Time frame Inconsistency with Charlotte and Dan.

I don't know if the writers just made a mistake or if this means something else, but Daniel says that he spoke to Charlotte in the 1970's when she was about 5 yrs old, and they actually do show that scene but according to Ben that is not possible. In Season 4 when Locke and Co. find Charlotte after she parachutes onto the island and take her with them Ben starts to blurt out all he knows about her. He states her full name and where she went to school, and the kicker is that he states her date of birth being in the year 1979. Now if that is true how is she a 5 year old girl in 1977. I don't know if this means anything or if the writers just screwed up. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Also sorry if this has been mentioned before.

What episode, is it? you are right, that would not make sense at all.. I'm gonna check it out.

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Good catch! With as much content as we've been exposed to, I'm sure there will be some inconsistencies.

Here is something else about Faraday. In "Jughead", Dan and co. are captured by the 1954 others. Eloise says to Dan, "You just couldn't stay away, could you?" So far, we have not seen a meeting between faraday and Eloise prior to the aformentioned scene.

My question is... Why did she say that to Daniel? When did they meet before?

And as far as inconsistencies go... Remember when Locke saw Horace in his dream building the cabin? Horace tells him that he isn't making since, "probably because hes been dead for the last 12 years." Now, stick with me. Ben joins the others after the purge, then he is sent to kill Rousseau, but instead he steals Alex. At the point that John sees Horace, Alex is 16 years old. Horace died in the purge. We see him dead on a bench in Dharmaville. 16 years... 12 years... Someone please explain this...

I'll have to rewatch, but maybe it was a case of mistaken identity?

I have the answer, It was a mistake by the writers, They mentioned it in a podcast. They changed Charlotte' birth date when the actress was cast, because she (the actress) was younger than the character was. But they didn't take into account the inconsistencies that caused in the story line. So in short her age mentioned by Ben as born in 1979 didn't mean anything.
As for Alex, She was 16 in 2004-2005 when she was killed. And the purge happened in 1992 or 1993. So something is off. Unless Ben was still with Dharma during that time (1989) and working with the others. But why did Danielle survive the purge?
Also
Mr. Widmore says he has been searching for the island for 20yrs?
We see him exiled via sub when Alex is about 4yrs old (1993), So that would be roughly 16 years (real world 2009). Is he rounding up?

With all that we've seen and heard in Lost so far, for us to only have found the few inconsistencies we have, i feel the writers have done an amazing job. There's been 103 episodes so far. At 42 minutes a piece (give or take) that's 4326 minutes(sorry, I'm an accountant, i think numbers). That's a lot of content, with millions of people watching, keeping track of inconsistencies. Good catch either way vincentfan.

I think that at this point we don't know if it is an inconsistency or time travel related.
Were Danielle and Alex on the island during the purge or not, by following the given time line they should have been.
Widmore may have left the island in 1992 but ended up in the real World 6 years earlier (1986). Could explain how they make money. Both he and Ben seem to have unlimited resources.
Of the 2 we saw leave the island(Ben and John) time worked in reverse. They lost time. John arrived 3 yrs in the future, Ben arrives over one year in the future.
I wouldn't write off inconsistencies as accounting errors until they are confirmed.

Quote :

Widmore may have left the island in 1992 but ended up in the real World 6 years earlier (1986). Could explain how they make money.

This makes total sense.

No accounting errors, just a bit of appreciation for the writers and producers. Credit is due when it is due. I figured Widmore made his money by knowing the events of the future, placing bets or "inventing the DVD" or whatnot. Just and inference, admittedly, but very possible considering the TT theme. How he received his resources might or might not be explained and if it isn't, i don't think many will be upset about it. There's about 100 other questions burning just a bit more in brain right now, but that's me.

SpocksBrain wrote:

I don't know if the writers just made a mistake or if this means something else, but Daniel says that he spoke to Charlotte in the 1970's when she was about 5 yrs old, and they actually do show that scene but according to Ben that is not possible. In Season 4 when Locke and Co. find Charlotte after she parachutes onto the island and take her with them Ben starts to blurt out all he knows about her. He states her full name and where she went to school, and the kicker is that he states her date of birth being in the year 1979. Now if that is true how is she a 5 year old girl in 1977. I don't know if this means anything or if the writers just screwed up. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Also sorry if this has been mentioned before.

You're correct.There was a continuity error with the script.Darlton tried to blame Charlotte for the confusion.But she pointed out that she only acted out the script that she was given-no improv.When Darlton heard this they tried to cover there mistake up but by then the game was up and Rebecca Mader was super irate!!

widmore tells ben that he been looking for the island for almost 20 years. 16 years is almost 20 years.