Ten-Minute Podcast Take on Current Beatles Books and Documentaries

 from Rock Talk Studio ...

The Man Who Fell to Earth 1.9: Just Deserts

Well, episode 1.9 of The Man Who Fell to Earth on Showtime tonight shows I right about two important developments in 1.8:

[Spoilers follow ... ]

1. Lisa is ultimately in the employ of ... Newton.  And in the last scene, Bill Nighy never looked better in the role and more like David Bowie.   Which is one and the same thing, and a very good thing to see.

2. Josiah survived.  But in sad touch that makes perfect sense, he lost all of his Anthean qualities, and is back on the road to soon dying as completely human.  I'm hoping Faraday gets a chance to give him some more of his Anthean essence before the finale ends.

Some other points:

• I was glad to see Lisa kill Spencer.  He was one despicable character.
• Edie turns out to be a tough character after all, pushing her ill father over a cliff, after he tells her that he's leaving the company to her brother Hatch.  This has to serve some purpose in the finale, which I'm eager to see.

And now I'll make a typical plea.  I'd like to see a second season of this series.  It's compelling and original, difficult for a sequel in which the actor who played the original central character can't be on the screen because he's no longer with us.  I don't think I've ever seen a series quite like this one, and I'd very much welcome more.

See also The Man Who Fell to Earth 1.1: Great Provenance and Excellent Start ... 1.2: The Ending We Needed ... 1.3: "I've come with a prototype ... " 1.4: "Tell my wife I love her very much ... " ... 1.5: Co-Mingling ... 1.6: Music of the Spheres ... 1.7 Game Changes ... 1.8: Battle at the Nunnery 

The Man Who Fell to Earth 1.4: "Tell my wife I love her very much..."

How cool and meta-perfect is The Man Who Fell to Earth new series on Showtime?  Well, in episode 1.4, just up last night, we learn that Thomas Newton, who came to Earth all those years ago, in the 1976 movie starring David Bowie in the role, lost his memory, or most of it, including of his wife back on Althea, way out there in outer space.  And in episode 1.4 Newton, now played by Bill Nighy, tells Faraday in a little hovering ball of a recording made as his memory was fading, "Tell my wife I love her very much".  The very request that Major Tom made to his listeners in David Bowie's iconic 1969 "Space Oddity" recording.   "Ain't Jenny so cool ..."  Well, not only Jenny Lumet, but Alex Kurtzman, Jane Maggs (who wrote the story Lumet and Kurtzman made into the teleplay) and everyone who put this unique sequel series together.

Bowie's presence and essence has been integrated into this new series from the very first episode, which was entitled "Hallo, Spaceboy" -- just a comma more than Bowie's 1995 song "Hallo Spaceboy".   At this point in the series, I've got to say I can't think of a better, more multi-valent TV series sequel to a movie.

And we got some important Justin backstory in this episode.  She invented a cold fusion process -- an incredible achievement, that duly impressed Faraday -- but paid for it with the loss of her daughter's father, who died of radiation poisoning.  Along with Newton's loss of memory, this was one of the two most powerful heart tugs of the episode.

Spencer has another night of flexing his CIA muscle, but the highpoint is his encounter with Mary Lou, another memorable character from the 1976 movie, played back then by Candy Clark.  She and Newton shared a love of sorts, and in his absence she's become Sister Mary Lou, now played by Juliet Stevenson.  Spencer's conversation with her was one of his best moment so far in the series, but I could've done without the bee in her mouth.

The Man Who Fell to Earth continues to be one of the most refreshingly original science fiction shows on television.  That's quite an accomplishment, given that the series is a sequel, but it draws you into its spider web to the point that you're really feeling, on a visceral level, the interstellar interplay that is at the heart of this story.

See you back here next week with my next review.

See also The Man Who Fell to Earth 1.1: Great Provenance and Excellent Start ... 1.2: The Ending We Needed ... 1.3: "I've come with a prototype ... "

first spaceship to Alpha Centauri from Mars

The Man Who Fell to Earth 1.2: The Ending We Needed

Well, I just loved the second episode of The Man Who Fell to Earth, especially the ending.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

I mean, with the world and this country in the states that we're in, it was especially good to see this happy ending on the science fiction screen.  And it was set up perfectly.  Faraday aka The Man Who Fell to Earth had said earlier that it was time for Justin's father Josiah (always great to see Clarke Peters) to die.  He had lived his purpose.  And we'd previously seen that guy up in Alaska take his life, after almost killing Spencer.  So ...when Faraday walked into Josiah's room, and put his hands on Josiah, asleep ... well, I thought the worst.  And instead: Faraday cured him, draining out and taking in what had wrecked Josiah's body.  And he was whole and healthy again.   Good to see on this day.

