LifeOnMars.TV is a fan-blog dedicated to all things, Life On Mars. It covers the original BBC series LifeOnMars, its spin-off AshesToAshes and David E Kelley's up-coming US Remake. The blog also covers general news about casting, merchandise, fanclubs, websites and other related news.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Pre and Post Xmas pressies from "The Daily Mail"

Greetings Martians, I hope you all had a great Xmas and are looking to 1974. Did I say 1974? I meant 1981, sorry. We've already celebrated 1974 over at BBC America, just joking. The wonderful folk over at The Daily Mail, have posted a short Life On Mars story in 2 parts for us. The first part was posted on the 23rd of December, with the second part being posted on the 29th, bit of a gap there but I guess we can live with that.

The story is written by none other than series creator and writer Matthew Graham, thanks Matt we needed something while we all wait for Ashes To Ashes cheers. If you want to read the story yourself, you can find it at the links below. Although it is a Christmas story, it is Life On Mars so don't expect it to be a happy one. The only way this could have been improved on, would have been if it was posted as an mp3 audiobook and read by the cast or possibly a LOM or A2A Christmas special.


(Gene Hunt & Sam Tyler both got a Party 7 for Christmas, lets hope they don't drink it in the Cortina or they'll have to bust each other for drink driving)


Maybe that's and idea for next Christmas, note that down Matt. The BBC throw countless millions at Doctor Who for Christmas, so why not the same for LOM / A2A? Any way I'm straying you want the story, here it is . . . . . . . .

PART ONE
PART TWO

Well Martians I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Before I go I would like to mention that LifeOnMars.tv is celebrating its first birthday in just under a week, the 5th of January is the day to remember, so mark it on your calendars. There should be a bit for me to post then, as well as some downloadables for you all to enjoy. 'Til next time Martians peace and if you're British, keep an eye out for speeding Cortinas or Audis and Deloreans.




Cyberman

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

December Catch Up.

Hello again, over the past month there has been very little (in my opinion) happening within the world of LOM. What has happened though, you are about to be updated on. Firstly some US news, series 2 is finally getting a showing over on BBC America. BBC America's screening began on the 11th of December, and will continue through January. Some interesting news about there site as well, it has recently been given a flash makeover. While it looks great, the designer has made some very interesting and consistent errors with it.

We all know that LOM is set in 1973 in the original British version, we also know that David E Kelley's upcoming US remake is set in 1972. Well now it appears that there is another year to consider, 1974. All of the way through the new site it mentions the year 1974 and not 1973 (well '73 once), I guess confusion somewhere was going to happen soon. Now we know its destination, BBC America.

Now Mr Kelley's remake. Colm Meaney was recently interviewed by RottenTomatoes.com, where he talks about the differences between today and 1972. He also talks about the writers guild strike going on in the US at the moment, and states that everything is pretty much up in the air with US LOM until its over. One curious thing Colm says in the interview is the word film. He refers to the pilot as a film, this could possibly mean that the pilot will be a tele-movie which are usually around 90 minutes. Good news I suppose, if its true.

While we are on the topic of of Mr Kelley's remake, at present in our site poll the amount of people who "won't watch it on principle" and the people who are "Looking forward to new stories" are basically neck and neck. It could end up a tie at this stage, but we'll run it for another week or so before I post results.

On Australian tv, Life On Mars series 1 is again being screened on ABC (Channel 2) on Wednesdays at 9.30pm. Australian viewers get a double dose of John Simm on Wednesday at the moment, with Sex Traffic screening after it. UKTV in Australia has just finished there screening and has also posted winners to there series 1 DVD competition. Congratulations to those that won, to the people that missed out EZYDVD has just re-released the original series at a a cheaper price. The set can now be picked up for the extra cheap price of (AUD)$39.83, weird price point but much cheaper all the same. The question Australian fans are now wondering, is when will series 2 get a screening? I guess the answer to this is only know by the ABC, I will update you all when more comes to hand.

Happenings on the A2A front are starting to pour in now, but all A2A is covered by by AshesToAshes.tv so head on over there for your fix. 'Til next time Martians, peace and may you all have a happy Christmas or what-ever you chose to celebrate. Hey that was PC, we can't have that can we?




Cyberman

Thursday, November 1, 2007

US LOM Pics & Stuff

Hello again all, a while back I posted a link to to Jason O'Mara.net to show you stills from the filming of David E Kelley's version of Life On Mars. I did this because I did not have authority to post the pictures myself at the time. The pictures were actually from another website again, called "EVERYDAY ANGELENO". Well thanks to the site owner, Siobhan I am now able to bring these to you directly myself.

At this stage, these seem to be the only pictures posted on the web (that I can find) for the remake. If anyone out there is aware of others, they will always be welcomed here. For time being though, enjoy Siobhan's pictures. By the looks of it, David E Kelley has made a few changes other than simply changing the location and the year Sam ends in. In the original BBC version Sam has a black leather jacket (which apparently John Simm decided to keep as souvenir, or so rumour has it) but in Kelley's version its suddenly become tan. Gene has a brown coat in the BBC version (which I don't think Philip Glenister kept, maybe this is a question we could ask him), but as the pictures provided by Siobhan don't seem to show Colm Meaney. I guess we will have to wait to see how Gene looks stateside.



(David E Kelley's "Life On Mars" filming)


In other news, the original series (Season One) is currently recieving the old repeat treatment on cable in Australia. UKTV is screening the show on Saturdays and is up to episode 3, which screens this weekend. In addition this they are also offering 10 lucky subscribers the chance to win the Season One box set (Zone 4). So if you you subscribe, head on over to the UKTV website for your chance to win or miss out! The competition closes November 30th.

Finally some more merchandise news for you all, ever wondered if you could get the theme music as a ring tone? The theme music you know "My name is Sam Tyler, I had an accident . . . . " not the song by David Bowie, which the series took its name from. That I am sure is quite easy to find. Well the theme is available from Party Mobile in the UK, if you want it you can get it by clicking the site name. The ring tone costs £3, but well worth it if you were after it.

I've done a lot of typing in the last two days for this site, and I hope you all appreciate it. One final thing though I would like to say is sorry to Fran from Philip Glenister Index. Fran recently came out to Australia for a week, and I was looking forward to actually meeting her, but sickness and phone problems prevented this from happening. Oh well maybe some day I will actually make it to the UK. Any way Fran, hope you had an excellent trip and have fond memories of OZ for a while to come.

Next up I will be paying some attention to LOM.tv's sister site, A2A.tv. I have quite a bit to post there, so keep checking back. 'Till next time Martians peace and may posts have not such a long gap in between them, cheers.




Cyberman

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

The Rules Of Modern Policing x2

I suppose you are all wondering what the times 2 stands for, aren't you? Well if you already know, skip the next couple of lines in this post. The times 2 on the end of the post title, basically stands for the 2 different versions of this stunning new book by Gene. When Season 2 commenced in Britain, this book was released as promo for the series (it only had a few pages in it and had a green cover). The book has now been re-released so to speak as a 128 page book, supposedly authored by Gene himself. Well Phil did you write it? I suspect not, in fact I know not the book was actually written by Guy Adams. Guy is the man responsible for the (well one of them) seasons one and two companion books, which are currently available.


"The Rules Of Modern Policing"
Original Version (GREEN) - New Version (BROWN)


Both versions of the book come with authentic coffee stains, for increased realism. The new version was released on the 8th of October 2007, the original I suspect was released on 13th of February. I sincerely doubt it was in 1973 though. The original will more than likely become a collectors item. If you are interested in getting yourself a copy of the original, there are several for sale on ebay.co.uk (at present) at quite reasonable prices. Mark from Tardis & Torchwood Treasures (or TATT for short) has quite graciously sent in a copy of the poster, currently being used to advertise the new version of the book in bus shelters. For those of you interested in Doctor Who as well as LOM, Mark has quite an exceptional site which is well worth your investigation. The site is generally updated daily, so is always current unlike many other WHO sites. Below you can see the ad in all its glory, thanks Mark.


