Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Dharma Wants You!

You've probably seen the pictures or video of the Dharma Initiative Recruiting booth at Comic-Con. Well, now that they've gotten hundreds of volunteers from that show, they've opened it up the rest of us unfortunates who couldn't make it to San Diego. Go here to take a personality test and see if you might be recruited into the Dharma volunteer services. I passed, but I'm assuming everyone does. (Am I wrong?) We can all discuss our progress. Hmm... I might actually play along with the game this year! Thanks to Chris Temple for the link.

23 comments:

ChrisTemple said...

I think I will play along too. They will be posting the top 10 scores online. I want to be one of them. I wonder if the top 10 will be getting any special contact from Dharma.

Emilia said...

I passed, too. I'm glad ABC is giving us something to keep us from wasting away during the looong hiatus.

Cedar said...

Okay, that was weird--loved the sound effects. I passed too. BTW, I stopped watching LOST just a few episodes into last season--it annoyed me too much. But Niki speaks so highly of it that I may try again next season.

poggy said...

This is my first Lost ARG, as I wasn't caught up with the US airings for the previous seasons. Also, I've always not-so-secretly wanted to be a Dharma employee, lol!

ChrisTemple said...

Cedar, how could you just stop watching? LOST is one of the greatest shows in history and this season was the best so far.

atruebluehusker said...

First things first, I passed. Secondly, I have to disagree, christemple...season 4 was a disaster. For three seasons we were convinced how the others were the most diabolical people on earth (or...wherever?) and a huge threat to our survivors. Then they just kind of drift off to irrelevance and the freighter people are suddenly the bad guys? The episodes also just felt discombobulated, pointless at times, and way to sci-fi. Not to mention half the cast has been killed off. I still think season 1 was by far the best, but that is just my opinion...I'm sure people will disagree with me, but that is okay. I will say this...I am so invested in these characters that I will watch to the end, unless Jack or Sawyer dies. Then that tears it!

Nikki Stafford said...

Cedar: Come back, come back! :)

atruebluehusker: I thought season 4 was the best one yet. Isn't that funny how we have two completely opposite views on this? Maybe it's because the show took a shift (flashbacks to flashforwards; on the island to off the island, etc.). I've found that every season has a shift: Season 1 was focused on the surviors, season 2 on the tailies, season 3 on the Others, season 4 on the freighter folk. The Others could only last as the mysterious bad guys for so long, but they're still a mystery. Now that Ben is in with the survivors, we'll find out more about them eventually, but if they'd laid out all the cards in season 4 on who the Others were, I'd have lost interest. I need the mystery to continue, or else my interest isn't held. It's like if they told me the butler did it on page 42 of the mystery novel... why would I read the other 200 pages? But I was very intrigued by your comment! Is it just the shift in the Others to the freighter folk or that whole flashforward thing that bugged you?

ChrisTemple said...

I totally agree with Nikki. I think most of the people who didn't like Season 4 are the fans who are just "band wagaon" fans. It isn't typical for the bad guys in a story to really not be the bad guys and I think the fact that it is not steriotypical bothers people. Many people also want a nice happy story where none of their favorite characters die... well that's been done a million times.

atruebluehusker said...

Nikki, it wasn't just the shift from Others to freighters that bothered me, and I agree with you that if they had given us all the answers, no one would watch. (I think that's why I liked season 1 so much...anything was possible) And I actually like the flash forward idea and trying to figure out the puzzle pieces. What I hate most is all the characters dying. Boone, Shannon, Ana, Libby, Eko, Charlie, Jin, Michael...from the beginning I wanted a happy ending, and that can't happen if there's no one left to be happy. Plus I just have felt like the story isn't really flowing, and there are way too many plot holes (although of course I can't put my finger on them at the moment). Maybe they will all be resolved in the end...I'll give Darlton a chance, but I am just afraid that I am going to end up going on this fantastic road trip with my best friends, and instead of going to California, we're going to end up in rural Iowa. (No offense to any Hawkeyes out there.)

Cedar said...

Okay--the debate here has convinced me to give the show another try next season. But Lost never did capture me the way some other shows have ("other shows" like Buffy, Angel, Firefly). All I remember about the episodes I watched from Season 4 is that I regularly got up and left the room without putting the PVR on pause--in other words, the show did not keep my focus. I have no idea why I wasn't interested--I watch a lot of TV and like a variety of shows. Anyhow... your conversation here is interesting!

ChrisTemple said...

I personally am glad they kill off main characters. It leaves you guessing and it is not the norm. Most people don't realize that they were actually going to kill off Jack in the pilot episode just to throw everyone off. I am very confident the the show will fill any "plot holes" people may think it has and answer all the questions in viewers minds... at least the ones that are meant to be answered. As for a happy ending I'm not so sure it will be "happy" for everyone.

atruebluehusker said...

christemple, I'll agree with you in part. If they never killed any main characters, there would be no urgency when they were in danger. (And by the way, if they had killed Jack, I'm not sure the show would have made it to the hatch.)But they are killing or removing more than half of them. As much as I love Faraday and Frank, I spent several seasons getting invested in these other characters. It's like House and his staff changeover, only I didn't care about those people.

