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Post by Lola m on Feb 29, 2008 17:13:38 GMT -5
Some interesting tidbits and triva related to the episode from lostpedia.com: - 423 Cheyne Walk is near where Desmond's photograph with Penny was taken. In addition, Widmore Industries has its offices in the same neighborhood. ("Flashes Before Your Eyes"). Cheyne Walk is a famous street in London known for its famous inhabitants. Residents have included Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, George Eliot, Dante Rossetti, and Henry James (who wrote The Turn of the Screw).
- After the auctioning of the Black Rock ledger, some of Charles Dickens' belongings are put up for bidding.
- Jeremy Davies, who portrays Daniel Faraday, also portrays Tom-Tom, the main character in the movie The Million Dollar Hotel. Tom-Tom is in love with a woman named Eloise.
- The auction lot number of the Black Rock diary is 2342.
- Faraday says that while Desmond was in a catatonic state in his room at Oxford, 75 minutes had passed. Desmond perceived the same amount of time as 5 minutes. The ratio of 75:5 is equivalent to 15:1. At the auction, Widmore is bidder number 755, the same numbers as the time ratio.
- Charlotte earned her doctorate at Oxford. Daniel taught there.
- The series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation ["All Good Things"] features Captain Picard in three different timelines. He becomes unstuck in time, like Desmond and Billy Pilgrim. As he bounces back and forth, he becomes aware of a temporal anomaly in all three timelines. In essence, this anomaly is The Constant. Only when he identifies the constant and directly contacts it is he able to stay in one timeline, ignorant of his future. Also, Desmond's trip to contact Daniel at Oxford is reminiscent of Picard's trip to visit Data at Cambridge. Damon Lindelof confirmed that "All Good Things" was a big influence in writing "The Constant" here.
Ooooh! I love these tidbits. And I remember that Star Trek finale. It was very very cool.
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Post by Lola m on Feb 29, 2008 17:33:28 GMT -5
In my brief wandering around the internet today, I've noticed much love and much WTF about last night's Lost ep. On LJ and on TWOP and elsewhere, here are a few of the thoughts that struck me as interesting. (Unfortunately, I don't have web names for the folks who may have brought up these points, but considering that each point was mentioned by at least 3 people in multiple places I went, I'm not too worried. When it comes to the world of Lost, there is no such thing as an original speculation, I think. ;D We're all flailing in the dark together!) * Jacob. Is he perhaps partially stuck in time too? Is that why he's seen and not seen, why the cabin appears and disappears? * Many folks seem to coming to the same conclusion that the island does not run on a different time than the rest of the world, rather that is it surrounded by some kind of time dilation or, perhaps, non-time bubble or ring or something. Because they can talk to the folks on the ship, And Sayid did not go "OMG, is that the month/year" when he saw the calendar - just remarked that the date seemed off by a few days. Well, unless the boat people are hiding the true year by putting up a fake calendar, but that seems overly paranoid, even for Lost. Also, a time ring or zone around the island would explain why the Others used a sub and why they told Michael to take a very specific course. Probably the same one the boat people said they needed to use. Because it's the one that will work the best thru the time ring/zone. And it would be fitting if neither the plane (coming from above) nor the sub (going below) were hindered by the time problem. * Richard, the island Other Other who does not seem to look any different than when Benry was a little kid. Is he somehow immune to time? Or does he go off into the time bubble/ring and not age while both the island and the rest of the world whirl by? Heck, one or two people even suggested that he (and possibly others of the "origninal" Island inhabitants) may be folks from the Black Rock itself, not just descendents. Intriguing ideas, yes?
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Post by Sara on Feb 29, 2008 21:11:15 GMT -5
Last year in one of the LostCast podcasts the boys talked about an interesting way of thinking about how time travel works. I kept meaning to share it with the S'cubies, but obviously never got around to it. But given this episode's focus, I have now gotten my ass into gear and will attempt to explain their analogy as clearly as I can:
Think of time as like a css file—the file that ensures every page on a web site has a consistent look.
Now, imagine browsing a site like Amazon. You've pulled up a bunch of pages, all of which had the same color, style, font, etc. as the page you've currently got on your screen. Additionally, you also know that every subsequent page you pull up will share that same layout.
Then picture yourself hacking in and altering the css file.
From that moment on, every page you open will reflect the change made to the css file. Moreover, if you go back and check out the pages you visited earlier they too will now look just as the new version of the css file dictates they should. However, the fact that those earlier pages look one way now doesn't change the fact that they were different the first time you experienced them—or that they were going to look a certain way if you hadn't made the alteration you did. And from the standpoint of the pages themselves, the change in the css file completely rewrote the structure of the page in such a way that all traces of the earlier incarnation are simply gone, replaced in their entirety by the new version of the file—as far as the page knows, its new look is how it's always looked.
Personally, the css file/time stream metaphor has really helped me wrap my mind around stuff like what we saw in this episode. Or at least it's severely reduced the number of headaches I get when trying to work out what in the hell is going on. ;-)
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 1, 2008 9:48:45 GMT -5
Teaser
So we're on the helicopter.
40 miles away. So the island puts out a big field or whatever.
