Friday, May 21, 2010

Darlton Live!!

OK, I’m going to try to make this quick because I was supposed to get writing done today and I STILL haven’t seemed to crack it. It hasn’t been a good week for writing (I took the week off to work on Finding Lost: Season 6) and see, I’m used to taking a week off work and returning having written somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 words (I type quickly). This week... not so much. I won’t say HOW pathetic (my editor might be reading and it’ll give her heart failure) but trust me, it’s pathetic. Every time I finally get deeply involved in something, the phone rings. Argh. But this book will happen, I promise.

SO. Last night (instead of writing) I was out at the LOST Live Talk with the NYT that was broadcast into movie theatres everywhere. (And I ran into redeem147, SenexMacDonald, and Question Mark!! It was totally awesome.) I sat with Mark Askwith at Space, and at one point we both whipped out notebooks at the same time, looked at each other and said, “GEEK.” I might ultimately post the full transcript (how do I have a full transcript? You might ask... good question. Ahem.) but for now, I’ll just post highlights (DL is Damon, CC is Carlton)...

• When asked how they come up with new ideas, Carlton said they just roll the dice. Damon added, “A TWENTY-SIDED DICE!!” and when the audience laughed he nodded approvingly, saying these were definitely his people.
• When working on the ending they said, if we were fans of the show, what would we want to see... and then they also decided they wouldn’t shy away from big emotion, and those two things were what helped form the finale.
• They said they needed to acknowledge just how BIG the finale was for the fans, that this was almost a spiritual thing, with anticipation and excitement and jitters, and treat the finale like the holy thing the fans think it is.
• Damon said the #1 question they get is, “Am I going to be really disappointed in the finale?” And he said, “Talk about performance anxiety!!” Haha!! He said they came up with an ending that satisfied THEM. One that also made the 425 people working on the show happy, and they knew if they could make them happy, they’d make the audience happy, too.
• Darlton went down to Hawaii for the shooting of the final scene, and said to the actors, “If you want any illumination of the final pages of the script, we’ll be right here to explain it to you,” and the actors were like, “Um... why would we start NOW?” They said for years the actors just get the scripts piecemeal, and just as in life, they don’t know what’s coming next, and they just go with it and never ask questions.
• CC said that the finale became real to them when they went and saw Giacchino recording the live music over the scenes for the score, and Damon got kicked out of the room because he was crying so hard. :::sniff:::
• They said the community that’s formed around Lost has become so important to them (yay!).
• They showed the clip from “Orientation” where Locke is about to push the Execute button for the first time, but doesn’t, telling Jack he needs to do it. There’s the whole, “Why is it so hard for you to believe?” “Why is it so easy for you?!” debate, followed by Locke appealing to Jack that this is a two-person job and he can’t do it alone. This made me really think a LOT about the finale, thinking that maybe Jack WON’T be the lone candidate, and that they’ll all realize he was right when he said if they don’t live together, they’ll die alone. I don’t think anyone is going to be doing that job alone.
• CC said one of the ideas going into the series was to explore the costs and consequences of faith, and that’s something they’ve explored throughout the 6 seasons.
• There was a question about the mirroring of the seasons, and they said that was deliberate (obvs) and that in this last season it’s about getting to know the character again but in a slightly different way, it’s like going back to S1 but we’re getting slightly different backstories for them.
• DL said the scenes of the mirrors are to give a sense of displacement. This idea of fans not liking new characters because they’re different is an attempt to make audiences have that who am I, how am I, where am I displacement that you sometimes get when looking in the mirror.
• At the end of season 1/beginning of season 2 they really knew where the show was going to go and they constructed the series’ overall mythology. Then before every season they would put together the detailed architecture of that particular season. CC said “We’re not JK Rowling; we collaborated with 425 people so it was obviously going to evolve as we went.”
• DL said they look at the show like it’s an organic entity, and they often let the show tell them what it wants it to be. (I loved here that they were talking about the show like it was the island!)
