Life on Mars vs. Life on Mars
A friend was mentioning the LoM (American version) finale and asking how it compares to the UK finale. I, of course, couldn't keep my mouth shut. This went in an e-mail to a group of friends, but I thought I'd post it here too. Beware for defense of the UK version and a pretty scalding review of the American version. It kind of assumes you may not have seen the US version finale that aired Wednesday.
First I’ll just state for the record that the end to LoM last night is NOT anything like the ending of the UK LoM. There is so little comparison between the two that it left me speechless. I won’t say what the ending to the UK version was because I truly believe it shouldn’t be spoiled for anyone who might be interested in watching it.
But I will talk about the ending of the US version of LoM. And the gloves are coming off. I’m going to be merciless. Fair warning that I thought the ending was just . . . terrible. I do recognize that there’s no way I couldn’t not compare it to the UK version. So my vision is a little clouded. But there were some genuinely bad things in the finale. Aside from the fact that it is just a pale imitation of the UK series overall, the finale of the US version has no where near the emotional payoff and closure of the UK version.
I decided to watch the finale since I watched the first episode. And I was curious about how they were planning to tie up the show. Since the US finale version doesn’t give away the UK finale version I’ll discuss it briefly. Those of you who have seen the UK version probably won’t even believe what I’m telling you, it is so far off from the UK version.
So, Sam basically has to rescue the child version of himself from his father in 1973. He goes to Hyde where his father has kidnapped young Sam and they fight, Sam’s father is ultimately shot and killed by Hunt. Sam reunites his young self with his mother, they’re happy and before Sam leaves he basically tells his mother that he is her son, albeit an older version. Sam keeps getting phone calls that tell him he needs to do a couple things in order for him to return home in 2008. Annie gets promoted to detective and Sam realizes that he loves her, they admit their feelings and kiss. Then Sam gets another call saying he needs to do something else to return to 2008. He hangs up, saying he’s happy with 1973 and he wants to stay. Then Sam wakes up. IN A SPACESHIP. I swear, for a second I was wondering if I was high.
So Sam wakes up in a spaceship. And it’s 2035 or something. He’s on a mission to find life on Mars. Now there’s an anvil sized nudge, nudge, wink, wink. And the crew on the mission on the ship? Ray, Chris, Annie and Hunt. Who are all his fellow astronauts. Oh, and Hunt is for some reason Sam’s father. And Annie is wearing a really, really bad wig and is in command of the mission. They’ve been in some kind of stasis for a couple years and during their stasis they each decided how their sub consciousness would be occupied. Sam chose being a police detective in 2008 but something in the system went haywire and changed it to a police detective in 1973, with all his fellow astronauts there in versions of themselves. But not actually there, they were all otherwise occupied in their own stasis dreams. So Sam imagined it all and it only happened in his head. The show ends with them all congratulating themselves for making it to Mars and then them suiting up and on the surface of Mars to look for life.
Only an American show could take the clever and subtle metaphor of “life on Mars” (and the song by Bowie) offered in the UK version and turn it into something to hit the audience over the head with. I do blame the show’s writers, whatever nationality they are. A lot of them wrote for “October Road,” which was an incredibly badly written show. The actors did a decent enough job, considering the material they were given. But if you listen to the song “Life on Mars” it is truly interesting how the song and the UK version of the show reflect each other. There are a couple of really significant reasons, beyond the twist itself, that actually make the twist impossible. The idea is that the whole foray into 1973 happened in Sam’s head. If that’s true then how could any scene in the entire show happen without Sam there? If 1973 was all in his head then there’s no way stuff could happen without him being there. And there were scenes with Annie and Sam’s mother, as well as a scene with Annie, Hunt, Ray and Chris where they are discussing where Sam had disappeared to. How could that have happened if it was all in Sam’s head? I get that a big part of that was to lead the audience and to show what was happening but it was poor storytelling. They broke their own rules about the show’s rules if the whole trip to 1973 was supposed to be in his head.
I know I’ve said it before and I’ll stop beating a dead horse after this. They just missed the point. The UK version of LoM was about more then the question of whether Sam was a timetraveler, in a coma, or something else. The show was as much about Sam’s history and journey as a young boy to manhood as anything. It was also about his place in the world, whatever world that might be. And it was also very particularly about a specific time and place. Manchester, England was a hard place in 1973. And an even harder place to be a police officer or a woman. So they basically took those two difficult things to be and made two of the characters exactly that. And they added some complex characters around them, most significantly Gene Hunt, the Guv. The story that the UK version told about Sam, men and women and life in Manchester was so important to the show. And the American version only took slices of those ideas and adopted them, then changed them into other things and ran off with them.
Interesting enough, I recently found the original version of the US LoM pilot episode. See, they shot a pilot of the episode that basically they scrapped altogether. The only actor they kept was the guy playing Sam, I think. Most significantly they had a different Annie and Hunt. And the show was set in Los Angeles instead of New York City. I actually liked the original pilot of the US version better then the one they aired. But that got changed to accommodate the new actors and new location.
