Hi WigJuice,
I can’t tell you how excited I am for this project. Well actually, I can, and I have told you twice already on different threads. But here I am, being excited again. And to have you post this on 8/15 is just a wonderful coincidence… or should I not mistake it for fate!
I am almost finished watching DragonClawNZ’s edit of ‘Chronologically LOST HD’ (reference: https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Chronologically-Lost-HD-Remaster-of-Mike-Maloneys-edit-Released/id/68693) and am thoroughly enjoying it. Full credit to the effort put into it. Having said that, I was preparing myself to go ahead and make an edit of the series with some changes, many of which you’ve addressed here yourself.
To me, the time jumps and Desmond’s flashes should be watched in the timeline as the characters experience them. (To be precise, Desmond’s experience from 4x05 ‘The Constant’ is actually his 1996 self in control in both times, but it still makes better sense when viewed by us in 2004, once we know about the freighter. Similarly for his jump in 3x08 ‘Flashes Before Your Eyes’ when his 2004 self is in control during 1996; we would still make more sense of Desmond’s confusion when seen right after he turns the failsafe key in the hatch.) I’m happy to hear that you’ve put these scenes into an order that should theoretically allow a newcomer to Lost to watch the series for the first time with this project, and have it make sense (and I intend to test this theory by introducing a friend — let’s call her Eloise — to the series in this way). For those of us who have seen the original show before, this project would finally put together the mosaic pieces that the original show gives to us out of order.
I also like the idea of having the show title appear at the start of each episode. Since the pacing will be different from the original show (e.g. during the ‘flashback’ 1980s and 1990s episodes, there may not be an appropriate dramatic ‘teaser’ scene to punctuate with the title), this allows the full episode to run uninterrupted. My vote (as you’ve heard) is to call this project ‘Causalogically Lost’ (‘causal’, as in, events follow causality including during time travel sequences… except for that damned compass!).
Overall, it sounds like you have put substantial time into something that many fans will want to see. You might want to contact DragonClawNZ to find out how they managed to share it while considering safety. Certainly use a VPN, obviously. You may also wish to consider exporting a version in 1080p quality, for those who can’t handle such massive file sizes.