And I doubt it will be a happy ending either...it will probably leave us with dropped jaws. I guess the moral is, enjoy the ride.

ChrisTemple said...

It's like a really good book. You can't judge it completely until you have read the entire story and none of us viewers have yet. And many of the characters that have died have returned in some form or another. If people didn't die on this show fans would be upset that there are too many characters or that they aren't giving enough episodes to the new ones. It's a lose lose according to some fans.

Nikki Stafford said...

Christemple and trueblue: Great debate, guys, keep it up! I'm really enjoying reading both sides of the argument.

I think when Joss Whedon began offing pretty regular characters in Buffy, I sat up, took notice, and realized wow, that really hurts. I got invested in these people, and now I'm very upset.

And I loved that feeling. It's that feeling that brought me back week after week... whether it's utter happiness or utter misery, if these writers can make you feel strongly about something, they're doing their job, I think. For me, at least.

trueblue: So are the freighter folk more like Nikki and Paulo to you? Because for me, I thought what they did terribly wrong with the Dunder Twins, they fixed with the freighter folk. Maybe it's because they introduced them through flashbacks, whereas with N&P we didn't get to know them before we wanted them to be bitten by poisonous spiders (yay, gratification!!) But Dan is one of my favourite characters, Miles is annoying but funny, Frank seems sad and I really like him because of it (and besides, he's the only one on the outside now, and one who could blow the lid off the lie the O6 are telling), and while I didn't like Charlotte at first, her caring for Dan made me start to like her, and that comment that she was trying to get back to the island, as if she'd been there before, was intriguing to me.

So for me, the freighter folk aren't taking away from the other characters, they're just bringing fresh blood to the show and keeping my interest. I think they're great.

That said, I'm dying for Rousseau (yes, I'm still holding out hope) and Alpert flashbacks.

ChrisTemple said...

Nikki, during the Comic Con Panel Darlton said they would definitely be telling Rousseau's story this season.

atruebluehusker said...

Nikki, I agree with all your comments about the freighter folk...I love Faraday and Frank, and although I hated Miles at first, he is funny and I'm even coming around on Charlotte too. I was a little ticked when they killed Minkowski (I loved Fisher Stevens on "Early Edition") but I could live with that one. Charlie and Rousseau really put me over the top, but I also heard that we get a Rousseau back story. I have been waiting for that for years. (And yes, Nikki and Paulo were just a grease fire...I kept being afraid they were going to wake up and shout before the dirt completely covered them.)

And you're right, making us feel strongly about the characters keeps us watching, and they definitely have done that.

I do have one question that maybe is obvious to everybody else, but why did Jack suddenly realize he had to lie? The island is gone (in that crazy sci-fi way that bugs me, but we won't touch on that now) so what different does it make if people are looking for it? (If you touched on this in another post and I missed it, sorry.)

Anonymous said...

I bet a lot less characters would die if they'd just stop being arrested for DUI.

ChrisTemple said...

I doubt it actually had anything to do with their DUI. All the characters that have been killed were planned before they were arrested.

yourblindspot said...

A couple of good places to track clues:

http://www.lostargs.com/

http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Dharma_Initiative_Recruiting_Project_clues

Nikki -- what are your thoughts on this new "Marvin Candle" video from ComicCon (other than the hope that the sweater he's wearing was destroyed in the purge)?

Jazzygirl said...

Wow am I glad I decided to pop in here! Haven't had a chance to catch up in a while.
Couple of things:
I loved season 4 as well. However it's a little hard to compare seasons because they are SO different. What I loved about season 1 doesn't necessarily exist in season 4, if that makes sense.
Yes, I am still hurting that Eko died...but Nikki's right...if they didn't tear our hearts out they wouldn't be doing their jobs as writers. Plus, let's not forget that LOST is like a huge map or puzzle..and we've only been privied to sections and slices of it...and not necessarily in the right order. I have loved every minute of it and therefore I have faith that when the entire picture is put together, it will be fantastic and totally NOT the image I will have guessed it to be. LOL I think this is one of the best shows EVER on TV. I think some people lose interest in it because there are SO many finite details and extras that you have to research yourself and discuss with others. I know for myself, reading Nikki's books and being on here has deepened the show for me SO much. I can't even being to count the things I would have missed if I had not read Nikki's books or blogged on here. When I try to talk to people about the show and I present the ideas from this site, they think I am an obsessed nutjob. Okay maybe I am, but they are also amazed at those little things and it put the show in a whole new light.
Case in point....
The Marvin Candle Comic-con video that Josh just asked about.
I will have to watch it again but at the end when the person who is filming wants to give up and shut the camera of, I swear it sounds like Daniel Faraday!! Anyone?

pencorco said...

The ARG is great. You can make your own "Evaluation Test" on the site. Here is the one I made.

http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/site/?utid=108417148899036837298078587911#/qp

Post yours and I will do it so you get the points too.

Unknown said...

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Chuck Power said...

Here is my test. Take it, it's a fun one.
http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/site/?utid=144005466592971732957676500302#/qp