Life On Mars

[raven]

So, I watched the first episode of Life On Mars, which I am about to review, and it was joyous. Absolutely wonderful. I am now trying for episode two. However, torrents hate me, it seems. Every torrent I try vworps* out on me and doesn't start downloading at all, and I don't know what's happening. I think this may simply be because I suck with torrents. Does anyone have the episodes uploaded somewhere as zipped files or some such, or can perhaps explain to me where I'm going wrong with the torrents? (I'm still not quite getting to grips with the new internet connection, which I think may have something to do with it).

However, the first episode was just wonderful. In more detail, the things I liked:

-Sam. Oh, so sweet and so lovely. I love how understated he is even when he's going crazy.

-the accident. Eeek. I liked that too. I especially like the total lack of resolution - when he comes round he's standing up, and there's no immediate fallout, which sort of leaves you waiting to exhale for a long time, and I reckon it's very effective.

-the accident reloaded; the creepiness and the voices and the shifting reality, and the weird starkness of the new landscape. I really liked that scene.

-the atmosphere, the smoke, the lamps, the strange detachment, when Sam gets back into his office. Eeek.

-Gene and his gratuitious violence. It's wonderfully alien.

-The details! The wallpaper, the chintz! The blatant sexism! The smoking! More than that, the more subtle detail about all the coppers being willing to steal 27p.

-I liked that Sam is quick enough to suspect time travel even in between crack-ups. There's something very quiet about him as a character; quiet, but very clever, and it makes for a terribly interesting protagonist.

-Sam cracking up by the side of the corpse. And, while I'm at it, all the scenes that seem to show the "real" world intruding, what with the scary distant voices and bleeping.

-Sam cracking up, again, on top of his telly in the middle of the night. Awww.

-Gene being nice to the kids. Awww, again, especially when he gives them money.

-The strange connections between the 1973 case and the 2006 case, paticularly Sam's soundproofing revelation. There is so much fic potential regarding his younger self's visit to the record shop.

-The beyond creepy turn of the "hypnotherapist"; I adored the ambiguity about whether or not it was real. The guy is a real person, but should he know about mobile phones? And then it's really him running around trying to stop Sam from committing suicide, and well, brain-melt. I'm hoping the red herrings for this show are more thought-provoking than Lost.

-The suicide-attempt-attempt. Eeee, Sam. He is adorable. He is adorable in every single way. I love him and his angsty self. I need an icon of him being angsty.

In short, I loved it. Bring on the next episodes if at all possible. *loves flist*

---

*There was originally another word here, but biascut objected to its use, and rightly so. I have therefore replaced it. The verb "to vworp" is the canonical onomatopaeic rendition of the TARDIS dematerialising, and an excellent word it is too.

Comments

[elen-ancalima.livejournal.com]

Not sure if this'll help, but someone uploaded the epsidoes at lifein1973 some time ago (here (http://community.livejournal.com/lifein1973/83929.html)). Don't know if the links still work, but you might give it a try.

I hope it works out - the episodes are really great :-D

[ex-artbox613.livejournal.com]

I think the eps are all still available at lifein1973 - look at the sidebar (poss downloads) then the posts by embers.

Knew you'd love it!

[a_starfish]

If you think episode one is good... the rest of teh series is probably going to make you *very* happy.

btw I don't watch Lost but I know there was the whole 'something in the woods' going on in the first series. Was that what the red-herrings comment refers to?

[jeeshee.livejournal.com]

Do you think it's going to be repeated, maybe on digital?

[flurblewig.livejournal.com]

Whee, hello! LOM is a thing of beauty, no? And it just gets better and better... :-)

I had terrible trouble with the torrents too, but those Yousendit files were MUCH better - about an hour and a half per ep.

There is so much fic potential regarding his younger self's visit to the record shop.

That is a statement of great joy :-)

[thegreatesthits.livejournal.com]

I become utterly joyful when new people discover LOM. Is it not a thing of BEAUTY omg?

I agree with you on Sam, definitely, too. I think I may have Something Of A Thing for protagonists, but c'mon, he justs beats them all in my eyes - which is funny, because I suspected I'd rather like Gene more...

Also? So, so gay.

Also? JOHN SIMM'S NOSE. *fangirls!*

[aervir.livejournal.com]

Heh! Another person who was recently hooked on LoM. :)

I also wanted to point you in the direction of the episodes on lifein1973, but elen_ancalima has already done so, as I can see.

Hm, I think I shall watch episode four now before going to sleep...

[korilian.livejournal.com]

Think embers latest uploads might still be good. You have to be logged on to see them. They're under downloads. Love how the shows gaining fans even though it's over. How did you find out about it? :)

[cedara]

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

[castalie.livejournal.com]

Hi there, nice to meet you too *g*

I've watched my first episode of LoM a couple days ago and I'm already up do date with the series, that's how much I've loved it *g*

Sam is my favourite character, there's something about him that just speaks to me, I love his fucked-up ness and I love his angstiness and just about everything else lol Gene is wonderful as well, and I quite fancy Annie too - also, no spoiler or anything, promise, but if you've loved the pilot, brace yourself cause it only gets better :-)

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Every torrent I try spazzes out on me

I hate being all preachy and stuff, but I HATE the word "spaz" used casually. It really is just as offensive and upsetting as any racist or homophobic language, and I've defriended people before for using spastic or its cognates. Could you not, please? I seriously would take you off my friends list if you don't see a problem with using it, which I really would hate to do because I love your writing. But I hate seeing "spaz" or "spastic" more.

Sorry if I sound like I'm having a go at you, because I'm trying to be as diplomatic as possible. But if no-one ever said when something was offensive, nobody would ever know!

[gwynnega]

So glad you're watching Life on Mars! I adore it...

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I don't as a general thing use that word, because I'm perfectly aware of its etymology, and I don't know why I did then. Probably because I was feeling too lazy to write properly and think up a real word for what I meant. My sincerest apologies, and it shall be excised.

[me-and.livejournal.com]

What errors are you getting? With Torrents, I would suggest leaving them for a while, as in a couple of hours, to see if that helps, and possibly trying Azureus (http://azureus.sourceforge.net/), which is a different client, and will often tell you more about what's actually going on, and what to do about it.

LiveJournal or Tiscali: I don't know which of you hate me, but it is not so hard to take less than an hour to load a page, especially when it works perfectly through a proxy.

[clarey-h.livejournal.com]

Tee hee - you just wait till Episode Two! I hope I'm not giving too much away by calling it The Swimsuit Edition!

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Hurray! Thank you for making that really easy, and saving me any tough decisions. I"m still always really nervous speaking up about it, and it's great when people are just really quick and straight forward about responding positively.

So, cheers. :)

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Also, hee. I like the replacement!

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked it - roll on part two, as I think the series gets better.

[gerbillcat.livejournal.com]

Glad to see people discovering Life On Mars even when it's not on air! The series is really fantastic, lot's of ups and downs but i think you're gonna love it.

[a_starfish]

Just his nose??? But what about the rest??? ;)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I've tried them, and have got episode two. Tomorrow will be devoted to grabbing the rest. Thanks for linking me!

And yes, they are great. :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And you were absolutely right. :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is joy. *quivers with anticipation* I have to say I stopped watching Lost midway through its first season, but I was referring to the rumbling hills and escaped polarbears and suchlike as the red herrings. Such tangential weirdness. ;)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

All I have found out so far is that it's being repeated on Monday nights, very late, on BBC1, with sign language. I think.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, good! I'm only on episode two!

I'm having better luck with YSI now too; my connection is to blame, but can be persuaded to download a little.

Ah, we shall see. First canon, then fic, yay!