Gary Troup (Lost)
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Gary Troup is the fictitious author of Bad Twin, a tie-in novelization set within the universe of the television series Lost and the related Lost Experience. Troup, created as a marketing strategy to sell the book, is portrayed by an actor in a series of fictional book interviews, released on some online booksellers' Web sites. Michael Benson, the senior vice president of marketing at ABC, says that Troup was one of the initial crash victims of Oceanic Flight 815, being sucked into the plane's turbine in the pilot episode. [1]
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[edit] Personal life
According to the editors of Bad Twin in a foreword to the book, Gary Troup lived in New York and was in love with Cindy Chandler, a flight attendant on Oceanic Airlines, who was on the flight with Troup when the plane crashed. This was confirmed in the interviews that were released on Amazon.com.[citation needed]
[edit] Publications
[edit] Bad Twin
Bad Twin is a tie-in novel for the television show Lost. The novel is attributed to the fictional "Gary Troup". On June 18, 2006, Daily Variety revealed that Bad Twin was ghost authored by novelist Laurence Shames. [2]. The novel is the story of a down-and-out private detective, Paul Artisan, who is hired to find Zander Widmore, the degenerate twin of Clif Widmore, a wealthy and successful heir. As do many such stories, the case leads deeper and deeper into a sinister world of betrayal and confusion as Artisan follows on Zander's heels all over the world, from Manhattan to Florida to Cuba to Australia. He is aided in his quest by Manny Weisman, Artisan's old college classics professor, with whom Artisan shares a dog named Argos, named after Odysseus's faithful dog. Manny provides historical context to the events in which Artisan finds himself, and often provides philosophical commentary on the actions of the various members of the Widmore family.
[edit] As Metanovel
Bad Twin exists both as a novel in the real world, and as a metanovel-in-progress within the world of Lost. The apparent manuscript of Bad Twin was discovered by the characters of Lost in Season 2 and is read by Sawyer in the episode Two for the Road. Sawyer claims to Jack that he may be the only person to ever read it, although Hurley had also read it earlier in the show. The last few pages of the manuscript are then set on fire by Jack before Sawyer has finished reading them. While the novel's plot has no direct link to the television show (aside from the use of the Widmore name and Alvar Hanso), Bad Twin contains many references to it, (see below).
Bad Twin is part of the Lost Experience, an interactive game connected to the storyline of Lost but not directly part of it.[3] In the clues about Dr. Thomas Mittelwerk's authenticity there is a statement about dealing with Gary Troup. On May 9th, 2006, the fictitious corporation The Hanso Foundation ran a quarter-page ad in several major newspapers, including The Washington Post (on the 10th), The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Chicago Tribune. The ad repudiates Bad Twin for its "attacks" and "misinformation" about the Hanso Foundation.[4] Additionally The Hanso Foundation website contained a press release that was equally critical of Bad Twin.
ABC has also released several videos in a nine part interview of Gary Troup, played by Laird Granger, on a fictional show called "Book Talk". The videos were released on the Amazon, Borders, and Barnes & Noble web sites on their respective Bad Twin pages.
[edit] References to Lost
While the novel Bad Twin never makes explicit reference to the events of the show, there are a number of references in the novel to things mentioned in Lost.[5] These include:
- When first visiting Clif Widmore in his office, Artisan accidentally stops off on Floor 42, which is a Hanso Foundation facility. Notably, 42 is the last number in the Lost number sequence.
- Clif's father makes a passing statement about Mittelwerk being distasteful as a member of the board of his family's company, and that he preferred Alvar Hanso before he was replaced by Mittelwerk.
- While in Los Angeles, Artisan stops by at a restaraunt called "Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack." This is the same restaurant where Hurley worked prior to winning the lottery.
- Several plane trips are made throughout the book using Oceanic Airlines, the same company that would have the crash in Lost.
- A flight attendant on the flight to Australia is a deliberate reference to the character Cindy Chandler, who was Troup's supposed girlfriend. He was said to have worked the character in as a wink to his beloved. Incidentally, Cindy's last name may be a reference to Raymond Chandler, one of the most famous authors of the private detective novels that Bad Twin is modelled on.
- Zander and Clif, while twins, were born on either side of midnight, making their birthdays different. Their birthdays are August 15 and 16, or 8-15 and 8-16. 8, 15, and 16 are three of the notorious Lost numbers. Their birthdays are also used as the passcode to their father's estate, which is 81516. When entering this code, their father even comments about how "there are certain numbers you remember all your life."
- The Widmore family is central to the novel, and Penelope "Penny" Widmore, daughter of Charles Widmore, is featured in the Season 2 finale as Desmond's lover before he shipwrecked on the island.
- The central idea throughout the whole novel is dualism, be it the duality of twins or the opposing forces of good and evil, the narrator is constantly relating the events of the story in terms of a dualistic sense of the world. This ties in perfectly with the recurring motif of black and white in Lost.
[edit] The Valenzetti Equation
As part of his fictional background, Troup is the author of an out-of-print book titled The Valenzetti Equation about an equation derived by a fictional mathematician of the same name. Amazon's "exclusive note" on their Bad Twin page mentions that The Valenzetti Equation is Troup's first book.
The "Lost Experience" has revealed that the objective of the DHARMA Initiative is to alter any of the six factors of the Valenzetti Equation, revealed to have a huge impact on the date the human race will destroy itself, whether by global warming, chemical warfare, overpopulation or many other possible methods. These factors are represented as numbers in the Valenzetti Equation and are also the numbers frequently mentioned in the show: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42.
[edit] Trivia
- The only one-word anagram solution to "Gary Troup" is "purgatory."[6] However, the show producers have stated on more than one occasion that the survivors are not in purgatory.
[edit] References
- ^ Lee, Felicia. "'Bad Twin,' a Novel Inspired by 'Lost,' Makes the Best-Seller Lists", New York Times, May 27, 2006.
- ^ Zeitchik, Steven. "Inside Move: It's a Shames", Daily Variety, 2006-06-18. Retrieved on 2006-06-19.
- ^ "If you think the show is puzzling...", Associated Press, April 28, 2006.
- ^ McCarthy, Sean. "Web, book, fake ads help fans get ‘Lost’", Boston Herald, May 10, 2006.
- ^ Memmott, Carol. "'Bad Twin' is 'Lost' in translation", USA Today, May 2, 2006.
- ^ Memmott, Carol. "'Bad Twin' is 'Lost' in translation", USA Today, 2006-05-02. Retrieved on 2006-06-05.
[edit] External links
- See also: Lost Experience#External links
- Gary Troup's official website run by ABC and Hyperion Books (publisher of Bad Twin)
- ISBN 1-4013-0276-9
| Lost | |
|---|---|
| Production: | DVD releases | Episode list | Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Soundtrack |
| Main characters: |
Ana Lucia | Ben | Boone | Charlie | Claire | Desmond | Hurley | Jack | Jin | Juliet | Kate Libby | Locke | Michael | Mr. Eko | Nikki | Paulo | Sawyer | Sayid | Shannon | Sun | Walt |
| Supporting characters: |
Alex | Bernard | Christian | Cindy | Ethan | The Others | Pickett | Rose | Rousseau | Tom |
| Organizations: | DHARMA Initiative | Hanso Foundation | Oceanic Airlines |
| Elements: | Crossover list | DHARMA Initiative stations | Flight 815 | Mythology | Thematic motifs |
| Miscellaneous: | Gary Troup | In popular culture | Lost Experience | Rachel Blake | Video game |
