All this talk of other sci-fi, past and present, and no mention of Lost on GWC? I’ve left at least one voicemail with the Holy Triad about it, but my prosthelytizing pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
Let me cut to the chase here – along with Galactica and Firefly, IMO Lost represents the highwater mark for TV sci-fi. It’s got everything a geek would love, plus some, and trully echoes Galactica and Firefly’s greatness in a number of compelling ways, such as:
- A profound mythology that deepens with each episode
- Gripping, all-encompassing writing that stems from the show’s gifted creators (Lindelof/Cuse vs Moore/Eick vs Whedon)
- Arcs, arcs, arcs (post-Sopranos serialization that rips the architectural limits to storytelling right off the traditionally limited TV narrative structure)
- Fantastic acting and characterization, way beyond traditional TV
- Constant geek references (to other sci-fi like Star Wars and Trek)
- High production value, especially SFX (all shows push[ed] the envelope on what TV can offer in terms of SFX)
I’ll go so far as to say that Lost, Galactica, and Firefly are the best sci-fi that television has ever offered. I love Trek as much as the next typical geek (especially the original series and DS9), but all previous shows were either too inconsistent (for every classic TNG episode, there are two duds) or hampered by budget/SFX/non-serialization aka weekly reboot. As for shows like Heroes, sure they’re fun, but do they really rank on the same depth chart as the three biggies? Methinks not. Too cartoonish, too quick to answer profound philosophical questions (e.g. what are the ramifications of jumping back and forth in time, or is the quest to eliminate mutational powers genocide?), too much bad acting.
I guess what I’m really saying is that Audra/Sean/Chuck should at the very least acknowledge Lost in the cannon of important sci-fi. My preference would be for a podcast that explores and compares the greatness of the three shows.