The Looking Glass station as Juliette described it doesn't make any sense. How can you block radio transmissions from under water? Radio doesn't pass through water I don't think, that's why submarines use sonar rather than radar, and why they must tow an antenna on the surface to use radio for communication. Unless they use ELF, extremely low frequency radio.

Anyway, an underwater station certainly wouldn't work as a radio jammer - unless it was using the cable to feed a signal to an above-ground antenna, in which case cutting the cable would stop the jamming.

Also, where are they getting power from? Maybe they have some crazy tidal force generator or geothermal source down there, but more likely they're getting power through the cable. Once again - why not just cut it?

Why not just follow the cable to find the station, look down and see the lights are on, and cut the cable then to see if the lights go out?

Either the writers have made a serious error here, or else Juliette (and probably Desmond) are lying about something.

--RF

Why not just follow the cable to find the station, look down and see the lights are on, and cut the cable then to see if the lights go out?


Way back in S1, Solitary, we saw that the cable is frayed. The insulation was peeled back, and Sayid would have been fried if it was electrical because he handled the frayed part. It's not a power cable.
Sayid's smart enough to know that. Well, not that smart because he picked up the frayed part. But he's known since then that it's not an electrical power cable.

It was just what the Losties used it for - a "locator" cable.
And if that doesn't work for you, try a little suspension of disbelief. The cable is trivial compared to 101 other things we've seen..

Way back in S1, Solitary, we saw that the cable is frayed. The insulation was peeled back, and Sayid would have been fried if it was electrical because he handled the frayed part. It's not a power cable.
Sayid's smart enough to know that. Well, not that smart because he picked up the frayed part. But he's known since then that it's not an electrical power cable.

It was just what the Losties used it for - a "locator" cable.
And if that doesn't work for you, try a little suspension of disbelief. The cable is trivial compared to 101 other things we've seen..
lostmio's explaination is way better than my, "...because cuttin the cable wasn't written in the script" theory.:biggrin:

I don't remember Sayid finding the wire frayed. . . I wondered also why they didn't cut it. hmmm

On the schematics Sayid had, its marked as an "Anchor to land," so the cable is probably there so it doesnt drift from the island

I don't get it. The Looking Glass diagram showed one cable that was marked "Anchor to Land", and it was attached to a partially above-ground concrete form near the shoreline. I guess that thing is either now buried and escaped attention or it was removed sometime in the past. I don't know why a structure that well built would need any support cable to land anyway. This thing they found is'nt that, because it runs well into the island and is'nt anchored.

I do agree it's not a live cable or Sayid would've known. It's a mystery how the station gets it's power.

i was sure it was an old rope in the first season.

I was pretty sure they said that it was powered by the cable. I'll have to rewatch it. I kept wondering why they didn't just cut it.

Since the station is not too deep, it would be possible for it to be sending radio signals / jamming transmissions -- just not the most efficient way to do it.

Buoy. Think floating antenna. Turn off the Jammer switch and no more jamming signal.

geeez, so true!
Cut The Cable!!!!

Also, where are they getting power from?

Two giant hamsters running in a large wheel! :biggrin:

My husband wondered the same thing too and I said they didn't have anything to cut it with. He pointed out that they had the axe and I asked if the handle was wooden or not. I had forgotten that the cable was somewhat frayed. The anchor idea sounds better to me.

A couple of sticks of that dynamite, and a couple of rocks would cut the cable quite nicely!!

geeez, so true!
Cut The Cable!!!!


I don't know about you, but I'm not about to cut a cable floating in seawater if I
don't know what it's conducting. There has been no hint about what kind of wiring
is inside of that cable. Even if you cut the sheathing it could be a shielded cable
and you won't know it's bad news until you are DEAD.

The Looking Glass station as Juliette described it doesn't make any sense. How can you block radio transmissions from under water? Radio doesn't pass through water I don't think, that's why submarines use sonar rather than radar, and why they must tow an antenna on the surface to use radio for communication. Unless they use ELF, extremely low frequency radio.

Anyway, an underwater station certainly wouldn't work as a radio jammer - unless it was using the cable to feed a signal to an above-ground antenna, in which case cutting the cable would stop the jamming.

Also, where are they getting power from? Maybe they have some crazy tidal force generator or geothermal source down there, but more likely they're getting power through the cable. Once again - why not just cut it?

Why not just follow the cable to find the station, look down and see the lights are on, and cut the cable then to see if the lights go out?

Either the writers have made a serious error here, or else Juliette (and probably Desmond) are lying about something.

--RF
This is my mantra for this evening: Sayid is an Other. How else do you explain this, the ambush in the Looking Glass, and what appears to be an ambush in the finale?

As soon as they started discussing swimming down to the station, the thought occurred to me, why not just cut the power cord? There's still a risk of electrocution I guess, but better than trying to swim down to a station that's submerged at an unknown depth, navigate it's unknown size, and find a small switch. I know the main reason is because it's good story telling, but that just bugged me that they overlooked the obvious solution.

I wondered the same thing. It seemed too obvious of a solution.

We don't know what the cable is. Sayid's diagram calls it "anchor to land". So it may be of no use cutting it - except risking to lose it and not finding the station.

As soon as they started discussing swimming down to the station, the thought occurred to me, why not just cut the power cord? There's still a risk of electrocution I guess, but better than trying to swim down to a station that's submerged at an unknown depth, navigate it's unknown size, and find a small switch. I know the main reason is because it's good story telling, but that just bugged me that they overlooked the obvious solution.

they should have used some dynamite to blow up the cable.

btw.such a cable wouldn't just be floating in the water...

I'm guessing that Ben and Co. may have jury-rigged the cable, it probably wasn't always like that. Which also leads me to believe there could be a backup. Mikhail said there were cables running underground all over the Island.

That's what I was thinking. I mean, it looked just like a POWER cable. Sure, there may be others, but I would have just cut it first and see what happened. As long as they kept enough of it on land, they could just follow it later... but still, I thought it was pretty stupid that they didn't even try that.

That's what I was saying to the TV.

Great minds think alike; writers come up with something more dramatic.

This is so funny, because early this morning as soon as I woke up, I started thinking about the episode last night, and the one thing that kept coming into my mind was: why don't they just cut the frikkin cable? Heh. Obviously they're going to believe Charlie drowned down there, and when they discover that their radio signal is still being jammed (that is if Charlie is prevented from 'flipping the yellow blinking switch'), then their next choice would be to try to cut off the cable. So when I logged on this morning, here's this discussion already underway! Cool stuff!

If the source of power is in the underwater station, then cutting the cable wouldn't do any good.

This is so funny, because early this morning as soon as I woke up, I started thinking about the episode last night, and the one thing that kept coming into my mind was: why don't they just cut the frikkin cable? Heh. Obviously they're going to believe Charlie drowned down there, and when they discover that their radio signal is still being jammed (that is if Charlie is prevented from 'flipping the yellow blinking switch'), then their next choice would be to try to cut off the cable. So when I logged on this morning, here's this discussion already underway! Cool stuff!

Isn't the Fuselage a beautiful place? I really enjoy Thursday mornings. But it's time to get the kids up...

Uh, duh, cutting the cable wouldn't have helped much. They probably have a power source INSIDE the station. Besides, I don't think it was a power cable anyway. It was more like an anchor. Without it, you can't really find the station, can you?

the cable probably isn't the power source, they said the power source was inside the hatch, the cable was just a way to find the station in the water

The cable is just an anchor to the land. I do not think it actually provides the hatch with power. Cutting it would do nothing to unblock the radio signals.

To "answer" my own question, I've thought about it and have a few reasons -- Sayyid had the map which labeled it "anchor" so he probably figured cutting wouldn't work. Desmond's vision was for Charlie to actually flip a switch and drown - so that planted the suggestion at least that swimming into the station was the way to go.

Finally, regarding jamming - I think it's clear that the station has nothing to do with jamming radio signals -- they lied to Juliette. There's some interesting stuff on Lostpedia but considering the name, etc., it would seem that the Looking Glass is the teleportation portal -- it's the way off the island, the "magic box" -- that's why they lied to Juliette and the non-trusted Others about it.

Uh...the cable is connected to a sonar beacon and is used to lure in the submarines, right? So why would cutting it achieve anything?

I was wondering the same thing--why not cut the cable?

This is my mantra for this evening: Sayid is an Other. How else do you explain this, the ambush in the Looking Glass, and what appears to be an ambush in the finale?

I'm starting to think that way, too. But I wonder if that would be too stereotypical--the seemingly good Iraqi/Muslim turns out to be bad???

Finally, regarding jamming - I think it's clear that the station has nothing to do with jamming radio signals -- they lied to Juliette. There's some interesting stuff on Lostpedia but considering the name, etc., it would seem that the Looking Glass is the teleportation portal -- it's the way off the island, the "magic box" -- that's why they lied to Juliette and the non-trusted Others about it.

Awesome. Very good idea.

To "answer" my own question, I've thought about it and have a few reasons -- Sayid had the map which labeled it "anchor" so he probably figured cutting wouldn't work. Desmond's vision was for Charlie to actually flip a switch and drown - so that planted the suggestion at least that swimming into the station was the way to go.



Is it possible that by flipping the switch will generate another "pulse" which can be detected by NAOMI's group.

And not necessary UNBLOCK a signal. When Desmond first mentioned about flipping the switch, that was my first thought...no necessarily jamming.

Remember, Desmond saw a helicopter come to the rescue...how the helicopter finds them is still in question. Maybe we'll find out more next week...

Finally, regarding jamming - I think it's clear that the station has nothing to do with jamming radio signals -- they lied to Juliette. There's some interesting stuff on Lostpedia but considering the name, etc., it would seem that the Looking Glass is the teleportation portal -- it's the way off the island, the "magic box" -- that's why they lied to Juliette and the non-trusted Others about it.

The names of the stations don't always seem to match their purposes: The Swan, The Pearl, The Flame. The only one I remember being named close to its purpose is the caduceus(sp?)/medical station.

I don't think the underwater station is the answer to why they can't communicate with the real world either though.

As for teleportation... I'm not sold on that one yet, but anything can happen on Lost!

I have a couple of thoughts on this. First, even if they were to witness power being lost... somewhere (be it the underwater hatch, which they would have to paddle out to in order to see anyway), what does that prove to them about whether or not the signal jamming is still going on? Aside from that, we were waaaay too upset way back when at the time that everyone followed the cable into the jungle and not out in the water to find out what it was all about. Now that they're finally satiating some of our curiosity, who are we to get mad at them for not doing what may or may not be the smartest plan?

Uh...the cable is connected to a sonar beacon and is used to lure in the submarines, right? So why would cutting it achieve anything?