British Bus Shelter Advertisement
for "The Rules Of Modern Policing"


The book is available at all the usual outlets online, Amazon, BBCShop, etc and of course not forgetting (as in the poster) W H Smith. Will you be getting a copy? I know I will. 'Til next time Martians peace and remember if you're going to do it, do it by the book.



Cyberman

The 80th Post

Sorry once again Martians for the lack of posts. For the last couple of weeks I have been very sick with the flu, and have not really felt like doing anything other than sleeping. Thankfully I am now over that, and ready to bring you all the news you've all been waiting for (I hope). In the interim (during my sickness) many site patrons have forwarded video's, pictures and there get well soon messages to yours truly. Thank you all, it has been most appreciated.

As you all would be aware I have taken on many blogs during the course of this year, some of which have now ceased operation. The ones which are now no longer being updated are, John Simm PR and Torchwood PR. This was a joint decision by myself, and the 2 blog's originator being BadWolf. I would have liked to have been able to continue these with BadWolf, but unfortunately time became a factor for both of us. These 2 now redundant blogs will remain online, but will not be updated any further. I would like to extend well earned thanks to BadWolf, and wish him luck in whatever he chooses to do next.

Okay that aside, here is the first of the patron contributed content. This is video which is a "piss take" on LOM and not be taken seriously, is entitled "Life On Meat". Life On Meat was sent in by Rhys from Resident Evil News. Rhys has quite a few sites of his own, they cover Doctor Who, Lost and many Video Games and are well worth investigating. The latest Resident Evil movie (the third one) features the new Sam Tyler from the David E Kelley remake of LOM, Jason O'Mara as Albert Wesker. Please sit back and enjoy "Life On Meat", I did.



Life On Meat?


Foot Note: The original of this went for around 5 minutes, unfortunately Youtube in there great wisdom decided to pull it down for copyright infringement. After doing my own search, I found this 1 minute version. Thanks for the tip off Rhys!




Cyberman

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

More US LOM Details Revealed


Abby Eiland - Beth Mitchell (US Life On Mars)


Greetings Martians. With the filming for the US pilot of Life On Mars now completed, more details are starting to filter through. The first being that of the previously announced character "Kenmore", who I suspect is a replacement for either Chris or Ray in David E Kelley's version now has a christian name. Which is great for the character, otherwise its kind of like "Oi You!". That's pretty much how Gene speaks to his staff, well Philip Glenister's version anyway. Colm Meaney is still an unknown quantity, so to speak.

Kenmore's christian name is Edward, according to IMDB. In addition to Kenmore, another actor has been listed as playing "Beth Mitchell". Beth's character is played by releative unknown, Abby Eiland. Abby only has one other credit listed against her name, being that of a movie called "Santa Croce". Both of Abby's listed appearances are from 2007, and by the look of her head-shot she may very well be just of of Drama School as she appears very young. This is only speculation however.

Casting of the many other characters for the remake, are still yet to be revealed. You can find a list below of the characters, who are still yet unknown. As per usual I will update you all, as this information comes to hand.

Yet To Be Revealed Characters From US LOM Pilot "Hit & Run":

Beryl Raimes
Billy
Colin Raimes
Coroner
Det. John Smollers
Dora Birch
Goateed Professor
June/Waitress
Milton Kornbull
Neil
Officer #1
Woman/Sam's Mom
Young Colin Raimes


'Til next time Martians peace, and if you haven't done so already remember the poll appreciates your input.

Cheers,



Cyberman

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

New Merchandise Out, More On The Way!

Greetings Martians, 2 posts back I showed you the Complete Series Box Set which I happened to miss. Oh well it happens, so because of that I decided to make it my mission to find you more as I didn't really have much to say about it. After some "Hunting", I came across the 2008 Calendar which is already too. It came out on the 1st of September, according to Amazon.co.uk. What can I say it looks great, and at the moment is being discounted from £7.99 to £4.99. Good reason to get one, I say.

Another cool thing I came across was some "Guv" tshirts, at DJTees.com. The best part about their site is they deliver for free, world wide. Yay, so even someone like myself down in Australia will be paying the same. I like that idea. They are available in many different colours and styles of tshirts. Short sleeve ones are £17.99 and long sleeve are only an extra £2.00.

Finally coming out just in the nick of time for Christmas, we have the Series Two Companion Book. This is available for pre-order over at Amazon.co.uk. If you order it now, you'll get it for £10.19 when its out. Or wait until the release date and you'll more than likely pay the recommended retail, which is £16.99. So worth the pre-order if you want it. Bellow you can find some pics of the items, and they all look great. I know where my money's going. 'Til next time Martians peace, and may the merchandise be with you. After all we've waited long enough for it.


(LOM 2008 Calendar)



(GUV Tshirt - Available in many colours and styles)




(Series 2 LOM Companion Book)




Cyberman

Not News, But Philtastic Regardless

This today Martians, is a piece for you that is not in the slightest bit related to anything you could badge or brand as news. What is it? Well what it is, is a commercial with our favourite Guv doing the voice over for it. The product is something that kind of relates to Life On Mars, it even features the song by Mr Bowie.

You guessed it, its a commercial for a compilation CD entitled "The Sound Of The 70's". I happened to stubble across it on youtube, and I thought that seeing as this site has very little video. Why not stick it up, the video that is. What were you thinking? You can check it out below.


(The Guv flogging CD's, Buy it!)


'Til next time Martians peace, and as they said in the 70's "Make Love Not War". I think that still applies now. Oh yeah why isn't it news? The ad came out months ago thats why.



Cyberman

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Complete Series Box Set

I knew it was coming up soon Martians, but it appears I missed something. Tsk, tsk silly me. Whilst reporting this way back of the 25th of April, I mentioned the Complete Series Box Set was due to come out on the 24th of September 2007. Well it was, but obviously due to demand it was pushed forward to the 10th of September so I missed it sneaky Contender Entertainment.

I had various promises made to me by staff there, but unfortunately was lead up the garden path (so to speak). I can provide you with a picture of the box, but technical details at present are not appearing any where. This even includes Contender's own website. This may not be intentional, as from scanning there website they have recently been purchased by a US firm, so a lot of things may be up in the air at the moment.

All I can really do here today, is show you the box. I can also advise you that its a 8 set, other than that zero. A bit disappointing, but you'll get over it. I did, here it is.


Life On Mars - The Complete Series (Box Set 8 DVDs)


More on the set, as it comes to hand. Hopefully that's before I get my copy. 'Til next time Martians, peace and the special features be special because the box itself ain't that special. But that's just me.



Cyberman

Monday, September 17, 2007

Gene Could Be King

Greetings Martians "The Trek Movie Report", reports that Gene Hunts' latest incarnation Colm Meaney could be celebrating soon. Colm's latest movie "Kings" has been put up as Ireland's entry for Best Foreign Language Film, at next years Academy Awards. The movie has also recently received a screening, as part of Toronto's Contemporary World Cinema this past Wednesday.

For those of you Life On Mars fans out there, who are yet to see Colm in action this movie (as it is being put up for an award) would probably be a good start. If the movie doesn't interest you, there is always Star Trek: The Next Generation or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (one of my personal favourite shows) or many others roles in which you can catch Colm. Colm's acting career is quite extensive, commencing with a guest appearance on the famous "Z Cars" in 1978.

If you would like to find out more about Colm, it appear he does not have an official website but you can find out heaps about the man on his IMDB page. I personally am looking forward to seeing Colm as Gene, to see what he puts into the role. He's not Philip Glenister, but he is a damn good actor! The world should have no problem in trusting the Gene-Meaney, even me the sceptical one who trashed the idea of a US remake initially.

'Til next time Martians, peace and looks like this Gene ends up in 72 not 73 just to confirm. How do I know? The Godfather came out then.



Cyberman

Saturday, September 15, 2007

LOM.TV & A2A.TV for your own site

Hello everyone I am posting these for you today, which some of you may have already noticed on the 2 sites, LifeOnMars.tv and AshesToAshes.tv. These are known as, "Blidgets". Yes Blidgets, stupid name hey? But they look cool, or so I've been told. Any way what a Blidget is, is Blog turned into a widget. I have had several requests over the past month or so, asking me how I did them. Quite simply I set up a Widgetbox account. This can be applied to any blog, too.

If you are interested in keeping up to date with the latest Life On Mars news, or news coming in about its sequel series Ashes to Ashes you can now place these "Blidgets" in your own Myspace, Facebook, LiveJournal or many other different kinds of pages. All you need to do is click the "Get Widget" link under either or both of them and follow the prompts. Installation is very easy, now travelling into the past takes several leaps into the future.

'Til next time Martians peace, and if you happen to see a man in a Tan leather jacket tell him he looks better in black.





Cyberman

Thursday, September 13, 2007

.................................73 or is it 72?


Cast of David E Kelley's - Life On Mars


Greetings Martians, here we are at the 73rd post on LifeOnMars.tv. (Insert Fanfare, Bells, Whistles, McDonald's Ice Cream cake and party streamers) You would all know why such a strange numbered post is being is being celebrated here, wouldn't you? Well if you don't simply click the 'X' in the corner of the screen, because if you fall in that category you shouldn't be here in the first place. Go on, bye! The 73 / 72 in the title may have a few of you perplexed though, so I'll explain it.

The 72 part is referring to the publicised year that Sam ends up in, in David E Kelley's version of Life On Mars. Though this has still not been officially confirmed as the actual year, this is what is floating around the web at present. It could simply be a typo that's made its way around from site to site, because as we all know Sam lands in 73 in the British original version of the show. Or it may be a change made by Mr Kelley himself, all anyone can do is speculate at present.

The shooting for the pilot episode has now been completed. Unlike the UK version, the episode actually has a title "Hit And Run". Quite an appropriate one to, but lets hope we don't have similar for the rest of the series. I personally don't want to be watching an episode called "Sam Meets His Mum" or "Mom" as they say in the US. It now seems quite clear that the characters "Ray Carling" and "Chris Skelton" have been scrapped in this version, and replaced with more American sounding characters. Those being "Kenmore" and "George Randal" being played by Doug Scott Kramer and Lenny Clarke respectively.

There is also another characters name that keeps popping up as well, being "Milton Kornbull". Where Milton sits in all of this, is still unknown. More on Milton as it comes to hand. JasonO'Mara.net has posted 2 pictures from the filming of the episode. These pictures have revealed some minor spoilers, the first being that Sam does not wear his trademark black jacket but a tan one instead. The second being that there is some action going on near a cinema, which displays "The Godfather" as the movie showing. A classic American police car is shown in the middle of the street, which UK fans may recognize as the KLF car (if you are into music at all). Its not the KLF car, its a US police car and was around along time before they were.

In other casting news the role of Maya has gone to Stephanie Cahves-Jacobsen. Stephanie although born in Hong Kong, commenced her acting career on Australian television in Farscape (which was made in Australia not the US [many people get confused over this]) and then went on to play a reoccurring character on "Home and Away". Stephanie will be next seen in the US tele-movie "Battlestar Galactica: Razor", which is a bridging story between seasons 3 and 4 of that series. Stephanie plays the role of Kendra Shaw in this.

Now some site news for you, Life On Mars.tv has just surpassed 12,000 visitors. Its spin off site AshesToAshes.tv for the upcoming sequel series has just surpassed 4,000 visitors. If you are all wondering why that news has its own dedicated site, its because it can! No seriously its because this site LifeOnMars.tv, has LOM news to report and AshesToAshes.tv has A2A news to report and that's all you need to know. The picture above is actually a desktop for you all to download, "Simple Kid Gifts" don't get any more ideas of stealing my stuff or I may have to purchase a plane ticket and sort you out Jay and Silent Bob style.

If any of you had been waiting for the promised Frank Morgan desktop, don't stress its still coming. This one was mainly made to celebrate the US version, having just finished filming for its pilot. 'Til next time Martians, peace and now the wait for 1972 . . .




Cyberman

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Gene 2: The Sequel or Hunting for Miles?


As you have probably guessed or perhaps even seen elsewhere, Gene Hunt has finally been cast for David E Kelley's US Remake. I have known this for a while and if you read the previous post, you will understand why this one has taken a little longer than expected to appear. Pesky viruses and spyware, I'm not going to go on and on about it here. I already did that in the last post. Any way, Gene.

Philip Glenister gave us the phrase in his role of DCI Hunt, "Trust the Gene-Genie!". His new US counterpart may have something similar up his sleeve, "Trust the Gene-Meanie!". Now I'm being stupid, but hey it could happen as the role has gone to none other than Colm Meaney. That's right Colm Meaney, and I think the producers have made a fine choice here as well. Why? Well Colm which many of you know as Cheif Miles O'Brien from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, has already done a stint as Gene before.

In 2004, Colm starred as Gene in the movie Layer Cake along with Daniel Craig of James Bond fame. To the many Doctor Who fans who frequent this site as well, Colm has a connection to time travel but not just from Star Trek. Layer Cake also stars Burn Gorman, who plays Owen Harper in Torchwood. Degrees of separation, oh well I guess we can blame Kevin Bacon for that one. You know what I mean, I hope.

At this point I would like to congratulate Colm, on securing one of the industries most sought after roles. I am sure he will do a great take on Gene, but as to Colm filling Phil's shoes. All I can say is there is only one Gene-Genie, now prepare for the Gene Meanie. Some other casting information has been discovered as well from checking the Showfax website. It appears that either Chris and Ray's parts have either been renamed or cut and replaced by a Det. John Smollers and Det. George Randall. So there is no US Div, but is Marshall Lancaster crying over it? I sincerely doubt this.

One more thing to note is that the US pilot, seems to be a complete remake of the original story as the criminal in it also goes by the name of Colin Raimes and Sam's girlfriend is still Maya. Hmm, I wonder if the young Colin Raimes will have a head like a weather balloon, like his UK counterpart. That's mean isn't it? Well I guess I'm just a Meaney, now Gene is too. 'Til next time Martians peace, I Meaney it!



Cyberman

Season Two Poll Results

Well its finally over everybody, the poll that is. For a while there I thought it was my computer as well, thanks to the wonderfully nice person who wrote trojan "Vundo" or Virtual.Mundo as it is also known. That my Martian friends has been the reason inhibiting myself from posting this sooner. If you ever contract, this garbage on your own machine be sure to download or update Windows Defender, it seems to work where even Norton won't. Well at least in the case of this, any way.

The poll ended up going for a lot longer than originally anticipated, and for that reason we finished with a much larger voter turn out than previous polls. The grand total of votes for this one, was 97. The writers of Episodes 2 and 3, should sincerely thank me for giving the poll more time, as if I didn't those episodes would have recieved no votes at all. The winner of the poll was episode 8, Sam's return to 2007. This episode led the poll all the way from the begining, so I guess everyone liked seeing Sam have conclusion to his predicament. Perhaps Mr Kelley should take note, and keep the US Remake short and sweet and leave viewers wanting more.

