Shooting scripts for LoM 1x04 and 2x08
I just discovered, via mars_daily, that Monastic Production's new site now offers both A2A and Life on Mars scripts. And I am thrilled, appalled, and slightly traumatised. The following is a combination of excerpts and liveblogging.
There are two LoM scripts: for episode 1x04 and episode 2x08. Both are shooting scripts (PDF format) based on the original screenplays by Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham respectively, and therefore not 100% identical to what appeared on the screen.
Which is where I learnt that Harry Althwaite is actually Harry Outhwaite.
*is overcome, must go drink ouzo (no Scotch in house)*
SPOILERS BELOW. If you want the thrill of discovering what's in the transcripts prior to reading my comments, go download the PDF files now!
...
...
...
Anyway, there are some intriguing differences in 1x04. In Gene's reminiscence about old Harry, he says it was himself and one other young copper, a Jack Pike, who were teamed up with the man. In this version, it was Jack who shopped Harry, not Gene ... and when all the other cops sent Jack to Coventry for grassing on Harry, it was Jack who hanged himself with his belt.
Also, some out-and-out crack:
Sam looks in horror as Chris’ head morphs into that of a young Labrador dog:
LABRADOR
His brain functions and heart rate are all up. Racing.
Now Sam sees Chris’ head morph into a hyena’s:
HYENA
It’s what we’d expect with a change of medication to Pentobarbital. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Huh. I think the revisions were an improvement.
But it's episode 2x08 that is most staggeringly different. I don't want to give too much away; but, to give a less structural example, it originally contained a scene (#11) in which Annie and Sam flirt about their first meeting. The exposition is awkward (it sounds like Matthew is trying to remind everyone how they first met, and it shows), but it does have some charm:
ANNIE
I remember this bloke turning up at our station looking like a lost boy scout. And he had all these funny ideas about the future.
SAM
I know him. Lithe, good-looking bloke. Pretty ripped.
ANNIE
Don’t think he’d ripped anything. Anyway, he ended up on the roof of this very building. "Ooh I’m gonna wake up now. Off I go."
SAM
He sounds like a grade-A nutter. How’d you handle him?
ANNIE
Oh, my usual charm. I took his hand. (she takes SAM’S hand) I looked him in the eyes. He had these deep, clear eyes ...
SAM
God, he sounds bloody gorgeous.
Then, in the cemetery, there's THIS bit of dialogue from DCI Morgan:
FRANK MORGAN
You told me about what happened to you as a kid. You shared it all with me Sam. God, we used to get drunk and talk about where your mind went that year you were catatonic. Maybe the hippies are right! Maybe there is an astral plane and you tripped off on it and saw the future! And that’s where your ideas come from!
OK, so glad they edited out this bit. The part about Sam getting drunk with Morgan and talking about Sam's year (!!!) of catatonia... good God. What a concept. Maybe the hippies are right?
And in this one... there's actually a flashback in which Sam remembers driving from Hyde, with "Life on Mars" in the eight-track, and has his accident. In 1973.
And in the tunnel, when Morgan refuses to help Sam rescues the others? Sam totally channels Gene:
SAM
You can stuff Hyde up your hairy bloody tradesman’s.
And more of the same, in a very short scene in a pub in 2006 in which Sam begins to menace some yobboes... who immediately remind him that Gene's style of policing by intimidation won't fly in the present day.
Not to mention what leads Sam to jump off the roof. And what finally happens to Morgan in 1973.
OK. This is just all too disturbing and delightful and weird. And I'm in danger of quoting whole pages at this rate.
Just... go and read them. Now.
ETA: See also the lovely lozenger8's reactions here.
There are two LoM scripts: for episode 1x04 and episode 2x08. Both are shooting scripts (PDF format) based on the original screenplays by Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham respectively, and therefore not 100% identical to what appeared on the screen.
Which is where I learnt that Harry Althwaite is actually Harry Outhwaite.
*is overcome, must go drink ouzo (no Scotch in house)*
SPOILERS BELOW. If you want the thrill of discovering what's in the transcripts prior to reading my comments, go download the PDF files now!
...
...
...
Anyway, there are some intriguing differences in 1x04. In Gene's reminiscence about old Harry, he says it was himself and one other young copper, a Jack Pike, who were teamed up with the man. In this version, it was Jack who shopped Harry, not Gene ... and when all the other cops sent Jack to Coventry for grassing on Harry, it was Jack who hanged himself with his belt.
Also, some out-and-out crack:
Sam looks in horror as Chris’ head morphs into that of a young Labrador dog:
LABRADOR
His brain functions and heart rate are all up. Racing.
Now Sam sees Chris’ head morph into a hyena’s:
HYENA
It’s what we’d expect with a change of medication to Pentobarbital. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Huh. I think the revisions were an improvement.
But it's episode 2x08 that is most staggeringly different. I don't want to give too much away; but, to give a less structural example, it originally contained a scene (#11) in which Annie and Sam flirt about their first meeting. The exposition is awkward (it sounds like Matthew is trying to remind everyone how they first met, and it shows), but it does have some charm:
ANNIE
I remember this bloke turning up at our station looking like a lost boy scout. And he had all these funny ideas about the future.
SAM
I know him. Lithe, good-looking bloke. Pretty ripped.
ANNIE
Don’t think he’d ripped anything. Anyway, he ended up on the roof of this very building. "Ooh I’m gonna wake up now. Off I go."
SAM
He sounds like a grade-A nutter. How’d you handle him?
ANNIE
Oh, my usual charm. I took his hand. (she takes SAM’S hand) I looked him in the eyes. He had these deep, clear eyes ...
SAM
God, he sounds bloody gorgeous.
Then, in the cemetery, there's THIS bit of dialogue from DCI Morgan:
FRANK MORGAN
You told me about what happened to you as a kid. You shared it all with me Sam. God, we used to get drunk and talk about where your mind went that year you were catatonic. Maybe the hippies are right! Maybe there is an astral plane and you tripped off on it and saw the future! And that’s where your ideas come from!
OK, so glad they edited out this bit. The part about Sam getting drunk with Morgan and talking about Sam's year (!!!) of catatonia... good God. What a concept. Maybe the hippies are right?
And in this one... there's actually a flashback in which Sam remembers driving from Hyde, with "Life on Mars" in the eight-track, and has his accident. In 1973.
And in the tunnel, when Morgan refuses to help Sam rescues the others? Sam totally channels Gene:
SAM
You can stuff Hyde up your hairy bloody tradesman’s.
And more of the same, in a very short scene in a pub in 2006 in which Sam begins to menace some yobboes... who immediately remind him that Gene's style of policing by intimidation won't fly in the present day.
Not to mention what leads Sam to jump off the roof. And what finally happens to Morgan in 1973.
OK. This is just all too disturbing and delightful and weird. And I'm in danger of quoting whole pages at this rate.
Just... go and read them. Now.
ETA: See also the lovely lozenger8's reactions here.