And though Faraday was on the floor and his hands were curled, we know he's going to get better because we saw him in the first episode making that speech in the future.  And though I was annoyed with that kind of start when I first saw it last week, and said so in my review, now I'm glad I saw it.

It also was good to meet Thomas Newton at the beginning of this episode (always great to see Bill Nighy, too).  He came from Faraday's planet and has been on Earth 40+ years and got too distracted to carry out his mission.  That's totally understandable, and that's why Faraday so urgently needed to come here.  Newton's character in this new series makes it a sequel to David Bowie's 1976 The Man Who Fell To Earth movie, in which Newton was The Man Who Fell.  My only regret, of course, is, as good as Nighy is, it would have been great to see Bowie reprise his role.

Back to Spencer for a moment: I'm not sure, at this point, whether he's a good guy or a bad guy.  His conversation with Drew in the diner was unsettling (good to see Kate Mulgrew, too -- for some reason, women tend to have names that men usually have in this story).  At this point, it looks like those two could be bad news.

Last, for now: wasn't that scene with "Poppa Was a Rolling Stone" in the car and everyone singing great to see (and hear)?  Yeah, it was.  And I gotta say, those voices in the car worked really well with the Temptations.

See you back here with my review of the next episode next week.

See also The Man Who Fell to Earth 1.1: Great Provenance and Excellent Start

first spaceship to Alpha Centauri from Mars

The Man Who Fell to Earth 1.1: Great Provenance and Excellent Start

The Man Who Fell to Earth, which debuted tonight on Showtime as a ten-episode television series, has a long and distinguished history.  The novel of the same name by Walter Tevis was published in 1963 to critical acclaim.  I didn't read it, because I had switched as a teenager by then from science fiction to rock music as my passion, and didn't go back to science fiction until a few decades years later -- Philip K. Dick's 1962 The Man in the High Castle had made it just under wire.  Meanwhile, The Man Who Fell to Earth was made into 1976 movie starring David Bowie which I saw and loved, and which also received critical acclaim.  A 1987 made-for-television movie followed, which I'm pretty sure I didn't see, and certainly can't remember.  A now this new Showtime series.

I just saw the first episode and really liked it.  In addition to the multiple provenance of the story from the novel, this new series also has echoes of the superb 1984 movie Starman starring Jeff Bridges and the also superb movie, also from 1984, The Brother from Another Planet starring Joe Morton.  So, to be clear, saying that the first episode of this new series is reminiscent of those two great movies is high praise indeed. Both movies have lots of humor, poking fun at the mores of the day, and the new Man Who Fell to Earth looks to have plenty of the same.  Both movies also have some serious punchlines, and it looks like the new series has those, too.  And, like The Brother from Another Planet, this Man Who Fell to Earth is Black, and his initiation into the culture of our planet will be mainly through people of color in the United States.

Like all of these other narratives, this visitor from a distant planet is both very bright and mostly clueless about our customs here on Earth.  We may or may not find out the reason for this cluelessness during the series -- usually, it's some variation of the crisis was so severe on that planet far out into space, that the visitor and/or his people didn't have time to properly research us.  (If the scientists on this other planet had submitted their plan for Earth to an academic journal, it would probably wouldn't have passed peer review.) The new series begins with the visitor addressing an assembled group of dignitaries or whomever, speaking in perfect English, strutting around like some kind of combination of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, with flashbacks to the time he first got here.  I think this kind of flashback approach is overdone in narratives these days, and the story would have been better off if told in real sequence, but that's ok.

I thought Chiwetel Ejiofor was excellent as the man who fell, as was Naomie Harris as the woman who reluctantly helps him but you know that will be much more, and it's too soon to tell about everyone else. But I'll definitely be back here next week and after to tell you what I think of the ensuing episodes.

first spaceship to Alpha Centauri from Mars

Invasion 1.9: Tables Turning

A block-buster penultimate episode of Invasion -- 1.9 -- in which it looks like the tables may be turned, or may be beginning to be turned ...

[Spoilers ahead.]

