# Life On Mars cancelled **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 3, 2009, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112 "2009-03-03T05:21:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/41 "2009-03-26T15:39:01Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > Did they have consumer-level VCRs in 1973? Philips introduced the first consumer-level cassette recorder in the UK in '72. There was also a cassete player/TV combo in the US, aimed at the rental market, but that company was out of buiness by July of '73. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/42 "2009-03-26T16:02:38Z")
Around the same time Philips was trying to get [their VCR](http://www.rewindmuseum.com/philips.htm) into British homes, Sony was aiming their [Umatic system](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-matic) at [North American businesses and schools](http://users.telenet.be/drabs.vercruysse/Sony%201972%20Ad%20Umatic%20Color%20Videocassette.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/43 "2009-03-26T16:17:31Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > In the first episode where the Irish gang was unloading boxes, did the boxes not say VCRs? Didn’t Sam start to call them VCRs, then cut himself off? Did they have consumer-level VCRs in 1973? Or 1974 if he’s been there that long. > > I want to know more about the little robots. > > Just damn it. I won’t be watching another ABC show, that’s for sure. Not after Pushing Daisies and now this. I like how Sam did things like start to say VCRs and then cut himself off, or refer to “the African-American community” and then change that to “the blacks” after he got blank stares from everyone else. That cultural change is one of the interesting things about the series. I count this the third supernatural dramatic series that ABC has tried and cancelled in the past couple of years (Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies in addition to this one). ---
**Author:** ![tds1273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tds1273](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tds1273)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/44 "2009-03-26T17:09:18Z")
I completely missed the last half hour; last I saw they had just found the gun on Sam and Wendy’s apartment was empty. Was this the last episode or is there still one left? ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/45 "2009-03-26T18:50:03Z")
There’s going to be one more episode, which presumably will resolve the series. How _well_ it will resolve the series may depend on jow much time they had to write and shoot it once ABC pulled the plug. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/46 "2009-03-26T23:34:18Z")
> [@tds1273](#): > > I completely missed the last half hour; last I saw they had just found the gun on Sam and Wendy’s apartment was empty. Was this the last episode or is there still one left? Nano-nitpick. Her name is Windy. ---
**Author:** ![tds1273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tds1273](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tds1273)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/47 "2009-03-26T23:47:48Z")
> [@photopat](#): > > Nano-nitpick. Her name is Windy. Yeah, and it’s also a five letter word for… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/48 "2009-03-27T02:00:43Z")
> [@photopat](#): > > Nano-nitpick. Her name is Windy. Everyone _knows_ it’s Windy. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/49 "2009-03-27T08:37:54Z")
I suspected Windy was imaginary way back when she was in Sam’s apartment just as Annie came to his door. There was something about that scene that suggested to me Annie couldn’t see or hear Windy, and I realised then that nobody else had interacted with her at all. I don’t think Sam has even physically touched her. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/50 "2009-03-27T12:34:36Z")
But Sam made a point of physically touching her on the nose, in a sort of “Is this real” way, at the end of the last episode. She didn’t disappear, she just gave him her sweet hippie chick smile. I guess somewhere along the line there I’d just assumed that he’d already “hit that”. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/51 "2009-03-27T20:48:44Z")
Even if she’s not real Sam could still _imagine_ he had touched her, so that doesn’t prove anything either way. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/52 "2009-03-27T20:51:43Z")
The end of the most recent episode may have been a nod to the first episode of “Ashes to Ashes”; DI Drake puts her hand on Gene’s chest. ---
**Author:** ![First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/53 "2009-03-29T16:26:09Z")
This is a real shame. I agree with the comment that the actor who plays Sam is a bit woden. The UK version was much more, and satisyingly, ambiguous. But I was nonetheless enjoying this. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/54 "2009-04-02T03:00:37Z")
I daresay they got it right. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/55 "2009-04-02T03:02:28Z")
This the greatest April Fool’s joke I have ever experienced! ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/56 "2009-04-02T03:02:58Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I daresay they got it right. Taking into account the necessity to rush-write a final episode, I daresay I (pretty much) agree. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/57 "2009-04-02T03:06:14Z")
Stupid useless pointless nitpick: There can be no real time communication between Earth and Mars! Even from Earth to the Moon is something like (what was it?) five light seconds. Also: “Genetic DNA”? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/58 "2009-04-02T03:13:03Z")
Tonight’s the first episode I watched – I refuse to get involved in shows with big underlying mysteries. But this thread made me curious and I wanted to see what you guys thought. I kinda liked it, and it sounds like the finale was a surprise to anyone who didn’t see the UK version. It’s pretty cool that nobody was spoiled for the ending – assuming this was the way the UK version ended. Has Dean Winters ever played a nice guy? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/59 "2009-04-02T03:14:45Z")
Great show. Sad to see it go. I have hate for ABC for killing this (I can understand because it seem expensive) and Pushing Daisies, but I appreciate them for giving Scrubs another season which has so far been great. I’m definitely not downloading the UK version of Life On Mars, because that would totally be wrong. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112/60 "2009-04-02T03:21:49Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Tonight’s the first episode I watched – I refuse to get involved in shows with big underlying mysteries. But this thread made me curious and I wanted to see what you guys thought. > > I kinda liked it, and it sounds like the finale was a surprise to anyone who didn’t see the UK version. It’s pretty cool that nobody was spoiled for the ending – assuming this was the way the UK version ended. According to Wikipedia, That’s not at all how it ended [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-cancelled/488112.md?page=4)