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The Establishing Shot: LOST Reduced

Thursday, February 04, 2010 Craig Grobler 0 Comments

Namaste. If like me you watch fairly little TV, mainly because content/programming has taken a down hill slide since Murder One ended.

However in late 2007 when LOST came along turning every known and overused formula on its head whilst offering a challenging viewing experience Generation X turned the box on and tuned in.

So last week when an invite to Sky HD's LOST season 6 launch event landed in my inbox I was over the moon. At the same time a myriad of questions and flashbacks flooded my mind; Was Locke dead? Would all of the dead character return? Did it work? Did they go back in time - to the beginning? If so, will any of them remember anything? Did Evil Locke kill the other guy who had been on the island for ever? Were the skeletons in the cave Rose and her earnest but bumbling husband? Would the Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Julia quadrangle be resolved? How many questions had I forgotten? And would any of these questions matter because the writers flipped the switch and reversed it again? Would I found answers at the launch party?

To make the launch special the Sky team cleverly commissioned The Reduced Shakespeare Company to condense 5 seasons of Lost into 10 minutes. Yes! You read right 104 hours in 10 minutes. This would serve as a refresher prior to Season 6 kicking off as well as a fun night out. To my shame I had not yet seen the The Reduced Shakespeare Company in action so I was excited about finally experiencing them.

Oceanic Airlines check in Sky HD LOST LaunchDharma Initiative crew Sky HD LOST Launch
Oceanic Airlines check in, Dharma Initiative Crew

We convened at The Hospital Club, checked into Oceanic Airlines to receive our boarding passes and then treated to canapes and drinks by the Hanzo Foundation in what looked like the Swan Station.

Fortunately I arrived on time so the area was empty and I got a chance to take some pictures. As a LOST style clock counted down the minutes the room filled and so did the familiar buzz of geeky anticipation.

Sky HD LOST LaunchDesmond Hume's home in the Swan Station @ Sky HD LOST Launch4 1 15 16 23 42 @ Sky HD LOST LaunchJames Midgley & Jenni Falconer @ Sky HD LOST Launch
Sky's LOST Initiative geek team Iain Lee and Paul Terry @ Sky HD LOST LaunchSun Dried Wild Boar w/ Passion Fruit 7 Basil Vinegar @ Sky HD LOST Launch
Room filling up, Desmond Hume's home in the Swan Station, 4 1 15 16 23 42,
James Midgley & Jenni Falconer, The LOST Initiative's Iain Lee and Paul Terry
Sun Dried "Wild Boar" with Passion Fruit and Basil Vinegar


After drinks the Dharma Initiative crew ushered into the auditorium to be greeted by a short video clip from Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (executive producers and writers of LOST) and without much ado on to the main performance. Below you can view the intro from Lindelof and Cuse as well as the full LOST Reduced performance. Please note this is a YouTube version, the hi res official version can be viewed over at Sky here.


LOST seasons 1-5 in 10 minutes.

From the hilarious but Oh way too short performance - 2 clues I came up with are:
A confirmed yes! "History can be changed if you have a variable, something unpredictable" so some time travel will be involved with but probably with unexpected results and at least one dead Lostee will be back :


I also thought this was pretty funny. As soon as I could - I screen grabbed
The Reduced Shakespeare Company's chart of The Dharma Initiative only to find that they are 2 steps ahead of me. Click on the image and view at the largest size and read the text at the bottom of the chart.

DHARMA Sky HD LOST Launch

Have questions or would just like to vent? LOST writers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof can be found on Twitter here @CarltonCuse & @DamonLindelof

Sky's The LOST Initiative can be found here @Lost_initiative
, The LOST Initiative's Iain Lee (@iainlee), & Geeky Tom (@geekytom) here. If anyone knows if Paul Terry is on Twitter please do let me know.

Sky HD LOST launch
LOST is on on Sky1 & Sky1 HD Fridays at 9pm

More info at Sky HD

The Establishing Shot: LOST Reduced

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