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Post by fenris on Mar 24, 2007 15:01:03 GMT
I'm enjoying the second season of Life on Mars - top notch writing, marvelous acting from the entire cast - but I've noticed that it's practically become an 'Issue of the Week'-type series. Most of the last few episodes could be given Friends-style titles: the one about racism, the one about anti-Irish prejudice, the one about sexism, etc. I'm aware that the contrast between the blinkered 1970s and the health-and-safety conscious, PC-dominated 21st century is one of the show's major themes, but it's become a bit too blatant, dictating the direction of the storylines instead of emerging naturally out of them.
The fantasy elements also appear to have been toned down slightly, perhaps to ensure that the mainstream audience that the show gained with it's first season are kept safely on board. Five episodes in, and only one brief appearance by the Test Card Girl? I want to see more of the scary little brat tormenting Sam while insisting in her sing-song voice that she's his only friend. And wouldn't it up the creepiness factor if her doll suddenly turned and looked at Sam as well?
Life on Mars is still the best thing on TV at the moment, but it's becoming increasingly clear that the series' central concept has a definite build-in shelf life, and the decision to end the show with this current season was undoubtedly the correct one.
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Post by DreamDangerously on Mar 24, 2007 20:41:08 GMT
I thought this week's episode was nicely done actually, with Sam out of action for most of it due to the medication overdose. It had a nice sickly feel to most of it and the TV screen insights were all a bit David Lynch.
I don't think they're forcing the issues any more than they did in the first series where they dealt with things like police corruption, football hooliganism and the like.
I can't say I've felt any big difference between series one and two. I kind of like that sometimes it doesn't have to be all wierd and woozy because you get comfortable with Sam in the 70's and then they do something small to throw you off.
I thought the Irish episode was pretty timely actually.
To be honest I would take 10 more episodes of Life on Mars than one more episode of some of the utter crap that's been on the telly recently.
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Post by orokiah on Mar 26, 2007 19:50:52 GMT
There's definitely an 'issue of the week' feeling to Life On Mars but much as I dislike excessive PC-ness I don't think it's too heavy handed. The show has always been issue-led; I think it just stands out more now that the issues being dealt with are weightier ones such as racism and Irish politics. Not to say issues like football hooliganism and police corruption aren't important, but generally speaking they're much less emotive. It's a great show though. I'm just hoping the final episode isn't going to be a huge anti-climax. The makers keep talking in interviews about how they want to subvert what people think the show is about, and I'm really hoping they don't go too far with it. Lines like 'God is in the details' make me think there's going to be some mystical connotation to it and I'm a bit unsure about how that might fit. Personally I'd be perfectly content with nothing more fantastical than Sam waking up from what was just an incredibly detailed coma. Maybe with Gene Hunt sitting in the next bed telling the nurse it's nearly dinner time and he wants his hoops.  |
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Post by DreamDangerously on Mar 26, 2007 20:02:00 GMT
Personally I'd be perfectly content with nothing more fantastical than Sam waking up from what was just an incredibly detailed coma. Maybe with Gene Hunt sitting in the next bed telling the nurse it's nearly dinner time and he wants his hoops. haha! yeah I could live with that too!  |
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Post by fenris on Mar 28, 2007 19:45:08 GMT
There's definitely an 'issue of the week' feeling to Life On Mars but much as I dislike excessive PC-ness I don't think it's too heavy handed. The show has always been issue-led; I think it just stands out more now that the issues being dealt with are weightier ones such as racism and Irish politics. Not to say issues like football hooliganism and police corruption aren't important, but generally speaking they're much less emotive. Valid points. The first series did noticably (and understandably) shy away from especially sensitive issues such as racism, but with the show a proven hit - and the second season being the last - the scriptwriters now feel brave enough to tackle them. However, I still stand by my assessment that most of the episodes this season have become too issue-led. In the first season it seemed that the writers would come up with a good story, then decide which particular social issue was best fitted to be interjected into the plotline. This season however, I keep getting the impression that they are first deciding which issue they want to address, then making up a story to fit around it. Nothing wrong with that, but in my opinion it's made the structure of the show become less organic and more mechanical Personally I hope that the final episode of Life On Mars isn't like the series finale of Star Trek: Voyager, ending within a couple of minutes of Sam returning to 2006 (assuming he does). I'd like to see at least half an episode of Sam re-adjusting to the present and trying to find out if Gene, Annie, etc, all really existed. |
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Post by orokiah on Mar 28, 2007 20:59:06 GMT
Personally I hope that the final episode of Life On Mars isn't like the series finale of Star Trek: Voyager, ending within a couple of minutes of Sam returning to 2006 (assuming he does). I'd like to see at least half an episode of Sam re-adjusting to the present and trying to find out if Gene, Annie, etc, all really existed. Agreed, having had two seasons to get acclimatised to the 70s I'd be a little disappointed if Sam opened his eyes, found out he was back and then bam, end credits. I'd like to see at least some kind of reaction to him being back in 2006 (would he be disappointed or just plain thrilled to leave the 70s behind him?) and ideally some interaction with the present day versions of Gene Hunt and Annie. If there are any... That Voyager finale was such an anti-climax.  |
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Post by fenris on Apr 3, 2007 21:45:01 GMT
Watched a little piece of TV history last night on Channel 4, as Kerry Weaver emptied her locker and walked out of the hospital for the last time on ER.
