That seems like stuff they should have saved for the last half a season before the series completely ends. It almost sounds like they are panicking from people claiming that they have no answers so they are proving they do.

That's not canon! :-p

Oh boy.

And the Locke spoiler is interesting.

This show is a fuckin' mess. A glorious mess.

I think what seems to be passed over here is...

a) The button and the whole Dharma Initiative experiment exploded. They may explain it as the show goes on, but it's hardly a focal point of the series at this moment, it's kind of in the past. I'm guessing Dharma won't be played into very much in this season at all, as the Lostaways are no longer involved with it. They may even play this very clip during the show, and this whole thing is just an early heads up and gift to the internet. The show is likely moving on from Dharma, there's still many directions to go, from what the island is, the Penny situation, the coorelation of all the Lostaways, the history of the island, their fate of being there, the monster, etc. Dharma may be displayed later, but really an experiment being on the island doesn't mean much to the Lostaways, it's a seperate entity. It's just another piece of the mystery of the island, like the 4 toes statue, the monster, the others, etc. This information isn't *that* important to the show, it just reveals what Dharma is, Lost still has much more secrets in the tank than that.

b) Just because the numbers were used by the Dharma initiative doesn't solve their entire meaning. Remember they're everywhere, this is just another case, like Hurley's lottery numbers, or the jerseys, or the plane tickets. I think people are diving too deep into Dharma, almost thinking that the experiment is the basis of Lost, when it is clearly nothing close to it. It is very simply, an experiment held on the island, that happens to use the evil cursed numbers like everything else, and nothing more! Lost does not centre itself around Dharma, the experiment is just another piece to the massive puzzle, as I mentioned before IMO it means as much to the overall storyline as the monster or the others. It's just another "thing" on the island, adding to the prestige and surrealness of it all.

b) Nobody except us internet geeks will see these spoilers anyways. So ABC isn't really digging themselves into any hole, most of the audience will still be oblivious to all the spoiling. It's a shoutout to the internet fanbase, nothing more. In a way that's almost cruel, ruining the mystery for us while the rest of the audience gets to play the guessing game, or maybe it's cruel towards them, but anyways it's no issue overall.

I read this "mega-spoiler" several days ago and knowing Lost I am willing to bet anything that there is much much much much much more to it than that.

God... this doesn't make sense...


What do you mean "hardly a focal point of the series at this moment". Considering the last few episodes that aired were very much about "the project" and there hasn't been any new episodes aired yet, how can you say it's not a "focal point".


It says in the video that the reason why "The Others" were there is that they are Dharma employees basically, being that Season 3 is "about the Others" it would also lead some to believe that it's very much about Dharma/Hanso.


Who says? Sawyer, Jack and Kate have been captured by Dharma employees (basically), and we don't know what's going on in the hatch at the moment.


Penny is connected DIRECTLY to Hanso/Dharma... I believe her father is on the board.


The last episode of Season 2 was all about 3 men who are basically being the subject of a is-it-or-is-it-not-an-experiment. Jack, Kate and Sawyer are now part of another experiement.


Again, how do you know the statue and the monster and the Others aren't important to the show?


Of course, because the entire point is that the numbers are both scientifically important and how some mysical/religious significance.


People are delving into Dharma because Dharma knows something about what's going on on the island, whether or not they are trying to hold back nature to a degree or have some set of knowledge. All doors at the moment, in the series, lead to Dharma and what The Others know.


Well what it means is that these pieces will either be incorporated into the story itself or that specific details of the Dharma project will not play into the individual lives of the characters in this manner. We will have to see how it plays out. After all, the characters believe they are stuck on an island, while the viewers think they are in purgatory or whatever, the viewers (us) have full view and knowledge of all stories... we know the outside world is looking for them, we have a God's eye view, so it makes sense that we the audience might have more information about the predicament and it's implication than most of the characters do.

Also, since Lost sort of broke the boundry in a way, by showing us that there is life off the island in real time, it gives the producers the freedom in a sense to explore issues from the perspective of say... Penny. And being that she is apparently trying to find the island, we might imagine that the information contained in the Hanso video is nothing new to her.

Well you obviously paid more attention to the video than I did, and I admit I missed a few things like The Others being mentioned, but anyways...

