The Age of the Ring (Lord of the Rings) Forum
Off Topic Section => Hobbies, Pastimes, Sports, & Leisure => Stage and Screen => Topic started by: Athelas on March 16, 2009, 08:05:51 AM
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One of my favorite TV shows this season is "Life on Mars", in which a New York City cop in 2008 is hit by a car, seriously injured, and wakes up in 1973. The show is about him solving crimes like any cop would, but with the mind of someone who trained in the future. He also gets little hints from time to time about why he's in 1973, but has not yet figured it out.
I understand that this show is based on a similar British one. Would anyone care to enlighten me on that?
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Life on Mars was set in and around Manchester in 1973. They did only two series but that was just right for the progression of the story. click (http://www.bbc.co.uk/lifeonmars/)
A second shoe call Ashes to Ashes was set in London in 1981. We await the second series later this year. click (http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/ashestoashes/)
BBC America showed life on Mars and is currently showing Ashes to Ashes
BBC America (http://www.bbcamerica.com/)
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The last episode of Life on Mars is supposed to be tonight (I'm recording it), so I'm not going to read all about your completed version- I'd rather be surprised. Thanks for the link,though - I wonder if we'll be seeing Ashes to Ashes next!
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no definitely don't read about the last episode of series 2.
*goes off to check BBC America*
On Sat 28th March they will be showing episodes 3 and 4 of Ashes to Ashes at 8/9pm
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In the US version, Sam Tyler is played by Irish actor Jason O'Mara, who certainly sounds American to me! (So does Hugh Laurie in House.) Well, except for the time he went undercover to infiltrate an Irish gang - then he sounded Irish!
We also have a show here, called "Chuck", where the lead actress is Australian but maintains an American accent (except briefly when her character was impersonating an Australian researcher).
The only recent example I can think of where an American played a British character was Renee Zellweger in "Brigett Jones' Diary". However, I don't know anything about current British TV so maybe there's a Yank somewhere in there....
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David Soul crops up now and then as he lives over here. As fro others off ahnd I can't remember any recently
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I think we threw him out a couple decades ago....
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I noticed :dry: to give him his due though he only pops up when he has a job to promote
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OK, now I've seen the final episode of Life on Mars, and indeed, they did tie up all the loose ends. I can't imagine how they could've done it any other way, although suspended animation with computer-controlled dreams does stretch the imagination a bit!
My biggest quibble with the writers regarding the wrap-up (assuming you accept the sci-fi) is that the astronauts, who were about to land on Mars, were able to converse freely with an Earth-bound mission controller with no lag time between transmission and reception. Even if Mars and Earth are as close as they ever get, it would still take about 4 minutes to send a radio message from 1 planet to the other , even at light speed. Any sci-fi geek knows that!
It did have a sort of Wizard of Oz feel to it, which I guess was intentional. And that's not all bad - I've always enjoyed The Wizard of Oz, it's just that it was a big shift from the feel of the show.
Now we'll have to get into Ashes to Ashes.
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I think with all scifi you have to suspend what you know to be correct and just go with the flow