island world versus the sideways world? Sawyer was a police officer in the sideways world, not a con-man. Daniel was a musician in the sideways world, not a theoretical scientist. Widmore was a mean spirited murderous businessman in the island world, but a great affable boss in the sideways world. It appears that each character has two sides to their personal coin.
In the wake of the show's conclusion, no critic, show commentator, or show writer has tried to fully explain this fundamental story structural problem. By not explaining the conclusion relative to the prior seasons' settings, there remains a huge disconnect in the fan base. Some don't care because a happy ending is all that matters; others found it a cheap cop out. There has to be a solution to this dogma.
For the show to stand up to reasonable scrutiny, the core or story foundation must be able to explain the apparent inconsistent duality of the island and the sideways worlds.
FIRST, let us look at the title.
LOST. As an adjective, it is defined as follows:
1. unable to find one's way; not knowing one's whereabouts;
2. unable to be found;
3. very confused or insecure or in great difficulty;
4. denoting something that has been taken away or cannot be recovered;
5. "having perished."
SECOND, "perished" means: "death, typically in a violent, sudden and untimely way."
LOST opened with a sudden, untimely and violent beginning: a plane crash. A mid-air catastrophic break up at 30,000 feet. Chance of survival: nil. But viewers saw survivors on the beach. But how does that mesh with the Flight 815 sideways world time line? It does not. The sideways world is not a "reset" of a time line from the island world perspective. It is its own independent world.
THIRD, then reconciliation assumption is that the game board (story foundation) contains two independent worlds with some bridge (means to transverse) between the two.
So what "known" concept can explain the inherit difficulties of this duality?
Ancient Egyptian mythology.
The ancient Egyptians view on the human soul has been lost to the average person. As an early belief system to explain the role of man in the universe, the human soul was described in five elements to explain life. Egyptians had a philosophy of duality; that there was light and darkness, which worked in conjunction against each other to balance the world. The philosophy was filled with symbols, traditions, rituals, judgments and magical spells which can be found peppered throughout the LOST stories.
The ancient concept of a person was that he or she was made up or exist because of five elements present in that person:
1. Name (ren): every person has one; it was stated that "if spoken you'd continue to live." (LOST cue: MIB, a dead person whose name was never spoken).
2. Shadow: part of the duality of the universe; always within a person; it also protects individuals but also needs protection. (LOST cue: the Smoke Monster)
3. Ba: attached to the physical body, it is a person's personality; it needs nourishment.
4. Ka: described as the "life force" in all things; intellectual and spiritual power; needs a body after death in order to survive. (LOST cue: the light cave)
5. Akh: the unification of the soul elements; if ba and ka don't unite after death, a person "will die a second time."
When a person dies, their ba and ka separate. In the underworld, a duplicate body must journey through dangerous tests in order to find enlightenment, redemption and final judgment. If successful, the ba and ka will come together and reunite to create a new "body" in the after life.
Was not Jack's ending, with his friends and father waiting at the church for Jack to "awaken," or join his memories of the island time with his sideways being (a temporary construct) to create a "new" Jack? Jack's "Ka" was waiting in the sideways realm for his "Ba" to complete its journey in the island realm. With the unification, Jack was then ready "to move on" in the after life.
The best explanation for the apparent inconsistent duality of the island and the sideways worlds is that the basic building block for the LOST mythology is ancient Egyptian religious concepts of a person's spirit being divided at death to journey through tests in the underworld in order to reunite to live on in the after life.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
SEARCH FOR THE KEY
The following is not a theory, but more like a thesis. An analysis of the elements presented by the creators of LOST in order to establish an unknown, unexpressed or clouded explanation for the premise of the show and its disjointed parts. To unlock the mysteries of LOST, which I believe have even escaped the minds of TPTB, one needs to find the Key.
What has been missing from LOST is the foundation from which the elements of the conflicting story arcs can consistently cohabited in one story universe. The explanation of LOST has been masked in smoke and mirrors; it was merely "a character driven" show. But somehow, whether by accident or stroke of luck, the series wound up with two disjointed universes or settings: the island framework and the sideways (Purgatory) reunion. No one has fashioned a comprehensive and cohesive explanation for these two disjointed story lines.
