When Lost's pilot episode aired in September 2004, viewers weren't treated to a long extravagent title sequence. Instead, the first thing the audience saw was a mysterious 17 second intro which featured just a blank screen with the word 'LOST' spinning slowly towards the screen, with a soundtrack composed by the shows producer, JJ Abrams.
The intro was a perfect set up to what was to follow as the show would go on to confuse and infuriate it's viewers for many years with it's complex and mysterious plot. JJ Abrams' soundtrack to the intro is a truly uncomfortable piece, which serves to disorientate the viewer as it begins with a single low note before quickly adding layers of strings and percussion that purposefully do not blend well. This soundtrack, added with the 'Lost' logo slowly spinning towards the screen, gives off a warped mind bending effect. It created suspense and it let the audience know they were watching something big.
With a show that was so heavily guarded in secrecy, this intro sequence worked perfectly. It gave no indication of what the show was really about or any clues of what was to come. If Lost was to have an opening sequence akin to Prison Break's character highlight reel, it would have given the show an entirely different feel. It would have felt tacky while the simple approach they went for leant itself to the cinematic way the show was filmed.
In Japan, however, they did not use the same opening title. Instead they had a character highlight reel. Although it's fair to say that if they had gone this direction in the original US version it wouldn't have been as cheesey as the Japanese version, I feel this proves my point in that it feels extremely tacky and out of place with the feel of the show.
Here is the Season 3 title sequence from Japan:
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