Saturday, May 29, 2010

Episode 001: The Beginning

Alright, let's get this started.

Episode 001: The Beginning

To start the series, we have our earliest images of the island.  This contains the entire episode of "Across The Sea", where we see Jacob's origins, along with his brother.  We also see the earliest time flash, when Locke turns the wheel to stop the island from moving.
The episode runs 47:27, and is approximately 392MB to download.  You can stream below (via Facebook), or go here to use torrents (better quality, recommended) to download the episodes to your computer.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

32 comments:

  1. You mean you don't have the 3D chops to make the "chronologically" text all spinny and 3D like the rest of it? :)

    Cool to see this finally off and running, even if most of this episode was as-broadcast.

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  2. You do realize the scene with Christian and Locke couldn't have taken place until AFTER Christian died, right? At the very earliest, it had to have been around when Oceanic 815 crashed.

    Otherwise, great work! I can't wait to see more.

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  3. In that time flash, we saw Miles point out the statue of Taweret, the same statue that was destroyed when the Black Rock crashed into it in 1867. Therefore, we know that that time flash took place earlier than 1867. We don't know how the Man in Black was able to appear as Christian in that time period, it's entirely possible that his existence as the Smoke Monster means his memories and abilities transcend time. But we do know that the time flash definitely took place before 1867, but after Jacob's brother died, which is why it is placed where it is.

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  4. Awesome job, keep up the good work. If these start to get taken down I would recommend uploading to multipupload for some good mass mirroros.

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  5. There are a some explanations for why Christian was there:
    1) He wasn't MIB, but ghost/whisper Christian who can travel anywere in time (been promoted, doesn't fully make sense in hindsight, but I can see it)
    2) He was MIB, but the future MIB who was time flashing with the rest of them but just staying incognito. This doesn't really add up with the other flashes, unless he *doesn't* flash to the future during The Incident and 1977-2007 occurs with 2 Smoke Monsters (past and future Smokey). Actually, this might help explain who was "trapped" in the cabin while Smokey kept showing up on the Island...
    3) He was present (past)-era Smokey who accessed Locke's memories. Locke met Christian (probably Smokey) before on the Island, and would remember what he looks like. It'd be interesting, timeline-wise if 100 AD-era Smokey learned a bunch about his 2004-status from Locke's memories and perspective.
    4) The fourth explanation is where Locke time flashed elsewhere (between 2004 and 2007 probably) while the others time flashed to an era before wells or after the destruction (and before reconstruction) of a well (this is the Orchid-area well, where the Wheel is and was the first well built by MiB). I guess Locke's leader-status or proximity to the Heart of the Island (Donkey Wheel) might explain why he time flashed to a different year. *shrugs*

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  6. Does anyone know of a program that will convert an flv file into an avi, mpg, or wmv? I'd like to be able to put this series on DVDs, and DVD Flick doesn't really work with this.

    Thanks.

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  7. The current version of DVD Flick has problems with .flv files. I recommend installing an older version (I think I saw 1.3.0.7 suggested) and try using it again. I have 1.3.0.6 and it works okay for me.

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  8. I was thinking about the whole smoke monster thing too...

    To comment of Tim's explanations:
    1) It's weird. There are some things that fit perfectly with him being the smoke monster. There are others that don't, like the mobisode where he says his son has work to do. Who is he trying to fool? The dog? And why does he want Jack to wake up and do his work for the Island? Wouldn't it be better to leave him and let him die or something? And why does Christian want Locke to save the Island? Why not just let the time flashes keep occurring until all the Candidates caught in it die?

    2) I hadn't thought of the possibility that He didn't go back with them. But why wouldn't he? Actually, why would he flash with them in the first place?

    3) Makes sense, but there's no time for that to have happened when Locke fell.

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  9. @David: It's possible that the Christian we see in the opening sequence is one of the 'whispers' on the island, a ghost like Michael later on. Just because we aren't introduced to them yet doesn't mean they don't exist. Just a thought.

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  10. Christian's body was traveling through time along with everyone else. Doesn't that explain it?

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  11. Amazing project, happy someone went to great efforts and lengths to provide this wonderful series of torrents for everyone.

    That said, I am a bit disappointed that the chronological focus was on time, and not story. I think the project should have deferred to the story before time as a base. Technically the first flashback shown here is BOTH present for the people flashing, and for the island itself, and either choice would have been acceptable. It just makes more sense for me to base it on the story, because I am watching this for that reason, almost to pretend like I've never seen the show, and to see these people randomly thrown at me, obviously from a different time.. It's discombobulating. Again THANK YOU for the effort, but I really cannot understand the choice made in this particular regard.

