The Wizeguy: Play In The Sandbox

I have thought about writing Fan Fiction about the television show, LOST. The G.O.A.T ended eight years ago today and it is only a matter of time before it gets the gloss of a re-imaging/reboot, etc. As with any good piece of fiction, there are still a bunch of unexplored questions, motivations, scenarios that could be handled with deft in this kind of environment.

What happens when the Man In Black gets off the island, What happens, exactly, if the island is destroyed? What about resolution with the Dharma Initiative or Walt? What about the esoteric – from the Egyptian hieroglyphs in the Bunker’s failsafe to Room 23, to the Smoke Monster itself. I just need to commit to full-on epic craziness.

Fan Fiction has its fun moments. In some cases, expanding on scenes or events glossed over by the author, giving us alternate points of views, humorous versions of things, etc. It’s an easy venue for new writers to stretch their wings, since a lot of world and character building is already done for them. That can be overwhelming for them to start, especially for those authors writing in a second or third language. I remember a number of authors wrote their own dialogue for Nightwing’s funeral working off the scrapped pencils for the issue. It was a bit of catharsis for the community in the middle of DC’s attempt to murder every iteration of Dick Grayson, and and interesting exercise creating dialogue to a series of comics panels. So, I think it has value to the fandom overall.

It’s also cool to see companies support it in a way. If I remember correctly, Bioware’s old forums used to host a fan works section for people to post their fanfics and artwork for Dragon Age. Even games like the Sims had sections where people could post family ‘stories’ and journals.

However, fanfic needs to stay in its lane. It’s a rush to see thousands or tens of thousands of people reading your stuff, but you still don’t own it. The heavy lifting of world and character has been done by someone else, so stay aware of that. It’s easy for people to start canonizing their make believe worlds, and self inserts, and fix-its, and when that moves to the real world, things can get awkward real fast. Keep your head canons and fanfics, but let the actual author and creator tell their own story. Let other fanfic creators tell theirs. Don’t expect the authors and actors and creators to be interested in or support your fiction. Don’t expect them to change their works to be in line with your fan works. I see a lot of fans turn into gatekeepers and owners of the fandom, and it can get toxic quickly.

With that being said…

L O S T

Everything is EXACTLY the same as it was in sixth season with a few big differences, all of them revolving around the time-traveling Desmond. So, when Desmond keep shouting, “I have to fix it,” he actually means that he has to fix it. The reality they’re in with the Man in Black is “THE WORST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS.” He still manages to uncork the river, but instead of just passing out and nothing happening in the biggest red herring ever in the series, he actually gets spat out back in the ’70’s, where they’re trying to set off the nuclear bomb. Except this time, Desmond is there to do it. He goes in all gung-ho, fights his way to the bomb and gets trapped at the bottom of the well like Juliet did. Then he sets off the nuke. The EMP blast causes a catastrophic disaster when it reacts with Desmond’s super electromagnetic time-traveling powers. Dharma escapes with its tails between its legs and the Losties get spat out into an alternate reality where the island was capsized in the ’70’s (just like that opening shot from Episode One of Season Six.) Alternate reality purgatory isn’t alternate reality purgatory, it’s alternate reality real world — a world with no island, no Jacob, and no Man in Black. Because, as we learn, the only way to win is not to ever play. But Desmond is the only person who ever remembers alternate realities. My sixth season is Desmond trying to jumpstart the memories of the Losties and their relationships with each other over the span of six years. This would allow Walt, Michael, and everyone who died or suffered because of the island to live in a world where it never had to happen while still learning how important they are to each other because of the island. Go ahead, hand me my Apollo bar…I’ll wait.

-Dagobot



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