Patrick Kevin Day gives us a lesson in "Lost" today...  

 "Lost" seems to breed obsessive types who are a study in devotion and intelligence. And now, they have another place to congregate: their own school.

As the famously perplexing and mysterious series heads into its final season, its creators have launched Lost University, a multimedia experience that delves into the fields of study touched on in the show's five years. Real university professors will teach short video courses on a variety of "Lost"-related subjects -- and it's not exactly a light curriculum either, with philosophy, physics and hieroglyphics, among others.

"It's a great medium, because you don't want a TV show to become didactic," says Caltech professor Sean Carroll, who is teaching Introductory Physics of Time Travel for the online university. "It's the perfect marriage of entertainment and education."

"Lost" students are provided reading lists, handouts, final exams and homework. Courses can be completed in a matter of days (Lost University forces you to wait 48 hours between classes), but no date has been set for the start of the second semester. And yes, there's a diploma awaiting the studious.

The project was announced in July at San Diego's Comic-Con International with a website and course catalog. But the first semester of classes weren't set to begin until today -- timed to the release of "Lost's" fifth season on Blu-ray. Though anyone can sign up online and participate in forums at www.lostuniversity.org, fans must have the show's Blu-ray discs to access the courses.

The first semester offers a class taught by a trio of USC professors on some of the philosophers referenced in "Lost," including empiricist John Locke and utilitarian Jeremy Bentham. There's also an introduction to ancient hieroglyphics taught by UCLA Egyptologist Kara Cooney.

THERE'S MORE, READ THE REST

-- Patrick Kevin Day

RECENT AND RELATED

Promo for final season of "Lost" from Spain

PHOTO GALLERY: The pop culture references of "Lost"

Getting "Lost" in the music

"Lost" finds its way to 100 epsiodes

"Lost" star Michael Emerson: What you didn't know

Reeling in the years: Time-shifts on "Lost"

Robert Lloyd: "Lost" is now like a dinner guest who "talks nonsense" 

Photo: USC's Nick Warner is one of the scientists teaching Web video courses centered on "Lost." Credit: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof are Comic-Con royalty, so when they alluded to this being their last time addressing the throng as the producers of ABC's "Lost," a mass groan rose from the crowd Saturday morning in Hall H.

Well, everyone knew this day was coming. Cuse and Lindelof had arrived to set up the sixth and final season of their desert-island thriller. And they tried to lessen the pain by billing their appearance as "fan appreciation" day.

Lindelof assured the faithful that all the mythology and mysterious plot points would indeed be wrapped up this season. 

"Yeah, everything that matters will be answered," he told the crowd, still leaving some wriggle room for theorists (what doesn't matter?). Cuse even took the step of saying he was locking the scripted ending in a sealed chest, which would prove the writers were not making everything up as they went along, as some skeptics have insisted. 

As they have in the past, the producers made it clear that they were relieved to be able to announce a clear end date for the series. The pair famously battled over the issue with ABC executives, who were loath to let go of something with such a devoted fan base. "The biggest moment in the show's life was when were able to announce the show's death," Lindelof said. 

But as for details on this final season, the producers revealed little. "We will be as honest and forthcoming as we never were," Lindelof joked at the beginning of the session.

Instead, the pair trotted out plenty of surprises aimed squarely at hardcore Losties. Hall H erupted in pandemonium when Jorge Garcia, who plays the beefy Hurley, showed up at the microphone to ask a question, only to be interrupted by costar Michael Emerson. As the two engaged in a mock argument, hundreds of fans screamed and lifted cellphones to snap a picture. The producers then showed a gag reel of Emerson, looking nervous and wearing a baseball cap, supposedly auditioning for the part of Hurley back in 2004.

Indeed, the session brought a cornucopia of bits that can be added to future DVDs and to the overall "Lost" mythology. One favorite: A mock TV spot for Oceanic Airlines. That, of course, is the carrier at the center of the plane crash that launched the series.

— Scott Collins

RECENT AND RELATED

Getting "Lost" in the music

"Lost" finds its way to 100 epsiodes

"Lost" star Michael Emerson: What you didn't know

Reeling in the years: Time-shifts on "Lost"

Robert Lloyd: "Lost" is now like a dinner guest who "talks nonsense" 

Forty-eight survivors of a plane crash and an unfolding mystery that tests the usual expectations of television drama. Check out this new episode-by-episode recap...

