Friday, April 25, 2008

Lost in Iqaluit



[Editor's Note: If you don't watch Lost you might as well not bother with this post, unless you want to read about ubergeekdom, celebrity stalking, leaps of logic and a show you don't know anything about.]

I have been watching Lost since Season 1, when I was living in House House (way back at the beginning of the blog). Only channel I could pick up on my old Radiotron 6000 was CTV, and I got hooked. I'm a sci-fi geek to begin with, and as soon as old Smokey appeared on the first night, I was in.



Somewhere along there I joined www.thefuselage.com, the fan discussion board sponsored by JJ Abrams, creator of Lost. When you hover the mouse over his name on the site, it changes to read "Brought to you by the Hanzo Foundation", one of the confusing multitude of self serving corporate enteties who play just off screen.

I only have 45 posts, meaning I am still categorized as "baggage". But, on the other hand, I have 45 posts.....

Two of the show's actors respond to questions on The Fuselage, Terry O'Quinn who plays John Locke,



and Jorge Garcia, who plays Hurley.



Jorge answers every single question he is asked, usually a one line "thanks dude", but every single damn post.

Now O'Quinn, he answers about one in 10, so if he picks your question, you know you did OK, you think,

"Hey, Terry O'Quinn knows I'm not an obsessed jerk-off watching his every move like the rest of these psychos. Now where did I put the remote, I've paused the PVR to try and decipher the hatch door map, while Locke is pinned under it."



O'Quinn has been kind enough to answer my questions twice. I'm a journalist, I tried to keep my questions direct and easy to answer, keeping in mind that since he has no obligation to answer, try to engage him on some level.

I was watching The West Wing episode by episode on The Book Channel, first thing I set my PVR to tape every day, because they were just starting at the beginning again. O'Quinn appears as a general and advisor to Leo (played by the late John Spencer). Here is what I asked him:

I've been catching The West Wing reruns in syndication, and they just got to the part where you appear, stalking John Spencer and just showing up in his office. Couple of quick questions:

1 - What was it like working with that cast and the late Mr Spencer in particular?

2 - Tons of tricky dialogue in that series, how was it as a job?

3 - You wear a uniform in that, do you obsess about the proper way to wear it, considering that every serviceman or woman that sees it would notice an error?

Thanks, and I hope Locke is still alive


Mr. O'Quinn replied:

John Spencer was a pro, a gentleman, and a blessing to those who were fortunate enough to know and work with him. I won't forget him.......'til I forget everything.

You had to be sharp and ready for work when you showed up on that set.

It's someone else's job to obsess about the uniform. I just try to obsess about the acting.


Thanks, Kent

T


I guess I can call him T now.



This leads us to my two MAJOR UNRESOLVED QUESTIONS I HAVE ABOUT LOST THAT WILL NEVER BE ANSWERED FOR ME EVER:

1 - Charlie died due to getting caught in the flooded underwater station. He was there to deactivate the communications block.



Michale killed him with a grenade, but I'm sure Patchy will be back for the highly anticipated Zombie season.



Thing is, the way they found the station was from a POWER CORD running from the jungle to the water, to the station. Here is a novel thought, why not cut the power cord, instead of swim to your doom, as foretold by Scottish Jesus.



2 - And here is where we get back to my questions to the actors. Back in Season One when Sawyer killed the polar bear, they wwre already running out of food, and were starting to hunt the boars. Sawyer killed the polar bear, they could have eaten it. Why not? Now, in retrospect, polar bears genetically engineered to live in a jungle environment may not have been the best choice for the survivors, but still, why not eat the bear.




I've asked the bear question up and down The Fuselage:

So, I asked their designated writer staff guy Gregg Nations. He is a script supervisor, and revently got promoted to something better... I'm not sure what. He is the "official voice of TPTB" on the forum. TPTB... The Powers That Be of course.

[No search function available on their site due to volume of posts following a show, I'll find it later] His answer was, they probably weren't hungry enough, which makes sense. Still, free bear.

These questions will never be answered... -- that and ever present question, is Vincent evil -- but here is what almost certainly will:

- Why are the Oceanic Six lying?
- Why can't Ben and Widmore kill each other?
- What, or who, is Jacob?

- What have the rest of The Others been doing at the temple?
- What is the temple?
- How do Aaron and Claire get seperated?
- What is the Orchid Station?
- Who is Ben Linus, and what exactly can he do?

- Does Jin really die, or is he just left on the Island?

- After Widmore had Ben's daughter killed, Ben vowed to kill his daughter, Desmond's girl Penny. What does Desmond do.

- What about the daughter of another powerful "businessman", Mr. Paik. Sun could catch a case as well.


And finally, how many sexy misadventures can Evangeline Lily get into: