In the last few episodes of Lost, there has been much made of people being candidates. Candidates for what is uncertain - essentially to take over for Jacob...whatever Jacob is exactly.
Twice now, names of candidates have been found paired with numbers. Most significantly, the Oceanic Six (minus Kate and plus Locke) matched with the infamous numbers. In the cave in "The Substitute" and in the Lighthouse in...well, "The Lighthouse", Kate's number is the insignificant 5 and she is crossed out. This is consistent with Mikhail telling her that she is not on "the list" in the episode "Par Avion." A list made a by a great man who brought people to the island and who is not Ben. It's reasonable that Mikhail was speaking of Jacob.
Now, number 42 is listed as simply Kwon. Jacob's opponent (a.k.a. Smokey) in the form of Locke told Sawyer he did not know if that referred to Sun or Jin when he showed Sawyer the names in the cave. The number remains listed the same at the lighthouse. Just Kwon.
My theory is that Kwon refers to neither Sun nor Jin but to their offspring. The child of theirs that was conceived on the island. That in itself would make the child particularly special and connected to the island more than anyone else. Ultimately, I expect that 42 will be last remaining name and the final successor to Jacob. The problem of course, being that Sun did not being the baby back to the island. Locke's instructions (and Ben's) was to get everyone back and that's not what happened. So, big trouble with that down the road.
Also, and I'm fuzzy on the how (besides that time travel is surely involved, as Hurley himself hypothesized in "Lighthouse"), but I think Adam and Even are Sun and Jin. Their connection to the island will be augmented by their kid's connection...and we might even wind up meeting an adult version, though the magic of time travel. In fact, it's possible that the three of them are linked in terms of time travel and that when a future Lil' Kwon is pulled back say, 40 years, that it also pushes the Kwons back another forty years...they all have to move the same period. Jack theorized that the bodies had been decomposing there for about forty years way back in "White Rabbit." No established basis for that, though.
Here's a scene that will, in all probability, be cut from my current project. I will miss it, much like I miss Berries & Cream Dr. Pepper.
INT. UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY - DAY
The SECRETARY GENERAL (a pasty variety of German old guy) address the delegates. His German speech goes out on the Public Address system in the auditorium.
SECRETARY GENERAL (P.A.)
Leben war nict verloren. Niemand war verletzt. Wir sind dankbar. Jedoch...
ON THE UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR
THE U.S. AMBASSADOR (60, glasses, fat), adjusts his translation earpiece.
TRANSLATOR (FILTERED)
...the mere fact of the launch of a weapon of mass destruction by Khan Li and his rogue state is an act of bellicosity.
U.S. AMBASSADOR looks over to see the UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA AMBASSADOR has nodded off.
TRANSLATOR (FILTERED) (CONT’D)
That cannot be allowed to go unanswered.
RESUME SCENE
The Secretary General continues. The PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEM is filled with STATIC which is then replaced by the high-pitched vocals and festive beat of the Hindi dance song “Chunari Chunari.” The Secretary General is first puzzled, then irritated...then he starts BOUNCING.
SECRETARY GENERAL
Was ist die Bedeutung von diesem?
No translation. The Secretary General then becomes aware that he is DANCING.
SECRETARY GENERAL (CONT’D)
Was geschieht?
Various members of the delegation stand up in outrage or confusion, including the U.S. Ambassador.
TRANSLATOR (V.O.)
Keep translating? I don’t really think this is part of the-- Okay.
Most of, but not all the delegates, START DANCING until about two thirds of the General Assembly are REENACTING A BOLLYWOOD DANCE NUMBER. All in unison. Even the U.S. Ambassador.
SECRETARY GENERAL
Ich kann nicht stoppen.
TRANSLATOR (V.O.)
I can’t stop.
SECRETARY GENERAL
(out of breath)
Liber Gott. Ich kann nicht zu tanzen aufhören. Jemand. Hilfe. Bitte.
TRANSLATOR (V.O.)
Dear Lord. I cannot stop dancing. Someone please help.
Surely, by now, you've seen Albert Exergian's minimalist TV posters. They've been making the rounds of TV blogs & news sites and cool stuff aggregators for a couple of months or so. It was only a matter of time before someone ripped him off. Namely, me. However, I'm no designer. My kerning is off, my stuff isn't perfectly centered and I largely did this just to clear my head before re-attacking act four. Here's five he didn't do and one where I think he missed many opportunities. Click for embiggenation.
My television on DVD collection is...large. I don't truck with this downloadable stuff. I like objects. I like admiring my wall of bookshelves full of my TV-DVDs. Besides, in the event of a "electromagnetic event," or clumsiness, all your iTunes TV shows are gone. I'll just grab another 29 dollar player and keep truckin'. None of this, however, is the point.
On my shelves, I like to augment the visual of my collection with, well...dolls. For instance, on my Chris Carter shelf, I have a 12" Frank Black. On the Doctor Who shelf, there's a 12" Tenth Doctor. On the Star Trek shelf, an 8" Kirk by Mego. I've been wanting to expand this practice beyond the typical genre shows. There's a 12" Jack Bauer, but it's like 170 bones. The top of my wish-they-would-make list has been Greg House, with a little cane and a tiny vicodin bottle.
Well, at this year's Toy Fair, it has been revealed that Triad Toys has gone and done just that. Except, if you click on the picture, it looks as though they've recast the role with one of the Fiennes brothers. I think that's Larry Fiennes. Godsdammit. That even worse than when Sideshow Toys made a Faith the Vampire Slayer and it came out looking like Faith's mom.
Failing House, I want a little Toby Ziegler, Veronica Mars or Omar Little.
