If last night didn't give you a serious 1980s DC Comics vibe, then you're not a serious geek. In fact, thinking of it in this way is easier to grasp then trying to figure out complicated time manipulations and crossed timelines. Those of you who are much smarter than I both in theoretical physics and pre-Crisis comic book history, please feel free to correct and rip apart.
The key physical philosphy of Lost was finally, explicitly revealed once and for all last night: Time cannot really change in the Lost universe, but it can breed. I'm obviously not a quantum scholar, just a sci-fi fan, but I believe this reflects existence as theorized on the microscopic level, the potential of objects to go not just in one fixed direction, but the potential of objects to go in multiple directions at the same time. They didn't really modify their timeline, they simply reproduced another one.
By creating a new timeline, the Losties did not delete their own -- they simply created universe parallel to theirs. Theirs still exists, perhaps weakened. To me, the question is, how did the creation of the new timeline result in the shuttling of the original Losties through time to their present?
Lindelof has essentially given us Earth 2 to the Losties Earth 1, the Justice Society to the Justice League. In fact the new Earth -- let's not call it a timeline -- is essentially populated by the 'older' versions of our heroes, in much the same way Earth 2 was constructed by DC Comics, as a way to house their Golden Age figures. Perhaps the Earth 2 Losties aren't physically older, but they seem likely to repeat and elaborate on 'older' behaviors -- behaviors which matured or otherwised vanished on the Island.
At first, there was no real difference between the Golden Age and Silver Age editions. The only fundamental difference in the Earth1 and Earth 2 Supermen was age. But from there, they two men experienced different events. Earth 2 Superman married Lois Lane, for instance.
Lost's Superman has always been Jack, possessed with a need to save everything, literally putting the plan in motion to alter time. Now he has an Earth 2 equivalent -- except instead of weakened by age (as Earth 2 Superman) he would have little desire to be a leader and little confidence. His scene with Locke is one small sign that this Earth 2 universe may be trying to course-correct, or reflect personal changes in the other universe.
Earth 2 Kate has of yet no glimmer of a redemption arc. The island allowed Earth 1 Kate a window of personal maturity -- both with her relationships with Sawyer and Jack, and with the raising of Aaron. Earth 2 Kate is even more doomed based on her actions at the airport -- until the machinations of the Earth 2 universe intervene and place her with Claire in the cab. I can find no parallel between her and her DC counterpart Earth 2 Wonder Woman; she domesticated and married Steve Trevor.
Sawyer has always been labored with Batman comparisons -- brooding, both parents dead, riding a line between good and vigilantism. Earth 2 Batman eventually becomes legitimate, the commissioner of Gotham City. He even marries Catwoman. The exact opposite occures with Earth 1 Sawyer and Earth 2 Sawyer: E1 Sawyer was the one domesticated. From the little we know so far, it seems E2 Sawyer is nowhere near that kind of adult responsibility
With the Crisis of Infinite Earths, an outside force destroyed the other universes for some kind of ultimate power. (Monitor vs Anti-Monitor, black vs white, Jacob vs MIB?) Is it possible that a second universe, created by a weak force, cannot contain its integrity long enough and that it eventually corrodes and disappears INTO the original universe in some way? In the same way that a second soap bubble may form along with the first, but as the fluid reshapes over the bubble, it eventually gets reabsorbed into the original bubble? Another way to look at Earth 2 is as a pocket universe. Is this where landed-safely-at-LAX Losties are residing?
It's just easier for me personally to imagine PARALLEL universes than it is for me to think of forks in time, even though in one sense they are the same thing. An additional timeline is only truly identical for a split second; the moment it ventures out on its own accord, even microscopic changes work to turn it into a seperate parallel world.
Thus, I think the writers of Lost are being consistant. You will never cease to be if you change your past; you simply create a new version of you. HOWEVER, what's yet to be seen -- and what I think will be a major theme -- is the integrity of this additional universe, what its connection is to Earth-Prime, and if in being created by an ancillary event and not in some universal cataclismic event (i.e. the big bang), does it have the strength to subsist, or will it collapse in places, creating moments of deja vu and coincidence.
Theoretically, Earth 2 Losties could try something else to change THEIR timeline, but it would only create a third universe, one that might be integrally weaker than their own. It might collapse upon itself in a matter of minutes, or be a universe defined only deja vu.
Fringe, another Abrams show, is already explicitly dealing with parallel realities. On there, it does not appear the other universe has anything to do with being a splinter of time; it may literally be a fully formed universe of its own. I believe Lost is blending the theories of Fringe with the idea posed in Abrams Star Trek, which essentially created a new timeline with no insight or care as to whether the old timeline still exists.