But let me see if I have this right.  Over in Tokyo, Mitsuki's sure she's in contact with Hinata, but everyone else doubts that, including her father (who's an engineer) and an audio specialist who concludes that what Mitsuki and the people in the control room are hearing is a synthetic replication of Hinata's voice.  But, at the beginning of the episode, we see that David Bowie's "Space Oddity" is very significant in Mitsuki and Hinata's relationship -- Hinata thinks Mitsuki looks like Bowie -- and, later, at a decisive moment in the control room, Bowie's "Major Tom" is suddenly broadcast from space, when Mitsuki prompts "Hinata" to play it.  (One of my favorite songs -- see my brief comments about it on WNBC News after Bowie's death in 2016.)

This convinces Mitsuki that Hinata is indeed alive.  It convinces the American military guy that this is the time to launch the attack on the invaders -- he says Mitsuki bought Earth some valuable time -- and the attack succeeds.   Here I'd just say: what kind of invaders are these, that they would so succumb so easily to the attack on them from Earth?  Wouldn't they have expected that we here on Earth would defend ourselves and counter attack in any way we could?

There are excellent action scenes in the hospital in London and the forest in the New York area, where the (presumed) destruction of the Invasion mothership stops the invading  creatures here on Earth, dead in their tracks.  Unfortunately, not in time to save Ahmed, who sacrifices his life to save Aneesha and the kids, and perhaps not Casper, either, whose survival is uncertain, given that the destruction of the invaders destroyed or disrupted a part of his mind.

And the question remains: how much if any of the invaders survived, and what kind of damage can they still mete out to us here on Earth?

But that's what season finales are for -- and I'll see you back here next week with my review.

See also Invasion 1.1-3: Compelling Contender ... Invasion 1.4: Three Out of Four ... Invasion 1.5: The Little Creepy Crawly Thing ... Invasion 1.6: Close Up! ... Invasion 1.7: Two Boys and their Connection to the Invaders ... Invasion 1.8: Contact!

Westworld 3.5: Ground Control

Let me just say that this third season of Westworld is so different from the first two that it seems more like a new sequel series than the third season of a single series.  The tableau certainly isn't the same.  Even the recurring characters, especially the multiple Dolores, are different.  But this new series is provocative and altogether excellent.  But you already knew that.

Tonight's episode 3.5 featured some great music and some notable, even crucial reveals.  Let's start with the reveals.

Serac's erstwhile bodyguard - his body now inhabited and animated by a Dolores - tells Bernard, "You're the only one we can't replace".  That's an extraordinarily important point.  Why is that?  Bernard's a host, so why can't he be replaced?  Because there's no master file of his mind or soul or whatever you want to call it?  I'm trying to recall if we've ever seen Bernard replaced in earlier seasons?  Were a bank of Bernards wiped out at the end of season two?  I'm not sure - perhaps the machines that control the world wiped out that part of my memory.

Then there's what that dying guy says to Caleb: "You did it".   Did what?  Of all the new characters this season, we still know the least about Caleb.  Was his running into Dolores the accident that it seemed to be?  Caleb apparently is an innocent, but also seems to have a reflexive understanding of the world around him.  The answer to who Caleb is will likely also explain why Dolores trusts him.

Third and last reveal I'll mention now: Serac saying that, although the super-AI machine his brother created and Serac now controls has immense and detailed power over people's lives, we humans still have a "bubble of agency" to do on occasion what we want to do. When those bubbles present themselves is of course not clear.  But they mean that anyone and everyone still have modicums (or modica?) of unpredictable free will.

Just like every time you sit down or stand up to play or sing a song.  Which brings me to the music in this episode.  It was especially good, via the "genre" Caleb was experiencing.  But I especially liked the violin instrumental rendition of David Bowie's "Space Oddity".  Can't get much better than that in depicting a world veering out of control.

See also: Westworld 3.1: The Great Outside ... Westworld 3.2: Dolores' Enemies ... Westworld 3.3: Cyberpunk World ... Westworld 3.4: The Man in White and Multiple Doloreses

And see also Westworld 2.1: Maeve's Daughter ... Westworld 2.2: "Narcissus Narcosis" ... Westworld 2.3: The Raj and Guns of the South ... Westworld 2.4: Questions Pertaining to Immortality ... Westworld 2.5: Telepathic Control ... Westworld 2.6: The Dangling Conversation ... Westworld 2.7: Maeve vs. Dolores ... Westworld 2.8: The Wrong World ... Westworld 2.9: Fathers ... Westworld 2.10: The Realist World

And see also Westworld 1.1: Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick Served Up by Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, and J. J. Abrams ... Westworld 1.2: Who Is the Man in Black? ... Westworld 1.3: Julian Jaynes and Arnold ... Westworld 1.4: Vacation, Connie Francis, and Kurt Vonnegut ... Westworld 1.5: The Voice Inside Dolores ... Westworld 1.6: Programmed Unprogramming ... Westworld 1.7: The Story of the Story ... Westworld 1.8: Memories ... Westworld 1.9: Half-Truths and Old Friends ... Westworld Season 1 Finale: Answers and Questions 

They're coming out into the open, for the first time in centuries ....

