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The Pearl Orientation video seems to be the Pearl's counterpart to the Swan Orientation film. Unlike the film found in the Swan, the movie is on a Sony U-matic video tape, rather than a spool of film.

The video talks about the duties of the Pearl. It is station five of six of the DHARMA Initiative, and is a monitoring station. Other stations have hidden cameras installed in them, and for three weeks, the inhabitants of the Pearl will monitor the staff of another station and make records in notebooks for eight hour shifts. When a notebook is filled, it is to be placed in a capsule, which is then placed into a pneumatic tube where it is sent directly to 'us'. Later the Losties discover that the pneumatic tube dumps the notebooks out in the middle of nowhere, where no one is retrieving them, implying that the Pearl inhabitants are in fact the experiment.

At the end of each eight hour shift, the Pearl staff are to make their way to the Pala Ferry for transport back to the Barracks. However, this part of the orientation video is slightly garbled.

The video[]

 	LOST_Orientation_5_of_6_The_Pearl_(FULL!) 	 			  

Transcript[]

Pearlorientation1

5 of 6 - Orientation

Pearlorientation2

Station 5 - The Pearl

Scenesfrompearlfilm

Various scenes from the orientation film


items in italics represent comments
items in bold represent on-screen items, not spoken text
* denotes a pop or possible splice in the film
(?) denotes interpreted garbled speech (it may be incorrect)

THE DHARMA INITIATIVE

5 OF 6
ORIENTATION

screen transition fade

screen showing the DHARMA logo of the Pearl
ORIENTATION - STATION 5 - THE PEARL

screen transition to show a man in a turtleneck sweater and jacket

Hello. I am Dr. Mark Wickmund and this is your orientation film for station five of the DHARMA Initiative.

Station five, or the Pearl, is a monitoring station where the activities of participants in DHARMA Initiative projects can be observed and recorded; not only for posterity but for the ongoing refinement of the initiative as a whole.

screen transition to show 12 men and women in gray Pearl logo shirts doing jumping jacks as the DeGroots watch them with clipboards in hand.

As Karen DeGroot herself has written, "careful observation is the only key to true and complete awareness".

Screen transition to a close-up of the DeGroots.
Screen transition back to Mark Wickmund

Your tour of duty in the Pearl will last three weeks and, during this time, you and your partner will observe a psychological experiment in progress.

Your duty is to observe team members in another station on the Island. These team members are not aware that they are under surveillance or that they are subjects of an experiment.

Working in eight-hour shifts, you and your partner will record everything you observe in the notebooks we provided. What is the nature of the experiment, you might ask. What do these subjects believe they are accomplishing as they struggle to fulfill their tasks? You, as the observer, don't need to know. All you need to know is that the subjects believe that their job is of the utmost importance. Remember, everything that occurs, no matter how minute or seemingly unimportant, must be recorded.

Each time a notebook is filled with the fruits of your diligent observation, roll it up and insert it into one of the containers provided. Then, simply place the container in the pneumatic tube and - presto! - it will be transported directly to us.

At the end of your eight hour shift proceed to the Pala Ferry which will take you back to the barracks to prepare for your next * (?) ... on behalf of the DeGroots, Alvar Hanso and all of us here at the DHARMA Initiative - thank you, Namaste and good luck.

screen transition fade

© The Hanso Foundation,
1980 All Rights Reserved.

Notes[]

  • Pierre Chang makes an appearance, though he uses the name Mark Wickmund.
  • The video is copyright 1980.
  • The people exercising have a Pearl logo on their shirt.
  • On a monitor in the background, two Swan-occupants can be seen. Dr. Chang never specifically mentions the Swan by name, however.
  • There's no introduction of the DHARMA Initiative, unlike the Swan's Orientation film.
  • Unlike the Swan Orientation film, Chang is filmed from inside the Pearl itself.
  • The theme songs for the Pearl and Swan Orientation films contain the melody (with an added note at the end) from "The Eyeland" (Soundtracks), a musical theme from the score which also appears in the end credits of Lost.
  • Pierre Chang appears to still have both arms intact, unlike the Swan film from the same year.
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