Paul Terry: Land of the Lost

After six seasons’ worth of hatches, polar bears, time travel and smoke monsters, it’s now time to assess the mythology and minutiae behind Lost. And if you have any burning questions about the show, help is on hand in the form of the Lost Encyclopedia by Paul Terry and Tara Bennett (DK, released 22 November 2010). Terry took Total Sci-Fi back to the island …

What can fans expect from the Lost Encyclopedia?

A lot of details! Whenever Tara and I started talking to fans and press about this book, we always used this example: do you remember the asthma inhaler that Shannon had? You’ll find that under ‘A’. The zodiac raft? That’s covered in ‘Z’. And of course, the island… that’s in there under ‘I’. So as far as covering the details of the show, I guess you could basically say that we dive into the minutiae of things like a character’s asthma condition, as well as writing in detail about the island itself.

Every character, important item, event and location is covered, either with a dedicated alphabetical entry or in some cases, as part of another entry. Everything is also written ‘in-universe’, which has made it a fascinating project to work on. Unlike Lost: The Official Magazine, which was the exact opposite, and focused on the behind-the-scenes of the show and its cast and crew, the intention of the Lost Encyclopedia was always to create a tome that was in-world and a ‘canon’ resource for Lost fans.

Co-creator/Executive Producer Damon Lindelof and Executive Producer Carlton Cuse wrote a fascinating foreword for the book where they use the analogy of an iceberg, which is so perfect – how the broadcast show was 10% of the iceberg, and that most of their time in the writers’ room was spent creating the other 90% – the part of the iceberg beneath the surface you never got to see. To be able to work directly with Lost’s producers and ABC Studios for a year-long project, to capture that hidden part of the iceberg in an official, encyclopedic form, has been such a fascinating experience.

What do you think was the main appeal of the show? Why did it last for six seasons when so many series are cancelled after just one?

I think it was a combination of things – several ‘lightning in a bottle’ moments that I think are incredibly rare on their own, but to have them all collide, was just amazing.

Firstly, and most importantly, it had a really engaging, multi-layered mystery. I love films, books, and TV shows that really keep the ‘story is king’ mantra at the core of what they’re trying to achieve, and Lost really did that. The writing and story-crafting was exceptional, and incredibly cinematic for a weekly TV show, and fans around the world clearly responded to that. The writing was very daring, and bravely served up many, many mysteries. It wasn’t afraid to challenge viewers, which I think Hollywood can often be terrified of – the “But the audience won’t get it!” syndrome which ultimately produces spoon-feeding exercises in entertainment.

Lost’s producers constantly reminded fans of the show that they themselves were the biggest fans of the story, and so wanted to be able to watch each aired master and feel satisfied. Fans really respected the mystery, and although they sometimes felt frustrated they weren't being given answers quicker, the truth was, they always wanted the reveals to be executed slowly and with the precision of a magician – because who wants to see a quick ‘turn’ without a brilliant ‘pledge’ and even better, an earned ‘prestige’?

Add to that the multitude of amazing actors and a vast crew that pulled off essentially a mini-feature film every week, and I think this is why Lost had such a successful global appeal.

Reading the book really makes you appreciate the dense mythology behind the show. How do you think the writers managed to avoid tangling themselves up in knots?

A combination of great planning, even better forward-thinking, and the legendry memory banks and skills of co-producer/writer Gregg Nations!

Fans of the show know Gregg as being responsible for keeping the ‘Lost bible’ in-check, and believe me, as someone who has had numerous conversations with Gregg throughout the process of writing the Encyclopedia, this man can recall – without missing a beat – the tiniest detail about Lost and tell you exactly where it occurred, when it occurred, which characters were carrying what kind of weapons at that particular time, and what he had for lunch the day the writers’ room came up with that detail… The man has the super-multitasking and recall abilities of something like HAL… except without being evil.

Can you pick a favourite character and favourite episode?

My favourites are Locke, Ben and Desmond, but my overall favourite character has to be John Locke. The combination of Terry O’Quinn’s astounding performance, and the character’s unbelievably complex and fascinating journey meant, for me, there was always something engaging about his story.

My favourite episode is the fan-fave ‘The Constant’. It was the Desmond-centric episode when his consciousness became unstuck in time, and it just had everything: action, mystery, reveals, and right at the end, one of the best, most emotionally engaging phone calls in any film or TV series. Yes, that good. The performances all-round are so strong in that episode, the direction is inspired, and the editing style to illustrate what Desmond is going through is eye-popping. Can you tell I love it?

Did you have an inkling the show was going to be huge right from the first episode?

I think that when I saw the pilot, like many others, the feeling was, ‘This is already my new favourite show… I really hope millions of others agree so that it can have a long life.’

