I know, I’ve Been Bad

Ok, I promised an update and I haven’t delivered, however real life and various projects with deadlines kinda got in the way. Unfortunately to be able to keep posting I need to work and after six months with nothing I’m suddenly rushed off my feet.

So, over the coming weeks I hope to talk about various things. As promised I hope to bring you a Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip post, covering my thoughts on the pilot. I have a BSG original series pilot vs. new series pilot comparison planned. I plan to bring you a commentary on the Spielberg/Hanks production Band of Brothers and I want to talk about upcoming new shows and my thoughts on the upcoming schedule. Specifically I am looking forward to talking about The Plan (BSG Tv Movie), Caprica, and new for ABC the relaunch of V with Morena Baccarin and Alan Tudyk and Flash Forward, with John Cho and Jack Davenport!

Thanks for your patience and I’ll be back with you once my bank balance tips back in the black!

All of This has Happened Before… But Not Quite in the Same Way!

Last week I talked about Caprica, the new spin off from Battlestar Galactica. However, now, I have finally watched the last episode of the parent series and I wanted to write something, to express my love for the show. I’ve been pondering though, how to start, because as I said last week, I came to this show with a sceptical view on the merits of a reboot of a show I had never had any interest in and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

The truth is that Science Fiction, as a genre, generates a preconceived response from a significant portion of the population. “I don't like Sci Fi.” Throw in the fans of the old series who doubt the credibility of a new series that dares to change even the most minute detail and you have a dwindling fan base. So how did it survive four years on air? By being frakkin’ awesome, that’s how.

So, what I thought I would do, rather than take the plot of four years and write it all out, I would instead do a tribute to the creators Ronald D More and David Eick and all the cast and crew of Galactica, while hopefully tempting those amongst my readership with the affore mentioned preconceptions to overlook them and dip their big toe in the ever shifting waters of Sci Fi.

This post, I promise, is spoiler free, it focuses purely on the nature of the show rather than specific plot details. However before we start, just a quick lowdown for those who don’t know the premise of the show.

About 50 years ago: Man created the Cylon, a robot that would effectively be a slave to mankind. However man was too clever for his own good and the Cylons rebelled. After a bloody war they vanished without a trace.

Present Day: The Cylons returned in human form and destroyed the 12 homeworlds of humanity, only a handful of the original population escaped aboard a starship known as Galactica. Hoping to evade the Cylons they begin their quest, searching for a new home, called Earth…

If you look at Battlestar from a distance the show may seem strange. It looks directionless, a floppy floundering behemoth of a series with both dedicated fans and outraged cynics. BSG will start storylines only to apparently abandoned them, offer explanations which seem to contradict all that we know to have gone before and the creators appear to be just as lost as the characters in the show.

However, when you look at this show from a distance, with an objective eye, you miss out on what makes this show so special, the people! There is a reason why BSG will run with a storyline only to dash it to pieces after weeks of alluding to its relevance, they do it because that is real life. We can’t know what will happen in our own lives and yet we see meaning in the patterns that surround us. Imagine then, that you were one of the last survivors of a holocaust that wiped out humanity, would you not believe that you had been spared for a reason, that you had a special destiny?

And yes, sometimes BSG feels like it is just humming along, but directionless, without a conductor to lead it. It does seem that it doesn’t know where it is going, but that is what the show is all about! Humanity has been annihilated and is floating through the universe in search of a mythical home, Earth, the characters in the show certainly don’t know where they are going, they don’t know who to trust or which of their friends might turn out to be a cylon. Then the fact that the writers and creators themselves don’t know these things works massively in their favour. They can play about, throw all manner of foreshadowing and allusion at us but in the end when they know something, we know something and that is a very different format for a show indeed.