Yeah, this was my question also. We already learned before what the cable was, a sonar beacon. Cutting it wouldn't do any good. There's a whole station down there, why would the cable be the thing that's blocking the transmission?

In what episode of SEASON 1 does the cable first appear in?!! I don't remember! :confused::confused:

I wondered too about why didn't they just cut it, but I can accept that they had a good reason. It doesn't bother me. If Sayid says they have to pull the switch inside the station then that is good enough for me.

In what episode of SEASON 1 does the cable first appear in?!! I don't remember! :confused::confused:

It's the episode after Sayid Tortures Sawyer... Not sure the Episode name...

It seems the most popular vote in this thread is "Cut the Cable".

I don't think cutting the cable is the answer. It look most like a large Data Cable, not a power cable. Cutting it would probably do no good at all.

Hhhmmm I'm stuck on an island my life is in danger and I have to act quick.
I'm not sure what the cable does, but I'm thinking I'm going to blow it up so I don't electicute myself. Turn on the satilite phone and see if I can make a call.
If not, then I move on to plan B

I would think they would try the quickest way first.

Where did they get those diagrams anyway?

They got them from patchys place.

Ah. I didn't put that one together.

I have been wondering this since Season 1. Back when they first showed the cable I said to myself, "why don't the just cut it, and wait for whoever laid it down to come repair it?" Of course a lot has happened since then. Maybe we can assume that Sayid gleaned information from the diagrams that led him to believe that cutting the cable would not do any good.

I think I remember Syiad showing them to Locke right before the place blew up.

I've seen the closeup of the screencap of the diagram of the Looking Glass station (http://bp1.blogger.com/_8HhjIy50yEY/Rkvf8GnoetI/AAAAAAAAAF0/v0wLo6Qbfls/s1600-h/hd.lg4.JPG) that Sayid was showing to people, and yes the cable is very clearly labelled as being an "ANCHOR TO LAND". However, I don't believe that this is ALL that it is. Why, if it is an anchor to the land, does the cable stretch for miles inland? That doesn't make sense. Also, that cable alone is not going to be able to hold the huge amount of weight of the Looking Glass if something were to try to wrest it free from its position on the bottom of the sea. If the Looking Glass was to suddenly start moving for some reason, that cable would not be strong enough to prevent it from just ripping free...

No, I believe that the cable has some kind of electronic or telecommunication lines within it.

But here's a question, why then does the diagram specically say the cable is an "ANCHOR"?

Even if the cable is a power cable, Sayid is smart enough to know that it would have some sort of back up generator. Seeing as it's an underwater station it'd probably have a back up generator that would last for weeks if not a few months.

Everyone has missed the obvious. It was Charlie's destiny to go down into the underwater hatch, flip the switch and then die (according to Des). There was no mention of cutting the cable in Desmond's prophecy. That's why the cable wasn't cut.

Even if Sayid wanted to cut or blow the cable up, i am sure Des & Charlie would have done everything to prevent that from happening. Any lame old excuse would have stopped Sayid. Just like Charlie stopped Hurley from coming on the boat.

The point of the exercise was to play out Desmond's flashforward. Cutting the cable wasn't part of that.

I dont think cutting the cable would have solved anything...besides, cutting the cable (if indeed thats what its for) would mean they couldnt even turn the power back on should the Losties ever find themselves in a situation where they could turn this communication station around in their favor.

Even if the cable is a power cable, Sayid is smart enough to know that it would have some sort of back up generator. Seeing as it's an underwater station it'd probably have a back up generator that would last for weeks if not a few months.

Quote from Jack Sawyer:
I dont think cutting the cable would have solved anything...besides, cutting the cable (if indeed thats what its for) would mean they couldnt even turn the power back on should the Losties ever find themselves in a situation where they could turn this communication station around in their favor.

