Lost masterminds Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse say in a new interview over at Lostpedia that last summer’s “Dharma Wants You” alternate reality game was all about prepping the audience for this season’s Dharma Initiative storyline. “Essentially the whole idea was to signal to the audience that our characters… were going to end up in Dharma times.” So the purpose of “Dharma Wants You” was to foreshadow what was going to happen in the second half of Season 5, in the same way that “Find 815” was about the fake wreck and “The Lost Experience” was about the numbers.

There’s more interesting trivia about the show in the interview, though all of it in a “looking back” kind of way. There’s nothing about what’s yet to come, and definitely no spoilers.

Image: Ryan at Hawaii Blog.

Tonight brings us the fifth episode of Season 5, “This Place Is Death,” and as always, I’ve got all the necessary prep materials to get your brain cells fired up for the latest installment of Lost:

• First, I strongly suggest reading up on the complete history of Danielle Rousseau, helpfully compiled in detail by the good folks at Lostpedia.
• Next, check out Doc Jensen’s usual wild thoughts over at Entertainment Weekly. This week he focuses his theories on the show’s time travel.
• Take a look at this clever billboard in L.A. See anything familiar?
• If you’re in the mood for some teasers that lean toward the spoiler end of the spectrum, take a look at this new interview with a very loose-lipped Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), who has some juicy things to say about the smoke monster, his on-screen wife Sun, and the atomic bomb recently seen (and buried) in 5.03 “Jughead.”
• Lastly, watch this first edition of ABC’s new recap series, Lost Untangled, which aims to make sense of Lost for the casual fan. It’s geeky and a little silly, but very funny. (My favorite part is when Jack faints.)

And as always, be sure to check back here first thing tomorrow morning for my full recap and insights into tonight’s episode!

Image: CTV.ca.

The current Lost alternate reality game, based around the mysterious Ajira Airways, has a tiny new wrinkle. The Ajira website has added a new video showing passengers boarding Ajira “Flight 316″ (readers may remember that episode 5.07 is titled “3:16,” or is that no-colon-”316″? hmm…). Here it is:

Is this an actual scene from the show? Do my ears deceive me, or is that Lost composer Michael Giacchino’s music I hear playing over the scene?

The eighth Dharma Special Access update has been posted today, and unlike nearly every other update, it’s kind of a non-story. It consists of exactly two items: the third Season 5 sneak peek video that we’ve already seen, and this montage of promo pictures of the cast for this season (which looks like an intern threw it together in iMovie).

Pretty lame.

Some super clever folks over at Lostpedia have deciphered the way to book a flight at the Ajira Airways website. On the Flights page, here’s what you input:

Flight type: One Way
From: Los Angeles
To: Guam
Departing: 1/21/2009
Select Flight: 316 11:30am
Adults: 10
Children: 0
Promotional Code: 112114111109111

Apparently, the site rotates at some kind of random sequence, so that based on when you input these codes, you get one of at least seven different results. The results are all images, but nothing really new if you’ve been paying attention to Damon and Carlton’s Dharma Special Access videos. All but one image, that is, which reveals a code: N824. No idea yet what it means.

Image: Copyright 2008 ©American Broadcasting Company.

A closer inspection of the aforementioned changes to the Ajira Airways website reveals… well, quite a lot. But what it all means — that’s the real question. Let’s break it down.

On the Ajira homepage, you’ll find this brief video:

My complete analysis of the video and the website are right after the jump.

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Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are back with Week 6 of their Dharma Special Access videos. It’s mostly the usual silliness, but they do reveal a few tidbits… You can watch the video below or find a full breakdown of all the good information after the jump.

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Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are back with their fifth weekly update leading up to the Season 5 premier. This episode features a glimpse at “Future Damon and Future Carlton,” who have changed significantly from the duo we know. No major hints at anything to come on the show; this one is light on info and heavy on humor.

But there are a couple of still images pasted at the very end that unveil two new Season 5 characters: Caesar and Ilana, as played by actors Saïd Taghmaoui and Zuleikha Robinson.

The official Lost website at ABC.com today posted 6 “Travel Postcards” that tease the upcoming Season 5. Each one bears different artwork and messages, and they’re done in an art deco style. Two of them include the mysterious Ajira Airways logo. Here’s a quick breakdown of each; hit the link above to see them for yourself:

• “Don’t Be A Stranger - Come Back!” - backdrop is what looks like a silhouette of Sawyer. The read-between-the-lines implication being that Sawyer is hoping for the Oceanic Six to return.
• “Experience the Unexpected” - what looks like a plume of smoke over a jungle setting is of course the Black Smoke Monster. Cute.
• “Get Away to Find Yourself” - a tropical beach background against these words is an allusion to the O6’s destiny to get back to the island.
• “Return to the Island” - above a big airplane image. Self-explanatory.
• “The Island Cures What Ails You” - a very “Jungle Book” inspired image. Could be a reference to those who have been healed by the island, like Locke and Rose. Or it could refer to things we have yet to see.
• “Come Back” - an airplane flies over a jungle island setting. Again, self-explanatory.

Thoughts? Theories? Are there clues in these images, or are we obsessing over nothing?

This week’s Dharma Special Access with Lost producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse is a special holiday edition, featuring a new sneak peek scene from the season premier (more on that in a sec) and Team Darlton answering fan questions about the show. Highlights and more after the jump.

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