Save the Green Planet Save the Green Planet
Jul
20
2006

Life on Mars Review

Posted by Peter Martin at 3:44pm.

Posted in Film & DVD Reviews , Thriller, Action, UK, Ireland, Australia & New Zealand.

lifeonmars.jpeg

“My name is Sam Tyler. I had an accident, and I woke up in 1973. Am I mad, in a coma, or back in time? Whatever’s happened, it’s like I’ve landed on a different planet. Now maybe if I can work out the reason, I can get home.”

The set-up is intriguing, but what initially pulls you into Life on Mars is its setting: a police precinct in working-class Manchester, England, circa 1973.

Detective Inspector Sam Tyler (John Simm) is slapped in the face by his new “reality.” Suddenly he has to deal with a squad full of smoking, drinking, brawling, sexist, racist, homophobic cops who’d rather solve crimes with their fists than their brains. Tyler is tough, sure, but his harder edges have been softened by education, training, and 21st Century sensitivities. His new squadmates might as well be Neanderthals.

More after the jump, but before we go further, here are three relevant links:
Amazon.co.uk - DVD
BBC America - begins airing July 24
Earlier post by logboy

As with any crackling good entertainment, the merits of the show go far beyond its alternately fascinating and repellant milieu. Each episode features a crime that is never what it appears to be, and requires Sam’s unique (for the era) investigative abilities to resolve.

Not every episode hits the mark—I felt Episode 5 was a bit wobbly, and Episode 6 was routine and predictable—but even then, the show has something sociological to say about the gap between the decades. The series roars to a harrowing conclusion in Episodes 7 and 8.

Though Sam’s boss, Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), is tough as nails, his main interest lies in getting criminals off the street. He’s willing to give Sam enough rope to hang himself, but when Sam’s methods begin to get results, he’s smart enough to recognize the other man’s competence. Still, his first instinct is to trust in his gut.

Sam’s other ally is WPC Annie Cartwright (Liz White), whose romantic attraction soon morphs into friendly concern for his sanity. She’s learned to deal with the casual sexism of the day, but that doesn’t mean she likes it. As much as anything, she seems to be drawn to Sam because he respects her without expecting anything much in return.

Lining up against Sam is Detective Sergeant Ray Carling (Dean Andrews), a sort of junior-sized version of DCI Hunt, but lacking the older man’s thinking ability. He’s the most resistent to change, and the most mocking of Sam’s sensitivities.

Finally, somewhere in the mushy middle is young Detective Constable Chris Skelton (Marshall Lancaster). Rather weak-willed and always snacking, he gets in the way more than he helps.

Hovering over the the series is the spectre of Sam himself. For a man in a coma, his “dream world” is far richer and more detailed than one would expect. Yet the details of the crimes he investigates seem to dovetail with memories of his childhood. And Sam hears voices that only he can hear on television, radio, disconnected telephones…

After watching all eight episodes in two sittings, I felt thoroughly immersed in the universe (created by Matthew Graham, Tony Jordan, and Ashley Pharaoh) and was left a bit dazed by its near brilliance. Bristling with intelligence, a righteous sense of justice, a brawling sense of humor, and just a touch of surrealism, Life on Mars is not to be missed.

The lovely Region 2 DVD box set features two episodes per disc with copious extras, including audio commentaries on every episode and several features. (Picture and sound were very good. English subtitles come in handy for picking up some of the dialogue.) US viewers can catch the show via BBC America beginning on Monday, July 24.

  • Digg This
  • Stumble It!
  • Reddit
 

Reader Comments

  1. Maya 07/20/2006 @ 5:51pm

    You’ve got me intrigued!! I’m going to have to track this down or will the Sci Fi Channel be picking it up do you think?

  2. Peter Martin 07/20/2006 @ 8:40pm

    No, looks like BBC America has Series 1 locked up for the US. BBC America seems to be commonly available for Digital Cable subscribers, but perhaps not everywhere.

