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This is my Life on Mars
Nik Huze
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0787490/
I'm talking about the American version here. I apologize in advance for not knowing anything about the BBC original.
It is a cop show set in the 70's with a scifi twist.
Probably my favorite new show this season. Great music, clothes, cars, and characters. Harvey Kietel being his bad ass self? Hell yes! And Gretchen Mol as Annie "no nuts" Norris is probably the sweetest thing ever.
Does anyone else like it? Does it suck and I should shut up? Is the British version superior? Is Sam in a coma? Was he sent back in time by some unknown agency? Is it faithful to the actual 70's?
Debate and discuss.
My name is Sam Tyler. I was in an accident and I woke up in 1973. I don't know how or why I'm here, but whatever's happened its like I've landed on a different planet. Now, maybe if I can work out the reason. I can get home.
I'm talking about the American version here. I apologize in advance for not knowing anything about the BBC original.
It is a cop show set in the 70's with a scifi twist.
Probably my favorite new show this season. Great music, clothes, cars, and characters. Harvey Kietel being his bad ass self? Hell yes! And Gretchen Mol as Annie "no nuts" Norris is probably the sweetest thing ever.
Does anyone else like it? Does it suck and I should shut up? Is the British version superior? Is Sam in a coma? Was he sent back in time by some unknown agency? Is it faithful to the actual 70's?
Debate and discuss.
Nik Huze on
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"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
The sequel Ashes to Ashes is also wonderful, though it did take 3 or 4 episodes to step out of the 'shadow' of Life on Mars. If you enjoy the US version though I highly, highly recommend the British version, especially as it's looking increasingly likely it won't get renewed adn so you won't get the ending, which is fantastic even if the episode that frames it is merely so-so.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
He just seems so...douchey...
Incorrect, the final episode was amazing! The perfect ending to that series
In season 1 the series had some critical distance and ambivalence towards Gene Hunt. The character was fun and charismatic but at the same time he was also a corrupt yet self-righteous dick. In the second season he became a reactionary fantasy that we were supposed to cheer on. Bo-bloody-ring.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Ashes to Ashes is a bit more interesting in this regard, though, as Gene is somewhere between the two. Sometimes he's an absolute hero, but sometimes he's a deep dark pit of wrongness that can make your skin crawl, whereas in Life on Mars often Gene and Sam do the "what is right" dance and then end up meeting somewhere in the middle. In Ashes he tends to be one or the other with little grey in between.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
SAM: I'm from the future, and trying to understand my place here!
OTHER CHARACTER: What a funny thing to say! You're an oddball.
Simultaneously lame and implausible.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
Keep watching. A2A gets better and better, the first episode is surprisingly weak and the Gene/Alex partnership is more interesting than Gene/Sam I think.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
I'm just basically not interested in the very idea of it. Some new person being injured and ending up with the exact same characters in the same world just strikes me as dumb. The show may be good on its own merits but to my mind Gene, Ray, and the rest had their run and are more meaningful if left in Life on Mars.
I guess. It depends how you view it. I still find it interesting as A2A is digging deeper into who - or what - these guys actually are, not revealing anything, but dealing with these ideas like is this 'past' heaven or hell or purgatory or a hallucination Alex has picked up from reading Sam's notes, but if she did where did the new people like Shaz come from and so on. And that said there's been some great developments in Gene, though less so in Ray and Chris and so I hope they do something with that in the second series.
Part of it for me is I prefer the 80s to the 70s though. It's such a colourful interesting era anyway, and in England from a police perspective it's particularly intertesting with rioting, strikes, widespread hatred of the police, rampant Irish terrorism, thatcherism ripping down 'the old world' and in series 2 of A2A the country's at war too.
I think what made Life on Mars was really that ensemble cast of characters. The setting provided an interesting and nostalgic backdrop but it wasn't anything more. It could've actually transported Sam into the far future and kept the same plot with few changes. The idea of Sam coming from the future was just a way of making a period cop show while keeping a modern viewpoint and influence to offset the inevitable violence and issues of police abuse of power that would come up. Indeed, it came from the idea of making a "cop show like old cop shows" rather than to make a cop show with an underlying sci-fi mystery.