Now, was the island world and the sideways world "real" or mere illusion? Or does it really matter? I guess it depends on whether fundamentally you believe in life or death. Or whether one can postulate that there is neither a life or a death but a complex existence.
One of the most frustrating, in-you-face elements to the show was the massive amount of resources devoted to the unexplained Egyptian mythology. A highly advanced, rich in symbolic ritual, ancient culture which has been "lost" to most modern Anglo-Saxon communities, Egyptology could be considered an important clue to finding the Key.
A mystery can be facts lost in the present collective memory of society. LOST was a show that promulgated numerous "facts" about the characters and their events without a detailed understanding of the background components like Dharma or the Temple complex. There have been religious connotations throughout the series; the morality juxtaposition of science versus faith. There has been the secular survivalist motivations of the Others or the Widmores who sought power for personal goals. But these groups (and individuals as "pawns" in their elaborate power plays) have to be placed on a single game board (the story universe).
Just as Ben told John Locke that the island contained a Magic Box, where anything you wished for would come true (including the teleportation of Locke's con-man father to the brig for his son's final confrontation with his past demon), the game board has to set forth the fundamental four corners framework for all the stories.
In reviewing the last episode, then going backward through the series (as time itself was a misnomer throughout), it came to pass that the game board would most likely be the mythic concepts of ancient Egypt. Fundamentally, the disjointed time lines of the island and the sideways world can only be relatively explained by borrowing from Egyptian religious beliefs. (And this is where the die-hard LOST fan would challenge the notion that the church in the End has anything to do with ancient Egyptian practices. Precisely, as many critics found the writers had boxed themselves into tangent stories and character flaws to have a satisfactory explanation of the End.) A footnote in the End that the characters are "all dead" is not a satisfactory explanation of how or why the characters wound up in the church in a sideways world. There has to be a better explanation.
The characters are pieces on the story game board. Are the characters "real" human beings or illusions? We saw people "survive" an unreal plane crash in the pilot episode. Yet, we also saw known "dead" people interact with the survivors. How can points like this be reconciled into the big premise of the show?
Was the show about faith, science, religion, science fiction and/or fantasy? There are elements of each in every modern religion. And if one traces modern religious concepts, the root of many concepts is the mythology of ancient Egypt. Egypt was one of the first cultures to hand down a detailed account of its complex belief system of how human beings fit into the colossus universe.
This thesis will attempt to explain the ancient beliefs as the system for the LOST construct.
What has been missing from LOST is the foundation from which the elements of the conflicting story arcs can consistently cohabited in one story universe. The explanation of LOST has been masked in smoke and mirrors; it was merely "a character driven" show. But somehow, whether by accident or stroke of luck, the series wound up with two disjointed universes or settings: the island framework and the sideways (Purgatory) reunion. No one has fashioned a comprehensive and cohesive explanation for these two disjointed story lines.
Now, was the island world and the sideways world "real" or mere illusion? Or does it really matter? I guess it depends on whether fundamentally you believe in life or death. Or whether one can postulate that there is neither a life or a death but a complex existence.
One of the most frustrating, in-you-face elements to the show was the massive amount of resources devoted to the unexplained Egyptian mythology. A highly advanced, rich in symbolic ritual, ancient culture which has been "lost" to most modern Anglo-Saxon communities, Egyptology could be considered an important clue to finding the Key.
A mystery can be facts lost in the present collective memory of society. LOST was a show that promulgated numerous "facts" about the characters and their events without a detailed understanding of the background components like Dharma or the Temple complex. There have been religious connotations throughout the series; the morality juxtaposition of science versus faith. There has been the secular survivalist motivations of the Others or the Widmores who sought power for personal goals. But these groups (and individuals as "pawns" in their elaborate power plays) have to be placed on a single game board (the story universe).
Just as Ben told John Locke that the island contained a Magic Box, where anything you wished for would come true (including the teleportation of Locke's con-man father to the brig for his son's final confrontation with his past demon), the game board has to set forth the fundamental four corners framework for all the stories.
