2 posts tagged “dean winters”

Great US Life on Mars: a remake of the eighth UK episode, so the basic storyline was the same—and because of the shorter running time, some bits were missed, and there was less depth to the Sam–Annie relationship caused in part by the still inexplicable introduction of Lee Tergesen’s character, Lee Crocker, into the US show. Gene played a bit part here, but he did in the original version of this episode as well.
   Vic Tyler (Dean Winters), is crueller in his American incarnation, and it’s interesting to note that Ruth Tyler (Jennifer Ferrin) is called Rose Tyler here—something I missed a few weeks ago. (For Life on Mars trivia buffs, Sam Tyler’s surname came about when the daughter of one of the writers suggested it, after watching Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler character in Doctor Who. It’s very interesting that the American writers chose Rose as Sam’s mother’s name.) And because of the shorter running time, there was one disappointment: both Sam and Annie had to verbalize things that we had to figure out for ourselves in the original (e.g. Sam realizing he had blocked the memory of Annie’s death at the hands of Vic). We also missed the part where Sam told Ruth, in the original, what to tell young Sam about his father.
   But what a cliffhanger! It reminds me of the call Sam received at the end of episode nine in the UK (second series, episode one) from Hyde 2612 and he seems genuinely fearful of the rings from the black rotary-dial phone. This time, Sam gets clues from the printing and form codes at the NYPD to take him to an address, 35 Stewart Drive. There, the phone rings as soon as Sam enters the house. And the call is of an electronically muffled voice, one that can hear Sam.
   Before you think that this is a straight adaptation of the British series and it’s DCI Frank Morgan calling, the call’s contents are chilling. The lights are flickering in the room as in Jekyll, and the script goes something like this:

Caller: Hello, Sam.
Sam: You can hear me.
Caller: Of course I can hear you. You’re doing a good job, Sam. I need you to do something for me.
Sam: Who is this?
Caller: I need you to go to the basement.
Sam: Why?
Caller: The basement, Sam. Across the room, behind you. I need you to go down to the basement, Sam.

And the credits begin.
   So: is this the American equivalent of Alex Drake’s Pierrot clown or the Test Card Girl? Because it doesn’t appear to be the American Frank Morgan calling. The preview suggests there is a nutter decapitating police officers, and the call could be from the killer. No Gene, Sam, Ray and Chris getting into the Cortina and saying, ‘Pub.’ ’Pub.’ ’Pub.’ … ‘Pub.’ Not a happy, upbeat ending—but it wouldn’t have worked here anyway.
   It appears this is where the Americans will break for now. The series stops here and does not return until January 28, 2009, after Lost, on ABC. It is a logical place to conclude things—this story was the season finalé in Britain—but by that week I imagine we will all be waiting for the next series of Ashes to Ashes more.
   Here is the January 28 preview and I don’t think there is a British equivalent this time. This, as far as I can tell, is where the two shows really begin to part company. And the Americans seem to be taking a darker route, which is what has also been promised for Ashes to Ashes in 2009.