Having become a regular cast-member at the beginning of the show's second season, Weaver (played by Laura Innes) was ER's longest serving character. Noah Wyle - who played Dr. John Carter and left the series in 2006 - actually appeared in more episodes (249 compared to Innes' 244) but Weaver was in the show for a longer period of time.
I've always liked Weaver, and I'm going to miss the gorgeous redhead.
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Post by Azazeal Lover on Apr 8, 2007 19:46:42 GMT
I started watching this new tv series call Blood Ties, It taken from the books written by Tanya Huff... About this Female Cop And a Vampire Call Henry Fitzroy...here a little something about it below,
it's not to bad i quite like it...
Vicki Nelson
Cop turned private investigator Vicki Nelson has the not-so-easy task of solving supernatural cases with the help of her sexy preternatural partner, Henry, and her assistant, Coreen.
Henry Fitzroy
Henry Fitzroy, a 450-year-old vampire and the son of Henry VIII, lives among humans as a graphic novelist but as a sideline teams up with Vicki to investigate the unexplainable.
Based on the novels by Tanya Huff, this show revolves around PI Vicki Nelson - formerly a detective with the Metropolitan Toronto Police. She was losing her sight, but quit the force rather than accept a desk job. However, her last case turns out to be a doozy, involving vampires and the supernatural. She decides to team up with a vampire named Henry and ex-lover Mike Celluci to battle the forces of evil both normal and paranormal.
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Post by fenris on Apr 11, 2007 21:34:42 GMT
Well, the last ever episode of Life on Mars was shown last night, and today the various TV/sci-fi forums are full of various differing (and sometimes contradictory) theories about where Sam actually was, what really happened during the last ten minutes, and what precisely was his final fate?
My own interpretation, based on the old saying that everybody creates their own Heaven and their own Hell, is that when Sam was knocked down by the car in the very first episode, he went into a coma: the closest to death you can get without actually dying. His mind promptly retreated to the place where he'd felt happiest - his childhood in 1973, when his parents were still together and before his father walked out.
In the final episode Sam wakes from the coma, finds life in 2006 empty and meaningless, and ultimately commits suicide. As he dies, his mind returns to '1973' which becomes his personal Heaven/afterlife.*
However, here's something that's occurred to me, that nobody else on the various forums appears to have touched upon - is it possible that Annie was dead all along, and actually a spirit?
Consider: throughout the first series, Sam was plagued by childhood memories of seeing a woman in red being attacked in the woods. We eventually learnt that this was his father attacking Annie, and Sam intervened. It was strongly implied that if Sam hadn't interfered, Annie would have died.
However, we now know that Sam never actually travelled back in time to 1973. Therefore, assuming his childhood memories were genuine (and we've no reason to believe they weren't) this means that as there was nobody there to prevent it, Sam's father really did murder Annie.
Working on the same principle that everyone's Heaven is a recreation of the period of their life when they were happiest, then 1973 probably would have Annie's Heaven/afterlife as well. It was when she was serving the community as a WPC, proudly doing a job that she loved. Gene, Ray, and the other members of the squad would just be recreations of people she'd worked with, based on her memories of them.