• DL said sometimes we make mistakes, and Nikki and Paulo was one of them (HAHAHAHAHA!!!!) They went on about N&P for a long time, and I loved EVERY MINUTE OF IT. They said Exposé was a polarizing episode because the fans who didn’t realize they were even there in the first place hated that they brought them to the fore for no reason, whereas the haters (like me!!) loved this episode because they just enjoyed the horrible death they gave them. They wanted Sawyer to be the voice of those haters, the “who the hell is Nikki?” line echoing what we were saying. Haha! They introduced N&P at a time when they didn’t have the end date, so they were sort of biding their time bringing things forward. He said, “We packed our fridge with food, some of which we never want to eat.” HAHAHA!!! DL said it’s obvious they’re going to make these mistakes, and he compared it to things like going to see a tightrope walker, where sometimes we enjoy the mistakes and seeing it happen... he said you sit in the audience at the circus going, “Wow, it would be HORRIBLE if he fell... but I’d still kinda like to see it!”
• Damon then made some sports joke about how even if you don’t know where the ball is going to go, you’ll swing the bat. Then he said, “At least I think that’s what you do in sports... I know nothing. Is that true, Carlton?” Carlton said, “Yes. In baseball you swing a bat.” Damon said, “Sorry, that metaphor just wouldn’t work with Orcs.” HAHAHA!!! Oh Damon I ♥ you!!
• DL said there will be a prominent Star Wars reference in the first 7 minutes of the finale. CC threw his hands up in the air like he’d just given a huge spoiler and then they bickered about what a spoiler was. ;)
• Question: What TV show made you go, “I want to do that.” CC said he watched tons of reruns when he came home from school, sitcoms and westerns mostly like Gunsmoke and Petticoat Junction. DL said it was watching Twin Peaks with his dad, where, when it was over they’d sit and talk about it for 2 hours and he said his dad said we should go rent David Lynch films, and he realized there was a creator hiding behind this show making it week after week and he wanted to be that person. He loved that there was a creator making this stuff that you’d want to discuss beyond the hour it was on.
• They talked about Eddie Kitsis being the guy who brought background characters to the fore, like Frogurt and Lapidus (getting the flaming arrow in Frogurt was Eddie’s favourite moment). He said Kitsis and Horowitz are the soul of Hurley. They have a very collaborative writing environment in the writers’ room. He said they never argue; it’s more like jury deliberation. You know the guy is guilty, you just have to convince everyone in the room to be on the same page.
• CC said “The greatest blessing of this show has been our partnership,” referring to Damon. Awwwwww....
• They said usually an ep takes a week and a half to break, and The Constant took 5 weeks. They showed the phone call from that episode, and when they came back DL looked really choked up. They said this was this mindbending episode that really challenged people and they realized the only way to keep the audience on board with the whole thing was to turn it into a love story at the end.
• They talked about how the premise of the show was that the characters were all solo acts and they needed each other to get over their stuff. AGAIN, it was reinforcing this idea of living together so you don’t die alone, which made me think differently about what is coming in the finale.
• What was your hardest plot choice? Killing Charlie. They said they tried to justify it (they even joked that they were like, “Um... Desmond’s actually been telling you that you were going to die for a LONG time, like, weren’t you listening??” but then they watched the episode and were absolutely in tears and realized that was a jerk thing to have done. ;)
• When asked about how fans seem to glom onto certain questions, they said they thought they’d explained or debunked certain things along the way but the fans don’t accept the explanation. For example, Aaron = special. The only person who ever said he was special was Richard Malkin, the psychic, and in the Eko episode they debunked him as a hoax, thereby removing the possibility that Aaron was special. He said the fans don’t accept that, and continue to think Aaron is special and that Malkin really meant it when he wanted Claire on that plane even though they’ve shown him up. This one really resonated with me, actually, because I’m sorry, but I’m in that fan camp simply because... what did Malkin have to gain by getting her on that plane? HE BOUGHT THE TICKET, for goodness’ sake. Why did he want her on that plane? Why did he give her money back? Why keep calling her in the middle of the night? There’s a difference between a hoax and a crazy person, and if he didn’t actually mean any of that then he’s a complete loon. Or it’s just really bad storytelling to deflect it, and I don’t think they’re bad storytellers. SO that was a little odd to me.
• They get asked “So... what’s up with Walt?” DL said, “Malcolm David Kelly is now 39 years old and six foot five!! By the end of the season you could hear that Peter Brady twitch of puberty in his voice and we were saying, ‘We gotta get that kid on a raft STAT!’” LOL!!!! As to whether or not Walt will appear in the finale? CC did give the answer. If you want to see it, just highlight the next line and you’ll see it, and otherwise you can move to the next question.
YES. To which DL said, “Oh come ON, I say we’ll make a joke about Star Wars and it’s a spoiler, and you think THAT wasn’t?! Oh it is ON.”
• They showed the clip of the Miles/Hurley time travel argument, and said it was a re-enactment of the discussion they had in the writer’s room.
