No, I don’t think you’re being whooshed, exactly. I wasn’t explicit enough in my post, or I’d have said: “Is splicing film really that much harder than splicing videotape?” and proceeded from there.
I’ve not spliced film, but it seems a poor, easy job could be accomplished by cutting it, lining up the sprockety hole things and taping it securely on both sides. That’s what I would try if Lost on a not-so-deserted island anyway.
It might work. Tape is actually harder to use than cement, in that unless you do it just right, it’ll jam. You need a strong tape with a wicked adhesive, too – and it’ll still probably keep breaking in the same spot.
I learned to splice film when I was a kid, and it’s quite a bit different than splicing magnetic tape.
With magnetic tape, you cut each piece diagonally and tape 'em together, so there’s minimal overlap.
With a film splice, the overlap is important, and the way to do it may not be intuitive. You want to cut each piece mid-frame, and then scrape the emulsion off each “half frame” so that it’s clear. Then you line it up (and I’d hate to try to do it without an actual splicer) and cement or tape it together.
I think the chances of someone lining up the perforations perfectly by eye and making the join clean and strong enough so that the splice would run through the projector without incident on the first try is pretty small – unless they were remarkably skilled with their hands and had some experience splicing film.
John Locke would have been at school in the '60s, so it doesn’t seem too astonishing that he’d have acquired that skill.
jsust a comment on the film.
There’s been discussion about there being 6 pieces of film that are in the 6 bunkers.
However, the film said it was film 3 or 6, so there should be 5 other complete films somewhere.
So pissed that my electric went out and my DVR didn’t record this episode. I saw it, but I can’t watch it again. 
Umm…I don’t think I’ve ever had to do it before, but would it be anything more involved than cutting the (original) tape with a razor, putting in the missing section, and then re-taping things?
Assuming, of course, that your brain was big enough to line up the sprocket holes, of course.
-Joe
I saw an episode of Punked in which she was the victim, and yes, she is just as annoying in real life as the character she plays in Lost.
She acts like she is some latina gang-banger who is pissed off at the world 24-7.
Maybe what we need is a sticky thread called 'Scheduling changes". Somewhere people can check to see if there have been any time or length changes to their favorite shows, without fear of being spoiled.
Some of you are knocking yourselves out wondering how Locke managed to splice the film. He obviously has the tools available, because the film has already been spliced…