Lost Update Twilight Zone - The Parallel

Lost In The Twilight Zone Update: 04/12/2010

With ABC Lost approaching its climatic series finale on May 23rd, the Grassy Knoll Institute has one or two more Twilight Zone Updates to discuss the correlation between Rod Serling’s science fiction television program, The Twilight Zone, (1959-1964) and the current ABC network hit, Lost.

Some Background Before We Proceed:
The Twilight Zone was a classic science fiction television series created by Rod Serling that aired from 1959 to 1964. Each episode intertwined the supernatural with topical moral events in today’s society ending with a twist convoluting the outcome. I argue that the same can be said about ABC Lost. The castaways are more than just stranded on an island. There are mysterious forces at work of powers unknown. And just like the Twilight Zone, a twist is inserted in the story convoluting the outcome.

The Twilight Zone had a standard format. Each episode began with a prologue, usually with the host, Rod Serling doing the voice over introducing the characters and setting. At the end of the show, Serling would offer up a final narration of what the viewer just witnessed.

Tonight’s offering is: Season 4 Episode 113 The Parrallel
Original Airdate: 03/14/1963

I think once you see the similarities of both programs, you will quickly realize that Lost is a modern-day Twilight Zone.

Monologue:
In the vernacular of space, this is T minus one hour. Sixty minutes before a human being named Major Robert Gaines is lifted off from the Mother Earth and rocketed into the sky, farther and longer than any man ahead of him. Call this one of the first faltering steps of man to sever the umbilical cord of gravity and stretch out a fingertip toward an unknown. Shortly, we'll join this astronaut named Gaines and embark on an adventure, because the environs overhead — the stars, the sky, the infinite space — are all part of a vast question mark known as the Twilight Zone.

Synopsis:
Astronaut Robert Gaines, Major, is on a routine space orbiting mission when his capsule malfunctions and he blacks out. However, he awakes on Earth with apparently no major problems and is released from the hospital and permitted to go home.

But things seem very odd to Major Gaines as inconsistencies pop up. He notices that his own daughter doesn't know who he is and everyone calls him Colonel when he knows he's a Major. And he argues with his friends and family that John F. Kennedy is the president of the United States even though no one else has ever heard of the man.

Major Gaines believes that he has slipped into a parallel universe where almost everything is the same but a few major changes in history. He returns to his capsule in hopes of traveling back into space and landing in his own universe but he blacks out again.

Major Gaines wakes up to find himself in his capsule back in space. He finds his landing points and pilots the ship to a safe landing. He thinks that this was just a great big nightmare until Mission Control receives another transmission from space... From Colonel Robert Gaines.

Epilogue:
Major Robert Gaines, a latter-day voyager just returned from an adventure. Submitted to you without any recommendations as to belief or disbelief. You can accept or reject; you pay your money and you take your choice. But credulous or incredulous, don't bother to ask anyone for proof that it could happen. The obligation is a reverse challenge: prove that it couldn't. This happens to be the Twilight Zone.

Lost Tie In:
Desmond is a modern-day Major Robert Gaines.
Desmond embarks on a solo trip around the world in his ship. He blacks out and wakes up on the Lost island. As Desmond continues on his journey, he realizes that something is not exactly right. There are inconsistencies that cannot be explained away. He begins to have flashbacks and flash forwards where people do not know who he is.

As season six approaches its end, Desmond realizes what is happening and tries with great effort to return to his reality. He understands that he is living in both universe's at the same time and that he can control the outcome. Perhaps Desmond controls the blackouts forcing another chapter to further him along to find his home, his world, his universe, his Penny. Notice when Desmond blacks out and wakes up, he is in an alternate reality.

And just as Major Gaines in the Twilight Zone received a message from his alternate in space, Desmond has also send messages to the past and future Desmond. The question however, is where does Desmond ultimately belong?

Submitted for your approval. Please use the comments section below to voice your opinions.