• When asked if they cast the parts for particular actors ever, DL said when writing the part of Ben, they said, “Who do we know who could convincingly play someone who was deceitful, untruthful...” and then a scream went up from the NYT audience because Michael Emerson walked onto the stage.
• Emerson was asked who his favourite person to act scenes with was, and he said recently he’s really enjoyed being paired with Jorge Garcia, because they’re polar opposites and it’s really interesting to have that... and this one delicious scene was... and then Jorge walked in. He joked, “I was standing backstage saying, ‘Do I go now? How about now?’ and the girl was shrugging and I was worried if I didn’t move soon Michael would start talking about working with someone else and I’d miss my window of opportunity.” HA!
• The next question was from a fan from Guelph, Ontario, and CC laughed and looked into the camera and said, “Hello all you fans out in Guelph! I hope there wasn’t too long a line!” Oh you JEST, CC, but I bet there was just as long a line in Guelph as anywhere else! GO GUELPH!!
• Now it moved to open mike questions (which always worry me... they should have been vetted.) They were asked, is a rule breakable? In S1 it looked like Smokey was going to kill John Locke by pulling him into the hole but Jack saved him. DL said he might not have killed him, and they talked around it and got past that one.
• They were asked a long-winded question about faith, and CC said the show has allowed them to illuminate their thoughts on faith, and the whole live together, die alone thing is where they went with it, that people form a community and find strength in that sense of common spirituality. On the show they lifted each other up (ooh, Desmond reference!!) To them that’s what’s important... finding the people to lift you up in this world.
• Re: Widmore: Coming on the freight he was going to do bad things because he felt remorse and anger at having to lose his son, but this past week he explained that Jacob visited him and he saw the error of his ways. DL said the way they wrote that was for the audience: We’ve given you all these clues over the years that Widmore is not to be trusted. Now we’re going to put this line in his mouth: Do you believe him? How are you going to use the stuff that you know to be true in this scene? So they’re leaving that up to us to see if we believe it or not. (Interestingly, I took it to be true because they played the Jacob music in the background, but now they’re suggesting maybe I shouldn’t have followed that musical cue; and also, DL referred to this as the scene of Widmore’s “demise,” where I was starting to wonder if the guy had been wearing a bullet-proof vest and wasn’t actually dead. Hm.)
• A fan asked specifically, “During the Tour de Stade scene (he’s referring to the scene where Desmond and Jack first met in the stadium) Desmond said, “You’ve got to lift it up, bruthah,” and he was hoping that would be a line that comes back in the finale. Again, for spoilerphobes, you have to highlight the next point to see Damon’s response.
DL simply said, “You will not walk away from the finale disappointed.”
• Someone asked why they give away big surprises of guest stars in the opening credits (I’ll admit I was disappointed this week to see “Mira Furlan” in the credits because I would have LOVED the surprise of seeing Rousseau jump out of the car). He simply said, “If I were you guys, I’d hold up your hand to the bottom of the screen during the finale because it’s ALL going to be given away...” They said the obvious, that they’re contractually bound to put the actors’ names at the beginning, and they can’t tell an agent, “Oh, and by the way, we won’t be crediting your client in the show because we don’t want to ruin the surprise.” ;)
• Emerson said the best part of season 6 was getting to play two entirely different characters.
• Someone asked, “Why must there be a human presence on the island?” Damon said, “Wow. A softball.” Ha!! He said “Because the non-human presence would be boring.” He said in the Garden of Eden everything was lovely until humans screwed it up and they’re going with that. Jorge joked that there’s only one bird on the entire island, and then added, “He was special and killed off all the other birds.” HAHAHA!!!
• DL looked at Jorge and said, “You’re not just an actor on the show, but you’re a fan of the show. Why didn’t you want to ask us any questions after getting the full script?” Jorge thought about it for a second and said, “As a fan... I think I got it.” Big applause in the room.
• Jorge added, “Next fall, when you find that show you love, and you watch it, go into work the next day... and talk about Lost.” HAHAHAHA!!!
• I was annoyed by some of the questions, I’ll admit. Someone asked CC what his faith leanings were, and frankly I found that too personal and it had no bearing on the show. He handled it with grace. Someone else posited a theory about how the two timelines would come together and sort of put everyone on the spot, because if they say yes you NAILED it, then, um. Well. But if it’s wrong, they’ve eliminated a possible theory. I just thought these questions were STUPID.
• Someone asked what will ultimately be the significance of Eloise (like SERIOUSLY you can’t wait 3 more friggin’ days??) and they said when a character is inserted in the scene to catch people up really quickly on something, they call that the “Johnny the Explainer” character, and Eloise has been that for a few episodes.

