Anyone watch Life on Mars-US version?
I watched it and loved it.
Not gonna give away the ending here but thought it was incredibly creative.
The whole series was only 17 episodes so it makes a good arc for GWC
I loved it, and I thought the finale was awesome.
I absolutely loved the show and still can decide if I liked the ending or not. I just think I’m more disappointed that the show is over. I am starting the UK version despite the fact that the end of that one was spoiled for me. FWIW the UK end is quite different.
Harvey Keitel was amazing…
I liked the show, just watched the end last night. Still making up mind whether I liked the end.
All in all, I thought it was a respectable adaptation, no question. Similar story, different character dynamics. Nice end for, damn, what’s her name, the blonde officer.
Ending wasnt as bold as the British version – which would never fly on US TV – but not awful. At the risk of baggin’ on it, that’s typical American thought: "We better explain the
[spoiler]Mars[/spoiler]
reference – that Bowie craaap ain’t cuttin’ it!"
It was nice that they got to wrap it all up.
DXF:
Man, I rarely find myself disagreeing with you, but here I think there were a number of reasons for the US-specific ending. To avoid issues for those who haven’t seen it:
[spoiler]For example, there was lots of foreshadowing: the recurrent space probe, the Aries Project folder and references, and the fact that some people in-world seemed to be more aware of the illusion than those in the Brit version.
My take is that the US in '73 is so different than '73 UK that a re-make just wasn’t gonna cut it. They’d eventually have to go their own way for the US version to really work, and when they did at the end of season 1/start of season 2 you could really feel things starting to gel.
The re-characterizations in the US version really sold it for me. Ray is a totally different guy – a good guy under a layer of bad. (UK Ray was a bad guy under a layer of good, IMHO.) Gene was a more father-like figure, which played well into the ending, again a different Gene, but still Gene. Annie was the most similar, but took on an even stronger role (long before the end). Great stuff. In my book it just made both series stand more on their own. I flat refuse to say “this one’s better” or “that one’s better.” They’re just different, both great in their own way.
I agree that the less brash UK attitude lends itself better to the UK ending, but I suspect that had the series not originated in the UK the US version could’ve played either of the two standard endings: he’s in a coma or he’s a time traveler. But like my buddy Basher says, “You don’t do the same gag twice. You do the next gag.”
And THAT’S why I’m such a huge fan of the US ending. They didn’t go the easy route and copy the UK ending. They didn’t even go the semi-easy route and make him a time traveler. They took the fully-balls-out route of blowing the wheels off.
Hells yeah.[/spoiler]
Anyway, there’s my $0.02, homie.
I HATED the ending. Completely out of left field and unimaginative. I LOVED the series, but I felt that the end was about as good as Bobby getting out of the shower.
I’m hearing this from lots of friends. But I think it’s a hard argument to make…
[spoiler]…because there’s plenty of foreshadowing. Just because we didn’t predict it doesn’t make it come from out of left field. Looking back, there were hints of this from the very beginning. [/spoiler]
Chuck, as always, that’s quite the argument.
In the end, the US version is a more coherent, un-magical piece than the UK version – and I say that without judgement. For better or worse, the US version tied everything together neatly. The UK version, the WTF? weirdness was part of its charm.
Without rankin one above the other, they were both basically swell. And, again, the differences in the US version were generally strengths.
I’m still on the fence about how much I liked the ending, but it did work.
Topic B, and we can probably all agree on this one: Criminal under-use of Lisa Bonet. Boo!
I really like the show, and thought it was a good series. Though I wish it could have lasted a little longer, I’m sure there could have been more adventures for Sam Tyler ( another season) in 1973 and then more in 2008 ( a couple seasons perhaps), sort of like a dream within a dream.
And still could have that surprise ending in the end.
I don’t really relate this series with Bowie, to me it relates more to Elton John’s “Rocketman”, the lyrics relate to the shows title.
Its one of few shows that I actually followed from beginning to end and enjoyed especially with all the crap thats on now TV nowadays.
I’m glad at least it had a real conclusion (finale) as oppose to other shows that cut off in the middle of their run.
What do you guys think?
I thought, considering how rushed they were to wrap it all up after being unceremoniously dumped by ABC, that it was a great ending. They made it their own and I respect that. It will be missed. Can’t wait to try out the original.
Does anybody have leads on procuring DVDs legally? I’m interested in starting with the UK version first before seeing the US one.
Have you ever watched BBC America? They’ve run the show into the ground there.
Also, according to this link, http://discussions.bbcamerica.com/jiveforums/thread.jspa?threadID=10471&tstart=0, LoM is pretty cheep on Amazon UK and will play in a region free DVD player. If you wait, the US release of the DVDs is in July.
The projected price for Season one is US$60, but you can get BOTH seasons from Amazon UK, with shipping, for under US$30. The boxed set is of course more. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=life+on+mars&x=0&y=0
This is all good advice, TAH. The only fully legal way to watch is to catch it on BBCA. They did play the crap out of it, but I think you’re going to have a tough time catching both series 1 and 2 in order. They are, however, playing Ashes to Ashes right now, which is the “sequel” to LoM. (Spoiler warning: A2A mentions the end of LoM in a few places. If you watch it first, you’ll know more than you probably want to. But it’s the only legal option right now.)
Playing R2 DVDs in R1 is illegal. However, Strikitrich is right: You could buy the R2 DVDs and play them in a(n illegal) region-free player, or you could set your computer DVD player to R2, or you could rip them (illegally) into a format that you can watch. (They’re PAL, of course, but Toast can help with this.)
Regardless, I hope you get to se 'em. It’s great stuff. And definitely check out A2A afterwards!
Does Blu-Ray have regions? The show is also available that way.
Don’t know if the show was ever available on demand.