Greetings, Superfriends!

First, I wanted to do a little shout-out – tomorrow marks my one year anniversary of being a writer for Spwug!! 

*cue applause and cheering* 

Yup, I’ve been a regular columnist for this web mag for fifty-two weeks!  And I hope they’ve been a better fifty-two than that disappointing series DC put out last year.  I plan to stick around here for awhile, so sit back and enjoy!  Now, as the Monty Pythons like to say, “Get on with it!”

I’ve given myself almost a week to chew on, process, think about, analyze, run through the machine, and about thirty other coined phrases one uses when they need to take time to fully absorb something they’ve consumed through one or multiple sense holes.

Almost a week later and I still feel unsatisfied – disappointed even – by the American “Life on Mars” series finale.

Why exactly?  Despite the swift cancellation before the body even cooled from its first only season, the American “Life” still managed to run one episode longer than the original British version.  And I found the original to be an engaging, well-crafted show.

So, where did the US version go wrong?

First, a brief recap of what both shows were basically about:

Sam Tyler is a police detective (sadly, not one who plays by his own rules) who, while in the middle of an investigation, gets hit by a car and is rendered unconscious.  When he wakes up, he finds that he was somehow transported back to the year 1973.  The show follows him on his attempts to find his way back to the present, while at the same time still serve his duties as a detective amongst the less-than-politically-correct police procedures of the early seventies.

Now, I’ve watched both versions in their entirety, almost at the same time.  I enjoyed both of them for different reasons.  Each version brought unique perspectives to the plot and characters within their respective shows.

I think one of the first immediate differences one will note is that the UK version seems to have teeth.  The original “Mars” had plotlines that really messed with the viewer’s head at the same time that it was messing with Sam’s.  There was a harder edge – from the allowance of more profanity, to the instances of nudity, and even to the point where the show’s darker tone led to an even darker resolution for our protagonist Sam Tyler.

The US version has bite, but it’s more like when a crazy old coot who escaped from the local home convinces himself that you’re his grandson Billy and tries to gum your ankles because he’s looking for the secret recipe to the Colonel’s chicken.  The first ballsy thing the writers tried to do was ensure that their version of the show wasn’t just a carbon copy.  They had it start off similarly enough, but ended up going on a different direction altogether.

This decision, although appearing to be a stroke of genius that would certainly ensure that the US “Life on Mars” would be a surefire hit, would ultimately lead to its whimper of a final curtain call.

Part of the problem with this decision is that they didn’t execute it completely.  While the show did manage to feature episodes that were different in tone, direction and content from the original, they left way too much of the source material in.  This caused a lot of problems, from leaving in clues from the original that pointed viewers to the British ending (and, in essence contradicting their own planted clues that would ultimately lead to the ending they had planned) to episodes that seemed like a Frankenstein’s monster of bits and pieces hastily sewn together.

All of those things I mentioned aren’t even the worst offenses.  The show still managed to keep me on the edge of my seat every Wednesday night.  I kept coming back because I was invested in Sam’s character and his plight.  I was pulling for him to find his way home (unlike another Sam I used to watch who got screwed by NBC).  It was with all that effort I put forth in committing to the show where the final kick in the nuts was delivered:

All that investment was rendered null and void as Sam finally woke up from his cryogenic sleep to realize his trip to 1973 – hell, even his memories as a detective in 2008 – were all a virtual reality simulation designed to keep his brain activity stimulated while he and his crew was on its way to Mars for its first manned exploration mission.

All of emotional turmoil that Sam had endured.  All of the struggles he had to face.  The failures and victories, the conflicts and compromises.  The entire drive behind what made Sam’s character develop, as well as what drove the plot of the show.  All of it didn’t matter at all.

There was no pay off.  No real resolution.  No reward for dealing with all that we had endured with this character we had invested ourselves in.  Sam just woke up, was told his VR program had malfunctioned, shrugged as his real memories came back into focus, and then skipped merrily off to play in some red sand with his fellow detectives from 1973, who just happened to actually be his fellow crewmembers on the Mars mission.

What’s amusing was that the finale aired on April first.  And I thought for sure that this ending was an April Fool’s joke.  It had to be, because the fist in my gut certainly had a punch line to it.

Nope.

That was the ending.  And with that the show is over.  Now, I understand that with the announcement that they were being cancelled the writers had to put an ending on the show, especially since they were being given enough time to.  They even admitted that this ending was where they were going all along (or so they say).  The clues were all there (and they really were, although mixed in with the British clues like I already stated).  But they broke a major rule when it comes to writing – you never ever ever put the hero on his journey and then not have it mean something when he gets to his destination.

Unfortunately, the writers for the US “Life on Mars” didn’t seem to understand that, rushed ending or no.  The British writers did, which is why – although the ending was much darker – their ending fit perfectly with the rest of the story.  It brought the emotional ride Sam took us on to full closure and gave us an intense, sinister reward for our loyalty. 

In the UK ending, DI Sam Tyler took a header off the top of his present day police head quarters so he could return to 1973.  After watching the American finale, I’m inclined to follow him there.

The Don had an accident and woke up in 1973.  Now he needs a change of pants.

Stumble it!

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 6:17 am and is filed under Donnie Sturges, Fandom, Television, WTF?, the future. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.