Hard Facts
1. Michael and Walt made it back to civilization over two months after the crash of Flight 815 which places their return towards the end of November 2004.
2. Walt, who is traumatized by his experiences, no longer wishes to speak to Michael.
3. Michael, who lives in New York City, is unable to commit suicide because the Island won’t let him. [NOTE: One wonders why Michael just didn’t jump off a bridge. There are so many of them in New York.]
4. Michael is haunted by Libby.
5. Tom (who is gay) makes it off the Island to recruit Michael.
6. Some (but not all) of the Others can come and go from the Island as they please.
7. Sayyid rats out Michael to the Barge’s captain.
8. People appearing to be mercenaries engage in shooting practice with semi-automatic weapons on the Barge.
9. Ben suggests that Alex seek refuge in the Temple.
10. Carl and Rosseau join Alex in going to the Temple.
11. Carl and Rosseau are shot on their way to the Temple.
The Observations of a Manhattan Resident
The Manhattan of LOST’s imagination bears no relationship to the Manhattan of today or 2004. There is no place in Manhattan with a private house of the sort in which Michael’s mother supposedly lives. There may be some brownstones but no houses of that sort. Maybe there are some houses like that in some of the outer boroughs but the premise of the episode is that it all takes place in Manhattan. Also, give Bloomberg some credit, even post-Guliani you just can’t walk into a pawn shop and get a gun especially in exchange for a Rolex with a Korean inscription. Otherwise, LOST is completely accurate as Manhattan is, in fact, an island too.
Analysis
1. The identity of the Oceanic Six. Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayyid, Aaron and Sun. I guess Sawyer does not make the cut.
2. The Barge operatives killed Rosseau and Carl. One’s initial reaction might be that Ben sent Alex and her companions into a trap. However, the only possible motive for doing so is that Ben arranged for Rosseau and Carl to be killed so that he would be the only person Alex would love. I find that a hard motive to swallow even if one posits that Ben is amoral. Instead, the more logical conclusion is that the mercenaries from the Barge are the assassins. Coincidentally, this episode informed us that the Barge is controlled by a seemingly violent clique of mercenaries shooting semi-automatic weapons for sport. This is consistent with sniper fire in the jungle. Also, the fighting capabilities of the Others have been substantially degraded by their failed assault on the beach. The Barge mercenaries could easily have arrived on the Island by helicopter. I note that the helicopter was not seen on the Barge during this episode. Also, the timing of a landing is appropriate as the Barge likely held off a full landing on the Island until the poisoning ability of the Tempest was neutralized.
3. Benjamin Linus placed the phony Flight 815 at the bottom of the Ocean There are two conflicting stories presented: (a) the Barge captain claims that Ben did the plant; and (b) Tom claims that Widmore was the one who staged the crash. I believe the version that Ben is responsible for this subterfuge. All the papers which Tom shows Michael could just have easily been generated by Ben in accomplishing the same task. Also, the reason Tom gives -- that Widmore does not want anyone else to find the Island -- does not make much sense. It is the Others who have worked hard to prevent the Island from being detected. Indeed, the Others seem unconcerned that the survivors would be discovered further evidencing that they deliberately plated a decoy crashed Flight 815.
4. Neither the Others nor Widmore are completely good or evil. Each side has its own agenda and views itself as being in the right. Simlarly, each side is willing to do within reason what is necessary to accomplish their respective goals. Each side accuses the other of being evil and proclaims their own goodness. However, the likely reality is that these are just competing side in a struggle for control of the Island and whatever powers or unique attributes the Island possesses.
5. The Island’s powers appear to be such that those that leave cannot die an unnatural death upon leaving. Michael cannot kill himself. In an earlier flashback, Jack did not have much luck attempting suicide either. This would make the Island analogous to Planet Krypton for Superman. The alternative explanation is that the Island is a separate living entity which is actually preventing Michael from killing himself. To me, that is a more difficult theory to swallow though, then again, this is LOST.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Season 4: Episode 7
A most boring episode with a confusing twist at the end.
