Alias

Alias was a television series that shares a number of overlaps with Lost, both in storyline as well as cast and crew.

Warning: This page contains numerous spoilers for Alias.

Shared crew

J.J. Abrams created Alias and co-created Lost.
Jack Bender has worked as a director on both shows.
Michael Giacchino composed the soundtracks to both shows.
Lloyd Braun oversaw the development of Alias.
Michael Bonvillain worked as a director of photography.
All of these writers, directors, and producers have worked on Alias: Marita Grabiak, Jack Bender, Karen Gaviola, Drew Goddard, Kevin Hooks, Daniel Attias, Mary Jo Markey, Sarah Caplan, Jeff Pinkner, Monica Owusu-Breen, and Jesse Alexander.

Shared cast

Alias-TerryOQuinn — Terry O'Quinn as FBI Asst. Director Kendall

Terry O'Quinn featured in Alias as F.B.I. Assistant Director Kendall for a number of episodes, and in Lost as John Locke.
François Chau played Mr. Cho in an episode of Alias, and has made appearances in Lost as Pierre Chang, A.K.A. Dr. Marvin Candle, A.K.A. Dr. Mark Wickmund, A.K.A. Dr. Edgar Halliwax.
Greg Grunberg starred as a main character during most of Alias as Eric Weiss, and played the role of the pilot in the first episode of Lost.
Jenny Gago has played the role of a C.I.A. Agent in both Alias and Lost.
Ian Patrick Williams played Mr. Gibson on Alias, and Alvar Hanso in The Lost Experience
Andrew Divoff played Lucien Nisard in Alias, and Mikhail Bakunin on Lost.
Michelle Arthur played Abigail in four episodes, and Michelle in Lost.
Lindsey Ginter played the role of Mr. Jones in an episode of Alias, and Sam Austen in Lost.
Nick Jameson appeared on the show as Lazlo Drake and as Richard Malkin on Lost.
Ron Bottitta appeared as Janos Vak on Alias, and as Leonard Simms on Lost.
Byron Chung was Colonel Yu on Alias, and Mr. Paik on Lost.
Kevin E. West was CIA Officer Logan in Alias and as Detective Calderwood on Lost.
Jon Dixon was a CIA Agent as well as Oliver on Alias and was JD (himself) on Lost.
Adam Leadbeater was Sumner on Alias and Malcolm on Lost.
Tracy Middendorf was Elsa Caplan on Alias and Bonnie on Lost.
James Lesure was C.I.A. Agent Craig Blair on Alias and Dr. Hamill on Lost.
April Webster - In the Alias Season 1 finale, when "The Man" was revealed, Irina Derevko's character was played by April Webster, the casting director of Lost, because no actress had been casted for that role (prominent only in Season 2).

Wolf Muser was Alliance Member Ramon Veloso on Alias, and Hans Van Eeghen during Lost's ARG game the Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project.
Raymond Ma was a Taiwanese businessman on Alias, Efren Salonga on Lost.
Michelle Forbes was Dr. Maggie Sinclair on Alias, and Karen Decker on Lost.

Shared character names

Sydney's father was Jack
Sydney's half-sister was Nadia.
Sydney's lover was Michael.
Fellow agents included Tom and Rachel.
Francie's lover in season one was called Charlie (also, his surname was Bernard).
Emily is the wife of the evil boss Arvin Sloane.
Arron was the little boy kidnapped by Sark

Shared episode names

"So It Begins" was the title of the second episode of Alias's first season; it was also the title of the thirteenth released Lost mobisode.

–Arron was the little boy who was kidnapped by Sark. –Danny Sydeny's fiancee

Shared music

In a season four episode, during Eric Weiss's birthday party, Drive Shaft's "You All Everybody" can be heard in the background.
"Delicate" by Damien Rice was featured in "...In Translation" of Lost and in two episodes of Alias.
The score for tense moments is strikingly similar, notably because Michael Giacchino composes for both shows.

