J.J. Abrams, co-creator of the upcoming ABC television series Lost, told SCI FI Wire that he wasn't excited about the premise of the show until he and executive producer Damon Lindelof added an element of mystery to it. "In fact, I didn't even like the premise," Abrams ( Alias) said during an interview at the network's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "I mean, the idea of a plane crash and people who land on an island, ... it wasn't very interesting to me. But Damon came in, and we started talking. And I started to think, '[What] if the island isn't just an island, and if there's a story about the island, and if it very slowly becomes about where they land and not just that they crash-landed?'"
   In Lost, Matthew Fox leads a large cast playing survivors of a devastating plane crash on a remote island. The survivors slowly realize that they're not alone on the mysterious island, which may harbor hostile creatures or worse. The cast includes Dominic Monaghan (The Lord of the Rings), Harold Perrineau (The Matrix Reloaded), Terry O'Quinn (Alias), Daniel Dae Kim (Angel) and Emilie de Ravin (Roswell), among others.
   In creating the tone of Lost, Abrams said that he and Lindelof were inspired by the works of Michael Crichton, who often mixes science fiction with science fact in his novels. "When [Crichton's] stuff works at its best, it's usually a story that takes you in through the characters and explains stuff sort of in a science-fact sort of way," Abrams said. "So by the time you get to the science fiction, you've been sort of initiated. And it felt to us that ... we can do the same and tell a story that's from the inside out about these characters, something that interests us, which is an aspect of science fiction, [and] not do a science-fiction series, but ... have a show that has a thread of that in the fabric of it. We need to do it in the beginning of the show and not, 'Oh, by the way, we're now turning this into something that also has science fiction.'"
   Abrams promised that each episode of Lost will offer small clues to the secret of the island. "We're doing things in order for people to go, 'Oh, that's what that is,'" he said. Lost premieres Sept. 22 and will air on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
   SOURCE: Sci Fi Wire Permanent Link | 10:54 AM