Hard Facts
1. Sun is one of the Oceanic Six.
2. Jin’s tombstone marks him as having died on September 22, 2004, the date of Flight 815.
3. There were 324 dead bodies found on board the phony wreckage of Flight 815.
4. Michael is on the Barge and is now going by the name of Kevin Johnson.
5. Charles Widmore is paying for the Barge.
6. Regina commits suicide.
7. Not only has the Barge’s communication room been sabotaged but so have its engines been tampered with.
Clearing up some confusion
The last portion of the episode is somewhat confusing because it combined a flash forward of Sun with a flash back for Jin. To clear things up, the flash forward reflects that Jin has made it off the Island, is one of the Oceanic Six and gives birth to a baby daughter, believed to be Jin’s, in a Korean hospital. The flashback relates to events pre-crash when Jin was buying a giant panda as a gesture of goodwill to the Chinese ambassador whose daughter had just given birth to a baby boy. The presentation is somewhat confusing with the scenes from the lash forward inter-spliced with scenes from the flash back.
Analysis
This episode, aside from the confusion about Jin, in my opinion, was almost too boring to analyze.
1. Michael is Ben’s "man on the boat." No more analysis is required. We have been shown the key fact: Michael is on the boat; and he is utilizing an alias.
2. The identity of the Oceanic Six. They include: (i) Kate, (ii) Jack, (iii) Hurley, (iv) Sun, (v) Sayyid and (vi) a player to be named later. I am going to guess that Aaron is not included among the six. If that is the case, the sixth person I believe is Sawyer. A "LOST" reason to pick him is that the unifying factor among the five Oceanic Six identified to date has been that they were not on the beach at the time of the Pearl Station electro-magnetic blowout. Jack, Sawyer, Kate and Hurley had been led into a trap by Michael. Sayyid, Jin and Sun were on the boat exploring the other side of the Island. We now know that Jin will die. So, when you take him out of the equation, that leaves those six with a unifying fact of sorts between them. The importance of prior exposure to electro-magnetic radiation has been emphasized in Constants (Season 4: Episode 5) in which Farady attributed Desmond’s time consciousness traveling difficulties to potential exposure to electro-magnetic radiation.
3. Jin’s tombstone is consistent with Jack's testimony concerning the crash of Flight 815 entered into the record at Kate’s trial (Season 4: Episode 4). That testimony was that the Oceanic Six were among only eight people who initially survived the crash of Flight 815. It is uncertain whether Jin is counted among the eight. On the one hand, Jin’s tombstone seems to indicate that since he died on September 22, 2004 (i.e., the very date of Flight 815), he was not counted as an initial survivor. On the other hand, his having a grave site indicates that there were potentially some of his remains returned to Korea post-rescue.
4. The staging of Flight 815's remains. The Captain of the Barge attributes this to Benjamin Linus. However, in order to accomplish such a task Ben must have substantial cooperation with forces outside the Island. Oceanic Airlines’ complicity would seem to be needed in order to accomplish this task. After all 747's with Oceanic Airline markings do not grow on trees.
5. A current inconsistency in LOST relates to the purported need of Ben to have Jack operate on his spinal tumor. We now know that Ban can effectively travel at will around the World. One wonders, therefore, why he just didn’t check into the Mayo Clinic (or a similar institution) instead of placing his life exclusively in Jack’s hands. Is Ben a hunted man off the Island?
Hard Facts
1. Sun is one of the Oceanic Six.
2. Jin’s tombstone marks him as having died on September 22, 2004, the date of Flight 815.
3. There were 324 dead bodies found on board the phony wreckage of Flight 815.
4. Michael is on the Barge and is now going by the name of Kevin Johnson.
5. Charles Widmore is paying for the Barge.
6. Regina commits suicide.
7. Not only has the Barge’s communication room been sabotaged but so have its engines been tampered with.
Clearing up some confusion
The last portion of the episode is somewhat confusing because it combined a flash forward of Sun with a flash back for Jin. To clear things up, the flash forward reflects that Jin has made it off the Island, is one of the Oceanic Six and gives birth to a baby daughter, believed to be Jin’s, in a Korean hospital. The flashback relates to events pre-crash when Jin was buying a giant panda as a gesture of goodwill to the Chinese ambassador whose daughter had just given birth to a baby boy. The presentation is somewhat confusing with the scenes from the lash forward inter-spliced with scenes from the flash back.
