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The "Lost" Chronicles
The Lost Chronicles is the first official tie-in book to the worldwide hit TV series Lost. The show, which will be broadcast on Channel 4 from August 2005, takes place on a remote South Pacific island, where a plane crash has left 48 survivors stranded. Some panic. Some pin their hopes on rescue. A few find inner strength they never knew they had. The band of friends, family, enemies and strangers must work together against the cruel weather and harsh terrain if they are to survive. But the island holds many secrets, including the mysterious howling monster who stalks the jungle terrifying them all. Fortunately, thanks to the calm leadership of quick-thinking Jack and level-headed Kate, they have hope. But even heroes have secrets, as the survivors will come to learn. The Lost Chronicles is an all-access behind-the-scenes look at the making of Lost, including detailed guides to episodes, plot twists and background stories, as well as exclusive reflections and anecdotes from cast members, writers and creator / executive producer JJ Abrams. The book is accompanied by an hour-long DVD of the Pilot episode.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published September 28, 2005
13 people are currently reading
290 people want to read
About the author
Mark Cotta Vaz
69 books178 followersMark Cotta Vaz is the author of over twenty-one books, including four New York Times bestsellers. His recent works include Mythic Vision: The Making of Eragon, The Spirit: The Movie Visual Companion, and the biography Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong, which was a Los Angeles Times bestseller.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
October 8, 2021
A Lost TV show companion book released after the sensational epic first season of this global monster of successfully storytelling. A book that capture a moment in time, when the first season had blown so many people's ideas of what episodic TV should be by taking ling form storytelling to another level. Yes, I'm a fan!
The book is broken down into three highly revealing and interesting sections, the background, the episodes guide and a play-by-play of shooting an episode. The book is crammed full of information, insights, images and interviews that the Lost fan will adore.
Nothing much else to add other than I would have personally preferred more in depth (season one) episode guides and more background and less play-by-plays of filming an episode, but all in all, a read that has me dying to re-watch the series for a third time! 8 out of 12.
The book is broken down into three highly revealing and interesting sections, the background, the episodes guide and a play-by-play of shooting an episode. The book is crammed full of information, insights, images and interviews that the Lost fan will adore.
Nothing much else to add other than I would have personally preferred more in depth (season one) episode guides and more background and less play-by-plays of filming an episode, but all in all, a read that has me dying to re-watch the series for a third time! 8 out of 12.
December 20, 2009
I liked this book but don't think it offered too much beyond basic information about the series. I did enjoy the interviews with the creators, the descriptions of the day to day life of filming the show, and the perspectives of the actors on the show. But, honestly, it didn't offer much that I didn't already know. I was hoping that they would get more into the mysteries of the show but they didn't really go there much. And quite a bit of the book was just an episode synopsis from the first season which was a nice refresher but didn't offer anything new so to speak. I'm glad that I read it and think its timely given that the show is entering its final season but I wish there had been a bit more meat in the book.
December 5, 2016
Both my wife and I found ourselves in a similar situation when “Lost” was first shown on TV in the UK. Whilst we were able to enjoy the first couple of series on Channel 4, neither of us had a Sky subscription when they bought the rights to screen it from the third season onwards, which meant we never found out what we thought of the ending which seemed to polarize opinions in those who did see it. Recently, however, Sky have finally added “Lost” to their Box Sets and it made sense to re-read “The Lost Chronicles”, essentially the story of the first season, as a refresher before getting into it.
The book is split into three sections, effectively the story of the show, the story told by the show and how the story becomes the show. The first part covers how the show came into being from a combination of relatively simple ideas and a desire to ensure that what was a relatively simple idea was presented in a way that wouldn’t get dull over a longer period of time. There is a section about how additional ideas and subplots were added to make the story last and a Q&A with the creators, which was effectively covering some of the same ground, but in more of an interview style.
Whilst these added scope to the show, the character overviews in the first section of the book and the episode summaries which made up the whole middle section were perhaps the most useful as a retrospective. The first introduces the characters and their reasons for ending up in the situation that made them a part of the story and the storyline, covering the first season, was an episode by episode telling of the first season, but written in a diary style from the perspective of someone in the middle of things, which makes it a little more interesting than a simple synopsis you could find on the Internet Movie Database.
The final section is also something of a diary style section, with the author visiting the set of the show for a week during filming. He has access to all the cast and crew, so this is not just an outsider view, as he manages to speak to a number of the people and get their take on the show and the family feel of everyone working together under considerable time pressure. This does give a wider perspective that you may otherwise get from one person’s story and is quite interesting.
