This week’s TV on DVD segment is a little different than usual; this time around, I’ll be reviewing a DVD set. This is a trend that will carry on until at least the immediate future (I hope to have day-of reviews of sets like Fringe and LOST posted on here as well). This week’s set, however, features a show that ended a few years ago (though the set was only released on July 6). I’m talking about BBC’s Life on Mars.
American audiences are probably most familiar with Life on Mars from the Harvey Keitel-starring ABC series that lasted for seventeen episodes before being cancelled. The UK series lasted for one episode shorter than that (finishing at sixteen episodes), due to the UK’s shorter television seasons. That it lasted for two years and told a complete story (with an ending that makes sense) makes it infinitely more appealing than its US incarnation.
The story focuses on a police officer, Sam Tyler, who is in 2006 investigating a dangerous murderer who has just kidnapped his partner, when, out of nowhere, he is hit by a car (a fairly shocking scene rather early on in the first episode). He then inexplicably wakes up in 1973, where he is an established member of the police force, though the culture shock of three decades’ difference throws him and everyone around him for a complete loop (and provides for some cheeky comedy along the way — when Sam asks a telephone operator for a Virgin mobile phone, she thinks he’s being sexual and disconnects him).
A good cast, of course, helps a lot. For most Americans, the stars are completely unknown, which is a major factor in the suspension of disbelief that is required for all television. Doctor Who fans might recall star John Simm from the science fiction series as the Doctor’s deranged nemesis The Master (he first appeared in the role shortly after the series finale of Life on Mars). Simm is completely great, and it’s interesting to see him out of the gleefully sociopathic guise of the Master and into the more serious and good-natured role of Sam Tyler. The other cast members are equally solid, with Philip Glenister very engrossing as officer Gene Hunt, Tyler’s superior in the 1973 world.
The DVD set is nothing more than the two individual series sets packaged together in a cardboard slipcase, but the eight-disc set is still a keeper. The first series contains audio commentaries for all eight episodes, and even includes an hour-long documentary titled Take a Look at the Lawman. These are all accessible through pretty neat menu features that include visual distortion making the options appear as though they’re on an old television.
I’ve found an affinity for British television through shows like Doctor Who and even Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and on the whole I find it really well-made, with a more cohesive storyline than most American cop series. In fact, half the fun of shows like Life on Mars is that they don’t talk down to their audience; they assume that the viewers are just as smart as they are, and the fact that the stories aren’t afraid to maintain an overarching plot (a rarity for a police drama) means that despite the shorter seasons, we get more substance and more to chew on.
The DVD set itself is nothing terribly special, but it’s solid nonetheless and the brilliance of the series more than makes up for any packaging shortcomings (for instance, the slipcase for the DVDs was damaged during shipping because it was so flimsy). It’s a great show, though, and I’m glad that the US is getting it at all — and we have Acorn Media to thank for that.
Stick around in the coming weeks for DVD set reviews of British shows Touching Evil and Prime Suspect (both are complete series collections), and later for other shows such as the aforementioned LOST and Fringe.
You can order Life On Mars: The Complete Collection through Amazon by clicking here.
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