We will break a part the list into manageable bits.
THE CHOICE
When a row of seats is discovered in the jungle containing a badly burned passenger who is
remarkably still alive, Kate and Jack (their relationship now marred by a serious "trust issue" now that Jack knows her secret) clash as she argues that he grant the man's wish - to end his
tremendous pain and kill him - a concept that not only contradicts Jack's beliefs regarding euthanasia, but also his own reluctance in accepting that they are now ON THEIR OWN.
This story line must be in reference to the injured Marshal who was guarding Kate on the plane. Jack learns of her secret (that she is a wanted criminal for murder), so Jack can no longer just trust her innocent looks. However, this summary was changed slightly - - - Mars was not found with sever burns. Yes, there was discussion about ending his life, but that came about because Jack did not have the medical tools to save him. Kate got Sawyer to "try" to kill Mars, but that back fired into more pain for the patient. But this story was the realization point that there would be no rescue - - - that came later on. So, for the most part, this story idea was used in the series.
THIRST
Having consumed every drop of bottled water from the wreckage under the false belief that rescue was imminent, our group is faced with their first survival crisis- FINDING WATER. Who will go and who will stay, how they'll find a fresh water source and once they do, how they'll bring it back all illuminates their harsh new reality - If something needs to get done, they're going to have to do it themselves.
This seems like a common sense story idea. People need water in order to survive. The story idea proposes that there is a water lottery of sorts - - - pinning survivors against themselves on the remaining rations begin to expire. In the series, people bickered about it but really never did anything to change their situation. It was Jack chasing his ghost father that led him to the caves where there was a fresh water supply. So in the series, the group did not come to terms to solve this problem, the smoke monster Christian did. And once the cave was found, the water issue was never brought up again, especially after the group decided not to move to the caves. This story idea was used in part, but it was shown not in the dramatic form originally proposed.
FINDERS/KEEPERS
As rationing begins, fights break out between our people as new rules begin to present themselves - first and foremost, whether or not your own personal property can be requisitioned by the others in order to provide for the "greater good." The only solution is a frontier mentality . . . and when possession is nine tenths of the law, how do you protect your stash once you've got it?
This story idea was really focused in on one character, Sawyer. He began the hoarder of the plane supplies early on, including lifting the marshal's side arm. The writers used this knack of collecting necessities to make Sawyer both loathed and feared by the other castaways. It gave the writers an opportunity to pit Sawyer against other main characters, especially Jack, when supplies were needed to treat people. It also allowed the writers to show the cunning of Kate, who tries to seduce or charm Sawyer into giving up part of his stash. But the series never got to the point of a constant battle over supplies - - - and feuds about what is mine or yours. The whole notion of material needs pretty much vanished when the leaders took control of the hatch pantry, and then stumbled upon the food drop pallet.
EVERYBODY GETS SICK
A medical mystery compounds the trials of survival when the Castaways are struck by a violent and seemingly contagious illness. Amid mounting panic and the gruesome death of the first survivor struck with the disease, Jack must quarantine the sick and use the limited resources at his disposal to investigate the outbreak, perform a makeshift autopsy and ultimately rely on less formal medical knowledge from an unlikely source - Sun.
Sun's herbal medicine knowledge was only briefly touched upon in the actual series. We got the story idea of "the infection" early on through non-plane characters such as Ethan and Rousseau, but there was no "outbreak" of deadly disease with the main group. In fact, the opposite would be shown: that the island had miracle "curing" powers, except for certain pregnant women and dictators with bad problems. Jack never had to diagnose the beach camp to stop a deadly disease, nor pit his medical knowledge against Sun in order for everyone to survive. Sun took a back seat to Jack in the care and comfort a patients. It would seem that Sun's role would have been greater in the nurse/alternate medicine field - - - which could cause friction story lines with Jack if Jack had continued to be a "doctor" on the island. But Jack's role would quickly change to adventure leader than a person most concerned with the safety and health of the beach campers. The sickness story line was not well developed or executed in the series.
SUNBURN
It isn't long before paper money and the respective wealth of the survivors becomes moot. Value and usefulness become intertwined as SUNSCREEN becomes the single most valuable currency for trading not only other items recovered from the crash, but for SERVICES (a.k.a. "chores") as well. "SPFs" become the new gold standard - it is the one thing everybody needs, but not everybody's got.... and those smart enough to horde it ain't willing to share.
This is another common sense story line. If you were trapped on the island and your money was no good, what would be the means of exchange? The idea of sunscreen is both reasonable and comic. And barter for services is the basic building block for a primitive civilization. Those concepts make sense in what the original premise of the show was supposed to be: a society building exercise of bringing diverse people together in order to build a new community. But this story idea was never used in the series.
THE FOOD SOURCE
When Locke returns to camp with FRESH MEAT, he gains instant celebrity status... until he refuses to divulge where it came from.
The whole idea of food was never really addressed in the series. There should have been more discussion, more missions, more ideas since that was the second most important object to survival after finding fresh water. We did see the first major impression of Hunter Locke bringing a boar into camp, which both shocked and enthralled the camp. But the idea that he would not divulge where it came from is an odd way to create a mystery - - - Locke would have been proud of his accomplishment and would have basked in the admiration of his peers. Unless, the idea was that Locke as a) not whom he seemed to be (a smoke monster perhaps, shape shifting matter into "fresh meat," or b) was not a true passenger but a spy or double agent for the Others. Those two concepts would have been acceptable explanations for the mystery, but that mystery was never used by the writers. Later on, we would see only tempered "hunts" in the jungle, more for dialog than actual hunting. Again, the food source issue was never really a constant factor or worry during the series even though in real life it would have been a constant struggle to daily feed 48 people.
So of these first six story ideas, TPTB took elements of three of them, and discounted or failed to use the other three in a significant way.
