Monday, February 1, 2010

A Dad Prepares for Lost: The Final Chapter

In between engineering, surfing the web, and studying one word continually creeps into my conscience.  Lost...Lost...Lost. I can't escape it. My nerd alert is screaming at full blast, and the violator is none other than me.

Lost is returning to my life on Tuesday.  I am somewhere between free beer and you're the next contestant on the Price is Right excited about the return of my favorite show.  Actually Lost is probably one of my top two favorite TV dramas of all time, along with The Sopranos.

I have admitted here before that I am a science fiction fan. I have even wondered before if Braden will watch Star Wars with Dad in the future. How great a dad would I be to impart the double barrelled coolness of engineering and science fiction to my kid.  Before you call child services know that I don't go to conventions. I don't own costumes. I have never even read a sci-fi book. I just like watching a little science fiction on TV and on the big screen.

Why do I like science fiction? I think it is due to the depth of the stories and worlds created in these works.  It seems much more difficult to create your own world complete with belief systems, lifestyles, wardrobes, and the like than it does to film in New York City.  In the good movies or shows the stories are very thought provoking. That is what draws me in.  The mysteries of time travel or some other intriguing pursuit get my mind working.  Other times it is just great story, but always the story and characters matter.

I don't understand why some people have a hard time suspending belief to follow these type shows. Most shows that are theoretically based in reality are about as familiar to me as space travel.  The lives these movie characters live are as much like my life as Chewbacca's.  It seems that you have to suspend belief to follow 99% of every movie or show anyway. So why not just go a little further for the sake of a better story.

Lost adds the element of mystery as well. The show has developed a loyal following of weirdos that clamor for answers to the endless number of questions the writers leave unanswered.  This year will be the end of the ride.  Will we get all the answers?  Will the bomb reset the whole space time continuum?  Will the survivors be here or there and what year will it be?  How does this whole crazy mess work anyway?

Who knows?  But that is the fun.  I am sure the writers will let us in on the important secrets. Maybe we will get to know more about Jacob or the ageless Richard Alpert.  Maybe we won't.

Regardless of what answers we get, I will miss Lost when it is gone.  So I am preparing for the season opener with the same excitement Bear Grylls gets from jumping off a cliff. I will be prepared just like Lady Gaga was prepared for her trip to the nut house with that outfit at the Grammys. I will be glued to the TV every Tuesday night. Braden may even have to learn to entertain himself for an hour or two.  (Just kidding. We have a DVR, otherwise known as mankind's greatest achievement.)

If my posts seem a little mysterious for the next several Wednesdays, now you know why.

10 comments:

ericdbolton said...

I'm right there with you bud. Since the DVR in the living room belongs to me now and the wife has her's in the bedroom. I'm not deleting the episodes AT ALL.

I'm excited to see everything play out.

Brandy@YDK said...

DVR is seriously the greatest invention. there is no going back.

i used to be a lost fan but I couldn't maintain the level of commitment that it needed.

Unknown said...

I working on the design for my cone of silence even as we speak! Tuesday nights are all about silence and focus!

Tom said...

I shall openly admit that I've never seen it, and probably never will. I knew when it started it would require the kind of commitment that I could never give it.

Perhaps 20, 30 years from now, I'll go through it via whatever media format is popular then.

Anonymous said...

Never got into Lost, not because I don't like SciFi, just my DVR gets filled up with things I don't watch anyways. I agree that most shows require you to disconnect your brain from reality. I can't even watch House without my wife chiming in about the medications he orders and how he's wrong. Sometimes she is more entertaining than the episode.

Brian Miller said...

nice. science fiction fan as well. gave my son an autographed boba fett this year that i have been saving since i met him randomly quite a few years back in florida.

Unknown said...

I am pumped for Lost's premier.

I think Lost proved that people who don't like SciFi... actually do. Lost wasn't advertised as a science fiction show when it first aired, so a lot of non-science fiction people watched. A lot of them still do. (A lot of them don't though.)

I'll be glued to my screen tomorrow. Or maybe on Wednesday with the DVR.

Did you watch V on ABC? I'm not a huge sci-fi nerd... no costumes, novels, conventions, but I love watching it in the movies and on TV.

seashore subjects said...

I don't watch Lost, but I understand what you mean. So, enjoy.

SAHD PDX said...

I am fired up as well for Lost but this line was awesome:"I am somewhere between free beer and you're the next contestant on the Price is Right excited about the return of my favorite show"

I'm going to use that now but will give credit where credit is due

SurprisedMom said...

It's Wednesday, so I hope you enjoyed the first of the last episodes of Lost. I never watched it, not because I don't enjoy science fiction, but because I just couldn't give the show the time committment it deserved. I am, however, thinking of buying it on DVD, so don't tell me how it ends :)

I, too, love your line, "I am somewhere between free beer and you're the next contetant on the Price is Right excited . . . " I laughed at that one.