    They’re gearing up for Series 2, to begin filming soon. Speaking of Sci Fi Channel, here’s a nice interview they did with two of the stars of the series:

    Sci Fi Channel interview

  3. crazybee 07/20/2006 @ 8:43pm

    I’ve got this coming to me. Anything produced by the folks behind Hustle (one of my absolute favorites) is bound to be a keeper.

  4. Peter Martin 07/20/2006 @ 9:09pm

    I’ve been slow on the upswing with British TV shows, but I’ve seeen a couple of episodes of Hustle, which were very good and made me want to see more. The production company, Kudos, also was responsible for Spooks (AKA MI-5).

  5. Danothebaldyheid 07/21/2006 @ 5:50am

    This is excellent, I can assure those who haven’t seen it. The difficulty for a second series will be keeping the mystery without stretching the premise a bit thin. Having said that - they say they are going to finish it at the end of the second series; why can’t good British series keep going over a longer period? American shows manage to keep things interesting (House, Arrested Development, even Lost) over 30 or 40 episodes, why do good british shows all get killed just as they’re getting going (Green Wing, Life on Mars etc,) while Casualty and Heartbeat live on forever?!

  6. logboy 07/21/2006 @ 6:17am

    theres no easy answer to why some shows keep going and others stop - traditionally, its comedy that stops soonest, but it doesnt always… from the examples you gave, the shows which run and run are almost deemed as ‘comfort for the dying’ : the kind of TV only those in really old age watch, reminds them of their youth, remains the same year after year as though life runs on eternally. its one of the greta mysteries of british TV, how long something will last, and oddly things dont tend to outstay their welcome that long.

  7. Mark Evans 01/29/2007 @ 1:24am

    “Life on Mars” is currently being shown on Swedish national tv. I have sat through the first three episodes and find the premise captivating, the anachronisms subtley played and the presentation and “feel” of the early seventies spot-on. (I was 15 in 1973).

    This is superb tv. Like a cross between rough and ready british cop shows of the time interwoven over a narrative web of a story reminicent of Dennis Potter’s work.

    Not since Potter’s “The Singing Detective”, have I seen a series working on several layers at once. So well crafted and with such wonderful pacing and delicious dark humour.

    Top notch!

  8. Fun boy 03/30/2007 @ 9:48pm

    Does anyone know if Life on Mars season 2 is being picked up on BBC America?

  9. And? 04/11/2007 @ 1:20am

    just watched last episode, incase you haven’t...no I’m not telling.

    Being a fan of The Sweeny and the twilight zone This show was something I couldn’t miss, Every tuesday, a beer, a curry or chilli and Sam Tyler. Rumours of a sequel sound promising as TV has no little to offer as imaginative, funny and scarey as this. Apart from Dr who. Oh Gene Hunt is excellent in 90’s Football Terrace Terrorists Drama I.D.

    Apparently USA have bought rights to Life on Mars if it’s anything like The Movie version of the singing detective or that recent Wickerman silliness,UK rarely remake USA classics so USA should do the same, I can’t wait til Nicholas Cage does On the Buses, I won’t be watching.

    If Dennis Potter had written Life On Mars , we would seen Annie in a Bath whilst Sam struggled with his desire to Hyde his Labido dressed as a randy but sensitive postman lip syncing “ Telegram Sam” passed her a suggestive looking Loofa

  10. sasha monrego 04/11/2007 @ 2:18am

    Life on Mars has now finished with a BRILLIANT ending. It gets you thinking. My theory is:

    Sam Tyler had an accident in the 2000’s and woke up in 1973 -he was in a coma- when he saw the light under the tunnel, he moved towards it and woke up from his coma, he was back in 2007. His mind was still in the coma- with the people in the tunnel- but his body was in 2007. He couldn’t feel it when he’d cut himself, as he was ‘dead’ in the mind, because his mind was somewhere else. He committed suicide and went back to 1973. You know he committed suicide because on the radio, that only he could hear, was a report saying: Sam Tyler committed suicide today by jumping of a building.

