LOST – What’s in a Name?

OK. I have to admit this up front. I had not been following this show until O.S. Card threw down the gauntlet last year concerning the worthlessness of Trek (Enterprise was worthless. It also wasn’t Trek. Well maybe Ber-Trek) and the praiseworthiness of ‘Lost’ (and ‘Smallville’. Don’t care what he says about that. His original comments can be found here) I accepted the challenge and took up watching ‘Lost’ just to see what the buzz was about.

Anyway… Trek bashing (by one of the better SF authors that I’ve read to date) aside, I’ve gotten hooked on Lost. It’s a pretty good show (still don’t know if I’d call it SciFi) the episodes are character and plot driven, and they are cut in such a way as to keep you interested in the show, even if you haven’t seen the beginning of the series. I started watching about 4 episodes before the season one finale, and kept right on watching as the repeats started airing. I found myself going “Oh, that explains the scene in the finale where…” and have to shut up, because no one else in the house was watching the finale when it aired previously and I didn’t want to give it away…

I’ve stumbled across more sites for this show than any other show I’ve watched. Example?

• http://www.driveshaftband.com/
• http://oceanic-airlines.com/home.htm
• http://www.thehansofoundation.org/dharma.html
• http://thedharmainitiative.org/

…and that’s an old list.

The obsession with names that the fans have (as illustrated here, and several other places) has been earned. Taking into account the meaning of the name “Desmond” (where did he go, anyway?) the symbology behind the Dharma logo, the Bagua (anyone else notice the black/white “swan” looks remarkably like a yin-yang?) and the meaning of the name “Dharma“. How about “Jack” and “John”, the two leaders who have the same first name, but couldn’t be more different.? Aaron, Claire’s child? Mr. Eko? It seems that the writers are choosing names just to pique our interest. It’s not surprising, and has been done in SF series for years. But it still leads you to wonder…

…Which takes you to questioning where this is all going. Reading through the ideas presented at this link (WARNING, SPOILERS) might give you an idea.

But then maybe he, as well as the writers, don’t know where this is going. I’m still watching.

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This was the press release concerning the Gary Troup manuscript that Hurley was reading. I don’t know if the book has come out or not. The story isn’t on Yahoo anymore.

By Sarah Hall Wed Nov 2, 7:36 PM ET

Is ABC trying to get Lost fans fired?

As if there wasn’t already enough material out there for superfans to obsess over, including a plethora of fan sites and message boards devoted to the show, now a Lost storyline is making the jump from fiction to reality.

ABC has announced plans to introduce a Lost subplot about a character named Gary Troup, a fictitious author who supposedly perished in the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, but left behind the manuscript on which he had been working, having dropped it off with his publisher just days before boarding the fatal flight.

Here’s where the line between fact and fiction blurs: Hyperion Books, ABC’s sister publishing label, is actually putting out said manuscript in book form this spring–here in the real world–to coincide with the related episodes of Lost.

Titled Bad Twin, the private eye thriller is said to be about a rich heir’s search for his devious sibling. Hyperion said it has commissioned a well known writer to pen the book, with the help of writers from the show.

“Fans of the show are obsessive,” Hyperion President Bob Miller told Daily Variety. “We think a lot of them will be buying the book just to look for clues.”

(Hey, who’s he calling obsessive? Maybe the hundreds of Powerball hopefuls who played Hurley’s unlucky number–4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42–in the $340 million drawing last month to no avail? Just a hunch.)

The marketing ploy may be the first to combine characters and events from a television show with a real-life sales campaign, according to Variety.

While just 9 million viewers tuned in for last week’s Lost rerun, the eerie Emmy-winning drama consistently ranks as the fourth-most watched show on television, pulling in over 20 million viewers each week on average.

New episodes of Lost resume Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 9 p.m. Set your TiVos now.

news.yahoo.com