Island vs. Actual time passage

I've developed a theory, and I really hope no one has suggested it earlier because I don't mean to plagiarize. The initial thoughts are in another thread.

I believe the passage of time on the Island runs about 10 times slower than in the real world, and here is why I believe this to be true.

In order to keep the series relevant and in tune with our everyday lives, the creators have come up with a way to compress time and keep the series from spanning an impossible timeline.

Take M*A*S*H for example. The Korean War lasted three years, but the series went on for 12??? But the series was set in the past, so it didn't need to keep up with contemporary issues.

But, Lost is different. For some reason, it needs to be tied with the present, but because of production values and limitations, only 16 to 20 weeks' worth of airtime can be shown in a year's time. therefore, the creators have developed a way to manipulate our current passage of time to allow for the discrepancy.

Lost was premiered on 09/22/04 and the third season finale was last week. That's around 970 actual calendar days. The last Island day in the finale was around the 97th day. That makes it a ratio of 10 calendar days to one Island day.

Using this info, Season 4 will begin around 02/08/08. That is 261 days from Season 3's finale air date. Season 4 will last 16 weeks, or 112 days.

That works out to roughly one year, so Season Four will end at the end of May, 2008. Follow me so far?

Season Four will begin where Season Three left off, so say for argument's sake, Day 97. Therefore, Season 4 will cover roughly one calendar year, but given the 10:1 ratio, only ~36 Island days. That means three days will be covered on average per episode.

Therefore, if my theory holds true, when Season 4 ends, ~133 days(11 weeks) will will have elapsed on the Island.

Now, what does this mean?

I don't know. But, can we use this to figure out why pregancies end so horribly on the Island? Is it after the 1st trimester when the mother and child die?

If a normal pregnancy takes 9 months (~270 calendar days), then at a 10:1 time ratio, after ~27 Island days, both the Mother's reproductive system and the fetus itslef may be confused as to the true passage of time and the pregancy is terminated in a very violent and unfortunate way because the gestation has actually taken more calendar days than otherwise would be normal.

So, using this information, how many days do Juliet, Sun, and Kate(?) have to live? According to my theory, not through the entire Season 4.

Any thoughts???

i like bunnies..

kidding, yeah that is interesting....

That's a really good theory. I've always suggested that the big theme behind this show is Time and how something isn't right in that sense but you really got in depth there. Nice job with that

I was thinking as well along the lines of the time being different on the island as off.. I as well am not sure how this effects "everything as a whole" but I am sure that it does..

Thank you Stewie for the ratio's of time on as off island.. Can't wait to see how this plays in the story!

Time is definately a conundrum! I love that we might now have a working time ratio for island to actual time. We keep getting little clues for real time (cell phone release dates, building project start times, etc..) but we know around 90 days has past on the island. It's all very vexing!

That's really crazy kudos on the idea
Maybe the reason why the pregnancies always go wrong is because in the fetus it's normal time and the baby is too fully grown to be born proving fatal to the mother. It would be like a late birth maybe?

I just thought of something odd as well. Ben was born premature.. could he have been concieved on the island? I know it seems Roger wasn't ever on the island before, but who even knows if Roger is Ben's real father.

And good theory, i too felt that the gestation period must have accelerated past the point of the mother being able to handle the rapid growth.

One show = one day on Island-- Juilet said the xray/ultrasound Whatezzt showed her showed the reproductive organs aged 70 or so.. Time compressed,so more sperm condensed/more ageing of orgins?? Nah,heart should be what degrades..OoooooHHHh/my head!!

Yeh I think the best interesting theories on LOST are on lostpedias book section. The Wizard of Oz, the Fisher King and Alice in Wonderland all proove excelent points in the show. Go on lostpedia and search for the book theories.

01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CableRunner

I just thought of something odd as well. Ben was born premature.. could he have been concieved on the island? I know it seems Roger wasn't ever on the island before, but who even knows if Roger is Ben's real father.

We know that the Others leave the island - Richard and Ethan were in Miami, and then Portland. Also, Mikhail thought that Greta and Bonnie were "on assignment" in Canada - so Others don't spend ALL of their time on the island.