LOST Forum

This was bound to happen. Catering to the segment of LOST fans who were disappointed enough by Season 6 of Lost that they would put the burden of storytelling into the hands of a grumpy, obsessive nerd (that isn't Damon Lindelof or Carlton Cuse), this dude has begun a project of re-editing the entire season and removing the "sideways world" storylines. 
 
He makes his full case on the tumblr page, but here are a couple excerpts:  (spoilers ahead!)
 

The entire conceit of the sideways world was to bring all of our heroes together again in the afterlife - one of the most cliched storytelling devices there is. Sure, there was a spin on it, but the whole idea that “there is no now” in the afterlife came across more as a cheat than a genuinely interesting twist. 
 
Ultimately, the sideways world was a gimmick. It was a way to give a happy ending to characters who didn’t actually get a happy ending. It was a way to give an emotional sendoff to the series by tugging at our heartstrings, rather than addressing the numerous hanging threads left over by the plot.

 
I hate to burst this guy's bubble but remember the flashback seasons? Isn't a flashback a major cliche? What about TIME TRAVEL? The entire run of LOST was rife with cliches. I'm not saying they were bad, I think LOST always managed to use cliched devices that made the show interesting and served the characters and plot. But if your main argument is that the sideways world was cliched, I think you need to start your re-edit from the beginning. 
 
But whatever, this is America! If you don't like something, you don't just have to suck it up and deal with it and move on, you can alter it so it serves your own worldview and opinions. I'm torn on this, Screened community. On the one hand I feel somebody's creation, no matter how displeasing it is to you, shouldn't be tampered with. It's not high art, but it is art. It is the collaborative creation of multiple people who spent years of their lives crafting this story. 
 
On the other hand, The Phantom Menace blew ass.  
 
What do you think?

I think re-edits are a colossal waste of time. But hey, it's his time to waste.

My first impulse is that people need to stop thinking about Lost... it's fucking over, and you can't fix it to make it what you always wanted it to be.
 
But, I agree with that dude that the sideways world was one of the dumbest things that show ever offered up.  Whereas flashbacks and time travel were a little cliched, the flashbacks did an amazing job fleshing out the characters, and the time travel was at least part of the plot.  The sideways world had no bearing on anything. 
 
In conclusion, this dude is dumb.

I disaproove.
 
It's one thing to make a bad movie better, but it's another to make a great show bad.

I thought the ending was great, so no thanks.

I actually LIKED the flash-sideways sequences, and thought that the ending was a good twist on that (after all, how the fuck were they going to explain an alternate reality, anyway?). It kind of reminds me of that edit of Memento where the entire movie was put in the proper order... and it started with the credits rolling backwards, that was awesome.

I agree, the Phantom Menace sucked a lot of ass.

Well, who is going to really watch his stuff? The Phantom Menace was flashy, vapid canon while this is just amateur editing. I know that I am going to ignore this guy's work, as well as many many others.

His points on how it was a gimmick is what I thought made it work. These people are given a second chance and in this second world they have have succeeded

I wouldn't enjoy Lost any more if I knew where Ethan Rom went to school, or if I knew the names of the people that built the four toed statue, or if I learned the Smoke Monster's shoe size.  They hit all the big marks I expected them to, and crafted 6 seasons of entertainment that kept me invested all the way to the end.  
 
I'm all for creative fan expression, and re cuts / fan cuts can sometimes be really interesting and enjoyable (like the Phantom Edit), but other times it's better for all involved to trust the creative forces that have just as much invested in the project as fans do (if not more so) rather than try to force something that never should have been (I'm looking at you Guy-That-Edited-Memento-To-Run-In-Chronological-Order).

The last ten minutes of the final episode left a very sour taste in my mouth, and I've been an avid supporter of LOST since its very first appearance. So yeah, if he feels he can get rid of it, I'm by all means behind it.

I hope this guy has fun with that. But wouldn't it be easier to just flash forward through the alternate time line stuff?

Actually  Lost may be more interesting if you watch the sideflash first....
 
Stay with me here.
 
Then you have people get on a plane, land, be introduced as characters, and you get the major plot points for their stories.  Then they all go into the church and into the light, just cut out the stuff with Jacks Father. >_>
 
then BAM.  They are a few weeks earlier, and there is a plane crash but things are different and wrong in their lives.  And then the series goes on as normalo there, other than the final sewason where again you get the last few seconds with jack.
 
 
Though I do view side flashes on the same storytelling level as Dallas's shower slip.
 
And they didn't answer the big quetions in lost.  They didn't even come close.  That is why people are pissed..

I've never seen an episode of Lost so this whole drama has been very funny to me.  Don't fret over a TV show!

Can everyone at least agree that Qui Gon Jinn was totally awesome? Liam Neeson man, come on! And Darth Maul had a lightsaber with two blades! I don't care how annoying Jar Jar was, that is still sweet. Dual of the Fates was great as well. Everyone's Phantom Menace hate just seems so one-dimensional. "Jar Jar and kid Anakin sucked, therefore all of it did".  
 
As for this Lost-related thing, same deal. Quit dwelling on the one thing that was less-than-great about the show and just look at how excellent it was as a whole.

This is unnecessary, but I actually kind of like the idea. I think season six might be better without the "sideways" world stories. (Those stories were good in and of themselves, but the ultimate reality of what they were was just not satisfying enough for me.)

The weird thing about the sideways stuff is that you almost don't notice that the ending wasn't really an ending, in the traditional sense, and that it was also kinda depressing, what with damn near everyone dead. But I'd argue against saying it ruined the story, because honestly I found it, up until the finale, to be more interesting than the island shenanigans.

@MarkWahlberg said:

"I'd argue against saying [the sideways stuff] ruined the story, because honestly I found it, up until the finale, to be more interesting than the island shenanigans. "

I agree. The island stuff in the final season was pretty slow, what with the temple storyline and later on episodes where both camps were pondering about their next move. The main exception is probably John Locke. I felt there was too much of him, considering he died the previous season, and thus wasn't relevant to the real world.

@  Kraznor 
 
I agree with you, but the worst part of TPM was Jake Lloyd, not Jar Jar.  Also it's "Duel."

WHAT?! i loved all of lost season 6 and the show