Is BSG an original idea? Certainly not, for a start it is a reboot of an old series. The idea that man creates machine, machine destroys man has been around since the very first day we turned on a light bulb. The concept that our enemies are living amongst us could not be more pervasive in modern culture than it is right now with the “War on Terror” at is peak. Even the approach BSG takes is not original. For example Firefly showed the world that science fiction could exist without monsters and that it could be clever and witty, while Farscape showed us how dark and mind-bendingly twisted the genre can go without losing a fanbase.

So, it’s confusing, unoriginal, the creators have no direction and yet somehow I think you should watch it? Why? Because none of that matters. It doesn't matter that a show called Battlestar Galactica existed back in the seventies and just because Farscape opened the door to the darkside doesn’t mean we shouldn’t walk through that door again. So, here goes then, ten reasons to watch BSG:

1. The Cast: This show is cast brilliantly. Beautiful ladies, hunky men (if you’re into that kinda thing ;) ) and brilliant acting.
2. The Writing: The writers on this show have amazing talent, they have the ability to make you care about the characters, even the enemy!
3. The Effects: The special effects on BSG are brilliant and unlike most Sci Fi shows they don't just reuse the same shots over and over.
4. A Dedication to Style: The thing about BSG that really leaves an impression on you is just how dedicated Moore and Eick are to retaining the style of the show. Many shows start out with an idea “Lets shoot it this way…” and over time it either gets dropped or it becomes so in your face that you don't want to watch it anymore. BSG however remains true to its style throughout it’s run. The freestyle camera work with snap zooms bring to life this gritty, almost documentary style show, helping to ground it firmly in reality, despite how distant it is from any reality we know. And this dedication extends right across the show, everything from the way the characters are portrayed, to the effects, to changing the title sequence every single episode.
5. The People: Above everything else BSG is about people, it is about social interaction, professional interaction. It places people in impossible situations and asks them to choose the right path and the best bit? The people are far from infallible, they make a lot of wrong moves. Even if you don’t like science fiction, if you like good drama then BSG is for you!
6. Consequences: One thing I have always disliked about old sci fi shows, like for example Next Generation, is the one shot nature of it. There is a problem, they solve it, end of story. With shows like Farscape we moved beyond this method of storytelling, we began to crave series-long arcs for our characters, for each decision they make in the show to have far reaching consequences and that is what we get with Battlestar.
7. Mystery and Mythology: Battlestar has a very rich mythology for both the humans and cylons and that is something that really shines in the show. In fact the exploration of the cultural past of the two factions often takes a front seat and drives the narrative forward. Mystery too is there in reams, for a start the bad guys look human, they could be anyone, even the writers didn’t know who was a cylon when they started. All good drama revolves around mystery, just look at Lost, and BSG delivers it in spades.
8. It’s dark: It's nice to sit down and watch a light hearted comedy that demands nothing of you as a viewer, but it is not as engaging as a show that isn’t afraid to go to dark places, to make hard decision come to life and feel real right before your eyes. BSG is full of those moments where you have to ask yourself “They didn’t just do that?” only to reply, “Yes they frakkin’ did!”
9. But it’s fun: And right alongside those dark moments you have those jovial moments, those moments of extreme camaraderie, those righteous moments where people stand up for their beliefs, those moments where you are rewarded for surviving through the hard times.
10. It’s Real: Yes they are on a space ship and they use octagonal paper but BSG is one of the most down to earth, real sci fi shows around. While Farscape thrived on amazing creatures and cultures and Firefly was wonderful escapism BSG is real life, real situations. The characters are all flawed, some are so flawed that they cannot be redeemed (and yet…), no one is invincible, they can all die. The ship is a relic, a museum, retired from active service, not the pride of the frontline, every day is a struggle just to survive. And yet, instead of this realism bringing the down the show and making it a hard slog, it remains full of life, fully engaging with your emotions, taking you on a hair raising ride through a series of events that seem neither convoluted nor orchestrated, in other words, it’s life, but not as we know it.

