Life on Mars

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) I find this quite fascinating. I must have posted a lot about the US remake of Life on Mars, because actor Jason O’Mara still figures in this, even though I stopped blogging about that show around the time of its cancellation. Obviously, Lucire, Wellington and New Zealand figure in a big way,...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Let’s see: State of Play, remade. Life on Mars, remade. What are the chances the Americans will redo Tuesday? I think there is a conspiracy to remake anything that John Simm and Philip Glenister appear in. Tu£sday - John Simm (You're Lying) Read and post comments | Send to a friend

By Jack Yan My Spanish is pathetic at best, but a bit of context: the tunnel is a portal of sorts where Sam travelled from 2009 to 1977. In the final episode, he saves Ana from being killed by his father (the same as episode 8 of the UK original and episode 7 of the US remake). It appears this was the purpose of h...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Is it me or does one need a surname containing five letters to qualify as a time-traveller? (I refer to humans, not timelords.) The Time Machine (movie adaptation, 1960): Wells Back to the Future: McFly Life on Mars: Tyler Ashes to Ashes: Drake Re... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

By Jack Yan The Time Machine (movie adaptation, 1960): Wells Back to the Future: McFly Life on Mars: Tyler Ashes to Ashes: Drake Recent companions on Doctor Who: Tyler, Jones, Noble

By Jack Yan Remember how fans of Life on Mars were putting together their favourite Gene Genie moments on to YouTube? The Spanish seem equally fond of their Gene Hunt, Inspector Jefe Quin Gallardo, in La chica de ayer, Spanish Life on Mars.

By Jack Yan And before someone pounces on me by saying that Law & Order UK is not a remake, but a spin-off (as has happened on YouTube), then perhaps they could tell me why the script for tonight’s episode here is directly based on an American one (and even credits it)? Sorry, old chap, that makes it a...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Humorous scenes include Cristóbal trying to use a personal computer (even though this is set later than the original Life on Mars, it is still too new) and Sam talking to Quin about Maradona and football. The episodes are shorter, now 70 minutes long.

By Jack Yan Ralph Brown as DCI Frank Morgan and Del Preston from Wayne’s World 2 (who is very similar to Danny the Dealer in Withnail and I). Ralph Brown as Del Preston    You can compare the two performances in these clips: Life On Mars - John Simm (Sam & Frank in Car) Part 1 of 3 Del Preston: Del's Story...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) I finally saw the first La chica de ayer (Spanish Life on Mars) after Antena 3 put the whole episode online. It plays out more closely to the UK original than the US remakes, with most of the scenes intact, albeit with some name changes (e.g. Maya is now Sonia; and the others, such as Quin Gallardo...

By Jack Yan Last night, Matthew Graham’s script was good for some of the Gene Hunt lines, and the freemasonry parts were suitably spooky, but there was relatively little from the stalker that we saw in Ashley Pharoah’s first episode last week. I don’t have too much to add, other than the use of a Leyland...

By Jack Yan Antena 3 has some new videos on the making of La chica de ayer, including the producer and director discussing the transformation of the show from the original Life on Mars and moving the action from Manchester to Madrid. There are also clips from the première episode, and a glimpse of the Lo...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) La chica de ayer table jump 1    It’s Quin Gallardo and Samuel Santos figuring out who’s behind the kidnappings in the first episode of La chica de ayer—Spanish Life on Mars. Seems the show is doing very well in Spain with this Antena 3 TVC: Autopromoción - La chica de ayer Read and post comment...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) There were some great Life on Mars-esque touches with the new series of Ashes to Ashes: viz. mystery phone calls and glimpses of the present day (2008). But those who liked Alex Drake’s self-awareness about the situation she might be in might not take to the darker tone of the new series; thos...

By Jack Yan If US Sam Tyler was in pod 2B in the finalé of the American Life on Mars remake, why was Ray Carling 2A when his apartment number was 4A, or is this one of those sci-fi nerd questions? As to the ‘gene hunt’ Ray Carling refers to, I came far closer to that than I thought in this November blog post!

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Spoilers ahead. [PS.: in fact, if you scroll down and don’t want to know, be warned: there are humungous pictures from the last episode. So shut your eyes as you scroll.] Well, I was totally wrong about why American Sam Tyler got to 1973. B... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

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By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Annie in 2010 US Sam and US Annie Major Tom Life on Mars, but not what you think    It does explain why Gene Hunt is older and I kept calling him a father-figure, but for him to be ‘Major Tom’ Tyler was a surprise. Vic, it turns out, was the dark side of Sam.

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By Jack Yan Aries Project in US Life on Mars Zap2It has a good interview with two of the producers of US Life on Mars, Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg, on the finalé on Wednesday night there. At least the show has been given a proper sending off from ABC there.

By Jack Yan Sam Tyler contemplates jumping to wake up Last week’s penultimate US Life on Mars offered some surprises—such as the Aries name re-appearing at a toy factory which sold the Rovers that Sam found in an earlier episode. Special Agent Frank Morgan was far more sinister than the original Brit...

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By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Variety has some additional info on the US Life on Mars finalé. For a start, the writers were planning a big revelation anyway, and only the second half needed a rewrite to reveal more of why Sam Tyler is in 1973. Variety reiterates that i... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Sam in the 125th Variety has some additional info on the US Life on Mars finalé. Variety reiterates that it won’t be the same as the original Sam Tyler’s reason. Secondly, both Michael Imperioli and Jonathan Murphy—American Ray and Chris—will be present, despite being gunned down in last w...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) I have to agree. Surely most people who tune in to BBC America are predisposed toward British TV series and that many who watch Ashes to Ashes were quite capable of following DCI Gene Hunt in Life on Mars—not to mention the first two episodes of Ashes to Ashes that were shown there without subt...

