Channel 4 gets Lost

August 11, 2005 4:47 AM

Channel 4 gets Lost. Channel 4 is showing series one of Lost in the UK and they've hired the people behind the websites for Donnie Darko and Requiem For a Dream to make an 'online experience'.
posted by mandeville (25 comments total)

I'm not getting any further than a looping (stalled) Flash movie and a couple of odd sounds.

This online experience has been cancelled.
posted by NinjaPirate at 4:58 AM on August 11, 2005

If its the bit with burning plane on there's some flashing numbers you have to click on to get through. Look at the other two sites, it seems to be their usual sort of trick.
posted by mandeville at 5:03 AM on August 11, 2005

This is awesome. I love trying to find all the little things in their sites. Their site for Requiem was what convinced me to see it in the theaters.
posted by shawnj at 5:14 AM on August 11, 2005

shawnj likes the astroturf! ;-)
posted by slater at 5:21 AM on August 11, 2005

This one is far superior
posted by poppo at 5:24 AM on August 11, 2005

I can't say I was impressed by Lost. It could have been good but it wasn't. It was too cutesy and too much like NBC Olympic coverage (where every athelete has a history of personal tragedy they must overcome to succeed).
posted by srboisvert at 5:26 AM on August 11, 2005

srboisvert, if you can suggest something better that i'm not already watching, i'm all ears. if you say "extreme makeover" i'm leaving metafilter forever
posted by poppo at 5:37 AM on August 11, 2005

poppo - extreme makeover : home edition?
posted by longbaugh at 6:03 AM on August 11, 2005

Not all astroturf or pepsi blue is bad. But that topic is pretty much a dead horse, and belongs in the same bin as abortion, religion, and gun control - no one's going to be swayed either way.
posted by shawnj at 6:06 AM on August 11, 2005

i'm leaving this website forever
posted by poppo at 6:27 AM on August 11, 2005

Poppo: Deadwood, The Wire, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos - HBO is pretty consistently excellent.

Schlocky sci-fi picks - Babylon 5, Charlie Jade.

When I watch things like Lost I always get the feeling it is written by rotating writers with no overall plot. Evangeline Lilly is easy on the eyes but the rest of the plot is just too formulaic and inconsistent.
posted by srboisvert at 6:50 AM on August 11, 2005

I watched every episode of Lost, waiting and praying for them to answer at least one frigging question, one little clue to what the hell is going on, one stinking explanation why this show wasn't being made up as they went along. And by the end of the two hour season finale I realized that this was 20 odd hours of TV time that I was never going to get back.
posted by Ber at 6:59 AM on August 11, 2005

Evangeline Lilly is easy on the eyes but the rest of the plot is just too formulaic

Yes, the plot is very formulaic. I mean, doesn't it seem like every show on television is about an ensemble of strangers cast away on a fantastical island with killer polar bears and underground venting systems and pirate ships and cursed numbers and wishes that magically come true? *yawn* Dime a dozen, totally.
posted by jbrjake at 7:05 AM on August 11, 2005

srboivert, i watch most of those, thanks, but what is charlie jade??? i must find out. google here i come.
posted by poppo at 7:12 AM on August 11, 2005

that charlie jade looks totally cool, but i guess i can't get that 'space' channel. is it on dvd yet?
posted by poppo at 7:18 AM on August 11, 2005

Yes Lost ends every episode with an around the bonfire "we're in this together" after trying to convince us 5 minutes ago they could kill each other. Plus they reveal so little actual overarching plot each episode it makes The X-Files look like an all out expose.
posted by geoff. at 7:31 AM on August 11, 2005

I'm wondering what's the importance is of the series not being "made up as they went along", provided it was compelling and entertaining enough (although frustratingly obscure) to watch for those 20 hours... if you enjoyed yourself while you watched it, what more do you want?
posted by crunchland at 8:06 AM on August 11, 2005

I've been a real fan of this show since I first started watching it, but what they've done with it already, and what I've seen on other shows with a certain element of mystery and tease (I'm thinking mainly of the X-Files, and to a lesser extent Buffy), lead me to the conclusion that the standard open-ended keep-making-it-as-long-as-people-watch structure of most US network television shows is not well suited to these shows. I'm afraid of this show doing one of two things:

1) Dragging their feet on revealing anything about what's really going on past the point of fun into frustrationland, or

2) Making some big revelations, then later on telling us that those revelations weren't true after all, these fresh new revelations are what's true. (I'm looking at you, Chris Carter.)