And those for me were the main highlights. There was a lot more (best parts were all of DL’s geeky references, and them talking about how the two of them just sit and chat together in CC’s office over breakfast every morning) and it was SO much fun. You know, one of the things I’ll miss the most about Lost is these two. They’ve said that after the finale they will not be out there talking about it and doing interviews, and they want the audience to come to those conclusions. They’re not going to do the explaining for them. It was a great night. Thank you, Darlton!!

UPDATE: OMG, I can't believe I completely forgot to mention they showed us a clip from the FINALE!!!! For spoilerphobes, once again it's in white:

So Sawyer's hiding behind these bushes looking at Smokey by the well, and Ben comes up behind him and basically says, "Don't lurk, if you're here to join us, then join us." Sawyer rolls his eyes and wanders over with his hands up, and Smokey is his usual aloof self and asks Sawyer what he's doing. Sawyer said he heard Des was in the well so he was here to help him out. He leans over and says, "Looks like someone beat me to the punch. Oh well." Nice pun! So then Ben makes some caustic comment and Sawyer clocks him in the mouth with his elbow and it looks like Ben might have lost a few teeth or something, and then Locke says, "Do you know what I wanted with Desmond?" Sawyer says, "Sure, you probably wanted him to help you destroy the island." Smokey stands there, pause... as if, "Um... actually that was EXACTLY why. You totally ruined my Dum dum DUM!!! moment)" and then he says, "Exactly." And Sawyer says he's not that interested, and steps back, and Smokey looks at the shocked Ben, who's all, "Wait, WHAT? I didn't think you literally meant destroy the island, I thought that was figurative" and Smokey's all, "Oh, sorry... you mean because I promised to give you the island? Yeah... I forgot to mention it would be at the bottom of the ocean when you presumed ownership over it." and Ben looks pissed, and then someone (can't remember who) looks down at the base of the well in the dirt and says, "Hey, are those dog pawprints?" and they ARE and the whole audience just freaked out. I yelled out, "VINCENT!!!!" YAY!!! And that's where it ended.

37 comments:

  1. I went to it at the Galaxy Cinemas here in Peterborough. I had a great time. I probably laughed 10 times, and cheered internally about 100,000 times that.

    I think it was the best event I went to at the theatre. Way more better than Iron Man 2 (which was a good movie). It was so much fun. I didn't see anyone I know.

    If Michael Giacchino's music made Damon cry, then I'm sure that I will cry on Sunday night, too :'(

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  2. The Question Mark21 May 2010 at 17:31

    That was a really good recap, Nikki! I had tons of fun at that show, and it was so nice getting to meet you, redeem147, and SenexMacDonald!

    Were you interviewed at all by that woman from CBC? She interviewed me and my buddies for quite a while, but I have no idea when she'll be airing that. I think she said 10 tonight, but I'm not 100% sure. I hope my hair looked alright! ;P

    Some of those questions were a little unnecessary. I liked the dude who brought in his resume: I think that was a pretty smart idea.

    I don't know about everyone else, but I think Damon & Carlton should put their thinking caps together again and write some episodes of the upcoming live-action STAR WARS show! That would be frakkin awesome!

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  3. Too cool. I wanted to go here locally but was stuck at work. Grrrr.

    How is it possible that my excitement keeps ramping up higher and higher as the week progresses? At this rate, I'll be in danger of a heart attack by Sunday!

    WV - greinni: an inverted extraterrestrial bellybutton.

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  4. @Nikki – I went to my local theatre and enjoyed the times talk as well, with about 20 other people. I knew I was in good company when the woman behind me corrected Damon on the year Desmond went back (1996, not 1997) and how old walt was (10, not 8)

    --The first clip – What I liked about what he said was that they could have gone the sci-fi route, trying to figure out what it was connected to and how to “diffuse it” but what they chose to do in that moment was focus on the “live together, die alone” concept. Jack pushes the button, not because he believes something will happen if he doesn’t, but because he is, well, doing it for the team. I agree with you, Jack cannot do it alone.
    --The thing I liked re how they handled Nikki and Paulo – they realized their mistake and wrote the episode before the audience feedback, so they were in tune with it
    --Re: sports – We know DL is a HUGE sports fan, so even funnier
    --RE; Richard Malkin – actually, HE said he was a hoax, and they have trained us to believe what we see, not what a character tells us. Perfect example, the count to 5 story. And in the so called hoax exposing episode, his daughter had a very important message, that was true! So, I am with you Nikki, they didn’t do a very good job of convincing me that Malkin was a fraud.
    -- I liked the answer they gave to why Smokey tried to drag JL into a hole. Maybe you didn’t post it because it was spoilery-ish?