Now that I’ve had my tirade I’ll shut up. I normally wouldn’t be so harsh but it’s just hard to understand why they did what they did. I love the UK LoM. It isn’t an exaggeration to say it is my favorite TV series. Of all time. Seeing something I love so changed naturally makes me a little perturbed. And I took it as a bit of a personal affront since I’m a bit attached to the UK version. So I am a little sensitive, obviously ;)
First I’ll just state for the record that the end to LoM last night is NOT anything like the ending of the UK LoM. There is so little comparison between the two that it left me speechless. I won’t say what the ending to the UK version was because I truly believe it shouldn’t be spoiled for anyone who might be interested in watching it.
But I will talk about the ending of the US version of LoM. And the gloves are coming off. I’m going to be merciless. Fair warning that I thought the ending was just . . . terrible. I do recognize that there’s no way I couldn’t not compare it to the UK version. So my vision is a little clouded. But there were some genuinely bad things in the finale. Aside from the fact that it is just a pale imitation of the UK series overall, the finale of the US version has no where near the emotional payoff and closure of the UK version.
I decided to watch the finale since I watched the first episode. And I was curious about how they were planning to tie up the show. Since the US finale version doesn’t give away the UK finale version I’ll discuss it briefly. Those of you who have seen the UK version probably won’t even believe what I’m telling you, it is so far off from the UK version.
So, Sam basically has to rescue the child version of himself from his father in 1973. He goes to Hyde where his father has kidnapped young Sam and they fight, Sam’s father is ultimately shot and killed by Hunt. Sam reunites his young self with his mother, they’re happy and before Sam leaves he basically tells his mother that he is her son, albeit an older version. Sam keeps getting phone calls that tell him he needs to do a couple things in order for him to return home in 2008. Annie gets promoted to detective and Sam realizes that he loves her, they admit their feelings and kiss. Then Sam gets another call saying he needs to do something else to return to 2008. He hangs up, saying he’s happy with 1973 and he wants to stay. Then Sam wakes up. IN A SPACESHIP. I swear, for a second I was wondering if I was high.
So Sam wakes up in a spaceship. And it’s 2035 or something. He’s on a mission to find life on Mars. Now there’s an anvil sized nudge, nudge, wink, wink. And the crew on the mission on the ship? Ray, Chris, Annie and Hunt. Who are all his fellow astronauts. Oh, and Hunt is for some reason Sam’s father. And Annie is wearing a really, really bad wig and is in command of the mission. They’ve been in some kind of stasis for a couple years and during their stasis they each decided how their sub consciousness would be occupied. Sam chose being a police detective in 2008 but something in the system went haywire and changed it to a police detective in 1973, with all his fellow astronauts there in versions of themselves. But not actually there, they were all otherwise occupied in their own stasis dreams. So Sam imagined it all and it only happened in his head. The show ends with them all congratulating themselves for making it to Mars and then them suiting up and on the surface of Mars to look for life.
Only an American show could take the clever and subtle metaphor of “life on Mars” (and the song by Bowie) offered in the UK version and turn it into something to hit the audience over the head with. I do blame the show’s writers, whatever nationality they are. A lot of them wrote for “October Road,” which was an incredibly badly written show. The actors did a decent enough job, considering the material they were given. But if you listen to the song “Life on Mars” it is truly interesting how the song and the UK version of the show reflect each other. There are a couple of really significant reasons, beyond the twist itself, that actually make the twist impossible. The idea is that the whole foray into 1973 happened in Sam’s head. If that’s true then how could any scene in the entire show happen without Sam there? If 1973 was all in his head then there’s no way stuff could happen without him being there. And there were scenes with Annie and Sam’s mother, as well as a scene with Annie, Hunt, Ray and Chris where they are discussing where Sam had disappeared to. How could that have happened if it was all in Sam’s head? I get that a big part of that was to lead the audience and to show what was happening but it was poor storytelling. They broke their own rules about the show’s rules if the whole trip to 1973 was supposed to be in his head.
I know I’ve said it before and I’ll stop beating a dead horse after this. They just missed the point. The UK version of LoM was about more then the question of whether Sam was a timetraveler, in a coma, or something else. The show was as much about Sam’s history and journey as a young boy to manhood as anything. It was also about his place in the world, whatever world that might be. And it was also very particularly about a specific time and place. Manchester, England was a hard place in 1973. And an even harder place to be a police officer or a woman. So they basically took those two difficult things to be and made two of the characters exactly that. And they added some complex characters around them, most significantly Gene Hunt, the Guv. The story that the UK version told about Sam, men and women and life in Manchester was so important to the show. And the American version only took slices of those ideas and adopted them, then changed them into other things and ran off with them.
Interesting enough, I recently found the original version of the US LoM pilot episode. See, they shot a pilot of the episode that basically they scrapped altogether. The only actor they kept was the guy playing Sam, I think. Most significantly they had a different Annie and Hunt. And the show was set in Los Angeles instead of New York City. I actually liked the original pilot of the US version better then the one they aired. But that got changed to accommodate the new actors and new location.
Now that I’ve had my tirade I’ll shut up. I normally wouldn’t be so harsh but it’s just hard to understand why they did what they did. I love the UK LoM. It isn’t an exaggeration to say it is my favorite TV series. Of all time. Seeing something I love so changed naturally makes me a little perturbed. And I took it as a bit of a personal affront since I’m a bit attached to the UK version. So I am a little sensitive, obviously ;)