What’s the basic setup?
Russell: While hunting the serial killer who has kidnapped his girlfriend, DCI Sam Tyler is hit by a car. Rather than waking up in a hospital bed, he wakes up on waste ground - and in 1973.
He appears to have been expected at the local police station as a recently-transferred DI.
In some respects, it’s yet another take on the mismatched-partners cop show. The straight, by-the-book copper from 2006, dealing with the hard-drinking, hard-smoking, get-the-job-done cops of 1973.
John: I’m not sure what the series is aiming to be. It feels like an extended episode of Quantum Leap, but with pretensions (perhaps) to remind us of the film Twelve Monkeys or the Iain Banks novel The Bridge. The characters are treated as little more than 1 dimensional parodies of characters from the Sweeney or Z-Cars (anyone remember Softly Softly?).
Again I’m not sure what the program-makers are trying to say with the constant barrage of suggestions that modern policing is better and less corrupt that the policing techniques of the early ’70s . If they are to be believed, fit-ups and prison cell beatings were common place (and perhaps they were) but the notion that a modern policeman without the back-up of advanced forensic or intelligence gathering capabilities could go back in time and show them how it is done ‘properly’ is beyond naive.
Criticisms aside, the lead character is not without some charm, but I’d mark this down as a miss. The premise isn’t as fresh and the stories aren’t as clever as I suspect the makers think they are. The beggars are probably all well under 40 as well. Young whippersnappers.
Russell: Bear in mind that from that episode, they had the right man already - and the fit-up would have kept him locked away and stopped the cleaning lady from getting shot. I think they’re aiming more for a message of co-operation between the different methods.
John: Possibly , though my take was more that the inevitable ‘price’ of cleaner policing is more victims. The fit up would have provided a short term incarceration and the injury to the cleaning lady would have been prevented, but in the long term the fit-up would not have gone through the courts successfully so the bad guy would still have been at large in the long run. In that way the makers were (I think) saying good (modern) policing was superior to the corrupt (old fashioned) policing of the ’70s.
Mark: I thought what they were saying is that whilst the modern methods were more effective in achieving safe prosecutions they failed in terms of dealing with identifiable problems until after damage has already been done.
They’ve certainly played of the Quantum Leap setup. In the first episode there is a great sequence where you seem to have Sam meeting someone from his time who is talking to his subconscious in much the same role as Al did in Quantum Leap. They twist this beautifully and those sort of knowing nods that they can mess with viewer’s expectations through are one of the things that really make the show for me.
James: I am beginning to look at this series as the Brit version of Lost, in that it does not make apparent what it is trying to tell the viewer. The possibilities of how and why this has happened to Sam are presumably something that should be resolved around the kidnapping of his girlfriend back in 2006.
What then worries me is how you carry the concept into a second and third series.
Mark: This is the first series which is 8 episodes long. Series 2 has been guaranteed and they’ve said that the whole show would be 3 series long.
Unlike Lost the writers have said they know exactly what is going on and have planned the whole thing out. We’re promised a big change as part of the end of Series 1.
James: I thought that might be on purpose, 3 series will equal 24 episodes.
Not sure how it would go down in the States, to be honest. The cultural references placed in the programme are specifically British, such as the test card girl and power cuts.
Russell: And The Sweeney.
I like the opening title sequence, although it’s very reminiscent of other shows - especially The Six Million Dollar Man.
Mark: I’d love to see them market The Sweeney in the US. “From the star of Inspector Morse” and then watch as they are shocked by how different a show it is.
John: Sadly this change of events will probably end up with Minder……as a cult classic getting remade as a movie (aaaargh!)
What do people think of the characters?
Mark: I’m personally amused after watching State of Play recently to see John Simm and Phillip Glennister appearing together again.
James: Well, it’s a good job the characters are so strong, because this series really relies on their interaction because of its premise. Sam is good so far, with a nice balance between crazy, bewildered and dutiful.
John: True. It is very character driven.
There’s a fine balance between someone in a surreal situation going insane, going with the flow and accepting it too readily. So far, the balance seems to be towards the middle. I do wonder more about the supporting characters who are aware of his situation. They really ought to be sending him off for psychiatric care.
Russell: As of the third episode, I have to say that I really don’t trust the test card girl (A phrase I never thought I’d use).
Mark: I’m starting to think the Little Girl is actually Death trying to get him to give up and stop fighting.
John: Ditto.
Also that Hunt is a representation of his subconscious/ id.
Mark: That may work with the fact he pushed his buttons so easily in episode 3.
Ok episode 3 gave me a lot to think on. With it being set around what will be his home in the future I’m thinking maybe each of the cases has some bearing and wider significance. Maybe this is about home and his place in the community. The first episode was about what he was doing prior to the accident. Episode 2 about his place in the Police Force maybe?
I do think each case is about him keeping going ala Quantum Leap he has to keep solving these cases to stay alive.
John: I think the QL analogy is likely to be true too. He has to keep solving the mysteries as a metaphor for defeating his injuries and to stay alive.
Why has he subconsciously returned to the 70’s though? He was alive then so perhaps there is some secret in his past which will become relevant. As a small child, was he the victim of a crime? Or a silent witness to it? Perhaps it is symbolic of him returning to an almost infant-like state in real life, utterly dependant on others.
Russell: I’m expecting it to be witness.
John: If the premise is that he is remembering the 70s partly from his own life but more through the lens of Z-Cars, The Sweeney and Softly Softly Task Force, have the writers got the tone and situations right?
It seems a bit over-done to me a times. So much so that it bordered on parody, particularly when the regional crime squad guy turned up, but I’m guessing that’s a deliberate choice from the makers.
On another topic, the sound-track is pretty nifty. Sadly having just said that to my wife, Uriah Heep’s Gypsy started up. If there was a naffer rock band from the 70’s I can’t think of them off hand.
Russell: I’m also looking forward to the almost-inevitable soundtrack album.
Ok Coma, dreaming, time travel or something else?
John: My tuppence worth would be that he is definitely in a coma and dreaming very lucidly rather than it being ‘real’ time travel.
Russell: I think it’s definitely a coma, and while he does appear to be hearing things from 2006, I don’t think he’s dreaming.
James: Agree, it has to be a coma. That way he can solve the riddle in his sub-conscious, wake up and rescue his kidnapped girlfriend from the first episode that he appears to have forgotten about subsequently.
Russell: But from the sounds of it, she’s there with his comatose body.
James: Or is she? Ahhhhh.
John: Last nights episode (4) was a pretty good (if occasionally light-hearted) poke at police corruption. I thought the tone was just right .
The scenes where he goes to meet his mum were handled very sensitively.
The ‘honey trap’ was a bit obvious, but is symptomatic of the lead characters naivety rather than poor writing. The soundtrack was cracking and the Marc Bolan scene was a nice touch. Overall this was my favourite episode so far
Mark: This cemented for me my theory that each episode reflect a different aspect. This was all about his conscience - could he do the right thing?
Do people think this series will deliver and be able to maintain itself for the 24 episodes/3 series?
John: Personally I have my doubts. The hints and (audio) glimpses of his ‘real’ situation are going to have to come to something before long or they’ll get very tired. Are the subsequent series also set in 1973 ? I’m half expecting them to travel forwards a decade at a time until he returns home or ends up dead….
Mark: All we know is that something major changes at the end of this series. It is possible that he shifts in time.
Russell: Personally, I’m enjoying the 1973 stuff enough as it is. The “reality” side of things is just a bonus.
The Life on Mars pages on the BBC website
The wikipedia page for the series