{"id":422,"date":"2009-03-11T22:11:26","date_gmt":"2009-03-12T06:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=422"},"modified":"2009-03-11T22:11:26","modified_gmt":"2009-03-12T06:11:26","slug":"there-is-no-time-travel-on-lost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/there-is-no-time-travel-on-lost\/","title":{"rendered":"“There is no time travel” on LOST"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Season 5 firmly entrenched as “the time travel season” of LOST, I keep seeing reference to an old interview where the show’s producers said “there is no time travel” on the show.\u00c2\u00a0 People end up calling them liars and claim we can’t trust any hints they give regarding what may or may not be happening, and feel this is proof that they make it up as they go along.<\/p>\n

I disagree.<\/p>\n

Let’s look at the full quote<\/a> in proper context:<\/p>\n

“We’re still trying to be … firmly ensconced in the world of science fact. I don’t think we’ve shown anything on the show yet … that has no rational explanation in the real world that we all function within. We certainly hint at psychic phenomena, happenstance and … things being in a place where they probably shouldn’t be. But nothing is flat-out impossible. There are no spaceships. There isn’t any time travel.” — Damon Lindelof<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This oft-cited quote is from an interview given during the first season.\u00c2\u00a0 A few things to pay attention to regarding the wording used:<\/p>\n

“We’re still trying to be<\/em><\/strong><\/span>…”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The words “trying to be” seem important.\u00c2\u00a0 By definition, to try is to attempt to do something.\u00c2\u00a0 Lindelof is saying they are “still trying” to be grounded in science fact.\u00c2\u00a0 But since the answers aren’t all grounded in that world, they have to make a conscious effort — to try — to keep things reasonable in the early going.<\/p>\n

This “trying to be” may have been ordered by ABC.\u00c2\u00a0 Ex-writer David Fury said in an interview that the first draft of Rousseau’s debut in the episode “Solitary” contained a line where she said her research team was studying “time” but the network asked to have it removed.\u00c2\u00a0 That episode predates this “no time travel” interview by 2 months.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

“I don’t think we’ve shown anything on the show yet<\/em><\/strong><\/span> … that has no rational explanation…”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In this sentence he makes it a point to say “yet,” meaning “at the present time.”\u00c2\u00a0 To paraphrase: We haven’t shown anything yet (during season 1) with no rational explanation, but in future seasons we might…<\/p>\n

Even more curious are the specific examples he gives to support his statement of what they have not yet shown:<\/p>\n

“There are no spaceships. There isn’t any time travel.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This was not in response to a direct question.\u00c2\u00a0 Nobody asked “Is the show about aliens?” or “Is the show about time travel?”\u00c2\u00a0 Had that been the case I wouldn’t be surprised if he skirted the issue or told a white lie to protect the secrets.\u00c2\u00a0 But here he’s outright volunteering it in what may be a clever hint dropping fashion. Keep in mind that this comes from a guy who called the secret code name for the ending of Season 4 “the frozen donkey wheel” and claimed the code word was needed so nobody would figure it out.\u00c2\u00a0 He hid the real answer in plain sight, as nobody suspected an actual frozen donkey wheel!<\/p>\n

To paraphrase the original quote again: “We’re trying to stay in the world of science fact this season.\u00c2\u00a0 There are no spaceships and there isn’t any time travel…yet.”<\/p>\n

If Damon was planting seeds for something that would happen years later, it’s brilliant.\u00c2\u00a0 But it does leave one question.<\/p>\n

When will the spaceship show up?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Season 5 firmly entrenched as “the time travel season” of LOST, I keep seeing reference to an old interview where the show’s producers said “there is no time travel” on the show.\u00c2\u00a0 People end up calling them liars and claim we can’t trust any hints they give regarding what may or may not be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-time-travel","tag-lost"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3pfx3-6O","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":852,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/ramblings-iv\/","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":0},"title":"Ramblings IV","author":"LBDG","date":"January 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Been re-watching LOST in anticipation of the final season. \u00c2\u00a0Finished off Season 1, then decided to jump straight to Season 5 presuming these two will be the most relevant to Season 6. \u00c2\u00a0I'm still impressed with how well the time travel was handled in a \"Whatever Happened, Happened\" sort of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Misc Debris"","block_context":{"text":"Misc Debris","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/misc-debris\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":284,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/constant-craving\/","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":1},"title":"“Constant” Craving","author":"LBDG","date":"December 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Shortly after LOST aired Desmond's time traveling adventures in \"The Constant\" I couldn't wait for the Season 4 DVD to be released so I could hear the producer's commentary on the episode.\u00c2\u00a0 My wait ended yesterday courtesy of Netflix, and it didn't disappoint. Below are some interesting excerpts, along with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Time Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Time Travel","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/time-travel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Twins?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/eddie-vedder-300x203.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":273,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/ramblings-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":2},"title":"Ramblings I","author":"LBDG","date":"December 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In the spirit of the early years of the Pearl Jam Xmas Single, here are some tangentially on-topic thoughts not big enough for their own posts: I've been having recurring dreams (and\/or daydreams) where M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel (aka She & Him) cover \"Start Choppin'\" by Dinosaur Jr., trading\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Misc Debris"","block_context":{"text":"Misc Debris","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/misc-debris\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":400,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/ramblings-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":3},"title":"Ramblings II","author":"LBDG","date":"January 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Got a text message from my cousin Adam at around 7pm PT on Wednesday that said \"Are you in time travel heaven right now?\" He was referring to the season premiere of LOST, but forgot that I was 3 hours behind and thus hadn't watched it yet.\u00c2\u00a0 Note to self:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Misc Debris"","block_context":{"text":"Misc Debris","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/misc-debris\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"My Timecrimes sketch. 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Their complete lists are covered below - but check\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Enumeration - Time Travel Stories","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/episode65_220x220.jpg.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":753,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/email-of-the-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":5},"title":"Email of the Day","author":"LBDG","date":"September 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Misc Debris"","block_context":{"text":"Misc Debris","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/misc-debris\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Faraday on Twitter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/FaradayTwitter1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":529,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions\/529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}