The "L O S T" Effect

Ever so often I'm confronted with something that I must address for no other reason but to make certain things clear to ignorant people. Now that we're in early 2012, the post "L O S T" era, "L O S T" fans like yours truly are looking for the next time-consuming sci-fi, fantasy epic. HOWEVER, there are people who take the fun out of this search by comparing everything to "L O S T" even IF THERE IS NO ACTUAL COMPARISON! I have seen this done with "The Event"(granted "The Event" sucked major ass, but that's beside the point) even though "The Event" merely used flashbacks. Here's something people need to learn, "L O S T" merely made flashbacks popular again but FLASHBACKS HAVE EXISTED BEFORE "L O S T"!

This isn't a problem unique to "L O S T" but it IS something I've seen occur during and after "L O S T" ended enough for me to call this problem The "L O S T" Effect. So I'm writing this article to completely thwart this ideology. First of all a mysterious Island ISN'T anything brand new, why Jules Verne's "The Mysterious Island" comes to mind, BUT if you want a more recent epic saga about a mysterious island, look no further than "Sonic & Knuckles", which featured not ONLY a mysterious island, but a mysterious FLOATING ISLAND!

Not to mention this island also had a mysterious morally ambiguous guardian sworn to protect it's secret...

As far as Flashbacks, Flashforwards, The Afterlife and Time Travel goes, these aren't even unique to "L O S T" and I can think of ONE series that has done ALL 4!

We've been time traveling and having afterlife experiences LONG before you mofos!

I'm not denying that "L O S T" is unique, I'm a HUGE fan of "L O S T" but I just refuse to listen to people who think that EVERYTHING after "L O S T" is either ripping it off or should be compared to it. "Alcatraz" and "FRINGE" are 2 completely different TV shows with COMPLETELY different mythologies. And as far as "L O S T" being unique in terms of time travel and philosophical ideology, look no further than...

Ya can't beat TARDIS!

"Dr. Who" has encompassed a MULTITUDE of plot devices from other dimensions, time travel, aliens, world domination, you name it, "Dr. Who" has done it. So honestly, let "L O S T" be what it is and stop expecting every other to rip it off or make an homage to it if it involves Flashbacks or Flashforwards or Time Travel. Ugh! I hate stupid people.