# Lost **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2004, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500 "2004-09-22T15:33:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/121 "2004-09-24T23:07:26Z")
Despite the protestations of the show’s creator, I don’t see how “The Thing” can be “plausible.” It’s huge, predatory (or at least a very combative herbivore) and only moves around in the dark. It CAN’T be any modern animal with those characteristics…the only thing big enough to move trees around would be an elephant and they aren’t exactly known for being nocturnal. The only other “plausible” possibility is some sort of heavy machinery, but if it were heavy machinery, how the hell could it grab the pilot? And if it were something as prosaic as, say, a forklift or a crane, why the hell would the pilot start screaming the minute he saw it as opposed to saying “Hey! You in the crane! Can you help us?” So frankly I think the guy is blowing smoke with the whole “no aliens, no dinosaurs,” etc… thing. If it’s not a dinosaur or a giant robot, it has to be something supernatural. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/122 "2004-09-25T03:06:17Z")
I think you should also consider that the thing moving around knocking down trees and what grabbed the pilot may be two different things. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/123 "2004-09-25T03:56:06Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > I think you should also consider that the thing moving around knocking down trees and what grabbed the pilot may be two different things. Then we’re STILL back to something that is 1)not human (the pilot screamed when he saw it, 2)is strong enough to pluck a grown man out of a window and carry him into the trees , 3)can either swing through the trees like an orangutan and 4) is murderous if not actually carniverous. And it’s STILL nothing “plausible.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/124 "2004-09-25T04:00:51Z")
I was reading an issue of Maxim magazine today which had a preview of the new TV season. In a short article they annoyingly revealed several upcoming plot points including what the thing in the jungle is. ---
**Author:** ![Spree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Spree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spree)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/125 "2004-09-25T04:53:16Z")
Did anyone else think that Jack might have a bit of an alcohol problem? The way he guzzled that shot on the plane set off a little “uh oh” in my mind. Then again, he sure seems to be headed for the leading hero spot, so maybe not. I really liked the show and am looking forward to Part 2. My only complaint was that I had a hard time understanding the soundtrack at times. I replayed the part with Kate when she got separated from Jack & Charlie, and still didn’t get what she was saying until I came here and saw that she was doing the five-count thingie. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/126 "2004-09-25T05:36:36Z")
Crap, I just hate being late to a thread. Gonna watch it and tape it. Now I’ll have to go look at the tape again and try to analzye that weird noise out in the jungle. When Terry O’Quinn had that orange in his mouth, it looked soooo bizarre. For some reason that struck me as absolutely creepy. I’m enjoying Merry–oops, Dominic Monaghan!–as well. I will confess to not having trudged through this whole thread…Did anybody wonder if the dog is some kind of robotic spy? Or is that just too dorky? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/127 "2004-09-25T06:03:19Z")
I’ve always liked O’Quinn. Hopefully he’ll still be making his occasional appearances on _The West Wing_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/128 "2004-09-25T06:16:35Z")
I was just surprised to read that O’Quinn is only 52 years old. Actors born the same year as him include Roberto Benigni, Jonathan Frakes, John Goodman, Mark Hamill, David Hasselhoff, Liam Neeson, Christopher Reeve, Patrick Swayze, and Robin Williams. ---
**Author:** ![Pigs\_in\_Space](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@Pigs\_in\_Space](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pigs_in_Space)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/129 "2004-09-25T06:22:15Z")
To follow up on the dog collar, I had two main reasons for associating a collar with the plane. You put a collar on a dog mostly to hold tags (contact info, rabies certification, etc.) and to put the dog on a leash. That makes no sense when you’re on a small island and the dog is clearly not on a leash. The second reason is that a collar in that much vegetation is a good way to strangle your dog. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/130 "2004-09-25T09:47:15Z")
Upon reflection, I am now getting a whole _Prisoner_ tv show vibe. Isolated population of seeminly unrelated people (bet we find out that they are all connected somehow), kept under control by a frightening “Rover”-like thing that is rarely shown. Some people on the island will be working secretely to undermine any progress that the hero makes. Thus prolonging their stay. Who is Number 1? ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/131 "2004-09-25T11:41:46Z")
