REMINDER: Do not post spoiler inclusive questions in the comments section! If you know or think your question involves Season 4 spoilers, email DarkUFO directly.
Well, things seem to have worked pretty well on the whole for the first week of the Hiatus League. DarkUFO and I have read all your comments and questions and we hope to use your input and queries to improve the way we operate the league come February. The biggest help that the Hiatus League gives to me is in the scoring department. Through these 8 episodes that we’ll be watching, I should be able to narrow down and eliminate any grey areas regarding each points category. This will help all of you, the contestants, as well, in that it will give you a better understanding of what counts for points. This should help minimize any controversy and make the league enjoyable for all.
That being said, let’s get to your questions! The questions are in bold-italic, with my answers below them. These questions came either from the comment section or from your emails.
What about Claire's mini flashback when she scratched Rousseau?
This is a tough question. During Exodus Part 2, Rousseau returns to the beach and kidnaps Aaron. Before she knocks out Claire, Mother Littleton has what some consider a ‘flash’ showing us that at some point in the past she injured Rousseau’s forearm by scratching Danielle with her fingernails.
This little segment is very open to interpretation. We know now, after seeing Claire remember the time of her captivity, that she did indeed scratch Rousseau’s arm badly. But was that little scene a flashback?
I did not interpret that scene as a flashback. I have always considered it to be Claire remembering the incident. There haven’t been many situations where people have simply remembered something in a quick flash, but that’s how I’ve always understood Claire’s “flash” in Exodus Part 2. I guess I probably look at it that way because it’s so short and the way it was shot seemed differently than what we’re accustomed to for flashbacks. This ruling is just me going with my instincts. Hope that's okay.
Why didn't Kate, Hurley, Jack, and Locke receive +15 for visiting the Black Rock?
Answering this question will help me address a few of the quirks with points being awarded to visiting Island locations (Black Rock, the Statue, DHARMA place). Points are awarded each time a character visits one of these locations. However, the start of a new episode does not mean the start of a new visit.
The A-Team discovered the Black Rock at the end of Exodus Part 1. This began their visit to the ship. The events in Exodus Part 2 are a continuation of that visit. Had they wandered back into the woods looking for Rousseau and then come back to the Black Rock, then they would have been credited with an additional visit and would have received points.
Characters have to establish some sort of presence away from these locations before coming back in order to get points for an extra visit. We have to either see Jack somewhere other than the Black Rock before he goes there, or it has to be established in dialogue. If we know that Jack has been at the beach all day because he was there in the previous episode or because someone else mentions it, and then shows up at the Black Rock, then Jack gets visitation points. As a counter-example, take Jack’s time spent on Hydra Island. He would get points in 3x01 for visiting another DHARMA place, but he never established a presence anywhere else during that time, so he’d pick up points only once during the 9-episode stretch that he was on Hydra Island.
I’m being a little picky about this, mostly because Lost is not a procedural show or one where one week’s episode has little impact on the next. Lost is one long, continuous story where each chapter affects the next in some way, so I am scoring it as one long story.
What about Locke, Kate, Jack and Hurley visiting the hatch? Why is it not considered a Dharma station?
Sure, we know now (and knew during Season 2) that the thing we spent half of Season 1 looking at and wondering about is a DHARMA station, but during Season 1, we did not know. During the Hiatus League, I will be scoring the episodes as if I were watching them for the very first time.
I believe this makes me appear to be a hypocrite as I said that I checked to see if the black smoke fire lit by the Others ever became a significant location, cutting Sayid out of a possible 20 points. But, here’s the scoop- during the regular season, if I or DarkUFO have any doubts as to whether or not the discovery of a place or a thing should get points, we will not award them at the time. If those locations and items do become important, we will award those points retroactively. We feel it is better to err on the side of caution. Better to get points an episode or two late than to have them taken away.
You missed some points!! Lostpedia says that Hurley was staying in room 2342 and you can see it when he’s leaving the hotel. That should be 20 more points for Hurley!!!