Alicia Lozano has a fun piece on a New York band that is taking their obsession with the ABC series  "Lost" to musical extremes with a unique "island sound" :

Brooklyn musician Jeff Curtain (above right) devotes roughly 17 hours a week to "Lost," a show with such a fanatical following that Curtain and his friends felt compelled to start a band based on the TV drama.

Previously on Lost is exactly what the name implies: A recap band. Through short spurts of musical whimsy, the island aficionados summarize the week’s plot, focusing on themes and characters that are especially entertaining. Notable songs include "Ballad of Sayid Jarrah," based on the Season 4 episode in which the former Iraqi soldier (Naveen Andrews) recounts his brutal military past. Another favorite is "The Island Won’t Let You Die," which involves chucking scores of inflatable, tropical paraphernalia into the crowd.

The typical show includes tossing fake palm trees and fresh fruit around like rice at a wedding. Leis are distributed at the door. A jumbo cardboard airplane is carried through the crowd and demolished in a mock crash. A chorus line of "sailor girls" sing backup vocals and dance onstage. But the group’s greatest treasure is the life-size poster of "Lost" creator J.J. Abrams, which is fanned with giant leaves throughout the show.

"This is a punk version of ‘Gilligan’s Island’ where we run through the songs as fast as possible so we can tell you everything you need to know about the entire season in an hour," Curtain said. "We are serious ‘Lost’ fans."

Welcome to a presidential edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe...

HEROIC POLITICS: There's a fun historical piece about comic-book characters claiming the White House through the years and it includes an early 1980s Marvel cover (above left) that I had sorta forgotten about and that immediately brought a smile to my face when I saw it. The piece was written by Matt Brady (an appropriate name for someone dabbling in the area of presidential imagery) and here's what he wrote about that "Mr. Rogers Goes to Washington" plot: "Captain America as President was turned into a story for Marvel’s alternate reality series What If? with 1981’s issue #26. In the story, Cap runs as the candidate for the New Populist Party with Andrew Jackson Hawk (an African American Senator) as his running mate. Keeping things real, the 'America-Hawk' ticket ran against Carter and Reagan (both of which had things to say about Cap’s political experience and the trust the public has for a masked man) and won in a landslide. Keeping a campaign promise, Cap took off his mask on Inauguration Day, and got to work -– one of his first jobs –- a comprehensive new energy policy in order to '[free] America from the tyranny of foreign oil.' One South American plot hatched by the Red Skull later, and Captain America is killed by one of his administration’s own solar satellites, but the country is saved." [Newsarama]

WOLVERINE, CONSIDERED: What's up with "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"? There were plenty of rumors burning through cyberspace that the production was experiencing considerable turbulence after the crew and some cast gathered to do reshoots. There was fanboy-press speculation that Fox was "clearly trying to salvage one of the summer tent-poles of 2009" and much handwringing about the fate of the most popular mutant character. So what's the real deal? Sources close to the production tell me the reshoots were scheduled all along but they also concede that director Gavin Hood is reworking some sections of the film to get precisely the right tone for the long, dark tale of the ultimate Marvel Comics loner. So we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, star Hugh Jackman, known as one of the real troupers of Hollywood, has sought to quiet any fan worries. Jackman sent this note to Harry Knowles: "Hey everyone -- It's Hugh Jackman, sending this note from freezing Vancouver. I have read a lot of your online comments regarding the footage that we are currently shooting and I share your passion for the Wolverine character and the movie -- I owe it all to you guys! I wanted to reach out and let you know that due to scheduling conflicts with certain cast members and location/weather considerations, we had to wait until now to shoot a couple of scenes. Please rest assured that WOLVERINE will be badass and hopefully meet all of your expectations. I am stoked by the positive response to the teaser, which clearly reflects the tone and scope of the film. If you like that, we've got much more in store!" [Ain't It Cool News] Also, here's some Hollywood Reporter-supplied video of Jackman in the reassurance mode...

