Why is the submarine the only way off the island?

[DirtyMaggieMae]

If nobody can find the island than what did those guys in the arctic station find

I think it was the magnetic (?) surge released from the hatch.

If it was, though, I'm not sure why they were particularly monitoring for one

[this is some crazy stuff]

I think it was because Pennys father is a part of all this and she found something about a magnetic island or something like that.  She sent people somewhere to find it.

[mindsparkle]

I don't understand why everyone believes a word Ben says... I think he is all mind games and was telling Locke what Locke needed to hear in order to be manipulated...

why would Ben choose Locke to confide that he is insecure about being "him" and appeasing his "people" -- he wouldn't.  It was a made up story...

as Rousseau said, he will lie and lie and lie some more!

[Michelle]

Now I have the food drops to worry about on top of it LOL   I always assumed they were dropped from the air....sigh....

There is NO WAY on God's green earth that I will accept the idea that the food drops came from some hot air balloon or the sub. There was a skid of freakin food people!!!! MEN CAN NOT CARRY THAT FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER WITHOUT SOMEONE CATCHING THEM IN THE PROCESS!! IF they can even carry it! Is there a magical forklift that picks the skid up, drives super quietly to the drop location from wherever in the heck it came from then magically disappears? There was a chute attached to that skid of food. The skid was enormous amounts of food. The food is being brought in by plane drops of some kind. SOMEHOW...I just don't know how.

[Michelle]

I don't understand why everyone believes a word Ben says... I think he is all mind games and was telling Locke what Locke needed to hear in order to be manipulated...

why would Ben choose Locke to confide that he is insecure  about being "him" and appeasing his "people" -- he wouldn't.  It was a made up story...

as Rousseau said, he will lie and lie and lie some more!

This is something I have had on my mind lately...when they show Ben in the wheelchair he looks all weak and fragile and tiny. As if that is what they want you to think of him. He's not. We seen him manipulate EVERYONE at one point or another. He's not weak. He's not fragile. He's playing with our losties' minds. He's almost better at this game than Sayid.  So I do not agree that the sub is the ONLY way off the island or that what he is telling Locke is even remotely close to reality.

[Cardacct]

I agree with that.  I don't think that we can really believe anything that Ben says. 

I like the explanation of the sub and the sonar and its non-reliance on the compass.

[goober]

I agree with that.  I don't think that we can really believe anything that Ben says. 

 WORD[/size]

[TXFlyboy]

WAITAMINNIT!!!!!
Why can't there be air drops?  In the recent past there were 2 airplanes (flight 815 and Yemi's) and a balloon that made it to the island.  Not to mention migratory birds and a racing yacht.  So there is some way to get to the island, just may not be a way to navigate to it reliably.

Agree 100% and I agree with Juggy too, that sometimes we seem to loose focus on what they tell us and go off track by over analyzing things
I think the food/supply drops are done by air.  Everything that they have shown us leads us to this logical assumption.

Okay here's another item for consideration.  Being a private pilot myself I know I rely on GPS for primary navigation.  If a supply drop plane used GPS coordinates for navigation they might be able to cross the island. If they were flying at a high enough altitude - the magical magnetic island wouldn't affect the wet compass as much because of the distance.  Now to relate this to 815 - you recall Desmond missed inputing the numbers at the Swan the day of the crash - that was verified by his conversations with the losties.  Perhaps his error at the station caused some problem with the 815 GPS/Compass navigation causing the navigation error and ultimately the crash.  It will be interesting to see if there are any more drops since the destruction of the Flame

[Nancy Drew]

I don't understand why everyone believes a word Ben says... I think he is all mind games and was telling Locke what Locke needed to hear in order to be manipulated...

why would Ben choose Locke to confide that he is insecure  about being "him" and appeasing his "people" -- he wouldn't.  It was a made up story...

as Rousseau said, he will lie and lie and lie some more!

This is something I have had on my mind lately...when they show Ben in the wheelchair he looks all weak and fragile and tiny. As if that is what they want you to think of him. He's not. We seen him manipulate EVERYONE at one point or another. He's not weak. He's not fragile. He's playing with our losties' minds. He's almost better at this game than Sayid.  So I do not agree that the sub is the ONLY way off the island or that what he is telling Locke is even remotely close to reality.

I have been wondering about the wheelchair too, only on a different level.  I don't understand why he is in one in the first place.  All Jack did was remove a tumor from the spine.  I can't say that I know what that procedure is like, but I do know what MAJOR back surgery is like and they had me up and walking the next day (not that I didn't fight them every step of the way!!).  To my knowledge, Ben isn't paralysed, unless I missed a step!  (I wish I had had his handle above his bed, though, when I was recouperating.  That would have been helpful!)

[this is some crazy stuff]

because it was his spine not just his back.  It takes a while to recover from spinal surgery and u want to let it heel before you start to walk again.  It could also have soemthing to do with Jack cutting open the nerver sack or whatever.

[DirtyMaggieMae]

Well Nancy Drew!  I think that he wanted the wheelchair as part of his manipulation act.  Make himself appear weaker than he really is.  Who knows, maybe he's just about to jump up outta that chair and give John a left hook to the kisser

[mindsparkle]

I, too, think the wheel chair just adds to the theatrics... Ben is probably not well yet and should be careful and using a wheel chair to move him long distances makes sense, but just to get out of bed... that was pure acting... darn he's good

[Maxor127]

If you can walk around after getting a deadly tumor removed from your spine plus your kidney punctured (or whatever it was) then you're a better person than me.

[mindsparkle]

My experience has been that after most major surgeries they want you up and out of bed, walking is the best way to keep a patient from developing congestion in their lungs and other complications that come with lying down too much.  I do speak from personal experience and asked... there is an element of doubt because I certainly have never had a tumor removed, but I have had kidney surgery and was up the same day.

[Psych0666]

Well I figured it was cos his thingy got infected, and Jack did say he might not walk again. Well thats what I thought anyway, didn't think it was acting.