Analysis
This episode, aside from the confusion about Jin, in my opinion, was almost too boring to analyze.
1. Michael is Ben’s "man on the boat." No more analysis is required. We have been shown the key fact: Michael is on the boat; and he is utilizing an alias.
2. The identity of the Oceanic Six. They include: (i) Kate, (ii) Jack, (iii) Hurley, (iv) Sun, (v) Sayyid and (vi) a player to be named later. I am going to guess that Aaron is not included among the six. If that is the case, the sixth person I believe is Sawyer. A "LOST" reason to pick him is that the unifying factor among the five Oceanic Six identified to date has been that they were not on the beach at the time of the Pearl Station electro-magnetic blowout. Jack, Sawyer, Kate and Hurley had been led into a trap by Michael. Sayyid, Jin and Sun were on the boat exploring the other side of the Island. We now know that Jin will die. So, when you take him out of the equation, that leaves those six with a unifying fact of sorts between them. The importance of prior exposure to electro-magnetic radiation has been emphasized in Constants (Season 4: Episode 5) in which Farady attributed Desmond’s time consciousness traveling difficulties to potential exposure to electro-magnetic radiation.
3. Jin’s tombstone is consistent with Jack's testimony concerning the crash of Flight 815 entered into the record at Kate’s trial (Season 4: Episode 4). That testimony was that the Oceanic Six were among only eight people who initially survived the crash of Flight 815. It is uncertain whether Jin is counted among the eight. On the one hand, Jin’s tombstone seems to indicate that since he died on September 22, 2004 (i.e., the very date of Flight 815), he was not counted as an initial survivor. On the other hand, his having a grave site indicates that there were potentially some of his remains returned to Korea post-rescue.
4. The staging of Flight 815's remains. The Captain of the Barge attributes this to Benjamin Linus. However, in order to accomplish such a task Ben must have substantial cooperation with forces outside the Island. Oceanic Airlines’ complicity would seem to be needed in order to accomplish this task. After all 747's with Oceanic Airline markings do not grow on trees.
5. A current inconsistency in LOST relates to the purported need of Ben to have Jack operate on his spinal tumor. We now know that Ban can effectively travel at will around the World. One wonders, therefore, why he just didn’t check into the Mayo Clinic (or a similar institution) instead of placing his life exclusively in Jack’s hands. Is Ben a hunted man off the Island?
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Season 4: Episode 6 – The Other Woman
Hard Facts
1. After Juliet came to the Island she underwent "therapy" with Harper Stanhope.
2. Therapist Harper appears to the sound of whispers in the jungle. Jack is able to see Harper and then she once again disappears into whispers.
3. Harper was married to Goodwin.
4. Goodwin and Juliet had an affair notwithstanding his being married to Harper.
5. Ben has a crush on Juliet and considers her to be his babe.
6. There is a power station on the Island known as the Tempest.
7. There are sufficient chemicals at Tempest to kill everyone on the Island.
8. Ben used the gas in the Tempest had previously been used to kill everyone on the Island presumably at the time of the Purge.
9. Charlotte knows of Ben having killed the members of the DHARMA initiative using gas and that the Tempest was the source of that gas poisoning.