Now, suppose that by witnessing her murder when he was a little boy (his first experience of death) Sam was somehow linked to Annie, and as Manchester circa 1973 was Heaven for both of them, a comatose Sam's consciousness entered Annie's afterlife?
Sam's presence then caused the events leading up to Annie's death to repeat themselves, but this time with a different outcome - this is Heaven, after all, and Annie can hardly die twice.
This would also explain why Sam and Annie were naturally drawn to each other: they're the only 'real' people in their shared Heaven, surrounded by recreations of people that Annie (and increasingly, Sam) knew while alive.
I think this makes the ending of the series even happier: Sam and Annie, two time-lost souls, finally ending up together. It also gives Annie's final words ("Stay with me. Here. Forever.") a more significant meaning.
* Alternately, there is no actual afterlife as such, and when Sam dies everything in '1973' ceases to exist - as hinted at by the Test Card Girl switching off reality.
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Post by fenris on Apr 14, 2007 15:39:48 GMT
Watched the first episode of the new BBC2 sitcom Roman's Empire last Thursday (12/04/07). It's about an eccentric, controlling, and over-familiar business tycoon (a rare comic role for the wonderfully talented character actor Neil Dudgeon) and his extremely disfunctional family. Other cast members include comedy veteran Carla Mendonca, Chris O'Dowd from The I.T. Crowd, and Montserrat Lombard (a particular favourite of mine - she would have fitted perfectly into Hex if there'd been a third season).
I think Roman's Empire is going to be like televised Marmite, a 'love-it-or-hate-it'-type series, with no middle ground. Personally, I like what I've seen so far. It's not especially funny, but it's enjoyably quirky, and I believe it'll be a grower.
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Post by orokiah on Apr 15, 2007 15:53:04 GMT
So Life On Mars is over  - anyone got any thoughts on the sequel, Ashes To Ashes? DCI Gene Hunt rolls up his sleeves and embraces the EightiesI'm sort of sceptical about the concept at the moment. Miami Vice meets Moonlighting. O-kay... On the bright side, Gene Hunt will live on, even if he is only a figment of Sam's imagination, which I'm a bit sad about actually. I was waiting for Sam to go down to the basement and CHECK THE FILES to find out if Gene was real or not, but he didn't, and he wasn't. Oh well. Probably better to leave him in his prime than have grumpier than ever present-day Gene showing up, I suppose - harder to set up the spin off that way too - but it would have been great if he had. The final episode wasn't at all what I was expecting, but I loved it. Somehow managed to be both desperately sad (abandoning Real Life in favour of a fantasy played out inside your own head?) and tremendously uplifting, all at the same time. Sam driving off at the end and the creepy Test Card Girl reappearing to switch off the screen were fantastic, classic-making moments. |
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Post by fenris on Jun 17, 2007 19:24:38 GMT
I've never really been a fan of the Jekyll and Hyde story, or the whole concept of 'the beast within', but I thought I'd give the new BBC1 series Jekyll a chance, simply because Steven Moffat is an excellent writer (to be honest, if anybody else had written it, I wouldn't have bothered).
My thoughts after watching the first episode? Mixed. It's got a good script (of course), decent acting, some promising ideas, and intriguing/quirky characters - especially the lesbian detective duo and Michelle Ryan's personal assistant. And yet... something's missing. That undefinable extra quality, that special ingredient that's required to make this series truly compelling, instead of merely watchable.
That said, I don't want to judge it too harshly on the basis of one episode (and first episodes are always difficult anyway). Jekyll is interesting enough for me to keep watching for another couple of weeks at least. I'll see if it improves.
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Post by DreamDangerously on Jun 17, 2007 20:40:45 GMT
I agree with you, there was something just a bit flat about the whole thing...a bit too...contrived and clinical.
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Post by Jimjamz on Jun 25, 2007 20:17:45 GMT
Has anyone been watching 'Time of your life' on ITV? Theres a bit of a mini Hex reunion going on, Jemima Rooper, Anna Wilson-Jones and Geraldine James are all main characters. It's funny how the same actors always seem to end up together ;D
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Post by kittygobonkers on Jul 4, 2007 18:12:55 GMT
I'm obsessed with Heros at the moment...its has me on the edge of my seat every damn week  Oh and Supernatural...last episode of the series on thursday, thats gonna leave a big void in my life LOL  |
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