I was late catching up with ABC's FlashForward due to business traveling, but having now seen the first episode on my DVR, I have high hopes that we might have something to fill the void of Lost in the next few years.
Long time readers will know that way back when Lost began, this site was a little hotbed of ideas/theories. Over the seasons that diminished as things got so damn complicated, I think we all gave up caring. But I thought I'd officially start the FlashForward theory thread, and in the coming weeks we'll see how well we do.
I'll put the rest after the jump, as there are definitely some spoilers ahead.
A few top of mind thoughts after seeing the first episode:
- There's already stuff being seeded out online that plays into the mystery. Not sure how deep that's going to get, but you can start at either FlashForward Experience, a cool Facebook Connect marketing site and The Mosaic Collective, which brings to life the website they mention in the pilot.
- Anyone remember Village of the Damned, the British 60s movie where the whole village passed out for a short period while the aliens impregnated them with blonde geniuses? And didn't the woman in FlashForward see herself getting a prenatal scan? Hmmm.
- The big question is this - if everyone has really seen their future (which I actually doubt), and they know what time and date it's happening (6am, April 29th) then why doesn't everyone see themselves sitting around waiting for the FlashForward to come true? (This is either a plot point or a paradox they're conveniently ignoring)
- If we're going to see the FlashFoward event actually fulfilled by the end of the first season (and given the date of it, I expect we will) where does the series go after that? More FlashForwards?)
I'll throw a theory out and invite you all to knock holes in it. So here's the Scaramouch FlashForward Theory....
FlashForward is a reworking of the story told in the Left Behind series, that of the Christian Apocalypse and end of days. All those people who didn't see the future when they blacked out? They're the Raptured. All the ones who did will be those Left Behind. Which means - if I remember correctly - Season Two will focus on the rise of the Antichrist, right up to the future seasons ending in a big battle on the plains of Armageddon.
Then again, I was pretty far off with my Lost predictions, so who knows. Give us your feedback in comments.
Meanwhile, I heartily suggest catching up with FF (which you can see online here, but probably only in the US - if you're overseas, you may have to resort to a Torrent) and tuning in this Thursday for episode two.
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At least one commentator noted that this is a renewal of one of the oldest debates in Christendom: predestination. (That is, God already knows who's good and evil, and how it's all going to turn out, so if you're damned, you're damned, if you're saved, you're saved, so you should spend your life trying to prove you've been saved.)
However, to contradict your "Left Behind" theory, see Mark 13:32-37 ,"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." So if you think you know the day and hour, it's not a prophecy.
You also have to deal with the Observer Effect: Knowing the future should cause people to behave in ways that would change that future - unless they intentionally work towards that future. But you're right - most people's visions would show them sitting around waiting for the hour, to see if it comes true.
First priority: Take a survey of casino worker's visions - are the casinos closed for the night, or has EVERYONE got their money on Red?
If I knew a FlashForward was coming six months from now, I'd make damn sure I was sitting in a room with giant posters on the wall naming five horses to bet on, five stocks to buy and a lotto number and date.
I don't know but I really hope this isn't going to be ANOTHER show steeped in Christian mythology. Between BSG and Lost I'm Bibled out.
Not to mention Christmas and Easter. It's like it never endeth.
To Scaramouch, the event time is actually 10 pm, April 29th. 6am, April 30th was mentioned because in a certain person's flashback, he was meeting with someone in London, which is 8 hours ahead of EST.
As for what people saw, I think they all DID see their future in the course it would have taken had they not seen it. But even if they saw their inevitable future, they wouldn't have seen themselves sitting around waiting for their vision to come true because...well, if you saw yourself sitting in a room staring at a clock, then why would you bother being there to stare at a clock if that's all that happens? People still have lives, and jobs, and families. If that guy was scheduled to meet with her concerning a certain FBI case at 6am in London then, whether he'd seen it or not, he'd got a job to do. If Janis' doctor scheduled a sonogram for 8pm while she was at the Seattle field office, then whether she saw it coming or not, she needs to get her baby checked on.
I'm just saying, I didn't see nearly as many flaws in the first episode as others did. Give them a few more weeks before rooting out kinks in the time theory.
I also really like the "Left Behind" theory, and while I don't think that is the case, I had a similar theory myself. The bible says that one will be taken and one left behind, and so on, but nothing implies that the Rapture is devoid of the process of death. In the books, people disappeared from their clothes, and those left behind suffered and many died from planes falling and wild cars and missing surgeons and so forth. But what if the deaths themselves ARE the Rapture? Just saying, their aren't really any rules, and the abstract perceptions of ancient visionaries can barely be used as a vague guide.
Even in Scaramouch's theory, people wouldn't know the "day or hour" because wouldn't know what they were seeing. Still, as far as Rapture theories go (which it better not be, lol) I still prefer the deaths being the Rapture and the visions being the last miracle to those left behind before the chaos. Maybe Demetri didn't see a vision because he wasn't supposed to survive the car accident, and yet...there are anomalies.
Anyway...my theory is that humans, unbeknown even to themselves, have evolved to such a point of environmental awareness that they as a species sensed the coming of some grave genocidal disaster and, as a defensive mechanism, lept forward as a global collective to try and garner as much information and forewarning as possible. The "Suspect Zero" didn't leap for the reason the police thing, but indirectly. Yes, he is related to the cause of the Flashforward, but only in that he is related to what threatens the human race enough to scare it into the future. He himself and those involved have plans for their own safety, and thus felt no threat and no subconscious need to join the Flashforward.
Just tossing that out. I don't actually think that's it. Really I'm just staying open and enjoying the ride!
David, I like this idea about collective consciousness working together to solve a problem. It's kind of like the theory of Noetics that Dan Brown hijacks in his latest turd of a novel. And there would be a LOT of drama to be had about the patient zero being one of a group who know about the future and therefore having no need to participate.
I also like the "the future that would have been if you hadn't seen it" theory, because it's kind of a Quantum Mechanics theory - the act of observing something changes the thing being observed.
Of course, in my rapture theory, the patient zero could just be an angel. Or maybe The Beast walking amongst us.
Let's keep the ideas coming.
What I think happened is that the group of people that were seen walking around or who were not effected by the blackout, are all from a future date. I believe that they have seen the end of humanity or at least a warning of the end and they have created a way to travel back in time to what we see as the present. They also have made some sort of device that makes people black out and also inputs the future visions into their heads. They do this to try and prevent whatever disaster ends humanity by giving the right people the right visions.
Also, in the very beginning when the FBI SUV crashed, Demetri was walking around on the other side of the freeway. He was a great distance from the vehicle and was not in anyway noticeably injured. It seems that he may have been awake for the duration of the blackout. My theory on that is that he was not actually aware that he was awake but his body was taken over by the people that caused the blackout.