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  12. Actually, 4 episodes in, I suppose I might change my mind. It would have problems either way. I suppose you could say we were following the Island's "life" chronologically, and that's okay. The time flashes would be complicated to the viewer either way, even if it would make more sense one way or the other, some characters would end up out of synch.

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    1. Thanks for your thoughts. Chronologically LOST was never meant to be a standalone series (Although it certainly would be interesting to have someone that's never seen LOST watch it this way instead). It is simply a different way of seeing things in the LOST universe. The flashback shown is the present for the people flashing, but it still takes place at a specific date in history, so the scene's place is here, after the events in "Across the Sea". Yes, they are random people that appear out of nowhere, but it's not like there have never been mysteries introduced in LOST that aren't explained until later, actually that happened all the time in the show. Their purpose is ultimately explained, so I think the scene works where it is.

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  13. Wouldn't there be no wheel back then? MIB didn't complete it. And the wheel Locke turned was the one knocked off its axle when Ben turned it, right?

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    1. To the second part of your question, yes, the wheel Locke turned is the same wheel Ben turned. Now the first part of your question, the wheel was not completed when we saw it under construction in "Across the Sea". However, it clearly must have been completed at some point in time after that episode, and prior to the time flash where Locke was when he turned the wheel, we simply just didn't see it being completed.

      Just because Mother killed all the men that were working on the wheel doesn't mean that there were not others later on that were able to complete the work. Especially since Mother was the main opponent to the wheel being completed, and she was killed.

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  14. First off, just wanna say that this is a brilliant idea and it's truly amazing the amount of work you must've put in to not only follow through with this but complete it and have it looking absolutely awesome! As a big lost fan back in the day, recently I've decided to do a bit of rewatch in my spare time and can't think of a better way to do it than through chronological order like this. So many, many thanks for this.

    Now to my thoughts on this episode..

    This wasn't one of my favourite episodes from the original series as I didn't really enjoy this side to the show. None of the story really makes sense from a logical point of view and this is probably what disappoints me most. It is interesting to watch it as a beginning though, rather than the late 'explanation' episode thrown in at the end, that it originally was. The ending where we switch to the main characters in the past and with Locke at the frozen donkey wheel is where it gets good.

    Very much looking forward to the next few watching episodes and will update you with any thoughts/questions I have.

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  15. Also, watching this as a complete newcomer to the series would be interesting, and none of it (the Daniel/Charlotte scene, Sawyer trying to save Locke, Locke/Christian at the wheel, etc) would really make sense so it'll be interesting to see how we learn more about the characters in the future.

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    1. On the flip side LOST often didn't make sense at the time to those of us that watched it in show order as well. :)

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  16. After watching this episode, and doing some thinking and research, I have a theory that I think can make this work.

    I think it's very clear, and safe to assume that the frozen wheel chamber exists in a time anomaly. It could be like this at all time, or only exist like this since Ben turned the wheel and took it off its axis. I am leaning towards the latter. I see it that this chamber, ever since Ben threw it off its axis, now exists ONLY in post-2004 (when Ben turned the wheel). So, when Locke travels down into the well he is transported from pre-1974 into the "anomaly" and is now in 2005-2007 time. I think this conclusion can be supported by many factors:

    1. This explains why MIB in Christian form can appear here and know all the things he knows (Eloise Hawking, the fact that he tells Locke "I told YOU to move the island" which happens in 2004, he affirms that Locke has to die off the island so that when his body returns he can take his form, etc.)
    2. This makes the most sense of why the donkey wheel is STILL off its axis. If Locke went into this chamber, and it WAS pre-2004, then the wheel would be ON its axis, because Ben has not turned it yet.
    3. The well is filled-in post-1974, so it still works that Locke looks up and doesn't see the hole up to the surface.
    4. This could even explain why the chamber is cold, maybe that's a side effect of the anomaly.

    So, my theory is that once there is the time-flash where Locke falls into the chamber, Locke lands in the anomaly and into 2005-2007 time(where the wheel is off its axis and where MIB exists), and the other group (Juliet, Jin, Sawyer, Miles, Daniel, Charlotte) are transported back in time to when the statue exists. Locke then turns the wheel and sets the wheel back, which effects ALL time and sends the other group through one final time flash.

    So I propose placing the scene of Locke in the chamber and turning the wheel into the 2005-2007 time. During which the Oceanic 6 are living off the island. If you think about it, the island is still existing in 2005-2007 because Richard and the others, Jacob, and the MIB are living there during that time. I think it would fit having this scene there, because MIB is there and waits for Locke to appear in the chamber and then tells him to turn the wheel and that he has to die off the island. (this is always MIBs plan, he tells Richard to tell time-traveling Locke that he has to die, and also confirms this in Christian form when he tells Locke in the chamber.)

