Are the writers giving homage to Doctor Who through what I believe to the INSIDE JOKE by Bryant McGhee - aka the boogieman

Explanation as how the 3 choices the Fake Locke (Flocke) offered Sawyer are the same as the 3 alternatives that Mr. Fibuli offered to the Captain in the Doctor Who – The Key To Time Special. I will present the choices offered by Flocke to Sawyer in the order that they were presented in and then provide the alternatives in Doctor Who and show how each fits. I think I also know what the inside joke means when Flocke removed the white rock from the scale and tossed it in the ocean. Sawyer asked what that was about and lock advised that it was an INSIDE joke. I will have to give you the background on what is happening on Doctor Who – The Pirate Planet episode of The Key To Time first.

Background: The Captain is an engineering genius who has attached enormous engines to the side of a mountain on the planet Zanak. These engines are being used to somehow propel the entire planet instantly through spaces thousand or millions of light years from its present location wherever that may be to a new location. Mr. Fibuli is an engineer in his own right and runs the day to day operations of the engines. At one point in the episode Mr. Fibuli approaches the Captain and tells him the following: The macromat field integrator has burnt out sir. This is one of four components that we can’t replace ourselves. He also mentions the fact that they only have the capability to make one more jump in their present condition. And he eventually gets around to telling the Captain that there are 2 alternatives and then switches the number to 3 alternatives. The Captain rumbles acting like a true pirate before he commands Mr. Fibuli to provide him the alternatives.

Choice #1 Lost – You can do nothing and see how this all plays out.
Doctor Who Alternative – Mr. Fibuli advises that they can just have the planet Zanak settle where it is.
- Both choices advise that they do nothing

Choice #2 Lost – Accept the job. You can become the new Jacob and protect the island. (the part about protecting the island comes in later as to the explanation of the INSIDE joke.
Doctor Who Alternative – Mr. Fibuli advises: we can try to find a new integrator though I can’t envision how we’d do that.
- Both choices involve swapping the old with the new. Sawyer or another candidate for Jacob. Replacing an old integrator for a new integrator.

Choice #3 Lost – We just go and get the hell off this island together and never look back (this means that Sawyer wants to go home)
Doctor Who Alternative – This one takes some explaining so here we go. Mr. Fibuli tells the Captain that alternatively there is a very rare mineral, PJX-18 which would do the same job as the integrator if they could find any. We then find that they find a source of PJX-18 which turns out to be quartz. The source of the find is on the planet Tera aka the Earth. It’s crystal clear to me but I know that there are a lot of you that may be skeptical about this one. Sawyer wants to go home, the Earth isn’t home to the Captain but it is where they need to go and the Earth is Sawyers home in the broadest sense of the word.

The 3 choices all match up in my opinion. Now on to the explanation to why I think I solved the riddle of Flockes quote when he threw the white rock into the ocean and indicating to Sawyer after he asked what was that for and Flocke responded with it’s an INSIDE joke. To me the telling words are both INSIDE & NOTHING. Now follow my logic. When choice #2 was presented to Sawyer it went like this. Accept the job. You can become the new Jacob and protect the island. Sawyer then responds with protect the island from what. Then Flocke says from NOTHING James, that the joke. In the Doctor Who universe the Doctor discovers that Zanak is not what it appears to be. It turns out that the planet is not a planet at all even though the inhabitants are unaware of this fact as they are banned from entering into any underground opening under penalty of Death. It turns out that Zanak is a huge hollow designed planet looking ship. So when the Doctor enters INSIDE the planet rou! ghly some 3 to 5 miles into it he discovers that it contains NOTHING and is hollow. I believe that the writers are just giving tribute to the fact that they are using bits and pieces of the Keys To Time special in the telling of their work of fiction.

See my post Lost is just a retelling Doctor Who for more evidence.