Life on Mars

[Alasdair5000]

The other nice thing about BBC series is that they End. There isn't the pull to make them last as long as possible, even into the shark-jumping bits (Doctor Who aside, though it does manage to un-jump as much as it has jumped at times) that American series seem to fairly universally share.

Largely true from what I've seen, although the end of Coupling did get somewhat bizarre. 

I just wish the British series I liked had decent season lengths.  It's kind of a shame to get into something and then, eight episodes later, it's done for the year.

  Oddly enough, that's something that's been discussed over here quite a bit.  The BBC quietly extended their season runs a little while ago and most of their premier shows now run 8-13 episodes where previously they'd run six.  Doctor Who's been one of the field leaders with this, with its 13 episode seasons.  Stuff like Spooks and Hustle isn't far behind with about eight.  Althouggh now I come to think about it, I think Doctor Who went twenty episodes a season regularly back in the '80s.

So the Life On Mars finale is Tuesday.

Anna and I are two episodes into the current season now.  Is it just me, or those first two, or is this season rather darker than the first one?[/quote]

   It's not just you.  There are a couple of episodes later on that get very dark indeed.

[Heradel]

Alasdair, you may be thinking of the old practice of breaking up a story into 25 minute chunks, so one story would be told in 4 or 6 annoyingly short chunks rather than a 50 minute all at once thing. The current (45 minute) format for The Doctor started with this reincarnation.

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It has been getting darker, but I've been thinking that's a reflection of his losing hope he'll pull out of the coma slash be released by the mysterious man on the phone.

Spoiler below.
Did anyone else think that the temporary replacement for the Gov was an older version of Sam?

[Heradel]

Well, c'est fini. And in a satisfying way.

Spoiler effing alert. Do not read below unless you saw the finale. !

I'll go back to what I said before: BBC shows End¹. And this one had a good ending that wouldn't have happened in a US show. To a certain extent Sam's ultimate realization that he likes it better in 1973 is inevitable: we barely see any of the characters from the present and the policing in the present has no... character/fun to it. Plus it would really be very unsporting for him to not be with Cartwright at the end.

Other's thoughts?

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¹Exception of The Doctor.

[Alasdair5000]

Well, c'est fini. And in a satisfying way.

Spoiler effing alert. Do not read below unless you saw the finale. !

I'll go back to what I said before: BBC shows End¹. And this one had a good ending that wouldn't have happened in a US show. To a certain extent Sam's ultimate realization that he likes it better in 1973 is inevitable: we barely see any of the characters from the present and the policing in the present has no... character/fun to it. Plus it would really be very unsporting for him to not be with Cartwright at the end.

Other's thoughts?

---
¹Exception of The Doctor.

   I remember back when the first series finished being hugely disappointed.  It seemed for all the world like they'd had a clear eight episode run with a definitive ending in place and when the second series had been comissioned had had to do some frantic last minute rewrites.  Now, with the final series done, I'm really glad they got the second year.

   That was flat out one of the gutsiest ways to end a TV show I've ever seen, second, perhaps to the closing moments of St Elsewhere.  The sequence with Sam on the roof and the final, long delayed and absolutely perfect use of 'Life On Mars' was one of the most powerful bits of TV I've seen this year.  The actual ending as well, one part grim to two parts genuinely happy and extremely poignant, was pretty much note perfect.  I especially liked the reversal of the first episode's final scene, which again saw Sam on a building poised to jump into his new life.  Just beautifully judged drama.

   The thing that fascinates me about it (And triggers my inherent lit geek tendencies) is the concept of the spin off, ASHES TO ASHES.  Which, in case anyone wants to be surprised by, I will attempt to spoiler text-ise. 

Highlight to read.  Hopefully.

  The current plan is for it to be set in London in 1981 with Gene, Chris and Roy being reassigned to a London CID unit.  They're joined by a female officer and profiler whose daughter is kidnapped in 2007 and who is injured in an attempt to get her back. 
   Now, already a lot of people are asking why an officer working in an entirely different city could possibly hallucinate the same officers that Sam did.  The possibilities being discussed are:

-As a profiler, she read the details of Sam's case, including his presumed descriptions of the CID unit and as a result, she transplants them into her own hallucinations.
-Gene and co are in fact a Moorcockian/post modern set of archetypes, the 'Eternal guv' as someone described him.  Any cop, when injured, will see and interact with them.
-She really does go back to 1981 and interacts with them, implying that everything Sam saw and experienced was real. 