    Hopefully this all makes sense. I think it's a really cool way of answering these questions.

    Thoughts?

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    1. Wow, I'm going to have to give you a slow clap on that one. Very impressive stuff.

      Like you, I've always thought it made the most sense that the wheel operated in an area affected by some kind of time anomaly. But I've never really been able to articulate any kind of theory that makes much sense of that idea.

      This is really good. It would be an interesting exercise to figure out when best to place the Locke scene if we were to move it up to that time period. I mean, you could maybe even set it so Locke turning the wheel directly precedes Locke showing up in the jungle. Or maybe use the time displacement Ben encountered when he turned the wheel as a guide for when to place Locke. Or, you could try and approximate the number of days Locke & Co. were flashing for, and place it that many days after Ben turned the wheel. I don't know, lots of interesting options, though.

      Really cool stuff, I'm glad you shared it with us.

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    2. Thank you! I definitely want to say that watching the series chronologically has already given me a fresh perspective on many things, and I'm only 3 episodes in! Definitely for watching it chronologically, I think that having the Locke scene in the future timeframe makes much more sense and would be even more compelling when being so close to other MIB scenes where he appears in Christian form and then Locke form, and his plot to kill Jacob and take Locke's form seems much deeper and threaded through the years leading up to those events.

      I agree with you, I think it will be very interesting to decide where the best place to put that scene is. My first thoughts were to follow the situation that happened with Ben as a model, like you said. If Ben was sent about 10 months into the future when he turned the wheel, then I figure the same thing could happen to Locke. Lostpedia places Locke appearing in Tunisia in October of 2007, which we place him turning the wheel in December of 2006, shortly after Kate's trial. Or, you could place the scene early into the Post-Island timeline with the Oceanic 6. Because the group on the island only goes through a few days of Time-shifts if I'm not mistaken? If you judge by how long Locke tells Widmore it's been since he met him in the 50s.

      I think for me, either situation makes sense. But honestly, I think placing it anywhere between 2005 and 2007 would work well.

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    3. I thought of one more evidence for why this explanation makes a lot of sense.

      From the information we know from "Across the Sea," it seems that the people who built the wells were also the ones who built the donkey wheel chamber. And if "Across the Sea" is any indication, those people built the well FIRST, as a means to get to the electromagnetic energy and build the wheel. So, taking that into consideration, when the time flashes and the group (Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Jin, Daniel, Charlotte) travels to the past where the well is NOT built yet, then we can deduce that the donkey wheel chamber is NOT built yet either. So in order for John to find the chamber, he would have HAD to travel to the future.

      What do you think?

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    4. Another great point. In fact, if anything, the time flash with the group should probably go in the middle of "Across the Sea", between when Jacob and MiB were kids and when they were adults. While Mother ended up filling up the well which temporarily put a halt on the construction of the wheel, the well was still at least there, whereas in the timeflash, there wasn't even a hint of a well. You could maybe even argue that the timeflash would come before anything, but really I think it works better to have "Across the Sea" start the show out.

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    5. I completely agree, having "Across the Sea" as the opening of the show works best. I think the time flash with the group could still work where you have it, but I also agree that it might make more sense before Jacob and MIB are grown up.

      I always assumed that the well that MIB and his people were making was a different well than the one that the donkey wheel chamber is eventually built in. I made this assumption because of the geological surroundings of the well. In "Across the Sea", the well that is being built is in the middle of an open field, whereas the well that is used to descend into the chamber is located in a very small clearing with trees and foliage surrounding it as well as architectural ruins. This could be due to simply more construction and plant growth over time, but I always thought it was because it was a different well. Also, when the group flashes to the past when the well doesn't exist yet, there is still a lot of trees and foliage surrounding the small clearing.

      Having it as the same well could make sense as well though, because MIB mentions that his people built wells to find the source of their compasses acting strange, and that they only found something at that location. But, that doesn't mean they couldn't find a pocket of the source somewhere else on the island.

      All that to say that I think the scene could work either way(after "Across the Sea" or in the middle of it). But from my understanding and observations, I do think that they are two separate locations, and two different well constructions. The one we see in "Across the Sea" being built before the Losties travel to the past, and the orchid well with the chamber built after they flash to the past.

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    6. "So I propose placing the scene of Locke in the chamber and turning the wheel into the 2005-2007 time."

      There's a good chance that John Locke turned the wheel on the 31. of December 2004, at the exact same time Ben did. Just on opposite sides of the wheel chamber.

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  17. Thanks for all the hard work in creating these videos. Just started rewatching with Anna and Wendy on Lost in Order.