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO'S "LOST"? Television critic Robert Lloyd has written some great pieces lately, including a wonderful appreciation of the late Patrick McGoohan and fall-down funny appraisal of the Powerpuff Girls (which includes this line: "From a preschool perspective, the series might be called transgressive, since it is a cartoon in which the characters beat each other up and destroy a lot of property. Collateral damage, thy name is Powerpuff."). And today he has a great take on "Lost" a show that, for him, is certainly living up to its name: "'Lost,' which returns for its fifth season tonight on ABC, is like a troublesome but attractive friend who comes into your house and talks a lot of nonsense that you tolerate because it's entertaining and because you aren't completely sure it is nonsense. It might make sense in some form of the language that you do not personally understand. You can either let this annoy you, or you can try to work out the meaning, or you can just enjoy the flow in a noncommittal way that does not preclude your being stimulated, shocked or held in suspense -- like a fun-house ride. I am of the third disposition, and have also been of the first. (I wager that even people who love 'Lost' a lot more than I do have at times wanted to reach right through the TV screen and give it a good slap.) As to the second, attempting to resolve all its clues, bread crumbs and loose ends into a workable whole is more than my time is worth. More important, it's a drag on the show: The more that the writers find explanations for the myriad strange phenomena that plague the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 -- the surviving survivors -- the less interesting those phenomena become. The mysterious becomes the merely preposterous. The weirdness of a polar bear on a tropical island is more satisfying than any reason you can provide for it." [Los Angeles Times]

ON THIS DATE: It was on this day in 1926 that actor Steve Reeves, who would bring considerable muscle to Hollywood, was born in Glasgow, Montana. After his father died in a  farming accident, 10-year-old Reeves moved west to California with his mother and, in high school in Oakland, developed an interest in weightlifting. After a stint in the Pacific in World War II, he became a pioneer of the nascent bodybuilding scene and then a star of the screen, most memorably as Hercules. He died in 2000. To celebrate his birthday, let's all flex a new muscle today. To see some video of Reeves in action, continue to the bottom of this post...

It's an MLK Day edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of headlines from across the fanboy universe...

"LOST: IN TIME: The countdown continues to the return of "Lost" this week. Here's a tidbit about the general direction of the show: "The producers of 'Lost' say the new season will emphasize time shifting along with Sawyer, the repentant con man played by Josh Holloway. 'Lost' executive producer Carlton Cuse says navigating between the past, present and future is a challenge but the potential for exciting storytelling makes it worthwhile. Cuse and fellow executive producer Damon Lindelof told a meeting of the Television Critics Association Friday that the character of Sawyer has a lot to do this season — and viewers will see a lot of him from the start. Cuse says there's even something in the show for people who aren't huge time travel fans. The first episode features a shirtless Sawyer. The fifth season of 'Lost' opens with a two-hour episode 9 p.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 21, on ABC." [Associated Press] There's also some interesting stuff over at Sci Fi Wire, including this quote from Lindelof: "The show has been a time-travel show for the last four years," Lindelof said. The writers are just making it more apparent, he added: "We feel the audience is prepared to go on that journey with us." And beware of spoilers, but there's also a rundown over at THR Feed that includes this line from Cuse, "Sawyer has a lot to do this year. For those who are not fans of time travel, we have his shirt off in the season premiere."

SHAKY "FOUNDATION"?: You think "Watchmen" is unfilmable Did you cringe at David Lynch's efforts to cork up the sprawling epic of "Dune" into a coherent film? Well, just sit back and watch the guy who made "The Day After Tomorrow" try to put Isaac Asmiov's mammoth "Foundation" epic through the Hollywood script machine.  Brandon Lee Tenney writes up a report that is much more optimistic than I am about the prospects: "After bouncing around between multiple production companies, the master of disaster, Roland Emmerich, and Columbia Pictures won an auction Thursday for the screen and development rights to 'Foundation'. Best known for his disaster blockbusters ('Independence Day,' 'The Day After Tomorrow,' and the forthcoming '2012'), Emmerich will be using 'Foundation' as a directorial vehicle -- this time on a galactic scale. Emmerich and Columbia won the rights over others like Alex Proyas and Warner Brothers. Foundation is an epic saga spanning hundreds of years where humanity finds itself scattered throughout the galaxy under the oppressive rule of the Galactic Empire. Originally published in serial format as five separate short stories beginning in 1942, 'Foundation' tells the story of a group of scientists, the Psychohistorians, who are doing all they can to preserve knowledge as the colonies around them steadily regress. The study of psychohistory equates every possible outcome of a large society into readable, predictable mathematics, allowing its practitioners to accurately predict long-term events. Through this insight, a discovery with disastrous consequences is made and a plan is set in motion to avert it. Although Columbia did acquire the rights to the trilogy, there's been no word yet on whether 'Foundation' will be a single film venture, or if the entire 'Foundation' trilogy will eventually make its way to the big screen." [First Showing]

