LOST: Surprise Flight 815 Crash Anniversary Podcast and Random News Updates

Hello fellow LOSTIES! Yes, the dreadful hiatus continues! It will be even more painful this week with all of the other shows starting to premiere this fall! Okay, maybe it will be less painful with Heroes and The Office filling that empty void! (if you're not watching either of those, there's my plug!) Anyway, I have been hearing rumblings about people wondering where Mike has been and when that next blog would be coming! My answer? There has been nothing to update you on! But, I feel your pain, and am itching for some news myself! And I guess the producers realized this too as they conducted a Podcast that was released Saturday September 22nd 2007, the 3rd anniversary of the crash of Flight 815. They surprised us with a special Q&A in which they actually called up some fans that had sent in questions and answered them during the Podcast. I thought, to help fill the void, that I would share the Q&A with you below. Also afterwards there are some random news blurbs I added that I have heard. Enjoy!


Damon Lindeloff and Cartlon Cuse (Executive Producers) Podcast Q&A

SPOILER ALERT!!! Just a note, I consider anything the producers told us to be MILD SPOILERS. They would never give anything away that could ruin the experience for their viewers. But, if you don't want to know anything about season 4, STOP READING NOW!

And here we go! (please note that I paraphrased the conversations for a more entertaining read!)

1. Question: Do you have a definitive plan for the Sawyer, Kate, Jack Love Triangle?
   
   Answer: Supposedly Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse each support one of the pairings. There are the JATERS (Jack and Kate) and the Skaters (Sawyer and Kate), but Darlton (yes, Damon and Carlton) will not say which one supports which pairing. Even though they both have their preferences, they have ultimately agreed on who Kate will end up with in the end. They emphasized that it is not a resolved story (at this point in the show) by any means. And also they stated one more time that the Flash Forward we have seen is not the end of the show by any stretch of the imagination. There is lots of story to tell beyond that.
   
2. Question: As for the Flash Forward, is this only one possible occurrence of the future? Or is it a definite occurrence?
   
   Answer: Darlton, to my extreme excitement, stated that they are not big fans of multiple futures. What we see about the future is the defined future. So throw out any theories you had about them changing something in the past and it changing the future. I've been a long subscriber that they already have a complicated story to tell without getting into the complications that time travel can bring a story. However, Darlton did state that this doesn't mean that the ability to travel through time will not continue to be a theme on the show. But they state that the rules of TIME they follow are the exact rules that Mrs. Hawking explained to Desmond during his travel into the past. The Future is FIXED, no getting around it. Anything you change in the past will ultimately not change the future.
   
3. Question: The actor who plays Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell) is on the TV Show CANE now. Richard Alpert seemed to have grown into a pretty essential character by the end of season 3. How will you work around this?
   
   Answer: Darlton acknowledged that they put a lot of work into the character of Richard Alpert with him first appearing to be Ben's 2nd in command, and eventually learning that he was not part of the DHARMA Initiative but a NATIVE or ORIGINAL OTHER. Unfortunately, real life intervenes when doing television and they have to work around these problems. They ran into a similar situation with Harold Perrineau (Michael). They wanted to bring him back in season 3 but there were commitments Harold could not get out of. But his story will resume in season 4. The story of Richard Alpert is parked for the time being but Darlton are hopeful to return to his character but it depends on what happens with CANE. The silver lining? Even though CANE will air on CBS, it is produced by ABC Television studios. Rest assured, there is an extensive plan for Mr. Alpert.
   
4. Question: Are Nikki and Paolo really dead or will that story continue?
   
   Answer: They're dead. Story is done! This was a situation where the producers were doing damage control. The audience didn't buy Nikki and Paolo being on the island the whole time and us just not seeing them. They had a long running story arc planned for them, but instead wrapped it all up into one episode. (Translation: NO MORE THEORIES ON THIS!) I personally think they did a good job with it!
   
5. Question: Is Kate pregnant with Sawyer's baby?
   
   
   Answer: The actual premiere date in February is still up in the air, but with the show premiering some time in February it is safe to assume we'll probably have an answer to this question by March (Damon's exact phrase? "The Ides of March"). They hinted at possibly 4 episodes into season 4, we'll know.
   
6. Question: Are we going to find out if Mikhail is still alive?
   
   Answer: We've been fooled on this before but Darlton confirms that this time he really is dead. But this doesn't mean he won't be on show (flashbacks). After all, we still need to find out how he lost his eye!
   

Well, that's the Producer Q&A! Hey, I'll take anything I can get at this point!

Other News

• If you haven't been reading the comments of previous blogs (which I occasionally post newsworthy information in), Season 3 of LOST will be available on Blu Ray in addition to standard DVD (release date December 11th!) So, all of you early adopters out there like myself can enjoy LOST in pristine HIGH DEFINITION! Doesn't it just give you chills thinking about it?
• (MILD CASTING SPOILER) I'm sure everyone has also heard that we will be hearing from LIBBY again in season 4, probably in the form of more flashbacks. They have been able to work out some scheduling issues with Cynthia Watros. Darlton had stated previously that certain events needed to take place before they could revisit Libby's story, but now they seem to be in a place to do that! I know the question of why Libby was in the Institution with Hurley still has everyone's curiosity peaked!

So, I'm sure a month or so will go by without any more blogs from me and people will start emailing each other saying "Yo, when is the LOST Guy going to update that Blog again? I'm going crazy!!!" My answer as always....when I have information to share! Hopefully those Fall Mobisodes will be starting soon and they don't just fall off the radar like they did last season. I haven't heard much about them lately. But if they're available, I'll definitely plan on writing something about them! Other than that, subscribe to The Official Lost Podcast through Itunes or just listen at lost.abc.com. And you'll have any information I do as well! And as always, keep spreading the word about the Blog! Hopefully, we won't have LOST any momentum when February rolls around! We had some really good discussions near the end of last season. Looking forward to that continuing!

I hope I was able to give you a bit of a LOST fix during this TV premiere Week! In the meantime, enjoy the premiere of Heroes tonight and The Office on Thursday. Oh yeah...and Friday Night Lights October 5th on NBC! Help save one of the best shows on TV besides LOST! And with that, see you in the well-defined and unchangeable future!