    Now, I could have got this wrong, so please- any more comments ??

  11. Noel 04/13/2007 @ 1:42pm

    What superb series this has been. The ending was simply mind blowing worthy of Mr Bowies imagination himself. This could have been a messs of a series but its been thoughtful, comic, life endearing, who would have thought suicide could be played as a postive value. To be honest i really can not see it translating/transporting to an American setting. It’s a bit like The US version of The Office , we all thought it was shit here in the UK i.e the US version. The song LOM is hugley significant and it will be lost in translation in the USA as most Americans dont evem know who Bowie is never mind his song. LOM was a huge hit for Bowie in the UK.

  12. sam 04/16/2007 @ 4:04pm

    hay i saw in the paper that ther making a life n mars game? do u av n e more info on the game

  13. Dave Brock 05/08/2007 @ 9:04am

    *** HERE THERE BE SPOILERS***

    -------

    This was NOT the ending we all wanted AT ALL.

    The ending we all wanted (admit it, if you cared about the characters) was that Sam HAD gone back in time and that everything was real, and that he was indeed changing the future for the better.

    Sam in 2006 simply vanished...Officer missing, because he HAD physically moved back into 1973.

    The ‘coma’ stuff should have been explained as all in his head because he had made it up in the hope that he had a way back.

    But in the end...he did not want to go back.

    -------

    THAT is the ending we all hoped for.

    The best conclusion would be for him to have the chance to go back but decide to stay as he had more here to live for.

    -------

    The ending as was was simply stupid and bleak.

    If he jumped off such a high building he would be dead...So his 1973 at the end simply the last mad, all made up, nothing was ever real, moments of delusion of a man about to be splattered all over the road after comitting suicide?

    Nice! NOT!

    Or are we saying that 1973 was his ‘aferlife’? If so, that certainly came out of nowhere and is not remotely satisfying as it’s never explained anyway.

    So we are really left with everything being false (which destroys the characters JUST LIKE ANNIE SAID IT WOULD in series 1), Sam being a demented suicide and MASSIVE plot holes!!

    As 1973 was all in his head it meant that his girlfriend did die and that he never caught the killer or changed anything for the better at all.

    So how did his girlfriend ‘appear’ at his hospital bed? Or did she somehow just escape the killer but we were never shown it?

    I GET all the ‘sometimes the fantasy is more real than reality’, I GET all the ‘Sam can’t feel alive in 2006 so he goes back to 1973 where he started to really feel’...I GET IT. All very nice. All very sweet. All very profound.

    BUT NONE of that changes any of what I said above.

    -------

    The end of “Life on Mars” made all our well loved characters, all their lives, passions, quirks, all their cases and successes, all their relationships with each other utterly false and made up and gave us a Sam Tyler who turned out to be a depressed, suicidal delusionist who plummeted to the ground to his death simply to spend a few seconds with a bunch of illusions!

    What was the point of giving a damn about any of them then?

    After all the wonderful scenes with Annie as she fought with Sam to see how hurtful it was to say that they were all fantasy figures...after all the growing love between them, after all the bonding and forming of unlikely partnerships we then had it all spat back in our faces as simply things that never happened involving characters we had come to like who actually never even existed or had any kind of lives at all.

    BAD BAD BAD ending!
    -----

Post Your Comments

You must be a registered member to post comments.

If you have a Twitch account, click here to sign in.

If you don't have a Twitch account, click here to register. Don't worry, it's free!

Launch The Twitch Video Player

Stuff We Like

Shop at our affiliated sites and support Twitch while feeding your pop-culture addiction.

Our Latest Film & DVD Reviews

More Film & DVD Reviews...

Our Latest Interviews

More Interviews...

Recent Contests & Featured Content

Recent Comments