RON MOORE EXPLAINS THE ELLEN CHOICE: Last week we brought you a global exclusive with the first interview with the Fifth Cylon, Ellen Tigh (Kate Vernon), and the ripples of that revelation in Friday night's episode of "Battlestar" continue. There is, for instance, an interesting chat between television critic Maureen Ryan and "Battlestar" mastermind Ron Moore, in which he explains that relationship between Ellen and Saul Tigh cemented the choice to make her the last secret synthetic sleeper: "There was something really appealing about the idea that of the final five, the two of them were a pair, and they were this pair -- you know, as drama-ridden as their relationship had been, the idea that there had always been something deeper and more profound at its center, I always really, really liked. ... Over the course of the third season, Ellen came and went in my thinking in terms of who the final five were. It probably wasn’t until we settled on the final four that I knew it was Ellen. When we got to the final four -- Tigh, Anders, Tory and Tyrol -- then it felt like, 'and Ellen has to be the fifth.' Because Tigh being revealed as a Cylon was such a profound shift in that character, such a big leap for the show, that it felt really natural that she was also a Cylon. And he had killed her for collaborating with the Cylons! There were layers and depths to that I felt were really fascinating, about guilt and blame and memory and responsibility, and I just really liked the way that all tied together." [The Watcher blog, Chicago Tribune]

HORROR-FILM FAN STABBED; MOVIE NOT SO GREAT EITHER: Well, "My Bloody Valentine 3-D" has delivered on its advertised promise to make the violence jump right off of the screen. This crime report in from Valley Stream, N.Y.:  "A Long Island security guard at a movie theater in Valley Stream has been arrested for stabbing a moviegoer, police said. Police said the security guard, Ricardo Singh, 24, was directing patrons to exit the theater after a showing of 'My Bloody Valentine in 3D' when he got into an argument with a 16-year-old who wanted to wait inside for his ride. The argument escalated into pushing and shoving and Singh allegedly took out a folding knife and stabbed the teenager in the stomach, police said. The victim was taken to Winthrop University Hospital where he received six stitches to close the wound. The security guard was arrested and charged with assault." [FOX News] And what about the film? Well, film critic Jason Anderson writes that, despite the pick-ax, the film didn't dig deep enough: "The trouble with 'My Bloody Valentine 3-D' is not the gruesome violence –- this is a horror movie, after all. In fact, genre devotees will likely be impressed with the film's old-school approach to mayhem, rare in our mostly timid era of CG and PG-13 scares. No, the trouble is that after that first gouged eyeball, there's not a whole lot further to go. Novelty value being a rapidly diminishing thing, the technology demands an escalation in intensity and inventiveness that the movie doesn't deliver. That 'My Bloody Valentine 3-D' doesn't fall apart in the final reel again makes it unique among its genre brethren. But a flick like this needs competence less than it needs some real audacity. [Toronto Star]