10. The Others attempt to prevent Faraday and Charlotte from disabling the gas at the Tempest.
11. Faraday succeeds at disabling the chemicals contained in the Tempest.
12. The Barge is financed by Charles Widmore.
13. According to Ben, Widmore wants to exploit the Island.
14. Locke allows Ben a measure of freedom.
Analysis
1. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Barge (and Widmore) are associated with DHARMA. After all Faraday/Charlotte know about the Purge and Ben’s machinations. They even have a map of the Island. This still does not fully explain why DHARMA made a food drop on the Island after the crash of Flight 815. It could have been done as a supply drop for the future Barge mission or, as many things with LOST appear to go, it may remain unexplained forever.
2. Hearing whispering prior to Harper’s appearance in the jungle suggests that she is a Hostile. There are basically three categories of Others: (1) Hostiles; (2) Ben; and (3) subsequent recruits. I believe that Harper falls in to the category of being a Hostile since the power to appear with whispers has been previously associated with Hostiles such as Richard. Another point is that whispers only appear to happen in the jungle.
3. The meaning of the whispers. I previously speculated that the whispers demonstrate that the Hostiles are not alive in the conventional meaning of the term (see Episode 4:1, Thesis 2). A possible problem with this thesis is the marriage of Harper (an apparent Hostile) to Goodwin (an apparent recruit rather than a Hostile). But, on the other hand, Charlie once dead can still muster a physical presence which would mean that a person who is dead in the conventional sense of the word could still have a marital relationship with a live human being. Given recent revelations on LOST, it is also possible that the whispers are associated with some as yet unexplained space/time travel that the Hostiles can engage in on the Island and, more specifically, in the jungle.
4. Ben being locked up does not mean that he is isolated from contact with the Others. If the Others/Hostiles can jump around the Island and the World, it would certainly seem as though they could jump around the Island and talk to Ben no matter where he might be.
5. Jack continues to exhibit horrible judgment. (See Thesis 6). Yes Jack follow Faraday/Charlotte into the jungle at night to try to pick up their trail -- give me a freaking break.
6. The Smoke Monster is conspicuously absent this season. This absence is unexplained and, at this juncture, unexplainable unless the smoke monster is "dead" or being operated out of a control station that has been disabled.
7. The identity of Ben’s man on the Barge. It was so shocking that Locke had to sit down to hear the information. There are two categories of people who would be shocking: (1) someone Locke knows already (i.e., Walt or Michael); or (2) someone who is a high officer on the Barge (i.e., the Captain).
8. The reason the Hostiles do not take it upon themselves to stop Faraday/Charlotte is unexplained. However, it may be that they are unable to do so which would dovetail with my previously expressed theory that they are not alive in a conventional sense and that somehow restricts their ability to act in certain circumstances.
1. After Juliet came to the Island she underwent "therapy" with Harper Stanhope.
2. Therapist Harper appears to the sound of whispers in the jungle. Jack is able to see Harper and then she once again disappears into whispers.
3. Harper was married to Goodwin.
4. Goodwin and Juliet had an affair notwithstanding his being married to Harper.
5. Ben has a crush on Juliet and considers her to be his babe.
6. There is a power station on the Island known as the Tempest.
7. There are sufficient chemicals at Tempest to kill everyone on the Island.
8. Ben used the gas in the Tempest had previously been used to kill everyone on the Island presumably at the time of the Purge.
9. Charlotte knows of Ben having killed the members of the DHARMA initiative using gas and that the Tempest was the source of that gas poisoning.
10. The Others attempt to prevent Faraday and Charlotte from disabling the gas at the Tempest.
11. Faraday succeeds at disabling the chemicals contained in the Tempest.
12. The Barge is financed by Charles Widmore.
13. According to Ben, Widmore wants to exploit the Island.
14. Locke allows Ben a measure of freedom.
Analysis
1. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Barge (and Widmore) are associated with DHARMA. After all Faraday/Charlotte know about the Purge and Ben’s machinations. They even have a map of the Island. This still does not fully explain why DHARMA made a food drop on the Island after the crash of Flight 815. It could have been done as a supply drop for the future Barge mission or, as many things with LOST appear to go, it may remain unexplained forever.
