ABC's 'LOST' Spinoff Series Spills Retro Dharma Secrets

Maybe the Dharma Initiative is actually just a front to saturate the American automobile market with reliable, affordable Korean-made cars. (So that’s why Jin and Sun were on that plane.)

Kia Motors is sponsoring a five-episode Internet miniseries by ABC called Mysteries of the Universe: The Dharma Initiative, a set of short-form documentaries about the enigmatic research institute that is central to the show’s mystery.

Not only are these faux-documentaries pure LOST mythology, they’re done up in impeccable ’80s investigative journalism style, complete with VHS tracking lines. It’s so authentic I feel sorry for whoever got stuck with putting them on a video cassette before ripping them and putting them up on ABC.com.

The first clip is available now from ABC.com

and the next will be out Tuesday, August 4th. From there, the episodes will be released on September 8th, October 15th, and November 16th. They’ll also be plugged in Entertainment Weekly magazine, so keep an eye out if you’re a subscriber.

If that didn’t quite scratch your LOST itch, check out our coverage of a previous (and controversial) Lost web spinoff, LOST Untangled, which was seemingly inspired by The Fine Brothers infamous action figure spoof series, LOST: What Happens Next? which has racked over 4.5 million views so far. Also not clear is if there’s any connection to the Comic-Con launched LOST University site.