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

Series One Refresher and Stuff

Hello everyone, a lot of you out there are probably thinking has he gone nuts? Me, that is. Why? Well I've just posted a new poll about your favourite Series One episode, with only one episode left to screen of Season Two. The answer to that is, no I haven't. I have done this now, because I can't do one for Season Two until its finished. I will be doing one for Season Two after the series has finished.

Anyway to refresh your memories of Season One, if it all now seems a bit vague here is a brief run down of each episode. After all how can you vote in the poll, if you can't remember what they were about. Before I get into them however, I would like to send a big thank you out to the girls over at PHILIP GLENISTER INDEX.

The lovely Fran and Paula, have kindly just linked to LifeOnMars.tv. The two of them together run an awesome site, totally dedicated to our Phil. Phil is now "officially" cool, thanks to a recent online poll. But we always knew that anyway.

Now, the brief rundowns of each Season One episode. I will at a later date, do some much more extensive ones. That will be after after Season Two has ended, however. For the time being though, here are the cut down ones.

SERIES ONE

Episode One: We meet DCI Sam Tyler in 2006, he has a car accident whilst in pursuit of a kidnapper. When Sam awakes, its 1973 and he's only a DI. We meet his new boss DCI Gene Hunt, Ray and the "agreeable" Chris, also the lovely WPC Annie Cartwright. Sam amazingly enough, finds a connection between a murder in 1973 and the kidnapping of his girlfriend in 2006.

Episode Two: Sam and Gene butt heads over a criminal. Gene wants to plant evidence to convict the criminal, Sam thinks otherwise. A woman gets caught in crossfire, as a result of Trent (the criminal) being released. Sam mops her blood off the street with his jacket, at Genes request.

Episode Three: Sam goes to a textile factory with the team, to investigate a murder. The factory eventually gets turned into apartments, which is where Sam lives in 2006. Genes method of catching the crook, is the first to speak did it. Sam has other ideas, eventually discovering that it is not a murder at all, but a cover-up instead for an industrial accident.

Episode Four: A local nightclub owner and police informant "Stephen Warren", is using stand over tactics and extortion across the city. Gene permits this because Warren keeps the streets clean. Sam won't stand for it and sets out to put Warren away. He is distracted when he runs into his mother as a young woman.

Episode Five: Sam, Gene and Annie go under cover as bartenders to solve a soccer related murder. The team are under very tight time restraints, to solve the crime. There is a big game on Saturday, which they believe will turn into a bloodbath if they don't.

Episode Six: In 2006 Sam's life support is about to be switched off, whilst in 1973 a local newspaper is under siege. Sam's flashbacks / daydreams, lead him to believe if he saves the hostages he will save himself. He has to save the hostages by 2.00pm or the hostages will be shot.

Episode Seven: Sam leads an investigation into a death in custody, with alarming results. He discovers after digging through a web of deceit, that Ray is the cause. When Sam gives his findings to Gene, Ray gets demoted and Sam finds corruption is deep within the station.

Episode Eight: Sam runs into his father during a murder investigation. It turns out Vic Tyler is involved with the porn industry, which he does behind Sam's mothers' back to pay the bills. Sam unravels what some of his flashbacks / daydreams mean. One of them involves Annie.

So now there's no reason why you can't enter the poll. So what you waiting for, the polls under the site counter. You can do it, you know you want to. The site counter incidentally, has just past 3100 visits. Not bad for fan site, in three short months. 'Til next time Lifers / Martians, or whatever you would like to be called, peace.


Cyberman