Mute - Cyberpunk Sound and Fury, and Light

Just saw Mute on Netflix, latest movie from director Duncan Jones, of Source Code fame, and starring mainly Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood, and Big Little Lies) with supporting acting by Paul Rudd and Justin Theroux. Wikipedia reports that Mute "drew unfavorable comparisons" to Bladerunner, but that's just dumb (the comparisons not the report), since there are no androids that I know of in Mute.  There are all kinds of cybernetic body enhancements and replacements going on - like in The Six Million Dollar Man - and the flavor is definitely LA cyberpunk, even though the action takes places in a future Germany.

Germany is no accident in Mute.  The hero, Leo, is Amish, and he's mute because his Amish mother didn't allow surgery on her son when his neck was injured in some kind of boating accident, or in some accident in the water.   (By the way, although I suppose a given Amish bishop could tell his followers not to accept modern medical care, that's not something that most Amish do.  It's a common misconception that the Amish say no to all technology, when in fact they carefully pick and choose - see my The Amish Get Wired - Wired? published in Wired way back in 1993 for more.)

But back to Mute, Leo's Amish heritage is a good touch, because it helps him fit into this brave new world in Germany (Amish are of German descent).  The movie is superb on detail in this future, including Leo not being able to order food - which could be delivered to his dwelling, when he gets home, via droid - because he's mute, and the ordering app can't respond to anything other than voice.  And the violence, though sometimes a little hard to take, makes some logical sense in this future, in which most body parts are as replaceable as the parts of your car.

The plot is a little obvious and slow at first, but tightens up with a strong wave of well-motivated developments at the end, and a dedication to Jones's father David Bowie and his childhood nanny Marion Skene.  Recommended for fans of Bladerunner, The Six-Million Dollar Man, and Banshee - and, hey, you can see it for free on Netflix if you're a subscriber.

                     more Amish in science fiction

            more science fiction with David Bowie

Peter Brown Called

just published ...



Writing science fiction and songs have been two of my lifelong passions. This anthology combines them, with a selection of my science fiction and fantasy stories that has music as a theme, and my lyrics that deal with far-off suns, robots, and time travel.


Table of Contents 

Prologue 

 =stories= 

Marilyn and Monet 
The Harmony 
The Kid in the Video Store 
Ian, Isaac, and John 
Saving Lennon (from The Loose Ends Saga) 
The Suspended Fourth 
Sam’s Requests 
The Singing Pottery (from The Silk Code) 

 =songs= 

Evening's Evergreen Morning 
A Piece of the Rainbow 
The Lama Will Be Late This Year 
Alpha Centauri 
Lime Streets 
Tau Ceti 
If I Traveled to The Past 
 I Fell in Love with a Robot 
The First House on Mars

 =alternate equation #1=

Elvis, Ed, and Einstein

read an excerpt you won't find any place else on Speculative Fiction Showcase

Twin Peaks 1.14: Painstaking Progress

Hey, it's tough to make progress when your adversary is from/in another dimension and an evil one at that, and one with the power to snap up good people and return them with an evil twin.  Not to mention that the FBI agent in charge of the case can't speak softly and carry a big stick, because he's hard of hearing (proof - he was a hearing aid).  But the forces of good made a small amount of painstaking, painful progress in Twin Peaks 1.14 nonetheless.

Truman finally managed to convey to Cole that there may be two Coopers afoot.   It's especially appropriate that Truman was the conveyor of this news, seeing as how he's the brother of the original Sheriff Truman - Harry Truman - who likely has no relationship to the U. S. President who dropped the atom bombs on Japan, though, come to think of it, you never know, given the almost entire hour devoted to inside an atomic explosion on the Return a few episodes ago.  David Lynch again shows a knack for being uncannily in synch with what's happening in the real world, given the concern about nuclear warheads and North Korea these days, though maybe that's too serious to even slightly joke about (but probably not).

