We already had an American version of British meter - traveling show Life On Mars — it was called Journeyman , and it ruled for the half season it was on the aura . lamentably , someone decided we needed a literal cover version version of Life On Mars , and we curve up with a tail of the Brit variation , as you’re able to see from this side - by - side comparison of one of the most worrisome sequence from the archetype .
In both versions of Mars , this sequence fall at a all-important point : Sam Tyler , immobilize in 1972 , has decide to help the cops lick a murder that he thinks may be related to the kidnapping of his girlfriend in the future . So he ’s giving a little talk of the town about the psychology of the Orcinus orca , and he decides to add a woman police officer , Annie , into the mix .
Everything about the British interlingual rendition of this chronological sequence is better . First of all , the sexism of the cop is right smart more believable — although in the American version , they do have a cop make a weird comment about Annie ’s dummy . It ’s way , way more clear that the distaff cop does n’t belong in this surroundings , and in the British version she acts embarrassed , shamefaced . In the American translation , she ’s just sort of wooden and never really seems to doubt herself much at all . She ’s credible as a 1990s womanhood , but not a 1970s one .
And then there ’s the fact that in the American adaptation , Sam Tyler does all of the talking — he ’s just bring Annie over to wait on as a prop . ( So he can grab her neck as if to cramp her , thus show there ’s sexual tension between them . ) He does n’t in reality need her input , and she has nothing useful to say . ( She only has a B.A. in psychology in the British version , not the American version . ) It ’s creepy in both versions , but in the American version it ’s only creepy because Sam is a creep . The end .
So how does the American pilot ( due to be totally reshot with a new cast except for the lead , and a new producer ) liken with the British version otherwise ? Well there ’s good tidings and uncollectible news .
Okay , first the good intelligence : The American variation follows the level measure of the UK rendering , pretty much note for billet . There ’s a guy wire kidnapping and killing women , and then Sam ’s ( ex ? ) girlfriend , a fellow cop named Maia , goes after him and gets kidnap . Sam is worried , and then he ’s strike by a railcar and finds himself in 1972 . He last decides to accept the world of his environment and serve the 70s cops to find the same guy rope who apparently nobble Maia in the hereafter .
Also , there ’s no funkay disco music in the actual episode — that was just for the promos .
Now for the bad news . There ’s not as much ambiguity about whether Sam is really in a coma . At the very ending of the episode , we hear the bleeping and wheezing of Sam ’s animation - support system , argue to the wearisome viewers that he really is in a comatoseness .
The relationship between Sam and Maia , his ex-wife - lady friend and current subordinate in the future , is way way more cheesy and pulpy in the American version . In the UK master copy , the tension between them is fairly subtle , but patent enough to strike home . In the American rendition , it ’s a total sledge - hammer . When the bull go to blame up Colin Raimes , Sam orders Maia to hang back and protect the perimeter . “ You ca n’t protect me ! ” she blat .
Later , it ’s Sam ( not Maia , as in the British variation ) who insists that Colin Raimes is tie to the murders after Raimes has a perfect exculpation . rather of Maia being obstinate and assert on enquire Raimes further , Sam arrange her to count into it some more . “ I have a feeling he ’s connect , ” Sam say . “ It ’s nice to know you have feelings , ” Maia bleats . He gets all gruff with her and order her to do his bidding .
And then there are the seventies cops , who are just way less convincing . I have sex Colm Meaney , but he ’s not able-bodied to get the asshole thuggishness of Philip Glennister ’s DCI Hunt . Meaney ’s interlingual rendition of Gene Hunt is a full pushover , a pansy . Yes , he roughs up Sam Tyler a second here and there , but he ’s way too kindly . In one key aspect , Hunt says Dora , a witness , is a “ pain in the ass . ” ( Just care in the British version . ) But then he turns to Sam and says , “ like you , ” in a sweet-flavored fatherly way . And later , Sam really kvetch Hunt ’s ass , which is just wrong . And there ’s none of the great stuff like the cops break grounds with their greasy solid food , or eating sandwich and smoking in the dead room .
After they enamor the serial slayer , there ’s no disputation over whether to ruin the psych theme that could aid him cop an insanity plea — it just never comes up in the American reading . ( Maybe they ’re saving it for sequence two ? )
One thing that was really graceful about the British adaptation is that most of the characters just sort of ignore Sam ’s raving , and assume he ’s just another loony . Only Annie actually listens and charter with Sam ’s belief that he ’s in a coma in the future . But in the American interpretation , everybody seems to be cognisant of Sam ’s belief that he ’s from the futurity , and they all bemock him for it . Which , you would cerebrate , might make it hard for them to take him seriously as a police detective . The episode end with the other cops still making playfulness of Sam ’s psychotic belief that he ’s from the future . And the relationship between Sam and Gene has none of the complex intermixture of male person - bonding and mutual abhorrence that you see from ahead of time on in the UK variant .
Speaking of which , there ’s absolutely no interpersonal chemistry between Sam and his fellow cop Annie in this rendering — in fact , there ’s inverse interpersonal chemistry , the sort that make it impossible to think they would even belong in the same elbow room together . In fact , Sam has no chemistry with anyone in the American Mars — and I do n’t think replace the total mold except for Sam will fix the problem .
The creeptastic vista where Neil , Annie ’s ex - boyfriend , pretend to be a hypnotherapist who ’s make Sam in his coma makes no common sense this time around . Instead of being Annie ’s X - swain , he ’s just a random psychotherapist friend of hers ( who ’s mentioned in go through before ) and he decides to preface himself to Sam by trying this random - fundament “ treatment ” and reach Sam in his own logic . It literally take a crap no sense and just feel weird .
journeyman
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