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Lost Update - Sympathy For The Devil

Lost Update - Season Six - 03/16/2010

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul and faith

And I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game

MIB tells Kate that he made a promise to protect everyone, and that included Kate. He tells Kate to take his hand and he will show her where Sawyer is. He attempts a smile and calming affect but Kate sees through it and does not take MIB's hand. At that exact moment, MIB reminded me of Satan, attempting to win over the people he duped into believing he was good. So you see, my Lost theory is spot on.

Just what is the Grassy Knoll Institutes Lost theory….I’ve been waiting six years to tell you…..
Although it appears the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 are on a tropical island, they are being deceived. There is no island. The survivors are in a virtual reality laboratory. All the castaways are interconnected to one another sharing each others thoughts, memories, and feelings. While in this virtual reality laboratory, a battery of physical and mental experiments are performed on them. And who is running these experiments? As Juliet stated, the Aliens of course.

Tonight's episode was all about Sawyer, or Ford, or Lafluer, take your pick. We get a glimpse into his mind, his psyche. Both on the island and during his sideways flash.

What do we know about Sawyer to this point? First, he gets plenty of women. But most importantly, he is driven by one single thought. Hatred towards one man, the man who gunned down his parents in cold blood. His mission in life, to exact revenge, to kill the man who murdered his parent and ruined his life.

Sawyer became a grifter, a con man, a cheap man, out for himself, not letting anyone get in his way. These attributes would serve him well on the Lost island. In his sideway flash, we find that Sawyer is still running his con game, but this time, as a cop. He tells Charlotte, who he meets and beds, that he had a choice of becoming a criminal or a cop. He chose to be a cop.

However, although his cons are on the right side of the law, he is still pursuing the man who murdered his parents. Splitting hairs perhaps, but it is a fine line between good and evil.

OK, VR theory time.
Sawyer is being manipulated. He has been thrust into several scenario's to observe what choice he makes and what is the ultimate outcome of said choice. In Sawyers case, it appears no matter what scenario he is in, he ends up alone, bitter, and filled with hatred. Think back on the previous five Lost seasons, Sawyers story, a loner, loses Kate, Juliet, his wife in the flash, Charlotte, etc. No matter what choice he makes, he ends up alone, bitter, and filled with hatred.

Perhaps this is what Jacob and MIB were referring to in the season five finale, when Jacob says, "It only ends once. Anything that happens before that, it’s just progress." He is searching for the right scenario for Sawyer, the right variables, the right experiment, to allow him to be happy. We'll have to wait to the series finale to see if he ever achieves that.

One more thing I noticed tonight. The castaways are again split into groups. MIB's group, supposedly the evil group, and Ilana's group, supposedly the good group. Ilana's group is back where the season one started, at the shoreline by the wreckage. MIB's group is further inland. Remember when the castaways split into two groups, one wanting to stay on the shore, one wanting to venture more inland. It's all happening once again but this time, under a slightly different scenario.

Folks, face it, Lost is about virtual reality, and the castaways are being experimented and manipulated without their knowing. Data is being collected to help researchers in future experiments to better understand all the variables of life, and death.

"It only ends once. Anything that happens before that, it’s just progress. "

Tidbits From Tonight's Episode:

* We see Sawyers standard pigeon drop con but this time, the girl is well ahead of him. Thought I saw a nip on her too.

* Sawyer is a detective in side flash. The complete opposite of what he is on the island.

* Miles is Sawyers partner.

* MIB reveals to Sawyer that he is the smoke thing that killed all those people.

* Charlotte was looking pretty damn hot.

* Sawyer is back to the Hydra station, where he was tortured in the bear cages. Sees Kates dress.

* Claire attacks Kate, tries to kill her. Sayid does nothing about it.

* MIB stops Claire, slaps her, and explains to her about Kate.

* Sawyer goes on a mission for MIB, a recon to spy on the people with the plane.

* Sawyer finds the plane, it doesn't look suitable for flying, debris scattered all around. A path leading into the jungle.

* Finds a pile of dead rotting people.

* Runs down Zoe, who looks like Danielle, se says she is the last one left.

