Do you have an idea for a new wiki? Please share it with us here
Take the Dharma Wants You test, all about Lostpedia, here

From Lostpedia

Galaga

First Appearance

Last Appearance

"The Man from Tallahassee"

"One of Us"

Owned by

DHARMA Initiative, then The Others

Status

Disabled and sunk (exploded)

The Galaga was a former DHARMA Initiative submarine. After the Purge, it was appropriated by the Others and used as a means of transporting recruited personnel from the outside world. ("Enter 77") ("The Man Behind the Curtain") It was apparently destroyed by Locke using C-4 explosives he had acquired from the Flame station. ("The Man from Tallahassee")

History

The Galaga was originally part of the DHARMA Initiative infrastructure on the Island. There were facilities to dock it near the Barracks, at Hydra Island and at the Looking Glass station underwater. It was used to travel between destinations on the Island and from the Island to the outside world. There is an underwater beacon that helps the submarine to reach the Island.

Juliet's first view of the island was from the submarine dock. ("One of Us")

Ben and his father arrived at the Island in the Galaga along with several others to join the DHARMA Initiative, suggesting it was the main means of long-distance transportation. ("The Man Behind the Curtain") Mikhail said he arrived on the Island to join the DHARMA Initiative by submarine. Juliet also arrived on the Island in 2001 aboard the Galaga, but the exact circumstances of the journey are unknown as she was kept unconscious from the time she met Ethan and Richard Alpert at an airport presumably outside of Miami until after the submarine had docked at the Island. When she woke up, she found herself strapped to a bunk in the submarine. Ethan claimed that the straps and the tranquilizer were necessary because of the roughness of the travel experience to the Island. ("One of Us")

Ben has claimed the submarine was the Others only way of reaching the outside world. When the Swan imploded, the underwater beacon stopped functioning along with the rest of the former DHARMA Initiative communications equipment. This meant that if the submarine left, it would not be able to return. ("The Man from Tallahassee")

John Locke infiltrated the Barracks and held both Ben and Alex hostage, demanding to be taken to the submarine. Ben later explained that since communications with the outside world were lost the submarine is only capable of leaving the Island, but never returning, and that Jack would be leaving the Island by submarine in a few hours. The result would be the same whether Locke destroyed the submarine or not. All he would accomplish by destroying the submarine would be to keep Jack on the Island. Locke was later taken to the submarine by Alex and planted a C4 explosive. As he left the dock, he surrendered to the Others, but the submarine exploded moments later. ("The Man from Tallahassee")

In the aftermath, Juliet (who would have left together with Jack) questioned if Locke acted on his own or under Ben's influence, when blowing up the sub, or if he blew up the Galaga, at all. ("Operation: Sleeper")

Name reveal

The submarine was also used by the Others to launch a raid on the sailboat with the intent of capturing it. During the preparation for this mission, the name of the submarine was first revealed. Colleen whispers to her husband Pickett about her orders to use the Galaga to capture the sailboat from the survivors of Flight 815. This cannot be heard in the audio of the show and was discovered in the closed captions of the episode. ("The Glass Ballerina")

On the Official Lost podcast, writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse confirmed the name.

John blowing up the submarine ("The Man from Tallahassee")

Producer's commentary

• 3-28-07: Doc Jensen
  • When Locke was walking away from the submarine in "The Man from Tallahassee", he appeared to be soaking wet, despite the fact that we never saw him get into the water. This was just before the blow-up. Are we supposed to be wondering why John Locke was all wet? Damon Lindelof says: No comment.

Trivia

• The interior shots of the submarine were filmed on the USS Bowfin (SS-287) which is located near the Arizona Memorial. [1][2] The Bowfin is a Balao-class submarine constructed in 1942. The interior is very similar to US Gato-class submarines from the same period.
• The exteriors of the submarine were two props located at the fish pond at Molii Gardens, owned by the Kualoa Ranch in Hawaii.[3]
• A ¦|¦ (or rather ☵) trigram is seen on the submarine's conning tower and on the shirt of one of its crew members. The same symbol appears on the bottom of the DHARMA logos. This symbol has two symbolic representations: as Nature, Water; and as one of its meanings, the Abyss.
• Galaga is an arcade game released by Namco in 1981. The arcade game is played often in between writing episodes of the show, and thus the submarine was named after the game in its honor. (Official Lost Podcast/April 16, 2007)
• What may be a submarine mistaken for a whale is described on Day 13 of the diary transcript: "I think I saw a whale this morning... So there I was floating in the ocean when I heard a sound like a steam vent blowing behind me. I turned around and saw this really huge shape going back and forth under the surface."

Unanswered questions

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Galaga/Theories

• Was the submarine really the only way to get to the outside world?
  • What was the relationship between the Looking Glass station and the submarine?
• The ride from the outside world to the Island in the submarine is said to be bumpy. Juliet was strapped down and sedated. What does this mean--what sort of submarine ride is bumpy?
• Why was Locke wet when he came back from the submarine?
• Where did Locke leave the green bag?