The final breakdown of votes can be seen below. I would like to thank those of you who took the time to vote, it has been most appreciated. The new poll has now been launched and can be seen in the links tab, like all others please vioce your opinion. 'Til next time Martians, peace and I wish it were 1973 so I wouldn't habve to worry about viruses and trojans. Cheers,





Cyberman

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Series Two Refresher and Stuff

Greetings Martians once again. Today I bring you news that the Series 2 poll is finally finishing. With Life On Mars currently receiving the old REPEAT treatment in the UK, I thought it a great opportunity for you all to voice your views on your favourite Series 2 episode. The poll has been running here for quite a while, and it is time to bring it to a close. Although this particular poll has been one of the most successful so far, I am still seeking further votes before closing it. At this stage the leader in the poll is Episode 8, with 35% of the vote. Its closely followed by Episode 5, "The Camberwick Green" episode with 25% of vote.

At the time of writing this post, we have had a Mammoth 65 votes. Doesn't sound that impressive when you write it, but compared to previous ones its a great turn out. Even so I will continue it up until the 17th of August, which is this Friday so if you haven't put in your 2p / 2c / 2e or whatever your currency is, now is your chance. If you are finding that it is hard to remember all of the great episodes from Series 2, there is a link below the poll to our episode breakdowns. To make it easier for you though I am going to summarise the episodes for you here and now.

SERIES TWO

Episode One: Even though Sam continues to have dreams of his old life, he still remains grounded in 1973. This episode sees Sam coming face-to-face with a criminal he put away in 2006, at an earlier stage in his life. The criminal is a corrupt casino owner, by the name of Tony Crane. In the future Crane is responsible for a series of murders, Sam sees this as an opportunity to stop him before he can commit the crimes. At the end of the episode we see Sam puzzled by a phone call from Hyde. Sam dials the operator and gets the phone number for the last call to his phone, this ends up being HYDE 2612. Sam now has an advantage in his situation, he can call them as well but will it do him any good?

Episode Two: This episode sees Sam and Gene, running into their mentors respectively. Genes' boss Harry Wolf and Sam's' boss from 2006 Glen Fletcher. Both of these 2 characters become inter-woven into the story in different ways. Glen Fletcher becomes an assistant to the team, in the investigation of a spate of robberies. Genes old boss Harry Wolf becomes the prime suspect after a tip-off from one of the local crims, who at present is blamed for the robberies.

Episode Three: Bombs are going off around Manchester. Gene suspects the IRA, Sam is not convinced as the bombs used are not their weapon of choice. Because of Sams theories about the situation, he dares Ray to investigate a suspect car which all goes terribly wrong for Ray. This further compounds Rays' feelings about Sam.

Episode Four: The episode starts with the body of a cosmetics sales lady being found in a local tip. When the body is taken to forensics it is discovered that the corpse is clasping a red geranium. This is a call sign from a killer, who has since died. Sam suspects a copycat killer and is subsequently lured into the world of "Swinger Parties", with the aide of Annie. Gene gate-crashes the under-cover investigation in the guise of Gordon Brown.

Episode Five: Sam feels stranger than usual, and at the start of this episode imagines himself and Gene to be puppets from the famous 70's children's program "Camberwick Green". Sam's hallucinations, we find are the result of an overdose in his hospital bed in present day. Sam must over come these visions to help a desperate man, who has attempted suicide in A-Division.

Episode Six: The team investigate a crime involving heroin in the Ugandan-Asian community. Gene is hell bent on putting someone away as soon as possible. Sam wants to ensure that teams investigates this properly, as he has a close attachment to the situation in having gone out with a Ugandan-Asian woman, his girlfriend Maya. Sam has further contact with Maya through his dreams, only to find out that she has left him in 2006-7.

Episode Seven: This episode sees the team investigating Gene, as all the evidence points to Gene having committed a murder. Sam's boss from Hyde DCI Morgan is brought in to oversee the investigation. As the investigation progresses Gene is looking more and more guilty and another murder occurs, but Sam is determined to prove his Guv's innocence.

Episode Eight: In this the final installment of our beloved series, we see many loose ends tied up. Sam discovers his apparent true identity from Morgan (who is still hanging around from the previous episode), and is instructed by Morgan to create a case against Gene. The story revolves around the death of a miner, who it is suspected has been killed by notorious cop-killer Leslie John. The action does not stop in this final episode, and we see Sam return to present day. Is this really what Sam wants though?

Okay Martians now there is no reason not to vote in the poll. I would also like to thank all of the people who either commented on my last post or emailed me about it. The response was amazing, its great to see the site has so much support. I would also like to offer my condolences to the lovely Dawn from Fab Cards, who I have previously promoted here. It appears she too has fallen victim to this merchants copying ways. The best thing to do with this other merchant is to simply boycott his store, I certainly am.

Finally I would like to add, that over at John Simm PR (one of the other sites I contribute to) we will be doing rundowns of the entire series in the near future. If you would like to catch up on all the latest John related news JSPR, is always a good start. 'Til next time Martians peace, and only 3 days to go until the US version of LOM begins. Yay or Nay?



Cyberman

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Can You Believe the Cheek of It Guv?

Greetings Martians, in the past I have endeavoured to bring you news about Life On Mars merchandise. From the legitimate "official", to hand made as well as counterfeit. I have done this for the reason that there is very little "official" merchandise available. On top of all this I commenced making desktops for fans of the site, I put out 3 different ones to date those being of Sam Tyler, Gene Hunt and Annie Cartwright.

If you would like a copy of each these, they can be located in the Downloads section of the site. You may also be aware that the Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt desktops I did 2 different versions. The originals were out of perspective, so I corrected them and replaced them on the site here.

I guess you are all wondering where all of this is going aren't you? Well one of you out there, knows exactly what I am talking about already. I'm still speaking cryptically aren't I? Ok I'll get to the point somebody has decided to take those desktops of Sam and Gene, remove the Life On Mars.tv logo and sell them as posters. Yes they have, you can check it out for yourselves if you like. Whats funny though is the fact that who ever did this, did so with the originals of the pictures (which were out of perspective). Pure Genius! You can find this dodgy merchandise over at ebay.co.uk. A direct link is here, and if you don't mind telling the merchant that these are not his / her "own" designs it would be most appreciated.

Also who ever you are, you forgot Annie. I doubt if Liz White will be offended though. 'Til next time Martians peace, and in future all images will be watermarked, grrrrrrrrrrr.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Presenting Annie Cartwright 2 & Sam Tyler 2


Rachelle LeFevre & Jason O'Mara - The new Annie Cartwright & Sam Tyler. (from David E Kelley's US Remake of Life On Mars)


Greetings once again Martians, today as you can see I'm here to bring you more news about the US Remake of Life On Mars. The series which recently cast Jason O'Mara as the character made famous by John Simm, Sam Tyler. Is about to go into production shortly. Jason O'Mara.net reports filming for the pilot, will commence in LA on the 14th of August and go through until September 7th.

If you are curious to see Jason in action before his introduction as Sam Tyler, head on over to Sony's official site for the latest installment of the Resident Evil series of films, Resident Evil: Extinction. Jason stars as Albert Wesker in the soon to be released movie along with Milla Jovovich, returning once again as Alice. The movie site also has an online game. Strange to be reporting about video games here but not the first time, and probably not the last. Imagine a Life On Mars video game where you could pretend to be Gene Hunt, you could get kids to mind the Cortina and threaten them with stomping on their toys if they didn't.

I can just picture it now, the characters could be done in the style of the Camberwick Green sequence and you could work your way through each episode as a stage in the game. The ultimate goal of the game of course being to get back to present day, may be even at a later stage we would see an Ashes To Ashes add-on pack. You could play just as Sam or Gene, or 2 player with the choice of the second character. If you lost strength in the game you could regain it by going to the Railway Arms. You could get hints from Nelson. Wouldn't that be great? Come on BBC the sales potential is there.

Oh sorry back in reality now, I was telling you about Jason. If you still aren't satisfied with your quest for knowledge on Jason, IMDB is always a good start. The news about the filming start date is great news, it also means we should be receiving casting confirmations shortly for Gene, Ray and Chris. After all it starts in 2 weeks time.

