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December 13, 2006
The Lost Room Revisited
I'm still fascinated by The Lost Room, even if the inconclusive final scene was a little disappointing, as Peter points out, although the open ending no doubt leaves open the possibility of a Lost Room series as several fans of the show have speculated. I still think the basic concept is interesting, in which a collection of mundane "Objects" left in a hotel room in 1961 take on mysterious powers and groups of rival collectors compete to collect as many of the Objects as possible (for a variety of reasons, of course).
In part, I'm intrigued by the idea that the Objects represent artifacts of a lost past, a point that comes up in Virginia Heffernan' sreview of the show, recalling the old hotels and travelers who inhabited them. As Heffernan points out, "The series skillfully taps into the collector fever that has been kindled by that auction site, further conjuring a peculiar nostalgia for the isolation of the traveling loner in the days before cellphones, Internet and pay-per-view made motel rooms bearable."
Not sure I have much to add right now, but I'll be intrigued to see what happens with The Lost Room and whether it gets picked up as a regular seies.
Update: I also like John Joseph Adams' reading of the mini, particularly his comparison of The Lost Room to puzzle-oriented video games such as Myst and Resident Evil. [Updated a second time to add a link--perhaps I shouldn't blog when I'm so sleepy.]
Posted by chuck at December 13, 2006 11:42 PM
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Comments
I loved this show. I vote for a series! I don't think many of the mini's questions were answered in a satisfactory manner.
Posted by: Sheilds503 at December 15, 2006 1:05 PM
'The lost room' -Idea from the novel of brothers Strugatski (Russia) and film Stalker (1971)
Posted by: Bava at December 17, 2006 2:39 AM
Go for the series. You can have storylines with different characters revolving around the objects.
Posted by: Peter at December 17, 2006 2:53 AM
Bava, the connection with Strugatski and Tarkovsky is an interesting one. I happened to thnk about Stalker when I was watching TLR. Maybe I'll use that as an excuse to rewatch the film.
Posted by: Chuck at December 18, 2006 12:46 PM
Go for the series. You can have storylines with different characters revolving around the objects.
Posted by: Deniel at December 18, 2006 7:43 PM
I really liked the mini too. I was skeptical at first but got hooked quickly. There is a basis in complexity theory working there that I'd like to think through. The ending was a let down though. All that development to just end abruptly. Surely something else has to come out of it.
Posted by: B at December 18, 2006 11:56 PM
The ending sclearly seemed to be leaving room for a series or at least another mini, so I'm willing to be a little forgiving there. The issues with complexity theory crossed my mind, too, but I haven't been able to wrap my head around them, in part because I've been traveling (and spending the last few days trapped in the 'burbs).
Posted by: Chuck at December 19, 2006 10:50 AM
LOVED IT! Would love to see a series.
Posted by: jen at December 22, 2006 11:08 AM
One of the best and intriguing mini series that I have watched. The story can go so much deeper and there are so many unanswered questions....please go for the series you won't be disappointed...I know I wont.
Posted by: Gary W. Jones at December 27, 2006 10:36 PM
LOVED IT TOO!
This is such a viral mini-series... was loaned a tape of the mini-seies, got so worked up that I passed it along to 3 other people who all flipped out over it too.
Great cast! Peter Krause of 6 Feet Under, Kevin Pollak, Peter Jacobson, the coniving shmarminess of Dennis Christopher, the super-cute Elle Fanning, April Grace of the other LOST's Others ;) the spot-on spazzy time-daft Ewen Bremner, as well as the former Housewife Desperates Harriet Sansom Harris and Roger Bart round out a superb ensemble worthy of a great series!
I am onboard for whatever weirdness this franchise would like to offer! I want more objects, more powers, more dimensions, and more LOST ROOMS!
PS: I never said the mini-series was perfect, but sure was original. How come Harold Stritzke could take the cash out of the till, yet Joe Miller couldn't take his wallet during the TIME PAUSE??? Oops.
Posted by: Stimpygato at January 22, 2007 1:00 PM
Joe was unable to take Harold's wallet because Harold was holding it. Harold, however, could take the cash from the till because it was not being interacted with physically by a person at that moment. See?
Posted by: Pooka at January 27, 2007 9:04 PM
This show was so good but the writers kind of got themslves in a little too deep and never created a suitable cadance
Posted by: gLS at March 15, 2007 8:00 PM
I have the DVD, watched it last night, and it was great. However, I am still very confused on several things. First, what was the event? Thoughts? I really want to know the answer to this, so I hope they bring it back. Also, how did Arlene Conroy know about the objects in the room then continue to collect them? She found the key to the non-existent room 10, but how did she know what was in there, and why do odd things happen in room 9? I loved the series, but there are WAY too many unanswered questions.
Posted by: Emily at March 28, 2007 1:09 PM
I haven't seen the series in a while, Emily. Hopefully someone who has watched the series more recently will stop by and answer your questions. Based on what I can tell, a series seems unlikely, which is too bad. A number of the series stars (including Peter Krause) have already moved on to other work.
Posted by: Chuck at March 28, 2007 3:44 PM