I dont know how to put 2 quotes on here. But thet are both good thoughts that accompany my own thought of after they cut the cable that is when the batteries in the satilite phone would of course die.

~~~
Puzzled

To "answer" my own question, I've thought about it and have a few reasons -- Sayyid had the map which labeled it "anchor" so he probably figured cutting wouldn't work. Desmond's vision was for Charlie to actually flip a switch and drown - so that planted the suggestion at least that swimming into the station was the way to go.

Finally, regarding jamming - I think it's clear that the station has nothing to do with jamming radio signals -- they lied to Juliette. There's some interesting stuff on Lostpedia but considering the name, etc., it would seem that the Looking Glass is the teleportation portal -- it's the way off the island, the "magic box" -- that's why they lied to Juliette and the non-trusted Others about it.

Great Googalie Moogalie! You might be on to something there, with the Sub being the way for people to get to the island. Juliet was in the station when she came over but was drugged when she was on the station so has no memory of it at all, I bet only the highest ranking people would know about it then.

I don't know what the cable is for but it's not heavy. The lift it with no problem and had it draped across their little boat. Any cable that length that would carry power would be way too heavy for that.

Maybe it's for their HD TV?

I'll say it again: It's connected to a sonar beacon, it's not what's jamming the signal. And they know this. No point in cutting it.

A cable that was carrying power to a station that side would have to be rather large. As in a few inches thick just for the wiring. Also, any power or communications cables that are run near the shore are armored and anchored securely. Think about it, there were clearly rocks in the water, what would happen over a few years of tides and currents pushing the cable around and rubbing against the rocks? It would be frayed and destroyed, cutting all power. The power and data lines for this station were certainly run through conduit or underground when the station was built, the tubing would have to be around 4-6 inches minimum.

The cable we see was used simply as a marker to find the station from land. It may be labeled "anchor" but there is no way a cable that thin could hold the station securely. Not that it would need to since the station was anchored to its posts.

In support of my post I'd like to bring up the movie the Abyss. The movies shows the power/data cable connecting the station to the boat and it is about 6 inches thick. This is a cable that was not shielded because it wouldn't be near rocks, the shore or anchors. A cable with shielding would be thicker still.

It might be worth noting that the hexagon symbol the cable is attached/anchored to on land is designated as a "subterranean passage" on the map that Sayid looked at after the Flame blew up.

This is my mantra for this evening: Sayid is an Other. How else do you explain this, the ambush in the Looking Glass, and what appears to be an ambush in the finale?

Sorry, I can't see it at all. If he's an Other and sneaked into the crash site with Ethan, then he wouldn't have been on the manifest that Hurley verified. If he was on the plane, then a) he must have been a high-ranking Other like Alpert to be allowed to leave and b) the Others would have therefore known that he was on the plane and c) that means that the Others would have expected/planned for flight 815 to crash, which is again too far fetched and everything points to that not being the case. Ben was surprised and came up with a spur of the moment plan in the beginning of Season 3, etc. etc. yadda yadda.

By the way, Sayid beat the crap out of (and then almost killed) Ben on several ocassions. He had the crap beat out of him by The Others when he, Kate and Locke were caught. He got shot by Mikhail, and subsequently kicked the crap out of him...He has been actively looking for a way off the island since day one, and we have tons of flashbacks for him, including what he was doing directly prior to the crash...

I would MAYBE buy that he was a Dharma plant, and even that would take some serious convincing, but not one of the Others. No way! Sayid is my boy!

Just my .02 :biggrin:

The name of the episode where the cable is found is "Solitary." Sayid follows it into one of Rousseau's traps. Sayd is also the person who finds the diagrams...they are in the operations manuals stored at The Flame. He takes a couple binders before Locke blows it up in "Enter 77." It does seem strange that he wouldn't have poured over every page in those manuals (and thus would have already known about the Looking Glass), but it has only been a few days since they returned from the Barracks, and he has had to deal with Juliet, Naomi and any number of things. He might not have gotten to that diagram yet...the manuals were pretty thick.

As far as Sayid being an Other...I also don't see it. There isn't enough exposition to make that a satisfying reveal. I loved him in this episode...he also suspects that Jack might be working with Ben on this raid and tried to throw a monkey wrench into the works by demanding that Jack lead everyone to the radio tower.

And to address the thread's titular question: The simple answer is that the cable is made of Narrativium (the element that all plot points, everywhere, are composed of) and cannot be cut. In other words, cutting the cable would be fairly anti-climactic and we wouldn't get to see this cool new station, which figures to be very important in the finale and Charlie's fate. The in-show explanation for that could be in Sayid's diagrams...he's by far the most pragmatic character and would definitely suggest cutting if he had any reason to believe it would accomplish their goals. Time and coordination are also factors; they can't cut it and just hope for the best.

And I also don't buy that DHARMA would go through the massive expense and effort to build an underwater station of that size and importance and have it rely on an unhidden, unguarded cable that could be so easily damaged or destroyed by the elements, abundant wildlife, angry Hostiles, or hapless plane crash survivors.

In what episode of SEASON 1 does the cable first appear in?!! I don't remember! :confused::confused:

We first see the cable in "Solitary", the episode where Sayid is held captive by Danielle . Sayid first spies it while sitting on the beach after he left camp to go off by himself. He follows the cable and then gets caught in one of Danielle's traps. In a later episode, Hurley follows the cable to try and find the "French chick" so he can get a battery.