So there you have it, just ten of a thousand reasons to watch this show, this show that is no longer on the air… but is available on DVD at Amazon or through My Store (exactly the same but I get 5% instead of Amazon :P) I hope, even if I have not endeared you to buy this series, that at least I have opened your mind to science fiction, the ever changing genre… This has been My Two Cents…

Coming next week a blast from the past (2006) Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip…

***A Quick Note: The Seasons 1-4 Boxset curently available through Amazon is not the complete series, I will make a post when that boxset is available, which will probably be after the Tv Movie and final special, The Plan airs in Novemeber***

58 Years Before the Fall…

About a month ago I ran out of things to watch and in the absence of anything else I turned to that trusty genre, Sci Fi. Now as we all know Science Fiction can be good and when it is, it is often great, but it can also be bad, really bad, Torchwood ringing any bells? Battlestar Galactica was one of those show I had attributed to the bad column, after all what could a remake of a seventies show that didn’t survive past its first season possibly have to offer the modern sci-fi geek? Thus in my ignorance I ignored it, until at last the cupboard was bare and I decided to give the pilot a go, after all, how bad could it be?

That was a month ago, I’m now on the final episode of season 3! I’m hooked! And during my research into what is coming up in September I discovered that BSG is due to have its own spin off series, Caprica. I couldn’t wait to watch it, although at first I struggled, trying to decide if it would ruin how I saw the remainder of BSG, but after much umming and ahhing I plonked myself down and watched the two hour pilot.

What follows is, hopefully, a spoiler free commentary on the quality of the show and if I believe it has a future on our screens. (P.s. If you’re too lazy to read on any further, I do… watch it!)

The episode opens with the line “58 years before the fall.” Already we know when we are and the title of the show tells us where. A lot of what happens in the pilot and by extension the upcoming Tv show, is designed to inform us about life in the Thirteen Colonies, in particular Caprica. Where BSG only touched on this in the attempts to reinstate their civilisation, Caprica is already  living in it. For example the episode opens with some rather graphic depictions of what teenagers do for relaxation on Caprica (Boobs, boobs and more boobs.) and it gives us an insight into the culture in a way that BSG could never do, because that culture no longer exists.

Although, like BSG, Caprica has a large ensemble cast, the story focuses mainly on three people. The first of these is the prodigy Zoe Graystone. Teenager and idealist, she and her two friends are planning to leave Caprica and head to Geminon. Zoe has created a virtual version of herself, capable of infinite impendent thought, of learning and expressing emotion. It is not entirely clear why she has done so, but Zoe clearly has a plan for her cyber-self once they reach Geminon.

The second major character is Joseph Adams.

***pathetically minor spoiler*** One of the final revelations of episode is that Joseph Adams, with his son William, is actually Joseph Adama. However if you have watched at least some of season 3 of BSG you will know Bill Adama’s father was a lawyer  and called Joseph. On top of that Esai Morales who plays Joseph looks like a young Bill Adama, so really we all guessed who he was! ***spoiler over***

Anyway, Joseph Adams is a lawyer on Caprica, with a son called William. The pilot focuses on a disaster and the aftermath that leads to a chance meeting between Joseph and the next key player, Zoe’s father, Daniel Graystone. Through Joseph the show attempts to bring to the fore the issues of race and class, in a way that BSG could not, after all, long running racial storylines only detract from the true focus of BSG, not so with Caprica. In fact the race and class divide will act as a driving force behind many of Joseph Adam’s actions in the series I’m sure.

The final player is Daniel Graystone. He is a genius inventor who created the Holoband, virtual worlds, somewhat akin to a series of mini Matrix’s (1999 film) just less invasive (You don’t have to shove a spike into a plug socket in the back of your head.) However at the start of the episode he is working on the A.I. for a robot that is clearly a Cylon Prototype.

