I don't have a WTF icon with adequate levels of WTF for this

[sholio]

So, found via cathexys, a video link to the last few minutes of the U.S. Life on Mars season finale. (Obviously, if you go there, expect to be spoiled.) I haven't been watching the remake for probably self-evident reasons, but I was curious, so I clicked on the link.

Seen it? Okay ... WHAT THE EVER-LOVING WTF.

MARS.

WHUT.

It's like ... there's inability to grasp subtlety, and then there's -- I don't think there are WORDS for this amount of sheer, total lack of nuance.

The title is "Life on Mars", so THEY MUST BE ON MARS.

And Gene is, I guess, Sam's literal father, because any sort of subtlety must be STRIPPED OUT WITH THE SLEDGEHAMMER OF TOTAL WTF.

MY CAPSLOCK APPEARS TO BE STUCK BECAUSE OF THE SHEER MINDBOGGLING LEVELS OF WTF IN THAT CLIP.

(And did I mention that, especially in comparison with the British version, the dialogue HURTS ME? I'm trying to imagine BBC!Sam saying "Whatever strange place you find yourself in, make that your home." Now I'm trying to imagine GENE saying it. Now I think my brain is broken.)

Comments

[naye]

WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THE MOTHER OF ALL LITTLE KITTIES IS THIS?

"GENE HUNT"

WHAT?!?!

WHAT.

WHAT.

[sholio]

HE WOKE UP ON ***MARS*** AND GENE HUNT IS HIS FATHER. At least I *think* that's Gene, if the American casting follows the British casting, which I think it does. Sort of.

MARS. SAM TYLER IS ON THE PLANET MARS. AND GENE IS HIS FATHER.

CAPSLOCK STILL BROKEN BY TOTAL WTF.

[kurosau.livejournal.com]

Ow. I just watched that and ow.

I never saw the original, but damn, I definitely don't want to see this version now. That was like 6 minutes of the worst bits of the new Outer Limits show. I'm impressed. If Life on Mars was good, then holy hell people must be pissed to get that sort of ending.

[sholio]

Life on Mars was one of the smartest, sharpest shows I've ever watched. It was a wonderful skewering of 1970s TV and of our thoughtless nostalgia for the (sexist, racist) past, as well as just being marvelously well-written with great dialogue and characters. It was also a very ambiguous show that did not give any easy answers or simple solutions for the characters.

That clip would be spectacularly sad and WTF no matter what, but the fact that they took an inventive and creative show like LoM and turned it into *THAT* ... I can only imagine how the creators of the original feel!

[rheanna27.livejournal.com]

I saw some people being appalled about the ending on my flist and googled for spoilers and... wow. It came up on my flist on April 1, and at first I really, genuinely thought it was a joke. Bad choice, producers! No cookie!

[sholio]

It really *does* look like some kind of horrible joke, doesn't it? Only not. o_O

[ratcreature]

Totally bizarre. And I wasn't even that enthusiastic about the original ending, because I tend to dislike the "suicide into happiness" resolutions (starting with Lindgren's Brothers Lionheart book).

[sholio]

I did actually like the ending quite a lot, though I can definitely see your point about it. I loved how they kept the ambiguity right through the end, though -- it was implied that 1973 wasn't real, but they never actually spelled it out.

This, though ... I'm still boggling at this!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH I AM LAUGHING AND SHRIEKING SO HARD IT HURTS!

The agonizing literalism! On every possible level! ZOMG AMERICA I LUV U THAT IS BEEYOOTIFUL! Truly, American television must hold the world record for ham-handed. Wow.

(I admit that "Gene Hunt" = hunt for genes cracked me up...

...and the thought of how many slashers' heads exploded at the father reveal...)

[sholio]

"Gene Hunt" = hunt for genes

ZOMG, I missed that the first time around! I think I was too busy boggling at the sheer WHUT of it all.

I, I just. NO WORDS. Well, okay, I have a lot of words, but about 90% of them are WTF. I do not think there is enough WTF in the world for this!

[leesa_perrie]

I think I'm speechless... What were they thinking?!!

(I'm going to see if hubby will watch it, he didn't like the ending of the UK one at all - not sure he'll like this take on it either!)

Talk about literal interpretations!! The creators of LoM must be cringing at the remake! As for the hug... No, just NO!

Hmm, seems I'm not totally speechless... Though my brain hurts!