This is a very readable book, which bodes well for the level of interest the TV show is likely to have. If a book about a show, which due to its very format can’t help to compete with the visuals within a television experience, despite the large number of photos which are present on every page. However, the book does get across how exciting the show is likely to get and does make it seem more appealing, although this is a book to be read only after you’ve seen the show, as it does contain spoilers for the entire season. However, reading it as a reminder prior to re-watching the series again as I did, it does make for an enticing reminder of what the show contained, much of which I had forgotten in the years between viewings, especially as there was so much going on in the show.
Perhaps the one downside to the book is that, whilst the author clearly had the full support of and access to everyone working on the show, there was nothing terribly revealing about life. A few of the cast and crew were separated from their families for a decent spread of time and were missing them, but that was about the only negative comment that reached these pages. It seems that they had to work quite hard to meet deadlines, but largely due to the scope of the show, not down to any unreasonable demands or things going wrong. That does make the whole tone relentlessly positive and that does get a little wearing after a while and does little to set this book apart from any other behind the scenes books or, indeed, the featurettes on a DVD version.
Essentially, that it what this book is, nothing more than a written word equivalent to the DVD extras on the first season box set of “Lost”. It has a very similar tone and scope to the featurettes you find on a standard DVD, looking at a number of backstage details about the show, but presenting them as seemingly without problems or personality clashes, making this an easy read, but a touch too saccharine in tone to be fully rounded. That said, for a fan of the show, it’s a very decent read, especially as it’s about a very intriguing show and it’s a decent reminder and retrospective of a decent opening to the show.
The book is split into three sections, effectively the story of the show, the story told by the show and how the story becomes the show. The first part covers how the show came into being from a combination of relatively simple ideas and a desire to ensure that what was a relatively simple idea was presented in a way that wouldn’t get dull over a longer period of time. There is a section about how additional ideas and subplots were added to make the story last and a Q&A with the creators, which was effectively covering some of the same ground, but in more of an interview style.
Whilst these added scope to the show, the character overviews in the first section of the book and the episode summaries which made up the whole middle section were perhaps the most useful as a retrospective. The first introduces the characters and their reasons for ending up in the situation that made them a part of the story and the storyline, covering the first season, was an episode by episode telling of the first season, but written in a diary style from the perspective of someone in the middle of things, which makes it a little more interesting than a simple synopsis you could find on the Internet Movie Database.
The final section is also something of a diary style section, with the author visiting the set of the show for a week during filming. He has access to all the cast and crew, so this is not just an outsider view, as he manages to speak to a number of the people and get their take on the show and the family feel of everyone working together under considerable time pressure. This does give a wider perspective that you may otherwise get from one person’s story and is quite interesting.
This is a very readable book, which bodes well for the level of interest the TV show is likely to have. If a book about a show, which due to its very format can’t help to compete with the visuals within a television experience, despite the large number of photos which are present on every page. However, the book does get across how exciting the show is likely to get and does make it seem more appealing, although this is a book to be read only after you’ve seen the show, as it does contain spoilers for the entire season. However, reading it as a reminder prior to re-watching the series again as I did, it does make for an enticing reminder of what the show contained, much of which I had forgotten in the years between viewings, especially as there was so much going on in the show.
Perhaps the one downside to the book is that, whilst the author clearly had the full support of and access to everyone working on the show, there was nothing terribly revealing about life. A few of the cast and crew were separated from their families for a decent spread of time and were missing them, but that was about the only negative comment that reached these pages. It seems that they had to work quite hard to meet deadlines, but largely due to the scope of the show, not down to any unreasonable demands or things going wrong. That does make the whole tone relentlessly positive and that does get a little wearing after a while and does little to set this book apart from any other behind the scenes books or, indeed, the featurettes on a DVD version.
Essentially, that it what this book is, nothing more than a written word equivalent to the DVD extras on the first season box set of “Lost”. It has a very similar tone and scope to the featurettes you find on a standard DVD, looking at a number of backstage details about the show, but presenting them as seemingly without problems or personality clashes, making this an easy read, but a touch too saccharine in tone to be fully rounded. That said, for a fan of the show, it’s a very decent read, especially as it’s about a very intriguing show and it’s a decent reminder and retrospective of a decent opening to the show.
March 24, 2009
I am little further ahead in the series then this book discusses, but it is a good read for any Lost Fan!
May 24, 2025
Lost is one of my favourite shows of all time so I was excited to read this and find out more about how the show is made and was hoping for lots of cool behind the scenes stories. I was slightly disappointed however as nothing I read made me go “wow, that’s cool, I didn’t know that”. So either making a TV show isn’t as exciting as I thought, or this book just makes it sound that way. Also, there was a recurring error in the book where Charlie’s brother was referred to as Ian instead of Liam which irked me.
January 16, 2018
Essendo una fan della serie tv, ho trovato interessante il racconto della realizzazione della prima serie. L'ultima sezione del volume, con il diario di varie figure professionali coinvolte, è risultata meno accattivante e si è prestata a una "lettura selettiva".
