Getting Lost For the First Time
My colleague Oscar had an opportunity to write a post explaining his relationship with Lost, which made me realize I never had a chance to do such a thing. I certainly don’t want to turn The Tail Section into my personal blog, but since I’m new here I think it’s important to introduce myself and explain what the show, and the fandom, means to me. We all have a Lost story, after all.
I started watching the show from the very first episode, and was pumped for it months in advance. All I had to know was that JJ Abrams was involved and I was sold. He created another favorite series of mine, Alias, and I was more than ready to see what his crazy mind would bring me next.
Lost had one of the best pilot episodes I’d ever seen, and I was immediately hooked. The combination of the characters, the mysteries, the production values, and the clever structure of the episodes added up to make one of the best things on television. I loved the excitement of finding out who the characters were in the first season. I loved seeing what you knew of them from their time on the island twisted and deepened due to their flashbacks. It was simply brilliant.
Since those early days I’ve seen most every episode of Lost numerous times, and have even waded a bit through online fandom. I visited The Tail Section, though never posted, played some of The Lost Experience, and religiously started reading Jeff Jensen’s analysis of the episodes on Entertainment Weekly’s website. That’s when my love for the show started to become an all consuming addiction. I had to have Lost action figures, as well as the calendar, and the official podcast became like crack for me. The only thing I skipped out on was Bad Twin, since that seemed more like a lame marketing ploy than an essential piece of the mystery.
My passion for the show is so strong that it even destroyed one of my friendships. Well, sort of anyway.
I once had this friend who was a condescending know-it-all type. He was always convinced that his opinion on anything was 100 percent correct, and would never accept input from anyone else. I’ve known a few people like this in my day, especially online, and I’ve decided they’re the most obnoxious folks in the world.
We had argued over many things before, but the straw that broke my back was when he tried to claim that Lost, a show he detested, was basically the same quality as Heroes. I was filled with nerd rage. I had to allow him his opinion, so I tried to make the argument that unlike Heroes, Lost will be remembered by critics and the populace at large as one of the greatest, most influential genre shows of the new millennium. It’ll be mentioned next to the likes of Battlestar Galactica, The X-Files, and The Twilight Zone for years to come, long after Heroes is forgotten.
He refused to accept this logic, and it made me so enraged that I blew up at him and vowed never to speak to him again. It wasn’t technically about Lost, but his entire attitude in general that made him intolerable. Still, I have Lost to thank for finally forcing me to stand up and kick him to the curb.
Though, while I’ve had some ugly debates about the show, most of my memories are much more pleasant. One of my favorite Lost memories was made when I had the opportunity to go to San Diego Comic-Con this summer, where I saw Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse talk about the series while I sat in front of a guy dressed like Mikhail Bakunin. It was an amazing, electric experience to be in a room filled with people who love the show just as much as I do. I’ll never forget it.
I feel like we need more of that at The Tail Section, especially these days. More of that love, more of that electric energy, more reminders that we’re all here because we have our own obsessive Lost stories to tell. I know there have been a lot of changes here recently, and I certainly don’t like being the new kid any more than you guys like having new people around. What I want to do is provide content, theories, and news from my own perspective. I want to dive in here, get to know everyone, listen to what you want, and provide it the best I can.
One way I can start doing that is by asking you to share your own Lost stories with me. I’d like to know how you got into the show , your experiences with the fandom, and I especially want to know if you ever destroyed a friendship due to a Lost debate. We’re all here for the same reason — we love the show. We think about it more than we should, and are filled with a need to interact with each other, talk it over, analyze it, and indulge in every aspect of the Lost universe. We need to make more of an effort to remember that.