Caprica and BSG both deal with similar issues. For example much of the pilot episode is about dealing with loss and clearly the episode is laying the groundwork for the first Cylon War to take place, something that I think we may see before the end of season 1. However Caprica aims to deal with many other issues too, such as religion and the lack of tolerance for unorthodox religions. It deals with issues that are pertinent today in own world, such as fear of  religious fanatics, of how those that don’t understand religion and race often jump to fear as a natural response. It deals with issues of class and racism and it asks difficult questions about ethics and morals.

Ok, so I’ve said all I can say without giving anything away. Now its time for my opinions. Did I like Caprica’s pilot as much as BSG’s? The simple answer is no. However, truthfully, it is impossible to compare the two. BSG is action packed, things explode, killer robots that look human destroy the known civilised world, its a hair raising three hours. Caprica however is much more subtle, sure, some things blow up, there is even a killer robot but this  show is about something deeper, it asks those moral questions that make us feel uncomfortable, but in a good way. It brings us a richly developed culture and asks us to delve into it and explore its faults and its failings. It challenges us to think about our own world and the injustices that exist.

So then, Caprica is a heavy going, soap opera in an unfamiliar universe? No! It still has that gritty feeling that Battlestar has, the writing acting and casting are all excellent. The CG is mostly superb, although there are some weaker moments. It is rich and vibrant and although I have used the words 

“uncomfortable” “moral” “ethics”

this show is not about preaching or condemning, it is about connecting. Bringing us recognisable situations that allow us as an audience to  sympathise. Because we can recognise the situations the characters find themselves in, despite the alien nature of the world and the society, we find that we understand, maybe even support the morally ambiguous characters and we care for them, even when they do things wrong, even when we know the consequences for their actions will ultimately be the destruction of the human race!

And that is the beauty of Caprica.

So, yes, I will be tuning in come December (So I believe.) But for now I will just have to make do with the final season of Battlestar Galactica.

Anyway, that’s My Two Cents, “So Say We All.”

British Comedy

This is just a mini update, hopefully tomorrow or friday I will bring you a discussion on the pilot episode for Caprica. However until then, good news for Brits who are sick of reruns on Dave… Top Gear is back for its 13th series. It starts on Sunday and you can watch it anytime on BBC iPlayer.

Also, if that is not enough top comedian Michael McIntyre is touring the UK with his “Comedy Roadshow” which always airs on Saturday nights, also available on iPlayer.

Right that’s it, next Caprica!

Heroes: Five Years On?

Apparently I have developed a habit for delivering old news, which means this post on Heroes will fit right in because its about season 1!

Ok, so you may remember that three years ago Hiro and Ando jumped forward five years into the future to a New York devastated by an exploding man, Peter Petrelli. In that future we got glimpses of all the Heroes and what had become of them, of course Hiro and the other Heroes stopped Peter destroying New York so that future became null and void, or did it?

In the first half of season 1 Hiro met a waitress called Charlie, a waitress who would later be killed by Sylar for her ability to learn things by just reading them once. Hiro went back in time to save Charlie, however he couldn’t, she was dying of a brain tumour.  Hiro determined that his power was great but he could not change the past, no matter how hard he tried. Now I would like to suggest, as Linderman and Angela Petrelli suggested, that the future, like the past, is inevitable.

In the episode Five Years Gone there are many clues, with hindsight, about what is to come in future seasons. Lets start by looking at the characters who haven’t survived:

DL – In the bad future DL Hawkings had been killed by Sylar, not the case the way that the series played out but still DL died. Like Charlie his death seems inevitable.

Micah – In the bad future we can assume that Micah was killed in the blast although it is possible that Sylar took his ability too. In the series future Micah is alive and living underground, helping others with abilities escape Nathan Petrelli and Danko. Sylar would later facilitate his escape, but is that because he wants to take Micah’s ability for himself?

Candice – The beautiful Missy Peregrym had been killed by Sylar so that he could take on the appearance of anyone or anything he  chose. At the start of season 2 Sylar would kill Candice but he would fail to take her ability, however that was rectified by the end of season 3.