Ashes to Ashes still has the ensemble cast reliance, but it really, really focuses on the view of the shape of the country and the events that are occuring a lot more which is what I find so interesting as it truly was a transitional and vital period for the UK. It's still got the funny, quirky stuff, the great period costumes and production and the classic cop show feel, but modern policing was starting to take shape here and it's often felt in this show especially as Gene is increasingly squeezed out and sometimes wondering if he's over the hill before going on a spree of his old antics. Also interested to see how it all ends, as Alex is unlikely to
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
Journeyman had a neat concept and I would have liked to see where it was going with the old girlfriend who was traveling through time as well, but 80% of the episodes were boring as hell. Cool theme song though, and I really like Kevin McKidd (awesome last name) mostly because he was in Rome. If Life on Mars gets cancelled I will shed many tears and then check out the UK version.
It seemed to me they were creating romantic tension between Whatshername and Gene Hunt. The very idea is abhorrent to me. If anyone can guarantee their relationship is strictly platonic, I might give it another shot.
[EDIT] Also, I liked the comedy in Life on Mars. All those facepalm moments John Simm has.
"Special glass..."
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
Wha-what? Link for comfirmation please.
http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/03/breaking-abc-ca.html?cnn=yes
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
God fucking dammit. Ok, thanks Handsome Costanza. At least they are airing the finale. Poor Pushing Daisies.
At least it will have an ending, I guess.
More episodes isn't strictly better, though. They were stretching stuff out a lot more and I personally felt it was getting old very fast. The first series of the US version is basically the plot arc of the first British series stretched into double the episodes, so half the story is still missing.
However you do it, do try to pick up/watch the British version. It's well worth it.
There is romantic tension, but not in a particularly bad way. It's more Gene being a moody guy whose wife has left him surrounded by a very, very nice lady all day and so making constant advances only to get them pretty much constantly laughed at. Alex unlike Sam has commitments at home at least and a daughter, so romance in this world isn't really on the cards for her (so far.)
The only full romantic plot in Ashes to Ashes so far belongs to Chris, funnily enough.
It's worth trying for a few more episodes though, believe me. They made a mistake of tying it so close - even opening the series with Sam's 'am I mad, in a coma...' speech from LOM. By episode 4 and 5 it's really out of the shadow of Life on Mars and doing some interesting things, looking at the rise in gun crime in the 80s, Irish/Socialist terrorism, the royal wedding, the cold war... all really cool 80s stuff.
Ironically now the show is out of the shadow of Life on Mars, I want them to revisit it a bit.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
$60 MSRP for Series 1 (8 episodes).
No release of Series 2 until sometime in 2010.
Also, everyone tells me Journeyman was really good, and I wish it had a DVD release.
They're also bound to be on offer soon as Ashes to Ashes series 2 is starting next month and the traditional "catch up by buying the DVDs" sales will go on for all three.
EDIT: Looked it up!
Life on Mars 1: Under $15 USD
Life on Mars 2: Under $15
Life on Mars Complete: $35
Life on Mars 1 Blu Ray: $20
Life on Mars 2 Blu Ray: $20
Ashes to Ashes 1: Under $15
Not sure how much shipping will set you back, but the point is that you could probably pick up the complete story so far in 2 series' of LOM and 1 A2A for not much more than one 'official' US series.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
The US one might've tied up a few loose ends, it created a few, too.
Cupid's a remake of a failed show from 1998. It launched two days ago. Why can this one and bring that one back? Makes no sense.
Dumb. I like having the hour back, but pretty much every other show I watch, I'd drop before this one.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
Starting to think this is going to end with Sam showing up again...
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
Oh man, I hope so! I'd like Ashes to Ashes to start answering some questions, too. I don't want it to be as ambiguous as Life on Mars.
I certainly think this is going to end somehow with Sam. The amount he and his travels have been mentioned so far in Series 2 seems to be too big a hint..
Also they're actually doing some interesting stuff with Alex and Gene now, rather than just doing police drama by numbers (which was still fun but not as fun) like in series 1.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
Oh god they are dropping Tylers name in so many times!
But yes this series is so good now. I hope Sam does come back...