I didn’t know anything about LOST until it was on it’s 3rd season hiatus. My brother was over my house with the first seasons DVD and told me to check it out. I really had no clue what to expect and I honestly thought it would be another Castaway type of show when he was describing it to me. He only told me that people were stranded in an island and had no way of going back. I thought it was going to be pretty boring; but since watching the very first episode I was hooked!I tell you the production team has done a really awesome job of making the show very captivating. When I was on the 2nd cd, which was 4 hours later that night, I went online to order season 2. The next few days were devastating because I finshed watching the first season and I needed another quick fix of LOST Season 2. Thankfully, the 2nd season came sooner than I thought, and I watched in 2-3 days(i forget). I felt like a little kid recieving his christmas wish when I recieved lost season 2 in the mail. I ran to my dvd and immediately popped it in. I saw the first episodes of season 3 on abc.com and then havent missed a show since. I really don’t have any personal stories with Lost except that introduced the show to my two cousins and they quickly got hooked on it to. Also, I guess I can relate to some characters in Lost and it has helped me appreciate life a little more. It’s really awesome and they have really cool people(characters) on the show.
laters man…
and cool discussion topic!
Comment by preztige — December 16, 2007 @ 10:47 am
That’s a great story, preztige. I remember having those same thoughts before the show premiered, namely “How are they going to make an entire series out of some people stranded on an island?” I had no idea how far brilliant minds could take a deceptively simple concept.
Comment by Don — December 16, 2007 @ 10:53 am
I got into LOST completely on accident, wandering aimlessly in my local video store during the interim between seasons one and two. What followed, as is common I’m sure (and have I witnessed as I systematically tricked NEARLY all of my friends into stepping into exactly the same trap) was a ravenous devouring of every episode I could get my hands on. I’ve only recently embraced the online aspects of the experience, mostly to deepen my understanding of the overall mythology of the show, read other fan’s input, and achieve some sort of LOST fix (this is my first Tailsection posting), and I’d have to say that I might post my opinions more often if there was more of this positive vibe your talking about. My first experiences here were witnessing the dismantling of poor Doc Artz’s reputation as a true LOST online pioneer and dare I say hero, so I hope this tone continues.
Comment by hopsing2 — December 16, 2007 @ 11:57 am
My first episode of Lost was “Outlaws”, it was a commercial break on some other show so I flipped to ABC for a second to see what was on and it was Sawyer shooting Duckett, I watched the rest of the episode and for coming weeks I’d occasionally watch it. The first episode that really hooked me was “Deus Ex Machina” with Locke looking into the Hatch.Simply amazing.
Comment by Doug — December 16, 2007 @ 12:05 pm
I didn’t start watching Lost aired during season 2. Unfortunately, I didn’t watch Lost the way it was intended. My roommate was watching the show in my dorm room, I heard it, but I didn’t begin to watch it until the middle of “Deus Ex Machina,” the one where Boone falls off in the Nigerian plane. When Boone was climbing up, not knowing what was going to happen - I said to my roommate, “He’s going to die!”
My roommate, which was his first time watching this series, replied, “Maybe.” When I saw the light shine through the hatch, I was hooked! However, I didn’t watch any episodes until the beginning of season 2, because all I cared about at that moment was the hatch. (I purchased the premiere off iTunes since it was already shown). From that moment on, I began downloading the rest of the season through cheaper alternatives. Beginning at “?” I watched the rest of season 2. During the break, I watched all of season 1. Then I watched season 3, the way it was intended, on the television. I rewatched episodes, and seasons, and have introduced it to my more recent roommates and my parents.
Comment by sk8rpro — December 16, 2007 @ 12:55 pm
i envy everyone who recently discovered lost ive been addicted for 4 years now and the wait is unbarreble thats why im totally down about the only eight episodes we are getting but im never quiting with lost
signed by the biggest fan in holland
Comment by jawie — December 16, 2007 @ 1:20 pm
Long time reader on this site, first time posting. First of all, I want to welcome the new people writing for this site! I have seen a lot of negative comments towards you guys, but I say just screw them. You all are doing a wonderful job, Doc’s shoes are hard to fill.
It’s funny, my friend who had originally got me hooked on the show, said later that now she detests because she doesn’t think they are ever going to get off the island. We got in several arguments over this, and I basically called her a blasphemer. We have since agreed to not talk about Lost. Ever again.