I’m compelled to say [Robot Pirate monkeys](http://www.goats.com/archive/031029.html) are available on a t-shirt. Also, pilot Greg was a regular on _Felicity_ before becoming a regular on _Alias_, making him a JJ Abrams hat trick. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/132 "2004-09-25T13:15:50Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > I was reading an issue of Maxim magazine today which had a preview of the new TV season. In a short article they annoyingly revealed several upcoming plot points including what the thing in the jungle is. Well? Share it in a spoiler box for us! ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/133 "2004-09-25T13:42:15Z")
> [@Spree](#): > > Did anyone else think that Jack might have a bit of an alcohol problem? The way he guzzled that shot on the plane set off a little “uh oh” in my mind. I did for a second, but connecting it to his “I took a couple of flying lessons…it wasn’t for me” led me to believe he hates to fly and he guzzled the shot for some quick courage. ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/134 "2004-09-25T13:52:48Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > I was reading an issue of Maxim magazine today which had a preview of the new TV season. In a short article they annoyingly revealed several upcoming plot points including what the thing in the jungle is. What **Rik** said, you little tease. Spoiler box, me! ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/135 "2004-09-25T17:46:21Z")
Sherman, set the WayBack Machine to … 1969! > [@](#): > > **The New People** aired from September 22, 1969 to January 12, 1970. It was on Monday nights on **ABC** , from 7:15 to 8:00 pm CST. It followed the only other 45-minute show ever aired, Music Scene, which was hosted by David Steinberg. The New People was an Aaron Spelling production about a group of college students who, on their way home from a cultural exchange trip to SE Asia, crashed on a deserted South Pacific island. The island had previously been used by the Atomic Energy Commission as a test site, and so was complete with buildings, cars, provisions, and test-dummy mannequins. > > Upon crashing all the adults aboard but one, died. The remaining adult, played by Richard Kiley, died at the end of the pilot episode, leaving the “new people” alone to create their own world, sans authority figures. Source: [http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-74/The\_New\_People/](http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-74/The_New_People/) Thirty-five years later and the plot line returns. Will CBS resurrect _Gunsmoke_ in an updated, high-tech version? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dreamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@dreamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dreamer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/136 "2004-09-25T18:07:21Z")
> [@Encinitas](#): > > And just to show you how suspicious I am of everybody on the show, I think the Korean couple aren’t a couple at all but agents from North Korea posing as a couple! Yeah, I definitely felt like they were hiding something. Either they caused the plane to go down, or they have a briefcase with a million dollars cash stashed somewhere. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/137 "2004-09-25T18:18:36Z")
I will definitely catch the 2nd half. Is it common to have a handheld radio on a commercial flight? I’m guessing not all that uncommon. Tho I’m guessing it is VHF (line of sight) and not going to do much good in the middle of nowhere. Where is the ELT on the plane? I’m guessing the tail section - wonder if it landed on the island also. I’m also wondering the the life rafts have EPIRBs (emergency beacons that sattelites can pick up) Of course, number one may have a radio dampening device. With 48+ survivors, quite few can die/ dissapear semi-regularly. The Doctor, Kate and Merry have the best life expectancy IMHO. I’m pretty sure the plane crash was no accident. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/138 "2004-09-26T00:42:03Z")
The “unseen monster” plot device put me in mind of [Forbidden Planet](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0049223/). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/139 "2004-09-26T03:20:24Z")
As requested, here is the review (with spoilers) from the September issue of Maxim: Things aren’t going so well for the tropical-island-bound survivors of a plane crash. One’s about to give birth, one’s a junkie, one’s wildly fat, one’s an Iraqi (topical!), one’s an escaped felon, and one, er…lost his dog. Then there’s the inconvenient little glitch where the plane’s radar thing stopped working and flew off course, so no rescuer in the world knows where to find them. And…a similar party was stranded on the same island 16 years earlier and never got off. And the Professor is nailing Mary Ann! (Wait…wrong show!) Oh, and in a Survivor-esque twist, a giant polar bear monster dinosaur is eliminating them one by one. The weirdest part? It’s packed with familiar faces (like former Hobbit Dominic Monaghan) and hot girls, and it’s actually a great show. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500/140 "2004-09-26T03:41:03Z")
For those of you not reading the spoiler and wonder whether the ‘thing’ is ‘plausible,’ the answer is: yes, it is plausible… if your understanding of science and reality is that of the average eighth grader. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost/265500.md?page=8)