CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS: GEEK SEMANTICS EDITION!

PLUS: An important survey for Lost fans!

BUILDING A MYSTERY The Doc wants to know: What Lost questions do you absolutely need to have resolved by the end of the series, or else the whole intricate construction will not stand for you?

Last week, I compared the act of changing time to Luke Skywalker firing two photon torpedoes to blow up the Death Star. Oops:

''As much as I hate this kind of geeky nitpicking, I had to take the opportunity to correct your crossing of Star Wars/Star Trek lore. I'm sure I'm not the first fanboy to point this out, but the Death Star was blown up by two carefully placed proton torpedoes, while the photon variety would be found in the Starship Enterprise's arsenal. (Though, I do love the mental image of the Death Star being destroyed by the Enterprise.) Since they're only one letter different, we'll call it a late-night typo. (Yes, I should really get a life.)'' —Chris Bisgard

Chris, thank you for being the vigilant nerd that you are and setting me straight. And your nitpicking brings me to two burning questions I have for you guys today:

Last week in my recap of ''The Variable,'' I discussed the continuity fluctuations that many fans have seized upon this season, such as Young Ben's roaming bullet hole. I suggested that these ''glitches,'' noticeable only to the very few of us who insanely scrutinize every single detail of the show, are either early warning signs of the imminent collapse of Lost history due to actions in the past, or...simple continuity errors that mean nothing at all to the story. I clicked through a number of scenarios without really taking a stand on the issue, so let me do so now: While I think it would be neat if these apparent mistakes were intentionally made to create a narrative that metaphorically resembles the imperiled continuity of Lost history, I would also be absolutely fine with learning these things mean nothing. The roaming bullet hole could be just an error; the altered or telescoped lines upon second reference mere creative license for the sake of narrative expediency. No big whoop, in my book. So my first burning question is this: Do you mind if Lost makes mistakes? Would your enjoyment of season 5 really be diminished if these glitches prove to be meaningless? Or do you think you'll pull a Faraday and pretty quickly forget they ever even happened?

My second burning question is more important to me. As we find ourselves almost at the close of season 5, which mysteries do you feel Lost must absolutely resolve during its sixth and final season? Don't tell me ''all of them,'' because (a), that's unrealistic; and (b), ''all of them'' is a matter of opinion: One fan's unresolved mystery can be another fan's ''Who cares?'' What I want is what I would call your ''non-negotiables'' — the mysteries that Lost NEEDS to resolve. And to make you think even more carefully about this question, I want you to submit only your top three non-negotiables. I recognize that all of you probably have a lot more than three — I know I do — but for the purposes of this exercise, I want you to be choosy and discerning. In other words: Be nitpicky about your own nitpickiness. Send your submissions to JeffJensenEW@aol.com. (And yes, I'm clearing out my mailbox to handle the influx.) The results of this extremely informal and unscientific survey will be shared in my final Doc Jensen column of the season. So take some time, think this through, and hit me back with an e-mail — but first, please enjoy our newest installment of Totally Lost.

Be seeing you — tomorrow, at the recap!

Doc Jensen

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