In reviewing the last episode, then going backward through the series (as time itself was a misnomer throughout), it came to pass that the game board would most likely be the mythic concepts of ancient Egypt. Fundamentally, the disjointed time lines of the island and the sideways world can only be relatively explained by borrowing from Egyptian religious beliefs. (And this is where the die-hard LOST fan would challenge the notion that the church in the End has anything to do with ancient Egyptian practices. Precisely, as many critics found the writers had boxed themselves into tangent stories and character flaws to have a satisfactory explanation of the End.) A footnote in the End that the characters are "all dead" is not a satisfactory explanation of how or why the characters wound up in the church in a sideways world. There has to be a better explanation.
The characters are pieces on the story game board. Are the characters "real" human beings or illusions? We saw people "survive" an unreal plane crash in the pilot episode. Yet, we also saw known "dead" people interact with the survivors. How can points like this be reconciled into the big premise of the show?
Was the show about faith, science, religion, science fiction and/or fantasy? There are elements of each in every modern religion. And if one traces modern religious concepts, the root of many concepts is the mythology of ancient Egypt. Egypt was one of the first cultures to hand down a detailed account of its complex belief system of how human beings fit into the colossus universe.
This thesis will attempt to explain the ancient beliefs as the system for the LOST construct.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
REVERSE ENGINEERING
Let us talk about Reverse Engineering.
It is a concept that takes an existing Thing, and tears it a part to figure out how it works.
In the crooked path of tangent dead ends, LOST as a "Thing" needs to be de-constructed in order to find any salvageable, redeeming cohesion to the Ending.
To preface the following, I have no doubt that TPTB had any clear road map to the Ending. All the creators had was the final image, of a plan leaving the island. How the show found its way to that point was a twisting path of "character development," strange events and odd back stories. Some may imagine that all the character filler was compressed so tightly that the end created a seam of coal. Or in the bedrock of the story lines, there may be a glint of some untapped jewel; a theory that not only unifies all of the LOST world views, but turns the Ending upside down from the stand point of a secondary character.
As previously posted, in order to get a full picture of the debris field of the 815ers story lines, one has to examine the wreckage from a different perspective.
When a writer sets down to create his master works, he knows the basic elements of a story: a beginning, a middle and an end. Character, action and resolution. How those pieces are interwoven are the key to the reader's understanding and appreciation of the whole work.
Now, some writers know of the general plot line before writing their story. Some may pencil an outline of characters, actions, events, issues to be resolved. Some writers may just start with a title and forge forward with their chapters, with the twists coming from their creative minds free style. "Making it up as it goes" has some advantages and some disadvantages. It allows one's mind to roam free to make connections not already penciled into a steady outline. It does allow one's free form approach to veer off course. The danger is losing track of the pieces that comprise a satisfying resolution.
But for many mystery writers, the key to their stories ending properly is that they write the ending first. There is a common sense notion to knowing how something will end before you begin the journey. And that approach is what I used to try to find greater meaning to the End of LOST, by reverse engineering the finale. To answer the question posed: who was the wizard behind the curtain?
It is a concept that takes an existing Thing, and tears it a part to figure out how it works.
In the crooked path of tangent dead ends, LOST as a "Thing" needs to be de-constructed in order to find any salvageable, redeeming cohesion to the Ending.
To preface the following, I have no doubt that TPTB had any clear road map to the Ending. All the creators had was the final image, of a plan leaving the island. How the show found its way to that point was a twisting path of "character development," strange events and odd back stories. Some may imagine that all the character filler was compressed so tightly that the end created a seam of coal. Or in the bedrock of the story lines, there may be a glint of some untapped jewel; a theory that not only unifies all of the LOST world views, but turns the Ending upside down from the stand point of a secondary character.
As previously posted, in order to get a full picture of the debris field of the 815ers story lines, one has to examine the wreckage from a different perspective.
When a writer sets down to create his master works, he knows the basic elements of a story: a beginning, a middle and an end. Character, action and resolution. How those pieces are interwoven are the key to the reader's understanding and appreciation of the whole work.
Now, some writers know of the general plot line before writing their story. Some may pencil an outline of characters, actions, events, issues to be resolved. Some writers may just start with a title and forge forward with their chapters, with the twists coming from their creative minds free style. "Making it up as it goes" has some advantages and some disadvantages. It allows one's mind to roam free to make connections not already penciled into a steady outline. It does allow one's free form approach to veer off course. The danger is losing track of the pieces that comprise a satisfying resolution.