December 1, 2017
T.V. 1st Season of Lost
December 11, 2020
Read in conjunction with the 2020 marathon.
March 23, 2014
I loved the behind the scenes/'making of' material, but a good bulk of the book is spent on episode summaries. I just finished the series about a week ago and while the recap was nice, it would have been even nice to have more interviews with cast and crew, show pages from the original pilot script, maybe shown how some of the sets are laid out (like the beach and Danielle's camp in the jungle). But hey, it came with a DVD! And there's pictures of Terry O'Quinn playing guitar!
Edit: This is for people who are wondering what the free DVD that came bundled with the book is about! It opens with an ABC promo of season one's DVD release. The actual DVD's contests are divided into three sections: "Inside Lost", "Lost: The Complete First Season", "Lost Season 2".
"Inside Lost" is naturally a lot of behind the scenes stuff, including interviews with cast and crew, plus some deleted scenes (although maybe it's my DVD, but the footage of the deleted scenes seems slower, a bit wonky?). "Lost: The Complete First Season" is another bloody promo for the DVD set. "Lost Season 2" is a really vague promo for the second season, teasing viewers about Linus' camp but not really (and not a SINGLE mention of Desmond!). Really, it's all a big teaser so people will buy the first season on DVD - although now, I'm sure most people already own it! Not me. Boo.
So the DVD is pretty much a throwaway on top of the book. Better extras will be on the actual DVD set for season one. Although the DVD indicated that some of the 'unaired scenes' were exclusive to this DVD, so there's that.
Edit: This is for people who are wondering what the free DVD that came bundled with the book is about! It opens with an ABC promo of season one's DVD release. The actual DVD's contests are divided into three sections: "Inside Lost", "Lost: The Complete First Season", "Lost Season 2".
"Inside Lost" is naturally a lot of behind the scenes stuff, including interviews with cast and crew, plus some deleted scenes (although maybe it's my DVD, but the footage of the deleted scenes seems slower, a bit wonky?). "Lost: The Complete First Season" is another bloody promo for the DVD set. "Lost Season 2" is a really vague promo for the second season, teasing viewers about Linus' camp but not really (and not a SINGLE mention of Desmond!). Really, it's all a big teaser so people will buy the first season on DVD - although now, I'm sure most people already own it! Not me. Boo.
So the DVD is pretty much a throwaway on top of the book. Better extras will be on the actual DVD set for season one. Although the DVD indicated that some of the 'unaired scenes' were exclusive to this DVD, so there's that.
March 28, 2009
Pretty much just gives reviews/summaries of the episodes from season one; there wasn't too much critique involved. I guess if I want deeper critique or "Easter eggs" I'll have to do it the old fashioned way, by geeking out on the Lost fan sites and reading through the threads and forums. Comes with a DVD, though.
January 14, 2009
Lots of cool pictures. I liked reading all the bits of information about the making of the show (especially the writing side) but I did skip the bit in the middle about each individual show of Season 1 because I'm so familiar with them already.
February 2, 2012
It definitely is already outdated by the events of season two. But as a look at how they created the pilot episode, and as a chart of what happened, from the point of view of an unnamed survivor of the crash, it's a decent and quick read with some excellent photos.
June 28, 2014
I read this quite a while ago - a great companion book for 'Lost' fans. (So of course I own it :)
The book covers pre-production and season 1 production. Some great stories and S1 Episode guide.
Great companion for 'Lost' fans. (Does not go any further than conception/production ad S1)
The book covers pre-production and season 1 production. Some great stories and S1 Episode guide.
Great companion for 'Lost' fans. (Does not go any further than conception/production ad S1)
November 3, 2016
Picked this up at the Hummelstown library book sale for 50 cents. Kind of fun to look back at the first season of LOST now nearly 12 years removed. Nothing super new or informative (probably was at the time), but a fun little easy read and nice to look back at one of my all-time favorite shows.
July 30, 2008
more LOST
May 18, 2010
A good companion guide to the show with in depth articles about production and season one plots. I'm fanatical about having companion guides to my favourite shows and this is a welcome addition.
July 27, 2011
Great book. It gives a fantastic insight into the behind the scenes process of the first series and how the whole thing was created and developed in the first place.
January 20, 2012
all about the first season
January 7, 2013
Lots of background on the show, and a DVD enclosed.
January 25, 2014
Lovely little book packed with info for Lost fans!
Read
March 10, 2015This is a really interesting look at the production of the first season of Lost, one of my favorite shows
Want to read
October 19, 2015It's a amazing story
September 18, 2016
Sort of fun reviewing the first season of LOST, when we knew so little of what was coming.
January 14, 2017
I really enjoyed this book and I am a huge fan of LOST. This book provides a lot of insightful information and makes for a great read. Highly recommend.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews