Lost Virtual Tour

We've posted our first batch of locations for the Season 4 opener here.



The end of the Camaro's run was one fun location we found. It sure looked like N. King St., but two details pegged it for sure. One was a sign on a background business for "Excellent Motor Group" (located at 1010 N. King), and the other was a street sign where the word "Peterson" was visible. There we have it, the oceanside of N. King and Peterson. A fun detail: you can see the Honolulu Police Department in traffic vests closing off the street for the scene where Hurley weaves through traffic (all with CA plates)-- they look like traffic cops (because they are), so it fits perfectly.



But we're unsure of a few things:



The beginning of the chase scene in the loading yard is still a mystery. Our first guess was near Pier 38, but the visible roofs are not green. One extra clue is the brick detail.



And the surveillance video (interior and exterior) of Hurley at the convenience store as he is spooked prior to the car chase? Our best guess is the Aloha Gas mini mart herejust a block away from the one where Hurley won the lottery-- but we're not sure. (UPDATE: That Aloha Gas is NOT the location, we just drove over and checked). Finally, we're presuming Jack's apartment and Hurley's interrogation with Big Mike are simply in the soundstage at Hawaii Film Studio.



As always, we'd love to hear from you if you have a tip to help nail down the locations for this episode.

The wait for Season 4 ends in two days. For those of you in Honolulu, there are two Lost viewing parties we have heard about.




1) The first viewing party will be at Planet Hollywood in Waikiki and is organized by Ryan Ozawa, the blogger and former podcaster of the Lost podcast called "The Transmission." Call 924-7877 for directions and parking information. Read the announcement on Ryan's blog here.




2) The second viewing party will be at Tropical Smoothie Cafe on the ground floor corner of the Hawaiki (KHON) tower at the corner of Pi'ikoi and Waimanu (just next to Ala Moana Shopping Center), and is organized by the owner of this Tropical Smoothie store, Lost actor Teddy Wells, who played the Other named "Ivan" (see image, right). Parking is easy in the Hawaiki building (call 593-7373 or 349-9526 for more info). Read an article on the event in Caryn Kunz's Honolulu Advertiser Lost blog here. Incidentally, if you want to see Teddy some other day, word is you can pretty much drop by any day for a Smoothie (or a wifi coffeeshop alternative) and he'll be there managing his store.




The fun starts on Thursday: 7pm is the start of the recap clip show, and 8pm is the start of the premiere. And remember the Season 3 cliffhanger will be rebroadcast the day before on Wednesday from 8 to 10pm. Also if you missed them, be sure to see the thirteen mini mobile episodes, or "mobisodes" (aka Lost: Missing Pieces) at the ABC website here. Each is about 2-3 minutes in length, and are miniature story tidbits featuring the cast of Lost. Some are better than others, but the last one (to be released next Monday, but already previewed on Verizon phones) is a true mind-bender.

Numerous readers have been emailing us to let us know that various vehicles, including the iconic blue DHARMA VW vans, have been moved to the Hawaii Film Studio lot, from their original storage location at the Iwilei lot. We speculate this is due to the ongoing film stoppage due to the writer's strike, but we honestly haven't checked out the Iwilei lot recently to confirm it is vacant. Visible at the Hawaii Film Studio from the street outside are three VW vans, film crew trailers, and assorted prop vehicles such as yellow cabs and police cars. See if you can find the mysterious gold Pontiac (it has appeared in car accidents in three episodes so far), as well as the two gray BMWs (used in a Kate and Jin flashback) there too, as those had previously been spotted at Iwilei. Thank you to our friends at Kos Hummer Lost Tours for these photos.

A few months ago, Valeri, a senior reporter from the Russian newspaper Pravda came to Hawaii to look for Lost locations, and we helped him out and took him around to a host of locations, as did our friend Ed Kos of Kos Hummmer Tours. The first part of his article has been published, and you can view it here. (See here for the translation by Google's language tools.) More location matches are soon to be published in this series, and we'll post again as we hear more.

Our friend Jon Lachonis (aka DocArzt, formerly of thetailsection.com) just let us know of some sad news. The Sunset on the Beach event for 2008 has been cancelled. This event was to be the world premiere of Lost Season 4 on an outdoor screen on the beach in Waikiki, and as of last week, the lastest news was that the event was still on for late January.



Alas, DocArzt learned from his sources that the event has been canceled outright, and he speculates that the Screen Actors Guild's support of the writers' strike may have played a hand in this cancellation.



For more information see his original post at his personal blog docarzt.com here.

Our good friend Jon Lachonis of the UGO TV blog (and formerly of Thetailsection.com) confirmed to us that according to his inside sources at ABC, the Sunset on the Beach event is now to be held on Saturday, January 26, 2008.



In case you missed the past few blog entries, this event is the world premiere sneak peak at the Season premiere of Season 4 of Lost on an outdoor screen set up on the beaches of Waikiki Beach in Hawai'i. Previously, Jon's sources had indicated that the event was to be held on the first Saturday in February, but since that time, ABC had announced the TV broadcast premiere of 4x01 was to be on Thursday January 31, making a February beach date unlikely!



