Tag: entertainment

The Cloverfield Paradox & LOST

As a big JJ Abrams fan, I couldn’t help but watch “The Cloverfield Paradox” on Netflix right after it came out. Despite some not-so-great reviews, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Readers of this blog may also know that I’m an even bigger LOST fan and I couldn’t help but notice several similarities or even Easter eggs that may link the Cloverfield Paradox and LOST:

There is a scene in which a character is trapped in compartment on the space station that quickly fills with water. Before her miserable end, she appears – now fully submerged – at the hatch and puts her hand on the window in a gesture to say good bye to her friends, which is exactly what Charlie did (with “Not Penny’s boat” written on his palm) before he drowned.

One the alarm sounds in the space station seemed to be the same as one in the LOST hatch.

During an anomaly that occurred in the space station, one wall became highly magnetized and metal objects started flying there, getting “stuck” on the wall while putting a character at risk. LOST fans know that the same happened in the Swan station during “system failure”.

Talking of which, on the space station two keys have to be used to activate the Shephard (in LOST, Jack’s last name which is alluding to his role among the survivors), which appears somewhat similar to the failsafe key used by Desmond during system failure.

I might need to watch the movie again to see other similarities, but these are the main ones for now.

By the way, due to LOST, I became a huge fan of Michael Giacchino’s music as well. I was surprised that he was not involved in this movie’s soundtrack, but the music is nonetheless worthy of listening to on its own.

The Force Awakens – Parallels

TheForceAwakensparallelsJust having watched The Force Awakens, I couldn’t help but notice the almost overwhelming number of parallels it had with previous Star Wars movies, which go beyond the recurrence of familiar characters, machinery and phrases (“I have a bad feeling about this!”. Here’s my initial list:

  • Bad guy in black with a mask in addition to emperor-like figure.
  • Desert/sand planet
  • A junker on a desert planet being called to a higher purpose (Anakin/Rey)
  • Old, bearded uber-Jedi in seclusion on a remote planet (Luke/Yoda)
  • Special light saber finding  its way down to off-spring
  • An old, greenish, tiny, wise creature as spiritual guide for the unexacting future Jedi.
  • Evil superpower is in search of droid(s) containing key information about their good opponents.
  • Breaking good guys out of a evil fortress.
  • Dark bar with riff-raff and music..
  • Kids being separated from parents and hidden away.
  • Han in trouble with other bad guys.
  • Rebel/resistance base is uncovered and attacked.
  • A person with the force in need of completing their training (Luke/Kylo)
  • The main bad guy’s struggle with the light side and being good.
  • Destruction of a death star by X-wing fighters via exploiting a design weakness.
  • The bad guy is punishing people (soldier types) who fail harshly.
  • Torture by the main bad guy.
  • The force awakening in someone who didn’t know about their origins/family tree (duh!)
  • Generational reversal (parent vs. offspring being either good or evil)

Thanks to JJ Abrams, there are also some interesting contrasts with the Force Awakens:

  • The  bad guy tends to take off his mask and show a human/good side early on.
  • Storm trooper defection.
  • The bad guy has a bad sidekick reporting to the uber villain.
  • The evil villain has a terrible temper.
  • And he gets pretty beat up already early in the course of the trilogy.
  • More obvious slapstick humor (“That’s not how the Force works!”)
  • Nobody’s hand has been chopped off yet… 🙂

To stretch this even further, JJ has even brought a little bit of LOST into Star Wars with Ken Leung making an appearance and a theme of “parent issues“.

 

Update 3/28/16: Apparently I’m not the only one noticing the parallels. Check out this UPROXX article!

The Walking Dead and LOST

I’ve been watching The Walking Dead from day 1 and I’ve mostly liked it from the beginning, but starting with the latest season (5), especially since episode 10 (“Them”), I’ve been noticing echoes of and similarities with my all-time favorite show, Lost. The parallels are not too obvious or strong, but bear with me and tell me if you can’t see it as well.

WalkingdeadANDLOST

Here goes:

  • Rick, cop, versus, Jack, doctor. They lead the group and like to fix things. Both have a dark side and sometimes lose control.
  • Token Asian guy(s), Glenn and Jin (& Sun).
  • Black religious dude who’s a little cray cray: Gabriel and Mr. Ekko with a dark past.
  • Both groups are lost in their own way and it’s less about island mysteries and walking zombies, but about people, relationships and people finding themselves. Both are seeking redemption from past lives and deeds.
  • Carl ~ Walt?! And then there’s Rick’s baby and baby Aaron.
  • Aaron shows up who – without hiding it – happens to be an “other”, just like Ethan Rom.
  • Alexandria and “Otherville” – a bunch of dirty, raggedy survivors are shocked to find a seemingly quaint, normal, “modern” oasis with houses, running water, electricity and a community life that seems to defy the world around them.
  • Rick, now part of this community, is planning to challenge and maybe overthrow this new community. Isn’t that a little bit like Jack scheming against the Others while held on Hydra Island and later Otherville?
  • Like the outsiders live in Alexandria amongst the original inhabitants, the Losties lived amongst the Dharma initiative in the 70s during time travel days. Until certain evens bring about conflict and fighting.
  • Deanna, a smart, maybe deceitful, woman is leading the new community. The actress reminds me of Isabel, judge of the Others, although in a way she may otherwise compare more to Ben.
  • Darryl, a person at the edge of society, kind of an outlaw and very good with bow and arrow, may be a cross between Kate (on the run from the law) and knife man himself, Locke.
  • Episode titles, hello!? “Them” and “One of Them” (Lost season 2).
  • The show is an long, convoluted journey for a group of people with a lot of main characters losing their lives eventually.
We’ll see how The Walking Dead develops over time. Maybe the parallels are temporary right now, but at least for now I’m seeing them more than ever in the past.