And finally, Juliet?
Anybody more knowledgeable of these things want to take a crack?
The key physical philosphy of Lost was finally, explicitly revealed once and for all last night: Time cannot really change in the Lost universe, but it can breed. I'm obviously not a quantum scholar, just a sci-fi fan, but I believe this reflects existence as theorized on the microscopic level, the potential of objects to go not just in one fixed direction, but the potential of objects to go in multiple directions at the same time. They didn't really modify their timeline, they simply reproduced another one.
By creating a new timeline, the Losties did not delete their own -- they simply created universe parallel to theirs. Theirs still exists, perhaps weakened. To me, the question is, how did the creation of the new timeline result in the shuttling of the original Losties through time to their present?
Lindelof has essentially given us Earth 2 to the Losties Earth 1, the Justice Society to the Justice League. In fact the new Earth -- let's not call it a timeline -- is essentially populated by the 'older' versions of our heroes, in much the same way Earth 2 was constructed by DC Comics, as a way to house their Golden Age figures. Perhaps the Earth 2 Losties aren't physically older, but they seem likely to repeat and elaborate on 'older' behaviors -- behaviors which matured or otherwised vanished on the Island.
At first, there was no real difference between the Golden Age and Silver Age editions. The only fundamental difference in the Earth1 and Earth 2 Supermen was age. But from there, they two men experienced different events. Earth 2 Superman married Lois Lane, for instance.
Lost's Superman has always been Jack, possessed with a need to save everything, literally putting the plan in motion to alter time. Now he has an Earth 2 equivalent -- except instead of weakened by age (as Earth 2 Superman) he would have little desire to be a leader and little confidence. His scene with Locke is one small sign that this Earth 2 universe may be trying to course-correct, or reflect personal changes in the other universe.
Earth 2 Kate has of yet no glimmer of a redemption arc. The island allowed Earth 1 Kate a window of personal maturity -- both with her relationships with Sawyer and Jack, and with the raising of Aaron. Earth 2 Kate is even more doomed based on her actions at the airport -- until the machinations of the Earth 2 universe intervene and place her with Claire in the cab. I can find no parallel between her and her DC counterpart Earth 2 Wonder Woman; she domesticated and married Steve Trevor.
Sawyer has always been labored with Batman comparisons -- brooding, both parents dead, riding a line between good and vigilantism. Earth 2 Batman eventually becomes legitimate, the commissioner of Gotham City. He even marries Catwoman. The exact opposite occures with Earth 1 Sawyer and Earth 2 Sawyer: E1 Sawyer was the one domesticated. From the little we know so far, it seems E2 Sawyer is nowhere near that kind of adult responsibility
With the Crisis of Infinite Earths, an outside force destroyed the other universes for some kind of ultimate power. (Monitor vs Anti-Monitor, black vs white, Jacob vs MIB?) Is it possible that a second universe, created by a weak force, cannot contain its integrity long enough and that it eventually corrodes and disappears INTO the original universe in some way? In the same way that a second soap bubble may form along with the first, but as the fluid reshapes over the bubble, it eventually gets reabsorbed into the original bubble? Another way to look at Earth 2 is as a pocket universe. Is this where landed-safely-at-LAX Losties are residing?
It's just easier for me personally to imagine PARALLEL universes than it is for me to think of forks in time, even though in one sense they are the same thing. An additional timeline is only truly identical for a split second; the moment it ventures out on its own accord, even microscopic changes work to turn it into a seperate parallel world.
Thus, I think the writers of Lost are being consistant. You will never cease to be if you change your past; you simply create a new version of you. HOWEVER, what's yet to be seen -- and what I think will be a major theme -- is the integrity of this additional universe, what its connection is to Earth-Prime, and if in being created by an ancillary event and not in some universal cataclismic event (i.e. the big bang), does it have the strength to subsist, or will it collapse in places, creating moments of deja vu and coincidence.
Theoretically, Earth 2 Losties could try something else to change THEIR timeline, but it would only create a third universe, one that might be integrally weaker than their own. It might collapse upon itself in a matter of minutes, or be a universe defined only deja vu.
Fringe, another Abrams show, is already explicitly dealing with parallel realities. On there, it does not appear the other universe has anything to do with being a splinter of time; it may literally be a fully formed universe of its own. I believe Lost is blending the theories of Fringe with the idea posed in Abrams Star Trek, which essentially created a new timeline with no insight or care as to whether the old timeline still exists.
And finally, Juliet?
Anybody more knowledgeable of these things want to take a crack?
