Re: Apple II on "Lost"

[Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com>]

Zorin the Lynx <yakko@zorin.org> wrote:

>Anyone watch tonight's "Lost"?
>
>I won't spoil any plot details, but...
>
>A genuine Apple II is being used as a prop. I could also make out two 
>boxes that looked (from the side) like Disk ][s, and the monitor looked 
>like an Apple Monitor ///. The "prompt" that was displayed didn't look 
>like anything an Apple II can natively produce, though. No Apple logos 
>visible anywhere.
>
>It was nice to see our favorite vintage computer on a new TV show, 
>though! Hopefully we'll see more of it next week, even if it's used 
>unrealistically. }:)

    I definitely caught that. It was clearly an Apple II Plus (you can see
the distinct "Power" lamp-light on the keyboard, not raised like the II) 
with a Monitor III with stand, and pair of Disk II 5.25 drives. 

    It was in 80 columns mode, with what looked like a CP/M prompt
(a ">:" with flashing solid cursor). They swapped the right Shift key
with a faux "Execute" key. Interestingly, in the close up at the end 
you can make out the two arrow keys, the Repeat key and Reset.
Funny, I can also recognize it's an Apple II Plus (and not a II or IIe)
by the sound of the typing. :)

    What's very cool is it wasn't just a random prop, they actually 
wanted it to be recognized as an Apple II computer as part of the
plot (something recognizable from the past that a lot of people 
would be familiar with). I'm sure most of Lost's audience grew up
using Apple II's in schools or at home.

Mitchell Spector