First off I'm not convinced the others are as connected to Dharma as it may seem. They fully have a lot of reason to be on the island, other than being Dharma employees, that's not their full story. They may be connected to the experiment some how, but then again, everything is connected. I'd be willing to bet that the reason they are on that island is NOT because Dharma hired them. Again these are all guesses, nothing can be sure, but anyways. You and I seem to be at odds about how important Dharma is to this show, you think the entire show revolves around it, I don't. I think it's just another piece of the illustrious puzzle of the Island.

Penny's father being on the Hanso board... again, everything is intertwined on Lost, that could be just another name connection to spot, like Locke working for Hurley's box company, etc. The Penny storyline may or may not run into Dharma at all, that'll have to come out in the season.

The statue and the monster ARE important to the show, and so is Dharma, but those two first things aren't the answer to this island as much of a piece of the history and mystery, and I don't believe the latter is either.

I'm fairly certain that the hatch exploded, or the magnetic underground thing did, or whatever. What Desmond did was disable the entire button experiment and what it would to if it ran down. No buttons this year, though Dharma will yeah, I admit I was wrong about this, probably come into play, I was unaware as mentioned of the tape connecting The Others to Dharma, which changes things a lot.

Yes, there are many roads leading to Dharma. But there are all roads also leading to the Lostaways. And there are all roads leading to the numbers. And there are all roads leading to the Island itself and it's power. Everything on the show kind of leads to each other. If anything I'd like to think the Lostaways and the Island mystique/fate are higher on the docket when determining what is running Lost at this moment.

Well at least this is fun... even if a little bullheaded.

Well... lets say one of the numbers (let's say '8') represents a population tipping point. When we have 8 billion people on the planet that is one of the numbers directly related to the end of the world.

Dharma (based on the video) may be trying to manipulate these statistics by culling the population in areas to an extent under the guise of a virus and medical research.

This is my explaination based on the idea that the video implies that the Dharma folks are probably The Others. Or at least they *were* Dharma folks. Because if you look at it from a strange perspective, you can argue that the "good guys" will have to kill 30% of the population in order so that the rest may survive. Maybe The Others have decided that they no longer wish to manipulate the natural forces and are instead hiding out from the end of the world (maybe something came to them in a dream or a religious experience)? Both of these are good reasons for them not helping the crash survivors and not wanting them to interfere on the island (even killing them).

If they are hiding from the end of the world, it also makes sense why they are insanely interested in children too.

I'm not sure about the button though, again, maybe The Others have decided to let it go and let the chips fall where they may in regards to the button. We now have an idea about what the station may be used for, but can wonder a bit why The Others, if they are Dharma employees didn't man the Pearl or the Swan station themselves instead of relying on the kooky crash survivors.

I got a bit misty eyed last night during the recap show.

What number of viewers do you think will it premiere with?

I am thinking 24 million which is pretty much on par with last year. The DVD sales for the series have been very strong.

I expect it to be down about 20% this season premiere from last one.

Recap show as kind of dull, just everything already seen before, no new hints or anything. I much preferred the EW special.

I'm thinking about 20 mil for the premeire by the way.

I cant fucking wait. 6 days

18 million for the premiere. Not bad, but obviously not the hype machine it once was. If it's that low, maybe they won't let it go for seven or eight seasons (as I expect ABC would if the series was a massive, 22+ mill success).

Last year it premiered with 23 million I think. OR was it in the 22m range?

I expect it to definitely be north of 20 million but under last year's premiere... maybe around 21 million.

One day!

I can't wait for tomorrow! Woo hoo!

I'll be at my best friend's house to watch it together
... after her eastcoast feed of Project Runway from 7-9

any good places to download?

Yes.

But prolly hour, two, three after US premiere.

Check these sites then: http://th3zone.com/forum/index.php , http://www.forumw.org/ , http://www.projecttr.com. Have to register first though.

2 out of them 3 dont work

Try now. "," was part of the link before.

OMG Michelle Rodriguez looked SO different!

[spoil]

Haha. Fake Lost spoiler![/spoil]

Arsi and I are both missing the premiere tonight. He's at a Texas Chainsaw Prequel screening and I'm at an airport, soon to be in the air.

Itunes it is I guess.

True spoiler, according to Ausiello:

[spoil]One character will be revealed as gay. It will happen "once Kate steps in the shower."[/spoil]