    I thoroughly enjoyed the talk, and came away with an even greater appreciation for these two, their working relationship, and their storytelling talent. Which I didn’t think was possible!

    Thank you so much for this write up. I saw somewhere if you send in a picture of yourself with the tix you are entered into a contest, but now I do not know where I saw that....

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  5. Oh how I wish I'd been able to go to the theatre to see this last night! Alas, still getting over the flu at our house...

    Thanks for the great recap, Nikki! I didn't highlight the spoilery lines... even though I was sorely tempted!

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  6. Thanks, Nikki, for another great recap. Even harder I imagine because there was one shot and one shot only at taking notes. Except for that script you mentioned....
    There we not many of us in the theater but we all laughed and commented. My son and I both cried too but now I don't remember what over.
    No doubt we will be crying on Sunday too.

    word verification: viest -a Yiddish heist

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  7. THAT was a great evening. :)

    One thing that really stuck me was how important community is to the structure of the show. Live together, die alone indeed. Then again, Jacob was alone and MIB lived in community with the settlement, which IRTCHM (I refuse to call her Mother) destroyed. Hmmm.

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  8. Question Mark: Yes, CBC interviewed me at my house on Wednesday (they filmed me doing the Globe live chat... I'm sure THAT will be rivetting television!!) ;) It's on The National tonight.

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  9. Must. Remember. To. Watch. The. National. Tonight!

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  10. @Nikki:This made me really think a LOT about the finale, thinking that maybe Jack WON’T be the lone candidate, and that they’ll all realize he was right when he said if they don’t live together, they’ll die alone.

    So will it end with MiB deciding to stay on the island and sing Kumbaya with Jack around the fire? All laughing aside, from your write-up I now have more faith in the finale than I had before. I guess live together means the audience all watching, while die alone means CC and DL after if they screw up; Ha! Two more days till Sunday, can't wait.

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  11. What a great evening! Question Mark - it was very nice to meet you, put a name to the 'handle' and see the actual person. I will keep an eye out for the CBC interview.

    Can't leave her out can I? LOL



    I laughed so much, teared up a few times, and am thoroughly in love with Damon. He was so wonderful - in his responses, and his (and Carlton's) love for the show and everyone involved in it. Last night especially made me really understand how much these two gentlemen have invested in this show and how it is more than the words on the page.

    You could see it in their faces, and hear it in their words. They were so careful about spoilers but they revealed themselves and what this show means to them (as much as us, the viewers) over the course of almost 2 hours.

    Yup, I Darlton!!!

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  12. The Question Mark21 May 2010 at 19:42

    Cool, thanks, Nikki!
    And it was great meeting you as well, SenexMacdonald! I'll never stop being amused by how we all introduced ourselves as our blogger-names! LoL

    "Nikki? Hi! I'm the Question Mark!'
    "Hi! redeem147!"
    "SenexMacdonald!"
    LoL

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  13. Awesome evening, although here in Bozeman, MT there were 4 of us in the theatre. We were able to talk back to the screen and laugh as loud as we wanted. It was awesome our private showing!
    I enjoyed all scifi references and when they asked Damon which TV show made him want to be in this business I shouted out "greatest american hero" and later on there was a "greatest american hero" reference.
    But the best part was when they told us to put on our 3D glasses. I just died, because my husband previously stated as I was geeking out about times talk if it was in 3D.

    Awesome night!

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  14. Oh MAN, I wish I had gone. But Nikki, your recap is so well done and thorough; thank you for that.

    Good grief, what are we gonna do on Tuesdays nights from now on?

    I'm gonna be bereft without fresh Sayid scenes every week. :'(

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  15. Hey guys, I just updated the post on the end of it with a description of a clip they gave us from the finale!!!

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  16. Nikki, thanks for the recap. I thought about taking notes during the Times Talk, for a friend who couldn't attend, and then decided I really just wanted to listen to DL and CC. So I said to myself, "Maybe Nikki will write about it," and put away my notebook.

    Your book-writing procrastination was totally justified.