By Jack Yan Peter Gerety If the ABC press release preview of next week’s US Life on Mars is any indication, Dets Ray Carling and Chris Skelton are dead. Or somehow each survived four rounds at point blank range. But here’s a great little clue for those of us who saw the original British series: ‘Peter Gere...

By Jack Yan The end of Chris and Ray    As to the crime of the week, it wasn’t particularly strong—but they weren’t that clever in the original series sometimes, either. The joy, for me, was always trying to find out why Sam was in 1973 and the character development that went with that. This was present her...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) I don’t really want to change the spirit of the groups I inherit much, since I do not feel I should as I did not create them, but it dawned on me over the weekend that the word addict had negative connotations. And that some of the people on the group aren’t addicted to TV in general, though maybe t...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Philip Glenister, who plays tough 1980s detective Gene Hunt, will be seen on screen with time-travelling cop psychologist DI Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) in a new series on BBC1 next month. And if that is as big a hit as the first—which got more than 7million viewers—he will make a third. But tha...

By Jack Yan Life on Mars Episode 14 Preview It appears next week’s US Life on Mars is a remake of episode 12 (series two, episode four) in the original series, with air hostesses replacing beauty saleswomen, and Sam and Annie adopting the aliases of Mr & Mrs Tom Cruise instead of Tony and Chérie Bla...

By Jack Yan There are heaps more at the official Antena 3 site, but here is a less butchered clip of Inspector Jefe Samuel Santos Gallego getting hit by a car and waking up in 1977, meeting fellow cops Cristobál and Raymundo at the station, as well as his boss, Inspector Jefe Joaquín ‘Quin’ Gallardo, in...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) there were a lot of posts either about 2008, but 2009 seems to be catching up rapidly;the US president got more mentions than Sec. Clinton, and the Republican candidates seem to have fallen by the wayside;Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt appear neck in neck, but there John Simm’s name does not appear....

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Sam in the 125th Citing a lack of resonance with the audience, ABC has announced the American version of Life on Mars will finish after this season. It should mean the run will be longer than the UK’s, and fans (and I count myself as one—I like both UK and US versions) won’t have to wait long to fi...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Citing a lack of resonance with the audience, ABC has announced the American version of Life on Mars will finish after this season. I learned this when I got back from a full-on day out of the office, in an email sent from Tanya on our team. ... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Here’s Spanish Sam—yes, he’s called Samuel Santos—getting transported back to 1977 in La chica de ayer—Spanish Life on Mars. It’s Queen that sends him back, not David Bowie. The series’ opening credits are also included in this clip.

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Spanish TV network Antena 3 has the first TVC of its new series, La chica de ayer—i.e. Spanish Life on Mars. I wonder if British fans will be up in arms about how Ernesto Alterio is not as good as John Simm, etc.

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) In 2007, Graham played on the contrast between the two men’s policing methods, but only after the first series set it up so well. Stateside, the Sam–Gene relationship is markedly different, and Sam spends as much time at odds with Ray Carling than he does with his superior. (In fact, for inex...

By Jack Yan I see how the Americans will stretch out their Life on Mars: stick in non sequitur episodes where the mystery of why Sam is in 1973 is not advanced much. While it started off well, with something looking like a UFO abduction, and with guest star Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu on Broadway—and playi...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Rachelle Lefevre and Jason O’Mara in Life on Mars (unaired pilot) I gave some thought to what on earth would happen if Life on Mars were remade in New Zealand, as the American one airs here a couple of hours before the British one is repeated on another channel. Gene grabs Sam into his office.

By Jack Yan Here’s the trailer to US State of Play, which in the BBC original starred John Simm, Bill Nighy, James McAvoy and, in a minor supporting role, Philip Glenister. Unlike the Life on Mars remake, the comments on YouTube have been fairly subdued. No spouting about Americans ruining a good Briti...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Aries Project in US Life on Mars Remember, as with Ashes to Ashes and Alex Drake, there are scenes in US Life on Mars that do not feature Sam Tyler, so Gene, Ray, Chris and Annie have their own lives independently of him—which means this is not of Sam’s mind’s making.

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) After a duffer last week, the latest US Life on Mars was, for a change, brilliant. There was no British equivalent to this ninth episode, which continues from the cliff-hanger of the seventh. We discover Ray Carling has a brother and the plot a... Read and post comments | Send to a friend

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) As is evidenced by the rear of some buses in Wellington, TV3 is going all out on promoting its Monday night line-up, which includes the US Life on Mars remake. As with the TVCs here, Harvey Keitel is marketed as the star of the show. It’s more than TV One ever did for the original series.

By Jack Yan This will be a treat for Lifers: Life on Mars, twice tomorrow night. The first catch is that the TV3 one at 9.30 p.m. is American. The second catch is the British one on TV One has had something like 13 minutes butchered out of it, usually the best bits (e.g. the Camberwick Green sequence). From the NZ Ci...

By nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) Good points: Gene Hunt referring to the interrogation room as the ‘Lost and Found’, as in the original. It was probably in the US première but it got edited out. In fact, I believe this was the first mention in the US series, and I wonder if American viewers get the significance.

By Jack Yan Jeremy Blomstedt rates his American TV favourites in his newspaper column. An excerpt, as these are two shows I follow: PS.: Given Harvey Keitel is older than Philip Glenister, would American Life on Mars qualify as ‘two cars, one stud, and an old man’?