206 posts tagged “life on mars”

Despite fairly healthy viewing figures, Antena 3 will not commission a second series of La chica de ayer. A member of the Railway Arms discussion board said two endings were filmed in case there was not a renewal. The aired finalé was quite good and certainly better than the American one that left me and a few others thinking it was a cruel April Fool’s joke.
   It was a remake of the eighth UK episode. Samuel saves Ana from being killed by his father, José, and lets him go. Unlike the original, Samuel does not prevent his younger self from seeing part of the attack, but steps in and intervenes. José is let go in similar circumstances to the original, but the ending is quite apt given the title (which translates to yesterday’s girl). Samuel’s mother, Rosa, has to tell his younger self a similar white lie to the original about his father’s disappearance (Ernesto Alterio does a touching scene in the foreground, remembering what his mother told him, as her explanation takes place simultaneously in the background).
   Where the series departs is that Samuel and Ana finally kiss in this episode. As the relationship between Samuel and Ana had developed more quickly in the Spanish series than in either the UK original or US remake, this seems well timed. Samuel sees the light at the end of the tunnel, literally, which could take him back to 2009. His purpose of being in 1977, it seems, is to save Ana’s life. (It is not explained if he is in a coma or if there is some cosmic force that sent him back in time.) He wishes to take Ana through, but she opts to stay. As she walks away, the light goes off, but we then see Samuel run to her, choosing to stay in 1977 with Ana.

The opening scene in last week’s La chica de ayer is hilarious, even if your Spanish is as bad as mine.

   It is very loosely based on the fifth episode of the first series, though with numerous twists, namely a plot featuring the kidnapping of young Samuel. As Samuel’s father is more present through the La chica de ayer stories than he was in the original Life on Mars (or, for that matter, the US remake), the tension the two men have begins much earlier. To solve the crime, Samuel must piece together childhood memories about where he was taken.
   Humorous scenes include Cristóbal trying to use a personal computer (even though this is set later than the original Life on Mars, it is still too new) and Sam talking to Quin about Maradona and football. The episodes are shorter, now 70 minutes long.
   The episode this week was the birthday one, a remake of the eighth UK one.

I think the BBC may have been premature uploading photographs from next week’s Ashes to Ashes. Do not scroll down if you don’t want a spoiler. I’ve tried to put the most revealing pic at the bottom of this bunch.

The second series (or season to our US friends) finalé to Ashes to Ashes looks very good indeed.

I never realized that these two characters were played by the same actor—and I have extra admiration for him as a result. I’d seen a few of Ralph Brown’s work of late but never know I was watching the same actor in some of his earlier works.
   First, DCI Frank Morgan from Life on Mars:

Next week’s Ashes to Ashes in the UK:

   Nothing much stands out in this clip. I was hoping to see Morph (who makes an appearance). I still like the fact that Spanish Ray in La chica de ayer is called Raimundo.

I finally saw the first La chica de ayer (Spanish Life on Mars) after Antena 3 put the whole episode online. It plays out more closely to the UK original than the US remakes, with most of the scenes intact, albeit with some name changes (e.g. Maya is now Sonia; and the others, such as Quin Gallardo, the Spanish Gene Hunt, I have noted on this blog before). However, there are additional scenes and from what I can sense, the pilot is a bit longer than both the original and US remakes, at around 65 minutes excluding commercials.

   Our protagonist, Samuel Santos, has encounters with Sonia’s mother—remember that this remake is set in 1977, not 1973—and young Sonia herself in the pilot. He also confronts the murder suspect in his jail cell, in a scene which results in the suspect’s death after he takes Cristóbal hostage. (While Quin does not hit Samuel in their first scene, he does so here.) Additionally, Samuel goes back to where he first awoke in 1977—near a tunnel—and sees a light at the end of it. Running toward it (with an instrumental of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ as he does so—the song works just as well here as David Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’), he thinks it’s the way back to 2009, only to discover it’s a couple having a snog in a car with its lights on. He sees a poster which features a man jumping off a building, and decides it’s a clue to help him wake up back in 2009. In the end, of course, Ana comes to the top of the building to convince Sam to stay (a scene which is in the original UK version and the Kelley pilot, but is saved till episode 16 of the aired American remake).
   This final act is a bit more drawn out, but the acting is very good and transcends—only just—the cheaper sets used in the Spanish remake. One area where La chica de ayer lags behind both the UK and US versions is the score, which sounds overly melodramatic.
   The show works well set in Madrid and the high-rises and motorways chosen in the 2009 parts contrast the 1977 setting far better than the equivalent scene in the original and US remakes. There’s also more of the Samuel–Ana relationship at the expense of the Samuel–Quin one, and there’s no sign of Ana’s boyfriend, current or former, here.
   My Spanish comprehension is terrible at best even though I can read the language a little, so please bear this in mind in my judgement of the acting. The show has done well in the eyes of the Spanish critics and from what I can see, it has been faithful to the source and has set things up very well.

Last week, actor Philip Glenister joined Twitter—and began conversing with the Tweeter called GeneHunt. Their dialogue makes for good reading, in a very weird way:

philipglenister: @GeneHunt Have a breath Mr Hunt. I'm not here to try and take over your manor, besides, I'm a lover, not a fighter.

A slightly odd Ashes to Ashes on Monday night. There are clues that Alex has been found by the emergency services and that a crash crew is two minutes away, furthering her first-series theory that she could literally be living seconds of her life while days whiz by in 1982.
   Last night, Matthew Graham’s script was good for some of the Gene Hunt lines, and the freemasonry parts were suitably spooky, but there was relatively little from the stalker that we saw in Ashley Pharoah’s first episode last week. I don’t have too much to add, other than the use of a Leyland Princess for the opening car chase, to which Gene utters, ‘Death of a Princess’—again tying in with the Lady Di boat in the first episode last year, and the many Princess Diana references last week (Pont de l’Alma, England’s rose, and 1982 TV footage). And why does Alex keep hearing a helicopter?

   Alex’s body in 2008 must be somewhere connected with Diana—maybe the pier is named for her? Anyone a bit more familiar with the Greenwich–Milwall area?
   Next week, the preview indicates that Morph will appear, in the same manner as the Camberwick Green parody in Life on Mars and Zippy and George last year. Roland the Rat is also scheduled for an appearance in this second series.
   The cast of Ashes to Ashes has been told the entire plot and Marshall Lancaster (whose role has been expanded this year—and I like this direction) has been quoted as saying it is far more complicated than we expect. I think we can presume that it’s “real” and not just in her head—Alex has somehow done a Quantum Leap into someone in 1982. Unlike Life on Mars, there are scenes without her, indicating that the characters have lives outside of her mind. But is there any spiritual meaning behind Gene Hunt?

Antena 3 has some new videos on the making of La chica de ayer, including the producer and director discussing the transformation of the show from the original Life on Mars and moving the action from Manchester to Madrid. There are also clips from the première episode, and a glimpse of the Lost and Found room in Spain. (‘Rubbish, it’s nothing like Spain.’ Hang on, it is!)