So last week's Leverage was a bottle show. And a damn good one. And then the other day, Showrunner Sir John Rogers (he received an OBE on my New Year's Honor's List)posted the Q and A for that episode. And it got me thinking about bottle shows. Well, more than I usually do. More often than not, when I write a script, it tends to be a bottle show...or real damn close to it. It's a good way to focus on the elements of the show that your supposed to be showcasing in a spec. Little or no guest starage. It even shows budget consciousness.
What I was thinking about, however, were favorite bottle shows I have seen. And here's some of them.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Drumhead" Deep Space Nine: "Duet" It shows like these Star Treks that have actually made me look forward to bottle shows. It depends on the writing staff, sure, but in the case of the first couple of Trek series, a budget saving bottle episode was when they would really ratchet up their game. Quality character driven drama at its finest. Also, Trek is allegedly where the term bottle show originated. Ship in a bottle.
The West Wing: "17 People" They said to Sorkin that there had to be an episode with no guest stars and nothing outside of standing sets. A true bottle show. And he delivered a pivotal episode for the series and a fantastic showcase for Sheen and (my favorite) Schiff. I don't think there's even a single extra in it.
Doctor Who: "Midnight" A bottle show that's not a bottle show. If it were a true bottle show, it would have taken place entirely in the TARDIS control room with just The Doctor and Donna, but it's a damn solid, tension filled, creepy play set in the cabin of what amounts to a tour bus of the future. Just a handful of scenes in the whole script. And one of them is 42 pages.
There have been rumors for some time now that Neil Gaiman might write an episode of Doctor Who. It has not yet come to pass, but at UCLA last night, Gaiman reiterated yet again that he would absolutely favor such an undertaking. It seems to just be a matter of Moffat ringing him up and asking.
Neil would be an excellent match for the show and this got me thinking. Who might I like to see write what, drawing upon authors who are not television writers. (Gaiman having only written one Babylon 5 previously and his own BBC miniseries over a decade ago). This being along the same lines as when William Gibson and Stephen King both wrote eps of The X-Files. Not that any of these people need the work. I do, though.
Fringe -Grant Morrison - Morrison could use Fringe to actually melt brains. If Walter were half as mad as one of Morrison's throw away lines, this series would have to move to FX. The guy's got experience with alternative realities. Some of it, first-hand...according to him. That's how mad it gets.
Leverage - Penn Jilette and/or Teller - A show about a bunch con folk. Seems like a no brainer.If you ever seen their stage show (not their network specials) then just imagine their showmanship, set up, misdirection and payoff, infused with their sense of humor guiding the narrrative of Ford and the gang for 41 minutes. And with their Bullshit background, they'd have a great target worthy of gettin' took.
House - Chuck Palahniuk - I would just have to see what Chuck would do with Greg. It would probably be a little better back on the Vicodin, though. Plus, just thinking about his short "Guts" suggest that his medical part of the episode would both enthralling and repulsive at once.
Human Target - Peter Milligan - He is the only one who really got the character and concept right. Let me repeat that...the ONLY one. And that is accurate as of last Wednesday. Psycho-thriller city.
Burn Notice - Greg Rucka - While I wouldn't call Burn Notice the most realistic show about the stuff it's about, but it's got some verisimilitude going. Rucka has written some of the most realistic (from where I stand) espionage stuff, so the spy tips he'd put in Weston's mouth would surely rock.
Warehouse 13 - Jasper Fforde - Fforde's got this shtick where he blurs the line between literary fiction and reality (as it exists in his books). So I'm sure that he'd find a very unique edition of some famous tome that resides in a the (public domain) fiction section of the warehouse and it would do some, you know, line blurring.
I am by no means spoiler averse. I don't especially seek them out, unless I'm spec'ing something. Then I seek out every damn spoiler I can find. That, largely to insure that I'm not about to write the episode that airs three weeks after I finish the spec.
My thinking on the subject is informed by my being a writer and student of television. If my enjoyment of something is entirely reliant on me not knowing what happens, then it's probably not very well written, in which case - I'm not watching it.
I derive more joy from the journey than the destination, but there's something to be said for being utterly surprised. That's why I avoided the Lost season premiere leaks (of all shapes and sizes). And will largely avoid Lost spoilers through the remainder of the run.
There are, of course exceptions to the rule. For instance, if I know what happens on 24, I don't dig it as much. I also find it to have variable levels of rewatchability. But it's mostly a good show (season six not withstanding).
However, if it's my show and you're the leak, then I'm going to spoil something for you. I'll let you know how you're going to die. It involves writer's assistants and gaffer tape.
And I only know of one thing that connects an upstate mental hospital and a 50 billion dollar technology concern.
Both stand up above the cube walls and spot Walter, his head sticking out above the cubicles like a super-intelligent whack-a-mole. He dumps a packet salt on the top edge of a cube wall. Disappears down. Repeats with pepper in the same spot. Disappears down. Reappears and mixes them together.
OLIVIA
What is he doing?
PETER
Knowing him - which I am reminded frequently that I don’t - snorting it. I don’t know.
Walter waves his hand over the pile. The pepper separates from the salt and jumps to his palm, clinging to his hand.
WALTER
Ambient static electricity here is very high.
Peter and Olivia look to each other, ignoring his remark, instead concerned..
Now, number 42 is listed as simply Kwon. Jacob's opponent (a.k.a. Smokey) in the form of Locke told Sawyer he did not know if that referred to Sun or Jin when he showed Sawyer the names in the cave. The number remains listed the same at the lighthouse. Just Kwon.
On my shelves, I like to augment the visual of my collection with, well...dolls. For instance, on my Chris Carter shelf, I have a 12" Frank Black. On the 
So last week's
I am by no means spoiler averse. I don't especially seek them out, unless I'm spec'ing something. Then I seek out every damn spoiler I can find. That, largely to insure that I'm not about to write the episode that airs three weeks after I finish the spec.