WTF - Life On Mars finale... by WASHnwear

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WTF - Life On Mars finale...

POSTED BY: WASHNWEAR
UPDATED: Sunday, April 5, 2009 02:19
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VIEWED: 4481
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Thursday, April 2, 2009 7:09 AM

There's a lot of background to the show that I admit I'm not familiar with, so maybe once I do some research things'll make sense. But in the meantime, what's the deal with these folks apparently having been on a space ship the entire time? I figured Tyler would either go back to 2008(9), or stay in 1973 (which I would give some serious consideration to if it meant I could keep hanging out with Gretchen Moll).

I wasn't expecting a 3rd option, and now that I've seen it, I don't think much of it.

The very last bit where Gene Hunt's white loafer touches down on Martian soil was kinda neat, but still...

Anyway, just wondering what some others might have thought about it.

W W R D ?
What would Rorschach do?

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Thursday, April 2, 2009 8:53 AM

BYTEMITE

I kind of think that show jumped the shark the very first episode, sooo... I don't think I'm qualified to give an unbiased response.

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Thursday, April 2, 2009 10:42 AM

CITIZEN

I'm guessing this is the US version, because I don't remember anyone landing on mars in the uk version

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Thursday, April 2, 2009 3:32 PM

PEACEKEEPER

Keeping order in every verse

If the US version has got the cast landing on Mars, then I hope this is an April Fool. If not, then never ever ever ever EVER take one of our decent shows and DARE to F**k it up.!!!!

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Thursday, April 2, 2009 5:04 PM

BGETTER

The show got the axe, and the producers had to quickly rewrite the season finale to be the series finale. The episode definitely suffered because of this...and the ending was so-so.

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Thursday, April 2, 2009 9:01 PM

STOWEAWAY

My husband and I loved the show.
Can't say we loved the ending. But they had to wrap it up prematurely.
Plus, they've been alluding to stuff all along. The tiny "bugs" that Sam kept seeing were little Mars Rover models. They always called him "spaceman".
I'm left wondering what the deal was with his "partner" from 2008, Maya. And his mentor who died, Crabs (?). Where did all that come from?
I think if they had been able to tell the story over a few seasons, the ending would have made more sense.

--------------------------------------------------
Check out http://www.americasfunniesttshirts.com for hilarious shirts at a great price.

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Friday, April 3, 2009 10:43 AM

IMNOTHERE

Quote:
Originally posted by WASHnwear:
The very last bit where Gene Hunt's white loafer touches down on Martian soil was kinda neat, but still...

My computer says that posting was at Thursday, April 02, 2009 07:09.

Please tell me that's British Summer Time and that WASHnwear lives in the west of the USA.

If its not a joke - please watch the UK version of Life On Mars, because its got a much better ending.

(Edit 1: Looks at own post - its BST. Phew!)

(Edit 2: Looks on Wikipedia. Wah! Its True

)

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Friday, April 3, 2009 10:50 AM

GINOBIFFARONI

Against the drain I guess but I rather liked it

Loved the show and the cast, wished it had of stayed on longer

but thought the ending ( rushed admittedly ) tied things up in an unexpected way, but one that sort of made some sense.

Like the show it was very different, and I am glad they when with that rather than a more unimaginative ending.

" They don't hate America, they hate Americans " Homer Simpson

Lets party like its 1939

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Friday, April 3, 2009 10:53 AM

IMNOTHERE

Quote:
Originally posted by Stoweaway:
My husband and I loved the show.
I think if they had been able to tell the story over a few seasons, the ending would have made more sense.

The original UK version managed OK with just two runs of 8 episodes.

The ending is rather different...

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Friday, April 3, 2009 2:09 PM

SIMONWHO

Interestingly, a lot of the UK fans of the original were predicting something as far out as the US ending, including many theories tied to Gene Hunt having a literal tie-in.

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Friday, April 3, 2009 3:59 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

WTF indeed.

I just watched the finale - I had it on my DVR. I've somewhat enjoyed the show - not my favorite, but something different.

That ending kind of made me want to gouge my eyes out. Yes, it tied things up semi-neatly, but still...

Dubya-Tee-Eff.