But for many mystery writers, the key to their stories ending properly is that they write the ending first. There is a common sense notion to knowing how something will end before you begin the journey. And that approach is what I used to try to find greater meaning to the End of LOST, by reverse engineering the finale. To answer the question posed: who was the wizard behind the curtain?
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
PREAMBLE TO THE KEY
As television critics and entertainment magazines begin to rev up their "Top TV" lists for 2010, one suspects that LOST will make the copy, probably both in the Best drama category and the Worst (ending) category.
In the sweeping bait and switch ending for most viewers, with the sideways purgatory being the Deus Ex Machina, a contrived plot twist to save the show from its written painted corner containing all the prior story lines, clues, sci-fi arcs and illusions, LOST continues to sit in the pit of collective stomach of die-hard viewers like undercooked Thanksgiving feast.
Many people felt that the show centered around Jack, as he was the focal point of the pilot episode. But it is well documented that Jack's character was not even supposed to be a main character; that he was supposed to "die" shortly after the pilot episode to impart "shock value."
Then a few people felt that Hurley was the center piece of the show framework. Hurley was the first character cast by TPTB. Hurley was always lurking in the background as events unfolded around him. He was special. Connections seem to link to him and his mental institution. For a time, some theorized that the whole show concept was a figment of Hurley's mind, evidenced by the physical contact with known ghosts.
The show actually had an episode entitled "Deus Ex Machina." Shortly after the series was renewed, the island plot lines took off in back story tangents, the most important centering around the awkward life of John Locke, including the pivotal story of Locke losing a kidney after being conned by his own father. Some fans thought they were "conned" by the Ending in the sideways church, while others found a calming inner peace like Locke did in his last discussion with Ben.
So, who was the focal character that binds all the interwoven plot devices and story lines together?
It was not Locke, whose character morphed into a dark villain supernatural creature called Flocke. LOST was not about Flocke or Jacob, whose subtext was merely a call to the supernatural elements of the story.
It was also not Hurley, who wound up as the second in command then the island's new "leader."
His island story was left to the ether of speculation as he returned to the church to remain mostly in the background.
So most people think the focal character was Jack, since everyone in the church was "waiting" for him to arrive and awaken to the afterlife. Except for the metaphysical inconsistencies of Jack "dying" on the island while simultaneously living a sideways existence, only to merge moments later at the church with complete knowledge of his past, Jack served only as the football (the symbol for the viewers journey through the characters' white wash rapids) being carried and punted through the end zone when the white light engulfed the church pews.
Despite the construction of the ending, Jack was not the key character from which the foundation of LOST was built upon.
In the sweeping bait and switch ending for most viewers, with the sideways purgatory being the Deus Ex Machina, a contrived plot twist to save the show from its written painted corner containing all the prior story lines, clues, sci-fi arcs and illusions, LOST continues to sit in the pit of collective stomach of die-hard viewers like undercooked Thanksgiving feast.
Many people felt that the show centered around Jack, as he was the focal point of the pilot episode. But it is well documented that Jack's character was not even supposed to be a main character; that he was supposed to "die" shortly after the pilot episode to impart "shock value."
Then a few people felt that Hurley was the center piece of the show framework. Hurley was the first character cast by TPTB. Hurley was always lurking in the background as events unfolded around him. He was special. Connections seem to link to him and his mental institution. For a time, some theorized that the whole show concept was a figment of Hurley's mind, evidenced by the physical contact with known ghosts.
The show actually had an episode entitled "Deus Ex Machina." Shortly after the series was renewed, the island plot lines took off in back story tangents, the most important centering around the awkward life of John Locke, including the pivotal story of Locke losing a kidney after being conned by his own father. Some fans thought they were "conned" by the Ending in the sideways church, while others found a calming inner peace like Locke did in his last discussion with Ben.
So, who was the focal character that binds all the interwoven plot devices and story lines together?
It was not Locke, whose character morphed into a dark villain supernatural creature called Flocke. LOST was not about Flocke or Jacob, whose subtext was merely a call to the supernatural elements of the story.
It was also not Hurley, who wound up as the second in command then the island's new "leader."
His island story was left to the ether of speculation as he returned to the church to remain mostly in the background.
