Kate and Claire in an alterna-flash-reality-back-forward-parallel.
Hello faithful readers—and me-haters, courtesy of my last Lost article, in which I expressed a little concern about one of my favorite television shows. We may not agree on everything, but I like to believe we can at least agree on one thing: We need to figure out a name for Season 6's storytelling device.
We haven't really run into this problem with Lost before. "Flashback" was an obvious term, "flash-forward" sounded weird at first, but became quickly accepted due to its easy contrast with "flashback." So quickly accepted, in fact, that ABC named a whole darned show after it.
But what are we going to call these... things? These new things where we see the Oceanic 815 survivors move on with their "normal" lives? They're commonly referred to as "flash-sideways," even by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, but that's a bit awkward, dontchathink? Besides, pluralizing that term results in a mess: flash-sidewayses. Ugh.
We need to come up with a universal term. But before we can do that, we must understand what these "things" are. It's safe to say that the timeline in which Kate escapes in Los Angeles and hijack's Claire's cab, where Jack gives John his card to reverse the irreversible, where Doc Artz is more ubiquitous than Jesus, is an alternate reality. So in that sense, we can simply call the flash-sideways an "alternate reality," right? Perhaps an "alternate-flash" or "alt-flash" (as I pushed for) for short. Alternate-something?
Wrong, according to Lindelof. To quote the man, "We don't use the phrase 'alternate reality,' because to call one of them an 'alternate reality' is to infer that one of them isn't real, or one of them is real and the other is the alternate to being real."
Fair enough. But in the meantime, what do we call them? "Sideways-flashes"? No, that just sounds like some pervert in a trenchcoat who likes his profile. "Lateral-life"? One point for alliteration, but minus two points for sounding like a bad Web series. "Grass is greener-flashes"? No, that's just stupid.
How about parallel something-or-other? Para-life? Para-flash? Flash-a-llel? Divergent reality? Diverge-a-flash? Splinter-life? Slaughterhouse-Five-a-thon? Back-to-the-Future-fest? Flash-a-flash?
A friend of mine, who doesn't like the way Season 6 is going, suggested the following: "flash-bad," "flash-crap," "flash-hack," and "flash-sad." But I don't think any of those will fly.
Hmmmm... "Uncrash" versus "Yes Crash?" "Super Happy Magic Temple Time" versus "That one time where Charlie almost OD'd in the airplane bathroom"? "Giant Hourglass Goofy Hour" versus "Claire is a horrible mother"? This is harder than I thought.
So I leave it to you, you good-looking and intelligent readers, to offer up some suggestions, and hopefully we can agree on something. Seriously, let's put our heads together in the comments section below! Bonus points for creativity!
Follow TV.com writer and fake-word creator Tim Surette on Twitter: @TimAtTVDotCom. Don't worry, I don't talk about what I had for breakfast.
When the writers themselves call them flash-sideways, why would anyone call them anything but?
I'm going to call it 'the real truth' But it all is still weird :S
Let us call it a Parallel Universe
I've been calling them FLASHOVERS, it sounds far less awkward than flash-sideways.
I think i'm going with “Divergent timeline" since it's not a sideways anything and simply 'cause a "flash" is something that someone has... I think it is like... when on sci fi series they tell you that time is a straight line and that if u alter it, then it splits and makes 2 co-existant timelines (or in a word other than "split", diverges)... Hence "Divergent Timeline"... gratz MemnochZERO on the term ^^
“Divergent timeline†is probably the closest thing I could call the new flashes (thanks years of comic books). Though even then I’m having issue with how “real†they are regardless of what Lindelof says. Besides the obvious fact people look a bit older, it gets either really sketchy regarding if these events are “actually†happening to the characters because of out of continuity hairstyle. Oh yes, I’m going there. Now, either the producers are really lazy (and given how flashbacks have been done before with extreme attention to hair, makeup and overall character style this doesn’t seem likely) and didn’t bother to check Matthew Fox’s current longer hair style with hints of grey versus his younger shaved head look wouldn’t work with 2004 Jack (and shaved head Charlie, which any LOST can tell you is out of whack with Dom’s hair between seasons 1 and 3, he didn’t get the shaved look until he appeared to Hurley in the first episode of season 4 and by that point his ass was dead!), then look at his bruised face, the blood on his neck and his ability to slightly recognize other people (Kate did this too). This is at most a way to drill home that the survivors were better off ON the island and were there for a reason and they weren’t meant to land (all the issues they had pre-island never being resolved), and at the very least a gimmick to “confuse†viewers. I mean, for all the little attention they give to show what people would be like had the bomb actually worked in 1977 (like Ethan being raised in LA instead of the island since his parents evacuated the island before “the Incidentâ€), there are still these other moments that call into question how “real†this divergent 2004 could be. Unless this is a widespread “Desmond flash†situation causing the characters consciousness to overlap timelines creating the “do I know you/I’ll name him Aaron/I was supposed to die†moments, I guess we’ll find out. But even if you just look at it as “Island 2007 Bomb Didn’t Work†timeline and “2004 Island Doesn’t Exist/815 Lands Successfully†timeline with partially split consciousness… doesn’t explain the deliberate (let’s face it the LOST dudes aren’t actually lazy) physical inconsistencies like Jack and Charlie’s hair or the blood on Jack’s neck . I might be able to write off Charlie’s desire to die (something he fought tooth and nail against since the pilot episode only giving into in Greatest Hits) as split consciousness but then the series opens a bigger can of worms on how to reconcile the two timelines and give us the true “destiny†of the characters. So yeah, I vote we just call the new flashes “new flashes†until the produces give them a real name.moreless
Flash-Sideways is okay for me. It doesn't have to be changed. Maybe we will learn later on why Damon and Carlton decided to choose Flash-Sideways. Be patient.
@dechang actually I think it's 3 years in the future from when they crashed. The Other who was angry with Kate said it was 3 years ago that she hit him during her escape.
Can't really call it anything "sideways" or "parallel" because it is still technically in the past. It occurs right when they would have landed, whereas the main storyline occurs months after that.
@Hungry_Homer111 Thanks for saving me the time to write the exact same post :)
How about WTF (What The Flash?!!)Seriously, I'd just stick with "flash-sideways". I didn't know trolls could write articles.Although I'm betting that the flashes-sideways are not a glimpse of anything going on in another world. I think that the characters are both existing on the island and there are characters that didn't crash that, by the show's reckoning, will have been living out separate lives for the last 3+ years. In the same reality. As in they could meet each other. Just my thought.
"parallel time line"...do you rembember "Back to Future 2" when Doc Brown explains his theory on the blackboard about the second time line? I think its the same thing
We Should call it "Found"
I think it's what actually happens when it's all said and done. When Jacob's little game is over, the smoke monster will be trapped, then Richard will turn the donkey wheel back to where he never got ship wrecked on the island, and everyone will flash back to reality like nothing ever happened. This game started with the Black Rock landing on the island. They will give each character closure and tie up all the loose ends before the series finally.
Parallel Time Line.
I would simply put it as a "Parallel-flash".
Tosskey, I like "tangent"
I've been calling them "flash-overs". As in back, forward, over there. Not too exciting, but it seems fitting and descriptive enough.
What about "Parallel universe flashs" leading two diffent lives at the same time....could work!!!!!
sideways-flashes
What about lat-flash (lateral flash). I somewhat agree with Hoeech, but lets hope this boring experiment which really doesn't answer any more questions doesn't continue through the whole season.
My vote for "Super Happy Magic Temple Time" - at the rate this season is going only the japanese will want to watch it.
The concept of "sidewise" time travel, a term taken from Murray Leinster's "Sidewise in Time," is often used to allow characters to pass through many different alternate histories, all descendant from some common branch point. Often worlds that are similar to each other are considered closer to each other in terms of this sidewise travel. For example, a universe where World War II ended differently would be "closer" to us than one where Imperial China colonized the New World in the 15th century. H. Beam Piper used this concept, naming it "paratime" and writing a series of stories involving the Paratime Police who regulated travel between these alternative realities as well as the technology to do so. Keith Laumer used the same concept of "sideways" time travel in his 1962 novel Worlds of the Imperium. More recently, novels such as Frederik Pohl's The Coming of the Quantum Cats and Neal Stephenson's Anathem explore human-scale readings of the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics, postulating that historical events or human consciousness spawns or allows "travel" among alternate universes.This being said, I think the proper term should be Sidewise Scene. The only difference is that it is the audience, not the characters is passing through the two separate time lines.So, generally, we'd refer to it as Sidewise View, but when referring to a particular one, it'd be called a Sidewise Scene.moreless
I prefer "flash-between" myself lol
*altflash.
lol im one a the people who hated ur last thing. this 1 was funny though lol. i like atlflash. catchy. but if darlton said thats not what it is, then i guess i'll just stick with flash-sideways :-( lol.