Because of the writer's strike, production is on hold, and the cast members have largely scattered off-island for now, but word is that at least some, and perhaps most, of the cast members will indeed be at this Jan 26 event. However, due to the ongoing writer's strike, don't be surprised if some of the executive producers (who are also WGA members) pass on attending this year.



So if you will be in Hawaii, mark your calendar for January. Nothing is for certain, but with the clock ticking down to a confirmed Lost launch in early 2008, the event is almost certainly going to be held on this date (likely reflecting some last second rescheduling with Honolulu C&C). So on that Saturday well before sunset to beat the crowds, just go to Waikiki Beach on the Diamondhead (eastern) end near the intersection with Kapahulu Ave., and you won't be able to miss the giant screen, stage, red carpet, and yes the crowds that came even earlier than you did.



If we hear more, we'll post it here.

ABC's PR arm just released a January schedule that lists Lost Season 4 as premiering on January 31, 2008. You can read about it at their midseason schedule press release here.



This is a week earlier than previously thought, and puts into doubt the "6" theory for February 6 as the premiere date.



It also puts a question mark on the Sunset on the Beach world premiere event on an outdoor screen in Waikiki, since that had been previously pegged for the first Saturday in February, which is February 2, which is now two days after the scheduled premiere on January 31.



Although the wording of the press release specifically mentioned Season 4 premiering, the possibility remains that it might be some sort of a clip recap show, with the true premiere of 4x01 a week later. If a recap show, the Sunset on the Beach date of Feb 2 makes sense (although any attending cast would have to fly back in). Otherwise, it does not, for it would not be a premiere.



Stay tuned as we'll post more information as soon as we know more.

We posted in late October that the Sunset on the Beach event, which is the world premiere of the season opening episode of Lost on an outdoor screen at Waikiki Beach, was confirmed for February 2, 2008. About a week after this post, the WGA (writer's guild) strike commenced, and as of today is still ongoing, making the cancellation of the filming of Season 4 very likely.



ABC has indicated it will air the eight episodes of Season 4 that have already been filmed. However if filming ends, this means the film crew and cast will be laid off, and are free to depart Hawaii. The question was: will there still be a Sunset on the Beach event as scheduled?



The short answer is yes.



Our original source for the February 2 date was Jon Lachonis (aka DocArzt formerly of the blog at thetailsection.com), and his source was said to be very reliable and maybe even close to "The Powers that Be" at Lost. This week we received word that he has been authorized to state that the event is indeed still on despite the strike. You can read his exacts words at his new blog at UGO TV.



His latest blog entry mentions February 6 as a possible S4 broadcast premiere and an explanation for the number "6" that has mysteriously been featured on Lost promos in recent days. This date also supports February 2 as the likely Saturday for Sunset on the Beach.



Many people attend the premiere to see the cast, who have attended past premieres at Waikiki. However the WGA strike means the cast will likely have to fly back to Hawaii if they intend on attending. Will they be there? Lachonis wrote in his blog: "It is hard to say what this years event will look like with the increasing likelihood that Lost’s production will close down for the season, which would give the cast the option of traveling abroad." Reading between the lines, an educated guess would be that the cast are being encouraged to attend, and would probably be happy to come (who doesn't love Hawai'i), but would not be required to, especially if obligated by other work or travel during that time.

We've started working on our backlog of photos and have just posted two new 360 degree Quicktime VR panoramas. You can look up or down, spin around, and all that.



Here they are:



1) Omega Station - Panorama, Main page - The whole area "looks" like the Island. Nestled beneath H3 is the "real" Hydra station. Taking a spin on this VR makes you really feel like you're there!



2) Fort Street Mall at Merchant - Panorama, Main page - Where Desmond walked out from Widmore Corporation after being rejected by Penny's father, and met Charlie playing some Nirvana.



Relax on a bench and look for the man with Red shoes coming out from underground at the Satellite City Hall entrance (yellow signs beneath red truck near Macy's).

We haven't really commented on the writers strike, but Lost has been continuing filming, through Episode 8, as well as various mobisodes. However word on the internet is that Lost may be halting production before the end of this month, perhaps as early as next week, because of there are no more working scripts ready to film.



In case you haven't heard, the writers (WGA) and producers (AMPTP) are scheduled for a new round of negotiations on November 26, so there may still be hope, as the cast and crew probably have not been released from their exclusive contracts yet due to the strike. However if we go into December, this possibility becomes very real and immediate, and such a "force majeure" release from contract would be the end of the filming season. So have a good Turkey day and cross your fingers, and wish Lost's own Carlton Cuse (and WGA negotiator) good luck at the bargaining table.



UPDATE: Our friend Jon Lachonis (aka DocArzt, formerly of Thetailsection, now a blogger at UGO's Lost blog) pointed out to me that Damon Lindelof suggested (sourced from an Ask Ausellio blog) that the season is salvageable in the case of an agreement before Christmas, with even a short-term stopgap contract.