–Danny Sydney's fiancee

Shared sets

The Swan Orientation film was shot on the APO set from seasons 4 and 5 of Alias in Burbank by the Alias crew. [1] [2]

Alias's allusions to Lost

Alias season 4 episode "A Clean Conscience" features a scene set in LAX. A boarding announcement for "Oceanic Airlines to Sydney" can be heard over the loudspeaker.

Themes

Identities

Sydney believes she is working for a deep cover unit of the CIA, when in fact she is working for an organization unaligned with the CIA that has designs on global domination. This mirrors the ruse used to recruit Juliet to conduct medical research for six months in Portland.
Sydney does not know whether or not her father and mother are working for the CIA or for enemy organizations. These mysteries are not solved until late in the series' run. Sydney's father turns out to be "good" while her mother is "bad."
The Renaissance-age Italian Rambaldi drew a sketch of a woman which identically resembles Sydney, a suggestion of time travel.
Sydney is cloned as are other people in the series. Cloning turns out to be one of the main tactics of SD6.
Sydney's lover Michael Vaughn becomes of questionable character in the final season, although he is ultimately revealed to be "good."
Sydney learns she has a half-sister, Nadia, that she never knew about. Nadia's father is actually Sydney's evil boss Arvin Sloane.

Deceptions

Nikki's show Expose bears several resemblances to Alias. Both have one word titles. Nikki is posing as an undercover stripper and ultimately learns that the person she is working for is the villain she has been trying to uncover. Sydney frequently went undercover in a wide range of disguises, many of them sexy, and likewise learned that her boss Arvin Sloane was evil.
Sloane convinced himself that he was the good guy, doing the right thing for his country, much as Ben has stated that he is the good guy.

Numbers

A recurring theme in Alias is the number 47, much like the Numbers in Lost; however, 47 does not take a prominent role in the storyline, and is just used as a calling card for Milo Rambaldi and his followers, and occasionally just as an Easter egg by the writers.
- For example, Page 47 of each of Rambaldi's manuscripts are blank, and require a special liquid to make the text visible.
- When remembering what happened in the two years she cannot remember, Sydney Bristow, the main protagonist of Alias remembers a door with a large 47 written on it.
- Many of the hotel rooms, safety deposit boxes, vaults and keycodes in Alias are either 47, or contain that number.
The names of the evil organizations included a number -- SD6 and Prophet5.
Eccentric, prophetic genius Italians and their numbers: Rambaldi (47) and Enzo Valenzetti (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42).

Pregnancy

In the last season of Alias, a pregnant Sydney is kidnapped and finds herself in an operating room. In Lost, Claire has had an almost identical experience.

Daddy/Mommy issues

Sydney has issues with both of her parents, much like all main Lost characters, who have major parental problems as well.
Locke's closing remarks in "The Man from Tallahassee", "Dad?", mimics the line of dialog given by Sydney Bristow in an early episode ("Dad?"). Both lines were delivered at the end of an episode when the character sees their father in an unexpected situation. This is also similar to Jack saying "Dad?" in "White Rabbit", the Swan computer reading "Dad?" in "What Kate Did", and Claire saying "Dad?" in "Something Nice Back Home".

Capture of an enemy

One of the main story arcs in season 2 of Alias is the capture of an enemy, who supposedly gave herself up to get inside the C.I.A. This has some parallels to Henry Gale's imprisonment during Season 2 of Lost.

Season finales

The Season 1 finale of Alias and the Season 3 finale of Lost featured similar situations. In both instances a leading man (Charlie in Lost and Vaughn in Alias) is confined to an area that is flooding. Both men look through a glass window to a person who is watching from the other side who is in considerably less danger (Sydney in Alias and Desmond in Lost). In both cases the onlookers try to smash the glass window with a nearby fire extinguisher and fail to do so.

On more than one occasion, the term "through the looking glass" or simply "looking glass" is mentioned in Alias, which is the title of the Lost Season 3 finale.

Exernal links

Alias on Wikipedia