is there life on mars?

[llywela]

Gah.

Had a fit of masochism and decided to watch the first episode of the US remake of Life on Mars, just to see what they'd done with it. And, um...well. The less said the better, really.

I think the biggest problem it had was that it wasn't sure what it wanted to be, a faithful copy of the original or its own story, and ended up falling down somewhere between the two. So that although it is almost scene-by-scene identical for large chunks of the episode, right down to dialogue and direction...it also over-simplifies the plot tremendously. You could argue that this is because the story has to be compressed into a much shorter airing time, 60 minutes reduced to 40...but they also veered off on rather a major, time-consuming tangent all of their own as a result of the plot changes, sacrificing characterisation for action. There was none of the polish and finesse of the original, and certainly none of the charisma. Where every single character in the original is bursting with personality and individuality right from the first moment, the characters here are almost uniformly bland. Even Gene, incredibly enough considering what an important character he is for the original - in this he made barely any impression at all!

Bland, in fact, is the best word to describe the episode - and probably the last word anyone would use to describe the original, which was so vibrant and eye-catching and had such instant impact.

Bleurgh. Well, I wanted to see what they've done with it, and now I know. They have butchered it. I think I'll just stick with the original, thanks all the same!

Comments

[hercircumstance.livejournal.com]

The American Life on Mars is a downgrade on every level. They really need to shoot off into their own direction and use the pieces they have as they can instead of trying to shoe horn them into the British shoes. The new Sam is bigger than Hunt! No wonder their dynamic is off. No one thinks Hunt can intimidate Sam in that way (or anyone else). I'd like to see them take their Sam in a different direction. This one doesn't seem to be able to pull off the complicated in the head stuff well. Then do something different. If new Hunt can't be like the old Hunt (US censors won't let him even talk correctly for one thing) let him go in his own direction.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Downgrade is definitely the word. I really don't think the show makers have grasped the point of the original at all - they just shot for action and adventure at the expense of characterisation and mystery, and the result was this bland mishmash. And New York is completely the wrong setting for any kind of copy of the original story, which is so firmly rooted in Manchester of 1973 - a gritty, industrial city in economic decline. They are going to have to write a lot of their own stories to suit the location to stand any chance of making this show their own - so many of the original stories are completely un-translateable.

Man, re-makes just never work, do they?