I saw an interview with Jim Abrams that was VERY eye-opening and awesome. They asked him all about the popular theories of what is going on and all the "burning" questions that everyone wants to know...

One of the most compelling things I heard him talk about was the time-line of everything.

He said that the writers have purposely left out "time references" to anything, so that we don't know when things are happening.

The main reason this freaked me out was because he said directly (paraphrasing here) "Everyone is assuming the plane crashes in 2004... but there's no reason for that to be the case. We purposely made sure the characters don't reference when the plane crash was..." and he also mentioned, "Some of what you see as flashbacks could actually be things happening in the future after they're rescued and returned to their lives"...

That totally blew my mind...

Does anyone else have any thoughts on that???

Very interesting!

Where did you see this interview?

Hmmmm.... I wonder what characters this relates to. Who are the "after the crash" possibilities?

Great...something else to twist our minds...

I suppose that it's entirely possible he's saying the "after-rescue" versus "flashbacks" thing just to throw off Lost watchers... because there are some of the flashbacks that are OBVIOUS flashbacks... but has anyone caught any references to what year the plane might have crashed??

Where can we find this interview?

We know Claire's flashback happened before...as did Charlie's. Kate's...Sawyer's..Michael's...Sun and Jin's.

Locke's, Boone's, Hurley's..Sayid's, and Shannon hasn't had one yet.

Jack's was in the past as well.

I can't see any of them being in the future..

Great, one more thing to obsess about :biggrin:

almost none of the flashbacks could be from the future. And I actually found a site with a timeline on it the other day. Sayid said he served in the Gulf War, so we know that the crash could not have been more than 15-20 years after the Gulf War. They are just trying to mess with us. There HAVE been time references.

There haven't been any direct time references, like a newspaper with a date on it, but there are definitely clues that narrow it down for us. Specifically, from 2002 to 2004.

Shannon reported to airport security that an "Arab man" had left his bag unattended, which leads me to believe it's sometime after 9/11. And I'd say it's not 2001 because the flight was packed. However, perhaps it's actually before 9/11. What neuron in Sayid's brain thought it would be allright to ask some blonde chick to watch his bag for a minute? Especially with no explanation as to where he had to go that he couldn't take his bag with him.

We know for sure it's no later than 2004 because the Red Sox won the World Series. This would render Jack's pessimistic phrase about them never winning the Series ironically meaningless. Besides, I think there is some intentional irony in that phrase, probably because Jack finally learned that his father was proud of him. And maybe also because Jack doesn't believe in miracles :)

Isn't there a thread somewhere that suggests that the plane crashed in 2009?

http://www.lostaddicts.zoomshare.com/my_images/lostpic3.jpg

Doesn't this baggage tag suggest 2009?

That's what I said in another thread!
When the series finale is over, the timeline in the series have lasted around 200 days (40 days per season), and maybe we end up in the same date in the series as when we see it on the television.
JJ said that Lost would last in four or five seasons.
Four seasons from now is 2005 - 2009.

Think about it people.
It could not be as farfetched as someone might suggest.

Check out my message here:
http://www.thefuselage.com/Threaded/showthread.php?p=558239#post558239

That doesn't tell us what year. It only has 09SEP21 on it. 09 wouldn't refer to the year only the month. 09=SEP

So, Msgrv32, you're saying that maybe they crashed on 2021 ?..

The fact that on the Oceanic Air website (http://www.oceanic-air.com/) the "airline" states that all flights are cancelled because of the flight 815 incident suggests that the crash (and therefore the events on the island) are at present time.

I'd consider 21 the day in question. They're needs to be 4 numbers for the year. Otherwise you couldn't tell the centuries apart, and you know if that happened planes would fall out of the sky and nuculear missiles will all go off at the same time killing BILLIONS!

I remember Y2K!

and yes that all happened it's just nobody heard about it.

Boy, people have been going around and around on this question....

The RedSox comment: Yeah, they made it {twice, once in the flashback (could have been pre-winning) and again on the island (probably post winning} but we fans don't really know when the comments were *filmed*... these scenes *could* have been filmed before the series end.

The Baggage Ticket: Personally, I think it is saying Sept. 21 2009. But remember, this isn't directly from the show (i.e.: a screen cap). It's from the one of the offshoot sites. Some folks think it's 'accurate', some don't...

Boone's License: There is this pic from the 'Javi admits mistake' thread
http://lost.cubit.net/pics/booneLicense.jpg
which seems to show Boone's birth year as 1981.

So if you go by the 'Boone' calculus, he was born in '81, in 1991, when he was 10, his mom marries Shannons dad. Shannon is eight.

When Hurley takes his island census Shannon is 20. Twelve years after the marriage, twelve years after 1991. That would make it 2003 or so.....

The problem with *this* theory is that I haven't been able to confirm that this pic is from the show. I've asked a number of places for someone with the DVD to rewatch episode and see if they can verify that this pic is 'real'. So far no one has answered my request. If anyone here can I think it would shed some light on the question.. It was season 1, Ep 21 "The Greater Good", near the end when Shannon is looking through Boone's stuff.

yeah the boone license pic is true.. he was born some time oct 1981...( just checked that episode short while ago..)


anyways don't forget, when Desmond asked Locke if he knew how to use the computer, Locke replied he had not used one like it ( Apple 2) in over 20 years , and since the Apple 2 computer came out first in 1977 (i think..), this would imply that the current date is around 2000 give or take a few years ...??

That doesn't tell us what year. It only has 09SEP21 on it. 09 wouldn't refer to the year only the month. 09=SEP

When was the last time you saw a date format that gave the number of the month AND the name of the month, and did not give the year?

So that format is MMMMDD? Heh...

Not in all countries. I believe that's a US thing isn't it?

Although most credit cards when you buy something you only need the month and the year...just shooting some thoughts out.

The one definite and specific time reference made is when Boone mentions the Patriot Act as Hurley is taking his 'census.' So, at the earliest, the crash is late 2001.

I don't remember anything that definitively puts a later date to anything, so I guess we can speculate about anything from 2002 on.

Hurley also makes mention of Harry Potter, which is also a specific time reference.

Hurley also makes mention of Harry Potter, which is also a specific time reference.

Thanks, I forgot about that. But he didn't mention a specific book, did he? Of course not, that would be too easy! So we're still left with a post-9/11/01 time frame..

Regardless of the year, I believe we all agree day on the tag is the 21st right? Oceanic-air's site says the plane left at 14:55 on the 22nd. Does that mean that Jack checked his luggage in at the airport the day before the flight?

i believe the covers of those books that are found render clues also ie. Watership down and the third policeman.

I checked out s1e21 and got some screen caps.

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/5424/sstuff2qs.jpg
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/3794/slicense8vv.jpg

Nothing that hasn't been mentioned already, but just showing that it is from the show.


The thing about the flashbacks being from the future is crazy. I kind of hope it's not true, but that would be really cool if it was true too, in a way.

I suppose that it's entirely possible he's saying the "after-rescue" versus "flashbacks" thing just to throw off Lost watchers... because there are some of the flashbacks that are OBVIOUS flashbacks... but has anyone caught any references to what year the plane might have crashed??

If you go to http://www.oceanicflight815.com/, there is a game you can play where you click on random dots in a different order and you get to see clips and pics from the show. One of the pics you can see is a luggage tag from fligth 815. It shows the date written up as such "09SEPT21". I think this is way many people believe crash took place in '09. I have a screen shot but no way to post unless someone can point me to a free hosting service? I believe you can also find a pic on lost media.

On anther instersting note, you also get to see a hand written luggage tag with the name Ana Lucia on it. I'm sure this was an attempt to let us know she would resurfice in the show.