Life on Mars: Series 1 Episode 1
May 29, 2020 21:58:49 GMT
Gene Hunt, The Saint, and 8 more like this
Post by DI Alex Drake on May 29, 2020 21:58:49 GMT
I’ve never struggled to talk about things that interest me and I’ll apologise now (and won't do so again ) that being concise is not one of my strengths – my parents delight in reminding me that I barely spoke a word until I was 2 years old and then skipped to full sentences. Why use 2 words when 30 will do?
I intend to give my thoughts/observations/general ramblings on each episode in turn, as well as rating each episode out of 5 to create a ranked list of episodes at the end (out of 5 as opposed to 10 as it is much less ambiguous). Feel free to disagree and tell me why!
Basic Premise of the Series
(I can’t imagine many of you do not know, but just in case!)
Sam Tyler is a DCI in Manchester in 2006 working on a murder case. His girlfriend and colleague, Maya Roy, is then abducted whilst following a lead and, distracted, Sam pulls over on the side of the road, gets out of the car and gets hit by another, passing vehicle. He loses consciousness and when he wakes up ... it’s 1973. He walks, in a daze, to “his” police station where he encounters the CID team of the day, in all of their, sexist, racist, homophobic, politically incorrect, chain-smoking, drinking-on-the-job and not-afraid-to-resort-to-physical-violence 1970s glory. Sam is initially convinced that it is all a wind-up, not helped by the fact that the team are not surprised by his arrival, as he is “on transfer” from C Division in Hyde. The series follows Sam’s struggle to work out whether he is “mad, in a coma or back in time” whilst grappling with archaic attitudes and policing techniques of early 1970s Britain ... and it’s bloody good fun!
Series 1 – Episode 1
The first episode starts like any 21st century cop show, although watching it today, 15 years after filming, it’s striking how much has changed – the ultra clinical CID office of 2006 is littered with huge PCs, and not a smart phone in sight! The beginning of episode 1 contains pretty much the only 8 minutes set in the then present day in the entire series and yet I still get impatient for them to be over. When not re-watching for a specific purpose, I have been known to skip them. Although series creators Ashley Pharaoh and Matthew Graham have said in the recent tweetalong/watchalong thing that they intentionally made the 21st century bit seem dull, I honestly don’t feel like there is much vibrancy missing – it really looks like that. 2006 is utterly soulless and modern day policing is summed up by Sam at the beginning of this segment with the line “look around you; what good are feelings in this room?” (when Maya claims to be acting on a hunch about a lead).
If any fan claims they don’t get goose bumps when Life on Mars starts playing in Sam’s car just before we know he’s going to hurtle back to 1973, quite frankly they are lying. It is absolutely iconic, the whole way through the scene and we know that by the time the track fades out, we will be well and truly entrenched in an altogether more appealing decade. Right from the moment that the bobby on the beat character quizzes Sam about his presence on a deserted patch of ground destined to be the new Highway in the Sky across Manchester, we are set up for the weird and wonderful.
One could argue it goes a bit over the top with every other line being a metaphorical blow to Sam’s sense of where and when he is – “I need my mobile”-“mobile what?” (I would add here that no one uses that term anymore; we’ve dropped the mobile from mobile phone!), “I was driving a jeep”-“you were driving a military vehicle?” “PC Terminal”- “Who? You want a constable up here?”and so on. That said, it’s probably quite accurate that almost every facet of day to day life would be a complete shocker when faced with a leap of 33 years. The 8-track cartridge replacing the i-pod doesn’t seem to stir Sam quite as much as seeing his reflection in the wing mirror, wide collar, flares and a leather jacket! But as he makes his way through the familiar but a long way from normal streets to “his police station” it’s as though he expects to walk in there and return to normality. When finding ourselves in this situation, would we immediately go to work?! Quite possibly, as it’s somewhere we know very well and probably feel quite sure of ourselves, but en route, Sam checks his pocket and discovers a very dated-looking warrant card, revealing to both the audience and himself that in this world he is a DI which enables him to make a direct comparison between him and Gene Hunt as they are doing exactly the same job, or should be, and now Sam is working under him and will to an extent have to tow the line.
Had Sam been a DI in 2006, I'm not sure he would have been in a position to compare himself as directly to Gene and his conduct; he'd had been comparing him to his own boss and this is just too convoluted.
As an introductory episode, it is exemplary, it sets both the scene and the tone of the series very quickly and effectively and I can’t imagine anyone watching it who isn’t at the very least keen to know how on earth Sam has arrived in this time and place. Whilst set in the 70s, it remains a very modern series in its pacing and (bearing in mind we were in 2006 for the first 8 minutes) by minute 12, Sam is left in charge of a 1973 murder case – there’s no hanging about!
We meet all of the main characters in this episode – Chris Skelton, Ray Carling, Gene Hunt and Annie Cartwright though, to begin with at least, only Annie seems to be relatable to our 21st century host. Chris, Ray and Gene, as well as the rest of the CID team, seem incredibly backwards in their views as everything we’ve been slowly trained not to say, even if we think it, they are open about so, once Sam gets over the initial fear of being catapulted into a completely bizarre scenario, he thinks that modern his modern policing techniques and world views are far superior to what he is met with in 1973. Annie on the other hand, being a female and not a Neanderthal as is Sam’s initial impression of the other men, and also being university educated is someone Sam can talk to and it’s obvious from very early on that Annie is going to be very important to him.