Mars Rover

Bryan Oh’s script for the second episode of US Life on Mars was clever. Just as executive producer Scott Rosenberg told audiences last week, there were twists in the tale: notably Sam Tyler seeing a Mars Rover-like robot (not far off from my guessing it would parallel Fred Flintstone seeing the Great Gazoo on Digg) shining a light at him and prompting him to remember the present day.
   I like what Oh did: a departure from the original is not only important, it is encouraged by the UK creators of the show. While the episode, titled ‘The Real Adventures of the Unreal Sam Tyler’, was based on the original second episode in the UK, with certain characters re-used, the changes Bryan Oh made deservedly earned him a ‘Written by’ credit rather than a ‘Screenplay by’ one. He weaves in not only elements from episode two from the UK, but other ones (e.g. Sam seeing the present reflected in the glass). Other parts are Americanized: when Sam complains that the jail cells are like Guantanamo Bay, Chris responds that he has never been to Puerto Rico (Gene and Spain in the original); when Trent says, ‘All hail the Nixon administration,’ Sam mutters, ‘Don’t get too attached to it.’ Serious assaults at the banks were replaced with murders, reflecting the more violent nature of New York crime. And major plot elements are 100 per cent original, weaved in very well into the episode so that smartasses like me who saw the original cannot spoil it for others. Well done, Mr Oh.
   Harvey Keitel does indeed say, ‘Don’t move! You are surrounded by armed bastards!’, which brings the line back to that uttered by Philip Glenister as the original Gene Hunt.
   I am not sure about the introduction of Windy, Sam’s neighbour, played by Tanya Fischer, which seems to complicate the story (unless it’s part of the thread), though her appearance supposedly in the nude was about as startling as one could get! But do we need a hippie chick to potentially complicate matters if Sam and Annie are to develop feelings, not to mention a love triangle at work with Assistant District Attorney Lee Crocker, played by Lee Tergesen (Chett in the TV version of Weird Science)? (Crocker? Isn’t that the guy in Kojak?)
   Unless, of course, Windy takes the place of Nelson, the bartender, who in the American version had three meaningless lines in the first episode. She seems to be full of the wisdom that the original Nelson had, knowing a little more than we might expect (she reads Sam’s palm and says his fate line is bisected, like a record skipping: ‘the needle gets bumped and you’re grooving to a whole new beat’).
   And as Rosenberg and producers Appelbaum and Nemec indicated, episode two includes scenes with Sam proposing a dozen theories as to what has happened him, going beyond ‘Am I mad, in a coma or back in time?’ The new theories include a drug trip, alien abduction, virtual reality, death (‘one second away from life, one second away from death’?) and Purgatory.
   Hence the new title sequence with star Jason O’Mara has a different voiceover from the original with John Simm. ‘My name is Sam Tyler,’ he says. ‘I was in an accident and woke up in 1973. I don’t know how or why I am here, but whatever’s happened, it’s like I’ve landed on a different planet. Now maybe if I can work out the reason, I can get home.’ It mirrors the original in terms of its scenes.
   Sam first sees a robotic toy run behind him at the 125th Precinct, but when he follows it, it disappears. Later, he sees a life-size version of the robot, similar in appearance to the Mars (get it?) Rover, as David Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’ is heard. It shines a light on him, and he hears, ‘Maya’ (his girlfriend in 1973), then the scenes from the season finalé (Sam following a woman in a red dress through the woods—I won’t say more for our American friends who have not seen it), before he recalls the present. When he busts Trent’s gang at the end, he finds a similar, but not the same, toy called a Rad Rover (fictional, I believe) among the goods that the villains are using to hide their heroin shipments. He keeps one, and looks at it at home. Gene reads a newspaper with an item about Skylab. Another clue?
   Theories: the robot is not real. It ties to Sam’s childhood rather than 2008. He’ll later find one at his home when he looks for himself as a four-year-old child in 1973. It represents how he imagined the robot to be when he played with it. It will also connect to the season finalé involving the red dress. Another clue: Sam cuts himself shaving as he does in the original second episode—which means he feels pain in 1973. This tied in to the series finalé in the UK; will it here?
   The acting highlight was the scene where Gene Hunt forces Sam Tyler to the street, demanding he clean up June’s blood. It was in the original, but Keitel and O’Mara are intense here, as strong as Glenister and Simm in the original. For those who doubted O’Mara’s acting from the Kelley pilot (including me), we were proved wrong in that scene. Kudos to the actors and to Michael Katleman, the director, on a very powerful scene. (Next best scene: the hospital fight, which was as funny as the original one.)
   Down side: the original was funnier—or it’s my preference for British humour.
   Next week, going by the episode guide, watch out for Sam meeting his Dad in 1973. Dean Winters (from TV series Oz; which Tergesen also appeared in) plays Vic Tyler. The story appears to be an all-original one, which I look forward to seeing.