* Surprise. Zoe is not the nerdy helpless woman, but a cunning conniving bitch who sets Sawyer up. He knew it though.

* MIB tells Kate his mother was crazy. Yes, he had a mother, a long time ago, before he became MIB. Very interesting.

* He refers to Kate that Aaron is in danger because Claire is a crazy mother also.

* They have a sub! Widmore's sub.

* QUOTE: "People aren't really gone when they die!"

* Sawyer and Widmore strike a deal. Sawyer lives up to his mantra.

* Anthony Cooper.

* Kate literally runs into Sawyer. He runs her down.

* Jacob can be seen as a bystander in the street witnessing Kate and Sawyer.

* No, not really! just checking to see if you are still reading this or moved to the comments section already.

* A shout out to Travis from Las Vegas. I told you it was Virtual Reality.

Until next week, Get Lost!

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ABC Lost Versus The Twilight Zone

Lost In The Twilight Zone Update 03/05/2010

Submitted For Your Approval:
For years I have been preaching about the similarities between ABC's Lost series and the 1960's science fiction program, The Twilight Zone. Last night while surfing Youtube I came across two most excellent video's combining Lost and the Twilight Zone. The editing skills are off the charts for both of these video's.

You can find more Lost video's at her home page at this link. Night Dancer 342

 The second video uses a different Twilight Zone season intro that uses Lost icons mixed with the Twilight Zone icons to make a most excellent introduction.
 

You can find more Lost video's at his home page at this link HANSOLOW 

The Lost writers (Lindelof and Cuse) have already admitted in interviews they were heavily influenced by Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone and the Lost series displays this perfectly. Just when you think you know what is happening on screen, a twist of fate to convolute the outcome.

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Lost Update: Sundown You Better Take Care

Lost Update - Season Six - 03/02/2010

I can see her lyin' back in her satin dress
In a room where ya do what ya don't confess

Sundown ya better take care
If I find you been creepin' 'round my back stairs
Sundown ya better take care
If I find you been creepin' 'round my back stairs

She's been lookin' like a queen in a sailor's dream
And she don't always say what she really means

Sometimes I think it's a shame
When I get feelin' better when I'm feelin' no pain
Sometimes I think it's a shame
When I get feelin' better when I'm feelin' no pain

When did Lost turn into a spaghetti western. (BTW, its what I had for dinner tonight, at the Grand Lux restaurant inside the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas) Just like an old time Western, we got the MIB (The bad guy) going to the sheriff (Dogen) of the town of Temple and telling him he has until sundown to get out of town or else he's going to kill everyone. Has the Lost island somehow magically transported back to the wild, wild West days or does this chain of events of what we witnessed tonight strengthen my theory even more.

Just what is the Grassy Knoll Institutes Lost theory….Said in my best John Wayne voice: Now wait a minute pilgrim...
Although it appears the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 are on a tropical island, they are being deceived. There is no island. The survivors are in a virtual reality laboratory. All the castaways are interconnected to one another sharing each others thoughts, memories, and feelings. While in this virtual reality laboratory, a battery of physical and mental experiments are performed on them. And who is running these experiments? As Juliet stated, the Aliens of course.

From the pilot episode of Lost, we were witness to 48 survivors of a terrible plane crash on a presumed deserted island leaving only themselves to either band together and survive, or to separate and die alone. From the beginning, unknown and unseen forces were at work dividing the survivors pushing them to choose to stay at the shoreline with the wreckage or to seek shelter further inland. Later on, the castaways were separated by good and evil and that's where we begin.

Tonight, Dogen tells Sayid that everyone has a scale balancing the good and evil in them. For Sayid, the scale is weighted towards evil. Sayid and Dogen fight and after a battle, Dogen tells Sayid to leave and never return. So who is the good guy, and who is the bad guy? That is the six year old question.