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  18. Bit late to the party, but my two cents:

    I agree with others, that the donkey wheel is essentially the centre of the record player, and isn’t moving along with the rest of the time jumps. It is, along with the rest of the physical island (and those on it who didn't skip in time, such as Richard, Claire, and the Others) still in 2004 after Ben dislodged it, bumping up against its own axis, waiting for someone to come fix it.

    The Christian that Locke sees is the 2004 MiB, whose last action before this scene was speaking to John in the cabin and telling him to move the island.

    If Richard, Claire, or any of the Others who didn't skip through time and stayed in 2004, had watched Locke disappear in that first flash, then gone down into the Orchid and followed Ben's footsteps, they would have found the donkey wheel bumping around and broken, even though they weren't the ones experiencing the effects of it. They could have fixed it. But none of them went down there. Someone did though... the MiB.

    MiB went down to the wheel and waited for Locke to arrive. He knew that Locke and Sawyer etc had become unstuck in time when Ben messed with the donkey wheel (perhaps because he too had messed with it in the past? Maybe it had caused the same problems for other newcomers to the island at that time? Perhaps one of Jacob's previous batches of candidates? Maybe MiB/Jacob fixed the donkey wheel in time to save them that time, or maybe they all died from the nosebleeds first - who knows, but I'd bet this had happened before). MiB *also* knew that whatever time Locke ended up in, he would eventually find his way back to the donkey wheel to fix things.

    So, if it's sometime after the 31st Dec 2004 that Locke travels to here, why are Sawyer etc up above in a time where Tawaret is still standing? Because, if you're one of the people caught up in the time skips, it's because 'your time' is one where the donkey wheel is broken (which is why you're having nosebleeds and slowly dying), so upon entering the wheel's cave you will always find it in that state of brokenness. How? Because by entering the wheel's cave you're stepping off the spinning record into the centre that's not moving. John has stepped off the skipping record, and into the donkey wheel cave at its centre which is still in 2004.

    So, now we ask - if it's sometime after 31st December 2004, how long after? My answer would be: however long it was from the points of view of Locke, Sawyer, Juliet etc, from the moment that Ben dislodged the wheel, to the moment Locke dropped into the cave. Let's say that's 3 days’ worth of time. Locke, Sawyer, etc experienced those 3 days in various timezones, but if any of them were wearing a stopwatch it would say 3 days had passed.

    I'd therefore posit that if Richard, Claire, the Others, or the MiB went into that cave on 31st December (which the MiB did) they'd have been waiting those same 3 days until Locke flashed out of nowhere and dropped down into it. It's just that they'd have experienced those 3 days as the 1st Jan, 2nd Jan, and 3rd Jan 2005.

    I'm basing this on the fact that when Sawyer, Juliet, etc, join back up with not only Jack, Kate, etc, but also Claire and Richard, they've *all* (whether skipping through time, leaving the island, or staying on the island and not skipping) experienced 3 years of their lives. It's therefore fair to say that time moved at the same pace for all of them, however and wherever they were experiencing it.

    (The only exception to this is Locke and Ben who lost a bunch of time by going through the donkey wheel and waking up in Tunisia)

    All this is to say that in the timeline, I would put this donkey wheel scene around January 3rd 2005.

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    1. (If it had taken Locke longer than 3 days from his point of view to find the well and climb down into it - say 3 weeks instead of 3 days - the MiB and broken wheel would have been waiting 3 weeks as well, and the date of this scene would be more like the 21st January 2005 instead. Though by that point Locke and the others would likely have died from the nosebleeds, so I’d say by around 14th Jan 2005 if Locke hadn’t shown up, MiB would probably have counted his losses, sauntered off and started making other plans).

      This would then mean that:
      - If someone entered the donkey wheel cave at any point from the day it was built, to December 30th 2004, it would have been there and working.
      - If someone entered the donkey wheel cave between 31st December 2004 and approx 3rd January 2005, they'd have found it broken, and probably the MiB hiding in there waiting for Locke.
      - If someone entered the donkey wheel cave any time after 4th January 2005, it would have been working again.

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    2. Yeah, I really liked Jon's take on this concept of the cave being some kind of temporal anomaly, the record player comparison works well there. Actually, the thing it makes me think of is from the book Ender's Game, where the space station they are all on is in constant rotation which provides them with an artificial sense of gravity, but then the battlerooms they use are located directly in the center of the station, which is its own special area that does not move with the rest of the station, and therefore is a weightless space with no gravitational pull.

      Pointing out the consistencies in the passage of time by various groups of people is a good call by you. That makes a lot of sense in my opinion.

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