I started watching Lost in the second season hiatus. My friend had watched all of the episodes, and got me and another friend to watch with her. Instantly, I fell in love with the show, and the unanswered mysteries just kept me going back for more. Since then, I have watched the first two seasons multiple times and me and my friend even created a Lost dance for the seemingly lame theme song.
Comment by lanelane — December 16, 2007 @ 1:45 pm
…
Comment by LostAddict730 — December 16, 2007 @ 1:52 pm
Ha…lanelane, I would love to know just what this “dance” consists of. There’s not much to boogie too in the Lost theme music. Though I must admit that a friend and I had an interpretive dance to the theme for Angel back in the day.
Also, for all the people posting for the first time in response to this post, thank you. I’d love to keep a positive vibe around here. It’s a lot more fun when everyone feels comfortable posting their thoughts.
Comment by Don — December 16, 2007 @ 3:02 pm
post the dance on youtube…id bet it would make u famous….lol
Comment by preztige — December 16, 2007 @ 3:42 pm
I was hooked from the very beginning. The pilot episode sucked me in and still has a hold. My husband and I started watching it together, but he has since become frustrated with the show. He still watches, but does not share my enthusiasm whatsoever. We have frequent arguments over how often I watch my Lost DVD’s. He doesnt understand how I can watch the same episodes over and over again. Fortunatly I have all of you understanding people for that. LOL Merry Christmas everybody!!!!
Comment by KatesFate — December 16, 2007 @ 7:50 pm
Up until 2006, I had refused to watch television with the exception of ESPN. I just wasn’t into Reality TV or shows like CSI and Law & Order. Up until then, I foolishly believed that was all there was to watch on TV. Then, during Spring Break, my friends all went to Mexico leaving me home alone (I was broke). So, I decided to give TV a shot on DVD. I had heard all about The Sopranos, and decided to give it a crack. I was AMAZED!! I didn’t know TV could be so good. In five days, I swept through the first five seasons!! However, my outlook on television did not budge. I was simply convinced that I had seen the ONE good television show. So, in April, I complained to my sister that I wish more TV shows were as captivating as the Mob series. Without hesitation, she suggested I pick up LOST. I declined immediately. I was NOT interested in monsters on an island. That would NEVER intrigue me. She tried valiantly to convince me otherwise.
When I went to the DVD store a few days later looking for another HBO show to captivate me, I saw LOST Season 1 on the shelves. I said “what the heck?”. If I don’t like the first disc, I’ll stop watching. BIG MISTAKE!! I popped in the disc at about 10pm. And by the end of the pilot it was 11:30, and I was forced to rush back to the store to pick up the entire season. I watched Season 1 in two days. Then I was forced to purchase Season 2 on iTunes since “?” was the next episode to air at that point. I have NEVER missed a show since and have watched all three season straight through approximately 5 times. I have recruited 20+ people since, and they have, in turn, done the same.
But now I have a new problem. I wish more TV shows were as captivating as LOST… I guess Dexter will do……..for this week……
Comment by LostAddict730 — December 16, 2007 @ 9:33 pm
I’ll always remember watching ABC just before the new tv season started, and seeing the promo for the show where the airplane rips apart. That moment stuck with me and I thought… Damn I have to see that. I’ve been hooked ever since.
Comment by SuperMario — December 17, 2007 @ 12:08 am
I agree, Don. Although there may not be much of a boogie feel to the opening of Lost, we decided it needed to be extra jazzy. There’s really not much to it, but we start out a few seconds after LOST starts zooming in closer. We snap three times (real even, slow snaps) and then say verbally, “Jazz hand, jazz hand,” while making jazz hands. It’s become quite a lovely tradition.