Our introduction to Gene Hunt is him grabbing Sam by the lapels and slamming him into a filing cabinet – something which, 33 years in the future, would probably see him joining the queue at the Job Centre. For someone who will ultimately become the heart of this universe and all that is good and just personified ... I don’t think we scratch the surface in this episode. I don’t even think I liked the character after the first viewing and there can’t be many people on this forum who know how utterly different my views are now!
Presumably (though this could of course depend on the age of the viewer and whether or not they can remember 1973!) we as viewers are supposed to start out under the complete belief that Sam and the era he represents are good and correct. It doesn’t take long for the “high and mighty” thinking to falter, however, and even in the first episode we are left wondering if we are really in the right.
-
Is this the case for those of you who can remember the 70s? Or were you on the side of Gene & the team from the get go?
Sam’s initial brainwave is that he is here to get the information that will help him to catch Maya’s captor and, whilst this idea only lasts as long as the first episode, it is a good indicator of where we go from here. Every episode is enjoyable in its own right as a story once you have a grasp on the characters and “world” that they inhabit, however there is also an overall story with many of these twists and turns which makes viewing the series as a whole (this was binge-watch gold before binge-watching became a phrase) is particularly satisfying.
Musical Highlights:
The music throughout Life on Mars is superb for anyone with an interest in the era but for episode 1 there are three moments which come to mind immediately:
- The initial “Life on Mars” (David Bowie) sequence in which we travel from 2006 to 1973.
- When Sam and Annie talk outside the record shop and Sam is struggling with the sheer size of his “imagined” Manchester – The Who “Baba O’Riley”.
- When Gene and Sam march a cuffed Edward Kramer through the station to the introduction and guitar solo combined from Cream’s “White Room”.
So, we’ve been catapulted from “just another cop show” into a mixture of time travel (potentially), sci-fi (arguably) , supernatural drama, introduced to the main cast and dumped head-first into a murder case. Combined with glorious details that make our 21st century brains spin (forensics takes 14 days, drinking on the job is not only normal but almost essential, interviews take place in lost and found and normally involve a fair amount of physical violence, the language, the complete and utter lack of technology and of course ... the music, the clothes, the cars) this is essentially an explosion onto our screens. That said, there are some fantastic episodes coming up so ... I’m going to go with a 4/5.
Virtually impossible to catch a decent screen shot of this moment but it has to be mentioned! - I'm not sure if this is a nod to a Sweeney style scene? But whatever the purpose, it's the height of cool
I intend to give my thoughts/observations/general ramblings on each episode in turn, as well as rating each episode out of 5 to create a ranked list of episodes at the end (out of 5 as opposed to 10 as it is much less ambiguous). Feel free to disagree and tell me why!
Basic Premise of the Series
(I can’t imagine many of you do not know, but just in case!)
Sam Tyler is a DCI in Manchester in 2006 working on a murder case. His girlfriend and colleague, Maya Roy, is then abducted whilst following a lead and, distracted, Sam pulls over on the side of the road, gets out of the car and gets hit by another, passing vehicle. He loses consciousness and when he wakes up ... it’s 1973. He walks, in a daze, to “his” police station where he encounters the CID team of the day, in all of their, sexist, racist, homophobic, politically incorrect, chain-smoking, drinking-on-the-job and not-afraid-to-resort-to-physical-violence 1970s glory. Sam is initially convinced that it is all a wind-up, not helped by the fact that the team are not surprised by his arrival, as he is “on transfer” from C Division in Hyde. The series follows Sam’s struggle to work out whether he is “mad, in a coma or back in time” whilst grappling with archaic attitudes and policing techniques of early 1970s Britain ... and it’s bloody good fun!
Series 1 – Episode 1
The first episode starts like any 21st century cop show, although watching it today, 15 years after filming, it’s striking how much has changed – the ultra clinical CID office of 2006 is littered with huge PCs, and not a smart phone in sight! The beginning of episode 1 contains pretty much the only 8 minutes set in the then present day in the entire series and yet I still get impatient for them to be over. When not re-watching for a specific purpose, I have been known to skip them. Although series creators Ashley Pharaoh and Matthew Graham have said in the recent tweetalong/watchalong thing that they intentionally made the 21st century bit seem dull, I honestly don’t feel like there is much vibrancy missing – it really looks like that. 2006 is utterly soulless and modern day policing is summed up by Sam at the beginning of this segment with the line “look around you; what good are feelings in this room?” (when Maya claims to be acting on a hunch about a lead).
If any fan claims they don’t get goose bumps when Life on Mars starts playing in Sam’s car just before we know he’s going to hurtle back to 1973, quite frankly they are lying. It is absolutely iconic, the whole way through the scene and we know that by the time the track fades out, we will be well and truly entrenched in an altogether more appealing decade. Right from the moment that the bobby on the beat character quizzes Sam about his presence on a deserted patch of ground destined to be the new Highway in the Sky across Manchester, we are set up for the weird and wonderful.
One could argue it goes a bit over the top with every other line being a metaphorical blow to Sam’s sense of where and when he is – “I need my mobile”-“mobile what?” (I would add here that no one uses that term anymore; we’ve dropped the mobile from mobile phone!), “I was driving a jeep”-“you were driving a military vehicle?” “PC Terminal”- “Who? You want a constable up here?”and so on. That said, it’s probably quite accurate that almost every facet of day to day life would be a complete shocker when faced with a leap of 33 years. The 8-track cartridge replacing the i-pod doesn’t seem to stir Sam quite as much as seeing his reflection in the wing mirror, wide collar, flares and a leather jacket! But as he makes his way through the familiar but a long way from normal streets to “his police station” it’s as though he expects to walk in there and return to normality. When finding ourselves in this situation, would we immediately go to work?! Quite possibly, as it’s somewhere we know very well and probably feel quite sure of ourselves, but en route, Sam checks his pocket and discovers a very dated-looking warrant card, revealing to both the audience and himself that in this world he is a DI which enables him to make a direct comparison between him and Gene Hunt as they are doing exactly the same job, or should be, and now Sam is working under him and will to an extent have to tow the line.
Had Sam been a DI in 2006, I'm not sure he would have been in a position to compare himself as directly to Gene and his conduct; he'd had been comparing him to his own boss and this is just too convoluted.
As an introductory episode, it is exemplary, it sets both the scene and the tone of the series very quickly and effectively and I can’t imagine anyone watching it who isn’t at the very least keen to know how on earth Sam has arrived in this time and place. Whilst set in the 70s, it remains a very modern series in its pacing and (bearing in mind we were in 2006 for the first 8 minutes) by minute 12, Sam is left in charge of a 1973 murder case – there’s no hanging about!
We meet all of the main characters in this episode – Chris Skelton, Ray Carling, Gene Hunt and Annie Cartwright though, to begin with at least, only Annie seems to be relatable to our 21st century host. Chris, Ray and Gene, as well as the rest of the CID team, seem incredibly backwards in their views as everything we’ve been slowly trained not to say, even if we think it, they are open about so, once Sam gets over the initial fear of being catapulted into a completely bizarre scenario, he thinks that modern his modern policing techniques and world views are far superior to what he is met with in 1973. Annie on the other hand, being a female and not a Neanderthal as is Sam’s initial impression of the other men, and also being university educated is someone Sam can talk to and it’s obvious from very early on that Annie is going to be very important to him.
Our introduction to Gene Hunt is him grabbing Sam by the lapels and slamming him into a filing cabinet – something which, 33 years in the future, would probably see him joining the queue at the Job Centre. For someone who will ultimately become the heart of this universe and all that is good and just personified ... I don’t think we scratch the surface in this episode. I don’t even think I liked the character after the first viewing and there can’t be many people on this forum who know how utterly different my views are now!
Presumably (though this could of course depend on the age of the viewer and whether or not they can remember 1973!) we as viewers are supposed to start out under the complete belief that Sam and the era he represents are good and correct. It doesn’t take long for the “high and mighty” thinking to falter, however, and even in the first episode we are left wondering if we are really in the right.
-
Is this the case for those of you who can remember the 70s? Or were you on the side of Gene & the team from the get go?
Sam’s initial brainwave is that he is here to get the information that will help him to catch Maya’s captor and, whilst this idea only lasts as long as the first episode, it is a good indicator of where we go from here. Every episode is enjoyable in its own right as a story once you have a grasp on the characters and “world” that they inhabit, however there is also an overall story with many of these twists and turns which makes viewing the series as a whole (this was binge-watch gold before binge-watching became a phrase) is particularly satisfying.
Musical Highlights:
The music throughout Life on Mars is superb for anyone with an interest in the era but for episode 1 there are three moments which come to mind immediately:
- The initial “Life on Mars” (David Bowie) sequence in which we travel from 2006 to 1973.
- When Sam and Annie talk outside the record shop and Sam is struggling with the sheer size of his “imagined” Manchester – The Who “Baba O’Riley”.
- When Gene and Sam march a cuffed Edward Kramer through the station to the introduction and guitar solo combined from Cream’s “White Room”.
So, we’ve been catapulted from “just another cop show” into a mixture of time travel (potentially), sci-fi (arguably) , supernatural drama, introduced to the main cast and dumped head-first into a murder case. Combined with glorious details that make our 21st century brains spin (forensics takes 14 days, drinking on the job is not only normal but almost essential, interviews take place in lost and found and normally involve a fair amount of physical violence, the language, the complete and utter lack of technology and of course ... the music, the clothes, the cars) this is essentially an explosion onto our screens. That said, there are some fantastic episodes coming up so ... I’m going to go with a 4/5.
Virtually impossible to catch a decent screen shot of this moment but it has to be mentioned! - I'm not sure if this is a nod to a Sweeney style scene? But whatever the purpose, it's the height of cool