Lost: The AnswersAirdate: 05/17/2007 45 minutes
A series recap exploring questions that have been answered and those that haven't. Executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof host.
When we first saw Flight 815 crash from the Other's point of view in "A Tale of Two Cities" there was much speculation about the type of crash the plane experienced.
Mid-air breakups are very rare, and the chances of surviving a mid-air break-up are exponentially lower than a crash where the plane stays intact.
We assumed that the plane broke up because the electromagnetic discharge "pulled" the plane to the Island, straining the weak points of the plane as it descended faster than intended and breaking it into three large sections (the cockpit, middle section, and tail section).
But tonight, Damon or Carlton (can't remember which) said the electromagnetic pulse "fried the planes instruments", causing the plane to lose altitude and crash. If this is true and the plan wasn't actually "pulled" to the island, how is the mid-air break-up explained? Shouldn't 815 have just coasted onto the island, or into the water, in one piece like the majority of other plane wrecks?
It almost seems like TPTB answered a long-running mystery in the first scene of Season 3, then refuted it just before the finale.
i imagine that the magnetic discharge also affected the body of the plane.
Otherwise I simply assume that the break up simply made for a better tv visual than had it not broken up. From a director's perspective its simply a more dramatic way to bring down a plane.
Additionally had they all crashed together then the saga of the tailies would never have been.
Mostly I believe the plane broke in two because it simply allowed for a more intense storyline and a blazingly cool visual...nothing more.
I don't think they were saying the plane wasn't pulled, but just commenting how it also fried the instruments. Don't forget stuff was edited out so you never know what was and what wasn't.
Anyways I think it was a combination of being pulled and instruments being fried. They said the EMF was the definitive answer so I'm not sure what you're getting at to be honest.
Well, we saw that anything metal in the hatch was pulled through the air and presumably stuck to the wall due to the EM energy. Could be this attractive force radiated out over the island too to rip the plane apart. Perhaps the effect could even be greater on the plane since it was large and primarily made of metal.
Why did the electromagnetic pulse only fry the instrumentation on the plane, but not any other instrumentation? Didn't they get a radio or transponder or something from the pilot? Wasn't Sayid was able to rig it up with other bits from the plane to hear Danielle's signal. Why didn't that stuff get fried? Nothing in the hatch was damaged either - the computers were still working after the crash. I was also under the impression that Mikhail's communication station was also working until the Swan imploded, but I could be wrong about that.
This kind of bothered me too. If the EMP simply fried the electronics, there would seem to be no reason for the plane to break apart. And the electromagnetic properties of the island would probably not affect the structure of the plane, as they are made primarily of aircraft grade aluminum. I have always believed that there was still more to the story, here, but I guess not.
I thought about this as well. I mostly agree that perhaps there will never be a real explanation for this, and am increasingly hesitant to pick this show apart at every detail. However, I thought this could possibly be explained by the severe turbulance we saw on the plane, similar to the Naomi's helicopter and the Sub, perhaps even on the Elizabeth. It seems there are multiple factors in play for people and objects to be able to reach the island. The electromagnetic anomaly is perhaps only one factor for what brought down Oceanic 815.
Lots of discussion of why the plane broke up, why it shouldn't have, why it couldn't have been an electromagnetic pulse, etc. Did anyone count the number of times Carlton referred to an electromagnetic pulse? And yet Hurley's CD player still worked, as did a number of other electronic devices both from the plane and on the ground. Thing about an EMP is that, as a rule of thumb, the more complicated the electronic device, the worse it gets fried.
And Boeing 777s are mostly titanium, aluminum and composites, none of which are particularly drawn to a magnet. Not much steel left in that plane, as Boeing takes pride in how light it is, and how much range it has because it is so lightweight for its size.
Suffice it to say that is seems we have to suspend our disbelief, ignore some of our knowledge, and assume that 1, the plane broke up in midair, and 2, its instruments were fried by an EMP both for the same reason.
Because it was in the script.
Okay, allow me to back down a bit, now. Maybe the breakup of the plane had nothing to do with the EMP. Maybe it had more to do with whatever hides the island. Fly into the perimeter. Crash. Violently.
Hey, this is funny -- about that thread above, the last line in my original post on that thread was:
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdMuse
...but hey, a little suspension of disbelief goes a long way.
Project Barkeep -- Keepin' it Stocked -- Have a Mojito, I muddled it with my own muddler.
Why a mid-air break-up?
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