Life on Mars

skippercollecto · October 11th, 2008, 09:03 PM

I thought the new ABC series Life on Mars was wonderful, and a lot of fun. It looks like it will be my favorite new series of the season. I've never seen the original British version, so I can't compare the two.
I knew what Sam (why are so many time travelers named "Sam"?) was looking at at the end of the first segment before the camera showed what he was looking at. I figured that what he saw was inevitable, and it gave me chills. I got the feeling that Jason O'Mara wasn't acting in that scene.
I loved the music--and the jokes in the record store about music. I noticed that the Who song that I call "Teenage Wasteland" (although I know that isn't the name of the song) was in the episode, an obvious reference to the first three seasons of CSI: NY. What was really scary was that I probably haven't heard the song "Little Willy" in more than 30 years, but once I heard it I remembered the lyrics! What else is buried in my subconscious?!
The only details I didn't like were the sepia tones of the series, like a really old photograph. It seems to me that, rather than sepia, shouldn't something set in the early 70s be filmed in Technicolor?
Mary

skippercollecto · October 24th, 2008, 01:08 PM

I figured out why I liked Life on Mars so much--it's very reminiscent of Quantum Leap, one of my all-time favorite TV series. Also, I grew up in the 70s, and it is very reminiscent of the cop shows of the time.
However,
I'M A HYPOCRITE!
I've been saying for years on the IMDb that "I no longer see remakes, sequels, movies based on comic books and movies based on TV shows" and believe me, I've gone out of my way to NOT see those types of movies. Although I didn't know it when Life on Mars first aired, I've since learned that it is a remake of a British miniseries.
But what's even worse...
Most of the comments at the IMDb are from fans of the original series comparing the new version very unfavorably with the original, which sounds very familiar....
If I didn't like this new so show much, I'd stop watching it on principle. But it's my current favorite series of the season, especially since my returning series have all been boring so far this fall.
Mary

skippercollecto · April 2nd, 2009, 03:47 PM

I am very glad that ABC allowed Life on Mars to have an official closing instead of leaving us hanging there forever. I thought the finale was awesome, even jaw-dropping, and totally unexpected. And yet everything fit perfectly! I commend the writers, particularly the person who came up with the "Gene Hunt" comment.
Mary

Gemini1999 · April 2nd, 2009, 04:04 PM

Was last night the finale? It didn't seem like an end to me.... Did I miss the finale earlier on? I've missed one or two episodes.

The episode I saw last night was the one where Vic Tyler took little Sammy away from his mom and was going to kill "our" Sam Tyler.

Bryan

Reaper · April 2nd, 2009, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gemini1999

Was last night the finale? It didn't seem like an end to me.... Did I miss the finale earlier on? I've missed one or two episodes.

The episode I saw last night was the one where Vic Tyler took little Sammy away from his mom and was going to kill "our" Sam Tyler.

Bryan

Yeah, it looks like they trimmed the Actual Show down a little and tagged on an ending that wrapped everything up

I've heard mixed reviewsd of it, alot of people think it was a quick dirty ending to give ABC a crappy ending.

I kinda liked it myself

Gemini1999 · April 2nd, 2009, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reaper

Yeah, it looks like they trimmed the Actual Show down a little and tagged on an ending that wrapped everything up

I've heard mixed reviewsd of it, alot of people think it was a quick dirty ending to give ABC a crappy ending.

I kinda liked it myself

Well, I feel like the fool. I watched what I thought was the entire program, but it seemed to end about 10 minutes early. I had a moment where I was thinking that I might be wrong, so I changed the channel. D'oh! I missed the tag bit!

Bryan

Reaper · April 2nd, 2009, 07:44 PM

don't be too mad att yourself, the Show did end, and it seemed we were going to get a different attitude from Sam for the second season, which was going to make things very intersting, but it faded right to the Finale.