I spent part of the weekend and the last couple of evenings re-watching key “Lost” episodes in anticipation of Season 6, which finally gets underway 8 p.m. Central Tuesday on ABC.

A warning: “Lost” administered in massive doses may cause sleep deprivation and hallucinations. If you start seeing polar bears and menacing smoke columns during your waking hours, seek medical attention.

Seriously, it has been enjoyable and enlightening to revisit key moments in the show’s history. I wish I’d had time to watch every episode I love — as I mentioned in my recent interview with executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (it’s here, here and here), I had wanted to re-watch the entire series before Season 6 began. That didn’t work out, but my impromptu re-watch has been a terrific trip down memory lane. I’ve posted some  random thoughts from my pre-Season 6 re-watch below.

But first, here are a few links from the past week’s massive wave of “Lost” coverage:

• This “Lost” Teefury T-shirt will only be available until late Tuesday evening. You might want to un-Locke your wallet for this one.
• If you want a quick recap, here’s five seasons of “Lost” in five minutes, re-enacted with pictures, action figures and wacky narration (and yes, I know that fans have done versions of this kind of thing previously and with more wit).
• UPDATE: Chicago residents, ABC7 has promised not to pre-empt any of the “Lost” premiere for election coverage. There will be updates during regularly scheduled breaks, but fans will get to see every frame of the Season 6 premiere on Tuesday night. There’s more on that here.
• A quite delightful recap: Here is the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s version of the past five seasons, which they summed up in 10 minutes (with an intro from Cuse and Lindelof).
• Writer/director Ken Levine shares his entertaining list of burning “Lost” questions here.
• I recently gave an interview to the fine folks at LostBlog about loving “Lost” and my experiences writing about the show.
• Ryan McGee, writer of Zap2it.com’s fine “Lost” blog, has a bunch of really cool island-related lists and photo galleries.
• Jo from “Get ‘Lost’ with JOpinionated” attended the recent premiere festivities in Hawaii. Here is her spoiler-free coverage.
• Check out the recent “Lost” coverage from Alan Sepinwall, James
  Poniewozik and the Onion’s AV Club — they’re
  just some of my favorite “Lost” writers (AV Club recaps go live Wednesday). As usual, I’ll also be
  checking out the fine SL-Lost and Whitney Matheson’s PopCandy every day for links and
  coverage of the show.
• EW’s Jeff “Doc” Jensen has a good pre-game roundup of “Lost” clips and such (including an Italian family’s reenactment of the past five seasons). And as always, his day-after columns are required reading for me. All of EW’s “Lost” coverage is here.
• Jensen kindly mentioned the ongoing Watch Us Care charity effort for Haiti. You can still get a cool “Lost” pin by donating $25 or more here, and you can bid on TV memorabilia here.
• NOTE: Tuesday night, a new set of memorabilia will be added to my eBay charity auction for Haiti relief. Look for choice “Lost” and “Battlestar Galactica” items as well as other cool TV gear.
• In my re-watch quest, I’ve been following, more or less, the lists of essential episodes provided by the “Lost” fanatics at Entertainment Weekly and also this list provided to the New York Times by Cuse and Lindelof.
• This Throwing Things guide to the “Lost” island is hilarious.
• There are several “Lost” clips in the video player on the right side of the page. There are interview clips with the cast and Lindelof and Cuse as well as clips from Tuesday’s season premiere.
• Please, in the comments, NO discussion of any spoilers that may have leaked out. I don’t want to know anything about the season premiere. Thanks.
• But please share thoughts or “Lost” links that you’ve enjoyed in the comment area.

Now, on to a few of the thoughts that occurred to my addled brain as I watched key “Lost” episodes over the weekend.