Well that's it for today really, but before I go I would like to alert you to a new site feature, the Ashes To Ashes.tv news widget. What this widget does is give the news headlines from AshesToAshes.tv and allows instant access to the posts. Now the sister site is embedded in the links bar. I have done the reverse over at Ashes To Ashes.tv. 'Til next time Martians peace, and don't worry Rachelle Sam's shy.



Cyberman

Friday, July 27, 2007

Two Thirds of 100 Posts Bonanza . . . .

Yes Martians I have taken up the challenge. The challenge to bring you the most ridiculous post title of all time. Have I won any medals? No? Well you can invent one for me, if you like. Alright stupidity aside, I have some long over due news today on the US Remake / Re-Imagining (wank-word of the century). After a virtual drought on information about this David E Kelly re-interpretation finally some casting news on the show.

TV.com reports that casting has now occurred for the male and female leads for the show. Previously I had reported to you the casting of Rachelle LeFevre as Annie Cartwright, and then the show was stalled because of the "pilot season" in the US. The producers stalled the casting with the hope of picking up "prime" actors, after all the new shows had been sorted out. That must have now occurred as the site (TV.com) reports on Jason O'Mara on being cast as the US version of our time-travelling hero, Sam Tyler.

Jason is no stranger to playing UK policeman having had a stint on The Bill as DCI Pallister. As the show is a re-write though, the character of Sam will be a US policeman, or will he? That was strange of me to write wasn't it? Well I have good reason, Jason is actually from the UK Himself. Ireland to be precise, and has played with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Could it be that the US Sam is still from Hyde, but just wakes up in the US? We can only speculate at this stage, but more as it comes to hand. The question now remains on who will take the role of Gene Hunt, played by Philip Glenister in the original BBC version.

Now back to the stupid title of the post. I called it this because its the 67th posting here on the site, and as regular visitors to this site would know I am a bit different. After all I celebrated the 42nd post as well, didn't I? This post has another landmark to celebrate, the 10,000th visitor. Was it you? If it was I'm sorry, I don't have any prizes. As per usual, please feel free to comment on the post via the link bellow. 'Til next time Martians peace, and who will be the US Gene-Genie?




Cyberman

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The Post That Got Stalled, But Couldn't Wait Any Longer . . . .

Well that has to be the longest title for a post so far, but there is method to the madness. From the title of this post, its blatantly obvious I have had some news to report but have been holding back on it. The reason I have been doing this, is because I was hoping to tell you something additional to what I am about to write. That was site surpassing 10,000 visitors, but as you can see by the counter in links tab it still has a few more visits to go. Any way the news.

First up I would like to report that everyones favourite DCI (Philip Glenister) finally now has his own official site Philip Glenister.com. Phil's new site offers fans pretty much everything they would want to know, and somethings they wouldn't (just joking) want to know about our man Phil. This includes a bio, news section, contact details for if you'd like him in your next movie, tv series or even for voice-over work. On top of all this, it also contains some quite exceptional stills of Phil at work on his various different roles and in the future also promises video as well. The site also finally gives out the start date on filming for Ashes To Ashes, More about that over at AshesToAshes.TV, LifeOnMars.tv's sister site.

Three cheers for Phil, and make his a brandy to go. I am certain no one will be happier about this than the lovely girls over at Philip Glenister Index, which is currently going through a site re-design. If you haven't visited Philip Glenister Index before, it is well worth your while. Although it now has competition with the official site, PGI is possibly one of the most brilliant and well researched sites on all things Phil. The administrators there Fran and Paula, also have a great forum there where you chat about Phil as well.

I have also received news about the Life On Mars (RP) Site from its administrator "Sam", yes Sam Tyler! Well that's what he calls himself, is back up and ready for your participation. I unfortunately don't get to spend a lot of time there personally, but when I do I'm Nelson. Most of the main characters have already been taken, but hey its all just fun any way. I wonder if anyone has signed up as Alex Drake yet?

On the merchandise front, still no details on the complete series box set but I am sure this will change soon. Contenders' marketing department have advised me that when they know something, they will pass it on to me. Thanks guys, always nice to be able to offer exclusive news. I have also news to report that Hot Animation's brand new website has finally launched as well, after a few set backs. I say this because they initially announced a date last month, which for some reason or other didn't happen. Oh well all of us hit snags in business for some reason at some stage. If you don't remember Hot Animation were the team responsible for the Camberwick Green sequence, featured in the Season Two promos as well as Episode 5 of Season Two. They are also known for their world wide hit series "Bob The Builder", ok so you aren't 5 years old but you should still have heard of it.

With the broadcast of LOM Season One finally completed in Australia, the next thing you would expect the Australian media to jump on would be Season Two. Wouldn't it? Well instead of that "The Green Guide" (TV Lift out from The Age newspaper), jumps straight to Ashes To Ashes. Bridget McManus (no relation to Channel 10 TV show host Rove McManus) reports the following in her weekly column "Networking".

"Life On Mars Continues

Fans of UK crime series Life On Mars can look forward to its sequel, which has a title continuing the David Bowie theme, Ashes To Ashes. Starring Spooks' Keeley Hawes as a DCI nick-named "Posh Knickers", the sequel is set in 1981. It is unlikely that the new series will air here this year. Neither will the next series of Spooks, which is quietly gathering dust in the ABC's programming cupboard."

Well Bridget you would be correct Ashes To Ashes will not air in Australia, until at least Season Two of Life On Mars is shown here. Also Bridget it needs to have been filmed first as well, or perhaps you've discovered how to travel through time yourself. Please don't tell Keeley the secrets if you have, otherwise A2A will be a one episode series. Don't you just love sarcasm?

Finally you may have noticed several minor changes to this site, itself. If you haven't, one of them was staring you in the face when you opened the page. That one is the amount of time this site has been online for, and as of yesterday has just passed 200 days. Quite good for a fan blog really, another change is the cbox is now a pop-up. The cbox change has its advantages too, the main one being that you can still have it open and go to other sites.

Well that was a truly mammoth posting, I hope you all enjoyed it. 'Til next time Martians peace, and if you are an Australian media critic don't state the obvious its not news.




Cyberman

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Bits and Pieces

Greetings Martians, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is John Simm (Sam Tyler) has not been told his Doctor Who appearances have finished, by Russell T Davies or the BBC. The bad news is John, dispelled all rumours last week on the Richard and Judy show that he would be appearing in Life On Mars's spin-off, Ashes To Ashes.

Probably the only person happy to hear this, would be Ashes To Ashes recently cast female lead Keeley Hawes. She'd only be happy for the reason that she doesn't have to share the spotlight now, with anyone other than Philip Glenister (Gene Hunt). Oh well, John had his show, now Keeley is getting hers. John also discussed his latest stage play with co-star Adrian Bower, to the two hosts.

Well Martians, at least we have some clarity now. Next up I wish to report, I am now writing for yet another blog. John Simm PR has asked me to contribute to the site, which I have already commenced doing. If you are interested in watching the John (Richard & Judy) interview, the site has video for you there. So that brings my total web presence up to seven. Four blogger sites of my own, two I contribute for and a website. Sounds like I'm reciting the 12 days of Christmas, oh well.

In addition to my new site I'm contributing for, you may well have noticed quite a few changes to my sites lately. The most obvious I suppose being the clocks, and yes people the time is correct to where I am situated so need to keep asking. Besides the clocks above the chatboxes on LOM.tv and A2A.tv, I have included a retro arcade game on each site. LOM.tv has PONG, yes not very exciting but then again neither was 1973 no major game release came out that year. PONG was actually written in 1972, but I am sure Sam played it out the back of the Railway Arms in 1973. maybe this will come up as a deleted scene in the definitive box set arriving later in the year. A2A.tv has Donkey Kong the Nintendo favourite from 1981, so there is method to the madness.

