After much money (the pilot episode, reported to have cost more than $10 million, is said to be the most expensive in network TV history), much hype, and much speculation by its pre-debut fan base, ABC's "Lost" makes its broadcast debut tomorrow night with the first half of a two-hour pilot shot at Mokule'ia and other spots on O'ahu.

The show's premise — a plane traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes on a deserted island, leaving 48 survivors to form their own civilization and fend off mysterious creatures that lurk on the periphery — drew snickers from TV critics and industry observers when production started in April.

That was then.

Soon after a rough cut of the pilot was sent to ABC, bootleg snippets began turning up on the Internet, leading to wild speculation about the direction of the show, but also wowing potential viewers with production values rarely seen on network TV.

With co-creator and executive producer J.J. Abrams ("Alias") personally directing the first two episodes and a strong international cast assembled to appeal to a broad audience, the show has already been singled out as one of the hits of the season by critics attending advance screenings at the Comic-Con International convention in San Diego and Honolulu's own Sunset on the Beach shindig.

"What is exciting about this show is that it is unlike any other show on TV," says executive producer Bryan Burk. "We like reality shows, but this is not a reality game show, or a cop show, or a hospital show. It's not 'Survivor' or 'Gilligan's Island.' "

"We have drama, action, adventure, horror, eeriness — everything you could hope for."

Tomorrow's premiere episode begins moments after the crash, with Jack (Matthew Fox), a doctor, waking up alone in a bamboo forest. He makes his way to a nearby beach where his fellow survivors are strewn amid the still-burning wreckage of their plane.

One by one the rest of the characters emerge. Each brings with them from the real world a distinct identity and — as the show will reveal each week — an intriguing personal history.

"In the pilot, you see the characters in the first 12 hours after what is probably the most traumatic experience you can have," says Fox, who is perhaps best known as the eldest brother in "Party of Five."

"Visually, you might make assumptions about who they are, based on the way we're all programmed to view things. But these characters will surprise you."

Thus, Fox said, the show's title is appropriate on two levels.

"I think it refers to the individual being lost personally, not just lost on the island," he said.

Burk said much of the great arc of the show — the first four to five seasons have already been plotted out — has as much to do with the characters finding out who they are and who they need to be to survive the natural and preternatural challenges that arise.

"What you did, your life before the crash, are both irrelevant and very relevant to who you are on the island and what you become," Burk said. "The people fans like and identify with may change as the show goes on and the characters show what they're made of."

It's a good bet that Fox's character will remain at the forefront of the show through at least the first season. As the survivor's only doctor, Jack takes a natural leadership role in the first episode.

Still, even Fox says he doesn't know what to expect from script to script.

"They (the writers) kept me in suspense through the first four or five episodes," he said. "They surprised me with a few things."

Newcomer Evangeline Lilly plays Kate, a reserved young woman who is called to duty early in the first episode.

"Kate is tough and assertive but removed emotionally — and for a good reason, which will come out later," Lilly says. "There's a dichotomy to her character. I love her vulnerability, and yet there's also a strong physicality to her."

The latter could certainly be said of Lilly, who wasted no time acclimating herself to her new O'ahu home by hiking along the Old Pali Road, swimming at Lanikai and exploring other parts of the island.

While Jack and Kate anchor the show, the rest of the characters provide grist for many seasons of storytelling.

Charlie (Dominic Monaghan, "Lord of the Rings") is a heroin-addicted bass player with a dark secret. Locke (Terry O'Quinn) is an even more mysterious loner who lurks about the periphery.

Other characters, appropriate perhaps to airplane seating arrangements, are introduced in pairs.

Maggie Grace plays spoiled, headstrong Shannon, whose insistence that rescue is imminent borders on denial; Shannon's older brother Boone (Ian Somerhalder) is much less convinced.

Michael (Harold Perrineau) has just gained custody of his son, Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) after the death of the boy's mother. They're still virtual strangers when the plane crashes.

Naveen Andrews ("The English Patient") plays Sayid, a former member of the Iraqi Republican Guard.

"For a major network to include this kind of character in the main cast, and not as a negative sort of character, but as a person who is almost heroic — that's very rare," says Andrews. "I'm proud and grateful for this role."

Sayid's dramatic counterpoint is Sawyer (Josh Holloway), a slightly obnoxious, jingoistic American.

Claire (Emilie De Ravin) is a pregnant woman who finds a sympathetic friend in Hurley (Jorge Garcia), an affable lug who makes sure the mother-to-be gets two servings of indestructible airline dinner.

Also among the core characters are outsiders Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) and Sun (Yunjin Kim), two South Koreans who don't speak English.

Yunjin Kim originally auditioned for the role of Kate. Producers went with Lilly instead, but liked Kim so much they added the Sun and Jin characters to accommodate her.

Daniel Dae Kim, a familiar face to fans of "24," "Angel," "CSI" and "ER," said he welcomes the opportunity to use his first language on TV.

"It will be a big challenge," said Kim, who was born in Pusan and holds an MFA in acting from New York University. "I've never not spoken English in a role."

Kim said subtitles will be used when the couple speak to each other, but not when they try to talk with the other survivors, thus underscoring how apart they are from the rest.

Of course, if "Lost" were strictly based on nuanced character studies, it likely would not have held an special advance screening at the Comic Con in San Diego last month.

The otherworldliness of the show comes out in brief but disquieting moments, from an out-of-its-element polar bear to the unseen mystery beast that starts thinning out the the supporting cast from the very first episode.

"With the monster, I think they want to get every element in from the beginning so that nothing comes out of left field later," Grace said. "You don't want to introduce it in Episode 8 and have the audience feel toyed with."

Even with all of those elements at play, Grace said, the end result is surprisingly cohesive.

"The writers have combined all the genre elements so seamlessly," she said. "There are otherworldly elements, but they aren't the focus of the story."