LOST - The Complete First Season [2005]

From the first episode of Lost i became completely addicted. Very rarely does a TV programme come along which blows you away, the last that did this for me was Band of Brother's.

The basic idea of the show has been done before, plane crash on a mystical island, passengers survive and hope for rescue but this is where the magic of Lost kick's in and all sort's of strange happening's start scaring and surprising the survivors.

Each episode is based on one of the main charecter's and with how they are dealing with the island while showing flashback's to their past so you learn about the type of person they were before the crash.

The mystery and suspense had me hooked, the location and scenery was beutifully shot and the music compliments the show perfectly. There's not one weak episode out of the 25 and the end of season cliffhanger was brilliant and left me gasping for more.

There's something for everyone in this programme and i would be amazed if you don't enjoy it! Brilliant!!

My partner loves this series and I just about tolerate it hence 3 stars. I am going to try to give a balanced review of why you might or might not enjoy watching this series that reviewers have reviewed as `absolutely brilliant' down to being `absolute rubbish' without giving too much away.

Why you would enjoy LOST

If you want something at the end of the day to take your mind off things then it will definitely do the trick. The basic scenario is interesting - plane crash on a desert island that is far from deserted - and the characters well-defined for the most part and interesting, with flashbacks to their lives before the crash helping you to understand them and why they do the things they do. None of them are pure blood goody goody brave heroes and most of them are at best flawed and at worst severely dysfunctional. Plenty of surprises in the flashbacks as you find out that what you thought they were they are not at all. In fact, if you like mysteries you will be up to your ears in them with plenty to think about.

Even in the quieter times the action is still quite fast-paced and the kind of camera-work used in Heroes is used here too. As long as you like sci-fi you'll be in your element by the middle of the second series. The overall situation is fairly realistic and be ready for a fairly high body count, even including central characters. The contrast between different characters and the dynamics are interesting and tend to be fairly fraught creating more drama than just the situation itself creates. The episodes are 40 mins so watching 1, 2 or 3 in an evening is possible giving you a lot of flexibility. Since it takes place on a tropical island you might also enjoy watching it for all the sunshine if, like us, you live under grey skies for most of the year.

Why you would not enjoy LOST

It isn't that any of the above is not true. In some cases it is that it is too true. For instance, you may find yourself suffering from `mystery overload'. The first series quickly generates over a dozen mysteries, very few of which are solved, even by the third series by which time several more have arisen. The dysfunctional nature of so many of the characters and their almost total inability to communicate may irritate you, especially when you would have thought that with their background they would have had better communication skills. The collective survival of such a group may strike you as highly improbable. You might find you don't actually like many of the characters and don't really care what happens to them. Unfortunately, or realistically depending how you look at it, it isn't always the ones you don't like who die. If you love HEROES you won't necessarily like this. It is less well structured overall and you'll probably find the characters a lot less likeable.

If you thought this was going to be a realistic account of survival on a desert island you'll be bitterly disappointed as the sci-fi elements kick in and take over in series 2 and doesn't let up. If you abhor plot flaws there are plenty. Here's an early example - a French woman who can speak good English and knows she is not in French territorial waters sends her distress call in French - Duh! If you can't watch surgical operations without cringing there are a fair few bloody ones along the way as the main character is a surgeon. You might feel cheated after watching an hour or two of flashbacks on a character and next minute they are dead and only pop up again in other people's flashbacks (there is life after death for a LOST actor!).

I hope that is a fairly good overview and will help you decide whether this is for you or not.

On a routine flight from Australia to Los Angeles, an Oceanic Airlines flight crashes. The survivors find themselves on an uncharted island, miles off course. If anyone is looking for them, they are looking in the wrong place.

If it were a matter of simple surviving, these survivors might have had a chance. But that's not all there is. A strange creature kills the pilot. A group finds a radio signal calling for help that's been going for years. And this group is not alone on the island.

Of course, as the group settles in, they get to know each other, and relationships begin to develop. Other relationships begin to fall apart in the stress of the situation. And everybody has a story, which is told to us in flashbacks, complimenting the action on the island.

I tuned in for the pilot for many reasons. Survivors on an island always interest me. And I'm a big fan of ALIAS, also from one of the creators of this show. I was hooked from the beginning and couldn't wait to tune in each week to see what was going to happen. With 14 main characters, some only get a scene or two in some episodes, but we might learn about them in the next episode with a series of flashbacks.

Everybody seems to have their favorite characters. Many people tuned in for Dominic Monaghan, fresh off of LORD OF THE RINGS. Matthew Fox was also a well-known name before hand. Personally, I was thrilled to see Daniel Dae Kim, who I've been watching show up on various shows since his days on CRUSADE. And I've also enjoyed seeing Mira Furlan from BABYLON 5 on another show, even if it's only as a guest star.

It seems the more we learn about the characters, the more questions that are asked.

Some people find that frustrating. The season finale leaves us with no answers to the questions we've had all season, and the number of questions have only increased. Personally, I don't expect all the answers until the show is over, so I'm willing to wait out the ride, hoping that Abrams won't give in to pressure to give us answers like he did in ALIAS. I also hope we get answers before the show ends and it's not dragged out needlessly.

So, is the set worth it for fans of the show? Absolutely! The show is presented in wide screen, which was what it was shot for. The surround sound is incredible. You can hear the bugs in the jungle or the waves on the shore. Yet the sound effects aren't overwhelming. They're just right to make you feel like you're there. There are five commentary tracks with various members of the cast and crew. And the seventh disc is nothing but bonus material, with documentaries on the creation of the series, casting (with interesting casting videos, sometimes of an actor auditioning for another roll), and creating the pilot. For fun, there's information on Driveshaft and bloopers. Plus nineteen minutes of deleted scenes. The set itself looks nice, but the way the discs are set in the case makes three of them hard to get out. You have to move out the one in front to get to the one behind. It's not a big issue, but it is annoying.

This shows combines an intriguing story with interesting characters and great writing and acting. I can't wait until season 2 starts.