   The other question concerning the spin off is where are Sam and Annie?  I suspect that they'll be held in reserve for the season wrap up, given that the new female lead encountering Sam, happy and alive in 1981, would raise some very interesting questions about what's real and what isn't.

[SFEley]

Okay.  Anna and I finished watching the series last night, so I can finally read this thread again.  >8->

I was floored.  I was expecting a bizarro "not really an ending" ending, something like The Prisoner or so many anime series (Evangelion and Escaflowne, I'm looking at you).  Instead they ended it, leaving no ambiguity as to what was going on, and with just enough denouement for emtional satisfaction.  I was beginning to expect it as soon as they said "We couldn't remove the tumor," but that's fine.

And really, it's the only way the probability wave of the series could collapse.  I'd been struck the entire time by how over-the-top most of the episodes were, but they made that make sense.  The character dynamics and the plots were implausible because they didn't have to be plausible; the whole thing was the cop show in Sam's head.  So of course the whole department only ever had one crime to solve at a time.  Of course there were about twenty people working there but only four of them ever talked.  Of course police officers beat the crap out of each other on a regular basis to express their opinions.  I wasn't going through the series expecting him to finally choose the fantasy, but they made that make sense too.  The bartender's lines were very clear and strong there.

And yeah.  Annie.  (I've asked Anna for a WPC Cartwright for Christmas.  Damn, she's cute.  Not a WDC Cartwright, though, only because I prefer the uniform.)  >8->

Spin-off series: I'd heard nothing about that, and have mixed feelings.  I guess that throw-away bit at the end about him recording things for the psychologist was the set-up for that?  On the one hand it sounds totally absurd, and I don't know why they'd bother.  On the other hand, the premise for Life on Mars was absurd enough to begin with, and they made that work...  If it does come to pass, someone be sure to post here and let me know if it's worth checking out the premiere.

This was a really good show. 

[stePH]

The other nice thing about BBC series is that they End. There isn't the pull to make them last as long as possible, even into the shark-jumping bits (Doctor Who aside, though it does manage to un-jump as much as it has jumped at times) that American series seem to fairly universally share.

Largely true from what I've seen, although the end of Coupling did get somewhat bizarre. 

Coupling lost it when Jeff departed the show; Oliver was a poor substitute. Tambien, I didn't care for the "Susan is pregnant" story arc.

I want to check out Life on Mars but NetFlix doesn't have them stream-able yet.

[Ocicat]

Wow, that's some threadomancy there, steph. 

Life on Mars (BBC version, anyway) was great.  I only just read Steve's analysis (I wasn't on the boards when it was first posted!) and it's right on the money.

But if you haven't seen the series yet, do yourself a favor and know as little as possible about it before you start.  It's a unique show, and you don't want it spoiled.

[Talia]

Only seen one episode of the BBC version. Gotta admit I loved the American one though. Although the ending was a bizarre copout.

[stePH]

Only seen one episode of the BBC version. Gotta admit I loved the American one though. Although the ending was a bizarre copout.

haha... copout... I see what you did there 

[stePH]

...okay, NetFlix has the US version streamable now, but not the UK original. I'm going to be home for a couple of weeks so I've queued it up.

[stePH]

Okay, finished watching the (US) series this morning. I feel used. I feel badly used. 

I hope the original ends differently.

[Ocicat]

Uh, ya.  I haven't seen the US version (I was warned away from it early on) but from what I've heard about it's ending... I assure you the original has nothing at all like that.  At all.

[stePH]

Uh, ya.  I haven't seen the US version (I was warned away from it early on) but from what I've heard about it's ending... I assure you the original has nothing at all like that.  At all.

I was hoping as much... that the American producers wanted to have a different ending just to keep the surprise and mystery alive for those who had seen the original (which I still want to check out; I guess I'll have to get it a disc-at-a-time from NetFlix)

I swear, if this show were any more of a shaggy dog story, it would have clumps of dried shit stuck to its furry behind 
I don't know how to rate it on NetFlix... I don't think it will let me split between a "Really Liked It" for 16+3/4 episodes, and a "Hated It" for the ending.