Ok, when they take jack w/ the bag on his head to perform surgery, a loud tone is played from some loudspeakers so that he won't be able to heart kate/sawyer. However, I just noticed that during the last scene (sawyer and ben on the cliff) there is another one of these speakers. Specifically, a pole with 3 different speakers on it (maybe somebody can post a screencap). Any thoughts on the significance of this? Why would the others have a loud speaker all the way up on a cliff, far away from their little establishment? The only thing I can think of is that they are set up all over the "mini" island, as some sort of announcement system. Perhaps there are actually a lot more people on this island than we have been shown, and they use these as a way of making announcements to everybody at once...

I think they may possibly have lookouts stationed all over their island just in case somebody does try to escape or they're seen by boats, perhaps. Maybe there's a camera attached up there, too. Just speculating here...

you're right they just put the alarm on to distract jack from hearing kate or sawyer. if they were studying animales on the island chances are they had loud speakers to notify field researchers if something was going on, evacuation etc

If the island was once a military post, load speakers are an effective way of getting a message over a large area quickly. This is all pre cell phone, pod cast, my space days. Remember having to keep everyone in the house off the phone in the kitchen because you were expecting a call. no call waiting.

I don't know about now, but when I was on active duty that kind of speaker setup was fairly common on military bases. I have also seen similar set ups in small towns where they served to call out the volunteer fire department or warn the residents of a tsunami. Or if you want to go way back, they were installed in many US towns during WW II to serve as air raid alerts. I think a public PA system like that makes sense in this type of remote research station.

I really doubt if this island has cell phone coverage. Lostee call home :eek2:

Well, it seems to me that the loud speakers and video surveillance are a remnant of Dharma, set up for use at the Hydra station. The Others make use of such equipment as needed, such as monitoring J/K/S, using the alarm sound to wash out K and S yelling for Jack, etc. We've seen the others make use of abandon hatches for whatever purpose serves them before, like the medical station in "Maternity Leave". So I can only say that the loud speaker was up on the hill for some Hydra purpose that has been long abandoned (communicating with the reseachers like Aphex said, giving some sort of auditory stimulus to the animals, something along those lines)

I get more of a tourist feeling from the whole island, the speakers, covered walkways and general layout of what we have seen so far look more likely set up for "display" purposes rather than in military fashion. The cages for example, are built opposite each other, rather than side by side with a wall to seperate them. In designing a zoo, you want to maximise the viewing, while a military compound would try and keep things minimalistic and uniform.

Radios have also been in use for years, and all the "others" have modern personal ones, so why bother keep the tanoy system operational?

For some reason I get more "Jurasic Park" than Full Metal Jacket from this island.

Still, theres much of this island we have not seen yet.

i got it,
this new island is where the food is prepared, its where the cooks are, see if all the scientists and viewers on the original had to get their own food there would be no time to do their research.....sooooo.......its a stretch i know but think about it

this new island is where all the cooks are based, they arent on the original island as its more dagnorous, maybe cerebus doesnt like cooks or summit, so their stationed on this new island. ok so it wouldnt be entirely for cooks, some research would go on, but! the researchers are that fussy about thier food and "being what you eat" that they put tests into the cages seperating smart bears from stupid ones, then after this is done they are operated on in these sophisticated butcher rooms where only the prime meat and brains can be extracted for eating, depending on the type of meat (i am sure there are other animals around) the cooks then shout out their orders of side dishes over the tannoy (sp) to the people around the island who then have to work as fast as they can to get the freshist ingredients back to the cooks.
it makes sense if the researchers are fussy eaters

^haha.

anyways, I think the idea that they act as alarms is pretty important. When I originally posted this, I didn't think about the fact that these are probably left over from Dharma, and not originally built by the others. I mean, they do look pretty old and dilapidated. But what would Dharma need an alarm system for? Some sort of warning? Maybe for a food drop? Also (I can't find a screencap), if you look at the closeup on the speakers when jack has a bag on his head, there is another set of devices above the loudspeakers. At first I thought they were lights, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It looks like they could be some kind of sensors, maybe a motion sensor? Also, 2 of the wires are spliced together, indicating that somebody tried to disable them at some point? I dunno where I'm going with this, I just found it interesting...

