Maybe this has been addressed already, if so, sorry I must've missed it, but, if the Island was skipping through time, why aren't the others skipping through time as well? If it was the Island and not just the select group time jumping, it seems logical to assume Richard's clan would be time jumping too, therefore putting 2 of his people in 1977, and none in 2007. Is this a valid point, or am missing something?
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They seem to remember the Lefties when they encounter them, in linear time. Is this because they have already experienced it and therefore it is just a memory, or is the Island only selecting who is jumping? If that's the case then that would explain Rose and Bernard, and the rest. But I thought that the Island was jumping through time, and if that's true then Richard's group would have been jumping too as they have been living on the Island for who know's how long. We know that time jumpers can come in proximity to their other selves, but we have yet to see contact, that would just throw everything off kilter, IMO But locigally, the others would have to have been time travelling too. Therefore, they couldn't be in 2007 with Locke, Sun and Ben. Am I way off base here or what? If this has been discussed please let me know where, it's making me crazy...
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:undecide::confused::undecide::confused:

I think the island decided who would go back, we know it isn't just that they were all on the plane together, it's a diverse group, some from the plane, some from the freighter and one other( or former other). And then when flight 316 came back, it cherry picked who it wanted in the past.
The question is why these people only? Why not the others , or Sun, Ben or Frank. Maybe it's a list thing with the island, heh

I wondered this myself. I just passed it off as 'the Island decided who it wanted to take time flipping'.
But, imagine the mess if EVERYONE on the Island was time flipping - there would be a lot of confused people.
That said, all of the survivors of 815 were time flipping, weren't they? They only got separated when they flashed to a time when they started getting pelted by flaming arrows and everyone ran. I'd love to see that scene again from the shooters point of view (depending on who and WHEN they were), and I reckon we'll probably see that scene where they were in the outrigger and people started shooting at them. I'm real curious about that.

I think this brings up another question- the Others didnt time jump. Juliet is an other, and she was jumping. So was she not a "true" other, or does the island decide that only certain people need to jump in order to "fulfill destiny"?

(depending on who and WHEN they were
It was young Widmore and his cronies, and it was 1954, after they made it to the creek, Widmore and his people show up and take them to Richard at which point, Dan warns of the Radiation poisoning and tells them what to do with Jughead. I would like to see the scene from Widmores perspective, as well and the Ajira water bottle/outrigger scene too.

I think this brings up another question- the Others didnt time jump. Juliet is an other, and she was jumping. So was she not a "true" other, or does the island decide that only certain people need to jump in order to "fulfill destiny"?

Wasn't Juliet branded by the Others, similar to being banished? That doesn't really matter though. Once she stopped caring about the Island, and just wanted to leave - the island knew.

Wasn't Juliet branded by the Others, similar to being banished? That doesn't really matter though. Once she stopped caring about the Island, and just wanted to leave - the island knew.

Did she ever care about the island? After her six month tour of duty was over I think she felt it was more of a prison.

That's what I'm wondering. Juliet is technically part of Richard's group. She was time jumping. His group was not. They were experiencing time as usual. So the Island must choose who jumps, but why, and how? I thought the who Island was jumping (according to Dan) but apparently not. So does that mean the rest of the Lefties are also not jumping? I just want to know. So many questions, so little time...

Did she ever care about the island? After her six month tour of duty was over I think she felt it was more of a prison.

True. But she was still focused on her research, and had a purpose for the island.

It could also be that the Hostiles/Others were time jumping - they just know to go and hide to prevent running into, say, the ancient Egyptians or themselves.

I think this brings up another question- the Others didnt time jump. Juliet is an other, and she was jumping. So was she not a "true" other, or does the island decide that only certain people need to jump in order to "fulfill destiny"?
I think it could be a time thing. The people who jumped were everyone on the island for 3 years or less. I don't think the Others had anyone else as new as Julie.

Or it could be a destiny thing. Judging from the people who flashed off flight 316 into 1977, maybe (to steal a phrase from Damon Lindeloff) "the aggregate of destiny" decided who jumped.

IMO the writers purposefully muddied the waters for viewers when they had Ms. Hawking explain that 'the very clever man''s equation succeeded in plotting when rather than where the island would be,allowing her to chart the Island's movement in time/space and accurately return the Losties to the airspace directly above the Island. I think that made a lot of fans think the Island jumps thru time. I think the Island moves thru space (Einsteins equation explains space/time/speed are inextricably interwoven). On Island it's people (Losties) who move thru time. (We haven't yet been shown why some Lostie passengers flashed to the past and some were left with the plane and it's other passengers as it crashed on Island nor what time period these 316'ers are in, but it's not the past). We haven't yet been shown IF the 316 incident is caused by another spin of the Donkey wheel by someone on Island, but I suspect it is, and that the equation Ms. hawking uses is a formula using the time on-island that a person jumps from,the time on earth they land in, and charting that with geophysical data about Island position inre earth rotation over time. When the losties were flashed backwards and forwards thru time it was because the donkey wheel was jammed, 'vibrating' and causing time to ripple. When Locke moved the wheel from it's jammed position he (with his and (previously Ben's) close physical proximity to the wheel/source was transported thru time and space to presentTunisia , while the left behind Losties experienced a final time flash that placed them in the 70's. Through all this past season's time jumping, we've never seen any native Island person (the Others) move thru time. (Juliet isn't an Other, she's a hostage to them, imported and kept with them by Ben). So why didn't the Others jump? I have to conclude it's because they are of the Island, made of Island stuff, therefore stabilized by it. I believe it was significant that we were shown Richard walking into Dharmaville demanding they give him his dead. Once Sawyer told him his dead had been buried on the Island, Richard no longer was concerned with them but demanded the body of Dharma Phil (Amy's husband). I would theorize that Phil was an Other who infilltrated Dharmaville, that in fact all the dead Others are undead in the way Christian and now Locke are. They can be killed, but they are resurrected by the Island. Just my take on it.:happy:

This has (kind of) been discussed in this thread too-

http://forum.thefuselage.com/showthread.php?t=113214

My thoughts are that the Temple is possibly quite important as to why the Others haven't time-jumped, as they were taken to the Temple by Richard when all the freighter invasion happened. Maybe there's some property there they've been exposed to that stops them from being affected by the time-flashes?

Although Juliet was an Other, she'd left them when the rest of them were taken to the Temple. I suppose the mark they put on her could be important in this too. Saying that, by the time the wheel was turned Locke was classed as an Other but he time-flashed. Is that because he hadn't been to the Temple?

The Others don't time jump in the same way that the trees don't time jump. They are part of the island... one with it.

The Hydra island group did not time jump because they do not have a purpose in the past to fulfill. Sun was supposed to leave on 1/2005. She was pregnant. Frank was not a cast member in the Islands 1970's drama either. Locke & Ben are Others... one with the island.

I've always thought this had something to do with why Ben sent his people to the temple, and his mirror signal communications (from the box with the 15 year old saltines.) He had an idea of what was about to happen and he wanted them to be protected.