The Tempest
From Lostpedia
The Arrow • The Staff • The Swan
The Flame • The Pearl • The Hydra
The Looking Glass • The Tempest
The Tempest is a DHARMA Initiative station that stores a deadly toxic gas, as well as its precursors. Its location is about a day's walk north of the survivors' beach camp on the western coast. Goodwin likely worked there, pretending it was a power station, as Juliet noticed his injuries were chemical in nature. Juliet also later lied to Jack, calling it a power station. ("The Other Woman") However, Daniel, despite knowing about the station in detail, wondered on another occasion how the island is powered.
The Tempest consists of two levels. The first is a catwalk into the main level and a catwalk over it. The bottom level is the main level, and filled with computer systems. One such computer is responsible for releasing toxic gas into the atmosphere of the Island. Goodwin was stationed there after the Others took over the Island, and sustained a chemical burn during his work there. He also mentioned that with an accidental flip of a switch, he could kill everyone on the Island. ("The Other Woman")
Daniel Faraday and Charlotte Lewis of the freighter team neutralized the poison gas stored at the station. They claimed that they did this to prevent Ben from using it to kill everyone on the Island. ("The Other Woman")
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Layout
The entrance is a blast door which leads to a corridor. The door has a mechanism that opens it easily. The Tempest logo is visible on the door. The corridor which leads to the main room is quite similar to the corridor in the Staff, opening onto a catwalk on the facility's second story. Blinking lights and speakers are placed on the walls.
Chemical computer system
Chemical names on the computer such as thionyl chloride, O-ethyl 2-diisopropylaminoethyl methylphosphonite and N,N-diisopropyl-2-aminoethane thiol are mentioned. These are precursors to the nerve agent VX.(VX was banned by the UN in 1993, but would have still been accessible to DHARMA in the '70s) The command prompt computer appeared to be a control of the various parts of the machine including commands to open and shut valves and vents and to change the temperature.
The other system seemed to be an interactive process flow diagram with a pressure warning. The computers themselves seem to vary (see the screenshot), but there appears to be a newer PC, and then the old Apple II (it is impossible to tell if this the same prop as the one in the Swan).
The station is later described by Kate as being a "poison gas factory." ("Ji Yeon")
Visitors
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| Picture | Name | Status | Reason for Visit | |||||
 | Goodwin | Dead | Worked there. | |||||
 | Daniel | Alive | Went to The Tempest with Charlotte. Donned hazmat suits to protect themselves from the gas, and disabled the gas when confronted by Juliet. | |||||
 | Charlotte | Alive | Went to The Tempest with Daniel. Donned hazmat suits to protect themselves from the gas, and disabled the gas when confronted by Juliet. | |||||
 | Juliet | Alive | Followed Daniel and Charlotte to stop them, under orders delivered by Harper.
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 | Jack | Alive | Followed Daniel and Charlotte to stop them. | |||||
 | Kate | Alive | Followed Daniel and Charlotte to stop them. | |||||
Production notes
- Cooper Battery, a World War II coastal defense gun battery at Kualoa Ranch on Oahu, served as the entrance to the Tempest station. [1]
Trivia
- The Tempest is a play written by William Shakespeare, that tells the story of the sorcerer Prospero and his daughter Miranda, who are stranded on a mysterious desert island that has mystical properties. Prospero raises a storm, or tempest, which causes a passing ship containing his enemies to run aground. Using magic, spirits and a man-beast creature named Caliban, he separates and manipulate the survivors of the wreck for his own purposes. The play ends with Prospero restored to his former glory.
- Forbidden Planet is a classic sci-fi film based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. Its storyline features many similar themes to Lost: a mysterious location, geographic isolation, immense power sources, ancient civilizations, hidden underground facilities, an invisible monster, a stranded crew of explorers, lost scientific expeditions, and deadly psychic powers.
- Tempest is also the name of an arcade game produced by Atari in 1981. (The producers of Lost named the submarine Galaga after an arcade game.)
- The computer keyboards in this station are a modern design, at the very least an IBM/PC AT Enhanced model keyboard, which was released in 1987, having arrow keys and a number pad, demonstrating that the equipment in this station is newer than the other stations that have been shown.
- "TEMPEST" is a US government codename for the concealment of so-called "compromising emanations" in part through the use of Faraday cages to contain the electromagnetic radiation of entire buildings.
- Producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof confirmed on the March 10, 2008 Official Lost Podcast that the Tempest was on the blast door map, that it was also a DHARMA chemical weapons facility, and was also what the Hostiles used to gas the Initiative in the Purge.
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
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- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: The Tempest/Theories
- What is the Tempest's original function?
- What is/was the purpose of the toxic gas?
- What was Goodwin's job at the station?
- How did Daniel know how to disable the gas?
- What are all the other computers used for?
- Where is its location on the blast door map?
