Analyzing the New Comic-Con Video
When Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse appeared at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, they brought along a mysterious snippet from the Orchid Station orientation video. Fans didn’t know what to make of the magically appearing bunny rabbit in the clip, but it all made sense nearly a year later after the season 4 finale aired. This year, the showrunners brought another video featuring Dr. Marvin Candle, and this one may be even more intriguing than the last. Instead of seeing another message from the shady DHARMA Initiative, viewers were treated to a rare glimpse inside Candle’s personal life. Could this new clip also be filled with hints about what’s to come in Lost’s fifth season?
If you haven’t seen the video, you can check it out here. Though seeing Dr. Candle in leisurewear comes as a bit of a shock, the first big surprise in the clip is that the doctor’s real name is Pierre Cheng. Surprisingly, I couldn’t find any real life philosophers by this name. Lindelof and Cuse love to name their characters after real people, but this time it looks like the name may be meaningless.
After learning that Cheng is a professor of astrophysics and has a crying baby at home, he reveals that he’s broadcasting the video from 30 years in the past. He’s also aware that he’s going to die in the DHARMA purge, and glances down at the arm he’ll later lose as if he knows what will happen to it. "This information has come to me from a source who has proven himself to be credible," he reveals. A familiar voice behind the camera tells him to hurry up and get to the point.
Cheng soon does get to the point. "This place, it has extraordinary properties," he says. "I’m begging you, no matter what’s happened, it’s imperative that the DHARMA Initiative be reconstituted. You have to continue to do the research, and you have to do it now. Time is not just of the essence, it is the essence. Perhaps you’ll be able to find a way to save us, to change the past." The video comes to an end when the man behind the camera says that nobody’s ever going to see the message and that it’s all pointless.
I had to watch this clip a few times before attempting to grasp its meaning, and I’m still not sure I fully understand it. It seems obvious that Daniel Faraday is the man behind the camera, which provides an interesting twist for his character. We’ve all assumed that he’s unstuck in time like Desmond, but this video seems to prove that he actually traveled 30 years into the past. If so, how? Has he been on the island before? Is he part of the group attempting to reform the DHARMA Initiative? If he’s hanging out with Pierre Cheng, the answer is likely yes.
My theory, and I may be completely off my rocker, is that Faraday was part of the original DHARMA Initiative. Maybe he escaped the purge by jumping into the time machine, then went back to the past to warn Pierre Cheng about what would happen. At Saturday’s Comic-Con panel, Cuse and Lindelof did reveal that we’ll discover how Daniel knew about the poison gas in the Tempest Station that we saw in "The Other Woman." Could it be because he’s already spent time on the island?
The video also seems to hint that DHARMA may be reforming in season 5. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was a major plot point in the series next year. These annual Comic-Con videos may be mysterious and confusing, but they’re also jam-packed full of clues.
Another thing that’s interesting about the clip is that Cheng urges someone to attempt to change the past. The Lost producers have stated time and again that changing the past is impossible, and that the universe course corrects itself in order to keep things balanced. Was Cheng not aware of this, or will someone actually find a way to alter the past next season? We’ll have to wait and see.
Do you have a different theory about the video? Leave it in the comments, or get it posted on the website by following the guidelines below.
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I’d agree that they were brought t othe past. If you look close at the bottom left corner of the video, you can see red hair come into and out of the picture, could this be Charlotte?
Comment by Bryan — July 29, 2008 @ 6:43 am
Well if the universe has a way of course correcting, my theory would be that the purge was never supposed to happen, but it has just taken this long for the events to happen in order to course correct.
Though, he says reconstitute the DI, which suggests to me, letting the new “recruits” back to the island, and there stations and tests, without the “hostiles” getting in the way this time.
That would link with the new “recruiting program” game that we are seeing over at dharmaneedsyou.
Comment by LizMidnightDraven — July 29, 2008 @ 7:35 am
Oh I have the most glorious theory based on that new video. I submit that Daniel is the voice behind the camera, therefore he is ageless like Richard and he was at one time part of the Dharma initiative. While on the island he had a family most notably a baby girl named Charlotte!
DUN DUN DUUUUUN
Come read the whole story on my blog:
http://ncjl.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/ssdc-09-daniel-charlottes-father/
Comment by izikavazo — July 29, 2008 @ 7:51 am
My theory for season 5 is that indeed Dharma is reconstituting itself - hence the recruitment drive at comic con - to get back onto the island.
And it is this very recruitment drive that Ben is looking to exploit to get back on the island!!