But, anyway, the two true Trumans in Twin Peaks are not twins but brothers, and they don't even look all that much alike, but being a bro on this show is good enough.  Our heroes are also beginning to close in the E's - Janey-E and Doug E - and I'm wondering if these E's have any connection to E=mc-square (that's what Elvis may have said to himself about Ed Sullivan, i.e.,  E[d] = mc-square - those these types of puns ain't E-asy).

Meanwhile, back at the end of the episode, we once again have a great musical performance by Lissie - especially appropriate (memorable music) given the appearance of David Bowie in vintage Twin Peaks aka dream sequence footage.

See ya next time.

See also Twin Peaks: The Return 1.1-2: Superluminal Sans Cherry Pie ... 1.3-4: Coffee and Cole ... 1.5: The Mod Squad Meets Big Love in the Diner ... 1.6: Red Door and Childish Scribbles ... 1.7: Lost and Not Lost ... 1.8: Atom Bomb and Mr. Homn ... 1.9: "I Don't See No Hidden Buttons" ... 1.10: "No Stars" ... 1.11: Double Cherry Pie and Viva Las Vegas ... 1.12: No Song - Slim Hope of Deliverance ... 1.13: Humor

FREE on Amazon Prime

Available on Prime

Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles 9 of X: Covers

Rob Sheffield sticks in an "Instrumental Break" of a chapter about a third-way through his exceptional Dreaming The Beatles, about covers of Beatles songs and other recordings that for one reason or another bear strong influences of Beatles music.

Confession: I don't like covers.  I can't think of even a single example in which I liked a cover of a recording better than an original that I loved or even liked a lot.  (Ok, I guess one example - Carl Carlton's 1974 version of "Everlasting Love" was better than Robert Knight's 1967 original, but that's just one lone example.) This is what I've called the "first love syndrome" at work - when there is more than one version of a creative work afoot, we like best what we came to love first.

If you think this is too obvious to call a syndrome, consider this: I once ran into someone at a science fiction convention who told me his favorite Star Trek narrative on screen was the first Star Trek movie, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, so generally disliked that it's been called Star Trek: The Motion Sickness.  We had this conversation well after Star Trek: The Original Series and The Next Generation had made their impact.  I asked this guy if he had seen them.  He said yes, but he didn't think that either measured up to the movie.  He then offered that his first Star Trek experience had been that first motion picture.  Q.E.D the first love syndrome.

So, though I guess it would be instructive to speak to someone who heard a cover of a Beatles recording prior to the Beatles recording, for me the question is always how much did the cover ruin an original that I loved.   Whether it's Tony Bennett or a garage band, I'd always rather hear the Beatles.   When Sirius XM's Beatles channel plays another artist's interpretation of the Beatles, I always take that time to catch up with some Trump atrocity on MSNBC.

But Beatles influences on other artists are a lot different than covers, and Sheffield's mention of Dylan's "I Want You" and "Just Like A Woman" as influenced by Rubber Soul is one of the delights of this chapter and the book as a whole.  I also watch Prince's beyond breathtaking guitar work on "As My Guitar Gently Weeps" in the Hall of Fame George tribute concert at least once a month on YouTube - it's far and away the best guitar solo I've ever seen and heard -- and I was glad to see Sheffield discuss that, too.

Actual collaboration is another facet of this chapter, and I always found Lennon's work with David Bowie so noteworthy that I actually wrote a whole novelette in which that figures  - Ian, Isaac, and John.

And I'll be back with more pretty soon.

See also Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles 1 of X: The Love Affair ... 2 of X: The Heroine with a Thousand Faces ... 3 of X: Dear Beatles ... 4 of X: Paradox George ... 5 of X: The Power of Yeah ... 6 of X: The Case for Ringo ... 7 of X: Anatomy of a Ride ... 8 of X: Rubber Soul on July 4 ... 10 of X: I. A. Richards ... 11 of X: Underrated Revolver ... 12 of X: Sgt. Pepper ... 13 of X: Beatles vs. Stones ... 14 of X: Unending 60s ... 15 of X: Voting for McCartney ... 16 of X: "I'm A Loser" ... 17 of X: The Split ... 18 of X: "Absolute Elsewhere" ... 19 of X: (Unnecessary but Brilliant) Defense of McCartney ... 20 of X: "All Things Must Pass" ... 21 of X: Resistance ... 22: The 70s Till the End ... 23: Near the Science Fiction Shop ... 24 of 24: The Last Two

And here's "It's Real Life" -- free alternate history short story about The Beatles, made into a radio play and audiobook and winner of The Mary Shelley Award 2023

Deutschland 83 106: Grave Developments

Another excellent, fast-moving episode of Deutschland 83 last night - #106 - which has two especially grave developments for our hero, Martin.

