Comments on: Lost in translation

By: Clark

Clark — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 05:44:24 +0000

I thought parts of Twin Peak’s second season were genius. I can’t wait for the DVD of the second season. The problem was that in the second season between the solving of Laura Palmer’s death until say the white lodge got going it was a bit muddled. But I maintain that Lynch’s send up of the show in the final episode was spectacular. I still kind of dug Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me as well. It was originally going to be a ABC movie of the week, if you can believe it. They had plans for four Twin Peaks movies. But clearly no one cared by then. I think the backlash against the movie was unfortunate as it still really creeps me out when I see it.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 20:40:01 +0000

I actually thought Twin Peaks got better in the second season. That it didn’t is rather conventional.

By: wcw

wcw — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 19:22:16 +0000

Oh, and: second the Magus sighting. Unfortunately, Lost’s writers are nowhere near as good as Fowles was. I wouldn’t mind seeing the Magus serialized with similar production values and pacing to Lost.

By: wcw

wcw — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 19:19:38 +0000

I lived without the X-Files, but my wife likes Lost, so I watch. I'd say it did start of reasonably well given it was a gimmicky soap-operatic setup from the start, but has foundered on the shoals of what I call "Nowhere Boy" disease. Nowhere Man was another solve-the-mystery show that started off well. However, it's just a lot more difficult to start resolving little bits of the mystery while continuing to spin it out with good writing, and as the producers tried to turn the show its charm spun off and it became very, very bad (see also Peaks, Twin). In this sort of serial, it's my contention that the *less* you try to "resolve" the better. Viz Carnivale, in which the best episodes (imho) were the ones after which my wife asked me, "did anything actually happen?" To my mind an unresolved mystery is an ideal canvas onto which to project. Plot just muddies things.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 19:17:43 +0000

They're all kinds of things you could look at. The Invention of Morel is one of my favorites, and you might could see elements of The Magus there if you squinted.

By: Anarch

Anarch — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 16:15:45 +0000

doctor slack – I too fear an X-files denouement.

If you’re just talking the X-Files up to the movie, I’ve gotta disagree: Chris Carter et al. flew by the seat of their pants, but it all hung together modulo the leeway you have to give shows of that type. If you’re talking post-movie X-Files… well, you’re talking about a show I never saw (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).

By: Doctor Slack

Doctor Slack — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 15:38:19 +0000

Verne’s done it in his Mysterious Island – what, about 150 years ago?

Oh, God, I hope Captain Nemo doesn’t turn out to be the explanation for everything!

By: abb1

abb1 — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 15:11:40 +0000

…some kind of coherent ending…

Well, nothing new to invent here; Verne’s done it in his Mysterious Island – what, about 150 years ago?

By: Doctor Slack

Doctor Slack — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:21:00 +0000

Judging by a couple of episodes I saw, their problem is exactly the lack of X-Files stuff. Yeah, the soapy stuff doesn't help either. But I think what reminds me of the X-Files is more the hope that's held out, what with all the interconnections and Weird Coincidences and so on, of some kind of coherent ending -- that "the truth is out there" as it were. Boy, can that go wrong.

By: Henry

Henry — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:10:30 +0000

james is right – but the reference isn’t to Browne himself; rather to Borges’ reference to Browne in “Tlon, Uqbar …” Pedant that I am, I actually checked the spelling in the original Spanish of Borges’ story before posting, and Borges goes for the modernized spelling. I’m a fan of Browne – I believe I had occasion to cite to Pseudoxia Epidemica early in the history of this blog, although I’ll confess that the mixture of Latinate prose and obscure reasoning in some of his theological writings puts it well beyond my grasp.

doctor slack – I too fear an X-files denouement.

By: Luis Villa

Luis Villa — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:20:04 +0000

They mean ‘see the ways in which Lost’s fiction and Lost’s marketing have collided’, right? I mean, the book does have a big Lost logo on the cover.

By: James Wimberley

James Wimberley — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:13:18 +0000

It was Urne-Buriall. Browne is an author you have to sip slowly, neat and unpasteurised. Is Henry going to take up Sir Thomas' epistemic challenge? "What Song the Syrens sang, or what name Achilles used when he hid himself among women, though puzling Questions are not beyond all conjecture."

By: pyrator

pyrator — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 09:44:03 +0000

As someone who has watched ‘Lost’ regularly since it began, and have invested so much time in watching it and getting to know the characters, I desperately want some form of sensible ‘closure’ and not a soap opera that tries to continue on for 10 seasons or so.
But hey that’s not in the best interests necessarily of the producers. I just hope they get lots of hate mail if it’s canned before they give us a sensible conclusion.

By: abb1

abb1 — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 07:01:34 +0000

Judging by a couple of episodes I saw, their problem is exactly the lack of X-Files stuff. Their flash-backs are the most vile example of the day-time soap crap that has no place at prime-time and should be banned from appearing on TV after 6pm. Sneaky bastards. If I had to choose, I’d take any X-Files spoof over Bold And Beautiful any time.

By: Doctor Slack

Doctor Slack — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 02:42:08 +0000

It’s interesting that Hill seems to regard as a feature, rather than a defect, the sense that the series’ writers haven’t the slightest clue where they’re going or if a tenth of the intricate details and subplots even lead anywhere at all. The whole thing reminds me uncomfortably of the X-Files for some reason, and that kind of dampens my enthusiasm.