108 things to do until Lost. A daily countdown to season six.

When it comes to Lost, everyone seems to have their own idea of what exactly is happening on that island; in fact if there was one thing that defined the fan-base of the show, it would be their tenacity and inquisitiveness; always searching, analysing, discussing and conspiring--it's the obvious response to a prolonged mystery series such as Lost. For some, anyway.

It seems as though whenever two Lost fans meet--whether at work, school, in a cafe or even on a plane--the discussion always turns to collaborating and evidence liaising. "Hey, you watch Lost? What do you think about Jacob?"; "Remember in season one, when Charlie shot Ethan? Well..."; "...and if you separate the audio channels you can hear each whisper individually...". A reaction like this--and on such a scale--in response to a TV show is somewhat of a rarity.

Of course, we're talking about real-life encounters, but when you put all of those theorists together online the result is often outstanding--and sometimes slightly... wacky.

But what about you? What's your theory? What do you think the statue is? Why do you think the Others built a runway? What is your interpretation of the monster? Have you ever thought about putting your ideas alongside other inquisitive fans of the show? Well, if not, then consider this a quick introduction to the concept of Lost-theorising.

Get it off your chest

There are many reasons to consider sharing your thoughts on Lost. Primarily, it can be a kind of stress release, particularly if you don't have friends who are fans of the show (nobody can ever understand why--in season 3--a guy with a beard living in Los Angeles is an amazing plot revelation).

Secondly, you'll be contributing your ideas to the ever-growing mountain of evidence towards figuring out Lost--which is an important objective for some fans.

In fact, now is probably the best time to get your ideas down; even if it's only for that self indulgent "I knew it" moment. The producers of the show have said that everything that has taken place from season one to the end of season five is exactly what you need in order to make an educated estimation as to the end of the show, and of course we are approaching the final season of the show and judging by some of the alternate sci-fi mystery shows that are looking to slip into Lost's place, you'll be leaving your thinking cap at the door when the show does end.

Pro-tips

Each individual community will have its own rules, regulations and etiquette, and of course that is usually coupled with common forum-etiquette and behaviour, but there's a few things that you might want to be aware of before jumping in.

Popular Theories Debunked

Purgatory

The Claim: "It's purgatory!" -- maybe the number one theory of all time.

Possible Evidence: Death for atonement of ones"sins" is a common theme of the show. The majority of the characters who have passed seem to have done so only after overcoming their personal hang-ups.

Status: Debunked.

We have said that this is not purgatory, but people don't want to believe it.... These human beings have hearts, and when those hearts stop beating, they are dead.

» Damon Lindelof

Aliens

The Claim: "The island is a space-ship. The others/DHARMA are aliens."

Possible Evidence: There are multiple allusions to aliens throughout the series:

S02E23 - Live Together, Die Alone

S03E22 - Through the Looking Glass

Status: Debunked.

We certainly hint at psychic phenomena, happenstance and... things being in a place where they probably shouldn't be. But nothing is flat-out impossible. There are no spaceships. There isn't any time travel.

» Damon Lindelof, Sci-Fi wire interview. (Our emphasis)

It's all in Hurley's head

The Claim: The events on the island are occuring only in Hurley's head.

Possible Evidence: Possibly the most convincing piece of evidence is the inner-struggle between Hurley and his imaginary friend 'Dave'.

S02E18 - Dave:

Status: Debunked.

The one thing that Carlton and I are steadfast on saying over and over again, and that we're not lying about is that the show is not all a dream. It's happening in the real world, there are real stakes, you're not going to get to the end and cut to black and suddenly realize that this was all sort of a fantasy. That's the only thing that we sort of need to get out there in the world, because it does diffuse a lot of wacky theories.

» Damon Lindelof, UGO interview

Tunnel Vision

We've all been there: you're catching up, or re-watching an old episode, and then suddenly it hits you. That idea, that burning revelation that you have discovered! Must ... share. People need to know!

Only it already exists. And it has existed for a while. Two... three years maybe. And maybe it's already been covered later on in the show, or maybe it's already been debunked by TPTB, but you've already posted it and suffered a crushing thread closure or mod-flaming.

Well, that's where a little bit of research helps. In order to avoid such embarrassment, it's a good idea to:

1. Stay up to date

   Always make sure you've watched every episode of the show before submitting theories*

   * Another option here is check to see if the location that you're discussing the show has a section that limits discussion of later episodes (seasonal or episodic sub-forums). This way you can discuss the show on a point-to-point basis with other people who are at that point in the series, or with people who will be discreet about future revelations.
2. Check that your idea hasn't been covered/debunked

   We have a list of some of the more common theories above, however you should check existing theories on places like DarkUFO and DocArzt. Pay particular attention to the Lostpedia resources, which can greatly alleviate any frustration of posting an already debunked theory.

   Suppose you've joined us with re-watching the show. Right now we're watching 106. House of the Rising Sun. The first thing you would want to do after watching the episode is check the Lostpedia episode page. Not only is this a great community-contributed source of information for every episode of the show--including a run-down of the plot, an in-depth 'Trivia' section containing production notes, bloopers, episode themes, cultural references, literary techniques, storyline analysis and unanswered questions--but you can also review a transcript of the episode, read past discussions regarding article content and read user-contributed episode-based theories (note: old theories that have been proven true or debunked are removed). Then you might want to check forum posts for that particular episode (Lostpedia forums, for example, have an 'Older Episodes' sub-forum; other sites may vary in their implementation).

3. Check that it hasn't been posted before

   Even if it's not covered on the popular sites, someone at the forum you're posting to may have already covered the particular idea you wish to share. This is more common with the sites that have been running for more than a few years.

   Anywhere that is worth posting your idea (and all forums) should have a facility to search earlier submissions. Use this feature. If another person has posted this already, contribute to the existing discussion instead of caving to the urge to ignore it and posting a duplicate.

Where to share

All that is left is to know where to spill your burning ideas, and over the years, there have been many popular locations for sharing theories--usually in the form of bulletin-board or forum discussion tools, but sometimes in other forms, too. Here are a few of our recommendations for places to share your Lost-ideas.

	The Fuselage The grandfather of Lost discussion boards. Originally set-up by JJ Abrams and co. way back in season one with well-known V.I.P's (many of the cast regularly post there).
	SpoilerTV Forums Not always spoiler themed, the theory subforum at SpoilerTV is a great place for sharing ideas, with theories regularly shared on the DarkUFO twitter feed and theories blog.
	ABC forums The official ABC forums for the show, with regularly open questions to the fans, inviting viewer theories to be discussed.
	Lost sub-reddit reddit is a community based news site that has grown exponentially in recent years. There are many so-called sub-reddits covering a variety of different topics, one of which is a general Lost sub-reddit. While people do share stories and content related to the show, users often make self-posts with theories or open questions to the community.
	TV Overmind Long-standing and well-known Lost community blogger DocArzt has been contributing his wonderful theories to the show for a while, and you can too at TV Overmind--the DocArzt and Friends forums.
	Theories on Lost With a change on the usual bulletin-board, Theories on Lost provides users the ability to share--and have rated--their theories. Or at least it did. The site was running strong until it was reportidly malliciously taken down this year, and has been in limbo since. Although the front page claims that the site will be back up by November 2009. Keep an eye on this site returning, it's a gem.

If you feel we missed out anything with regards to theorising, or you have a favourite place that you like to discuss your ideas, then let us know. Happy head-scratching.