Comment by lanelane — December 17, 2007 @ 12:22 am
I got introduced to lost around the middle of the second season. My friend told me i needed to see it so i purchased the season 1 DVD and continued on since then. Since then i have devoted 90% of my free time for last 2 years of my life spreading lost just to about any new/old friend ive encountered. Ive single handedly increased lost viewership by about 30 people which I must admit I am rather proud of. I moved to Atlanta about 2 months ago from Connecticut and i vowed that I would turn over a new leaf once I got here to stop devoting so much of my time to hooking people but I was unsuccessful. I already have one girl that I met totally hooked on Lost and now denouncing Heroes as her favorite show. Lost is the measuring stick with which I judge my potential future interaction with a new friend/girl. If im interested in a girl and go on a couple dates with her and try to get her to watch lost and she doesnt like it then I gotta move on to the next one. Lost is that important to me that I couldnt see myself with a woman that has no appreciation for the great television that Lost is. Until next time my friends on behalf of the Hanso Foundation, Namaste…
P.S. Don Ive watched the first 2 seasons with about 20 different people so i think i have u beat. I catch new things every time also….
Comment by Jame$ Ford — December 17, 2007 @ 3:06 am
I’ve been a LOST fan since the beginning, although my enthusiasm reached a fever pitch at the end of the second season. There are many people who seem disappointed with Season 2 but to me that season truly defined LOST as the show I have come to know and love to an almost unhealthy degree. Like KatesFate I am a frequent watcher of the DVDs and it has become the bane of my significant other. I pretty much hated network television until LOST came around and showed me that not everything shit out by the networks has to be bad. Though there has still been little since LOST to hold my attention on network television, with the exception of Journeyman. But since that show has been cancelled my bitterness will only swell once again.
Comment by Node32774 — December 17, 2007 @ 6:40 am
I became a LOST fan when the teases started and they showed Dom’s Charlie asking his fellow castaways, “Where are we?” LOTR was my obsession before LOST, so I decided I would watch Dom Monaghan’s new TV show. I watched the pilot episode and I was instantly hooked. It’s the most amazing series pilot I’ve ever seen. I loved the characters and the idea that the Island itself is a major character in the overall plot. I’ve tried to watch all the succeeding episodes, but failed several times because I work two hours away. The first season where I watched all the episodes was season 3. Anyway, I have all the DVDs, the season 2 OST, some of the magazines, and Nikki Stafford’s “Finding Lost” for Seasons 1 & 2. I intend to get the all the succeeding DVDs and the video game.
I don’t analyse every single episode for easter eggs, but I do notice some things. Like Mikhail’s mis-translation of Naomi’s Portuguese in D.O.C. and Ms. Hawking’s badly-Photoshopped picture in Catch-22.
I haven’t lost a friend over LOST, but I feel lonely sometimes because no one in my peer group shares my obsession with LOST. Also, I almost yelled at my older sister once because she knew Wednesday (in season 3) was LOST day. We were watching the first NHL playoff game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Dallas Stars, the game where it went up to four overtime periods. She wouldn’t budge, so I raised my voice a little. She just laughed at me, but she went to finish the game somewhere else.
I still watch Grey’s Anatomy and the CSI shows when I have the time. But, in my opinion, nothing can match LOST. Not even Heroes.
Comment by LadySolitaire — December 17, 2007 @ 10:01 am
I had been meaning to watch LOST for a while. Friends were telling me I’d love it, and they are normally right when it comes to things like this. I had been obsessed with CARNIVALE and was very upset (still am) with its cancellation, but I’d been told that I should see LOST. I even had the chance to rent the entire first season at this awesome local video store, and I almost did, but passed it up for X FILES season nine instead. Anyway, one day my girlfriend at the time downloaded the first one and a half seasons of LOST. She kept begging me to watch it, but I was hesitant to get hooked on a new show. One night, she begged me to watch just one episode with her. “Fine,” I said. “One episode, then I have to go home.” Well, seven episodes later and at 7 o’clock in the morning, I realized I was hooked. We got ourselves caught up in time to see the rest of season two. Since then, I’ve been a devoted fan.
Comment by Paula Abdul Alhazred — December 17, 2007 @ 10:32 am
I knew nothing of lost until about two weeks before season 3 started. Oh how far I’ve come since then…
My elder brother was obsessed and told me I HAD to watch it but he wouldn’t tell me what it was about so i knew nothing and of that I was glad.