    Really enjoyed hearing DL and CC talk about their writing process. One of my favorite moments was when DL talked about the contradictory expectations of fans who want the answer to "do you make it up as you go?" to be "no" and also want the answer to "does the audience affect the writing of the show? to be "yes."

    Don't remember his exact words, but I loved the expression on DL's face as he explained the contradiction.

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  17. Thanks for the stuff in white. It answers a question I asked in the last episode. Now all I can say is how can *******stupid????????

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  18. Nikki, thanks for your detailed report! I will direct any friends to it who missed the theater.

    I agree that many of the question were, frankly, a waste of a golden opportunity, although the t-shirt variety among questioners was great!

    PLEASE look, though, if you haven't already, at comments following your write-up of the May 18 episode. A few of us began listing "Unanswered Lost Questions," and we're hoping you might run with this, in some way. These are REAL questions that matter and that could be answered, we feel.

    Thanks again for ALL your work!

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  19. I loved Damon's D&D references. I had to make a Save vs Awesomeness.

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  20. @Fred:

    I always find your comments here so insightful. But this one, I'm not sure if you are joking or not:

    "So will it end with MiB deciding to stay on the island and sing Kumbaya with Jack around the fire?"

    One of my many theories :) is ... that is exactly how it will end! I have been thinking a lot about how all the actors describing the finale have in so many words called it a "very spiritual ending" at one point or another. And wracking my brains about what might be the most spiritual ending I can think of.

    And it dawned on me - rather than my nom-de-plume "convergence" which I adopted because that's where I originally thought it was going, what if instead it was ... "conversion"?

    Why have we all been assuming things must stay on their ordered paths and the big war that every episode has been telling us is coming has to continue as war? What if instead, there was an outbreak of common sense and peace?

    What if, Jack, having now assumed the mantle of island protector, taken on the "boss's job," has his own ideas about how to run things, and is a more successful Jacob, than Jacob?

    What if he actually does "convert" Flocky and they all come to peace with each other?

    That might be a very moving and satisfying and culturally hopeful finale. And certainly ... spiritual.

    What do others think?

    WV - pitte: How Desmond feels about not being able to see Penne.

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  21. Thanks for the recap Nikki. You must have been writing the whole time.

    There were about 25 of us in an old theater in San Francisco. Which made it feel that much geekier, just a few of us together in the dark.

    Every now and then, when the NY audiece burst into applause, we had to decide whether to clap (for Ben, or for a clip)--at a remote broadcast, that was not live but delayed 3 hours.

    I loved Damon's dichotomy that on the one hand, fans (and critics) want to be reassured that there was always a plan, every last detail figured out by the writers; and on the other hand, that they were responding to the fans.

    Carlton was a little more pragmatic on the fan love issue--he pointed out they were writing and filming long before episodes were broadcast, so they couldn't really respond in real time, even if it sometimes felt like they did.

    Michael and Jorge were delightful. Damon or Carlton did say that as they got to know the actors, it influenced the writing of the characters a little--that Josh Holloway was such a nice guy that began to influence how they wrote Sawyer.

    The clips were so good. The Execute moment in the hatch made me want to rewatch season 2 (when I first started watching LOST, accidentally). And I hadn't realized Damon and Carlton wrote the Desmond episodes. There is something about Flashes Before Your Eyes and the Constant, and Happily Ever After that stands out, and I've never thought it was the Penny romance, or Henry Ian Cusick.

    See you all on the other side.

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  22. I thought this was very interesting; most of the stuff I liked best was the discussion about creative process and how that took place for the showrunners and writers. I thought it was very cool that they did not really have serious fights among the writers - that is a hard thing to accomplish on any collaborative effort, more so when people's egos get involved. But they also said that they tried to look at every scene from many different angles ("What are the implications if we don't kill Jin and Sun?")

    The most surprising thing to me about the whole thing was how BIG Jorge Garcia is. You don't quite get that when watching the show; he must be at least 6'4". The dude is a grizzly bear!

    I thought the funniest thing about the Nikki & Paolo business was that, "well, we new we had made this huge mess, and either N&P were going to just quietly disappear and never be heard from again, or we were going to have to bury them alive." Or something to that effect. And they talked about how they intentionally did it all very tongue-in-cheek as an acknowledgment of how completely they had blown it with that whole idea.

    And I liked the part where they talked about having to pitch the time travel story arc for S5 to the execs - that they "were sure they were about to be fired," spent 40 minutes on this explanation that was like "trying to explain Lost to someone who's never seen it," only to have the executives just sit and look at them, and come back with "whatever."