For what I understand its the same world they all live in. two of each. one of those who died. second-flash. for second"chance" flash. flash-time as in flash-timeline. Yeah!
It's quite simple. Call them what they really are: a sad and pathetic attempt to introduce yet another inexplicable twist into a storyline that is already so twisted that no amount of Deus Ex Machina-ing will get them out of this hole they've dug for themselves.
How about we call it the real world or original flash. Has anyone considered that the on island happenings are the alternate and the noncrash is the normal events how it was always meant to be. The island itself is the anomally in time, it's supposed to be underwater since 77 but mib/jacob created a loophole that created a self fufilling paradox that keeps the island alive
@clamshells: As noted in this article, the writers have made specific note that neither reality is more real than the other. That was in reference to the term "alternate reality" to describe the non-crash scenes, but given the wording of it, the same could definitely be said about the reality on the island. So no, the crash is not the "alternate reality."
the crash is the ~alternate reality~
I've pretty much been refering to them as alternate realities. I can see where they are coming from with their reasons for not wanting to use the word "alternate," but I don't really agree. I just think of alternate in the sense that it's a different universe than what we've been seeing all these years, without suggesting that the one we've been seeing is the "real" one and the other one is the "fake" one.
But I think if you want to talk about it in technical terms, I think "parallel universe" would do the job. You have 2 universes, running side by side, neither one more important than the other.
Though, if the season goes the way I'm expecting it to, I'm not sure how long it will remain parallel (without the two universes meeting). But either way, I'd still say "parallel universe" would be the best choice.moreless
Lol. You got a few good laughs out of me with this blog. I think I'll stick with Flash-Sideways. Maybe it'll grow on us in time the way Flash-Foward did.
isn't it ironic that the puppet master was driving the cab
Well Juliet said that "it worked", so I'm assuming that she knew somehow (is that what killed her?). The island is a quantum pocket, just like the Bermuda triangle or Never-land. And each season is like a different dimension/reality. Maybe we're going to find out that the island is actually a the reflection of what we are seeing now as if they never crashed. Maybe that is what the whole series is. Different alternatives. Of course the laws of physics and anything else that we normally hold true in "real life" do not apply on the island. With that said, I believe that we will learn that the theme of the show is this: That life is a combination of fate/destiny and choice/freewill. Being that the choices that you make always determine the outcome of a decision, however the particular people who you cross paths with in your life are destiny. It's how we relate to them and ourselves that is determined by freewill. So I do not know what to call it, because if you're looking for the reality that hits closest to a world without the island at all (kind of like a home base), this new one is it. At this point it seems like everyone is a copy of a copy. The show isn't even about getting off the island or going home anymore; its now about getting a grasp on reality and hopefully learning the meaning of life along the way. I guess we'll see what surprises the last few episodes hold...moreless
How about Crashlessflash say that 5 times in a row.
Some people have been calling thmes Flashsideways so I'm just going with side(way)flash
Hang on! Nowhere are we actually witnessing a nuclear explosion. Juliet kept banging the bomb at the end of season 5, but a white flash happened. That usually signifies a time-skip for the characters... so maybe the bomb never actually blew? Leaving the past unchanged? But why did they not crash in this sideways universe were seeing?
In the crash-universe, flight 815 was off course, when it crashed... in the no-crash-universe, flight 815 was on time and on schedule.
So something did chang...
Oh the conundrum...
http://www.tv.com/lost/show/24313/my-crazy-theory-about-flash-sideways/topic/11431-1597768/msgs.html?tag=fresh_forums;topic_title;0According to my amazing and probably right theory in this link i would call it Flash Dreams... check it out...
~Side Flash~ is clear and simple.
Clear and simple... (I have faith in what they're doing)
Universe 1 and Universe A...or the Mongooses, the Fighting Mongooses, that's a good team name.
I like the term side flash.
Lateral Flashes. A lateral pass can go sideways or behind. Technically, these flashes are taking place 3+ years before all the "current" drama on the island...
karmacoma :)
"What if flashes" or "WIFs"
it's obvious they are flash forwards, at the end of the show everything resets but without the plane crashing.
I'm not suprised if it turned out to be a flash forward.
Charlie choked on the drugs he didn't OD I think and I really love the Flash-Sideways its simple and to the point
success-line
how about altime or atime from alternate timeline... even though Flash-Sideways works.