I'd love to give the prize for the first to provide more information on the cartoon Jack was watching. Love the swan images, down to what appeared to be Dharma swans in the irises of the eyes!

I was wondering about that too! I swear I've seen that cartoon as a kid. The salting of the little duck's butt. :D

Classic Woody Wood Pecker......guess it shows my age

i thought i had seen it before.. but i'm not too sure now..:D

I don't remember ever seeing it, but interesting that there is a saying about not being able to catch a duck unless you salt his tail. Hehe, wonder if that symbolism crosses over to how they "caught" the losties ?!

gotta see a recap ...whos got it?

gotta see a recap ...whos got it?

I agree - HAVE to see it. I want to see those Dharma swan's in the ducks eyes. I know I saw them, and I didn't even have a drink with dinner tonight!

Pretty sure it was a Daffy Duck cartoon, I vaguely remember him swimming in the end along with the baby ducks. I think its called Blue Danube Not it.

Might be this (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037528/) cartoon, its Beaky Buzzard

Also, DHARMA symbols in the eyes? I think I'll wait for a screencap

ETA Just went back to check again, unless its something you can only see in HD, there are no DHARMA symbols in the swan's eyes. I was going to grab a screen cap, but theres nothing there

i've seen that cartoon before... looks like one of those short cartoons before they show the longer ones... can't quite place the title though, but there were swans in the eyes

it was just a reflection of the swans that were passing. not the dharma swans

I think it was a Beaky Buzzard cartoon.

http://www.johnrozum.com/images/beaky-buzzard.jpg

Yes it definitely was a Daffy Duck cartoon!

I think it might be called "Ugly Duckling."

Daffy Duck tries to join the swans and they don't allow him because of his color. Then the buzzard steals the babies, Daffy gets them back, and becomes part of the family...

Sound familiar?

^ Yes, that's it I think!

Actually, diabolo, I think it is The Blue Danube...

Set to the tune of The Blue Danube this cartoon tells the tale of The Ugly Duckling. In this case, a mother swan is leading her children along a river, when a small black duck (Daffy Duck, according to later historians) tries to tag along with them. The mother duck shooes the duck away. When the black duck tries again, with his underwater bubble tactic, the mother duck gets angry at the duck that's the cause of the bubble mess (himself encased in a bubble), and sends him back to the water.
A large vulture hangs in the distance, spotting the troupe. At one time he sprinkles salt and pepper on one of the ducklings, but too much pepper causes the duckling to sneeze. Then, one by one, the vulture picks off the baby swans, and at one point he picks up the black duck, but returns him, labeling the duck with a "4F" (unfit for military service). The mother swan sees the ducklings missing and goes into a panic, not knowing where her children are (at one point, picking up the black duck as if he was an inanimate object). The black duck sees the vulture, and immediately becomes angry. Flying off (for a few moments resembling a P-40 Warhawk fighter), the duck chases after the vulture, who turns yellow and drops the baby swans, who each have a parachute which lets them drop safely. The duck chases after the vulture, who gets knocked out. He then hands the vulture a drum of TNT and drops him from the sky, causing the vulture to die and play a harp in heaven. The cartoon ends with the black duck finally being allowed to tag along with the swan and her children - with only the duck's shadow having a hard time keeping up with the rest of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Corny_Concerto

At the risk of showing my age, Beaky Buzzard is the character at the start of Jack's cartoon. I really like Beaky. um, yup. yup. yup.

The question is not what Jack was watching, but why were the Others making him watch?

The question is not what Jack was watching, but why were the Others making him watch?
Maybe they had Jack watching that because it has no current meaning. Its a cartoon that every American kid (of a certain age :)) has seen many, many times. Its recognizable.
It also makes me think that The Others have no current video access to the world...cartoon reruns and a two year old World Series game? Why not be watching the nighrly news if they have current access?

It's still 2004 in the show...maybe the Others can watch the nightly news but just aren't showing it to Jack...

Definitly, 100% it's CORNEY CONCERTO. There may be a CLUE. But it's more likely they used the cartoon clip because it's a PUBLIC DOMAIN cartoon that has no copyright and therefore they coulds use the clip as a generic filler for FREE. We'll see,,,

Here's some caps of the cartoon:

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/8928/cartoon1xg5.jpg
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/1276/cartoon2aa8.jpg
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/1475/cartoon3qy4.jpg
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/9069/cartoon4sl9.jpg

What could be more symbolic than a buzzard capturing swans? Like big bad Ben the predator capturing our Losties from the swan hatch.

Actually, I wondered if they played toons for Jack to bring out his inner child and make him more cheerful and less threatening towards them. He is almost being treated like a spoiled kid, eating snacks and watching cartoons all day. Well, make that a spoiled prisoner.

It is definitely "A Corny Concerto", here is the full cartoon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMM3hwG1cxo

or

http://www.pdcomedy.com/Cartoons/ACornyConcerto/CC.html

Actually, I wondered if they played toons for Jack to bring out his inner child and make him more cheerful and less threatening towards them. He is almost being treated like a spoiled kid, eating snacks and watching cartoons all day. Well, make that a spoiled prisoner.