HE will get Jack, Kate etc, to sign up !!
Comment by Bins — July 29, 2008 @ 8:38 am
“has a crying baby at home, he reveals that he’s broadcasting the video from 30 years in the past.”
Miles, anyone…?
Comment by philoceanic — July 29, 2008 @ 10:59 am
1st off, it is an assumption that this is 30 years in the past, right? He says “I’m broadcasting 30 years in….(static).” Cheng does not say one way or another whether it is the past or the future. Great place for a 6th sense like twist if you ask me, get the viewers going one way and pull the rug out from them when it turns out it is the other way.
Phil, I agree with the comment about Miles being the baby, it has to be.
Izik, I think if Farraday and Charlotte were related we would see a warmer relationship. The baby in the video was a boy so all signs point to someone else (Hell what if the baby is Farraday and he came back to save himself from the purge?)
My guess is that the island becomes divided and chaos breaks out over whether the others should exploit the powers of the island for research or follow and protect Jacob. As the conflict grows to deadly heights, Farraday takes it upon himself to go back in time and captures the only person Locke would knowingly trust-> Pierre Cheng of the Dharma videos. Once Locke hears Cheng tell the truth and that the Dharma initiative is the benefit to the world, not Jacob and the others, Locke will now know his true calling-to rebuild Dharma.
Ben vs Widmore- Who is championing Dharma?
Ben did the purge, so was he following orders of his previous superiors and now regrets it? Does Ben want to see Dharma reconstituted? Was Dharma a Widmore sponsored project and is he trying to rebuild it? If Locke wants to rebuild Dharma and Widmore does, then the dynamics again shift Ben to a bad guy. Mindboggling, can’t wait for season 5 to start playing out. The freighter folks restarting Dharma would make sense for why Miles, Charlotte and Farraday were sent to the island on what was supposed to be a military mission to capture Ben.
Comment by blutoschmooto — July 29, 2008 @ 2:09 pm
I think this video gives credence that Season 5 will focus on two separate plots, in two separate times. First, the Oceanic 6 + Ben and their struggle to return to the island. Second, the struggle of the Dharma Initiative in the 70’s to fight off Locke’s Others as they attempt to purge the Dharma folk from the island for reasons not yet revealed to us (this assumes the island travelled back in time).
My bet is that someone did see Candle’s video and that Ben knows where the Global Dharma Headquarters are located in the present time. The existence of a mainland Dharma headquarters with a time machine would give credence to the characters of Mrs Hawking (“Flashes Before Your Eyes”), etc working for Dharma. Further, assuming this present day Dharma Headquarters exists, they must have their very own time machine that Ben and crew can use to reach the Island. Faraday also needs to be with Ben and crew in order to get back to the island as well.
I really like with the dots you’re connecting izikavazo - Daniel being Charlotte’s father is plausible and would be a very interesting subplot.
Comment by THinIL — July 29, 2008 @ 2:26 pm
I think what Liz said was interesting. How do we know that what we’ve seen so far is the future that can’t be changed? I guess that’s the idea from Slaughterhouse Five. THere is no real future and past, it all exists simultaneously and we just see glimpses of it.
Comment by Hoffmaba — July 29, 2008 @ 7:53 pm
So its agreed that most likely the voice behind the camera is farraday. So one would think that when ben moved the island it went back to the days of the dharma intititive and that locke is the leader of the “hostiles” trying to purge them. at comicon darlton said that daniels notebook is going to figure importantly into season 5 as it has things written that have/will happen depending on the timeline.
Side note, if the island did move then maybe around the same time as the purge is when richard goes to visit locke as a child, maybe to check and see if locke is going to be the leader the others think he should be?
Comment by Andrew — July 30, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
Bluto, it has to be in the past because Pierre refers to the internet like it’s something he’s never heard of.
Comment by Rhooligun — July 30, 2008 @ 2:12 pm
Rhool,
It is my feeling that the video does take place in the past, but there isn’t enough evidence for me to be completely convinced. For the sake of argument, Pierre seems to know who the president was in the 2000’s though, fairly confidently. If you were from the past, why would you try to explain how a modern technology works to people who are already using it? He says “A way to share digital information” or something similar. If I’m explaining technology to someone, it probably isn’t in regards to something they already know how to use, I’m much more likely to explain how an obsolete technology worked like the telegraph which was used to send digital signal messages from one point to another. I have to hand it to the Lost guys though, the scene setting looks very ambiguous to me in terms of what year it was in. Looks like Farraday went back into the past and shot it with his phone’s camera.
