The LOST Panel at Comic-Con 08: New Dharma Video!

I just left the official Lost panel and am sitting in the hallway of the convention center to post this report.

As expected, it was fantastic. Amazing. Worth getting up at dark to wait in line from 5:30am until noon (hey, I'm dedicated but I draw the line at camping out the night before).

The Heroes panel, featuring the premiere of the first episode of Season 3 and the entire cast on hand, took place immediately before the Lost panel. It was pretty stellar. More about that on my other blog later.

You can find a detailed play-by-play of the panel over on DocArzt, written by Tapdawg (my new friend, who was seated next to me; he also appears in the OGR video, undergoing testing!). I held the camera while he blogged, because he taped the entire panel. Stay tuned for that footage, plus the brand new Dharma video featuring Dr. Candle!

Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse talked briefly about Season 4, and said that it was logistically impossible for the cast to gather during Comic-Con (because they're all off living and filming movies elsewhere). Lo and behold, Matthew Fox appeared!

Darlton (Damon + Carlton) had Lost-related gifts for anyone who asked a question. Each gift related to their inquiry. It was quite strange and damn funny. I have to say to the guy who literally asked the very same question I asked Darlton yesterday (about Bentham and the panopticon) - not cool, man. Create your own very specific inquiry next time.

OGR/New Dharma Video

Not only were Darlton drinking from new Dharma Initiative sponsored cups, the infamous Hans Van Eeghen from Octagon Global Recruiting appeared to discuss the results of the tests administered in the booth here at Comic-Con. He said they were abysmal (to great laughter). However, they 'recruited' 5 people who appeared to be actors and not actual CC attendees.

One of the recruited members was quite loud and obnoxious. He later interrupted Darlton and Fox to scream about unauthorized footage he'd obtained from inside the pod at the booth. Turns out it was a brand new Dharma video of Dr. Marvin Candle, who said his real name was Pierre Chang (Cheng?). He was being videotaped by an unknown man, and you could hear a baby crying in the room. It appeared as if he taped the message in the Swan hatch, and kept touching his left arm (which we know he loses at some point in time). Chang referenced 30 years from that time (he knew about the future from a 'credible source;' that GWB was president, etc.). He also said that "we're all dead now." Again, I refer you to the actual video.

My first instinct was to say that the baby crying is Charlotte. Now that we know she was probably born on the island or at least brought there at a young age, it would make sense. She's about 30 years old, right?

Anyway, I will simply post the 'best of' from my Twitter updates during the panel, to review the main points:

• The panel opened with a pseudo-documentary style video about the Oceanic 6, questioning how their real rescue, followed by a brief look at the Freighter Four
  

• They also played a hysterical video featuring Damon & Carlton in flash-forward form. Carlton was sporting a 'stache and 4 More Years Obama tee, and Damon had an eye-patch.
  

• Someone asked if Jin and Locke are really dead. The response? "Dead is a relative term."

• When asked if Rousseau would get a flashback, they said that we will definitely see her story.
  

• Vincent is alive and well, FYI.

• At the beginning of Season 5, we will not know where we are or during what time.

• Richard Alpert is in fact old, and we will also learn more about him.

Phew. Mission accomplished. See you soon.

p.s. Who knew that Hurley had a bad twin?!