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| - David Fury was a Lost writer who wrote on the show during the first season. He was responsible for "Walkabout", "Solitary", "Special" and "Numbers" (with Brent Fletcher). The following questions were submitted by members of the Lostpedia Forums, and were sent via email. This is the first part of the David Fury interview, and focuses largely on the episodes that he wrote. The interview was posted on May 20, 2008. It’s difficult for me to comment on Locke’s “evolution,” since I wasn’t able to watch the show regularly after the second season. Only saw a few episodes of Season 3, and none of Season 4 (though I hear the latter’s been consistently great). The only thing I will say is that Locke was the most interesting character to write, because of the complexities of his psyche. Despite what was revealed in: “Walkabout”, he could, and possibly should, have remained more of an enigma. After a while, all the mystery and potential menace was stripped from him, in favor of the Others. One thing I might have done differently -- I probably would not have focused so much on Locke’s “father issues” since that was the focal point of Jack’s flashbacks and motivations. There was no mythology to speak of in place during the early episodes of the series. We were building it as we went along, discussing possibilities. Metaphorically, the monster was just the great unknown threat, the imminent danger around the corner that potentially haunts us all… Some thought of it as a monster of the id, much like in Forbidden Planet -- that maybe it appeared differently to everyone who saw it. The most tangible thought, as explained later by Rousseau, was that it functioned as a security system set up by the island’s creators/early residents… whatever we later decided the answer was. For Locke, clearly, the monster was the “soul” of the island that was responsible for his “miracle.” All I can say is… Thank the Mighty Zeus for Google. I pulled a lot from many articles, blogs, etc. on the subject… And, frankly, made up the rest. It’s not a documentary after all. Personally I don’t believe Walt had anything to do with his mother’s illness and death, but the ambiguity was intentional, in case it led to a story later. Which, I guess, hasn’t happened. Not surprised, but gratified. Damon and J.J. created vivid, original, characters, embodied by terrific actors. If I had some small part of securing the place of these characters in the firmament of the show’s mythology, color me happy. Frankly, your guesses are as good as mine. No, wait… Better. Your guesses are much better than mine. J.J., Damon and I met at some restaurant on our day off to break that episode. Hurley winning the lottery was Damon’s idea. But I believe the “Numbers” and their importance was J.J.’s. When I started writing the episode, I already figured to use numbers that had been heard on the show… 4 (number of years Locke was in wheelchair); 8, 15 (Flight 815), etc. When I confirmed my number choices with Damon, I was still missing the last number. I had thought to make it “42” (an homage to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Answer to the Ultimate Question). When Damon had the same idea, that clinched it. It was my idea to have the numbers engraved on the hatch at the end of the episode. After that, I can only assume Damon is the easter egg dropper. The voice on that French distress signal from the pilot was always going to be addressed at some point. I had been pushing to have a character (or characters) walk the coastline of the island to see if it was, in fact, deserted. Finding the French woman seemed a logical discovery to connect the dots. I’m not sure who’s idea it was to kind of do a Misery thing… crazy woman keeping wounded man prisoner… but that was plenty to go on. JJ and I broke the bulk of the story together… But with much contribution from the staff. Our Script Coordinator Brent Fletcher (who shared credit on “Numbers” with me) came up with the idea of Hurley’s golf course. It was based on a miniature golf course he constructed in our ANGEL offices when we worked together there. That would be The Talented Mr. Lindeloff [sic]. Awful. No, wait… Neat. Really neat. To the best of my feeble recollection, Sullivan was introduced as yet another way to use one of our “Meat Socks” as we lovingly called the background passenger. (At least I think it was “Meat Socks” – like I said, feeble memory.) Yes, his illness (seemingly psychosomatic – nice alliteration, if I say so) was to have everyone thinking it was the illness that killed Rosseau’s team, but that was clearly open to interpretation. And he could have appeared again, if a story warranted… But I guess it didn’t. 42. There was an exchange (pitched by J.J. when he and I broke the story) in an early draft of “Solitary” when Rousseau tells Sayid she had been part of a research team. Sayid asks her what they were researching. She replies: “Time.” The network saw that draft and asked us to remove the line. They were very timid about anything that smacked of Sci-Fi during the first season. I can only assume they’ve come around. The Biblical reference was purely coincidental. Actually, I had been approached a couple of times during this period about being showrunner for the series NUMBERS that CBS was developing. Although I turned the job down, I was flattered for being asked and thought of the title as a shout out. I suppose my biggest inspiration was the LOST pilot. I constantly went back to reread it whenever I was on script. Additionally, my many years working for Mutant Enemy and for Joss Whedon informed my sense of story-telling – particularly with characters and their flashbacks, telling emotional tales. I can’t tell you what they are now, but I can tell you what they WERE. They were supposed to be the Others, lurking in the jungle. At that time, we hadn’t yet settled on what the Others would be. Since they were undefined, I had imagined they were going to be more feral, gone native… One might say “Reaver-ish.” (I wouldn’t, but one might.) I just didn’t imagine they were going to be spirit-gum, fake beard wearing, boat driving, faux hillbillies... as done in the season finale. My bad. Ya got me. Many children have difficulty processing their grief when a parent dies. I know a boy essentially raised by a grandmother who doted on him, who didn’t cry at all when she passed away. It could also have been a directorial choice. Or Malcolm just couldn’t get there. In any case, I wouldn’t read anything dark into it. Unless you should. Or just want to. I’d certainly like to think so. That was the intent. But then… things have changed since my time. I do miss writing a true genre show, very much. The wonderful thing is the stories are wide open, you can set almost any tone. Particularly in Buffy or Angel – I could write a funny episode, a scary episode, a romantic episode… and I could use almost any device (monster/demon/puppet) to tell the story. 24 has been a terrific experience, but it feels extremely limiting to write. I’m looking forward to getting back to a funner sandbox. (See? I can make up words like “Funner”.) Actually I almost had a role. Eddie and Adam – sweet guys that they are-- had graciously wanted me to play the role of Arzt at the end of the first season. Unfortunately, as I was not returning to the show, Carlton was not happy with that idea. In any case, Daniel Roebuck did a much better job than I could have done. It’s the titled writer’s prerogative to name their scripts, though on rare occasions there is some negotiation. I was very much into giving my episodes simple one-word titles that hit the common theme of the characters in their stories. I will say Damon had come up with a great name for the “Walkabout” episode before he’d learned I’d already named it: “Lord of the Files.” A little glib, but gotta admit, it’s clever.
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