I do not believe cutting the cable would be the answer at all. It clearly states on the plans that it was a land anchor and it seems very unlikely that the cable would be the actual or only source of power for the station. I trust Sayid to know best..he certainly would have recommended cutting it if that was the answer.

I also am finding it hard to believe Juliette completely yet. I am still sorting out all the "jamming of the signals" theories, when it started, etc..and despite Juliette saying she didn't know how to find the station before Sayid brought out the plans....she must have known whoever went into the station would be met by those manning it, which is just what happened to Charlie. Of course all this is for another thread. :)
100%

As far as Sayid being an Other...I also don't see it. There isn't enough exposition to make that a satisfying reveal. I loved him in this episode...he also suspects that Jack might be working with Ben on this raid and tried to throw a monkey wrench into the works by demanding that Jack lead everyone to the radio tower.

And to address the thread's titular question: The simple answer is that the cable is made of Narrativium (the element that all plot points, everywhere, are composed of) and cannot be cut. In other words, cutting the cable would be fairly anti-climactic and we wouldn't get to see this cool new station, which figures to be very important in the finale and Charlie's fate. The in-show explanation for that could be in Sayid's diagrams...he's by far the most pragmatic character and would definitely suggest cutting if he had any reason to believe it would accomplish their goals. Time and coordination are also factors; they can't cut it and just hope for the best.

And I also don't buy that DHARMA would go through the massive expense and effort to build an underwater station of that size and importance and have it rely on an unhidden, unguarded cable that could be so easily damaged or destroyed by the elements, abundant wildlife, angry Hostiles, or hapless plane crash survivors.

Seems I took to long to submit my reply..sorry for the repeat info about 'Solitary', I didn't see yours in time. :)

I agree totally with all else you have said here too...makes total sense, especially about Sayid. Indeed if he believed cutting the cable was the answer he woud have suggested it. I loved him in this episode too and I am sure he still is unsure of Jack. No one attempts the throwing of a 'monkey wrench' into things more intelligently than Sayid.

I also very much agree with your thoughts on cutting the cable being anti-climatic..and we'd not get to see this "cool new station, which figures to be very important in the finale and Charlie's fate."

Well of course if they cut the cable then the ladies down there would miss the Sopranos finale. Geez....

Way back in S1, Solitary, we saw that the cable is frayed. The insulation was peeled back, and Sayid would have been fried if it was electrical because he handled the frayed part. It's not a power cable.
Sayid's smart enough to know that. Well, not that smart because he picked up the frayed part. But he's known since then that it's not an electrical power cable.

It was just what the Losties used it for - a "locator" cable.
And if that doesn't work for you, try a little suspension of disbelief. The cable is trivial compared to 101 other things we've seen..


More like 108 other little things.... :cool:

I was pretty sure they said that it was powered by the cable. I'll have to rewatch it. I kept wondering why they didn't just cut it.

Since the station is not too deep, it would be possible for it to be sending radio signals / jamming transmissions -- just not the most efficient way to do it.

Well, not the most efficient from an electrical standpoint, but if you're going to jam signals, burying the jamming signal in the ocean is a great way to keep it from being discovered.

This is why they had to send some one down:

IF they had cut the cable, they would have to still go to the Radio Tower to turn off Danielle's transmission to be able to use the satellite phone. Since it was a day's journey to the tower, that would mean that if the others survived the ambush when they attack the beach, they would have already been on the trail of the survivors.

So the best thing to do would have been to send someone down to the station to make sure 100% that the jamming signal was stopped. Cutting the cable stops the jamming signal is just a guess on anybody's part. that would be too big a risk to take when 10 men are planning to kill you

I'll say it again: It's connected to a sonar beacon, it's not what's jamming the signal. And they know this. No point in cutting it.

The sonar beacon communicates with / directs the submarine. Could be that it's contained within the Looking Glass, but maybe there's a different sonar beacon somewhere else we don't know.

But what we do know is that this particular cable, sonar beacon or not, is connected to the Looking Glass. Supplying it with something (power? communications signals?), or receiving something from it (a jamming signal?) or simply anchoring it to the island.
100%
Well, not the most efficient from an electrical standpoint, but if you're going to jam signals, burying the jamming signal in the ocean is a great way to keep it from being discovered.

Yeah, but you can't jam radio signals from underwater. Won't work.

Actually you can't really "jam" the signals anyway -- normally "jamming" means over-riding, sending a "louder" message on the same frequency so that other people can't communicate. But in this case, a powerful radio signal coming from the middle of the Pacific ocean would be signal enough -- surely that would raise a "what the heck?" from passing ships and planes.

Ben wouldn't want to "jam" signals, he'd want to dampen them -- the implication is that there's some sort of dampening field or effect surrounding the island. In that case I guess normal science rules wouldn't apply anyway.

I think "jamming the radio signals" in this case is a red herring.

I don't remember Sayid finding the wire frayed. . . I wondered also why they didn't cut it. hmmm

He found it on episode 9, Solitary.

btw.such a cable wouldn't just be floating in the water...



Why not? The Trans-Atlantic cables are.

I posted this in another thread but it's interesting and could have to do with this cable... http://www.phy6.org/earthmag/wtether.htm - there was an experiment done in space with a tether producing energy from earth's magnetic field. If you look at this screencap ttp://bp3.blogger.com/_8HhjIy50yEY/RkvgCmnoeuI/AAAAAAAAAF8/rt4Ma5qIzJw/s1600-h/hd.lg5.JPG there is a cable in the bottom left hand corner labeled C and it looks like it might go underground somehow. Don't know if this helps or hinders this argument but it's interesting.

Cable = Anchor to Land

Its clearly seen on the plan of the station and mentioned by Sayid !!

First off, I'm new here, so I apologize if this has been brought up elsewhere. I searched this thread and didn't find any mention of it...

