Posted 11/16/2004 9:50 PM Updated 11/17/2004 9:27 AM
Fans find all manner of theories about 'Lost'
By Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY
Sometimes it starts at 9:01 p.m. Wednesday. Sometimes it doesn't happen until Thursday morning.
Shedding light: Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Jack (Matthew Fox) are increasingly ensnared by the island's mysteries on the hit series.
ABC
But each week, at some point after the credits start rolling on ABC's hit drama Lost, fans start in.
On the Internet, on radio shows, in the office or at home with friends and family, they assess and obsess about the latest episode of the mystery about plane crash survivors on a mysterious island.
"My husband and I discuss theories throughout the viewing of the show so much that sometimes I have to shush him so I can hear what is happening," says Michelle Horan, 36, of Atlanta.
"If we had a water cooler, that's where we'd talk about it, but we end up talking about it in the lab," says Karen Schroeder, 35, of Taylor Mill, Ky., who works in a research and development lab for a company that formulates coatings for various products.
Lost averages more than 17 million viewers each week. Speculation already is running high about Episode 9, which airs tonight at 8 ET/PT: Is Iraqi survivor Sayid captured by a Frenchwoman, the source of the bizarre 16-year-old radio transmission?
Also tonight, Tom Cruise's cousin William Mapother plays Ethan, another plane crash survivor — or is he?
Details get viewers buzzing. For example, what was the significance of bad boy Sawyer reading the book Watership Down? And what is the connection between the polar bear in the comic youngster Walt was reading and the polar bear found on the island?
The focus on minutiae is all part of the larger question: What's really going on? Viewers know an airplane left Sydney bound for Los Angeles, got off course and crashed on a tropical island. But where are they, and how can some of the strange things be explained?
Some fans think it's a giant "ant farm" being observed by aliens; others suggest it's a government project; still others figure it must be a Jurassic Park type of scientific compound, although show co-creator Damon Lindelof has said the unseen monster on the island is "not a dinosaur."
So what's going on? Here are some of the most popular theories:
•Purgatory. Jeffrey Field, 34, of Overland Park, Kan., says maybe they're trapped "between heaven and hell — forced to look back on the decisions of their lives. It's a fascinating concept, though now that I've spent so much time contemplating that idea, I almost hope they've got something better up their sleeves."
Land of the L-O-S-T
Besides the theories behind the mysterious island of Lost, there are even theories that LOST might be an acronym. Among suggestions at
www.lost-tv.com, where there are more than 4,000 posts under the "Theories and Speculation" forum:
Beverly Bruce, 30, of Phoenix, isn't convinced that it's purgatory, even though that has been one of the earliest and most popular theories. "I'm not sure any show is brave enough to pretend heaven is not utopia, and hell is not relentless torture, and this show depicts neither of the two. There's good and bad, but not sainthood or evilness."
•Time travel/science testing. "As for theories, my favorite is that they flew through a worm hole," says Rob Bingham, 33, of St. Peters, Mo., an admitted Star Trek "geek."
The survivors "have been captured on an island for scientific observation. This would answer a lot of questions: They are not dead; the weird creatures are independent variables introduced by the scientists to test their adaptability and stamina." Survivalist Locke is working for the scientists — "thus the ability to walk (Locke had been in a wheelchair before the crash) and the level of understanding he seems to have."
•A dream planet. "My favorite theory is that the island is a place that creates out of whole cloth the thoughts and dreams of these people. Wish you could walk? You walk. Wish everyone hated you? They do. Want your cold dead father to be alive? Done," says Julian South, 46, of Portland, Ore.
•Terrorists. "These people are not dead," says Jack Groshans, 51, of Pinckney, Mich. Lost is a regular topic of conversation at his weekly Monday Night Football get-together. Best theory: "It's a military research project funded by Euro-terrorists. They are testing genetic changes to animals (hence the polar bear) in hopes of creating ways to make people immune to cold and heat, cutting down on their need for food and water and lightening the amount of stuff they would have to carry in an invasion or coup d' état. Their ultimate goal is control of the OPEC oil fields, and they are hoping to create small forces capable of striking multiple targets at once."
And some are just along for the ride. "I don't have any theory as to what the overall plot is," says Rozan Caculitan, 31, of Ashburn, Va. "But it's a great exploration into human behavior when forced into an unexpected situation."