I don’t think there’s any evidence that the ISLAND itself really moved in time when Ben turned the wheel. It clearly moves in space - it disappears in the eyes of those on the chopper leaving a ripple on the ocean. However, it doesn’t follow that the island itself moves in time.
Consider the order of events:
1. Ben comes to the wheel. It is frozen and showing no signs of movement or light. He expends great effort seemingly to get it off of a brake, and then it starts to move with more effort. He pushes it in a clockwise direction, the light shines, the people on the island and watching from zodiac and helicopter hear the sound and see the purple light. Ben ends up in Tunisia, the chopper kids see the island vanish, and everyone on the island, except it seems Richard’s group at the temple, start time skipping (including the zodiac crew). Let’s call these people the Flashers.
2. The time skipping takes the Flashers to different periods on the island. 50s. Intact statue era. Post-Ajira, Rouseau-expedition arrival. Etc.
3. Locke gets to the wheel and finds that it is twitching back and forth about 10-15 degrees with little flashes of light. I think it’s safe to conclude that this is related to the jumping of the Flashers. Once in a while the twitching gives way and the wheel goes either clockwise or counter-clockwise until it stops and starts twitching again, a sufficient number of degrees to send the Flashers moving. Locke pushes again (clockwise – same as Ben) and seemingly seats the wheel properly so there is no more twitching. This is a big enough rotation to cause another flash, sending everyone on one more ride, but now the wheel is stuck again. Locke goes to Tunisia.
Those are the events related to the wheel’s use as we know them. It appears to be conclusive that moving the wheel sends people on the island through time and that the mover of the wheel goes to Tunisia in the exact same spot.
Now, there’s nothing in what we’ve seen to suggest that the island, the terra firma that keeps our heroes and their adversaries out of the ocean, and all the flora and fauna and infrastructure on it ever shifts through time. The Flashers move to the different eras of the island. The island doesn’t move and superimpose itself on the island of the past or future. However, the island does appear to vanish when Ben moves the wheel. Where does it go? Is this a factor of the coordinates (used by Michael and Lapidus) being shifted? That is, the island continues to pass through the time dimension, but it is somehow unapparent from the normal spatial dimensions.
I think that it is still in the same spot based on one fact: that both Ben and Locke are transported to the exact same spot in the Tunisian desert, the same spot (presumably) as the polar bear wearing the Dharma collar. It has been shown that if a line is put from this location through the center of the earth and out the other side, it ends up in the South Pacific, very near to wear the island would be if you figure the 815 flight route hints. If the island itself were moved from this location, I would think that the exit from the frozen donkey wheel room would also have changed. So I wonder if it is the coordinates that make the island accessible have changed, and if these are related to Eloise Hawking’s determination of the suitable window for reaching the island.Theory by Spoon
Consider the order of events:
1. Ben comes to the wheel. It is frozen and showing no signs of movement or light. He expends great effort seemingly to get it off of a brake, and then it starts to move with more effort. He pushes it in a clockwise direction, the light shines, the people on the island and watching from zodiac and helicopter hear the sound and see the purple light. Ben ends up in Tunisia, the chopper kids see the island vanish, and everyone on the island, except it seems Richard’s group at the temple, start time skipping (including the zodiac crew). Let’s call these people the Flashers.
2. The time skipping takes the Flashers to different periods on the island. 50s. Intact statue era. Post-Ajira, Rouseau-expedition arrival. Etc.
3. Locke gets to the wheel and finds that it is twitching back and forth about 10-15 degrees with little flashes of light. I think it’s safe to conclude that this is related to the jumping of the Flashers. Once in a while the twitching gives way and the wheel goes either clockwise or counter-clockwise until it stops and starts twitching again, a sufficient number of degrees to send the Flashers moving. Locke pushes again (clockwise – same as Ben) and seemingly seats the wheel properly so there is no more twitching. This is a big enough rotation to cause another flash, sending everyone on one more ride, but now the wheel is stuck again. Locke goes to Tunisia.
Those are the events related to the wheel’s use as we know them. It appears to be conclusive that moving the wheel sends people on the island through time and that the mover of the wheel goes to Tunisia in the exact same spot.
Now, there’s nothing in what we’ve seen to suggest that the island, the terra firma that keeps our heroes and their adversaries out of the ocean, and all the flora and fauna and infrastructure on it ever shifts through time. The Flashers move to the different eras of the island. The island doesn’t move and superimpose itself on the island of the past or future. However, the island does appear to vanish when Ben moves the wheel. Where does it go? Is this a factor of the coordinates (used by Michael and Lapidus) being shifted? That is, the island continues to pass through the time dimension, but it is somehow unapparent from the normal spatial dimensions.
I think that it is still in the same spot based on one fact: that both Ben and Locke are transported to the exact same spot in the Tunisian desert, the same spot (presumably) as the polar bear wearing the Dharma collar. It has been shown that if a line is put from this location through the center of the earth and out the other side, it ends up in the South Pacific, very near to wear the island would be if you figure the 815 flight route hints. If the island itself were moved from this location, I would think that the exit from the frozen donkey wheel room would also have changed. So I wonder if it is the coordinates that make the island accessible have changed, and if these are related to Eloise Hawking’s determination of the suitable window for reaching the island.Theory by Spoon
