>>> BTW, I don't care at all what a writer that left the show years ago has to say about it now. He left either because he had a better offer, because he didn't give a damn anymore or for professional differences. I only care about what is on the screen.Why so dismissive? Here's a corrected link, btw. The first link got changed into an emoticon and I can't get it to link directly. This is to the portal. Click on David Fury, third row.
Lospedia Interview with David Fury May 2008
There's no evidence that Fury was disgruntled, as he has nothing but praise for Damon Lindelof in the interview.
He is not merely "a writer."
He was a co-executive producer for LOST on all the Season One episodes, and he wrote four of the seminal episodes. He shared the Emmy win for best drama and he was nominated as a writer for Walkabout.
He went from LOST to being a co-exec producer of the new show 24, and went on to become executive producer for the duration, picking up another Emmy the year after he left LOST. He came to LOST after producing and writing for Buffy and Angel. Sound like a bitter guy with an axe to grind? Read the interview before you judge. He did not seek out the interview. He was solicited to answer questions from fans through Lostpedia and he graciously obliged.
He wrote episodes that introduced things that were part of that list of questions, so how is his knowledge of how he came up with the Whispers and the Numbers, and how he was writing in preparation for the Others' appearance not relevant?
As a writer who left the show, he has one thing that those who stayed do not: contractual liberty to be honest about his creative process, and that's what makes his interview refreshing. He explains that certain concepts were fluid the first season, which explains why the final version of what we see in the show may not be consistent with what we saw early on. The smoke monster, the whispers, the Others, the Numbers, for example.