So most people think the focal character was Jack, since everyone in the church was "waiting" for him to arrive and awaken to the afterlife. Except for the metaphysical inconsistencies of Jack "dying" on the island while simultaneously living a sideways existence, only to merge moments later at the church with complete knowledge of his past, Jack served only as the football (the symbol for the viewers journey through the characters' white wash rapids) being carried and punted through the end zone when the white light engulfed the church pews.
Despite the construction of the ending, Jack was not the key character from which the foundation of LOST was built upon.
Friday, October 15, 2010
FOOD DROP
In the segment of "The Man in Charge," Ben goes to the Dharma Guam logistics shipping warehouse to terminate the two pea can labeling pallet jockeys. Ben says he is from the home office, and the men's services are no longer required because there is a new man in charge ("Hurley")
The whole purpose of this DVD bonus segment was to allegedly answer one of the hardcore fan's mysteries . . . why, after Dharma was wiped out, the Island continued to receive food pallet drops.
It was speculated by the blast door and Hatch workers that it was triggered by a breach of the count down timer, presumably opening a window into the Island's electromagnetic snow globe for the pallet to fall through.
But the DVD explanation of two robotic workers filling pallets with Dharma labeled food containers does nothing to solve any mystery of the series. In fact, it is counter intuitive. The worker's dot matrix printer goes off with the coordinates for the launch window. He tells the other guy to hurry up with the pea labels because the pallet is ready to go. Go where?
At the Lamp Post, Eloise told Jack and the rest of the O6 people that the Island had moved and it was difficult to locate. The large pendulum and computers were used to try to locate it. After a while, she said Ajira 316 was the only way to get back to the island because it would fly over the island just as Oceanic 815 did. She also said that Jack had to re-create the flight as close as possible, or "so help us God."
So, in reality, it was not difficult for the Guam suppliers to get the coordinates for the food drop. How they were signaled the Island coordinates, unknown. Why they were located in Guam, unknown. Why no one from the "home office" ever showed up at the place before, unknown.
But it does give me the sense that the two guys were stuck in a monotonous packing routine for eternity - - - - a form of corporeal punishment. Now that Hurley was in charge, the workers were released from their bondage, in their purgatory.
Yes, if you want to try to fit this extra scene into the LOST as shown on television picture, the sideways world, the Lamp Post, the Island , and now the Guam station, were all creations of the dead Dharma people who used their experiences to create memories so they could be remembered by others in the afterlife in order to move on.
The whole purpose of this DVD bonus segment was to allegedly answer one of the hardcore fan's mysteries . . . why, after Dharma was wiped out, the Island continued to receive food pallet drops.
It was speculated by the blast door and Hatch workers that it was triggered by a breach of the count down timer, presumably opening a window into the Island's electromagnetic snow globe for the pallet to fall through.
But the DVD explanation of two robotic workers filling pallets with Dharma labeled food containers does nothing to solve any mystery of the series. In fact, it is counter intuitive. The worker's dot matrix printer goes off with the coordinates for the launch window. He tells the other guy to hurry up with the pea labels because the pallet is ready to go. Go where?
At the Lamp Post, Eloise told Jack and the rest of the O6 people that the Island had moved and it was difficult to locate. The large pendulum and computers were used to try to locate it. After a while, she said Ajira 316 was the only way to get back to the island because it would fly over the island just as Oceanic 815 did. She also said that Jack had to re-create the flight as close as possible, or "so help us God."
So, in reality, it was not difficult for the Guam suppliers to get the coordinates for the food drop. How they were signaled the Island coordinates, unknown. Why they were located in Guam, unknown. Why no one from the "home office" ever showed up at the place before, unknown.
But it does give me the sense that the two guys were stuck in a monotonous packing routine for eternity - - - - a form of corporeal punishment. Now that Hurley was in charge, the workers were released from their bondage, in their purgatory.
Yes, if you want to try to fit this extra scene into the LOST as shown on television picture, the sideways world, the Lamp Post, the Island , and now the Guam station, were all creations of the dead Dharma people who used their experiences to create memories so they could be remembered by others in the afterlife in order to move on.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
XIBALBA
When cable diving last week, I came across a "double take" image on the History Channel. The illuminated green water at a cave entrance sure looked like the Light Source cave in Lost. The narrators were describing a global network of six ancient openings or gates that old civilizations believed were passageways into the underworld or Hell. The cave image above is from a Mayan location in Belize. Once the investigative team entered the cave, they found it a dangerous place, littered with human bones. They said the Mayans used this place to go to the underworld, and to make human sacrifices to their gods. By appeasing their gods, they could sustain life on the surface world. The Light Source cave was also littered with human skulls and bones.
