LOST- Why is this not considered SF ?

[2ndstar (deleted)]

Sure it's not a space opera but honestly, if LOST isn't speculative fiction then what IS ? This is another case of the mainstream media not wanting to label something that has such appeal as SF.

[valarules (deleted)]

I think that 'Lost' is SF because polar bear couldn't live in a tropical island, people can't just appear and disappear, and if the plane dropped from more than a thousand feet no one would have lived. The media doesn't consider it SF because to them Science Fiction has to consist of things that would never appear in out universe, aliens, strange technology, and take place in a 'galaxy far far away' or in the future. They reject it because it takes on Earth, involves real people with real issues and it's on an island and not in some funky space station.

[fayjprufrock]

I think LOST is definitely Genre Television, or Speculative Fiction, if you will - just as Alias is.

Forgive me, I'm a bit behind on my viewing (have scrounged DVDs that take me up to around the middle of Season 2, but that's it so far), but from what I've seen of the show so far they could still make a tenuous claim for all the whacky island weirdness being explained by some kind of non-fantasy/ non-SF explanation. It would, at this point, be singularly unconvincing, though - so much of the show is made up of spooky coincidences and serendipitous events that I don't think we'd BUY a straight explanation. The numbers, for goodness' sake...we're definitely looking at some kind of spookiness.

I don't know that I'd call it SciFi, though, any more than Twin Peaks was Sci Fi. I guess I define SciFi as either hinging on Science (eg shows that are set in the present but which feature speculative science of one kine or another), or else set on a planet far, far away and/or a long time into the future.

Still, however you choose to label it, I think LOST is a cracking show.

[rayman]

The producers and writers of LOST are very careful not to have the show labeled science-fiction, in fact I think it's more on the supernatural side with science combined. The monster is a puff of smoke that reads minds, Jack sees his dead father walking around in the jungle.

Anyway if it wasn't for LOST we wouldn't have had science-fiction shows this season in the big networks, "Threshold", "Invasion" and "Surface", and I read there's more sci-fi coming up this fall.

[toniouk]

i think lost is more fantasy than anything

I am addicted to TV show Bones but it is labled Drama, crime???? lol somethin i never watch

[valarules (deleted)]

rayman wrote: Anyway if it wasn't for LOST we wouldn't have had science-fiction shows this season in the big networks, "Threshold", "Invasion" and "Surface", and I read there's more sci-fi coming up this fall.

Thank you. I have been saying this since the fall and no one has believed me. Isn't seeing dead people and a monster that sounds like a dinosaur SF? Isn't the whole idea of things happening out of the ordinary the basis of Sci-Fi?

[twincarb]

I think that it all depends on exatly what defines sci-fi.
Think back to a show like the old b/w outer limits or twilight zone, not always ailens or set in the future but as sci-fi as you could want.
Lost is the same and yes i am also addicted in the uk the second series has just started and i am even more confused now than at the end of series one.

[spacewoman_PREV (deleted)]

I love Lost, still to catch up with the first 2 episodes of season 2 though.

I don't think it's Sci-Fi, I'd say it was more Fantasy.

[valarules (deleted)]

I think that it could be a little bit of both because how can polar bears survive in a tropical climate, a man wheelchair bound suddenly be able to walk (the reason for which we still don't know), food suddenly appear out of no where, and a lot of the other stuff that's happen on the island happen?

Does anyone think that this season's been dragging a bit? I know they give the excuse that it's because J.J was working on MI:III, but still they could have knocked back the character drama a bit.

Here's another thing that I've noticed. Everyone who was on the plane interacted with each other indirectly over the years. It's like '5 degrees of Keven Bacon' taken to the extreme. Also I noticed that when people go to a certain beach for the night, someone tends to die. Maybe one of the characters should realize that and start calling it 'The Beach of Death'.

[rayman]

I was totally into LOST in its first season, I was always looking forward to the next episode. This season has just been ok for me, there are some filter episodes like Charlie still trying to fight his addiction, we've seen that already. They did give us a shock last week when Michael shot Libby and Ana, but I suspect it was to get rid of Michelle Rodriguez. Rumor has it she was a pain in the butt on the set, and the cast wasn't getting along with her, the DUI was the final nail in the coffin. Anyway I hope LOST doesn't suffer the "J. J. Abrams curse", every time one of his shows reaches Its third season the writing and plots are not as good as before.

[valarules (deleted)]

rayman wrote: They did give us a shock last week when Michael shot Libby and Ana, but I suspect it was to get rid of Michelle Rodriguez. Rumor has it she was a pain in the butt on the set, and the cast wasn't getting along with her, the DUI was the final nail in the coffin.

I read an article that had a interview with Lindelof and Cuse and they said that they had planned killing Ana off from the beginning, that Rodriguez was the one who suggested it and that she wasn't that hard to deal with. I guess that Rodriguez never stays on a show longer than a season and that when she was appoached for the role, she said up front that she wanted to on a few episodes and then go out with a bang. (no pun intended)

[rayman]

valarules wrote: rayman wrote: They did give us a shock last week when Michael shot Libby and Ana, but I suspect it was to get rid of Michelle Rodriguez. Rumor has it she was a pain in the butt on the set, and the cast wasn't getting along with her, the DUI was the final nail in the coffin.

I read an article that had a interview with Lindelof and Cuse and they said that they had planned killing Ana off from the beginning, that Rodriguez was the one who suggested it and that she wasn't that hard to deal with. I guess that Rodriguez never stays on a show longer than a season and that when she was appoached for the role, she said up front that she wanted to on a few episodes and then go out with a bang. (no pun intended)


I read it on TV Guide.com, and I think its damage control. Wasn't Ana supposed to train an army? Seems that has been totally forgotten. My guess is they don't want to look like they made a mistake, online most LOST fans hated the Ana character.

[paddyknives]

in answer to the qusetion is lost sci fi?
my answer is yes
there is fictional science in it (black smoke, magnetic fields), there are also ghosts, amazing coinciedence and religious dreams in it. HOWEVER to lable a show as sci fi or fantasy closes more doors than it opens. not everyone who watches lost watches star trek.

we know its sci fi (or at least genre television) and so will everyone else eventully, so for no3w im happy if ist in the same bracket as 24 and desperate housewives

[valarules (deleted)]

paddyknives wrote: there are also ghosts

Ghosts on 'Lost'? Maybe but I would think that they would mostly be hallucinations more so. Kind of like Hurly's "friend" in the Psych. hospital.

[paddyknives]

ghosts, halucinations, lucid dreams, whatever they are they belong to the domaine of genre TV rather than ordinary drama (except certain episodes of Dallas and Falcon Crest, or Dynasty...the one with the UFO episode). Personally i dont mind it being labled simply 'drama' because its exposing people to tv formats they may never have felt interested in b4. it certainly paves the way for more good tv in the same vein