When a row of seats is discovered in the jungle containing a badly burned passenger who is
remarkably still alive, Kate and Jack (their relationship now marred by a serious "trust issue" now that Jack knows her secret) clash as she argues that he grant the man's wish - to end his
tremendous pain and kill him - a concept that not only contradicts Jack's beliefs regarding euthanasia, but also his own reluctance in accepting that they are now ON THEIR OWN.
This story line must be in reference to the injured Marshal who was guarding Kate on the plane. Jack learns of her secret (that she is a wanted criminal for murder), so Jack can no longer just trust her innocent looks. However, this summary was changed slightly - - - Mars was not found with sever burns. Yes, there was discussion about ending his life, but that came about because Jack did not have the medical tools to save him. Kate got Sawyer to "try" to kill Mars, but that back fired into more pain for the patient. But this story was the realization point that there would be no rescue - - - that came later on. So, for the most part, this story idea was used in the series.
THIRST
Having consumed every drop of bottled water from the wreckage under the false belief that rescue was imminent, our group is faced with their first survival crisis- FINDING WATER. Who will go and who will stay, how they'll find a fresh water source and once they do, how they'll bring it back all illuminates their harsh new reality - If something needs to get done, they're going to have to do it themselves.
This seems like a common sense story idea. People need water in order to survive. The story idea proposes that there is a water lottery of sorts - - - pinning survivors against themselves on the remaining rations begin to expire. In the series, people bickered about it but really never did anything to change their situation. It was Jack chasing his ghost father that led him to the caves where there was a fresh water supply. So in the series, the group did not come to terms to solve this problem, the smoke monster Christian did. And once the cave was found, the water issue was never brought up again, especially after the group decided not to move to the caves. This story idea was used in part, but it was shown not in the dramatic form originally proposed.
FINDERS/KEEPERS
As rationing begins, fights break out between our people as new rules begin to present themselves - first and foremost, whether or not your own personal property can be requisitioned by the others in order to provide for the "greater good." The only solution is a frontier mentality . . . and when possession is nine tenths of the law, how do you protect your stash once you've got it?
This story idea was really focused in on one character, Sawyer. He began the hoarder of the plane supplies early on, including lifting the marshal's side arm. The writers used this knack of collecting necessities to make Sawyer both loathed and feared by the other castaways. It gave the writers an opportunity to pit Sawyer against other main characters, especially Jack, when supplies were needed to treat people. It also allowed the writers to show the cunning of Kate, who tries to seduce or charm Sawyer into giving up part of his stash. But the series never got to the point of a constant battle over supplies - - - and feuds about what is mine or yours. The whole notion of material needs pretty much vanished when the leaders took control of the hatch pantry, and then stumbled upon the food drop pallet.
EVERYBODY GETS SICK
A medical mystery compounds the trials of survival when the Castaways are struck by a violent and seemingly contagious illness. Amid mounting panic and the gruesome death of the first survivor struck with the disease, Jack must quarantine the sick and use the limited resources at his disposal to investigate the outbreak, perform a makeshift autopsy and ultimately rely on less formal medical knowledge from an unlikely source - Sun.
Sun's herbal medicine knowledge was only briefly touched upon in the actual series. We got the story idea of "the infection" early on through non-plane characters such as Ethan and Rousseau, but there was no "outbreak" of deadly disease with the main group. In fact, the opposite would be shown: that the island had miracle "curing" powers, except for certain pregnant women and dictators with bad problems. Jack never had to diagnose the beach camp to stop a deadly disease, nor pit his medical knowledge against Sun in order for everyone to survive. Sun took a back seat to Jack in the care and comfort a patients. It would seem that Sun's role would have been greater in the nurse/alternate medicine field - - - which could cause friction story lines with Jack if Jack had continued to be a "doctor" on the island. But Jack's role would quickly change to adventure leader than a person most concerned with the safety and health of the beach campers. The sickness story line was not well developed or executed in the series.
SUNBURN
It isn't long before paper money and the respective wealth of the survivors becomes moot. Value and usefulness become intertwined as SUNSCREEN becomes the single most valuable currency for trading not only other items recovered from the crash, but for SERVICES (a.k.a. "chores") as well. "SPFs" become the new gold standard - it is the one thing everybody needs, but not everybody's got.... and those smart enough to horde it ain't willing to share.
This is another common sense story line. If you were trapped on the island and your money was no good, what would be the means of exchange? The idea of sunscreen is both reasonable and comic. And barter for services is the basic building block for a primitive civilization. Those concepts make sense in what the original premise of the show was supposed to be: a society building exercise of bringing diverse people together in order to build a new community. But this story idea was never used in the series.
THE FOOD SOURCE
When Locke returns to camp with FRESH MEAT, he gains instant celebrity status... until he refuses to divulge where it came from.
The whole idea of food was never really addressed in the series. There should have been more discussion, more missions, more ideas since that was the second most important object to survival after finding fresh water. We did see the first major impression of Hunter Locke bringing a boar into camp, which both shocked and enthralled the camp. But the idea that he would not divulge where it came from is an odd way to create a mystery - - - Locke would have been proud of his accomplishment and would have basked in the admiration of his peers. Unless, the idea was that Locke as a) not whom he seemed to be (a smoke monster perhaps, shape shifting matter into "fresh meat," or b) was not a true passenger but a spy or double agent for the Others. Those two concepts would have been acceptable explanations for the mystery, but that mystery was never used by the writers. Later on, we would see only tempered "hunts" in the jungle, more for dialog than actual hunting. Again, the food source issue was never really a constant factor or worry during the series even though in real life it would have been a constant struggle to daily feed 48 people.
So of these first six story ideas, TPTB took elements of three of them, and discounted or failed to use the other three in a significant way.