During the hotel scenes I did look closely to see if anyone was staying in a room with the Numbers involved, but I totally missed Hurley’s room #2342. It goes by that fast. I watched this episode 3 or 4 times before declaring the scores final. It’s easier to spot them when you know they’re there, but two rules of thumb for you:
1) If I’ve watched the episode 3 or 4 times and STILL haven’t caught it, no points will be given.
2) If it goes by so quickly that I need to go through the scene frame by frame to catch it, no points will be given. If I can’t spot it at normal play speed, then you guys lose out. I have a life, you know. :-)
Both of these rules can be over-ridden by DarkUFO at any time, seeing as he owns the place. :-) But, if neither of us manages to catch something, then no points will be given.
So no extra 20 points for Hugo. Besides, isn’t 80 points in an episode for the Numbers enough? :-P
Why didn’t anybody get centricity points for the episode?
Centricity points will only be given out if a character has more than two flashbacks in an episode. In a multi-flashback episode, such as Exodus Part 2, nobody had more than one flashback, so nobody gains centricity points.
Another thing about centricity vs. flashback points- During a multi-flashback episode, characters got points based on their individual flashbacks. However, points will not be given out for individual flashbacks during character-centric episodes. When the flashbacks are character-centric, points are awarded once for the style of flashback the character had during the whole episode. The character will be getting centricity points on top of it though.
I bet some people will be frustrated with this hiatus league in the sense that we picked our characters in anticipation of season 4, not seasons 1-3. What do you guys think?
Well, yes, people may get frustrated to find themselves doing poorly during the Hiatus League, but it’s nothing to get bent out of shape over. Your performance in the Hiatus League is by no means indicative of how you may perform during Season 4.
In the table you guys should show what place we were the week before, as well as our current place so we can compare.
DarkUFO is the master behind the spreadsheets and technology that makes this league work. I believe he has come up with a way to make that happen. :-)
I think we should be able to change our Richard picks since he might not be on the show :)
Sorry, no such luck. We included Richard in the League even though we knew Nestor Carbonell was involved with the popular new show Cane. In a sense, we were gambling, because we knew there was a chance that Cane would be a success (which looks to be the case) but that it could have bombed and Lost would gets its Alpert back. By including Richard, we were letting you all gamble by taking that very same risk, and 25% of you were willing to risk it. It’s still possible that we may see Richard in Season 4, so don’t fret too much.
Where can I find the "You all Everybody" track?
I got the version of “You All Everybody” that I used to open and close the video update from a special mini-CD that came with an issue of TV Guide that gave a preview of Season 2. (For those of you who don’t know what TV Guide is, it’s basically like a weekly magazine that has all the TV listings for the upcoming week in it, plus exclusive stories)
The song was on that CD and I copied it to my computer and have no clue where the CD ever got to. The track does not appear on either the Season 1 or 2 soundtracks, and I couldn't find it on iTunes. So I have no clue where you can snag a copy. Anybody have any guesses?
I liked the podcast, didn't think it was too long. Loved the Driveshaft music. But could g-man refrain from slapping his knee so much?
LOL! As soon as I read this, I immediately thought of how many times I undoubtedly slapped my leg while talking to the camera. I figured that the count had to be somewhere in the 20s. Boy was I wrong! After watching the video again and keeping track of all the audible leg slaps, I counted over 50!!! That’s even too many times to create a safe drinking game.
Well, I apologize for all the leg-slapping. That just happens to be one of my nervous tics, along with tilting my head from side to side or looking down, when I’m trying to think of what to say. I relied a little too heavily on my ability to wing it. I was in a bit of a rush when making the video and incredibly nervous. It’s not everyday that you make a video of yourself that will be seen by thousands of people! :-P
In the future, the videos will be much shorter and cover just the biggest winner and loser for each of the seven groups. I won’t get into specifics much, since we’ll be posting specifics later on. This should cut down on video time and will also help me script out what to say a little more. And I’ll make a conscious effort to avoid slapping my leg. :-)
Now of course, DarkUFO has the right to override anything I've said here and lay down any super-final rulings. But, this is all pretty much in line with our discussions while setting up the league.
Do you think there's another issue that needs to be addressed? Don't think I hit all the important points? Leave us a comment of send in more email.