Finally, regarding jamming - I think it's clear that the station has nothing to do with jamming radio signals -- they lied to Juliette. There's some interesting stuff on Lostpedia but considering the name, etc., it would seem that the Looking Glass is the teleportation portal -- it's the way off the island, the "magic box" -- that's why they lied to Juliette and the non-trusted Others about it.
I have to agree with this. If the station jammed radio signals, why were Sayid, Charlie, Shannon, Boone, Sawyer, and whoever else was with them, able to pick up the signal back in the second pilot episode?

Back in Season one when Sayid followed the cable didnt it go underground like it was attached to something

Back in Season one when Sayid followed the cable didnt it go underground like it was attached to something

Im sure he followed it inland, and it stopped, going underground. After moving on he was caught by Danielle's trap and captured.

On Fantasy Island - It appears that anything is possible. If an invisible man can talk, then an underwater station can block transmissions.

Who knows....... I think cutting the cable to the looking glass would have been better. At this point, I think it is do or die now. The Losties should go vigilantee and just cause destruction to the Others.

Some ideas and facts that I feel have been left out in this thread so far.

First of all, a couple of relevant images

#1 - Left half of Looking Glass blueprint (http://bp3.blogger.com/_8HhjIy50yEY/RkvgCmnoeuI/AAAAAAAAAF8/rt4Ma5qIzJw/s1600-h/hd.lg5.JPG)
#2 - Right half of Looking Glass blueprint (http://bp1.blogger.com/_8HhjIy50yEY/Rkvf8GnoetI/AAAAAAAAAF0/v0wLo6Qbfls/s1600-h/hd.lg4.JPG)
#3 - Sayid finds the frayed cable for the first time (http://gallery.lost-media.com/displayimage-20086.html)
#4 - Electrical map of the barracks, just for reference (http://lostpedia.com/images/2/24/Dhr_map_zn.jpg)
#5 - Exterior shot of the Looking Glass (http://lostpedia.com/images/5/57/3x21_looking_glass_exterior2.jpg)

I included #4 in there because earlier in this thread someone pointed out the similarites between the hexagonal "anchor" to a hexagonal shape in the electrical map. I think it is obvious that the electrical map does not show any area close to the shore, let alone the cable part of the beach. It is interesting to note that both maps seem to share the same code, which is GVS- 199288472982. If and how this relates to the Numbers I don't know, perhaps someone else would like to work on that.

Also, much stock has been put into text "Anchor to land" seen on image #2. Reading everyone else's thoughts here has given me some ideas, but first of all I'd like to cast some doubt onto wether this "anchor" is really the famous cable. If correctly scaled to the rest of the station in the map, the cable seems to be thicker then the outer walls of the station, and half the width of the stations hallways between the moon pool and outer dens (see image #2 above). I find it strange that such a narrow cable is drawn so large compared to the rest of the blueprint, and the fact that it supposedly "anchors" it to the land. Why anchor the station to the land when it rests on at least 6 and probably 12 pillars, each of which are approx. 10 meters long and at least a couple of meters in diameter if the drawings (see image #1 above) are accurate.

At first I thought that the "anchor to land" could possibly be an underground tunnel instead of the cable, which would make much more sense considering its great size on the drawing. However, reviewing the left half of the blueprint (image #1 above) it seems that whatever the anchor is it does not go underground until it reaches land, but it is still drawn absurdly large compared to the rest of the structure, around 1 meter thick.

Granted, it can be argued that the blueprints are merely preliminary sketches of the finished building, seeing as how it lacks much detail, i.e. only one room is filled in. I find this the likeliest answer to why the anchor was drawn so large. But I'd like to point out the fact that the exterior view of the station (See image #5 above) does not look remotely like the top down sketch in image #2 above. Wheres the drawing shows the station as a circular almost doughnut-like shape, the exterior shot looks a lot more like a rectangular metal hangar over a rectangular structure, the drawing and structure sharing almost no similarities. Except of course the fact both are underwater.

Another point that has been brought up numerous times here is the fact that the cable was frayed when Sayid first found it, and some have doubted that. Image #3 above clearly shows some wire sticking out of the cable, though the wire itself does not seem damaged. As mentioned a couple of times before, this seems to be too small a wire to supply the station with enough electricity to function, and very little put into it to protect the cabling from damage. This seems very unreasonable if the cable is of any importance.

However, there is something else that I think should not be forgotten when pondering over the purpose of the cable. That is Rousseau's bunker, which Sayid "found" after having followed the cable inland for some time. It is important to note that it was never really revealed if the cable led to the bunker, or just close to it and then passed it, or if the cable even went all the way to her bunker (I have no good pictures of the bunker, but here (http://gallery.lost-media.com/thumbnails-77-page-7.html) and here (http://gallery.lost-media.com/thumbnails-77-page-8.html) are links to lost-media's two pages which contain many shots taken inside the bunker). Lostpedia describes the bunker as industrial yet also contains a quote from Damon Lindelof which denies the bunker being a Dharma bunker. It is a mystery for now how and who built it, but what is known is that it was fairly advanced, yet not nearly as advanced as the Dharma hatches, but it was connected to electricity. Rousseau in fact used this electricity to torture Sayid on their first encounter. It is widely believed that she obtained this electricity by tapping into the cable.

As for the cable's underwater end leading to a sonar beacon, we know for a fact that the cable leads to the Looking Glass. There is nothing denying the fact that a sonar beacon is just part of it's many purposes, considering the fact that the station was designed to be accesed by submarines. I find it highly suspect if this station is responsible for jamming the radio frequencies the standard way, for reasons mentioned before me in this very thread. There is however nothing to say that it does not help jam the signals or that it does so in some completely surprising way.

In conclusion, I am probably putting too much stock into too little information, and should go do something else then theorize over this show.

