UK Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes

[James Tiberius Kirk]

After devotedly watching the US version of Life on Mars up till it's unfortunate demise, and being rather dissatisfied with its ending, I decided to give the British version, which I'd heard good things about, a whirl. After blazing through 16 hours of TV in two days, i must say I was rather impressed, especially with the ending, which I found to be infinitely superior to the US ending. It was really quite a different show, and Philip Glenister as Gene Hunt is just a brilliant role with so many great quotable lines.

I also watched Ashes to Ashes, the spinoff, and liked it a bit, even if I do think they kind of glossed over the entire story of Sam Tyler a bit in the beginning; I'm anticipating the second series and hope it'll be good, and maybe answer some questions. So, what are everyone here's thoughts on these two series; anyone else see the British Life on Mars after the American, like it better, worse? I enjoyed them both thoroughly, but I'm really quite intrigued by the ongoing continuity of the British series, and the ambiguity over the actual existence of the characters and situation.

 

[Kelso]

I love both Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes.


The American version have promise, but never developed into anything more than a pale imitation. I'm not usually one of those "the original is always better!"people... but in this instance it genuinely was.

 

[firehawk12]

One thing I prefer is that the US version did the "science fiction episode of the week" thing much better. In the UK series, it's clear when you're watching THE RACISM EPISODE or THE SEXISM EPISODE or THE IRISH ARE PEOPLE TOO episode.

I was mostly excited about the premise of Ashes to Ashes, because it is essentially the anti-Sam character - a person who knows exactly what's going on and who wants to return to the real world... but I think they pushed that to the background and focused more on her screwed up childhood instead. Which in itself is fine, but I just prefer the former angle more.

Of course, the trivial thing is that I hate the main character's hair for some reason. God the 80s were stupid.

 

[Deckerd]

And her clothes. The whole first season she was dressed like a tart. At least in the trailer for the new season she's wearing clothes that actually look as though they stay on.

 

[Pindar]

Ashes to Ashes Series 2 starts next week doesn't it?

 

[Pingfah]

One thing I prefer is that the US version did the "science fiction episode of the week" thing much better. In the UK series, it's clear when you're watching THE RACISM EPISODE or THE SEXISM EPISODE or THE IRISH ARE PEOPLE TOO episode.

See, this I thought was one of the show's great strengths. It did a fantastic job of portraying the prevailing social and cultural attitudes of 70s Britain. It might seem like it was a racism or sexism episode, but the change from those attitudes the the ones that are more prevelant today is THE story of the last 30 years, it's central to our development as a country. Much more interesting than the boring sci-fi story of the week approach that the US version took.

The UK show was barely even a sci-fi show, that was just a contrivance to tell the fish out of water story of a modern cop stuck in a time that doesn't understand him or his attitudes. I think personally that the US show fundamentally misinterpreted the very essence of the show, and suffered badly for it.

 

[Deckerd]

Yes [to Pindar] damn you Pingo.

 

[firehawk12]

One thing I prefer is that the US version did the "science fiction episode of the week" thing much better. In the UK series, it's clear when you're watching THE RACISM EPISODE or THE SEXISM EPISODE or THE IRISH ARE PEOPLE TOO episode.

See, this I thought was one of the show's great strengths. It did a fantastic job of portraying the prevailing social and cultural attitudes of 70s Britain. It might seem like it was a racism or sexism episode, but the change from those attitudes the the ones that are more prevelant today is THE story of the last 30 years, it's central to our development as a country. Much more interesting than the boring sci-fi story of the week approach that the US version took.

The UK show was barely even a sci-fi show, that was just a contrivance to tell the fish out of water story of a modern cop stuck in a time that doesn't understand him or his attitudes. I think personally that the US show fundamentally misinterpreted the very essence of the show, and suffered badly for it.

See, I preferred that the sexism that Ray directs toward Annie in the US series was spread over the course of the show... as opposed to devoting a single episode about sexism in the UK series.

I find it interesting that you see the US series the way that I saw the UK series though. I'm not saying that the UK show was a SF show, I'm saying that it was scripted like the typical SF show with a message every week that's supposed to make us feel better about ourselves for being enlightened.

I mean, I was glad that Sam didn't keep making references to 9/11 (THERE'S AN EVENT THAT'S GOING TO LITERALLY CHANGE THE LANDSCAPE OF OUR CITY AND IT ALL STARTS WITH OUR PETTY HATRED OF EACH OTHER'S DIFFERENCES!!!!!!!!). I find that type of storytelling insufferable and I'm sort of glad that they didn't have a "Muslim of the week" episode that most American shows in the same ilk would try to do.

Most of it is probably due to the fact that it has the preaching to the choir mentality. The fact that both Hunts are supposed to end up being likeable Archie Bunker characters makes the messages of the episodes seem almost pointless.

I can't remember if there was a "Queer" episode in the UK series, but in the US one they had the episode with the two gay Vietnam vets and Hunt ends up with that awkward balancing act of both being homophobic but also wanting justice. That doesn't really do anything for me because ultimately the lesson really isn't learned. It's okay to hate gays, as long as you keep quiet about it?

I was just glad that the US series mostly toned down that stuff and focused more on character development. I mean, I compare the black panther episode in the US series to the South Asian episode in the UK series and I just preferred how the issue of race was handled in the US series. They were able to touch on race and sex without making it a message episode, whereas in the UK version of the episode you have Hunt being racist, which is supposed to be bad, while somehow maintaining his likability which I think is even worse.

I definitely think that the UK series handled the "meta" story better than the US series, but in terms of the actual individual episodes I prefer the execution in the US series.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

To me it seemed like there was a fair bit or racism and sexism, and just overall bigotry in every episode of Life on Mars, they may have had episodes that dealt directly with those things, but that didn't mean they ignored it in the other episodes. The football hooligan episode is the one that sticks out in my mind as a particularly good one that had a specific message but wasn't bogged down in it.

I'm currently watching series 1 of Ashes to Ashes again... One thing that seems to be sticking out, it may be deliberate "Empowered Woman" stuff to clash with Gene and the gangs sexism, but, as Deckerd says, Alex is a bit of a tart, at least for the first few episodes, and honestly she's not a very sympathetic character. I enjoy the show, but it's a little too self knowning at times.

 

[Angel4576]

Liked the US version, but the original is far superior overall.

 

[firehawk12]

To me it seemed like there was a fair bit or racism and sexism, and just overall bigotry in every episode of Life on Mars, they may have had episodes that dealt directly with those things, but that didn't mean they ignored it in the other episodes. The football hooligan episode is the one that sticks out in my mind as a particularly good one that had a specific message but wasn't bogged down in it.

I'm currently watching series 1 of Ashes to Ashes again... One thing that seems to be sticking out, it may be deliberate "Empowered Woman" stuff to clash with Gene and the gangs sexism, but, as Deckerd says, Alex is a bit of a tart, at least for the first few episodes, and honestly she's not a very sympathetic character. I enjoy the show, but it's a little too self knowning at times.

Oh yeah, it was found throughout the series as well, but they just directed episodes toward specific issues in a fairly blatant manner.

 

[James Tiberius Kirk]

You know, I never really noticed the whole "issue episode" angle before, but now that you mention it, yeah, there did seem like there was a tendency to go there sometimes; I think in general I liked the episodes that didn't quite go that route.