J.J. Abrams’ direction for that pilot was incredible, and just like his Alias pilot, he crammed so much into one episode. The clever and well-timed roars of the monster was the moment when I thought that this show has just entered unmissable territory – the crash and the characters and the set-up was engaging enough, but throwing in those roars and the attack was a genius turn.

What was the biggest surprise during those six seasons?

I think the clever flash-forward reveal at the end of season three – where we thought we’d been watching a Jack flashback, but were actually seeing events form the future where he’d gotten off the island. I don’t think anyone saw that coming, and especially as it had already been announced that the show would end after six seasons, throwing the audience a curve-ball that, half-way through, characters had somehow escaped the island was a huge “What the what?!” moment.

Presumably you had to go back and re-watch a lot of the show for this book. Did that throw anything up any intricacies you missed first time round?

Absolutely. No matter how huge a fan you are of Lost (and Tara and myself are obviously massive fans, being tied to the show since it began), a re-watch will always throw things up you missed before. The details that blew us away were tiny, throw-away lines of dialogue or even just the way a character looked/reacted that left you leaping for the pause button and making a note: “Wait a second, that seems to foreshadow something seasons later…”

So yeah, we did have to re-watch all of Lost a few times for the book, to make sure we caught all of those fascinating moments. One of the most satisfying things for us as the writers of this book is hearing that hardened fans of the show who have a copy are using it as a reference guide during their own re-watch, and that the book is providing them with information that they hadn’t spotted before. To get feedback like this from fans that spent a lot of time debating Lost in forums is great to hear.

Age-old question: do you think the writers did have a grand plan right from the get-go?

Yeah, it’s the question the producers get asked the most too! Obviously like any TV show, things evolve – like Michael Emerson becoming a series regular because he was so amazing as Ben – but there was an over-arching plan for sure. Re-watching it makes that clear.

What’s been the highpoint from your own involvement with Lost magazines, books, yearbooks and set visits?

I think each highlight kind of trumped the previous one as the years have gone by! Getting to launch Lost: The Official Magazine was an incredible honour, and to be able to stay as its Editor for the mag’s entire 31-issue run is something I will always be so grateful for and very proud of.

The trips were amazing, and being present at the last ever event – Lost Live: A Celebration – and seeing the cast and crew on stage, plus Michael Giacchino conduct a live scoring was, especially for me being a music nerd, an incredible experience.

Getting to do the UK fan show The Lost Initiative with Iain Lee and Geeky Tom, along with the Koink and Sky1 teams, was such fun to be a part of: getting to analyse Lost each week with such lovely, funny chums was a total pleasure and never felt like work. The biscuit selection on offer every week was out of this world. I miss doing the Initiative a lot!

But overall, I think being asked to co-write this Encyclopedia is the ultimate highpoint, simply because it feels like the most amazing way to close my experience and involvement with Team Lost. It’s been a year full of long, long working days, trips, more Skypes, conference calls and emails – often in the wee small hours here in London (although pots of coffee, endless Haribo sugar-highs and PS3 gaming spurts to keep the adrenaline going) – that all resulted in the book, so it was all absolutely worth it.

Do you have a favourite Lost fact or bit of trivia?

There were many really surprising things that came out of our chats with the producers during the course of crafting the book, and two of my favourites concern Juliet’s brand in season three, and the Temple’s glyphs – specifically, their translations. And yes, the book reveals some juicy facts about them both…

Now the island is done with you, what’s next?

Alongside my publishing commitments, over the past decade I’ve been busy with a lot of music and film-related work too. I’m currently recording my fourth record under my solo moniker of Cellarscape, which will be out in the Spring.

Film music is keeping me busy too. I’m really hectic with the filmmaking company Evil Hypnotist Productions I co-founded in 1999 (with writer/director Paul Williams) at the moment. We’re thrilled that our latest, horror-comedy short The Furred Man, is garnering some great attention and awards on the international film festival circuit, so that’s taking up a lot of our time with press and general promotions. The soundtrack I scored for Furred, plus another for a new film called Queen Of Hearts will both be out next year too, so I can’t relax with mulled wine just yet!

There’s a giddy amount of plate-spinning going on, but I couldn’t be happier. It’s very satisfying having the Lost Encyclopedia finally out there – unleashed from the island – and when the next publishing project comes together, it will be exciting to get back to the keyboard… the one with letters on it, instead of black and white blocks. Except, if 2009/2010 is anything to go by, projects never behave and fall neatly in line, so it might be a case of being tied to both kinds at the same time again…

The Lost Encyclopedia is released on 22 November 2010 (DK).

Click here for information on back issues of Lost: The Official Magazine!