Something about the cable has been bugging me, as well, the fact that the cable was nowhere near large enough to supply power to an entire underwater facility, and that even it's smallish size would have pulled the skiff underwater way before they ever got over the looking glass, assuming it was a power cable which would have had to have been either aluminum or copper. I am now inclined to believe that it is fact not a power cable, but rather something else. Someone mentioned an "anchor" to land; I guess this could be possible if for some reason they need to stay in constant physical contact with the island for some reason and the cable facilitates this in some way. But if you mean an anchor as in to keep the station from moving away, I can't follow you there. It could also be some kind of Dharmatel fiber optic cable, which would be more pliable, lightweight and would be more in line with what we've seen from the cable so far.

You know, "anchor" has a couple different meanings. I've heard it used, when it comes to electricity, in a similar manner to "grounding" a circuit- what if the cable is what connects the station to the mainland in order to ground the circuit to make it safer?

I mean, the idea of that cable anchoring a station of several rooms, at least, that is already attached to the ocean floor is kinda ludicrous, isn't it?

Do we know were the diagram came from? I thought it was all crazy and not to to scale because it had been drawn up quickly.

Has anyone considered that the cable is for communications, either voice or network? It's highly likely that there are computers in the station.

:drowsy: Has anyone considered that the cable is for communications, either voice or network? It's highly likely that there are computers in the station.


I agree with AZ, the cable probably connects the LG to all the other Dharma stations via computers, telephone, and maybe TV monitors, makes much more sense..

Why not just cut the cable?

Umm... cut it with what?

These folks are survivors of a plane crash. Doubtful that there are some industrial-strength bolt cutters just lying around...

On the schematics Sayid had, its marked as an "Anchor to land," so the cable is probably there so it doesnt drift from the island

So why not just reel it in instead of swimming down to it? :biggrin:

(Please, I'm kidding. Don't respond to that.)

The names of the stations don't always seem to match their purposes: The Swan, The Pearl, The Flame. The only one I remember being named close to its purpose is the caduceus(sp?)/medical station.

You mean The Staff. I think the Pearl gets it's name because it's round. The Hydra is at least partially underwater: Hydro = Water. And the Flame, well, just look what happened to it. :biggrin:

Yeah, but you can't jam radio signals from underwater. Won't work.

Actually you can't really "jam" the signals anyway -- normally "jamming" means over-riding, sending a "louder" message on the same frequency so that other people can't communicate. But in this case, a powerful radio signal coming from the middle of the Pacific ocean would be signal enough -- surely that would raise a "what the heck?" from passing ships and planes.

Ben wouldn't want to "jam" signals, he'd want to dampen them -- the implication is that there's some sort of dampening field or effect surrounding the island. In that case I guess normal science rules wouldn't apply anyway.

I think "jamming the radio signals" in this case is a red herring.

I think this might be a case of our collective knowledge of the specific subject being greater than that of TPTB. Like the fact that an electromagnetic pulse would not just have fried the instruments of the plane, it would have fried every electronic device in the vicinity. And yet, Hurley was able to listen to CDs until his batteries died.

First of all, a couple of relevant images

#1 - Left half of Looking Glass blueprint (http://bp3.blogger.com/_8HhjIy50yEY/RkvgCmnoeuI/AAAAAAAAAF8/rt4Ma5qIzJw/s1600-h/hd.lg5.JPG)
#2 - Right half of Looking Glass blueprint (http://bp1.blogger.com/_8HhjIy50yEY/Rkvf8GnoetI/AAAAAAAAAF0/v0wLo6Qbfls/s1600-h/hd.lg4.JPG)
#3 - Sayid finds the frayed cable for the first time (http://gallery.lost-media.com/displayimage-20086.html)
#4 - Electrical map of the barracks, just for reference (http://lostpedia.com/images/2/24/Dhr_map_zn.jpg)
#5 - Exterior shot of the Looking Glass (http://lostpedia.com/images/5/57/3x21_looking_glass_exterior2.jpg)

Thanx for those cap links, Etch. I think it's interesting that, on the Looking Glass blueprint, it's referred to as a "hatch," not a station. And I thought it was the Losties who came up with the term "hatch" for these structures. After all, a hatch is a horizontal door, right? Not a structure, per se. It came from finding the hatch at the top of the shaft from the Swan station. But there it is, right on the plans, that the Looking Glass is a "hatch."

And I love the DHARMA Logo for the Looking Glass. I couldn't figure it out from the plans, but when I saw it in the exterior shot, it jumped out at me -- it's a white rabbit! Maybe some serious foreshadowing of strange things to come for our man Charlie. I know this is OT, but remember, here's a guy who, in the flashback earlier in the ep, woke up in bed with two women. So here he is, attacked by a group of women. I had to wonder if he might charm his way out of it, somehow.

Sorry to go OT. Please feel free to ignore me.

On the schematics Sayid had, its marked as an "Anchor to land," so the cable is probably there so it doesnt drift from the island

I don't get it. The Looking Glass diagram showed one cable that was marked "Anchor to Land", and it was attached to a partially above-ground concrete form near the shoreline. I guess that thing is either now buried and escaped attention or it was removed sometime in the past. I don't know why a structure that well built would need any support cable to land anyway. This thing they found is'nt that, because it runs well into the island and is'nt anchored.

I do agree it's not a live cable or Sayid would've known. It's a mystery how the station gets it's power.

I agree that the cable is just an anchor. Not only for all of the reasons listed in this thread, but because it makes Sayid's actions in season 1 make more sense now. Sayid, a communications expert, finds a cable on the beach and never tries to use it to hook up communications or power of any kind? I have Always wondered about that one, and if it's just an anchor then it makes sense. Sayid would be able to see that, so he left it alone. The anchor wire makes the most sense.

Why, if it is an anchor to the land, does the cable stretch for miles inland? That doesn't make sense.

Why doesn't it make sense?

