When Hurley, Miles and Dr. Cheng are in the VW microbus, and just before Hurley says, "I'm new here Dr. Chang...," we hear the ticking sound of a VW Microbus.engine. To my ears it sounds a bit like the rattling sound the Smokey makes when it scoots about.the jungle.

In considering this notion we are presented with three options:

1. Of course I am right. The Smokey owes its beginnings to all the dirty exhast from the VW Microbus's congealing as one, so this makes perfect sense.

2. I am nuts. The rattling Smokey noise is Lock'e calculator, as has been said before by more than a few Lost fans. Sheesh!!!

3. The Lost creators like to torture us with this stuff.

Okay, so the remark about the VW Microbus exhaust was a bit tongue in cheek. But I am very serious about the noise sounding like Smokey. Please, give it a listen.

...But if I am wrong about this, then absolutely, it was all tomgue in cheek. Deal?

I can't watch anything on my extremely old PC but I am :rotflmao2: .

ETA
-----------
Oops I just realized you might take that the wrong way.

I really don't mean your idea is silly I was LOL at the deal.

I can't watch anything on my extremely old PC but I am :rotflmao2: .


:)

Sometimes rattling Smokey sounds to me like how my last computer hard drive sounded at the beginning of its end.

Mmmm, I think that VW Microbus better get a checkup at the DHARMA motot pool, and pronto!

I didn't notice this, but I don't think you're crazy.

One thing that we have noticed about the monster is it appears to "acquire" sounds over time, and the way it sounds grows. As the seasons progress, it seems like its sounds are getting increasingly more complicated and complex--you might say that it is incorporating the new sounds it has encountered into its toolbox. It would make sense for the VW van to be a sound that it "acquired" early on, during Dharma Initiative times...before we even met it.

The other option, which might be connected, is that there is only a limited audio library in the world of LOST until new voices or sounds are recorded.

Edit to add:
A third option is that the VW microbus is the smoke monster, or that it is hanging out in the machine.

I didn't notice this, but I don't think you're crazy.

One thing that we have noticed about the monster is it appears to "acquire" sounds over time, and the way it sounds grows. As the seasons progress, it seems like its sounds are getting increasingly more complicated and complex--you might say that it is incorporating the new sounds it has encountered into its toolbox. It would make sense for the VW van to be a sound that it "acquired" early on, during Dharma Initiative times...before we even met it.

The other option, which might be connected, is that there is only a limited audio library in the world of LOST until new voices or sounds are recorded.

Edit to add:
A third option is that the VW microbus is the smoke monster, or that it is hanging out in the machine.I agree that Smokey has grown and acquired sounds over time. That first clue they gave us, (when Rose said she heard something familiar), was a good one!

Are these sounds gleaned from the memories of the people Smokey has judged, people who have died on the Island, or a combination of both?

I'm trying to remember, but wasn't there a sound reminiscent of the plane breaking apart?

I agree that it would make sense if the OP heard the VW Microbus as it could have been picked up in a memory of someone from the motor pool or really any number of DHARMA people. I can't wait to find out more!

Wow. That's a cool thought. Smokey just absorbing sounds to use. Neat.
Could that be what the whispers are then, just absorbed conversations that the Monster heard over time?

I'm not sure if Smokey evolves so that it can do more as time goes on, or if we just get introduced to more tricks each time it shows itself. It's something I've been wondering about since it appeared to take pictures of Juliet.

As far as what it does--throwing people around, taking flash photographs of them, "judging" them, dragging them underground...I think all of those are tricks it already had (not sure about the throwing trees into the air one, though--it might have learned that from Horace)...however, the sounds have become more complex. I can't remember where I read or heard it, but I believe even some of those involved in making the show have pointed that fact out.

Right, but have they always been there? Does it learn the sounds in the same way a bird does? Can it scan the subconscious and take new sounds from that? The sounds it makes don't seem to match it's appearance. What about smoke could make a clanky sound? What about smoke could make a camera-like sound? And, if it can do that, why not use a voice?

As long as the next time we see it, it doesn't grow rocket boosters like a certain roaming trashcan from a certain space opera's prequels we'll be fine!

Interesting idea, especially regarding the wispers... I don't know if I believe it but at least it's something other than voices from the past or future... thumbs up! :yes:

I don't think the sounds have always been there...I'm thinking kind of what chelle says, that it acquires the sounds, perhaps from people's memories. Whether or not it can only gain sounds from dead people is also up for debate. All, or at least most, of the crash survivors had that "picture" taken of them in season one, which might have been where it acquired a host of new sounds.

I regard the general sounds of it moving into the area as more of a...a bird that imitates other sounds that it hears, like the Australian lyrebird (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyrebird) who imitates everything from other animals to cameras and chainsaws.

That said, assuming Yemi-with-smoke-monster and Alex-with-smoke-monster are truly within or are part of the smoke monster, it does appear to have some use of a voice, at least.

Edit to add: Always have to put in a plug for the Whispers and Hidden Audio thread (http://forum.thefuselage.com/showthread.php?t=110011) when they come up. :)

I'm rewatching the season, and there are definitely times when the sound of Smokey shows up without Smokey, and I'm trying to piece together what that means. I also heard it w/ the bus when Jin pulls up and points the gun at Hurley and Jack after the crash landed, the first time Jack is shown waking up in the jungle after the 2nd plane crash, and when Sawyer points the gun at Jack.

The 2nd time Jack is shown waking up after the 2nd crash (confusing, I know - but the scene is played twice in the episode) Smokey can't be heard.

I think it is meaningful, but what it means, not sure.