Any way that's basically it for the moment. The picture below of John was the artwork for a movie he did in 1999 called Human Traffic (about the rave scene in Cardiff). I as well as the sites creator Bad Wolf, will be doing a critique on the 2 versions of the film available, Human Traffic & Human Traffic Remixed over at John Simm PR. 'Til next time Martians peace, until Mrs Hunt and Alex Drake go to war.

John Simm in Human Traffic




Cyberman

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Alex Drake sorted!

Back again Martians, earlier than expected. For the last couple of months the BBC has left the public puzzled, since the final episode of Life On Mars. When the show finished, fans were left with the questions "Will Sam Tyler be in Ashes To Ashes?", and "Who is Alex Drake?". The later has finally been answered, with casting confirmation coming in this week, via a BBC press release.

LifeOnmars.TV was originally tipped off about this by "Paul: Earth Defence", a fellow blogger and regular visitor to the site. Thanks Paul. You can find the full story over at LifeOnMars.TV's sister site AshesToAshes.TV, the role was originally expected to be taken by 'ER' and 'Mission Impossible II' beauty Thandie Newton. Well Thandie, you missed out. The winner of the much sought after role of Alex Drake has ended up going to Keeley Hawes of 'Spooks' and 'Tipping The Velvet' fame.

Congratulations Keeley! Now all you have to do, is make it back to 2008 from 1981, don't get lost along the way. Sam Tyler (John Simm) ended up winning his dream of returning to modern day, will Alex Drake? Only time will tell. 'Til next Martians, peace and where does Gene Hunt's wife figure into all of this?




Cyberman

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

I've been lazy with this site, and I am sorry :(

Yes I have Martians, the last couple of weeks I have been concentrating most of my efforts into Torchwood PR another site I work on. I have had content to post here, but each time I started to write this post more Torchwood content appeared. Yep you guessed it, I got carried away with all of the things happening in the 'Whoniverse'. Don't get me wrong, I adore both series and at present news relating to Mr John Simm (a.k.a. Sam Tyler) has been to do with WHO and his appearance as 'The Master / Mr Saxon'.


A Statue of John as 'The Master' from DOCTOR WHO


Below you will find an Australian promo for Life On Mars & Robin Hood which aired last weekend on Channel 2 (ABC Australia). Australian networks have a funny habit of doing things like this, promoting more than one program in one ad that is. Hopefully the next one I put up for you will be LOM related only. 'Til next Martians, peace and keep it clean when online.


Dual Promo LOM & Robin Hood




Cyberman

Saturday, June 16, 2007

The Flood Gates Are Open . . . .

Welcome all once again to a blog known as LifeOnMars.tv. It has been a while since some real news has been posted here, regarding the series, its actors or its upcoming spin off AshesToAshes. The later being Ashes To Ashes with good reason, I've dedicated another blog to it (AshesToAshes.tv). Well the news drought is officially over, with news coming in from the BBC about the final 3 episodes of Doctor Who.

Yes Doctor Who, why would he report on that here? Well as regular visitors to LifeOnMars.tv would know, John Simm (aka: our beloved Sam Tyler) is about to return to our screens as 'The Master' the Doctors' arch-nemesis. John's character has been mentioned all the way through Series 3 so far, but not as the Master. The Master is using the guise of 'Harold Saxon', a political candidate in the UK elections.

Saxon's character has been in communication with Martha Jones' (the Doctors current companion) mother throughout Series 3, in an attempt to discredit the Doctor. Each communication between Martha and her Mother has resulted in a war of words. Mrs Jones has been manipulated into believing that Martha is in danger, by her being with the Doctor. This however, is as far from the truth as possible. The Doctor, though not yet fully over the loss of his previous companion Rose Tyler, would give his life in an instant to save Martha if he had to.

Okay, you now have your background as to why Doctor Who is being covered, now for the news. The BBC has now released episode synopsises for the final 3 episodes for the season, they go as follows . . . . . .

Doctor Who – Utopia Ep 11
Saturday 16th June 2007
7.15-8.00pm BBC ONE
www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho


Jack's back! As Captain Jack storms back into the Doctor's life, the Tardis is thrown out of control, to the end of the universe, in tonight's episode of Russell T Davies's Doctor Who. There, they find the savage Futurekind ruling the wilderness, while a lonely Professor tries in vain to save the last of the human race.

David Tennant plays the Doctor and Freema Agyeman plays his companion, Martha Jones. John Barrowman, Rene Zagger and Sir Derek Jacobi guest star.

Doctor Who – The Sound Of Drums Ep 12
Saturday 23rd June 2007
7.15-8.00pm BBC ONE
www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho


Harry Saxon becomes Prime Minister, and his reign of terror begins, in the penultimate episode of Russell T Davies's Doctor Who. This is only the start of his ambitions, however, as he announces mankind's first contact with an alien race, the Toclafane. An audacious plan, spanning the whole of time and space, begins to close around the Earth.

David Tennant plays the Doctor and Freema Agyeman plays his companion, Martha Jones. John Barrowman and John Simm guest star.

Doctor Who – Last Of The Time Lords Ep 13
Saturday 30th June 2007
7.10-7.55pm BBC ONE
www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho


Earth has been conquered and the Master rules supreme, with the Doctor a helpless prisoner, in the final episode of Russell T Davies's Doctor Who.The entire human race has been reduced to slavery, as the mighty warships of a new Time Lord Empire rise from the ashes. Only Martha Jones can save the world...

David Tennant plays the Doctor and Freema Agyeman plays his companion, Martha Jones. John Barrowman and John Simm guest star.

Although not mentioned in the Utopia synopsis, it is expected 'Mr Saxon' will again receive a mention. Presumably by 'The Professor', who incidentally happens to be another time lord. It is worthwhile noting that the Doctor himself was referred to as the 'Professor' by Ace, during his sixth incarnation played by Sylvester McCoy. Could it be that the Doctor is about to meet himself in this episode? This question will be answered within the next 24 hours.

So once again Martians, we will be treated to Johns presence on screen. For the time being, it looks like John is about to take temporal acting to the next level. I am sure he won't disappoint. 'Til next time Martians, peace and remember the immortal words of Australian Dance Act Rogue Traders, 'So here it comes, the sound of drums' . . . . .




Cyberman

Monday, June 4, 2007

Life On Mars.tv Desktop 3 - Annie Cartwright

Greetings Martians, the news seems to have slowed down a bit of late. So what do you do when theres' no news to report? You attempt to keep people interested in other ways, the current method has been the release of several desktops. Well you now have number 3 to add to your collections.

Number 3 is none other Sam's 1973 sweetheart, WPC / WDC Annie Cartwright played by the georgeous Liz White. In addition to Annie, the previous ones have been revised, remixed, rehashed what ever you want to call it as well. When they were first posted, they were slightly out of perspective. This has now been corrected, so if you have the originals delete them and get the new versions. Or keep them if you want to, I doubt they will become collectors items however.

Lastly I would like to thank the people who commented on the last post, the feeling seems to be that you would like to see one of the whole team. Consider it done, after that, the following one will be Frank Morgan. After that who knows. I would still like to continue my request, for you all to nominate the following desktop after Frank. Please do this by clicking the comments link under the post and voicing your opinion. Remember people I do listen to your ideas, the next one will be evidence of that.

'Til next time Martians, peace and who took my Party Seven?


Annie Cartwright 800x600 (Click to enlarge)




Cyberman

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Life On Mars.tv Desktop 2 - Gene Hunt

Two posts ago I promised you all more desktops. Well the promise has been kept. Here he is in all his UN-PC glory, everyones' favorite "Gov" Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister). I also asked you all a question in the post that had Sam Tyler (John Simm) as a desktop, didn't I? Well at this stage no one has responded.

