TV

EW Presents...

Continued

Flash-Forward Thinking

More

Previous Page 3 of 3

AND NOW, MY LAST GONZO THEORY OF THE SEASON!

GET YOUR PAWS OFF ME, YOU STINKING SMOKE MONSTER!

Using Planet of the Apes to analyze where Lost has come from.

LOST: SEASON 1
Introduces the world. Establishes a central conflict between castaway visitors and the Others, the seemingly hostile inhabitants of the Island. Ends with the discovery of The Black Rock, a symbolically loaded landmark that speaks ironically to various deep themes.
PLANET OF THE APES
Introduces the world. Establishes a central conflict between castaway visitors and the Apes, the seemingly hostile inhabitants of the world. Ends with the discovery of the Statue of Liberty, a symbolically loaded landmark that speaks ironically to various deep themes.

LOST: SEASON 2
The dramatic arc of season 1 is revisited and reinterpreted through a separate group of castaways, the Tailies. A subterranean-based culture is discovered, one that blends science, religion, and doomsday weirdness. A character of monumental importance (Desmond) appears at the very beginning, vanishes, and then shows up at the very end to activate a bomb. The season ends with an explosive event that sets the stage for a time-travel story in the next season.
BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES
The dramatic arc of the first film is revisited and reinterpreted through a new group of astronauts. A subterranean-based culture is discovered, one that blends science, religion, and doomsday weirdness. A character of monumental importance (Charlton Heston's Taylor) appears at the very beginning, vanishes, and then shows up at the very end to activate a bomb. The movie ends with an explosive event that destroys the world and sets the stage for a time-travel story in the next movie.

LOST: SEASON 3
A dramatic change of setting and focus: Three castaways — Jack, Kate, and Sawyer — are abducted and relocated to the world of the Others, where they are held against their will in a zoology facility. A time-travel storyline introduces the possibility of a circular framework to the entire saga. The climactic conflict hinges on the future survival of the Others, the ostensible antagonists of the first two seasons.
ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES
A dramatic change of setting and focus: Three protagonists — a trio of refugee chimps — travel into the distant past of their ''Others,'' the humans, where they are held against their will in a zoology facility. The time-travel storyline introduces the possibility of a circular framework for the entire saga. The climactic conflict hinges on the future survival of the entire super-sentient simian species, the ostensible antagonists of the first two seasons.

(Uncanny, huh? And I didn't even tell you yet how all of this also correlates to Hegel's five-step Master/Slave myth! Come back in late July for my first special hiatus edition of Doc Jensen, when I'll show you how the last two Apes flicks — Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes — and Tim Burton's 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes will correlate to the final three seasons of Lost!)

+++

DOC JENSEN'S HIATUS TO-DO LIST

1. Watch the films Lost Horizon, Event Horizon, and What the BLEEP! Do We Know?, which all my readers keep telling me have SOMETHING to do with Lost.

2. Send return e-mails to all the readers who've written to me this season.

3. Send candy bars (or an equivalent prize) to EVERYONE who entered my ''What was the symbolic meaning of Sawyer's bare feet in 'The Brig'?'' contest.

4. Post at least ONE new Doc Jensen column per month, beginning in late July, prior to Lost's annual newsy panel discussion at the San Diego Comic-Con 2007.

5. Offer my deepest thanks to ALL OF YOU for reading the column this season. Thank you for indulging my silliest ideas (The Others are human-animal hybrids!) and plain silly philosophizing (Lost is a critique of postmodernism!). Thank you to executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse for providing us with insight and weekly teases. And thank you all for the well wishes you sent my wife during her cancer treatments this past spring, and thank you for allowing me to share that with you. With a tear in my eye, I bid you all a Happy Hiatus, and look forward to passing through the looking glass with you next season.

Namaste!

Doc Jensen