Ando – In the bad future Ando death drive Hiro to become a soulless hero stopping at nothing to change the past in the hope of saving his friend. However other visions of the future have shown that if Ando survives he will eventually kill Hiro. Will Hiro have to destroy Ando to save the world? I hope not, this partnership is one of the best on TV!

Ted Sprague – No matter which future you look at Ted was always destined to die and pass on his power to Sylar.

Nathan Petrelli – We learn that Nathan was killed by Sylar but not before Nathan turned on his own people. Could this sum up  Nathan’s role in Chapter 4: Fugitives any more succinctly? It seems that Nathan was always destined to betray his own kind and to die at Sylar’s hands and that Sylar was always destined to assume his identity.

And those that survived?

Peter Petrelli – Nathan’s younger brother did explode and kill everyone in the bad future, however in the series future he only severely disfigured his older brother. It does seem that Linderman was right, Peter was destined to explode and he did, but New York was not destroyed but maybe it has to be for the future to unfold how it was supposed to. Can we therefore expect the end of season four to see the city devastated? Also future Peter, whenever he appears, always has the scar, despite his ability to heal. Is that too inevitable? Or is it just a way to tell the two Peters apart?

Nikki Sanders – In the bad future only Nikki seems to be better off. She has learned to control her ability. Shame it took her losing her son and her husband to be able to do so. Of course in the series future Nikki Sanders is dead (Or is she?) however Tracy Strauss and Barbara clearly aren't. Is one of the other triplets destined to end up with Peter instead?

Matt Parkman – Matt has turned into a bounty hunter for Nathan Petrelli, who is really Sylar, rounding up Heroes wherever they are to be found. This is the biggest departure from the series future there is. Matt is the leader of the resistance in the series future, however could losing Daphne lead him to hunt his own kind? We also see a picture of his wife Janice and her son, drawn by baby Matt, who we know will grow up to have a power of his own.

Mohinder Suresh – Is working with the man he believes to be Nathan who is actually Sylar and together they allowed the bomb to go off in NY, for the greater good. This is a trait with Mohinder, always working with the enemy for the greater good, he worked with the company under both Thompson and Bob Bishop before working for the big bad Arthur Petrelli. Can we therefore assume that in the end, the now superpowered, Mohinder will, under the misguided notion of doing right by doing wrong, end up working with the enemy, maybe even causing a catastrophe like the bomb that should have destroyed New York?

Noah Bennet – Not a hero as such but he’s as good as “one of them”… In the bad future Noah pretends to work for Petrelli (Sylar) but secretly he helps those with abilities escape, something he will later do when working for the real Nathan Petrelli. Also we see here that he is in cahoots with Matt Parkman, so maybe Parkman is only helping Petrelli so that he can more effectively help Noah.  

Claire Bennet – Claire is dead, actually she isn't but everyone thinks she is, which is the only thing keeping her safe from Sylar and stopping him ripping off her head and taking her ability. Unfortunately for Claire when she goes to see her father Nathan Petrelli she discovers the horrible truth, that he is Sylar! In the series future however Claire manages to go for another season and a bit without Sylar taking her head off.

Hiro – Hiro, devastated by the loss of Ando turns to “Terrorism” by hunting down those who would hunt people with abilities and killing them. Future Hiro becomes a powerful unstoppable force that walks on the darkside of morality. However series future Hiro is stripped of his power and what little he regains is slowly killing him. Have Hiro’s actions in changing the future and saving Ando and NY enacted a terrible price from Hiro? Or is it just a test, like with Kensei and the dragon, will Hiro die to protect those he loves?

