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Idea: Can "Lost" be improved?

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Greetings, all … I’m new to these boards, though I’ve lurked for quite a while.

This isn’t a request or anything like that – just a more a thought that occurred to me while watching the season 3 finale of " Lost". So here it is: can people see any possibilities in cutting the TV series ’ Lost’ so you eliminate most, if not all, of the flashbacks, and still retain a viable show? The “breadcrumbs” approach to plot development on the damn show is really starting to burn me, and I’m wondering if with all the crap you could cut from the show whether you’d wind up with about twelve to fourteen episodes of solid on-island action?

If so, whose plotlines do you leave in? Who do you eliminate?

Thoughts, class?

"My teaching is like a raft used to cross a river. Only a fool would carry the raft around after he reached the other side!"
--Buddha
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I've played around with an edit of the first season, but gave up on the project. To me, I think "LOST" is best as is.

The "LOST" tie-in movie that is coming next year should be very very good!

Yes folks "Cloverfield" = "LOST" (It's the same monster sound!)

CLICK HERE For the "1-18-08 " Trailer

CLICK HERE for the "LOST" Monster

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

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Abrams already said that's not true. It's the same sound effect, but it has no relation to Lost. And Abrams is about as official as it can possibly be, as he's the creator of Lost and the producer of Cloverfield.
Watch DarthEvil's Who Framed Darth Vader? video on YouTube!

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Oh, there are lots of ways the show could be improved. Try cutting out most of the footage of the tail survivors, for one thing.
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Originally posted by: Darth_Evil
Abrams already said that's not true. It's the same sound effect, but it has no relation to Lost. And Abrams is about as official as it can possibly be, as he's the creator of Lost and the producer of Cloverfield.


Please post reference information or a link to the Abrams quote please. I just want to keep all my reference sources up to date on this kewl project. Hearsay runs rampant on the internet, and I will need more then that to change my opinion.

FF

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

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Originally posted by: FanFiltration
I've played around with an edit of the first season, but gave up on the project. To me, I think "LOST" is best as is.


There's no dispute 'Lost' certainly is good episodic fiction, and there certainly is an argument to say that it doesn't work as well without the flashbacks.

On the other hand, the plot progression is appallingly slow, even taking into account the format. There are episodes in there where, if you cut the backstory, you'd wind up with about 15-20 minutes of footage that actually talks about what's happening on the island. You could make a "Lost: Survivor's Experience" with all the backstories cut to make it feel much more like you're actually on the island -- obviously there's a lot less explanation for why characters are doing things, but it might well increase the mystery of the show, and it'd certainly give a greater impression that you don't know everything there is to know about these characters. (Okay, maybe that's an extreme.)

I'd argue that large portions of the backstories were done in a 'slow reveal' similar to the slow plot progression of the show overall; it'd take you the whole show to find out, for example, that Locke was in a wheelchair before he came to the island. Personally, in an edited/'miniseries' version of the show, I would've thought much of this could be cut -- you could even get away with one flashback instead of the three or four to illustrate the major point. Admittedly, there might be some backstories worth preserving ...
"My teaching is like a raft used to cross a river. Only a fool would carry the raft around after he reached the other side!"
--Buddha