News > JJ Abrams talks Lost
August 15, 2006
Via: TV Guide
TV Guide: Which sci-fi shows had the biggest impact on you as a kid?
J.J. Abrams: As much as it was sci-fi, The Twilight Zone was the most impactful because the approach was humanistic and allegorical. And I was always a fan of Star Trek.
TV Guide: Did you have a favorite Twilight Zone episode?
Abrams: The pilot, "Where Is Everybody?" starring Earl Holliman. He was alone in the town, and it turned out he was being used as a guinea pig in an Air Force experiment.
TV Guide: Which sci-fi shows do you consider influences on your own work?
Abrams: I loved The Prisoner, which was a very odd sort of hybrid of sci-fi, mystery and character, and certainly there are elements of The Prisoner in both Alias and Lost. The prisoner was a guy constantly wondering where the hell he was. And there was some kind of agency that seemed to be in control of his destiny, and that was clearly a theme in Alias. And if there's any constant motion on Lost, it's the nod that we're giving to Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone.
TV Guide: Is it true that Lost's opening credits were designed as an homage to The Twilight Zone?
Abrams: Yeah, I did it on my laptop. That's why I did it in black and white. Even the sound — it was definitely different from Twilight Zone, but certainly in the vein of it.
TV Guide: Do you consider Lost a sci-fi show?
Abrams: It was sort of Damon's and my secret that it was a sci-fi show. We certainly never presented it that way. When we created it, conventional wisdom was that sci-fi on major networks didn't exist. The X-Files was seen as an anomaly. So we kept it to ourselves in the beginning. If we had pitched Lost as a sci-fi show, it wouldn't have gotten made.
TV Guide: What do you think of the state of sci-fi on TV today?
Abrams: There's certainly a lot more on than there were a couple of years ago. I'm a fan, so the more the better.
TV Guide: Do you think Lost's focus on character-driven stories has changed the way sci-fi is done on TV?
Abrams: If we've had influence, it's a wonderful thing, and if we can be a show that inspires people to tell stories that are character-based, then that's a happy by-product of doing the show. But character-driven isn't sci-fi, it's just good storytelling.
TV Guide: Will you have time to be involved in Lost's third season?
Abrams: I definitely look to be more involved this season, certainly more than I was last season [when directing Mission: Impossible III]. I look forward to directing an episode, and I'm planning on writing some.
TV Guide: What can you tell us about the new season?
Abrams: A lot of the season's already figured out, and it's incredible. The stories are amazing.
TV Guide: C'mon. Give us something.
Abrams: Desmond will definitely be back. He's not dead.