Finally we come to Sylar – In the bad future Sylar seeks out and destroys his own kind in order to take from them the powers they don’t deserve. He has taken on the mantle of Nathan Petrelli and, as his mother predicted, he has risen to the office of the President of the United States. In the series future Sylar is offered the chance to change (in fact in one future he has changed and becomes a force for good.) however his hunger over powers his judgement and he kills his would-be redeemer, Elle. After that he joins up with Danko, seeing an opportunity to get unlimited access to all the powers he could ever want, an all you can eat buffet if you like. This is something he has always sought out, with Mohinder’s father and later with the son. Taking the ability to shape shift from James Martin, Sylar plans to replace Nathan Petrelli with himself so as to get close enough to kill the president and then take office. In a final showdown with Peter and Nathan, Sylar kills Nathan (as he did in the bad future) and then Matt Parkman forces Sylar to believe that he is in  fact Nathan Petrelli.

So I hope it was clear what I was trying to do here…? I’m trying to suggest that maybe Tim Kring has a plan and that he has hinted at it all along and that the glimpses that we get into the future are more than just a device to pull the story along. I sincerely hope that Heroes makes it into its fifth year, just so we can see just how accurate the episode Five Years Gone is, but if what has happened so far is any clue then I think we might have a Lost-esque reveal “You can’t change the FUTURE!”

Anyway, that’s been My Two Cents, until next time… “Live Long and Prosper”

Some Sad News…

So, this was announced a few weeks back but I was too busy writing about Lost to mention it, however it seems that the CW have cancelled Reaper, meaning that the episode that aired on Tuesday was the last we will see of it. Apparently ABC who produced the show are looking to find it a new home (now I don’t claim to understand the world of TV but don’t ABC have their own channel???) however I don't think people are holding out much hope. 

In possibly even worse news, the Kuzuis are talking about a new Buffy Movie. Now, don’t get me wrong, Buffy and Angel were awesome and I have seen both at least 3 times each, however what made them great was not Fran and Kaz… Nope, it was Joss, Tim Minear, David Greenwalt, Marti Noxon, David Fury, Jane Espenson, the list goes on and that is exactly what this film, if it ever comes to light wont have. Fran Kuzui directed the original (terrible) Buffy movie and was a driving force being getting Fox on board with the Tv Show (So I read at any rate.) However her decision to attempt a solo flick without Joss or the other writers  seems doomed to failure.

On top of not taking on Joss there is talk of the movie not featuring any of the original cast and characters which really begs the question why bother at all. Interviews I have read with Anthony Head and Sarah Michelle Geller certainly suggest they are not on board and apparently the most anyone has heard from creator Joss is “I hope it’s awesome.” The main problem I have with the concept is that you have to see it to go “Yup, it was crap.” but by then you’ve paid your money and made it a hit with a sequel and a cartoon mini series!

Finally I want to end this mini update on a high note and so here goes… THEY’RE BACK! Yes, at long long last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the original series from 1987) has made it to Britain on DVD. A special 25th (I know the figures don't add up, I’m assuming its a comic book anniversary) anniversary edition compiling the first two seasons of the original series has arrived in the UK. I can’t vouch for the DVD yet, but I can for the episodes. I’ve watched all the episodes so far released in the US and the first and second series are some of the best.

Even better, maybe, the first series never saw the light of day in  the Uk except as clips in the poorly edited “How It All Began.” on VHS. The episode was composed of clips from the first 8 episodes, the first 5 of season 1 and three from season 2 all mushed together and it made very little sense. Now you can see the entire origin story in excellent DVD quality as you take a trip down memory lane. The set contains all 5 episodes from season 1 and all 13 episodes from season 2 with the bonus 4 episodes from season 10 (which makes no sense as the animation is completely different, as is the tone of the show, but hey, they’re free episodes and its turtles…!)

So to finish, the shameless plug, you can buy the 25th Anniversary set from My Amazon Store, it’s the same as buying it from Amazon except I get 5%… hint hint… Anyway, I hope to be back soon with more TV news, stay tuned!