2. Hearing whispering prior to Harper’s appearance in the jungle suggests that she is a Hostile. There are basically three categories of Others: (1) Hostiles; (2) Ben; and (3) subsequent recruits. I believe that Harper falls in to the category of being a Hostile since the power to appear with whispers has been previously associated with Hostiles such as Richard. Another point is that whispers only appear to happen in the jungle.
3. The meaning of the whispers. I previously speculated that the whispers demonstrate that the Hostiles are not alive in the conventional meaning of the term (see Episode 4:1, Thesis 2). A possible problem with this thesis is the marriage of Harper (an apparent Hostile) to Goodwin (an apparent recruit rather than a Hostile). But, on the other hand, Charlie once dead can still muster a physical presence which would mean that a person who is dead in the conventional sense of the word could still have a marital relationship with a live human being. Given recent revelations on LOST, it is also possible that the whispers are associated with some as yet unexplained space/time travel that the Hostiles can engage in on the Island and, more specifically, in the jungle.
4. Ben being locked up does not mean that he is isolated from contact with the Others. If the Others/Hostiles can jump around the Island and the World, it would certainly seem as though they could jump around the Island and talk to Ben no matter where he might be.
5. Jack continues to exhibit horrible judgment. (See Thesis 6). Yes Jack follow Faraday/Charlotte into the jungle at night to try to pick up their trail -- give me a freaking break.
6. The Smoke Monster is conspicuously absent this season. This absence is unexplained and, at this juncture, unexplainable unless the smoke monster is "dead" or being operated out of a control station that has been disabled.
7. The identity of Ben’s man on the Barge. It was so shocking that Locke had to sit down to hear the information. There are two categories of people who would be shocking: (1) someone Locke knows already (i.e., Walt or Michael); or (2) someone who is a high officer on the Barge (i.e., the Captain).
8. The reason the Hostiles do not take it upon themselves to stop Faraday/Charlotte is unexplained. However, it may be that they are unable to do so which would dovetail with my previously expressed theory that they are not alive in a conventional sense and that somehow restricts their ability to act in certain circumstances.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Episode 4: Season 5 -- Constants
This week’s episode finally started to bring into focus certain key underlying science fiction that lays at the heart of LOST. I am going to start once again with the hard facts and move on to explain how those new facts help explain previous open issues and mysteries.
Hard Facts
1. Daniel Faraday has previously extensively experimented with electro-magnetic settings which can allow animal consciousness to travel through time.
2. Time consciousness traveling is extremely dangerous and without a "constant" can result in death.
3. Time consciousness traveling is not the same thing as time travel as it is understood in classic science fiction literature. The body does not travel; only the mind.
4. Contact with portions of the Island’s electro-magnetic field, particularly the buffer around the Island, can result in this time consciousness traveling.
5. Desmond experiences time consciousness traveling.
6. The present Desmond (circa 2004) leaps into the past to make contact with Daniel Faraday in the past (1996) and influences experiments concerning time consciousness traveling.
7. Penny Widmore is Desmond’s constant.
8. Desmond fulfills his 1996 statement to call Penny Widmore on Christmas Eve 2004.
9. Desmond is Daniel Faraday’s constant.
10. Daniel Faraday, at some point in the past (and certainly in 1996) was a Professor at Oxford.
11. Notwithstanding his position on Oxford’s faculty, Faraday does nothing to protect his cranium (i.e., head) from radiation exposure.
12. The Barge’s communication equipment has been sabatoged.
13. Penny Widmore routinely attempted to contact the Barge.
14. George Minkowski encounters the electro-magnetic force of the Island and become mentally disabled by time travel and eventually succumbs by dying.
15. The perception of time is different on the Island.
16. The Island is buffered in places by an electro-magnetic field.
17. In 1996, Charles Widmore paid a high price for a copy of the diary kept by an officer on Black Rock.
18. Black Rock disappeared in 1845.
19. The Black Rock diary is said to have turned up 7 years later (i.e., 1852) in Madagascar which is basically half way around the world from the Island.