Also, that cable alone is not going to be able to hold the huge amount of weight of the Looking Glass if something were to try to wrest it free from its position on the bottom of the sea. If the Looking Glass was to suddenly start moving for some reason, that cable would not be strong enough to prevent it from just ripping free...



Now that depends on what kind of device or system the cable is hooked up to at the station doesn't it? But, even if it's Not strong enough, it's what the diagram says, so maybe DHARMA just wasn't that bright.

I agree that the cable is just an anchor. Not only for all of the reasons listed in this thread, but because it makes Sayid's actions in season 1 make more sense now. Sayid, a communications expert, finds a cable on the beach and never tries to use it to hook up communications or power of any kind? I have Always wondered about that one, and if it's just an anchor then it makes sense. Sayid would be able to see that, so he left it alone. The anchor wire makes the most sense.

Yeah, sometimes an anchor is just an anchor. :rolleyes: Sayid wouldn't have let a potential power source go unexplored. Besides it would be foolish to cut a potential source of power. Who knows what the future holds and the Losties need all the help they can get to get off that island.

But don't worry, IF it is a power supply of some kind, Locke will be certain to turn up and cut it just in the nick of time. ;)

Yeah, sometimes an anchor is just an anchor. :rolleyes: Sayid wouldn't have let a potential power source go unexplored. Besides it would be foolish to cut a potential source of power. Who knows what the future holds and the Losties need all the help they can get to get off that island.

But don't worry, IF it is a power supply of some kind, Locke will be certain to turn up and cut it just in the nick of time. ;)

ROFLMBO... and if he finds out about the "Looking Glass" then he'll blow it up like every other hatch he finds.

ROFLMBO... and if he finds out about the "Looking Glass" then he'll blow it up like every other hatch he finds.

Most definitely! It's his DESTINY!!! :blowup:

It is definitely not a power cable. Not only does the schematic describe it as an anchor, but just look at the cable. It's way too small to provide that much power and it looks more like a metal threaded cable often used to ground electrical towers. If this isn't the anchor shown in the schematic, then I think it is just a communications cable (fiber optic or copper) connecting the station to the other stations on the island. Mikhail mentioned this in Enter 77 about the sonar beacon. I imagine this sonar beacon is part of the Looking Glass.

I was thinking about why they would use an underwater station to block transmissions from leaving the island. I wonder if it is something other than radio waves. Perhaps this station creates some sort of "force field" (I can't think of a more scientific term) around the island. This is why radio transmissions aren't blocked on the island, but blocked from leaving the island. It would have been activated at some point after the purge since we know that prior to Danielle's distress signal, the Numbers were being transmitted out and picked up by Hurley's friend. Anyway, just my thoughts.

Most definitely! It's his DESTINY!!! :blowup:

One man on all the island with the strength and skill to destroy hatches
Into every generation a Slayer is born. One man, on all the island, a chosen one. He alone will stand against the buttons, hatches, and the forces of darkness. He is... Locke the Hatch Slayer.

When you absolutely, positively have to blow up every hatch on the *********** island... accept no substitutes.

One man on all the island with the strength and skill to destroy hatches
Into every generation a Slayer is born. One man, on all the island, a chosen one. He alone will stand against the buttons, hatches, and the forces of darkness. He is... Locke the Hatch Slayer.

When you absolutely, positively have to blow up every hatch on the *********** island... accept no substitutes.

:rotflmao2: OMG, if he doesn't pull his sorry butt out of that bone yard and blow the LG I'm going to be so disappointed! :67hissy:

Besides it would be foolish to cut a potential source of power. Who knows what the future holds and the Losties need all the help they can get to get off that island.

I think this is the best argument yet for not cutting the cable.

Hubby worked with communications for a while and he also says that the anchor to land could mean their communications anchor. His suggestion for blocking the signal is that it is blocked through the cable - the cable possibly leading to the radio tower. He says the cable could be fiber optic also. If this is the case, then it would make sense to blow the cable. However, when one isn't sure what said cable does it might not be a good idea to blow it - it might cause unknown damage to whatever communications the island has. As you can see I don't know enough about communications to form a good theory - just throwing stuff out there.

Some very nice thoughs recently folks... :)

The answer that the cable is just an "anchor to land" doesn't sit well with me, if it's meant as a physical anchor to stop it drifting - it clearly has some feet that sit it on the sea bed. I think it is indeed a source of power and/or communication link. I dont see why they couldn't try cutting it first - if they needed it again Sayid could surely rewire the connection. At least Charlie could have suggested that as a better alternative to dying! It would still serve it's purpose and allow rescue.

I think Anchor to the Island has nothing to do with power, communications, etc. I think that the "special properties" of the island only work if you're physically connected to it. If they needed to do underwater research for some reason ( to find out about the EM barrier around the island, etc.), an anchor makes more sense than a building a land bridge! And perhaps the underground part of the anchor cable goes to the "eye of the island" that Locke saw when he was dragged under.

the anchor to land could mean their communications anchor.That sounds like a workable answer!
I think Anchor to the Island has nothing to do with power, communications, etc. I think that the "special properties" of the island only work if you're physically connected to it.For this idea to work either the island would need to be floating above the sea bed or you would need to say that the water severed the islands "special forces" connection to the Looking Glass since the Looking Glass is on the underwater slopes of the island. It would then imply that Alcatraz island is outside of the influence of the main island due to a water barrier. The Island, the Looking Glass and Alcatraz Island all appear to share the same supporting underwater bedrock. I prefer the communications or system anchor concept.

I think it was used to communicate with Flame, if Mikhail need to use satellite - he send command to Looking Glass to stop blocking signals for that time.