The First Evil…

Ok, so welcome to part three of the Lost finale where I will try to   make some sense of what exactly is going on in Carlton and Damien’s heads. If you missed parts 1 and 2 you catch them here and here

So, Joss Whedon fans might recognise the title of this blog. Throughout this final episode I found myself thinking, “This feels familiar” and it wasn’t until I re-watched the episode with my mum (of all people) that she pointed out where we’d seen it before… Buffy! Remember the season 7 baddie, The First Evil? An evil entity that could take on the form of any dead person it wanted? Ringing any bells? That’s right, Man #2, the man I suspect to be Jacob’s brother (possibly called Esau.), the man who has taken the form of John Locke in order to get close enough to Jacob to kill him. We can now safely assume that he is also Christian Shepherd, Harper (When she appeared to Juliet) and possibly even Walt, although I have not yet figured out how, unless that is why Walt is “special”. More importantly though I’m almost definitely positive that he was, in fact, Dead Alex who conned Ben into doing everything John asked.

This raises a question about the relationship between Jacob, Esau and the Black Smoke. Firstly I am assuming they are, in fact, three different entities and that the Black Smoke is under the control of neither man. Although if I am right that Dead Alex is ‘Esau’ then the Black Smoke retreated from Alex and I although I doubt it was working for him it certainly could have been afraid of him. If this is the case then the Black Smoke is a lesser entity than either Jacob or ‘Esau’. Also, if this is the case we can assume that Smokey didn’t finish judging Ben and that possibly it would have killed him for his crimes. Maybe ‘Esau’ knew that Smokey couldn’t kill Ben while he was around (hence it not coming when called) and so was not worried about losing the instrument he needed to kill Jacob. (I’m assuming he couldn’t kill Jacob himself as he would have done so that first flashback on the beach.)

So, what about the whispers? The whispers came before Harper’s appearance (in Season 4 Episode 6 “The Other Woman”) and if Harper was ‘Esau’ then are the whispers related to him? In that episode Harper tried to help Juliet stop Daniel and Charlotte who were planning to take a weapon from Ben, the poison gas. If Ben could not defend himself and was captured then he would be useless to ‘Esau’. It’s just a theory, but there were other times too when the ‘Esau’ tried to stop people coming to the island. For example, he was unhappy that the Black Rock was there. Also I believe he may have assumed the form of the seemingly indestructible Mikhail (remember eyepatch?) and blown up the Looking Glass station to prevent Charlie from letting Widemore bring his freighter to the island. If you take this a step further and assume that Jacob wants the opposite, he could have been the one who dislocated Desmond in time, saving him from the imploding hatch and giving him the insight into the future, so he could save Charlie, the only person capable of bringing the freighter to the island, through his musical background. Taking it a step further and assuming that the two entities, Jacob and ‘Esau’ are in fact brothers, then would it not stand to reason that they both have the same power, to assume the forms of dead people? So could Yemi appearing to Echo have been Jacob? And the same for the dead people who talk to Hurley?

Anyway, if the whispers are not ‘Esau’ then we have to assume there is a forth entity on the island and that might just be a little too much. Also Ben’s cryptic comment in episode 12 “Dead is Dead” to Rousseau “Every time you hear whispers, run the other way…” seems to suggest that Ben knows what the whispers are, or at least that they are not a friendly entity, especially to those who aren’t supposed to be there.

Speaking of Dead is Dead, what do you make of this image on the Temple wall?

I notice three points of interest, I even circled ‘em and numbered ‘em and everything.

1. Clearly we have Jacob’s statue, which I assume represents him, feeding the Black Smoke, like a pet, or a guard dog.
2. Behind Jacob there is a snake, poised to bite his back. This I assume is the entity I am calling Esau. Interestingly the Snake in the old testament also represented the Devil.
3. The final point is odd as I can’t really make it out but can anyone else see what look’s like a drowning man? The squiggle beneath could easily be the sea with the odd oval shaped bit being the island. Is this a depiction of the Oceanic 815 plane crash on the wall on an ancient temple?