NO LOVE FOR GOTHAM: Awards maven Tom O'Neil notes that "The Dark Knight" has been a envelope-season darling but not this past weekend for its cinematic magic: "This weekend's viewing panels drawn from the 1,500-plus members of the Visual Effects Society delivered a far different take on the year's best compared with the Jan. 6 verdict by a jury of peers at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. That group, selected from the 250-plus members of the visual effects branch, winnowed 15 films down to 7 semi-finalists that will compete for the 3 slots in the Academy Awards race for best visual effects. The seventh annual VES kudos will be handed out on Feb. 21, the night before the Oscarcast. The VES agreed on the merits of only three of the Academy's seven semi-finalists — 'Iron Man' (5 VES nods), 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' (4 VES bids), and 'Hellboy II: The Golden Army' (2 VES noms) — by including them in their top race. However, 'The Dark Knight' had to make do with four lesser VES noms, while 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor; got only one VES nod and Oscar semi-finalists 'Australia' and 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' were completely shut out. Instead, the VES included the Oscar-snubbed 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian' (2 VES nods) and 'Cloverfield' (3 VES nods) in their top race." [The Envelope]

ON THIS DATE: The gothic genius Edgar Allan Poe was born on this date in 1809 and he spent just 40 troubled years among the living before a somewhat mysterious death -- he was found on the street of Baltimore, delirious and wearing another man's clothes. Some say he died of brain tumor, others blame his heavy drinking, the consumption, a case of rabies, cholera or syphilis. Needless to say, the death certificate was lost. Poe had many enemies (one of them, Rufus Wilmot Griswold, wrote Poe's obituary for the New York Times, which crassly noted that the news of Poe's abrupt death will "will startle many, but few will be grieved by it") and two lifetime's worth of heartache, but his name endures thanks to works such as "The Raven" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" and his considerable influence on horror, detective fiction and even science fiction (H.G. Wells and Jules Verne among his fans). To celebrate his birthday, let's always be careful to keep our own pants on in Baltimore. ALSO: At the bottom of this post, check out some interpretations of Poe by the incomparable Vincent Price.

Michael Emerson, the actor who plays "Lost" bad guy Benjamin Linus, gets profiled in Wednesday's Emmy edition of The Envelope. (He's up again this year for outstanding supporting actor.)

Last month, I spent an afternoon chatting with him in his manager's office for the story. It was a  spoiler-free affair, unfortunately, as Emerson had not received any scripts for the forthcoming fifth season.

Here are the highlights from our conversation that didn't make it into the story:

He wasn’t made a regular series member until Season 3. Before that, he never knew if Ben was coming or going: “I really didn't. The producers kept me in drips and drabs. They’d say things at the last second like, ‘Don’t pack yet,’ or ‘Can’t go home yet, you’re in the next episode.’ Then it became, ‘Actually we’ll tell you when you can go home.’ I started thinking, ‘Wow, I’m never home anymore. I’m on this show more than a bunch of the people here.’”

Emerson's wife, actress Carrie Preston (“True Blood”), was a “Lost” maniac long before her hubby was cast on the show. She even talked herself into the role of Ben’s mom … sort of: “She made that happen almost by wishing for it. She’d always tell me, ‘If I ever got on "Lost," I'd want to be your mother, like in a flashback.’ I’d tell that story at parties, it was so silly. Everyone would crack up. But lo and behold, when they wrote that big flashback for me, who do you think the producers called?”

He guessed that Ben might be the ubervillain long before anyone told him. In fact, no one ever did tell him: “I learned the story at the same rate the audience was learning it. I didn’t know where it was going. So because I had no backstory, somewhere along the line I began to think about Ben as this mysterious leader figure. When we shot the scene where I was being tortured by the plane crash survivors in the hatch, the director told me to act like I was really scared for my life, like I was innocent, like I wasn't one of the Others. And I said to him, ‘But what if I’m their leader?’ And he looked at me and blinked a couple of times and said, ‘I can’t talk about it’ and ran away. I had to guess what was going on!"

"Lost" actors don’t get scripts until the very last minute, but Emerson said there are ways to get the scoop: “If I wanted to call up certain technical department heads -- like costume or sound -- they have rough scripts early. They know the deal. Sometimes they’ve taken pity on me, letting me know if I need to ride a horse or play piano in an upcoming episode. Otherwise, I’m in the dark. But I've gotten used to it. Now, not knowing is part of the fun."

Really, the actors aren't just being coy. They know nothing. “We never see the writers. They come once a year after the last episode has been written. They come and visit us in Hawaii. And they’re there for an afternoon. That’s it.”