[sholio]

I know!!! It's just so wrong on so many levels! Like I said in one of the above comments, American TV should never be allowed to remake anything ever again! LOL

[ariadne83]

No! There is not enough 'no' in the world. TEYLA ROLLS HER EYES AT THEM!

[sholio]

GREEN-COAT TEYLA IS NOT AMUSED AT THEIR ANTICS. XD

[gnine.livejournal.com]

Owwie, my brain, it HURTS! What, what WHAT?! Just WTF?! I mean...seriously...WHAT?!?!?! I don't think there are enough WTFs to properly express myself...just...no, show, NO!

[sholio]

BAD SHOW IS VERY VERY BAD.

I think we should send real!Gene over there to have a little, er, "talk" with them about this whole "hugging Sam and being Sam's father" thing. XD

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

*snort* I couldn't get into the BBC version, do you think I'm going to touch this! And you see what they did to Kath and Kim.
I've heard that Hollywood are going to redo (gotta love that phrase) Mother and Son (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y2efGsvIgs). Please no, this is a classic! I've found an episode on youtube for you to watch. This is about a slighty dotty old lady whose son moves in with her following his divorce. Maggie Bear is a scream!

[sholio]

Hollywood clearly needs to be banned from remaking stuff! I have heard of some lousy remakes before, but I think this might be approaching an all-time low point ...

Edit: I meant the LoM remake with that last bit, not Mother and Son. But I have no hope that they'll do any better with anything else! And thanks for the link; I'll take a look a little later. :D

[longtimegone]

ahahaha it's so funny you are posting this, because I had a discussion with a friend this weekend, and I'm about to make a post about it myself!

I might steal the YouTube link you posted though; I haven't watched it myself, but some people might prefer to watch it rather than read about it.

It's ridiculous and embarrassing and I'm just kind of glad I didn't invest myself in the US storyline.

[sholio]

Oh man, I can't imagine what it would be like to invest yourself in a show and its characters, and then have it end with "... AND THEN THEY WOKE UP ON MARS."

You really do have to watch it to get the effect of the full awfulness, with the cheesy dialogue and everything!

*runs off to read your post*

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

I saw a review from some print rag (http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/04/02/2009-04-02_life_on_mars_finale_too_neat_or_just_rig.html) in which the reviewer appreciated the ending because, well, they couldn't use the UK ending, and "[I]n most of the important ways, the ABC "Mars" stayed true to its course last night. It gave us the broad hint of a happy ending, which we Americans like, while not rubbing away all the troubling edges it had raised[,]" and ... and ... I can't even mock this properly: "(That also finally explained the show's title, which couldn't have attracted any potential viewers beyond hard-core David Bowie fans or sci-fi geeks.)" Yes! Exactly! I always give my shows names that are too haaaard for the Barbie generation to get and then retroactively make the names work as come-hither enticements by making my series-ending shots embarrassingly literal!

Don't make me ashamed to be American, dude. Also? I have seen John Simm, and Meara, sir, you are no John Simm. Keitel? Same to you re: Glenister. (I actually watched the first episode of the US version and was not. interested.) I still don't know entirely how I feel about the UK ending, but compared to this? Freakin' Shakespeare meets Einstein, man.

[sholio]

Don't make me ashamed to be American, dude.

OH GOD ME TOO. *is ashamed* XD

It's just such a ... a very condescending ending! Because clearly we viewers are so dumb that every metaphor in the show has to be made completely and utterly literal.

*whaps reviewer with a rolled-up newspaper*

http://friendshipper.livejournal.com/199045.html?mode=reply

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

It's canceled here, so perhaps that's someone's idea of a permanent ending!

[sholio]

Well, there's a small mercy, at least ... XD

I didn't wish the show ill, or at least I tried not to, despite loving the original to bits and being very afraid of what they were going to do to it. I don't think I could have come up with something like this in my wildest dreams, though ...

[snarkydame.livejournal.com]

So, when they told the writers that they were canceling the show, giving them time to wrap up story lines for the finale -- THIS is how they did it? Granted, I knew that they'd already decided not to use the same set up as the original (something about giving themselves more room for multiple seasons *snort*) but this is ridiculous. I'm glad I didn't invest any of my time in the US version of this show.

(still, there's something marvelously fitting about this -- an unnecessary remake gives itself an unnecessarily overwrought and ludicrous finale? yeah)

[sholio]

(AHAHAHA LOVE YOUR ICON ♥)

I didn't know the show was cancelled until this comment thread. I can't figure out if it makes it better that this isn't the setup for a really strange season 2, or ever so much worse because THIS is what they chose to type the words "... the end" upon.