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  23. I attended the Times Talk event here in Omaha at the AMC Theater. It was a dark and stormy night; lots of rain and thunder clapping...so, perfect for an evening of watching "Lost" on the big screen(!)

    As seems to be the norm, the audience was not gigantic. About 15-20 people attended; no kids or grandparents, I noticed. Of course, with my propensity of taking everything into account and thinking the place might be packed, I arrived 30 minutes early and got the BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE! People didn't start to arrive until about five minutes before showtime.

    I hope this event somehow finds it way onto DVD, either as part of the Season 6 release, or as something put out by the New York Times. I would hate to think that I'll never get a chance to watch this again.

    My initial reaction when they showed the first clip from the show, my heart skipped a beat and I thought, "So THIS is what "Lost" would look like on the big screen...this is AWESOME!" It made me appreciate it that much more, knowing there will NOT be a movie and that this was a one-time only shot to experience "Lost" on the big screen.

    The two hours flew by, and when I blinked, it was over. Absolutely worth the price of admission, driving through horrendous weather to get to the theater...and that theater hot dog was one of the best I'd eaten in a long time. Total rip-off, mind you, but hot dogs and "Lost" go together like Mr. Eko and his Jesus stick.

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  24. I thought the event was great, and was quite well attended at my theatre (Westmount Theatre in London). The place was probably 3/4s full, I was impressed. I had a great time, and was just blown away by how Damon and Carlton would go to the trouble to do something like that for the fans. Not many show creators have gone above and beyond like they have. I went with a friend who enjoyed it, but not as much as me. She's not the type who listens to the podcasts and reads the blogs and everything, so it wasn't quite her style. I agree, some of the questions were ridiculous - just wait until Sunday!

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  25. @Lee - I had a hot dog too!

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  26. @Convergence - interesting theory. I haven't made any predictions on how it will end, but I think it will have to be a combination of blowing things up, Jack not doing it by himself, characters doing unexpected things when those we expected to do cannot or will not (think Jack not operating on little Ben). Live together, die alone (as someone else said somewhere in the last 48 hours here) will be the theme to the end. I'm not sure Jack and Smokey will hug it out, but it will probably not just be battles and explosions.

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  27. Convergence/Conversion:
    Yes, I like your idea about common sense winning the day. I have felt that one of the huge missing pieces in our story, alluded to by someone else here, as well, was that we have not been convinced about the "down side" of having the series "villain" get his way, and this is a critical element.

    Oh, yes, he's killed many innocent people, but he seems to value truth, and he seems to see the island as the problem, not him. Interesting perspective!

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  28. Good news!
    You can watch the LIVE on youtube now. 360P, 480P, 720P, 1080P

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  29. @Nikki: This one really resonated with me, actually, because I’m sorry, but I’m in that fan camp simply because... what did Malkin have to gain by getting her on that plane? HE BOUGHT THE TICKET, for goodness’ sake. Why did he want her on that plane? Why did he give her money back? Why keep calling her in the middle of the night? There’s a difference between a hoax and a crazy person, and if he didn’t actually mean any of that then he’s a complete loon. Or it’s just really bad storytelling to deflect it, and I don’t think they’re bad storytellers. SO that was a little odd to me.

    Yeah, that bugs me too. I mean, it seems clear they were intending to do more with the story, then decided not to, for whatever reason.

    Heck, I remember Damon in a pre-season six interview talking about Malkin, and how, while we won't find out HOW he gained psychic powers, we will learn why he said what he did.

    Now, a season later, they're like "what are you talking about? We debunked that seasons ago..."

    Just say the storyline got dropped/changed. It's not a great answer, but it's better than acting like the audience are idiots for not watching the show the way they trained us to watch it (as JS mentioned).

    Thanks for the writeup, Nikki! I wish I could have seen it; the Malkin business aside, it sounds like a lot of fun.

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  30. THANK you for persisting with this important story detail! I always thought KNEW that 815 was going to crash, and that's why he tricked her into taking that flight.

    In some obscure spot on the writers' wall, they must have had a list of "characters of possible later importance," such as Malkin, Aaron's father, Aaron, Faraday's friend Theresa, Desmond's abbott who has Eloise in a family photo, Sawyer's daughter and her mother, Annie . . . and was it a mere coincidence that Locke's Mom and Ben's Mom had the same first name? It was? Oh, Ok. Thanks.

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  31. Sorry, above should read, "I always thought MALKIN KNEW that 815 was going to crash,..."