Lets take it from the top shall we. Jack once was the good guy, helping the castaways after the crash. He took charge and made good sound decisions to keep the castaways safe. He then slowly turned into the bad guy. Sawyer was the bad guy and slowly morphed into the good guy. Claire was the good girl and after axing her captive, we know she's on the wrong side of the tracks. Michael, good guy, looking out for his son, and then the bad guy, killing Ana Lucia and Libby. Ben, good, bad, good, bad, and over and over. Charlie, Locke, Sayid, Boone, Ana Lucia, even Jacob and MIB. In fact, everyone has had a scale malfunction shifting either from good to evil or evil to good. Some have had several scale changes.

This reminds me of the old proverb about the fox and the scorpion. One day down by the lake, a scorpion asks the fox if he would ferry him over to the other side of the lake by riding on the foxes back. The fox refuses stating the scorpion would sting him and he would drown. The scorpion reasons with the fox that if that were true, then both would drown for scorpions cannot swim. The fox agrees and the scorpion crawls on the back of the fox. Halfway across the lake, the scorpion stings the fox. The fox asks why the scorpion did that for now both were going to die. The scorpion simply replied, I could not help it. It is my nature.

And this my friends is exactly the experimetation being conducted. Through conditioning, can the scorpion be coerced to change it's nature. Can humankind through conditioning, be coerced to change it's nature. Is mankind capable of avoiding conflict, hate, jealousy, murder, betrayal, greed, and war. This is Jacobs experiment. To see if mankind deserves a second chance.

Jacob, (Or the alien race controlling the virtual reality lab) has run various pyschological and physical tests to see if they are worthy to survive. To be permitted to live on. Or as the MIB stated in the season five finale exchange with Jacob on the beach:
MIB: You’re still trying to prove me wrong.
Jacob: You are wrong!
MIB: They come, fight, they destroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same.
Jacob: It only ends once. Anything that happens before that, it’s just progress.

Jacob (The alien race) understands that time is running out. In an attempt to force the issue, (Mankinds inherent nature) he brings the current scenario to a head in hopes that good will triumph over evil.

Looking at the history of mankind, the future does not look promising at all.

Tidbits From Tonight's Episode:

* Sayid in taxi, at Nadias house, Nadia has a wedding ring, She is married, but not to Sayid,

* sayid barges in on Dogen, he wants answes, Dogen offers a scale, of good and evil, the machine tells us how it is balanced. For Sayid, it is evil.

* Dogen and Sayid fight, A baseball falls, Dogen tells Sayid to leave and never come back.

* Claire and MIB at the temple, claire asks MIB if he is going to hurt them, MIB says, only the ones that wont listen. He also says he always does what he says he will.

* Claire walks in the temple gate, tells Dogen that he wants to see him. Dogen says he is not an idiot, that if he steps out of the temple, MIB will kill him. Claire says then he better send someone that he wont kill.

* Dogen tells Sayid the evil incarnate will come to him as somebody already dead. Dogen wants Sayid to kill MIB.

* Sayid, in a sideways flash, sees Jack in the hospital when his brother was taken to emergency. Sayid will avenge his brother, gets the evil look in his eyes.

* Sayid looks for MIB, the jungle begins to move. The wind blowing circular, in an instant Sayid is face to face with MIB. MIB says hello and then Sayid plunges the dagger into MIB's chest. MIB pulls it out and says, why did you go and do that.

* Dogen told him to stab him before he spoke or it would be to late. He was right!

* MIB wants Sayid to deliever a message to the temple people and in exchange he would give him wants he wants. Sayid said that died in his arms, MIB said but what if you could.

* Sayid gives the message, that Jacob is dead, and they no longer have to hide in the temple, and that MIB is leaving the island forever, and anyone that wants to go with him is permitted, but if they stay behind, they will die at sundown.

* Kate tells Claire that she took Aaron and raised him, claire looks seething mad. She yells to Kate that he is coming and they can't stop him.

* Sayid meets up with Kheamy, he is the man responsible for Sayid's brother in the hospita. Sayid kills the two thugs and then shoots Kheamy, claiming he cannot let it go,
* Sayid meets up with Jin locked up in the cooler, Jin cannot speak english.

* Dogens story, he was drunk and he killed his son, he was offered a second chance by Jacob, but could never see his son.