Am I to take it then that you don't want more desktops? Well I'm going to do them any way, but I would still appreciate your input as to what you would like to see next. Please comment in the comments section under the post as to who you want next after Annie. Yes Annie Cartwright (Liz White) will be next, but then who? Its all up to you. 'Til next time Martians, peace.


Gene Hunt 800x600 (Click to enlarge)




Cyberman

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Something Different, Yet The Same

Greetings Martians when you are writing a blog for show that's already finished, finding new things to post are sometimes hard. Both series have completed in the UK, the DVD box sets are out, the soundtrack cd and as I have mentioned in an earlier post, very little other merchandise. So what do I have for you today, you may be asking. Well Martians today I have a special treat, for those of you in the UK.

Below I have an Australian Commercial for LifeOnMars on ABC TV (Channel 2), where it currently screens on Sunday nights at 8.30pm. The commercial is for Season One Episode Two, which screens tonight in Australia. Whilst most of you may have seen the episodes, or indeed the entire series this will be a change for several reasons. The way it is edited is completely unlike the UK advertisements, its also cropped to 14:9 (not full widescreen) and includes Australian voice overs. Hopefully I will be able to offer more of these, as the episodes air in Australia. For the time being enjoy this one.


(LifeOnMars - S01E02 Australian Promo)

'Til next time Martians, peace and Aussies is he mad? You be the judge.



Cyberman

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Life On Mars.tv Desktop 1 - Sam Tyler

Hello everyone, of late I had been utilizing my design talents on other peoples sites which is something I enjoy doing. As a result though, this site has slipped a bit, not badly but below what I wanted. So as of today I'll be putting a little more effort into bringing you both LOM related news, as well as producing downloads for you like this desktop below.

This desktop features everyones hero Sam Tyler (John Simm), and is number 1 in this series. The second one will feature, none other than your favourite Gov Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister). At this stage I am planning on doing, all major characters. If you like my desktop and have ideas about what characters you would like to see next, simply respond in the comments section.

Enjoy the desktop and peace Martians.


Sam Tyler 800x600 (Click to enlarge)




Cyberman

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

TV Quick And TV Choice Awards

The 2007 TV Quick And TV Choice Awards are on, which gives Martians in the UK the opportunity to vote for their heroes in 3 different categories. It has Philip Glenister up against John Simm for Best Actor. To vote for Phil select 16 or John 31. Liz White is up for Best Actress for playing Annie Cartwright, select 35 to vote for her.

LifeOnMars has also been nominated for Best Loved Drama Series, select 15 to pick it Martians. Voting for the awards closes at midnight on June 15th, 2007 so get your nominations in by heading over to their web site tvchoiceawards.co.uk. The choice will be hard for Best Actor with Phil against John, decisions, decisions. The rest is obvious for fans of the show.

Any way Martians, more opportunities for the show to win gold. What more could you ask for? So who is it going to be, Best Gov or Best Time Traveller?



Cyberman

Monday, May 21, 2007

Promise and Disappointment

Over the weekend we had several events in the world of Life On Mars, the Australian Premiere of Season One and a BAFTA Award for the show (special thanks to Mark from Tardis And Torchwood Treasures for the awards tip-off). The first episode was shown on ABC TV (Channel 2) in Australia on Sunday night at 8.30pm, to some quite favourable reviews.

Australian newspaper The Age had this to say, from its columnist Greg Hassall,"On one hand Life on Mars is critical of the corruption, sexism and racism rampant during the '70s. At the same time, there is obvious nostalgia for the period's less complicated moral landscape."

The article then goes on to add "Time-travel scenarios are notoriously tricky to handle and the writers set themselves a huge task trying to combine this element with a gritty police drama. It's no surprise the show was rejected for years before the BBC finally took a punt on it. It was clearly a punt worth taking, with the show becoming a huge hit in the UK and picking up an international Emmy award." So The Age like it, and so they should.

The ratings for the week in Australia should be interesting with respect to LOM, Channel 2 rarely makes the top 20. So lets keep our fingers crossed for it. I have no doubt it would have done better on a commercial station, but we will have to just wait and see.

Besides the premiere in Australia, Life On Mars had other good news this week where it picked up the illustrious "Pioneer Audience Award" at the BAFTA's on Sunday. It had been nominated in 3 categories, including Best Actor (John Simm) and Best Drama. Sorry John, better luck next time hey?

Oh well the writers now have another award, to add to the growing stash including an International Emmy Award. 'Til next time Martians, Peace.




Cyberman

Writing about Tuesday on Monday

Life on Mars stars John Simm and Philip Glenister have reunited for a heist movie set in the 1980s, called Tuesday. The low-budget film, which is currently shooting in the UK, sees the duo ditch their TV police persona's and take on the characters of career criminals. "John and I are the bad boys," Glenister told BBC Radio 2. "We rob a bank. We rob a few banks, actually."

Glenister, who said he was "contracted" to work with Simm once a year, is currently dividing his time between Tuesday and the Cranford Chronicles - a BBC costume drama based on three novels by Wives and Daughters author Elizabeth Gaskell. "I'm flitting from the 1880s to the 1980s on a daily basis," he said. "I'm all over the shop."

The actor will also begin filming the sequel to Life On Mars, called Ashes To Ashes, in July this year. Simm's character "Sam Tyler" will not appear in the new series, with a female detective "Alex Drake" from the 2008 taking his place. For more information on Ashes To Ashes, head on over to AshesToAshes.tv.


(This time the squad car is after the John and Phil.)


'Til next time Martians, peace and remember, somebody else has an accident soon and wakes up in 1981. Is Alex more prepared than Sam? Only time will tell.



Cyberman

Saturday, May 12, 2007

US Re-Runs

Hello everybody, LifeOnMars returns to everyone's lounge rooms on May 26th in the US. BBC America will be airing a series of repeats from Season One in 4 episode blocks, the first block will include episodes 1, 4, 5 and 8. The screening will commence at 12PM and will go through until 4PM on Saturday the 26th, it will then be repeated again on Sunday the 27th between 2PM and 6PM.

I imagine BBC America are doing this to re-introduce the show again, prior to the premiere of Season Two later in the year. Still no more news on David E Kelley's US re-imagining. Maybe its been canned, I doubt it though. We have been through half this year almost, and only one role has been cast for the show. The role being that of WPC Annie Cartwright (Rachelle LeFevre). Annie's character will more than likely be renamed though, to make her sound more American.

'Til next time, Martains peace.



Cyberman

Life On Mars In Australia.

On Sunday the 20th of May 2007 at 8.30pm, Australia finally gets to see season one of LifeOnMars. I say finally because I actually live there myself, and have been writing this blog since January 2007. That's right folks, with the series completely over now. With fans looking forward to the spin off series Ashes To Ashes, ABC Australia has finally bowed to the pressure and decided to screen it. Three cheers ABC, yay!

You sensed sarcasm there didn't you? Well sorry, I discovered this show over a year ago, what took the ABC so long? Best known to them I suppose, well their programmers at least.

With a title like "Life On Mars In Australia", you would expect that this post would have a bit more to share than simply just the Australian TV premiere date, wouldn't you? Well you would be right then, in addition to this I also have news of the Australian DVD release date for Season One. The DVD is being released through Village Roadshow on the 1st of August 2007, with a (MA15+) rating for "strong sex scene". This is more than likely because of the topless scene in episode four, where Sam meets Mark Warren the Night Club owner and extortionist.

The DVD is currently available on pre-order through EZY DVD's website. If you can't wait that long however, you can always get yourself a copy of the Zone 2 release of either the Season One or Season Two Box sets from Sendit.com via the advertisement at the top of the page. Remember though Australian Martians, we are Zone 4 and the imported discs will only play on a world zone player. Delivery from Sendit.com, usually takes under a week to Australia, provided that the item is in stock.