Desmond expects to find answers. So do we, Desmond, so do we.
So is this thunderhead the barrier or whatever.
Desmond in the army. So we're finally going to find out what he did to get jailed or whatever?
So he was dreaming about his future?
At least it was a military dream. Hee.
No, he's flashing back again.
No, he's flashing forward? WTF?
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 1, 2008 9:56:28 GMT -5
Part I
A day since the helicopter took off.
Love all the snarking going on.
Side effects if they don't follow the exact course. Like Walt aging 4 years?
Now there's no thunderhead. So it was the barrier thing.
And they're at the boat.
Oh, hey its that guy. Awesome.
You are here, and this is happening.
Keany and Omar.
So the Boat people don't know exactly where they are.
So they don't even give Desmond any privacy?
Is this Minkowski?
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 1, 2008 10:04:21 GMT -5
Part II
Took off at dusk, landed during the middle of the day.
Exposed to radiation or electromagnetism. Like the hatch blowing up?
Ray. Another hey its that guy. Who specializes in creepy.
Penny's not pleased to hear from Desmond.
1996. Camp Miller. Royal Scots Regiment. North of Glasgow.
Go to Oxford. Huh? To find Farady. Huh? That must be how he gets court martialed or whatever. Going AWOL.
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 1, 2008 10:12:49 GMT -5
Part III Device? Eloise? You can't change the future. So Desmonds flashes are showing things as they play out and there are no alternative time threads. Eloise is the rat. You're going to make the rat unstuck in time? Poor rat. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this experiment would never be approved by any IACUC (or whatever the equivalent is in England) Wait, knowing the maze proves that she was unstuck in time? Isn't it convenient that the rats flashforward was learning the maze and not eating or grooming itself? Wow, this is one dysfunctional crew. Just the people to rescue the Losties. Yep, he's Minkowski. Communications officer. So how did he get unstuck in time by just staying on the boat. Penny's been trying to contact the boat. But the boat people weren't supposed to talk to her. I'm guessing her dad is running things and doesn't want to her reach Desmond?
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 1, 2008 10:27:19 GMT -5
Part IV
5 minutes, 75 minutes.
The rat died. From an aneurysm. Yikes.
An anchor. A constant. Like Penny?
Sabotage. Lost all communication with the mainland. Ben's "man on the boat?"
The Black Rock! OMG, they finally came back to this! March 22 1845 Trading mission to Siam. (Slave trade?) But the first mate's journal survived. found among pirate's loot 7 years later. Ended up in Tovard Hanso's collection, and now he's selling it.
Ahh, are The true Others (Richard et al) the survivors of the Black Rock? That would explain why they are European.
Lot 2342 which is the same number used for the device.
There's Charles Widmore. I didn't realize that that's the same actor as Daniel's dad on Ugly Betty.
Wow, Charles is a real prick.
Cowardice again.
It's not me who hates you.
Brandon.
Brandon and Minkowski went out on a tender. Brandon started acting crazy and died. Now Minkowski. So they touched the barrier.
After your call, some one has to tell me precisely what's going on.
Now Desmond's back. Flashing back instead of forward. And bleeding from the nose.
So Christmas hasn't happened yet. And Sayid celebrates Christmas? Or does he just recognize it as a significant holiday to everyone else?
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 1, 2008 10:37:43 GMT -5
Coda
Why is the sink flooding like that?
423. Same numbers, different order.
So today in the now is Christmas Eve.
So this is right before he goes to jail, goes on his race around the world, and ends up on the island.
Desmond makes contact with Penny at last. Awww...
Penny's been researching the island and something.
How very Last of the Mohicans.
Leafing through the journal. Ah, two journals in this episode: First Mate's and Faraday's
If anything goes wrong, Desmond will have to be my constant. Huh.
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 1, 2008 10:40:17 GMT -5
We're going back to the future! Past! Whatever!
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 1, 2008 10:41:07 GMT -5
I wasn't too on board with mixing up flash forwards with the established flashback structure before, but this episode has made it OK for me.
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 1, 2008 10:51:09 GMT -5
Juliet kicks ass. And Charlotte's got great eyes. "Maybe if you talk real slow, we'll be able to follow" variable time slippage. What KIND of side effects? Meanwhile, back at t he helicopter... woohoo! THERE IS a freighter! Crap. And Desmond would bugger off to a point where he doesn't remember Penelope. Brain-swappie cloud thingie. Poor Desmond! he was on the helicopter for a moment. God, it sucks to be living a Vonnegut novel.. Oh, he HAS met Penelope by that time. Did he not recognize himself with the facial hair? WAAAH! Poor boy! Fisher? Unstuck too?
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 1, 2008 11:00:31 GMT -5
Really, I think there's only one way to react to an episode like that:
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 1, 2008 11:02:47 GMT -5
So . . . is this like "Normal Again"? Very strange. I'd say it's even freakier than Normal Again. Not really a Normal Again thing, because that was alternate realities. This is a future present past thing.
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 1, 2008 11:03:33 GMT -5
So Widmore got the journal and then sent the balloon with Henry Gale on it to the island from the journal information. Hmm.
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