Mike

Just lying smiling in the dark,
Shooting stars around your heart,
Dreams come bouncing in your head
pure and simple every time.
Now you're crying in your sleep;
I wish you'd never learnt to weep.
Don't sell the dreams you should be keeping
pure and simple every time.
"Pure", by Lightning Seeds

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Friday, April 3, 2009 6:55 PM

PEACEKEEPER

Keeping order in every verse

This series was conceived to portray life and police attitudes in 1970's Manchester in the north of England. I dont see how it would have translated to an American audience at all.It was a gritty UK show exploring the dilemma between old school rough tactic policing and modern political correctness. What the hell has being on Mars got to do with it.The Life on Mars title was a reference to the Bowie hit of the same name recorded in the 70's. It lasted two series spanning 16 episodes and was a national tv hit. Im annoyed that it has obviously been ballsed up.

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Friday, April 3, 2009 7:22 PM

HOPERULES

WTF - INDEED. Very disappointing. There is nothing like getting involved in the mysteries and choices characters face only to find out the whole thing is fake. UGH!!!!!!!!!!

May have been on the losing side, still not convinced it was the wrong one.

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Saturday, April 4, 2009 12:02 AM

IMNOTHERE

Quote:
Originally posted by peacekeeper:
It was a gritty UK show exploring the dilemma between old school rough tactic policing and modern political correctness.

Also, though, the UK version managed to blend that central theme with humour, 70s nostalgia, a mystery/metaphysical element (nicely tied into Sam's basic good cop/bad cop dilemma) and a gratuitous excuse to make a retro cop show reliving The Sweeny or The Professionals.

Of course, those "cultural references" (Test Card 'F', Watneys Party 7s, Camberwick Green, "I'm 'avin 'oops!") wouldn't travel very well. Does the USA even have the Great White Dog Shit Mystery?

Plus, of course, the UK experienced a major shock in the 80s when a series of major miscarriages of justice came to light (alluded to in the show), which cast the Gene Hunts of this world in a very bad light. While I'm sure the central dilemma translates fine to the USA, perhaps there isn't such a clear watershed between then and now.

Its not that the UK ending didn't have a distinct "WTF?" element to it, either - its just that it was deliberately ambiguous and bittersweet whereas it sounds like the USA version tried to do a happy ending which explained everything - but the audience are still, like, "wuh?".

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Saturday, April 4, 2009 1:23 AM

KWICKO

Quote:
Originally posted by peacekeeper:
This series was conceived to portray life and police attitudes in 1970's Manchester in the north of England. I dont see how it would have translated to an American audience at all.It was a gritty UK show exploring the dilemma between old school rough tactic policing and modern political correctness. What the hell has being on Mars got to do with it.The Life on Mars title was a reference to the Bowie hit of the same name recorded in the 70's. It lasted two series spanning 16 episodes and was a national tv hit. Im annoyed that it has obviously been ballsed up.

Actually, all that stuff was in there as well. The period music was one of the highlights of the show. Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli (Christopher from The Sopranos) were the "old guard" cops, bashing heads and breaking hands to get what they wanted.

The Bowie song WAS an integral feature in more ways than one. There were several times when lines from the show would get tossed into dialog. "Hey, it's the freakiest show, huh?" or "Look at those cavemen go...", "look at the lawmen, beating up the wrong guy" and so on.

There was so much potential to the show, yet somehow they managed to really screw it all up in the last ten minutes.

I guess, in their defense, I can say I didn't see THAT coming!

Mike

Just lying smiling in the dark,
Shooting stars around your heart,
Dreams come bouncing in your head
pure and simple every time.
Now you're crying in your sleep;
I wish you'd never learnt to weep.
Don't sell the dreams you should be keeping
pure and simple every time.
"Pure", by Lightning Seeds

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Sunday, April 5, 2009 2:19 AM

RIPWASH

I had about 6 episodes to go on my DVR. It was over, so I thought I'd save 'em for later. But after reading this thread I decided to skip to the end. I get a little frustrated because I heard about the ending of the UK version and thought it was kind of neat. That it was a world his mind had created and that he wanted to get back to after waking up from a coma. I get the feeling the way the US writers decided to wrap things up was the "American Way" that the rest of the world gets so frustrated with us about. The same reason the first book of Harry Potter was changed to "The Sorcerer's Stone" instead of "The Philosopher's Stone" because us Americans just wouldn't be able to understand.

I felt that the US ending was a cop-out. An Americanized version that was meant to play to the dumbed down crowd. It was interesting and had it's twists and turns, yes. But really, why allude to Gene Hunt at the very end by showing HIS foot stepping on Mars?

Kind of a disappointment after reading that the UK version's ending was voted as the BEST ending of a sci-fi show. *sigh* Ah well. On to other shows and hope they don't get canceled...

Zoe: "Get it running again."
Mal: "Yeah"
Zoe: "So not running now"
Mal: "Not so much"
- Out of Gas

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