It is definitely an ending of such complete and total ludicrousness to make it into the rarified ranks of the all-time most bizarre TV show endings, that's for sure.

[trobadora]

I showed that to a friend the other day, and she almost wouldn't belkieve it wasn't an April Fools joke.

Yeah, I really wish it was. :(

[sholio]

I know that the initial reactions of me and pretty much every other LoM fan to the news of the remake was some variation on "... this will not end well." We just had no idea HOW BAD IT WOULD ACTUALLY END.

[artemisiabrisol.livejournal.com]

... WTF-ery.

The only thing that would have made that train wreck even mildly palatable is if the shuttle door had opened to David Bowie sitting in a leather armchair wearing a silk kimono reading the Sunday Times on the red sands of Mars and then looking up and saying in that snarkly little drawl of his: "Can I help you?"

And even then.

[sholio]

... AHAHAHAHA, I like your version! If you're going for complete and total crack, why not go all the way? I think something like that might actually have made it a lot better, because at least it would have kept the sense of absurdity and ambiguity of the original, where you never quite know if he's dreaming or not ...

[estel_angel.livejournal.com]

One of the biggest WTF moments ever

[sholio]

It would be really hard to outdo this one...

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

That finale messed with my head like no other show ever has. It actually kind of scare me.

But I don't blame the show. My theory - as has already been kind of, sort of stated in previous replies - is that the writers were told the show was being axed at a bad time - in that there was enough time to make one more episode but not enough time to come up with something good.

I was really enjoying the show up until that finale. Personally, I think they would have been better off sending him back to 2006 and going from there. Gene as his dad... still not sure what to think about that one. It makes me dizzy when I try.:S

[sholio]

I'm glad I wasn't invested in the show, because I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to get THAT for the last episode ever. *g*

I guess if they know the show's not coming back, they can do whatever crazy weird stuff they want. But ... that's just about the weirdest series finale I've ever heard of, I think, and there have been some doozies!

[greyias.livejournal.com]

My first thought was "Damn, I need to stop drinking", but sadly that couldn't work because I was sober. I'm so glad I gave this show up after the first episode. Just... just... *takes another shot*

[sholio]

My first thought was "Damn, I need to stop drinking", but sadly that couldn't work because I was sober.

bwahahaha ... but I don't think the writers were sober! Seriously ... how could ANYONE think this was a good idea?

[ga-unicorn.livejournal.com]

I think the last 2 minutes of the series was just a slap at TPTB and the fans of the BBC version who didn't support it. It was just too hokey and cartoonish to be anything else.

[sholio]

Hmm, I actually hadn't even thought of that (I was still stuck on OMGWTFBBQ). Of course, if that's actually what they were trying to accomplish, they chose to do it by making their own show so utterly hokey, weird and badly written that it pretty much proved everything the naysayers were saying about it. Um ... way to go, guys! :D

[sholio]

It really is a slap in the face to people who had tried to give the American series the benefit of the doubt and give it a chance. I cannot imagine how frustrating it would be to have followed the show, and become invested in it, and then get this as a send-off.

[roga.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHAHAHA. There is not enough marijuana IN THE UNIVERSE to justify getting high enough to write this ending, oh my god. Late to the party, but seriously, I was no aware so much what the FUCK could fit into just ten minutes of TV, and I watch, Lost, okay? Just, wow.

Also, I cannot help but LMFAO thinking of the poor Sam/Gene slashers who must have followed this show, only to discover that they were father and son. Man. This whole finale is just tragic.

[sholio]

There are just NO WORDS. NONE. :D I truly cannot imagine what they were thinking ... or smoking! I think this one HAS to go down in history as one of the most bizarre series finales ever.

And, yeah ... I thought about the poor slashers, too ... *g*

[aelfgyfu_mead]

People kept saying, basically, "WTF?" about the end of the series, so I watched only the clip of the last ten minutes.

Then I told my friend or_mabinogi to watch it so that he could just skip the ten hours of the American series he had on his hard drive. He did actually thank me for doing that, because that's exactly what he did: watched that clip and threw out all the episodes he hadn't seen.

ETA: I ought to say I had watched all of the British series, and that's why I never tried the American. I just couldn't imagine Americans doing that.