LOST Fan

There are things to like about Fringe. I like the interactions among the main characters. I like the mysteries that carry over from one episode to the next. I like the way the bad guy got old, all it once, reminding me of the end of the classic movie Lost (no pun intended) Horizon.

But the torture, the serial killing, the heavy-handed attempts to gross out the viewers — those are things I can live without.

It’s a strange show, with a little bit of this, a little bit of that, X-Files meets 24 meets Catskills shtick. There are slowly unfolding mysteries for LOST fans and others who like their suspense drawn out. There are also stories that neatly resolve at the 55-minute mark for the more impatient.

None of it is particularly believable. It’s not just the fringe science that strains my ability to suspend disbelief — it’s also the cow walking down a Harvard classroom hall, it’s the woman who has no qualms about her date (trick?) taking her to a deserted warehouse, it’s the banter between Peter and his mad scientist dad, which is charming but over the top.

I do want to know what’s up with Peter’s “medical history,” and what Olivia’s boyfriend meant, in the Pilot, in his dying comment that Olivia should find out why Broyles hired her (is Olivia some kind of test-tube clone herself?), and what Broyles and Sharp are really up to, and whether Peter and Olivia will ever get together in condom-protected bliss. In only two episodes, the show has generated a decent amount of suspense. And I do love suspense. Maybe they’ll veer away from the gross-out fest, and I’ll be able to watch the show long enough to find out the answers.

Both episodes are available online.

Speaking of Lance Reddick — and just because “without a shirt” posts are so much fun to do — here he is as Lt. Daniels in The Wire, in a scene which has no real reason for existing except to show him …. without his shirt.

Last night, I watched the premiere of J.J. Abrams’ new show, Fringe. I was surprised and delighted to see Lance Reddick appear. He started on LOST last season as the deliciously creepy Matthew Abaddon — though I still think of him as Lt. Daniels from The Wire.

My initial delight gave way to a twinge of anxiety. If Reddick is appearing in what looks like a fairly major role in Fringe, will he be able to return to LOST? Can someone be in two shows at once? I loved the Abaddon character last season, even if his appearance was little more than a cameo, and I was hoping the character would be developed more — a lot more.

Here he is with Hurley, in a great scene from the first show of last season:

Well, I looked around, and I found an interview that Reddick gave last month, where he says that he will be returning to LOST. Whew!

Q: Do you think it’s going to be a challenge arranging your schedule so that you can make it back to Hawaii ? When can fans expect you to return to LOST?

A: As with all things on LOST, I don’t know. I only know that I am going back. But I don’t know when or for how many episodes.

On The Wire, Reddick showed he was a subtle actor with a lot of depth. I hope he is on LOST enough, this upcoming season, to do his character justice.

Here’s another video from the delightfully demented CapnBob (aka Robert Montjoy), whose take on Season 1, a video called Lost Rhapsody, I posted earlier.

In that first video, CapnBob took stills from the show, animated them, and set them to the music of Bohemian Rhapsody, sung as a polka by Weird Al Yankovic.

Here, he tackles Season 2, in Lost Rhapsody 2: Electric Boogaloo, again using music from Weird Al. This time it’s a medley called The Alternative Polka. The art technique is a bit different. Be sure to watch the video all the way through to see the surprise at the end.

Ah, that reminds me that Season 2 was my favorite season of all.

That will buy a lot of bottles of Dharma Cola!

According to the Hollywood Reporter (via The Guardian), contract negotiations took place this summer, and gave him a 50% raise over his previous salary of $150,000 per episode.

Evangeline Lily (Kate), who was also making around $150,000 per episode, was negotiating her salary as well. The outcome wasn’t reported, though.

And speaking of Jack and Kate, here’s some footage of their first kiss, to balance out the footage I posted earlier of Sawyer and Kate, the other leg of the triangle. I think Jack and Kate (”Jate”) have nowhere near the screen chemistry of Sawyer and Kate (”Skate”), but some people must disagree, as this clip got a five-star rating on YouTube:

As promised earlier, here are some clips of Sawyer (Josh Holloway) — three minutes worth, set to the tune “I Just Want to Make Love to You.” Enjoy!

But wait, there’s more!

Here’s a clip of Sawyer and Kate’s first kiss in Season 1:

Here they are kissing again, in the cage in Season 3:

Back in the present (our present, not Island-time present!), Holloway is acting in a movie, Stay Cool, a comedy which started filming in July. The Hollywood Reporter, via TV Guide, says he will play a former jock who is the ex-boyfiend of a character played by Winona Ryder. Chevy Chase and Hilary Duff are also in the cast.

Jorge Garcia, who plays Hurley on the show, has a blog. He’s traveling through Ireland, and like many tourists, he enjoys writing about what it’s like to drive on unfamiliar roads, about the interesting things he sees while sightseeing — and about the “oddly pleasant” sensation of plucking a hair out of his nose. Okay, maybe this isn’t quite your average tourist blog:

I noticed I had a hair in my face. So as I started to brush it away I could feel it was coming from my nostril. Somehow I inhaled a rogue hair into my nose. And once I realized it, my first thought was to run to a mirror to check it out. And my second thought was to get the camera.

Which he does. Check it out.

The new, fifth season of ABC’s Lost won’t start until 2009 (rumor has it that it will be in late January or early February).  It’s so hard to wait!  In the meantime, though, there is plenty to talk about.  There are online puzzles and clues, news about the actors, memories of the show’s past, speculation about its future … and pictures of Sawyer without his shirt.

To start, here is a wonderfully crazy video I found on YouTube.  It takes stills from Lost’s first season, and animates them to the tune of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, as sung by Weird Al Yankovic.   The video was made by Robert Montjoy, aka CapnBob. Enjoy!

There’s lots more good stuff to come. Don’t want to miss a single drop of your Lost-talk fix? Then subscribe to the feed.