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post #31 of 236
10/13/08 at 1:03pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

I liked it alright, enough to give it a few more chances, but I guess I'm the only one not thrilled by the wall-to-wall music. It's too easy. Every time he's on the street, cue the music so we know it's the seventies. I think the visual cues were enough. They did a good job with that. So, don't lay it on so thick. It takes away from the gritty "'70s movie made in the Big Apple" feel that I'd like it to have.
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post #32 of 236
10/13/08 at 3:40pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

I miss the creepy little test pattern girl...
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post #33 of 236
10/13/08 at 6:47pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Sam's TV is a Sony model KV1910. It was introduced in 1975: or the almost identical KV1910D in 1976, so there must be some serious time travelling going on in his living room.
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post #34 of 236
10/14/08 at 11:45am

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Wow.....

What a load of crap!!

BASED on the BBC series my ass!

Scene for scene, darn near WORD-FOR WORD, more like..

I was looking forward to an American-style re-telling, not this blatant plagiarism..

How do they get away with this malarkey??!!!
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post #35 of 236
10/14/08 at 1:37pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Quote:
Originally Posted by doug zdanivsky
Wow.....

Scene for scene, darn near WORD-FOR WORD, more like..

I was looking forward to an American-style re-telling, not this blatant plagiarism..

How do they get away with this malarkey??!!!
It happens all the time. It was the pilot episode. In practically every recent show that has come across, the pilot has used the same script with minor changes. Here it was basically the same, but transplanted into New York City. There were only 16 BBC episodes and most likely not all of those scripts will be used.
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post #36 of 236
10/14/08 at 1:51pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Quote:
Originally Posted by doug zdanivsky
Wow.....

What a load of crap!!

BASED on the BBC series my ass!

Scene for scene, darn near WORD-FOR WORD, more like..

I was looking forward to an American-style re-telling, not this blatant plagiarism..

How do they get away with this malarkey??!!!

I read some where that the plot is going to veer off from the original BBC series, kind of like The Office. As long as they don't have the same ending as BBC, I'm all for it.
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post #37 of 236
10/15/08 at 2:56pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

I will go for that. The ending of the BBC series didn't make much sense to me..

MAJOR spoiler if you have not seen that series.

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Ok, so, I guess he realizes that 1973 was the afterlife and he belonged there? I never really understood that. For all his pining for Mya and to get home, in the final episode, when he finally gets there he seems bored, disinterested, and regretful that he had chosen to come back. But the decision to leap off a building to return seemed equally strange.. if it was even real. Or was the whole trip to the future self also a delusion? The final episode left me wondering WTF actually happened. I thought it was an effective summary that this was all just a comatose delusion. Though that concept will be difficult to play out in the US version, because if they aim to go for 100+ episodes, the goal of every show, the concept of him realizing he's in a coma and trying to get back will grow very old, very quickly, before people start to wonder why they don't just unplug him in the future and let him die...
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post #38 of 236
10/15/08 at 3:37pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Did I mention I miss the creepy little test pattern girl...?
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post #39 of 236
10/15/08 at 3:45pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Yeah, but I think you're the only one who knows what you're talking about.

The only test pattern I remember looked like a janitor in the middle. And, I think it turned out to be the production company's logo! I don't remember a little girl.
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post #40 of 236
10/15/08 at 4:03pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

The only test pattern I remember looked like a janitor in the middle. And, I think it turned out to be the production company's logo! I don't remember a little girl.

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

The little girl in the red dress is I assume what he's talking about, who kept appearing and delivering really creepy messages. "Chose the right wire and you're OK, the wrong one and everyone's dead.." that kind of stuff
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post #41 of 236
10/15/08 at 5:58pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Is that in reference to the UK version? If not, I must have gotten an Intersect upgrade in the middle of this show and passed out, because none of that spoiler sounds familiar.
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post #42 of 236
10/15/08 at 9:15pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Yes, the creepy girl was in the UK version. I don't know if she'll appear in the US version.
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post #43 of 236
10/15/08 at 10:54pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Quote:
Originally Posted by mattCR
Yes, the creepy girl was in the UK version. I don't know if she'll appear in the US version.
It wouldn't make sense to, since the test card she came out of was actual one used by the BBC during that time period. It'd be really stretching chronology, but the closest American equivilant that I know of is the Indian Head test pattern. And having a Native American stereotype come out of the TV and terrorize the protagonist probably wouldn't fly anyway.
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post #44 of 236
10/15/08 at 11:16pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

double post
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post #45 of 236
10/16/08 at 6:09am

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt
It wouldn't make sense to, since the test card she came out of was actual one used by the BBC during that time period. It'd be really stretching chronology, but the closest American equivilant that I know of is the Indian Head test pattern. And having a Native American stereotype come out of the TV and terrorize the protagonist probably wouldn't fly anyway.
Over at Rants & Reviews - On the Futon With... "Life on Mars" Executive Producer Josh Appelbaum, Part 2 | TheFutonCritic.com this is discussed.
Quote:
It's funny we don't because the Test Card Girl is a real thing on the BBC. Because I asked them about that, I wanted to do it because she's so creepy. And then they said to us, in the nicest possible way, it would be kind of weird because that's a real thing from the BBC. ... So the thing about the little girl, what we did in place of her - because we love the whole children's television show thing... we created our own.
There is more in the article and it looks like we'll see some tonight.
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post #46 of 236
10/16/08 at 12:54pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Is this show worth watching? I have a chance to download the
first episode and then catch up tonight or download it soon after.

