Monday, November 12, 2007

Lockdown Questions













1. Was the lockdown really related to the food drop?
2. If it was, why lockdown the Station to drop the food?
3. Why seal off the computer room from the living area
when it is so vital to enter the numbers every 108 minutes?
4. Why isn't there a food drop manual in the Swan like
there is in the Flame?
5. Why isn't this procedure mentioned in the Orientation
film?
6. Was the food drop automatic or initiated by someone
like drops at the Flame?
7. What is up with the blacklights? Where did they come
from? What made them turn on? (And why didn't Locke
pursue this line of questioning with Desmond?)
8. Where did the food come from? Who sent it? And
why can't those looking for the Island such as the
freighter people and Penny follow the food?

I can live with a "Missing Moment" or even discussion of
these issues on an official podcast, but I would like at
least some of these answers.

Watching Lockdown and Dave which followed it
I also wonder what Ben did when he went through the
vents to the computer.

Could it have been the case that in the event of a lockdown,
the computer enters the numbers itself meaning that Henry's
story that he did nothing to the computer is true? Or could
it be the case that Henry entered a different sequence of
numbers, numbers that reset the clock, but also turned on
the blacklights and possibly sent a signal back to
Mrs. Klugh?

We never saw our LOSTies enter the wrong numbers. I wonder
what would have happened in that event. Maybe that new
video game will let me try it.

11 comments:

TakesaVillage said...

Memphish,Your blog is helping me(us) to get through the hiatus.
I was checking on Lost,the video game.
The initial price is$59.99 for Xbox360,and Playstation3(feb.26). No price yet for PC version of the game.(Amazon.com)
Since Kelvin taught Desmond how to rig the lockdown on demand;it didn't seem to concern anyone who was monitoring The Swan.I hope we find out some more history.(Swan Gate?)

Capcom said...

I wonder why the DI didn't have the computer enter the numbers by itself anyway? Isn't that what computers are for?

I also wonder why Locke or someeone didn't just unplug the UV lamps and plug them in nearby, to get a better look at the map! That's what I was thinking when I watched it, "Well, dummy, move the lamps and get a longer look!" :-)

memphish said...

Capcom, now I really do think the computer may have entered the numbers itself in the Lockdown episode. Maybe the reason they want people to enter it is just to determine if people are still in the Swan. So in the case of One of Them because Locke had started typing, he had to finish the job, but if Ben didn't enter the numbers, I'm betting the computer did it itself. Then in the S2 finale (discounting the fact that Locke destroyed the monitor instead of the CPU), "destroying" the computer meant the computer couldn't enter the numbers either. So maybe the Swan was just a psychological experiment to see how long people would enter the numbers and whether or not anyone would use the key with the computer being its own failsafe.

As for the UV lamps, Locke didn't know how to get the blast doors down until he'd locked himself in the dome with Desmond at the end of S2.

memphish said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paula Abdul Alhazred said...

Great questions! Here's my lame attempt at answers . . .

1. I'd guess the lockdown is related to the food drop, just going by the old saying "where there's smoke there's fire." The two things seem to be connected, so they most likely are.

2. Why lockdown the entire station? I'd say there are two possibilities: to keep people in, or to keep people out.

3. This is a fantastic question. Sealing off the computer room does seem rather stupid. But remember, there's supposed to be a countdown, meaning the workers would have ample time to get someone in the computer room before it seals shut.

4. There's very possibly a manual that we just haven't seen, or that got lost along the way.

5. The procedure probably isn't mentioned in the orientation film because a.) you could read about it in the phantom manual, and b.) the writers hadn't thought this far ahead when writing the dialogue for Dr. Candle. After all, you can't allude to everything in advance.

6. I'm guessing the food drops are automatic for the Swan, since that's the station DHARMA was so hellbent on protecting.

7. The blacklights thing is probably just a stylistic flourish. I mean, why the hell would a blacklight come on at that moment? I think this is one of those deals where we can chuck logic out the window, because it was just a cool looking effect.

8. THIS QUESTION HAS BEEN DRIVING ME CRAZY FOR THE LAST YEAR AND A HALF. If it's so damn hard to find this island, how the hell are food drops taking place? And for the life of me I cannot figure out why the freighter people didn't worm their way into DHARMA and use the food drops as their way to locate the island. But on the other hand, there's something so suspicious about the supply drop. It seemed to appear out of nowhere. My guess is that the answer to these particular questions relates to the bigger story we're not yet seeing, the one about what the island really is.

Capcom said...

Oh duh, I forgot that the map comes down with the door!

I agree about the manuals, just because we don't get shown something, doesn't mean that it's not "there".

On further thinking, maybe the UV lights were a Radzinsky addition and not an original DI feature in the Swan? Otherwise, as PAA mentions, why the UV drama? If Rad wanted to make a large invisible secret diagram, that could be one of the best ways to do it. He could justify the expense on his purchase order by telling the DI that the UVs were for his psychedelic Geronimo Jackson poster. :o)

I'm thinking that the perpetual food drops were pretty much the only way for TPTB to explain how a group could live in isolation on an island for so long (and to let the audience figure out their own way that it could be done?). I mean, after a year of nothing but mangos, boar, and palm leaves to eat, they'd start swimming back to civilization probably. But at some point we just have to stop wondering about some of the more intricate details I guess, using PAA's answer to #5 for a lot of it.

Cool_Freeze said...

I think if they entered the wrong numbers it would just keep ticking..but it would be cool if a screen came down of Marvin Candle giving instructions on the numbers. (joke)

I am so sorry I haven't been around lately. ohh my. You are doing an awesome job of keeping everyone's Lost spirit alive though memphish! =]] Keep it up!

CF

memphish said...

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. It is getting hard heading into this home stretch of S2 episodes that I'm watching and the writers' strike has certainly put a damper on the enthusiasm that should be building with the less than 1 month to go until the S3 DVD release and what we hope is the less than 3 months of hiatus to go. I appreciate all the reading and commenting.

And of course the brilliant thing about blogs is that you don't have to check constantly. You can always play catch up.

Capcom said...

You have really kept it going Memphish with the best format! I have just about run out of things to think about the show on my blog. I was really counting on that deadline to arrive in Feb! :-p

Cool_Freeze said...

Indeed! Keep the question's coming! Questions inspire theories..and more blog posts! =]

I'm happy for the webisodes.

Since I have decided to stretch out my S1-S3 until the beginning of Season 5 it forces me think more. =]

Anonymous said...

"1. Was the lockdown really related to the food drop?"

I'd say so, considering there obviously hasn't been another lockdown and consequently there hasn't been another food drop. I wonder what they're gonna do about food in season 5...

"2. If it was, why lockdown the Station to drop the food?"

The whole "quarantine" business. Making the people in the hatch believe it's infected outside...

"3. Why seal off the computer room from the living area
when it is so vital to enter the numbers every 108 minutes?"

It took quite a while for it to properly lock down, plus there was a warning over the speakers that was all broken up in 2004 but would've worked fine back in the day.

"Watching Lockdown and Dave which followed it
I also wonder what Ben did when he went through the
vents to the computer."

Ben let the timer go as long as he could, entered the numbers then went back to Locke. He then lied to Locke and said that nothing happened when he let the timer go. This not only helped to destroy Locke's faith in the button pushing, he'd also just gained Locke's trust by coming back for him. Ben never really lost Locke's trust after that either which shows how desperate Locke is for someone who cares. Poor Locke.

But yeah, you can hear the timer resetting so we know Ben definitely entered the numbers (notice how he already knew them when Locke told him).