'Til next time Martians, peace and Australians, is he mad, in a comma or back in time? The puzzle will start to unravel next Sunday night at 8.30pm on ABC.

Cheers,




Cyberman

Thursday, May 10, 2007

DCI Merchandise Hunt or (Genes' Hunt for Collectables)

A strangely titled post, yes? Well, you should be used to that by now, coming here any way. Today's post is about the very small amount of official merchandise, which is available currently for LifeOnMars. When a show such as LifeOnMars becomes as hugely successful as it has normally, we are generally bombarded with merchandise both official, unofficial and counterfeit. LifeOnMars, seems to be an exception to this rule. Let's hope that changes, we want LOM collectibles.

At present, the only official merchandise seems to be the 2 DVD box sets, the CD soundtrack album, a 2007 calendar, the companion book (1973 Annual), some photos / mini-posters and the yet to be released "Complete Series Box set DVD Collection". Not a great deal of goodies, really is it? Wheres' the Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt action figures BBC? You know the ones where you get Season One and Season Two versions of each character, as well 1973 and 2006 Edition packaging. Perhaps even a Camberwick Green Series (I keep pushing this, I know its because they were brilliant)?

Take Two, I've just found a site on ebay.co.uk, that has rulers, fridge magnets, mouse pads, key rings, wall clocks, bottle openers and coasters. Still, I would have still expected more than what I have mentioned though. Any way Martians if you are wanting LOM Merchandise, I have compiled a short list below. The list contains both official and unofficial merchandise, no counterfeited goods will be endorsed by this site. In other words if you've ripped the soundtrack or done something similar and are planning on selling copies, don't expect endorsement here. Its just not going to happen. Here is the list of all your LOM goodies.


LifeOnMars Merchandise:


All official Merchandise, dvds, cds and books - BBC Shop

Mini Posters and Photographs - Movie Market

DVDs - Sendit.com

Wall Clocks, Rulers, Key rings, Coasters, etc . . - Fortress GB

Personalised Greeting Cards - Fab Cards

Calendars - Star Store.com

Life On Mars T-shirts - Poegoth

Key rings, mugs and t-shirts - Size Does Matter


Plus of course the download-ables:


The script to Season One Episode One in PDF Format - BBC Writers Room

Desktops, mobile desktops, screensavers, sounds and desktop applications - BBC Official Life On Mars Site

Banners, Icons and Avatars - Life On Mars Icons

Fan Episode Transcripts - The Annotated Martian

Online Role Play Game - Life On Mars RP



'Til next time Martains, peace.



Cyberman

Monday, May 7, 2007

His name is Harold!

At the end of Saturday nights episode of Doctor Who, Martians had a special treat with their first real glimpse of John Simm in character as Mr Saxon (Prime Minister). In the trailer we also learnt, that his full name is Harold Saxon. During the brief few seconds John is in, he can be seen on Television as well as at number 10 Downing Street in an oxygen mask.

For fans of LifeOnMars, who aren't familiar with the Doctor Who universe, it is rumoured that Johns' character Mr Saxon is actually the Master in his latest body. The Master is one of the Doctors' oldest adversaries and is also a time lord, but unlike the Doctor travels through time and space to achieve his own goals. These usually include trying to take over the universe. Yes the Master is bad time lord, and this will be the first appearance of the character since the 1996 Paul McGann TV Movie.

In the scene where John is at number 10 in the oxygen mask, he can be seen tapping his fingers on the table. After watching this teaser - trailer several times, I have discovered that John seems to be tapping the Doctor Who theme. I may be wrong, but it certainly sounds like it. Maybe its just Russell T Davies subtle way of saying, the Master is coming back to the show. Who knows, perhaps only Russell and John. Anyway below I have provided you with 2 stills from the trailer, featuring John in character. I hope you like them, may they be the first of many.


[Mr Harold Saxon (John Simm) Prime Minister on television.]


[Mr Harold Saxon (John Simm) Prime Minister at number 10 Downing Street.]


By the way, a quick reminder about our new Season Two Poll. Its open and waiting for you vote, tell us what you thought your favourite episode was. If your memory is not serving you well at the moment, try the link below the poll to the episode breakdowns. 'Till next time Martians, peace and remember there are now 2 time lords to look out for. One more so than the other.




Cyberman

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Fiftieth Post, Yay!!!!!!!

Hello everyone, Martians, Lifers, 73ers, etc . . . Today LifeOnMars.tv celebrates many things. Well 5 at least.

1) being around for 4 months,
2) reaching 50 posts,
3) just exceeding 6000 visits,
4) a newly redesigned site layout
5) still being around after the show has finished.

Well Martians there is still going to be news to tell, and as long as its relevant I will continue to bring it to you. Many of you out there have been saying to yourselves, 49th where's the 50th one, for the last 2 weeks. I'd been stalling, I confess. Amazingly enough though, all but 1 of those 5 things above happened today.

I have results for you from our recent Season One Poll, despite having extended the poll later past its close date hardly any of you out there bothered to enter. I don't know what it was, but those of you who did take that second to click then press vote made yourselves very clear. The most popular was Episode 8, closely followed by Episode 1. The first and last episodes of the season, next most popular was the fourth which is also the midway point of the season, weird.


In news, the Official Doctor Who site reports "Something Special" at the end of this weeks episode. The article features a picture (seen below) of John Simm smiling. Fans of John already know, as I have reported earlier that he has been cast as Mr Saxon who is running for Prime Minister in the series. It has been eluded to that John is also the Doctors oldest enemy, the Master in his latest regeneration. This has been confirmed by Philip Glenister, though Phil may have been joking.


The BBC are apparently doing this, to make up for the fact that it won't be on the following week. Hmm, wonder what it is? A mini episode featuring John? Maybe, maybe not, we'll find out tonight I guess. Also, before I go I would like to mention that we have a new poll up about Season Two this time. Please vote, you know you want to. 'Till next time, peace.



Cyberman

Thursday, April 26, 2007

The "Original" Bowie Factor

Over at LifeOnMars.tv's sister site, AshesToAshes.tv I have recently posted both the song lyrics as well as the video for the song "Ashes To Ashes" by David Bowie. I have done this to help explain the show, mainly because very little is known at this stage about how the show will be. Well I'm not stopping there. Here at LifeOnMars.tv, I intend to bring you every little piece of trivia that I can.

This does not exclude the song lyrics, or the video from which the show took its name. I've called this post 'The "Original" Bowie Factor' for the obvious reason that Life On Mars came before Ashes to Ashes, both as a song, video and series. Another piece of trivia, unlike "Ashes To Ashes" which was released in 1980 not 1981 in which the spin off is set, "Life On Mars" was released in 1973. The 22nd of June, 1973 to be precise.

You may notice the lyric "Take a look at the Lawman, Beating up the wrong guy" this more than likely is where the writers (Matthew Graham, Tony Jordan & Ashley Pharoah), got their inspiration for Gene Hunt's character. At the very least, they used it for a name of a special feature on the Season One DVD box set. Any way here they are, the lyrics and video for your enjoyment.

LIFE ON MARS - David Bowie (1973)

It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling "No"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks
through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen
But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it
ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on

[CHORUS]
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man!
Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse
has grown up a cow
Now the workers
have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause I wrote it
ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on

[CHORUS]
Dring-dring-dring......
[Mind the phone]



'Til next time Martians, peace. The next post will be the 50th on LifeOnMar.tv, if you haven't been counting from 42, so expect it to be big. Also don't forget for all the latest on Ashes To Ashes, head on over to AshesToAshes.tv for your fix of all things 1981 (at least Gene Hunt's 1981).



Cyberman

LifeOnMars Search

Google Custom Search