Did the 2nd rabbit in the Orchid video come from the future or the past? The answer to this would go a long way to convincing me if the video was future or past. Have at it folks.
Comment by blutoschmooto — July 30, 2008 @ 6:49 pm
When listening to the video on a computer with good speakers Chang says, “Is that Miles, just take him outside, please. We only have one chance at this.” when he hears the baby crying.
Comment by Circus Mom — July 31, 2008 @ 1:37 pm
I can’t tell if he’s saying “Miles” but it sure kind of sounds like it
Comment by Cody — July 31, 2008 @ 5:15 pm
Love all the theories - maybe it is all about COURSE CORRECTING so that the Dharma purge doesnt’ happen. Desmond has to turn the failsafe so that the island is revealed and sets off a whole chain of events that in end stops the purge - remember Mrs Hawking if you dont’ turn the failsafe then everyone of us is dead - maybe the US is Dharama people.
I thought Miles being Chang’s baby was too obvious (for tricky old LOST) at first but now remembering his interaction with Ben - it could have been ‘personal’. The $3.2 million he wants is compensation for the loss of a father and the amount is related to how many in his family to share it with??
Is it new Dharma initative people that Ben is getting Sayid to kill off??
Comment by gwoss — July 31, 2008 @ 5:48 pm
although the producers have said the show is not paradox-ial, the viewer of the video could still save the dharma initiative. as long as someone from the present travelled back, and say replaced the nerve gas with sleeping gas, and then recovered the bodies from the mass grave, and replaced them with dummy bodies, and then bring all the initiative back to the present, so as to preserve the past. this would not create a paradox, since we are not completely sure that the bodies in the grave are ‘real’.
Comment by Bob — August 1, 2008 @ 12:42 pm
Could a Pierre Chang from 1978 be here in today’s “time?” The only reason I ask is because of the shelf behind him. I don’t have the greatest eyesight in the world, but that looks like it might be a thin laptop or dvd-movie player.
Has anyone published closeups of what is on the shelf - including the names of the books? Ditto about pictures of whatever is on the coffee table.
Perhaps Dr. Chang is experimenting with traveling through time. He doesn’t know about Ms Hawking’s mandate of course correction. Someone, maybe Faraday, Miles, Ben or Locke, could recognize him from the Candle-Wickman-Hallowax instruction videos and tell him about the purge that Dharma would experience. Chang is trying to video out a call for help while he and Daniel both know he may vanish at any moment.
Still doesn’t account for the baby crying though…
But I’d love to know what is on that shelf and coffee table.
Comment by Laura B — August 2, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
Its time looping not course correction. Ben always has a plan because he knows his future. That is until he moves the island and is tossed out of the loop. Now Ben is using Locke as a pawn to get back in the loop. The loop has intersection points within itself like a figure 8.
Comment by INXS — August 4, 2008 @ 7:14 am
Course correction is only a manipulation done within the loop. Jacob is stuck there directing traffic.90343
Comment by INXS — August 4, 2008 @ 7:20 am
whats happened to all the theories that used to be put up on this site regularly…i have been reduced to checking this one article daily to see if someone posts a vaguely theory-like comment.
BRING BACK THE YOURVOICEs!!!
Comment by Philoceanic — August 4, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
I had a good look at the video on a clearer version than before. Sorry, there’s no DVDs on the bookshelves - it’s just books.
Also - it’s definitely not red hair that you see - it’s someone’s (probably Daniel’s) clothing - looks like crumpled, orangey hessain (sounds weird but the only way to describe it).
Comment by gwoss — August 4, 2008 @ 3:57 pm
I, too, am confused as to what happened to this site. There used to be actual content. Now…nothing.
Comment by Timbo — August 4, 2008 @ 4:31 pm
ok, i was just talking to a friend of mine, a fellow lost fan, who, unbelievably, had no idea of this videos existance, so i introduced it to him and asked for his thoughts. on the baby and the voice.
baby: he said, it would make sense for it to be Charlotte. its the first thing i thought, though im pretty sure it says ‘him’.
voice: he made nothing of it, but when i hinted at it being someone weve grown to know, he said ‘oh, is it Jacks dad or something crazy’. watching it back with him in mind, it does sound a lot like him. add all the wierd happenings that need to be explained RE Christian (hydra intercom, empty coffin, jacobs cabin etc etc)this could be a way to explain this little mystery?
i have to admit, its not quite as interesting as the daniel from the future/present going back to save buddy Pierre, but its almost as good?
thoughts please?
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