How are you concluding that? Are you just going by the technology used for each or was there some other indication (I just want to be clear)? Were there any copyright dates on the film/videos?

Come to San Diego. People will come up and speak to you in Spanish because they just assume you know it!

I don't recall a date on the film, but on the Pearl video I recall a copyright that placed it in the 80s. Unless we believe that Dharma purposely used an outdated technology for the Swan film we have to assume that it's older.

Fair enough. I think I recall seeing a copyright date of something like 1981 on the Swan orientation film.

I already pointed out on the previous page, that would be true if this were a game, but this is not a game it's a security device.

It was sarcasm

That's a stretch. So you program a security device that's like a game to only kick over when there's a near-checkmate? Why not just a series of very specific moves to start the game? Seems like a very long way to go to kick into communication/sonar/self-destruct mode... Especially with a very visible and audible "menu" in the good Doctor with the assumption that the "Hostiles have compromised the station". Checkmate is an even more bizarre condition as long as the computer doesn't, in fact, cheat to allow the player to win just to access the functions.

I agree it's odd, but maybe the program sucks at chess (i.e., it was designed to be defeated easily)? It only took Locke three tries to beat it, with the black pieces.

I gotta say, I loved last night's episode. I think I'll stop complaining on these Lost threads for awhile and just enjoy the show for now.

Actually, that statement is categorically untrue. I went back and counted 6 people who mentioned Joss Whedon in a positive light on that thread. Of them, starman9000, HE Pennypacker, Goldberg74, Draven, and myself post regularly to The Office threads. The last guy, GizmoDVD, had posted to Office threads in the past as well, but not as regularly as the rest. So as you can see, all of the Whedon positive posts were done by regular fans and viewers of the show.

Of the detractors, I counted 5, GreenVulture, MWB, Arpeggi, Rogue588, and yourself, Groucho. Of all the complaints about Joss Whedon directing though, none of them were actually about his direction of the episode, which wasn't criticized at all, except to discount the role of director completely from the show.

I think the most telling line was by a neutral observer, WallyOPD, who noted that "it seems like the anti-Whedon folks have made a far bigger deal about it in this thread than the Whedon fanboys have."

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=492586

Locke has no intention of leaving the island, so I'm leaning toward he wasn't so clueless as to what would happen with the "77" command. He knew communications were down because of the first two commands, so he couldn't have thought that "77" would bring in the cavalry or anything like that. Remember that he saw first hand the consequences in the hatch.

As for the computer and the chess match, Mikhail mentioned the computer cheats so it's not a big stretch to it acting weird. It may be designed to tell whether the opponent is trying to win or trying to lose and accordingly react, getting to the Dharma video more quickly. Just an idea.

Here's an interesting idea:

When Mikhail mentioned that he never won, maybe he's telling the truth. The control system was hidden behind the chess game. Since winning the game gives you access, letting anyone that came along win the game would be silly and potentially dangerous. So the game is designed to keep anyone without clearance from winning, even to the point of "cheating." Those who did have clearance would know the specific moves needed to "win" the game, which might be a sequence of moves or arrangement of pieces different than a real-life checkmate.

Somehow, Locke either stumbled onto the correct arrangement, either by accident or fate, or the computer "glitched" and let him win when he shouldn't have, again either by accident or fate.

ANyone know who the woman was accusing Sayid of torture, she looked very familiar, but i can't find her on IMDB...

Locke had to enter 77. He thought the island had led him to the location. He tried the other combinations, and that was the only one left.


Sayid didn't seem to stressed about torturing Ben.

The Swan film was on actual film. The Pearl video was on videotape. Once they started using videotape, why would they go back to film?

I can't be certain but I seem to remember 1980 on the Swan and 1981 for the Pearl.

Bravo to you. Tell your friends to do the same, that way when we attempt to get through 160 posts on the episode the day after it airs, we won't need to filter through 40% of posts saying "that episode was utter shit" to get to the real meat of the discussion.

It didn't help when Ben was given to him just a few days after Shannon was shot, though.

A computer can't "cheat" at chess, other than by making illegal moves. Either Mikhail was lying to Locke, or the writers are trying to confuse the audience. Both possibilities seem plausible.

Thanks for actually digging up the facts. I knew Groucho's statements were highly inaccurate. I was probably one of few people on this board who actually watched and enjoyed The Office from the very beginning (when most were too busy bashing it for ripping off the original). I became a Joss Whedon fan (thanks solely to Firefly) just a few months ago.

Very good episode. The final scene between Sayid and the woman he tortured was very well done. Sayid had me convinced he didn't do it for a bit.

Naveen put in an excellent performance. He had me fooled.

Two solid episodes back to back featuring characters other than Jack, Kate & Sawyer. Much needed shot in the arm this show needed.

You forgot the

Too bad they didn't get more use out of the house before destroying it. The hatch at least lasted a whole season.

The cat survived the explosion, but what about the horse or cow.

A little off-topic, but I was surprised to see a Lostie in "300" last night's midnight showing (just came to the theaters this weekend).

yeah, and quite a different appearance for him (paulo).

Hmmm, well the way I took it, he honestly DID NOT do it. But he saw the hurt in this lady, and her desire for closure, so he told her he did, just so she could go on not worrying about it.

Maybe I was just reading into it too much? Not that that ever happens on this show.