LOST: THE FINAL SEASON @ COMIC-CON

By 9am, the line outside Hall H for the LOST: THE FINAL SEASON panel with co-creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse was already 1000+ fans deep, and the presentation wasn't until 11am.  But the 6000+ fans that eventually made it inside were in for a real treat.  Cuse and Lindelof came armed with tons of clips and almost equal amounts of special guests, and didn't disappoint even the hardcores that had been camping outside the San Diego Convention Center's Hall H since the night before. 

After a montage of some of the creators' favorite LOST-related fan films, Cuse and Lindelof showed the audience a very well done promo for a fake throwback show that supposedly aired in the 80s, and which covered the mysterious Dharma Initiative that is such a huge part of the LOST mythology:

Afterward, the duo had fun at the fans' expense, waving the last two script pages of the LOST finale in front of their faces, only to then place them in a box featuring the same twin-key locking system used for nuclear launches.  It's safe to say that ABC has probably gone to nuclear-powered levels of security to prevent spoilers from getting into the wrong hands. Check out this clip.  I think you can hear cartoon sounds of fanboy erections becoming flaccid in the background:

With the script pages secure, Lindelof and Cuse almost immediately opened it up to Q&A, the line for which, of course, ran to the back of Hall H.  And within a couple questions, one could tell this panel was going to be special.  Case in point: comedian Paul Scheer (HUMAN GIANT) showed up with a terribly tasteless gift to present to the co-creators.  Here's a glimpse:

The next fan in line for the Q&A turned out to be none other than Jorge Garcia, who plays Hurley, one of the shows' fanboy faves.  I lost track of how many "husky" gentlemen I saw dressed as Hurley and lumbering through the halls of the San Diego Convention Center this weekend.  In Hall H, the real Hurley confronted Lindelof and Cuse with a brain-wracking question...

Well.  They dodged that one with aplomb.  (Actually, most of the really juicy questions Cuse and Lindelof deflected pretty ineptly, but they were at least unabashed to admit it).  Garcia broke the rule and asked more than one question in the name of stymieing them, and he was eventually cut off by another special guest, actor Michael Emerson, who plays Ben Linus on the show.

This led into a fake video of Emerson auditioning for the Hurley role.  We abided by the rules of turning off our cameras during the clips, but they didn't say anything about not linking to the illegally recorded versions.

After more Q&A, an appearance by actor Nestor Carbonell, who plays Richard Alpert on the show, and a video making fun of his seemingly copious amounts of eyeliner, LOST's Sawyer (Josh Holloway) showed up and gave the fans exactly what they wanted: a HUGE SPOILER-filled reveal of the final pages of the LOST finale's script.  Check out the illegal lengths Holloway went to secure the prize.  If it weren't for Lindelof's horrid acting and a delayed taser sound effect, this clip might have worked.  No one seemed to care.  Holloway was too charming.  It was obvious why Cool Water by Davidoff has him in all their print ads.  Kudos, Mr. Davidoff.

At the end of the panel, the Lindelof and Cuse presented a spoof the montage the Oscars do every year to honor deceased heroes, only this was for characters on the show.  Given how many of LOST's cast was killed off in the past five seasons, the montage lasted all the way through Boyz II Men's "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday." The montage ended with Charlie Pace's (Dominic Monaghan) death, and when the lights came up, Monaghan was on stage to greet 5999 screaming fans.  I was still typing, and I can't multitask.

The bottom line was that, if you're a LOST fan, you're probably going to watch The Final Season anyway, but it does sound like Cuse and Lindelof have a sh*t ton of cool up their sleeves.  I have a LOST: THE FINAL SEASON Comic-Con giveaway poster up my sleeve right now, which is making it extremely hard to type.  First person to email me pschumacker_at_break_dot_com can have it.  (NOTE: It's design is maybe the only disappointing thing about the panel, but hey, it's free.)