20. The setting Desmond relays to Faraday is 2342 at 11 megahertz for the test on Elouise to cause time consciousness travel for a rat.
Special Facts Available on the Internet
A video is available on YouTube concerning a secret DHARMA station on the Island known as the Orchid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bTvAUVPyLI&eurl=http://blog.zap2it.com/ithappenedlastnight/2008/02/lost-doing-the.html
The video reflects experiments on different numbered white rabbits. The unique properties of the Island are said to have created a Casimir effect. The field being studied is "highly volatile and extremely dangerous." [NOTE: I believe that Since LOST is science fiction, the precise qualities of what constitutes a Casimir effect and what its real world implications are, quite frankly, not that relevant here.]
Of particular interest in the video is that a Dr. Halowax, who claims to be a scientist, holds a white rabbit conspicuously marked as 15. In the middle of his presentation another rabbit marked as 15 suddenly appears on a shelf behind Halowax. A technician rushes in and an effort is made to prevent the two number 15 rabbits from seeing each other.
Also of interest is that during the video there are short cutouts which are out of place. One shows a bearded man in a suit walking in a location off the Island. Another shows an office building in a location of the Island. Another frame states "God loves you as he loved Jacob." Another frame seems to show a shot from the Barracks but it could be a shot from anywhere.
Attempting to Synthesize the New LOST Facts
1. The Island’s electro-magnetic characteristics allows for time consciousness travel. This is now quite obvious given what we have now been shown about Desmond. In fact, his prior "visions" may have been nothing other than relatively minor or moderate experiences of time consciousness travel.
2. The Island’s electro-magnetic characteristics can be utilized to physically transport physical objects including people to different places in the world. We have been shown that people can travel off the Island without the benefit of the submarine which Locke destroyed. Given that the Others do not appear to have any airplanes or other boats suitable to long distance travel, the fair inference is that something about the Island allows the Others (i.e., people in the know) to be transported to other places on Earth. A further supporting fact can be found in the Black Rock diary making it to Madagascar. No pirate could have carried it there because Black Rock is stranded in the middle of the Island and was not lost at sea either in a pirate battle or otherwise as seems to be the general belief based on the auction house statements concerning its voyage. No one on Black Rock made it off th Island in a normal fashion.
3. DHARMA worked to somehow unite these aspects of time consciousness travel with physical travel. The Orchid station video hints at this with the double Rabbit 15. The DHARMA polar bear found in a Tunisian excavation by Charlotte also reflects an animal physically transported back in time. Charlotte knew it was there because she was sent to check and see whether the experiment had been successful.
4. The numbers now appear to be some wavelength setting. The numbers (4-8-15-16-23-42) are likely settings to be employed much like the 11 megahertz 2342 setting Faraday used in his Oxford lab. If this is correct, it would undercut my previously expressed theory on the numbers being elements of Flight 815. However, the numbers could still have multiple meanings.
5. Penny Widmore actually is affiliated with the Barge. Otherwise, there is no plausible explanation why she is constantly calling the Barge. How would she know where the Barge is or how to reach the Barge if it was not affiliated with Widmore. This would make her comment to Charlie wrong or the result of confusion.
6. The Barge operatives are holding photos of Desmond because he is their constant. We have already been told that Faraday is using Desmond as his constant and we saw Faraday carrying a photo of Desmond. Since the Barge is affiliated with Widmore it was not hard for him to get a photo of Desmond with Penny. Ditto for Naomi.
7. Rousseau’s party probably did not come to the Island by accident. It was quite possible that Rousseau’s party of French scientists were agents of DHARMA or some other organization seeking to get to the Island for a specific purpose. Rousseau may not have known this or she may have known and is not telling. The Barge is keeping it’s distance from the Island because of it knows of the electro-magnetic field and its deleterious consequences.
8. The electro-magnetic buffer is limited in scope. The electro-magnetic effects are limited or do not exist at certain higher altitudes or under the sea. Otherwise, it would seem that DHARMA would be unable to make their food drops by air as we have previously witnessed and the submarine would be of no use in approaching the Island.