Good show?
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post #47 of 236
10/16/08 at 1:53pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein
Is this show worth watching? I have a chance to download the first episode and then catch up tonight or download it soon after.

Good show?
Go for it! This US version has high possibilities. If you've already seen the BBC version, don't expect many differences in the first episode, but I believe there are some in tonight's.
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post #48 of 236
10/16/08 at 3:02pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein
Is this show worth watching? I have a chance to download the
first episode and then catch up tonight or download it soon after.

Good show?

Ron, in one word: fantastic.
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post #49 of 236
10/16/08 at 3:16pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Ron, might as well give it a chance. The fact that I am lukewarm about it might mean it's great to you, since our tastes don't seem to be that similar. I don't particularly like cop shows to begin with.
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post #50 of 236
10/16/08 at 3:22pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

We all know everyone in Jersey loves crime shows.
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post #51 of 236
10/16/08 at 10:58pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

It seems that most of you are very familiar with the BBC series, but here's an opinion on the American version from someone who has never seen the original.

Great premise, but scattered execution. The show veers wildly between jokey humor (the fight in the hospital room) and watered-down cop drama. I say "watered down" because the show tries to do too much at once. The procedural sections are predictable and not too engrossing - they are sepia-toned and feature early seventies fashions and technology, but so far the grittiest thing about the seventies is that people punch each other a lot more. Overall, it doesn't seem real.

And if it's not real, it's that's the point -- if it's just a fantasy -- why should we care about these figments of his coma / imagination?

Also, Tyler's "great love" from 2008 is supposed to be the emotional center of the show, but their relationship was never developed in the pilot beyond some expressions of devotion and a fight or two. They're trying to show more of their time together via memories / flashbacks / voiceovers, but it's just not enough to make me care.

This show needs to develop more mystery by not giving us so many anachronistic clues. It needs to make the seventies gritter beyond just a yellow tint and an expensive soundtrack. It needs to be funny, but not jokey.

The section with him in front of the mirror, or chasing the little robot thingy, were pretty odd and enjoyable, but I think I might be finished with this one.
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post #52 of 236
10/17/08 at 2:48am

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

After two episodes you might be finish???? Okay, but so far so good with me regarding this show.
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post #53 of 236
10/17/08 at 8:18am

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

last night was good. i really enjoyed the interactions between gene and sam. I still got hopes for this show. so far, it's the best show i've seen this season.
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post #54 of 236
10/17/08 at 9:58am

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

For those who want to keep track of the various possibilities that Sam wrote on the blackboard & mirror, they were

Coma
Drug Trip
Time Travel
Different Planet
Extraterrestrials
Mind Experiment
Heaven/Hell/Purgatory
Insanity
Brain Tumor
Virtual Reality
Multidimensional Travel

Presumably, he might ponder each of these in subsequent episodes.
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post #55 of 236
10/17/08 at 10:43am

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilO
For those who want to keep track of the various possibilities that Sam wrote on the blackboard & mirror, they were

Coma
Drug Trip
Time Travel
Different Planet
Extraterrestrials
Mind Experiment
Heaven/Hell/Purgatory
Insanity
Brain Tumor
Virtual Reality
Multidimensional Travel

Presumably, he might ponder each of these in subsequent episodes.

sweet. thanks for posting. as long as it's not the british ending, i'll keep watching. love the british one, but don't want ABC remaking it
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post #56 of 236
10/17/08 at 12:39pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

I also thought last night's episode was good.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Crawford
After two episodes you might be finish???? Okay, but so far so good with me regarding this show.

I don't see myself going anywhere either. It takes elements of "Lost" and "October Road" and mixes it in with a '70s cop show and “homage” to the original "Life on Mars". Here's hoping ABC sticks with this.
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post #57 of 236
10/17/08 at 12:41pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

How many "weird non-1973" things were there in the second episode? I recall the Mars Rover and the reflection into 2008.
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post #58 of 236
10/17/08 at 12:47pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

I just went to the ABC website for the show and see that there are short podcasts there with the executive producers. I haven't listened to them yet. There is also a page where they show what music was selected for each episode.
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post #59 of 236
10/18/08 at 12:35pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

It's not that the show isn't fairly good, but there are so many hours in the day, and I have to pick and choose carefully (with shows like "Mad Men" and "The Wire" and "Lost", it's a cluttered field of excellence). However, if I hear good things about this show later in the season, I may re-visit this one.
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post #60 of 236
10/18/08 at 1:45pm

Re: Life on Mars (US) season 1

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Crawford
After two episodes you might be finish????

I was finished with Knight Rider after one episode. Sometimes you can know pretty quickly.
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