To me it seems like the Oceanic 6 are all protecting people back on the island.

If there's a time-rift thing, that could explain (in terms of the show's timeline, such as it is) why Walt appeared so much older to Locke.

Granted, the *real* reason is that the actor grew up, like you do, but it's a decent explanation in terms of the show's storyline.

I wonder if the time-rift thing has something to do with why Batmanuel seems to not age.

I wonder if Batmanuel is on the list.

I thought that Batmanuel was a pirate from the Black. . .what was her name?

So, he probably isn't on the list. I wonder if the List are the Dharma bigwigs.

Zoe Bell's name in the credits

This was my experience last week Frank. I looked everywhere and could find nothing helpful. My initial guess is that her elevated profile means she gets opening credit for stunts.

I spent far, far too long trying to figure out what kind of makeup they could use to make Zoe Bell look like the otherAustralian accented new character...then finally gave up.

Also, was I hallucinating, or did I see Zoe Bell's name in the credits? Did she appear? Or perhaps she's Jeremy Davies' science partner on the ship?

Yeah, she's Regina. I saw her name in the credits last week and did a lot of Googling to figure out who she was, since I didn't see her!

I spent far, far too long trying to figure out what kind of makeup they could use to make Zoe Bell look like the otherAustralian accented new character...then finally gave up.

Right? I thought that had to be Zoe Bell at first too.

Oh HELL yeah. That, plus his vehemence when telling Helicopter Pilot to be absolutely sure to fly out using the exact same coordinates he used to fly in.

Oh, definitely. Very intriguing. But, yet, they still seem to be on a parallel time track with the rest of the world; it's not like they're clearly years in the past or future.

So - how many episodes before they actually show Sayid and Desmond reaching the ship?

yeah. Scratch what I said.

I am watching the ep right now and the voice from the ship is definitely Zoe. Good on her for getting a good gig!

I saw on another board that one of Ben's passport names was "Dean Moriarity". Holmes and Kerouac in one fell swoop. Awesome.

So - how many episodes before they actually show Sayid and Desmond reaching the ship?

One? They're moving pretty quickly now; hell, they're giving up the Oceanic Six way faster than I thought they would. I guess it's sort of necessary if they want to tell more stories in the future. I wonder if we'll get any more traditional flashbacks. I sort of miss them and their time-wasting pointlessness!