Any fans of 'Life on Mars' here?

It's a really funny and interesting sci-fi cop show on BBC America. The plot is that Sam, a 21st century cop is in an MVA and wakes up to find himself in 1973 - although the plotline tells you he's also still in a coma in 2007. The humor comes in the culture clash between the hard-bitten 70s cops and the culturally evolved Sam. And also the police methods have changed a great deal in the interim. You know how British crime scene cops look like spacemen in white tivek suits nowadays, well the other night the officers were assessing a body lying on the floor, the female officer says, 'Sir, he has a yellow viscous fluid leaking out of his ear". The DCI, Gene Hunt (70's guy), says "Don't worry love, that's just the yolk from my fried egg sandwich" . When Sam wonders if it the crime is a hate crime, Gene remarks, "As opposed to a 'I really really like you type murder?'"
All this to a 70's sound track - and while I was going through the 70s, the music all seemed pretty crap - now it doesn't seem so bad!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/lifeonmars/

he has the best lines of any copper ever!
"Stop you are surrounded by armed bastards!"
I hope Gene gets his own series as that character.

The music great too.

They give him the best lines!

I can't tell her it might be sexual harassment. Gene was brilliant last night I can't even remember most of them because they went by so quickly. I have to watch again tonight (thank you TIVO)-

with Gene in the '80s with a female boss.

I'm sorry to see it end the next couple of weeks.

I love the modern Sam, irascible Gene, God what a pair! :rofl:

Terrific cop show and much better than just about anything on American TV. Plus BBC writers aren't on strike. :silly:

edit: and the side story about integrating the department and having female cops is wonderful too. I can't think of her name now. x(

And I agree about the soundtrack. It really makes the show. They really did some digging to come up with songs we haven't heard in a while that were popular then.

It's one of the most original and entertaining shows I've seen in a long time.

It's that good. The writing is tight, the dialogue is intelligent. And the actors are all perfect for their parts. :D I haven't see that good a matchup between actor and part since MASH.

with John Hannah- I also liked Vincent- What is the holdup on new Dalziel and Pascoe on BBC America anyone know?

You great... soft... sissy... girlie... nancy... French... bender... Man United supporting POOF!

She's as nervous as a very small nun at a penguin shoot.


Sam Tyler: An overweight, over-the-hill, nicotine-stained, borderline-alcoholic homophobe with a superiority complex and an unhealthy obsession with male bonding?

Gene: You make that sound like a bad thing.

What does "a spastic in a magnet factory" mean?

keeping magnets separated?

He lost me on that one too.

So I took it to mean some sort of racial slur, but for the life of me I can not tell what it means.

I missed it.
In Britain a lot of people with cerebral palsy were called spastic - because of their muscle spasticity - and they ended up with the label "Spastics, or spas's" The often wore Forrest Gump style braces - hence a spastc in a magnet factory would be in a difficult position - you might say!
Gene is so un PC it's hilarious.

x

It's an old-fashioned term for cerebral palsy, that was in regular use in the UK until the early 90s. The main CP charity was even called 'The Spastics Society' until about a decade ago. Over time, however, "spastic" became a term of abuse and the word "spaz!" was regularly hurled across playgrounds the way "gay!" is used today. As a result, "spastic" became almost universally pejorative. The Spastics Society caved to pressure in the mid-90s and changed its name to "SCOPE."

CP does not affect the mind. CP sufferers are as likely to be of normal or superior intelligence and emotional well-being as anyone else. Unfortunately, the "visually unappealing" nature of their condition has caused many people to believe they are mentally disabled as well, with disastrous consequences for their education and quality of life.

for the longest time.

I remember "spaz" being a a derogatory nickname even when I was a kid in the late 60s and 70s.

One of my first posts after joing DU back in early '06 was in response to a DUer calling another one a "spaz." When I tried to point out the derogatory nature of the term and how it might be hurtful to some people, I was flamed into a cinder. People even told me I was nuts for equating "spaz" with "spastic" and "spastic" with cerebral palsy. One poster resorted to using Latin etymology to tell me I was an idiot, presumably because of the high degree of Latin fluency among playground bullies.

As an early introduction to DU, it made me question whether this is a truly progressive website. Of course, nearly two years on, I now know it isn't. ;)

x

but I've heard good things. I nearly watched an episode recently... but after this I'll be sure to check it out. :)

almost as much as I love Sean Bean.

And that's saying something.

http://www.mafster.co.uk/space/files/audio/LOM2ManUPuff.mp3


:P

I loves it! :D

So expect it to show up.


I will remember.


:P

:bounce:

:P

I ain't changin my avatar, so good luck with that!

TOP OF THE TABLE! WOO!

:bounce:

One of my favorites

:D

but after that description, I am going to make an effort to watch it.

At that swingers party and Sam's cover was Tony Blair. :rofl:

:rofl: :rofl:

yeah, no body knew who they were then. :D

But yeah it was great.

besides Gene's so very funny unPCness?

The hideous wallpaper in some of these apartments and homes. Good God, why did we ever think any of that was fashionable. :puke:

but I plan to order the DVDs from the UK and watch them on my computer.

For those of you who love Gene and his raunchy humor, I recommend Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe novels. Dalziel (pronounced "De-YELL") is an older working-class cop in Yorkshire with a creatively raunchy sense of humor, and Pascoe is his younger partner, university educated and married to a Marxist.

The books were made into a TV series in the UK, the first year or two of which was shown here on A&E, back when that channel was worth watching. A few months ago, I found an old VCR tape that happened to have a D&P program on it, and I was once again impressed with the high quality of the series, very much like Life on Mars in that respect.

It took forever for D&P to come out on DVD, even in the UK, but once my finances are squared around, I want to order that program, too.

I've reading about for the past year, but I had to get rid of my digital cable (too expensive) and hence, BBCA.

I love the way Brit series play with culture and changing attitudes...



I was a fan of Veronica Mars, though. Sadly it is no more. ;)

I would get lost if I jumped in now.

really depend on each other.

All you really need to know is that Sam, while living in 73-74, periodically gets updates (through his TV and telephone) about how well he's doing in his coma in 2007.

There are still a lot of questions that are unanswered:

Why 73-74? Why not earlier or maybe some point in the future?

Was he really supposed to see or fix something in his past to create a better outcome in the future?

Are all these people he's working with important to him in some way he was unaware of before?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashes_to_Ashes_(TV_series)
http://tinyurl.com/3cf9dh



I saw Glenister on Top Gear without knowing about the show back then

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63HeZAPlbxg

:D

Thanks for that. Hopefully BBCA will pick it up too.

I like the cast. I like Colm Meaney. But man, I think it's going to be a waste of their talents.

I always, always prefer the British original. We water them down way too much.

were shite! It is all about the characters. How in the world do you recreate Jeff Murdoch? Answer you can't. You can give the American character the same lines but without Richard Coyle it isn't funny! How do you try and recreate a series without Ricky Gervais or Martin Freeman?

It's a fascinating, sort of disturbing show. John Simm is fantastic.