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  32. I think the Buddhist concept of the Bardo fits the sideways world better than the Christian concept of purgatory.

    Kim Stanley Robinson's book, "The Years of Salt and Rice" contains a good popularization of the concept, in which characters upon their death meet again in the bardo before proceeding to a new life.

    Regardless, it's part of the magic of great storytelling that the various interpretations -- out of multiple spiritual traditions -- can be considered.

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  33. @Nikki: I have to leave a comment on this specific page. Although my Internet service has been doing a yo-yo all night long, the next time it comes up, I'm going to get this one posted!

    In my time with Lost (admittedly shorter than most), I have never witnessed anything "shady" about the show or the process, until now. And I'm really very sorry to have this one ugly thing to say about it.

    But, I believe that charging people THIRTEEN DOLLARS to go to the cinema to see something that you are going to make public in one or two days, is deplorable!

    I was shocked speechless that TPTB did this, and it looked like a last minute grab to get that last unholy buck from the die-hard fans. I don't know what was intended, but this just looks bad for Cuse and Lindelof. I remember when I thought that I wished I could go, and I know that if I had been in better health, I would have gone. Had I, this would have been the deal-breaker for me.

    Nikki, on behalf of your devoted followers, thank you for taking the bullet for us on this one!

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  34. @Gracie: But, I believe that charging people THIRTEEN DOLLARS to go to the cinema to see something that you are going to make public in one or two days, is deplorable!

    Look at it this way: $13 is the price fans paid to see that Q&A ASAP; while it become free shortly thereafter, to be the first to see it, and to see it with a goup of fellow fans, you had to pay.

    It's similar to how, if you want to see a movie the day it comes out in a theater, you have to pay $13 even though months down the road you might be able to see it for free on TV.

    Sure, the turnaround isn't quite as quick in that case, but the principle is the same.

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  35. I agree, Teebore... it was $13, but it was $13 well spent!! They were on the big screen, you saw it live without any spoilers, and you were in the midst of dozens of other Lost fans laughing along and getting every joke. I had an absolute blast. :)

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  36. Teebore said: "@Gracie: But, I believe that charging people THIRTEEN DOLLARS to go to the cinema to see something that you are going to make public in one or two days, is deplorable!
    Look at it this way: $13 is the price fans paid to see that Q&A ASAP; while it become free shortly thereafter, to be the first to see it, and to see it with a goup of fellow fans, you had to pay.
    It's similar to how, if you want to see a movie the day it comes out in a theater, you have to pay $13 even though months down the road you might be able to see it for free on TV.
    Sure, the turnaround isn't quite as quick in that case, but the principle is the same."


    Teebore, you've been with this show longer than I have, and I'm always going to respect your opinions because of the time you've invested in this, but on this we disagree.
    OR how about this.
    I would have felt a lot better about this if they had told the public they were going to release this in a day or two to the general public, but if you want to see it now, with other Losties, it will be available to you for this price. THAT would've been fine with me. But it was your time and your money, so if you enjoyed yourself, that's okay with me.

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  37. Teebore said: "Look at it this way: $13 is the price fans paid to see that Q&A ASAP; while it become free shortly thereafter, to be the first to see it, and to see it with a goup of fellow fans, you had to pay."
    AND
    Nikki said: "agree, Teebore... it was $13, but it was $13 well spent!! They were on the big screen, you saw it live without any spoilers, and you were in the midst of dozens of other Lost fans laughing along and getting every joke. I had an absolute blast. :)"

    I said (before Nikki had commented or before I knew she had):
    "OR how about this.
    I would have felt a lot better about this if they had told the public they were going to release this in a day or two to the general public, but if you want to see it now, with other Losties, it will be available to you for this price. THAT would've been fine with me. But it was your time and your money, so if you enjoyed yourself, that's okay with me."

    Now: In lieu of receiving comments from both of you, apparently it was more than advertised and sounds to me like somewhat of a gathering of Lost fans? I don't think I appreciated it in terms of a "get together" at all. Now I see where it may have been a good bargain to both of you, but I still maintain that in fairness to people who wanted to do this, but maybe spent money they didn't have, TPTB should have made it well known, that if you wanted to wait a day or two, it would've been available. That's all. I think they would have looked better just putting the information out there on its availability to the public. When other people do this kind of stuff, it's considered very bad form and looks like a grab for money. As I think I told Teebore, you guys have been in this a lot longer than I have, and you would probably know what you're getting for that money whereas I would not. I'm glad both of you had a blast! That always helps! :o)

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