I Netflix’d the first three discs and was hooked after the pilot. I immediately watched all three discs in one sitting. The next day I went straight to the video store after work and picked up the rest of season 1 and watched all that the next two days. I couldn’t wait to see what was in that blasted hatch so I rented all of season two the day after that and watched it over the next week. By the time season three started I was a bonified Lost Junkie. Every time a new episode came out I’d watch it two-three times before the next episode aired just trying to piece the big picture together. A few weeks into season three my need for Lost became so strong I could barely contain it. I went to the store and bought the first two seasons and rewatched them before season three started up again after the hiatus.
After a while my obsession turned to the internet, I had a need to find others like myself that just couldn’t get enough. The Tailsection was recommended to me and other fansites started popping their way into my daily surfing routine. Then the merchandise started pulling me in. Before I knew it I had most of the figures the 2008 calendar, all three seasons on DVD, a giant Dharma patch on my jacket, a dharma keychain for my keys, Dharma buttons, I stole an eyepatch from work so I could be Mikail for Halloween and GOOD GOD SEASON FOUR IS COMING AND MY MIND IS GOING TO FREAKING EXPLODE!!!!
I’m currently rewatching all three seasons AGAIN with my girlfriend before January 31st which I have taken off work to celebrate “Lost Day” with my fellow Losties around the country.
Comment by B*Locke — December 18, 2007 @ 2:06 am
I also started watching Lost because of Dominic Monaghan (and thus am particularly saddened by his “death”…although I am still holding out hope that he is still alive and all of Dom’s exit interviews last spring were a ruse). I have been a fan of LOTR since the age of 9 when I first read The Hobbit and absolutely loved the movies. I was drawn to Lost because “Merry” was featured in the previews but became hooked after the first 5 minutes. What an amazing start to an amazing series! I have since created many converts, including a co-worker who borrowed the first 2 seasons and watched them all in the span of a long weekend! Now she’s as obsessed as I am.
The Lost Experience drew me into this world of online fandom…when I realized that I was not alone in my obsession. Thank you all for creating and/or adding to sites that continue this dialogue!
Comment by Aeryn — December 18, 2007 @ 7:56 am
I have also ‘been Lost’ from the beginning. I had heard all the buzz surrounding the pilot (JJ, Foxy, most expensive pilot ever, groundbreaking show….etc etc) and so I tuned in, expecting to be underwhelmed as I usually am by almost anything with that much buzz and pre-praise. My mind was blown and by the end of the hour I was left a sputtering mess (who are these people? where the hell are they? WHAT is going on!!?) It was such a phenomenon - as we all know- that ABC then aired that pilot several times that week and I watched every airing. It was the beginning of not getting enough Lost, the beginning of being a SKater, the beginning of a love affair with the show and the characters, and the beginning of wanting to strangle the Lost boys for confounding me at every turn with their amazing writing! Since then, I have become one of those people much like the above writers- debating, researching, discussing, waking up in the middle of the night shouting “I think they were moved from 815 before the crash!” and other such afflictions. I have converted my best friend to a Lostie as well and as someone else said, have to come to believe that this world is seperated between those who get Lost and those who don’t! LOL! Season 4 cannot come a moment too soon for me!
Comment by ShaneRae — December 18, 2007 @ 8:28 am
This is slightly unrelated, but…
My wife is 18 weeks pregnant and it’s a boy!
We’re naming him “Jonathan Locke” - yes, after Locke from LOST, who is named after a real, legitimate philosopher.
My first name is Jonathan, and Locke is awesome and our favorite character, so we love the name. We have a daughter named Lily, so we’ll have Lily and Locke. (If Locke had been a girl, we may have named her Evangeline…)
Comment by lostlover — December 20, 2007 @ 6:33 am
Congratulations LostLover!!! (although on a Lost website, you hardly need to tell us that John Locke is a real philosopher, dude!)
I wish you and your little baby well, watch out for those 300 knives!!!
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Comment by Lida — December 17, 2008 @ 1:11 am