9. Jacob arrived on the Island in Black Rock. This would provide a ready explanation for his disdain of technology. I also suspect that he reason Jacob is a "great man" is because he unlocked the secrets of the Island as it relates to consciousness travel and location travel. Jacob needs help as he told Locke. The logical assumption is that he needs such help because of the approaching Barge but it could also be that he is somehow a victim of or trapped in a certain undesirable state on the Island.
10. DHARMA. DHARMA is the result of the collaboration of entities with different interests. They may not always work together. It is possible that elements of DHARMA were comfortable with, or at least reconciled to, the purge. It is also possible that some of its elements or corporate backers are involved with the Barge while others are not involved.
11. It is not yet clear how the Oceanic Six make it back to civilization. As I have said before, it appears that the Barge is that vehicle. However, anything can happen on LOST and Sayyid is already off to a rocky relationship with the Barge. That there is an Oceanic Six does not mean that other people from the plane including possibly Christian Shepard making it back to civilization some other way through the Island’s powers.
Hard Facts
1. Daniel Faraday has previously extensively experimented with electro-magnetic settings which can allow animal consciousness to travel through time.
2. Time consciousness traveling is extremely dangerous and without a "constant" can result in death.
3. Time consciousness traveling is not the same thing as time travel as it is understood in classic science fiction literature. The body does not travel; only the mind.
4. Contact with portions of the Island’s electro-magnetic field, particularly the buffer around the Island, can result in this time consciousness traveling.
5. Desmond experiences time consciousness traveling.
6. The present Desmond (circa 2004) leaps into the past to make contact with Daniel Faraday in the past (1996) and influences experiments concerning time consciousness traveling.
7. Penny Widmore is Desmond’s constant.
8. Desmond fulfills his 1996 statement to call Penny Widmore on Christmas Eve 2004.
9. Desmond is Daniel Faraday’s constant.
10. Daniel Faraday, at some point in the past (and certainly in 1996) was a Professor at Oxford.
11. Notwithstanding his position on Oxford’s faculty, Faraday does nothing to protect his cranium (i.e., head) from radiation exposure.
12. The Barge’s communication equipment has been sabatoged.
13. Penny Widmore routinely attempted to contact the Barge.
14. George Minkowski encounters the electro-magnetic force of the Island and become mentally disabled by time travel and eventually succumbs by dying.
15. The perception of time is different on the Island.
16. The Island is buffered in places by an electro-magnetic field.
17. In 1996, Charles Widmore paid a high price for a copy of the diary kept by an officer on Black Rock.
18. Black Rock disappeared in 1845.
19. The Black Rock diary is said to have turned up 7 years later (i.e., 1852) in Madagascar which is basically half way around the world from the Island.
20. The setting Desmond relays to Faraday is 2342 at 11 megahertz for the test on Elouise to cause time consciousness travel for a rat.
Special Facts Available on the Internet
A video is available on YouTube concerning a secret DHARMA station on the Island known as the Orchid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bTvAUVPyLI&eurl=http://blog.zap2it.com/ithappenedlastnight/2008/02/lost-doing-the.html
The video reflects experiments on different numbered white rabbits. The unique properties of the Island are said to have created a Casimir effect. The field being studied is "highly volatile and extremely dangerous." [NOTE: I believe that Since LOST is science fiction, the precise qualities of what constitutes a Casimir effect and what its real world implications are, quite frankly, not that relevant here.]
Of particular interest in the video is that a Dr. Halowax, who claims to be a scientist, holds a white rabbit conspicuously marked as 15. In the middle of his presentation another rabbit marked as 15 suddenly appears on a shelf behind Halowax. A technician rushes in and an effort is made to prevent the two number 15 rabbits from seeing each other.
