Infinite Drop Points

Most Lost fans have had cause to wonder, at some time or another, where the current Dharma rations come from. Jack and Kate were in the jungle during the episode Lockdown and spotted the large food stash in the jungle. It had a flashing light on it, and a parachute attached – as though it had been dropped in during the night.



But we know about the Island. We know that aircraft don’t just fly by with ease, unheard and unseen and without incident. So the idea that every so often a Dharma aircraft (from a Dharma Initiative that no longer exists, no less!) passes over the Island and drops food off seems bizarre and, frankly, wrong.

So let me throw out an idea. My theory here is that the food rations were dropped in from the past. Oh, hold up, hold up. You’re rolling your eyes already, I’m sure. More bloody time travel, you’re thinking. As if another Lost theory needs that! But give me a shot at convincing you.

You’re familiar with The Orchid, right? You’re all up-to-date on how Dharma sent items – in particular, white rabbits – into the future? We’re all down with that? They had the technology to send objects from one point in time to a future point in time. Now substitute white rabbits for a large pallet of food and you’re getting the idea.




So that’s step one. Dharma got one large pallet of food and sent it into the future. If you consider the original Orchid Orientation film, when the ‘future rabbit’ appeared, it dropped down in the background. And when Ben turned the ‘donkey wheel’ and went into the future we were given the impression that he ‘dropped’ into the desert. Point is, things arriving from the past into the future drop and land. With that in mind, the parachute strapped to the food pallet makes sense.

I would also note that the rabbit, and Ben, made no sound when they ‘popped up’ in the future. Again, this correlates with the pallet of food appearing in the jungle without making a noise.



Hopefully you’re coming around, but I know you’re bound to be thinking about the number of food drops. That is, we’re given the impression these food drops occur regularly. ‘P.R.D (Periodic Resupply Drop) Every 6-8 months’ states the notation on the Blast Door Map. How else would the likes of Desmond and Inman have stayed alive without regular food provisions? Well, here’s where I introduce multiple time travel drop points into the mix.

Say you’re sending a large pallet of food into the future. You have your time travel machine set at the right “negative shift” so you can approximately gauge when in the future it will travel to. If today is Monday, you can set the food to arrive some time around Thursday. OK? But what if you could set it to arrive at more than one end point?

What if you could set it so that food was delivered every Thursday of every week for the next three years into the future? That same pallet of food would ‘pop up’, every Thursday. It would certainly make good use of resources! That same stock of food could be used over and over, limitlessly.




Now Dharma didn’t have the art of sending things into the future down to an exact science. So what I am positing here is that Dharma set their food drops to constantly ‘pop up’ in the future every 6-8 months. They couldn’t pinpoint the exact day, but they had a rough enough idea. They took one pallet of food and sent it to multiple future times, perhaps indefinitely. This one-time action explains why, after ‘the purge’, Dharma food could still continue to arrive on the Island.

Maybe they did this with numerous different drop points on the Island, which is why The Others also have a large supply of Dharma food. It’s pretty crazy I know, but there’s a simple elegance to it that I rather like, and the recycling idea sits well with the hippy Dharma mentality, don’t you think?



Now let me leave you with one last thought. Take this same idea and replace a pallet of food with a man. Let’s call that man Richard Alpert. What if he stepped into the time travel machine? What if he set it so that he was sent into the future at regular future intervals? What if he even sent himself to the past in the same way? Effectively, he would be the same guy appearing over and over. Ageless.



Sure, he’d have to be careful not to run into himself (getting off the Island and into the real world might be a good idea. . .) and he’d have to leave documentation for his future self to ‘know’ what his previous self had been doing. Probably he’d have to kill himself a lot, too, to make way for the ‘latest’ version of himself. But in principle it could work. A loop-hole circumventing immortality. It’s crazy, I know, but that’s not good enough reason to say it ain’t so. . .

4 comments:

Acharaisthekey said...

Here is further creedance to your theory - from the May 7th Pod cast (after a question came to light about the Food drops)

Damon Lindelof: Alright, answer the question Carlton -

Carlton Cuse: Ok.

Damon Lindelof: DHARMA drops...

Carlton Cuse: DHARMA drops -

Damon Lindelof: Will we ever learn?

Carlton Cuse: [sigh] You know, that's good. I mean, that- that's- that recalls a lot of history with the show but, I think that next year we will be dealing uh, a little bit more significantly with some DHARMA things and I think DHARMA drops might be one of those questions that season five will provide you with the answer for. Not gonna happen between now and the finale, but when you- when the show is back next season, I'm thinkin DHARMA drops will be your - if that's really what you need to know about the show, I feel like you will feel satisfied.

Damon Lindelof: If a DHARMA drop happens on the wrong bearing, does that mean that something can get dropped off in like 1965 and arrive in 2005?

Carlton Cuse: I think that's an episode.

So, they don't give us the answer, but it definately gives light on the possibility of what you are saying. As you have written out very well here, this has to be the case. I would be dissapointed if the food was from a present 3rd party, or by Ben or Widmore factions.

I'm with ya 100% on this! I would love to hear people argue against this....but I don't think they'll be able too

DanX said...

I wouldn't argue against it, as such, but I think it would make more sense to send multiple pallets rather than sending one and duplicating it through time travel (an idea I'm not too enamoured with). You could spend a week constantly sending pallets into the future, increasing the jump by 6-8 months each time, and have an island fully stocked for the next 50 years.

Acharaisthekey said...

Angelo-I saw on Lost Theories there was something about expiration dates, and that since they are current, that helps debunk the theories. I haven't gone back and watched but have you confirmed any of the expiration dates (by the way, I may do this tonight...yes, one of those nights :)...any ways, the expiration dates I don't beleive debunk it, I'll say why after I know the dates...just seeing if you had checked them out

Anonymous said...

Programming drops, just like you program your DVR!! Genius!