Lost on Mars

IGN has posted pics of their picks for the Top 50 DC and Marvel Comics Covers of 2006. I couldn't help but notice that No. 49 on the DC list is the Magnificent Kevin cover that I defaced last week.

Also, No. 29 is the Adam Hughes' cover of Catwoman #51, which hit comic shops on January 25, 2006 -- the same day that the "Donut Run" episode of Veronica Mars premiered. What do these 2 things have in common? Why, Hurley's cursed numbers from Lost, of course (now known as the Valenzetti Equation). The numbers appear in Catwoman's mug shot and on the fortune cookie message that Veronica receives from Duncan.

(Can you tell that I'm ready for the new season of Lost to start already? We watched the special features from the Lost Season 2 DVD set at Cap'n John's last week, and now I'm more anxious than ever).

Considering that the "lucky numbers" printed on fortune cookie fortunes are intended to be used in lotteries, it's fun to imagine what might have happened if Veronica had actually played those. Would her luck have gone all to hell, like Hurley's did? (And how would she distinguish that from her everyday life?)

Would she now be investigating the Hanso Foundation's presence in her hometown of Neptune? And how many fanfic writers have already beaten me to the punch on this? (I'd Google it to find out, but I don't really want to know the answer). What I do know is, if anyone on television is resourceful enough to get the Lostaways off that island and back home, it's Veronica Mars. And seriously, we can't have that.

"Namaste"?

Finally, we have proof that Flickr was created by Alvar Hanso (or possibly one of the de Groots) as part of the Dharma Initiative.

Someone alert Rachel Blake, stat.

Lost, the Universe, and Everything

One of the great things about the internet is that when the Powers That Be announce something like The Lost Experience (Wikipedia entry), a multimedia alternate-reality game designed to keep LOST fans busy in between seasons 2 & 3, I know that I can just sit back and wait for far more diligent folks to post the solution for me. The result is the video above, from which we can discern the following (SPOILER WARNING):

From SCI FI Wire:

The numbers represent the Valenzetti Equation, a mathematical formula having to do with the timetable for humanity's extinction. The show's sinister Dharma Initiative was an effort by the mysterious Hanso Foundation to ward off that inevitability. When Dharma failed, Hanso's nefarious acting leader, Thomas Mittelwerk, set in motion a plan to release a virus that would kill 30 percent of the world's population.

Other details are available at TV Guide. And "Rachel Blake's" recap of her efforts to expose the Hanso Foundation can be found here.

My first thought after watching the video above was that the Valenzetti equation was essentially the LOST version of Donnie Darko's 28 Days, 6 Hours, 42 Minutes, 12 Seconds, but of course it's a lot more complex than that.

Hurley's numbers -- 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 -- hit home with me when they aired his first flashback episode, because back when the Louisiana Lottery first started in the late '80s or early '90s, I played a certain set of numbers every week, and the last half was the same as Hurley's (16, 23, and 42). My numbers never hit, at least not on any week that I bought a ticket. But that wasn't a problem, as it turns out that winning the jackpot wasn't actually a prerequisite for becoming cursed.

LOST returns October 4, leaving me just under 3 weeks to sort through all The Lost Experience minutiae, refresh my memory on all the intricate details from the first 2 seasons at the Lostpedia, and maybe even get around to finishing Bad Twin. Hmmm... maybe the LOST series really is a nefarious plot by Alvar Hanso.

Lost at 20,000 Feet

I had to laugh when I read this story on SCI FI Wire this morning about William Shatner in a meeting with LOST creator J.J. Abrams:

Shatner Met Trek's Abrams

Original Star Trek star William Shatner told convention-goers in Chicago over the weekend that he has spoken with J.J. Abrams, who is co-writing and will direct a proposed 11th Trek movie, and added that "on the horizon there are good things for Star Trek and, hopefully, my involvement" in the film, the Trekmovie.com Web site reported.

Shatner mentioned that he had spoken with Abrams on Sept. 7 and that he and Abrams will be meeting sometime this week.

It reminded me of a thought I had last season, that with all the flashbacks on LOST showing the plane coming apart mid-air, I would love to see Shatner make a cameo appearance and reprise his role from the Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet."

I can picture Shatner in Boston Legal mode, staring fixated out the window and yelling, "I'm Denny Crane! There's a gremlin on the plane!" while Hurley tries to settle him down with a "Dude!"

Of course what they were actually discussing was Star Trek, which reminds me that it's almost time for the remastered original series to start its syndication run. Here's some updated Classic Kirk for you: