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

[siluria]

Ah, I am glad that my decision to leave The US remake alone was a good one. I really wanted it to work, but I wanted them to take the concept and not the entire chuffing script. British humour really doesn't translate that well.

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Meh! Not that I expected any different from the remake. LoM is one of the most brilliant shows ever, writing, directing, acting, style all excellent. And let's face it Simm and Glenister can't be recast, they are Sam and Gene. I have no idea why someone would even consider to make a remake of it. *makes frowny face* I don't feel any desire to give this a try to be honest!

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

I can't quite being myself to look.

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Shall avoid with a ten foot barge pole, I think.

[wildcard-sej.livejournal.com]

The things you do for us! *hugs*

I haven't seen anyone else comment either way on the US version (yet), but I don't think there have been any US remakes of UK shows that have really impressed British fans so I'm not really expecting much of this one either. Besides, I'm barely finding time to keep up with the shows I'm already interested in without looking for any more right now. ;)

[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.