^haha.

anyways, I think the idea that they act as alarms is pretty important. When I originally posted this, I didn't think about the fact that these are probably left over from Dharma, and not originally built by the others. I mean, they do look pretty old and dilapidated. But what would Dharma need an alarm system for? Some sort of warning? Maybe for a food drop? Also (I can't find a screencap), if you look at the closeup on the speakers when jack has a bag on his head, there is another set of devices above the loudspeakers. At first I thought they were lights, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It looks like they could be some kind of sensors, maybe a motion sensor? Also, 2 of the wires are spliced together, indicating that somebody tried to disable them at some point? I dunno where I'm going with this, I just found it interesting...

Well, we've actually heard the loudspeakers used 3 times; the ones on Hydra Island are almost identical to the ones that were formerly in the Swan Hatch that made the lockdown announcement, the ones that announced "PRISONER ESCAPE" when Karl and Sawyer made a run for it, and the ones that played the supremely loud, annoying sound that allowed them to transport Jack. Those all lead me to believe that they are used for exactly that: announcements.

Also, props to whoever said that the speakers remind them of Jurassic Park. I never thought about it, but think The Lost World when they come to the abandoned research facility. It looks almost like the same type of situation. Maybe the apparent disrepair of the facilities could be related to "The Incident"?

For some reason I get more "Jurasic Park" than Full Metal Jacket from this island.

Still, theres much of this island we have not seen yet.

that's funny, i got the same feeling. mine because of the cages and the covered walkway.... just seemed more like for viewing, sort of like a zoo.

I don't know about now, but when I was on active duty that kind of speaker setup was fairly common on military bases. I have also seen similar set ups in small towns where they served to call out the volunteer fire department or warn the residents of a tsunami. Or if you want to go way back, they were installed in many US towns during WW II to serve as air raid alerts. I think a public PA system like that makes sense in this type of remote research station.

I really doubt if this island has cell phone coverage. Lostee call home :eek2:

Maybe that is stretched too far but, do you remember the US Army Knife the Tailies found in their Hatch? Probably there is a connection. Probably there is connection between the Knife, the US like Speakers and the One-Eyed guy of the Promo.

The whole Hydra seems to be built in two phases. On the one side, its very puristic, very army like, without much comfort. On the other side its a bit built like a experimental facility, with the cages and stuff. That leads me to the theory that the US Army built that station at first, maybe to confront the "Dharma threat". Maybe later the station was abandoned or the "Dharma threat" fought the US Army away and so the Dharmartians made some changes to it and used it for their own use. That would fit with all the weapons on a scientist island, with the probably existant submarine. The Underwater-Area of the Hydra looks even more reassigned than the rest of the whole facility, the room where Jack is held prison looks like the glasswall is installed later.

Edit: Remember of the place where Kate took a shower... just like an army base shower... the roofed path in the camp... just like in army camps to make air strikes harder...

So after all i think, the us army is going to play a not minor role this season.
Maybe the one-eyed guy is an soldier, left behind. If he is, he'll be as crazy and nuts as Rousseau is...

I think a more reasonable explanation is that the army knife came from Kelvin, who we know was an army sargeant from one of Sayid's flashbacks.

Why would the others have a loud speaker all the way up on a cliff, far away from their little establishment?

Isn't it obvious?

The Others will use the loudspeakers to blast Glen Miller tunes all across the island, for when Alex has her first moonlight cotillion on the beach. :happy_bounce:

i got it,
this new island is where the food is prepared, its where the cooks are, see if all the scientists and viewers on the original had to get their own food there would be no time to do their research.....sooooo.......its a stretch i know but think about it

this new island is where all the cooks are based, they arent on the original island as its more dagnorous, maybe cerebus doesnt like cooks or summit, so their stationed on this new island. ok so it wouldnt be entirely for cooks, some research would go on, but! the researchers are that fussy about thier food and "being what you eat" that they put tests into the cages seperating smart bears from stupid ones, then after this is done they are operated on in these sophisticated butcher rooms where only the prime meat and brains can be extracted for eating, depending on the type of meat (i am sure there are other animals around) the cooks then shout out their orders of side dishes over the tannoy (sp) to the people around the island who then have to work as fast as they can to get the freshist ingredients back to the cooks.
it makes sense if the researchers are fussy eaters



LOL @ IRON CHEF LOST ISLAND