* At sundown,, Sayid pulls Dogen into the water pool, and drowns Dogen, Sayid slashes the throat of the interpreter,

* Invisible monster coming, just like season one, Old Smoky comes in and takes the temple inhabitants.

* Llana, Lapedus, Sun hide in a secret room in the temple walls. Smoky flies right past then.

* Kate sees monster, sounds like agony inside.

* Ben speaks to Sayid at the temple, Sayid looks menacing and says its to late for him already.

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Lost Update: Static (A Twilight Zone Special)

Respectfully Submitted For Your Approval

Lost Update 02/22/2010

Greetings from another dimension of sight, sound, and imagination. Prepare yourselves for another Lost / Twilight Zone comparison. (The Twilight Zone was a classic science fiction television series created by Rod Serling that aired from 1959 to 1964. Each episode intertwined the supernatural with topical moral events in today’s society ending with a twist convoluting the outcome. I argue that the same can be said about ABC Lost. The castaways are more than just stranded on an island. There are mysterious forces at work of powers unknown. And just like the Twilight Zone, a twist is inserted in the story convoluting the outcome.)

The Twilight Zone had a standard format. Each episode began with a prologue, usually with the host, Rod Serling doing the voice over introducing the characters and setting. At the end of the show, Serling would offer up a final narration of what the viewer just witnessed.

Tonight’s offering is from season two, episode number 56, original air date, March 03, 1961, titled, Static.

As you read the opening monologue, plot synopsis, and epilogue, think about Lost and the season six premiere. As usual, I will explain the tie in below.

Monologue:

Retired old Ed Lindsay retrieves his ancient radio from the boarding house basement. He asks one of the boys intently watching him, "Don't you know what a radio is?". The boy says that of course he has, just not quite lick that. Rod Serling appears standing at the top of the basement steps:

"No one ever saw one quite like that, because that's a very special sort of radio. In its day, circa 1935, its type was one of the most elegant consoles on the market. Now, with its fabric-covered speakers, its peculiar yellow dial, its serrated knobs, it looks quaint and a little strange. Mr. Ed Lindsay is going to find out how strange very soon, when he tunes in to the Twilight Zone."

Plot Synopsis:

Ed Lindsay is an irritable bachelor in his late fifties. He lives in a dull boarding house where much of his time is consumed watching what he calls worthless and mindless programs. Not able to take it anymore, Ed retrieves his old radio from storage in the basement. When Ed was younger and happier, he enjoyed the radio and was one of his favorite forms of entertainment. Ed brought the radio to his room and plugged it in. He was amazed as to what he heard playing. It was programs from the 30's and 40's from big bands no longer alive. He tried to tell the others of his miraculous radio, but when he turned it on for them, all they heard was static. By making several phone calls, he found that the radio station he was listening to was off the air for over 13 years.

Later we learn that Ed intended to marry the love of his life twenty years ago but he kept letting other things get in the way until it was to late. Vinnie, a 50 something female boarder tells Ed that the past cannot be recovered and he should let it go. She leaves Ed's room and returns to her own. Ed turns on the radio once again and magically Ed transforms into a much younger man, twenty years younger. Vinnie runs into Ed's room young again as well. The radio offers Ed another chance to relive his life and finally get things right this time around.

Epilogue:

Around and around she goes, and where she stops nobody knows. All Ed Lindsay knows is that he desperately wanted a second chance and he finally got it, through a strange and wonderful time machine called a radio.... in the Twilight Zone.

Lost Tie In:

Remember way back in season one when Sayid and Hurley had the transmitter high atop the hill? Do you remember what they heard from the transmitter? That's right, they heard 1930's and 40's big band music. Sayid remarks, "What is that?" Hurley replies, "When is that?" Sayid looks at him strangely and then Hurley tells him, "Just kidding dude!"

Lost has always been about redemption, righting the wrongs from the past. The castaways have been given that opportunity in the form of traveling back in time, approximately 20-25 years, to fix what was broken. It doesn't mean that they will succeed, but they were given another chance at life.

just like Ed Lindsay from the Twilight Zone was given. What they do/did with that chance yet remains to be seen.