He was just as surprised as audiences to learn that Ben single-handedly killed off all the members of the Dharma Initiative: “I was shocked by the darkness and ruthlessness of that act. That surprised me. I thought the writers were playing a game of "Let’s keep everyone guessing about Ben.' I never thought that they would portray me so villainously as that. I spoke to the writers about that and, of course, they said, ‘Don’t worry, it gets recontextualized.’ Hasn’t happened yet. Maybe they’re just pulling my leg.”

He’s got several of his own theories about Ben: “Is he really an industrialist? Is Ben just a commando leader? Or is it just one dimension of something else? In some other dimension are Ben and Charles Whitmore just two drinking buddies playing a video game? It’s a mystery.”

-- Denise Martin

Photo credit: ABC

"Fringe," the new show from J.J. Abrams, premieres Tuesday night (8 p.m., Fox) and Abrams has been pledging for weeks that it will be easier to follow than some of his other shows, which he believes left some viewers feeling, well, "Lost."

How does "Fringe" compare to his past work?

Is it too derivative of shows such as "The X-Files" or his own baby, "Alias"?

Here's the lowdown from Los Angeles Times television critic Mary McNamara, who has a mixed-bag review of the show:

The poor airline industry. As if rising gas prices, increased security measures and constant cost-cutting were not enough, now there’s another J.J. Abrams pilot. Travelers who have finally shaken the anxiety-provoking images of cult-inducing “Lost” can look forward to a whole new set of phobias thanks to the opening moments of Abrams’ new show “Fringe.”

As lightning crackles around an international flight to Boston, a wild-eyed passenger injects himself with something one can only hope is a tranquilizer and then next thing you know ... well, I don’t want to spoil anything for the 19 people who haven’t seen the pilot online, but it results in the assemblage of every law enforcement agency in the country donning hazmat suits.

Because comparisons are unavoidable, it must be noted up front that this is not the same sort of jaw-droppingly, what-the-heck-kind-of-show-is-this pilot that “Lost” had. Frankly, we know what kind of show this is going to be. “Fringe” stands for Fringe Science, which includes everything from mental telepathy to reanimation, so much of your enjoyment will depend on how much you still miss the “The X-Files.”

While “The X-Files” told us the truth is out there, “Fringe” posits the equally vague notion that “Everything is Part of a Pattern.” So, if you’re the type of person who needs every little thing, or indeed any little thing, to make sense in a pilot, then you should probably watch “Fringe” in solitude, preferably with the door closed, so the rest of us can enjoy it for what it is — an uneven, but promising jumble of horror, thriller and comedy that is not afraid to reference SpongeBob and “Altered States” in practically the same scene.

Let the games begin.

Those who asked a question during the "€œLost"€ standing-room-only session were well-rewarded.

Executive producers Damon Lindelof (who was wearing a convention-appropriate "SAVE SNAPE" T-shirt) and Carlton Cuse bought a bottomless box of goodies for fans — think something like Mary Poppins’ carpet bag -- all direct from the set of the ABC series.

But perhaps even more important than swag, the Comic-Con crowd was privy to a secret video — which will be available online soon, no doubt. The clip showed out-of-uniform Dharma Initiative scientist Marvin Candle (or Edgar Halliwax, depending on which of his videos you're watching) urging those watching the video to reconstitute the Dharma Initiative, but all was quickly cut off by an unknown video recorder.

Here's a rundown of "Lost" fans'  burning questions and the prizes that went with them:

Q: When the hatch imploded and the sky turned purple did the island move then? Like it did when Ben moved it (more recently)?
Damon Lindelof: No. But something happened and that's an excellent question.
Prize: an Oceanic Airlines bottle of water

Q: Are Jin and Locke dead?
Carlton Cuse: Jin and Locke will still be on the show in some form. You'€™ve not seen the last of either of those characters. You know, dead is a relative term. In the timelines of those characters there'€™s still a lot of story to be told.
Prize: Jin's panda bear doll.

Q: Is "Lost" coming back next year? 
DL: We’re doing 17 hours in February 2009 and 17 hours in 2010.
Prize: A '€œLost'€ calendar.