The concept of gates to a different dimension were part of the Lost mythology. The FDW room had hieroglyphs that made mention of Earth gates. The countdown timer in the Swan could have been used to maintain closure of a gate (a place of death). And the Light Source cave contained a hieroglyphed plug that when removed, caused the light to vanish and the island quake. That mechanism caused the "immortal" Flocke to turn into mortal form (from death, to life, to death).
Friday, September 10, 2010
ALA LOST
"Even when we were writing the script, the most important issue was how much of the puzzle we should solve and how much we should leave as mystery."
–Satoshi Kon, the late, great Japanese animation writer-director
Recent Hollywood reports indicate that television and film producers are gravitating toward the Lost script model of many mysteries unsolved or unresolved for the sake of character development. Script writing and story telling is quite different than a Jason Pollock painting. But that is the tenor of the creative community: the ending is not as important as the journey. This does not sound like a promising trend.
It is one thing to hide clues within the story (including the background). But it is another thing to show facts and circumstances as clues when in fact they have no bearing on the ending. Finishing a 1000 piece puzzle with 5 pieces missing may be no big deal since the big picture can be seen, but finishing the same puzzle with 500 missing pieces is wrong.
Another Hollywood staple is the re-make. Take an old classic show or film, and recast it with new actors and writers. In the vast majority of cases, the remake of a show is a pale comparison to the original show.
A side note to the Lost model is a report that Hollywood was in the midst of trial ballooning a remake of Gilligan's Island, but with a modern, "Lost" sexy twist to the characters. They described the updated characters "ala Lost." The only thing the shows have in common is that passengers are lost on an unchartered Pacific Island.
You had the bumbling first mate, Gilligan; the overweight dim witted captain; the uber rich couple; the snotty tall fashion model; the naive farm girl; and the professor who could make a coconut radio but not a life raft. There was nothing controversial; it was plain vanilla television comedy.
If you apply the Lost characters to the Gilligan remake, here is possibly what you would get, based upon their Lost resumes:
The Skipper: Locke
Gilligan: Hurley
The Professor: Sayid
The Howells: Penny and Desmond
Ginger: Shannon
Mary Ann: Kate
Somehow, that cross-characterization into the Gilligan world does not seem too interesting, especially if it is still supposed to be a comedy.
–Satoshi Kon, the late, great Japanese animation writer-director
Recent Hollywood reports indicate that television and film producers are gravitating toward the Lost script model of many mysteries unsolved or unresolved for the sake of character development. Script writing and story telling is quite different than a Jason Pollock painting. But that is the tenor of the creative community: the ending is not as important as the journey. This does not sound like a promising trend.
It is one thing to hide clues within the story (including the background). But it is another thing to show facts and circumstances as clues when in fact they have no bearing on the ending. Finishing a 1000 piece puzzle with 5 pieces missing may be no big deal since the big picture can be seen, but finishing the same puzzle with 500 missing pieces is wrong.
Another Hollywood staple is the re-make. Take an old classic show or film, and recast it with new actors and writers. In the vast majority of cases, the remake of a show is a pale comparison to the original show.
A side note to the Lost model is a report that Hollywood was in the midst of trial ballooning a remake of Gilligan's Island, but with a modern, "Lost" sexy twist to the characters. They described the updated characters "ala Lost." The only thing the shows have in common is that passengers are lost on an unchartered Pacific Island.
You had the bumbling first mate, Gilligan; the overweight dim witted captain; the uber rich couple; the snotty tall fashion model; the naive farm girl; and the professor who could make a coconut radio but not a life raft. There was nothing controversial; it was plain vanilla television comedy.
If you apply the Lost characters to the Gilligan remake, here is possibly what you would get, based upon their Lost resumes:
The Skipper: Locke
Gilligan: Hurley
The Professor: Sayid
The Howells: Penny and Desmond
Ginger: Shannon
Mary Ann: Kate
Somehow, that cross-characterization into the Gilligan world does not seem too interesting, especially if it is still supposed to be a comedy.
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