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Lost Update: Katy Lied

Lost Update - Season Six - 02/09/2010

Katy lied
I was halfway crucified
I was on the other side
Of no tomorrow
You walked in
And my life began again

Are you with me Doctor
Are you really just a shadow
Of the man that I once knew
She is lovely yes she's sly
And you're an ordinary guy
Has she finally got to you
Can you hear me Doctor

Kate, Kate, Kate. No matter where or when she is, Kate is on the run. In her sideways flash tonight, Kate continues her escape by forcing the cabbie to drive away. She zig zags across the city driving a very pregnant Claire to the hospital after the adoptive parents of Claire's baby balk due to the couple breaking up.

On the Lost island, Kate is running, escaping, even in tonight's episode. And Kate's running helps explain my Lost theory.

Just what is the Grassy Knoll Institutes Lost theory…. I’ve been waiting six years to tell you…..
Although it appears the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 are on a tropical island, they are being deceived. There is no island. The survivors are in a virtual reality laboratory. All the castaways are interconnected to one another sharing each others thoughts, memories, and feelings. While in this virtual reality laboratory, a battery of physical and mental experiments are performed on them. And who is running these experiments? As Juliet stated, the Aliens of course.

You see, Kate, on and off the island, was still part of the experiment, and through virtual reality, various scenario's can be inputted to study how she reacts to her constant. In both realities, Kate is running.

Speaking of Claire. In her Side way flash, she meets the adoptive parents of her baby Aaron. The woman explains that she and her husband had broken up and that she couldn't raise the baby on her own. Claire has complications and Kate takes her to the hospital. In both realities, Claire keeps Aaron.

Even professor Artz is the same on and off the island. He was a pain in the ass know it all at the airport as well as on the island.

And hey look, Ethan is alive taking care of Claire. He has more lives than a cat. (An Egyptian cat)

Something I found intriguing tonight involved Sayid. Sayid awakens from being dead, (Not mostly dead, but dead, dead) to the astonishment of the Losties. Dogan, (The leader of the Temple Others) has him brought in for questioning. (Interrogation) Sayid is strapped down, electrodes connected to him, and gray ash spread over him. A battery was cranked up and Sayid was shocked. He was then let go. He was told he was being tested, and he had passed. Doesn't this sound exactly what happened to him when he happened upon Danielle, the French woman. She did the same thing. Perhaps testing him to see if he was turned, or claimed.

Tonight's episode was slower than what I expected. With only a few more episodes to go, I was expecting more action, more answers, more moving toward the end game. Instead, we get the following tidbits.

* Dogan is the leader of the Temple Others. He dislikes to speak in the English language. He is afraid of Sayid, and all the Losties for that matter. Can someone say paranoid.

* Did you notice the interpreter, the guy wearing glasses, watched Jack very closely when he was drinking the tea Dogan offered him. I wonder why?

* What's in the box? (Grinning) Sawyer digs up the floor board of his former cottage shared with Juliet and holds tightly onto s cloth taken from the box.

* Sawyer steals a gun, leaves the temple by force.

* Sayid is infected! Or as best translated, Claimed.

* Staying with Sayid. Let the speculation begin. here's the first Sayid poll: After he rose from the dead, is Sayid now, Jacob, MIB, John Locke, Christian Sheppard, Boone, Charlie, or Sayid? And why?

* Jack chows the pill marked for Sayid. Dogan chokes Jack forcing him to spit it out. Dogan claims it was poison.

* Claire is a good shot. Was she claimed by Danille, the French woman?

* Why do the Temple others want the losties to stay inside the temple. What is the big deal if Sawyer leaves, and Kate, and Jin.

Episode 3 has aired and brought more questions than answers. At this rate, a 6 hour mini series will be needed to tie up all the loose ends after the series ends.

BTW: Lyrics by Steely Dan, off their Katy Lied album.

Until next week fans, Get Lost!

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