Q: Favorite episode and favorite season?
CC: 'The Constant' would be my favorite episode. I think in terms of favorite seasons, the first one was so amazing and we were trying to figure everything out; yeah, just the excitement and terror of it.
DL: The Season One finale with the raft launch and all of that stuff. It was back when the show could be hopeful before it degraded into despair. And for favorite season? Season Four; everyone worked really hard. You will be rewarded for hanging in until Season Six.
CC: For us it was a huge advantage to get an end date to the show; it really reinvigorated us.
Prize: Apollo bar and an Apollo T-shirt.

Q: I just wanted to slap you around for the Jin and Sun episode -- you guys are naughty.
DL: For slapping us around, here are some "Heroes" DVDs. It'€™s a much better show than ours. Enjoy!
Prize: "€œHeroes" DVD box set

Q: Are we going to get a (Danielle Rousseau) flashback? Will you definitively say in front of 6,500 of us that there will be one?
CC: We will say this: You will see Rousseau's story. But to use the word flashback would be disingenuous. We’re going to do flashbacks and flash-forwards next season, but we’ll mostly be doing something different.
DL: Danielle Rousseau will be in Season Five.
Prize: “Lost” luggage tags

At this point, someone asked a question about whether production would continue under “the new SAG contract,” to which Lindelof replied that he wasn’t aware there was a new one yet -- there isn’t -- but reassured shooting would continue regardless. For asking the question, the guy received the best worst prize of the lot: Photographs of the actors who played short-lived Nikki and Paulo. “Who wouldn’t want that?” Lindeloff asked. “Yes, two SAG actors,” said Cuse.

Q: Do your own mothers not know how the show will end?
CC: They like to be in the dark.
Prize: A life jacket signed by all the writers.

Q: Where is our special guest?
DL: The actors [are] scattered all over the world at the moment, so it’s almost a Herculean task to get any of them out here.
Prize: Signed box set of all seasons of the show.

Q: What happened to [the dog] Vincent?
DL: Vincent made it and will appear in season five. Safe to say he’ll make it to the end of the show.
Prize: Polar bear doll

Q: Are Jack and Kate your one true pairing and will they end up together?
CC: There it is. Someone who asked a real question, a ballsy question that gets right to the heart of the story and the mythology -- we can’t answer it.
DL: Sir, we can not tell you the answer to that question. Obviously we’re very invested in that relationship.
Prize: Jack Shepherd autographed doll … delivered by surprise guest Matthew Fox.

Q: Will Kate ever see Sawyer again?
DL: Not if Jack has anything to say about it! No, yes, Kate will see Sawyer again
Prize: A signed “Lost” poster

Q: Now that the island has moved, what happened to the survivors and Daniel Faraday?
DL: You refer to the Zodiac boat and the non-line speakers, right? Sadly, there is a monsoon a comin’ for some...
Prize: An authentic Faraday tie. “For those of you wondering why Faraday is wearing a tie on the island, stay tuned,” Lindeloff said.

Q: Flash-forwards, how are you going to limit yourselves?
DL: When Season Five starts, you won’t know where and when you are. The way we’re gonna tell stories is gonna be different too.
CC: We organized a bit differently; if we were constrained by FF and FB that that was not gonna be the best way to tell our stories.
Prize: Hanso foundation hat.

Q: How does this show end?
CC: It ends well, we hope -- we can’t answer that.
Prize: A six pack of Dharma drinks

Q: Do you ever come up with stuff like, let’s make Kate a dude, or do you have it all planned out from the beginning?
CC: You can’t have It all planned out. We actually try to write ourselves into corners every day. What we try to avoid is filming that without knowing the answers. We try to puzzle our way out of situations.
Prize: DryErase eraser signed by CC and DL

Q: How old is Richard Alpert and how many toes does he have?
CC: That’s a really good question. He is quite old. We’ve hinted that people age differently on the island and people heal. That is hopefully an engaging mystery that will keep you tuning in. You will learn more about Richard Alpert.
DL: You’re gonna see his toes too.
Prize: A T-shirt that says: “I asked a Richard Alpert a question and all I got what this lousy T-shirt.”

-- Denise Martin

Photo: Carlton Cuse, from left, and Damon Lindelof. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

Correction: Danielle Russo was misspelled. It has been corrected to read Rousseau.