And he has to sit in the corner when they come in, just like a time out! :biggrin:

The question is not what Jack was watching, but why were the Others making him watch?


I'm stuck on the why make him watch it question too.....

i know they had that part of the world series game, but they seem to love to take children, mabey thats all they have is kids cartoons?

Wow. if you watch the whole cartoon there is alot of symbolism. I wonder if it is a message to Jack, "you are not one of us, but if you help us you can join us". ???

Jack did say cartoon(S) - plural, when asking "Am I here to just watch cartoons?" (or something to that effect). Hey, not that there isn't some of the deepest, trippiest symbolism in our early and mid-century cartoons, but it seemed to me that he had been watching cartoons for hours.

Why? That is the question now for me too. Is it because they had nothing else to show him (sky turned purple, communication down)? Is it because he is the spoiled child? Was that cartoon and others specific and deliberate?

I'd seen that cartoon about 100 times when I was a kid!! So I thought it was pretty cool, why they had it on so Jack could watch it, is anybody's guess! Weird.

Dont know why they were putting on cartoons on for him that seems odd.

Was tring to place the cartoon knew i saw it somewhere i think they only showed that one because of the Swan relevence

There were three baby white swans in the cartoon. Could they represent J/K/S?
The others have more than just cartoons and a clip from the current world series. (They are still in 2004) They just might not have any right now because of the EMP (or something like that) event.

They are probably doing it to break him down more. Enough of that 24/7 and anyone would go a little crazy.

They are probably doing it to break him down more. Enough of that 24/7 and anyone would go a little crazy.

I agree. Jack wants information and answers to his questions. Instead, they give him a meaningless cartoon. It would be infuriating. It also reminds me of some of the sanctioned "torture" techniques currently used, e.g. playing loud music repetitively, etc.

It is definitely "A Corny Concerto", here is the full cartoon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMM3hwG1cxo

or

http://www.pdcomedy.com/Cartoons/ACornyConcerto/CC.html


I stand corrected it is deffinately The Blue Danube

BTW did you notice that when Daffy was smacked on his tail, the hand print looked like the button in Sawyers cage? Can I get a screen cap?

Hey gang,

The cartoon reminded me of what my father used to tell me as a kid. He told me that if i wanted to catch a pigeon i had to sprinkle salt on its tail.
Naturally, i spent hours running around with the salt shaker trying to catch one - but everytime i got close they would just fly off.

Years later it dawned on me....
Of course, if you ever get close enough to a pigeon to sprinkle salt on its tail you are close enough to just pick it up anyway.

I've never forgotten that little lesson in life, and i was actually moved to see it incorporated in the show.

I guess the message is that sometimes the most obvious things are hidden right in front of you all along.

:cool:

What a great show.

I remember seeing that cartoon as a kid ........it looked so familiar!!!!

I've seen that cartoon about a million times. I busted out laughing when I saw it. The basic plot of it is that these swans have an ugly duckling in their midst, and they keep trying to get rid of him, yet he keeps coming back. Then, the little baby swans get picked off one by one by Beaky Buzzard and the ugly duckling has to save them. He does and eventually becomes part of their family.

Gee, and having Jack watch that doesn't sound like foreshadowing or anything, does it? Nice to know the Others recruit with cartoons. Maybe they'll use Kim Possible on Kate. Or Yosemite Sam for Sawyer. LOL

i liked how we saw the buzzard's eye close up first. reminded me of jack/locke etc.

this cartoon is so chalk full of symbolism, it's hard to map it onto the lost mythos. there's the swans of course --- but there's also a plane crash, TNT, henry gale's balloon, and children being kidnapped.

i don't think that even with the salt and pepper the buzzard planned on eating the children. at least not yet --- buzzards only eat dead stuff. it seems that his role was of the watchmen, watching from far above, without the knowledge or awareness of those he was watching over. he infultrates the swan community, and kidnapps the children. so that they might be trained in his war. only the best. daffy is deamed unfit for military duty.

sounds alot like Henry Gale (when we thought Ben was Henry) --- he infiltated the swan community by pretending to be "one of them." Just as the buzzard swims behind in perfect unison. We can assume he ordered the child to be kidnapped.

i believe the lost character who best fits the daffy character is Michael. The paddle reminds us of the raft. He becomes someone (or something) he is not (mainly a killer) in order to get Walt back; Daffy becomes a fighter plane, and eventually kills to get the children back.

however, we've seen another lost character unfit to serve in the army --- Desmond.

I especially liked how the cartoon ends with the shadow unable to keep up. Daffy murders in order to "fit in with the family" And although he can keep up, his shadow/his past will never quite fit in.

sorry for the scatter brain response. that's all folks.

What could be more symbolic than a buzzard capturing swans? Like big bad Ben the predator capturing our Losties from the swan hatch.

Actually, I wondered if they played toons for Jack to bring out his inner child and make him more cheerful and less threatening towards them. He is almost being treated like a spoiled kid, eating snacks and watching cartoons all day. Well, make that a spoiled prisoner.

Yeah, I totally caught the childhood regression vibe, it's probably a step in the brain washing process. The way Juliet says "I hope you like blueberry..." was kind of June Cleaver maternal, fitting with the 50's genre cartoon.