http://entertainment.myway.com/celeb...16_2005_2.html

Entertainment News
New York Post November 16, 2005
'LOST' NUMBERS = ZERO


MEMO to "Lost" fanat ics: those numbers you're all so obsessed with — not even the producers know what they mean.

"I think that that question will never, ever be answered," "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof tells today's edition of TV-Guide.com, when asked about the significance of the strange numbers — 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 — that have become so central to the series.

"I couldn't possibly imagine [how we would answer that question]. We will see more ramifications of the numbers and more usage of the numbers, but it boggles my mind when people ask me, 'What do the numbers mean?,' " Lindelof says.

The numbers have become a huge part of "Lost." In various ways, they've drawn many of the castaways to the island and were even used by one character — Hurley — to win the lottery before he got on the ill-fated flight.

"Lost" co-creator Carlton Cuse tells the Web site that Shannon (Maggie Grace) was indeed shot and killed on last week's episode. Fans have been speculating all week that her death was a red herring.

"She was shot," he says.

Lindelof adds that "Lost" fans who analyze each episode may be reading a little too much into the show.

"They totally are," he says. — Don Kaplan

well, it just says she was shot, not that she's dead
:p

hey, anyone have info on Destination Lost? It was the first "episode" this year which seemed to be just a repeat of all the flashbacks. I skipped it, but now I'm wondering if there was anything new / interesting in it that I'd want to see...

Some of my worst fears that have cropped up due to the episodes I've seen this year may be true.

Huh?

That writers don't really know what the hell they're doing.

The numbers question will NEVER be answered? I'm starting to think that maybe the show just got lucky it's first year.

Did you guys know that if you use the numbers as a latitude and longitude, it comes up as a small isolated island in the south pacific, roughly in the flightpath of a Sydney-LAX flight? Try it in Google Maps:

hxxtp://maps.google.com/maps?ll=4.815000,162.342000&spn=2.724555,3.950409&t=k&hl=en

OMG, the numbers are even IN ORDER! :cool:

I think it's folly to really believe that the core elements of this show were planned out, 50+ episodes in advance, at the outset.

They knew they had something where the backstories of the people would have lots of coincidences. The numbers were a promising element of that, and it worked. Seeding in the numbers made sense to do, so they did it a lot. They may have some basic idea what, if anything it will trace to eventually... but there's no doubt in my mind at all that a lot of things are being written basically on the fly.

It's television. More clever than most, but there's never an endgame in television.

We all knew sooner or later Jack Tripper would move out and get his own restaurant.

In the first podcast they basically said that while they have some basic idea where they want the show to go a season in advance, just about everything is made up on the fly.

Televisin shows are never planned out for their full run after the first season of episodes... shows are written as they go, all the time.


Source? The guy said he doesn't know how they'll explain them, he didn't say they never would.

------------------------

Seriously I'm starting to think that people have their sights set way to high for this show, it's bound to end in disapointed if you're going to treat this show like it was somehow made by God or something.

Those of you who Tivo, don't forget to add extra time for the extended episode tonight!

Looks like, according to Yahoo! TV, that it will be the expected 10 mins. extra after all... Invasion looks to be 50 Mins, unless they are planning on delaying the local news.

I understand that. But the story on the whole should be know to them, especially with a "stranded on the island, what's going on?" theme. Yes, elements will have to be added/takena way, but the main stuff should be solid going into the project (what the number signify, what the "monster" was, and so on). As of now, it kind of seems like not even the WRITERS know why a lot of the things that have happened happened.


Same thing, in my mind. If they don't already know how the numbers "work" or tie together, then what's the point?


Or just that you aren't being yanked around by second-rate writers. I think I'll just stick to HBO series from now on.

Walt!!!!

"THEY TOOK MY SON!"

Guy has the easiest job in Hollywood. He only has two lines.

I believe he also said "Stay away from my son" to Locke a few times.

He has range.

No kidding - hell, when he was in OZ, he didn't even have to frickin' *walk*

all he had to do in the matrix was operate the stupid ship and look concerned.

Bueller? Bueller?

Fixed that for you.

Fixed it. Don't sell the man's range short.

It's still missing exclamation points.

He doesn't have that much range.

Mr Eko is a badass.

I always liked that dude from Ed, he needs to get a show, he's funny.

so yeah, i don't think shannon's really dead

Yes she is. That was a good episode.

Didn't really care for this episode.

I knew there was a reason I never trusted the Peace Corps.

Next week's preview showed Ana firing the gun....I thought there was only one bullet?

Fuck you CTV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Invasion comes on CTV at the same time as ABC so when that happens ABC's signal turns into CTV's... since this episode was extended I missed and they still made the switch at the same time I missed everything after Jin washed ashore.

After Jin washed ashore they showed the new group throwing Jin, Michael and Sawyer into the pit and then up until Ana Lucia shot Shannon.

What!? That doesn't sound familiar!

Glad I wasn't the only one who saw that.

What am I missing here?

she's firing a mind bullet.

I'm waiting for him to say "Fuck you, Jobu"

I noticed her firing again as well. WTF?

The other question that came to mind for me was Bernard being up in that tree strapped into a seat. Maybe I am not remembering things right, but wasn't he out of his seat using the restroom in the tail section when the tail section broke off? I thought that is was she told Jack when he talked to her early in the first season.

Did he have time to get into a seat before all hell broke lose?

The numbers were never intended to be a major part of the show--they started writing them into the stories more when people became fascinated with that aspect.

Probably yes. I'm sure he went to the bathroom and when everything went awry he grabbed the closest available seat and buckled up.

I noticed that as well. I was thinking at first maybe he's not the Bernard we think he is, but then he asked about an African-American woman.

And I agree, Mr. Ecko is a total badass. He took out two others with his bare hands (and a rock, but whatever).

It may be folly, but I have hopes that they really do have a set of events planned out over a finite, if not definite, number of seasons. There has been some evidence of that in just the second year. Namely the logos slipped into the background of scenes in the first season.

It wouldn't be the first time that kind of foresight has been seen in Television. I still remember watching season three of Babylon 5, when they revealed the other half of a story line that had unknowingly, to me at least, started back in the first season. It had always been planned. They planted the seed in the first season, and it bloomed in the third.

The first time he met Jin/Michael/Sawyer, he asked about his wife Rose.

I remember that now. :)

Did anyone else wonder how Michelle Rodriguez got him down from the tree? "Stay put, I'll get you down" and it looks like she's going to climb up there after him. There's no way he got on her back and she climbed down.

Not a big fan of the whole tail section storyline. Feels like they are really reaching to stretch this out even more than it already is.

Makes sense I guess if you have 20 million people every week watching.

Seemed like a lot of work to add five new people to the cast, but I thought that episode was pretty well done. I wish they would have progressed the overall story, as a whole, for like the last five minutes at least, though.

There was some of that in Buffy too. I always think of television writing like what I do planning out a pen & paper roleplaying campaign. I have a distinct beginning and a pretty strong idea of where I want it to end, but a lot of what goes in between is made up on the fly to adapt to how the players change. In fact, I've started thinking of campaigns in terms of 22 episode seasons...:)

I imagine the Lost writers are working similarly, adjusting on the fly. Which makes sense, considering you cant necessarily guarantee certain actors will be available for the entire run of the show, so you have to have some flexibility.