I think that what I've heard UK shows do at least some of the time is a good idea: make x number of episodes, and that's that. If the show is really popular, perhaps more episodes might end up being made, but they're approached more as a movie sequel is approached, and there's absolutely no assurance they'll be made.
posted by deadcowdan at 8:11 AM on August 11, 2005

Warning, Brits: some spoilerage

I agree with the general mood that Lost is often very entertaining, but drags its feet waaaay too much. I acutally enjoyed the backstories, at least the idea of the backstories, if some of them weren't very well executed (Kate's was particularly lame and unbelievable).

There were little things that I found annoying: why didn't they try to find "the French lady" earlier on? Wouldn't she be key in trying to get outta there (even if she was crazy). Why did only one guy get the outrageous idea of, oh I don't know, circumnavigating the freakin' place? How did they know there weren't some tribesman with a two-way 15 miles down the beach? And the extras: look I know it's standard for all TV shows to have extras, but on a desert island? Wouldn't you get to know everyone really really quickly? And the dinosaur-thingee and the polar bear were shocking and cool but then dropped like a hot potato, never to be seen again. Kinda cheap, that.

End of rant. As much as I can bitch about it, at the same time I'll be sucked into the second season as much as anyone else. It's just good to vent sometimes...
posted by zardoz at 10:51 AM on August 11, 2005

I'm looking at you, Chris Carter.)
You cracked me up there, yeah I watched x-files from wire to wire and thats how it was. Lost is even skimpier regarding giving us a clue. But I don't feel I'm wasting my time -- the real lost parallels our collective emotional experiences, with the deep plunges they take into serious issues, for example: the 'leader' isn't confident enough or exemplifying the role, is struggling to come to grips with his father's failure and death (and his own betrayal), others: hatred, within racism and class, mob mentality, personal transformation, escapism, denial, and scary true base instincts (where people actually die). The x-files had similar amount of mystery and the supernatural but couldn't hold a candle to what this is throwing down for character development.
posted by uni verse at 12:19 PM on August 11, 2005

[whispers] poppo: torrents are out there [/whisper]
posted by srboisvert at 1:25 PM on August 11, 2005

MetaFilter: I'm looking at you, Chris Carter.
posted by wendell at 5:10 PM on August 11, 2005

I watched every episode of Lost, waiting and praying for them to answer at least one frigging question...

I guess you, then, would be unfamiliar with the concept of a 'J J Abrams' show.

They all go like this:

(1) J J comes with with a half-decent, ensemble-cast, show with some promise.

(2) Half-way through season two, Abrams loses interest, leaving programme in hands of rotating team of writers/TWOP members, none of whom know or care what the show is about.

(3) Show proceeds to blow all goats in 20 mile radius.

Happens every time.
posted by Sonny Jim at 2:42 AM on August 12, 2005

Ordinary people with extraordinary secrets, strange events beyond normal understanding, wierd forces at work, a small and isolated community of disparate characters, minute revelations giving clues to a big picture, supernatural events, beautiful actors playing characters with dangerous flaws, unusual alliances and more secrets.

I liked Twin Peaks, but it seems nobody is ever going to get near it in terms of coherence. And that's saying something.

Everyting that has come since has been effected by it, but often it makes me want to watch Twin Peaks again just to see a series with a consistant underlieing theme to which it is commited.
posted by asok at 6:53 AM on August 12, 2005

if you can suggest something better that i'm not already watching, i'm all ears

Battlestar frackin' Galactica, pal.

(I do generally enjoy Lost, though.)
posted by chuq at 3:10 PM on August 12, 2005