The Sci Fi Guy

One of my favorite TV shows in the recent year has been ABC’s hit Lost. I was first introduced to the show with the Season 1 DVD’s a friend decided to share with me, and since that first pilot episode, I’ve been a pretty hooked fan. However, Season 3, which is about to wrap up on Wednesday, got me thinking about one of my biggest complaints about the show: Character Motivation.

In the first season, there were essentially two main character motivations: 1 was for surivival and discovery, and the other was Locke’s obsession with the mysterious hatch. Then in season two, it became more apparent that there were others on the island that needed to be investigated, and that there could potentially be a way off the island. I highlighted that last part because in a show like Lost, the desire to get off the island should be on the forefront of every character’s mind at essentially all times.

Good science fiction authors are keenly aware of the motivation of their characters. Ender of Orson Scott Cards’ books is one of the most notable because Card provides a huge range of personal dialogue that the reader can enjoy about why Ender does what he’s doing. This motivation is apparent to the other characters over time, and to other characters doesn’t even ever seem to make sense.

However, inside the world of Lost, there seems to be obvious lulls in the storyline as the characters stop trying to get off the island, which makes viewers like me stop to ponder – then what the hell is the point?

The character of Michael, love him or hate him, at least kept this agenda his number one priority throughout his time on the island. He built a raft. It got burnt down. He built another one. He kept trying to get off the island because that’s what stranded plane-crash survivors are supposed to do. Instead, we’ve seen dozens of “extras” wander around with no clear objective, and the main characters don’t seem to be very savvy when it comes to coming up with plans to get off the island.

The problem arises in the fact that the hope of rescue should’ve faded a long time ago. These guys don’t see airplanes in the sky or ships off the horizon that often, and there have been no radio signals to the island. There was a food drop of Dharma goods, which makes even less sense now that we know that Ben & his “Others” actually wiped out the Dharma people! Why would they still be getting Dharma goods? And why would it land so close and conveniently to the crash survivors?

But I’m tangenting (like Lost makes people like me do). The point I’m trying to make is that for a show like Lost to be more plausable, there should be at least one character who’s relentless obsession is to get off the island. This might involve building another ship, or trying to construct a hot air baloon, or something worthwhile. As it stands, you end up with a bunch of people sitting on a beach not doing anything, and that’s just not believable.

A great character should have a range of motivations. With the 30 or 40 so survivors, there should be at least one who’s overriding motivation is to get off the island and back home.

I can’t say that I’m necessarily surprised, but it’s with a disappointed heart that my first post on SciFi-Guy.com has to be a blow to science fiction and post-apoc fans everywhere.

Here’s the short & sweet from Film.com:

“What makes me really mad is how representative the Jericho story is of the utter dim-wittedness of network television today.”

(Read the full Film.com rant here)

Jericho’s tale is disappointing not only because it was actually an entertaining show on CBS that didn’t involve police drama or crime scene investigation, but also a story that could’ve been resolved had it not been forced to “cliffhanger” in the end. It also reminds me of the Fox series Harsh Realm that got canned after a lackluster 7-8 episodes. The biggest difference between HR and Jericho is that Jericho was reasonably successful. It stood up to comparisons to Lost, it stood up to competition with American Idol, and it even stood up to the loss of 3 months worth of potential audience with the November to February hiatus that so many networks are putting their viewers through.

Jericho had (has? maybe I shouldn’t give up hope so easily) characters I can care about, a storyline with intrigue and complexity, and each episode was individually satisfying. Hell, I was ready to vote Johnston for President! As it stands, there are rumors spinning that a cable network such as the SciFi Channel might pick up Jericho for another season. If that’s the case, I hope they maintain it’s character and storyline.

For a science fiction, post apoc junkie like myself, it’s a shame to lose Jericho.