Also of interest is that during the video there are short cutouts which are out of place. One shows a bearded man in a suit walking in a location off the Island. Another shows an office building in a location of the Island. Another frame states "God loves you as he loved Jacob." Another frame seems to show a shot from the Barracks but it could be a shot from anywhere.
Attempting to Synthesize the New LOST Facts
1. The Island’s electro-magnetic characteristics allows for time consciousness travel. This is now quite obvious given what we have now been shown about Desmond. In fact, his prior "visions" may have been nothing other than relatively minor or moderate experiences of time consciousness travel.
2. The Island’s electro-magnetic characteristics can be utilized to physically transport physical objects including people to different places in the world. We have been shown that people can travel off the Island without the benefit of the submarine which Locke destroyed. Given that the Others do not appear to have any airplanes or other boats suitable to long distance travel, the fair inference is that something about the Island allows the Others (i.e., people in the know) to be transported to other places on Earth. A further supporting fact can be found in the Black Rock diary making it to Madagascar. No pirate could have carried it there because Black Rock is stranded in the middle of the Island and was not lost at sea either in a pirate battle or otherwise as seems to be the general belief based on the auction house statements concerning its voyage. No one on Black Rock made it off th Island in a normal fashion.
3. DHARMA worked to somehow unite these aspects of time consciousness travel with physical travel. The Orchid station video hints at this with the double Rabbit 15. The DHARMA polar bear found in a Tunisian excavation by Charlotte also reflects an animal physically transported back in time. Charlotte knew it was there because she was sent to check and see whether the experiment had been successful.
4. The numbers now appear to be some wavelength setting. The numbers (4-8-15-16-23-42) are likely settings to be employed much like the 11 megahertz 2342 setting Faraday used in his Oxford lab. If this is correct, it would undercut my previously expressed theory on the numbers being elements of Flight 815. However, the numbers could still have multiple meanings.
5. Penny Widmore actually is affiliated with the Barge. Otherwise, there is no plausible explanation why she is constantly calling the Barge. How would she know where the Barge is or how to reach the Barge if it was not affiliated with Widmore. This would make her comment to Charlie wrong or the result of confusion.
6. The Barge operatives are holding photos of Desmond because he is their constant. We have already been told that Faraday is using Desmond as his constant and we saw Faraday carrying a photo of Desmond. Since the Barge is affiliated with Widmore it was not hard for him to get a photo of Desmond with Penny. Ditto for Naomi.
7. Rousseau’s party probably did not come to the Island by accident. It was quite possible that Rousseau’s party of French scientists were agents of DHARMA or some other organization seeking to get to the Island for a specific purpose. Rousseau may not have known this or she may have known and is not telling. The Barge is keeping it’s distance from the Island because of it knows of the electro-magnetic field and its deleterious consequences.
8. The electro-magnetic buffer is limited in scope. The electro-magnetic effects are limited or do not exist at certain higher altitudes or under the sea. Otherwise, it would seem that DHARMA would be unable to make their food drops by air as we have previously witnessed and the submarine would be of no use in approaching the Island.
9. Jacob arrived on the Island in Black Rock. This would provide a ready explanation for his disdain of technology. I also suspect that he reason Jacob is a "great man" is because he unlocked the secrets of the Island as it relates to consciousness travel and location travel. Jacob needs help as he told Locke. The logical assumption is that he needs such help because of the approaching Barge but it could also be that he is somehow a victim of or trapped in a certain undesirable state on the Island.
10. DHARMA. DHARMA is the result of the collaboration of entities with different interests. They may not always work together. It is possible that elements of DHARMA were comfortable with, or at least reconciled to, the purge. It is also possible that some of its elements or corporate backers are involved with the Barge while others are not involved.
11. It is not yet clear how the Oceanic Six make it back to civilization. As I have said before, it appears that the Barge is that vehicle. However, anything can happen on LOST and Sayyid is already off to a rocky relationship with the Barge. That there is an Oceanic Six does not mean that other people from the plane including possibly Christian Shepard making it back to civilization some other way through the Island’s powers.
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