Thursday, January 10, 2008

Why Hadn't The Others Disabled Enter 77?













So you beat a cheating computer and you get "I'm a scientist, not an actor" DI guy giving you a sequence of numbers to enter to get a certain desired effect. Why didn't the Others disable this mechanism? Surely Patchy or Ben or some other Hostile was able to beat the computer because Locke's just not that smart. Did they maintain it for the food drops? Locke doesn't enter that sequence of numbers.

It's interesting that this protocol was put in place after DI determined there were Hostiles on the Island. I wonder when that was. And if they were worried about an incursion why was there no apparent defenses for the station such as it's own sonic fence perimeter or even camouflage?













And what were the papers in Patchy's office? Research from the Internet? A cover story? I'm afraid we may never find out. It seems pretty minor in the scheme of things. Oh well.

6 comments:

Trevor McFur said...

The computer chess thing always bugged me. At the very least, it's a ridiculously complex way to get through to Dharma and report that the hostiles were attacking (unless the computer is a complete moron, it probably would take at least 10-15 minutes to play and win a game ... and you're supposed to do that with the hostiles beating down your door?). I wondered if it way have been a very specific sequence of 3-4 moves that triggered the message, and not the win. The only other thing that makes sense is that Ben/Patchy wanted Locke to win the game, and programmed it so he would think that he accidentally discovered it. More manipulation by Benry and his #1 guy?

Capcom said...

It could be that only Patchy knew of it, or even that Patchy programmed, or re-programmed, the cue and response. I get the feeling that Patchy held a lot of the secrets of the Flame to himself and possibly Bea. It also seemed as if Patchy was baiting Locke to play with the computer, for some kind of result. Whether he got the result he wanted or not is yet to be seen (hopefully) I guess.

I for one will enjoy the look on Locke's face if he finds out that his carelessness in entering the 77 helped the enemies to find the island. Big dope.

Paula Abdul Alhazred said...

I'm thinking that winning the chess game just sort of caused the Dr. Candle warning thing to load accidentally (it is a dinky little old computer, after all), or like everyone else has suggested, Mikhail programmed it to hide the computer's main function from any potential trespassers.

I'm not sure exactly what entering 77 does, if anything. It might alert DHARMA, but at this point DHARMA might not even exist anymore, or the island may have been written off as a lost cause. So it's possible DHARMA already knows the Hostiles took the island, so I doubt they'd freak out if someone enters 77. Also, did Locke actually enter 77? He said he did, but did he really? And is entering the code what caused the station to explode? Who put that defense there: DHARMA or the Others? Or did Locke intentionally blow up the station?

Capcom said...

Yes, all those questions about whether or not Locke told the truth and/or did actually enter it, are the sub-sub-levels of missing blanks in this show that really annoy me now, cuz I know that we're not going to get answers to those kinds of Qs by the end. :-p

Paula Abdul Alhazred said...

Capcom,

I am glad you're around! You've seemingly been missing all week and it has made me very sad.

Capcom said...

Thanks PAA! I've just been sickly with some kind of winter bug that makes me even too lazy to surf the net much.