For those keeping score at home, I watched “Pilot,” “Tabula Rasa,” “Walkabout,” “Man of Science, Man of Faith,” “Orientation,” “A Tale of Two Cities,” “The Man Behind the Curtain,” “Through the Looking Glass” and “The Constant.” Later today, before I watch the Season 6 premiere, I hope to screen “The Variable” and “The Incident.” (UPDATE: And I did!) If I could invent a time machine, I’d also re-watch “LaFleur” seven times. And I may continue to screen old favorites in coming weeks, now that I’m in full “Lost”-mania mode (the beauty of watching a show with an increasing amount of time tomfoolery is that the “when” of what you watch starts to matter less and less).

All the show’s episodes are up on Hulu.com, after all.

Please take these reflections in the spirit in which they are intended. These are just a few very random thoughts and questions derived from revisiting those episodes. Some of these observations are tongue-in-cheek, a few are a bit more serious. I’m fighting a head cold and haven’t slept much lately, so I’m a little punchy — not to mention spazzily excited for the start of Season 6. Anyway:

• Remember when Desmond could see the future?
• Remember when Walt was very small and somehow very important to the island? Until he wasn’t? 
• Locke and Jack, “Orientation”: Locke — “Why do you find it so hard to believe?” Jack — “Why do you find it so easy?” Locke — “It’s never been easy!”
• It was very odd to see a Jack who was not annoying the majority of the time. It was even weirder to see a Jack who was actually heroic and a good leader, as he was in the early days. It’s not that he hasn’t had interesting moments in later seasons, but in the main, the character had become pretty played out for me. Being reminded of why I once liked or at least was interested in Jack was a good thing.
• Jin was such a jerk early in Season 1. I’d forgotten that.
• Jack to Kate in Season 1’s “Tabula Rasa”: “It doesn’t matter, Kate, who we were, what we did before this, before the crash. Three days ago, we all died. We should all be able to start over.”
• Sawyer in “Tabula Rasa”: “Rescue ain’t coming.” You said it, sir.
• Remember when Ana Lucia arrived on the scene and was annoying right away?
• Remember when Juliet arrived on the scene and was interesting right away?
• Greg Grunberg as the ill-fated Oceanic pilot: “”They’re looking for us in the wrong place.” Dude, you have no idea.
• The very first episode was full of amazing moments, but Locke’s backgammon scene with Walt gave me special chills.
• Remember how awesome Locke was in earlier seasons? Terry O’Quinn has always been terrific, but the character had some truly amazing moments in the early seasons. “Walkabout” and “Orientation” are every bit as good as I remember them being. Also, it was very useful to be reminded how rejected Locke has been all his life — and why he’s so loyal to the island. It represents the one true home and the one profound connection he’s ever had.
• Remember when Boone and Shannon and Claire and Charlie were on the show? That seems like a long time ago.
• Remember Ben and Kate’s totally creepy brunch date on the beach? “I gave you the dress so you’d feel like a lady.” Ben trying to be thoughtful can be so unbelievably scary.
• It was wonderful to see how Ben Linus became an integral part of the show. Michael Emerson has been amazing from the start. We saw young Ben participating in the extermination of the Dharma Initiative, yet also living with an alcoholic father who blamed him for the death of Ben’s mother, who died in childbirth. He and Locke have so much in common — the island is the only thing Ben feels loyalty to — but Ben is much more driven by anger and the need for revenge, while Locke is driven by the need for acceptance. In any case, Emerson makes Ben incredibly creepy, charismatic and human all at once. 
• The phone call scene in “The Constant” gets me every single time. Desmond: “I love you. I’ve always loved you.” Penny: “I’ll find you!” Get me a handkerchief!
• Remember when Jack had the buzz cut then the almost-mullet then the shaggy beard? And hey, he cries a lot, am I right? You can always count on Jack for some shouting or some weeping.
• “The Variable” is such a sad
  Faraday episode. Poor Dan! It has some good explainer/finale setup scenes though. And when re-watching, I laughed again at Radzinsky’s
  line: “I just got shot by a physicist!”
• Remember “You all everybody”? “Not Penny’s boat”? The first time Pierre Chang appeared? The first time we saw the Hatch? Rabbits? Fish biscuits? Caged Sawyer? Ah, good times.

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