Interesting no? The image could be of the coming War, with the 815ner’s trapped in the middle? There are also various pictographs around the edge of this image, one above for example is an all seeing eye, possibly suggesting the presence of someone else who is watching to see who the winner will be in the final conflict (Isaac?). After all, it seems that Jacob and ‘Esau’ have been waging this conflict for some time now, but as Jacob says “It only ends once. everything else is just progress.”

So I pose the question then, if it is Jacob that brings people to the island, like the Black Rock, and it is ‘Esau’ who wants to keep them away, then, who are the Others? Are they Jacob’s only successful settlers? Did Jacob bring the Dharma people too? Was that his attempt to supplant the Others with a better more civilised group? If so, then did the Other’s go over to the other side? Join Esau? Was that why Widmore insisted on killing Rousseau’s party, to stop another group being brought in to take their place. Certainly the 815ner did a very good job of wiping out most of the Others, those, at least, that were not at the temple. Does ‘Esau’ have his own group of Others, or does he rely on his ability to assume the forms of the dead and manipulate others?

And what about those Others at the Temple? Why were they chosen? How were they chose, are they in fact Jacob’s chosen people? We have had many theories on Lost about the island being purgatory, however now I am willing to suggest that it is something much more than that, I believe it might just be the Garden of Eden. Or at least within the Temple walls is. Certainly it seems only the pure were allowed to enter, children. Is Jacob trying to start over again, is that what he means by progress? If so, and Smokey is a security system, when it retreated from ‘Esau’ could it not have been returning to the Garden to warn them he was coming, you know, to keep the Snake out of the Garden? And if it is the Garden and Jacob and ‘Esau’ are brothers, could they no be Kain and Able?

Just supposing I’m right, then I think that the island wanted Eko to teach at the temple, to show the new Children the ways of the world. However first he needed to realise that what he did was wrong, that killing was wrong, no matter what and when the island saw that Eko could never be the person it needed… Well you know the rest.

And, still supposing I am right, that the island is the Garden of Eden, then I propose that Jacob is not the be all and end all, but instead he is a guardian (hence living beneath the guardian statue.) and gate keeper, like St. Peter and it is his presence that has stopped the Snake from entering the Garden and that is why ‘Esau’ would want him dead.

Woa! This is getting heavy now no? Right then. let’s wrap this up.

Somehow ‘Esau’ has stopped islander’s being able to reproduce, which means that Jacob has no more Children for the Garden, so Jacob brings down 815 and the Others take the Children. ‘Esau’ however sees the opportunity to corrupt the new group and turn them against Jacob’s chosen people. He takes on the guise of Christian Shepherd and convinces Locke to move the island. Unfortunately Ben does it and instead of getting rid of the chosen leader of the Others (possible saviour) he loses his instrument to bring down Jacob. However because of the botched experiments by the Dharma folk Christen can still put things right. He gets Locke off the island by conning him into pushing the wheel. Somehow he knows that Locke will die off-island, thus solving the possible saviour problem. However Jacob interferes and convinces at least Hurley and Ilana to come to the island, although he could possible be behind several of the incidents that bring back Jack and co (Jack's attempted suicide perhaps?) When Ben discovers that John really does know how to return to the island he kills him, to stop him from taking over as leader. ‘Esau’ then uses Locke and Alex to manipulate Ben into killing Jacob, while Jacob transports Jack and co. back to 1977 to act as a reset switch, knowing that he can’t stop what’s about to happen, not without John Locke anyway. ‘Esau’ then uses Richard to secure an audience with Jacob. As Richard points out  “Only the leader can request an audience with Jacob and the island can only have one leader at a time.” But ‘Esau’ cannot actually harm Jacob himself, which is why he needs Ben. Jacob is killed and his dying words are, “they are coming…” And I can only assume that ‘They’ are Jack and company…

Right, well that’s all I can get my head around, until next year this has been My Two Cents on Lost.