TV is the New Reading

‘Life on Mars’ is a trip

So one day, while pursuing a suspect, a car smashed into Detective Inspector Sam Tyler of New Scotland Yard.

When he came to, it was 1973.

It wasn’t just 1973. It was self-consciously 1973. It was sometimes even cutely 1973. And it was occasionally horrifyingly 1973, especially when he looked around his office for a PC terminal and was told there was no one in the constabulary by that name.

While coming to grips with the fact that everyone was standing around smoking and making openly sexist and racist comments about the rank and file, Tyler seemed to single-handedly invent forensic science and police investigative procedure.

Keeping things interesting was his hard-drinking, corner-cutting lout of a superior Gene Hunt, a man who seemed steeped to the gills in 1973. And his burgeoning relationship with Police Constable Annie Cartwright in the wake of the troubles he was having with his girlfriend .. in the ... present day ... or ...

What’s going on?

See, that’s what John Simm as Detective Inspector Sam Tyler is constantly trying to figure out: What on earth is going on here? Is he back in time? Having a vivid comatose experience? It feels to him like he woke up on another planet – hence the series title, taken from a David Bowie lyric: “Life on Mars.”

And that was just the first season. Sam Tyler’s quasi-time travel adventures through the disco ball continue as the second season premieres on BBC America, beginning Tuesday night at 8 p.m.

As Sam negotiates arcane police procedure without computers, databases and mobile phones, he is occasionally jarred into surreality as radio and television broadcasts seem to track his medical progress as a coma patient in the present day. And his current reality seems weirdly tied into cases he was pursuing back in the 21st century – names and recurring circumstances, people he’d met and worked with, and other instances of memory salad.

All the while, he feels if only he could turn the right corner or dial the right number, he could wake up and get back to his own reality – despite how real and sometimes desperate his current situation seems.

“Life on Mars” is an imaginitive flight, a beautifully realized adventure with compelling characters, inventive nostalgia and a period piece with some serious bite. The show is not easily classified, but falls between crime drama and science fiction fantasy. It is occasionally a little dark and violent so viewer discretion is advised, but in general, it’s simply some fantastic escapist storytelling.

Features Editor Terry J. Aman compiles the Best Bets for The Minot Daily News.

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