First, in terms of long-range impact, we learn near the end of the episode that Tischbier's lover has AIDs.   Since Alex has recently slept with Tischbier, this unfortunately opens up all kinds of possibilities for General Ebel and his family, which makes what he just went through with his son MIA seem pale in comparison.

But the other piece of bad luck for Martin comes from Alex's rash hostage-taking, which results in Kramer being killed in the shoot-out as Martin and Alex escape.  As I mentioned last week, Kramer was a key figure in Martin's deception - perhaps the key figure - since he was well-situated in the West German command, had Ebel's complete trust, and was thus able to cover for Martin/Stamm whenever necessary.   Kramer's death will leave Martin bereft of a crucial ally and source of support.

Speaking of support, Annett surprised Martin and the audience by encouraging him to continue his patriotic work away from her, when he was pledging to her to stay by her side and take care of her and their baby. In other circumstances, this might have been an indication that Annett was having an affair with someone else, but in this case, her support of Martin's work stems for her devotion to the East German cause, which we already saw in evidence in her cooperation with the authorities regarding the banned books. So maybe we shouldn't have been surprised, and should accept that patriotism outstrips personal love in this circumstance, however alien that seems to us - and did for Martin.

I meant to mention in my review last week how apt the opening music is to Deutschland 83 -  Peter Schilling "Major Tom," a sequel to David Bowie's "Space Oddity," was not only a big hit in 1983, but suits the spirit of the narrative of this series just perfectly.

And I'll be back with more next week.

See also Deutschland 83: Edge of Your Seat and Memorable Espionage


 

different kind of spies

#SFWApro

Science Fiction and Music: A Personal Account

Science fiction and music have been two of my passions every since I was kid in the 1950s, when stories about space and time travel, and rock 'n' roll, were in their first, separate golden ages.   But, for me, they were intertwined.  I'd hear Roy Orbison's "Only the the Lonely" playing on someone's transistor radio as I walked to the Allerton Avenue branch of the New York Public Library to nab a copy of Isaac Asimov's The End of Eternity.   I loved them - still love them - both.   The music and the stories somehow both speak to unlimited, soaring possibilities.

In the years that followed, I've written a lot of science fiction, and a lot of songs.  But rarely have the two been interconnected.  Last year, though, I wrote a the lyrics to "If I Traveled to the Past," a time travel love song, for which John Anealio wrote the music and recorded this demo.



And, also last year, I wrote a story that I had come with just the title of nearly 20 years ago:  "Sam's Requests".   It's like nothing else I've ever written - a story about a battle in deep space in the distant future, connected to music here on Earth in the early 1960s.    The 15-year old in me and my present self were  delighted when Buzzy Mag accepted it for publication, where you can read it, here, any time, for free.  You've heard of space opera?  I think of "Sam's Requests" as space rock 'n' roll.

Enjoy ... and I think I'm going to listen to David Bowie's "Space Oddity" now.

Life On Mars Debuts in America

Fine start of Life on Mars on ABC tonight, and you know that I'm going to review this American version of the British series here on Infinite Regress, since I watch everything I can get my hands on regarding time travel, including Journeyman, relevant episodes of Lost and Heroes, and Deja Vu, too.

Here's the story: Det. Sam Tyler is after a kidnapping killer in 2008, who apparently has just grabbed his girlfiend and colleague crime fighter Maya. He steps out of his car with David Bowie's "Life of Mars" playing on his iPod- and gets hit straight on by a car. He wakes up with David Bowie still singing the same song, but now off cassette tape- because Sam is back, in the exact same place, in 1973. David Bowie has thus given this series a perfect acoustic segue along with a memorable name.

As is the case with Journeyman and Quantum Leap (3 series, featuring 2 Sams and a Dan), neither Tyler nor we can be sure at first if he is really in the past, or just dreaming in a coma. In Journeyman and Quantum Leap, that question is resolved by the end of the first episode - the time traveler is really time traveling. Further, we even pretty quickly learn why: to correct some bad event in the past. What we never learn in those two series is who is calling shots - who or what is making the time traveler travel?

Life on Mars provides even fewer resolutions in this first episode. There is a hint that maybe Sam's purpose in the past is to learn and/or do something that can help save Maya in 2008. Possibly, Sam has already done a little in that direction, by talking to the kidnapper as a boy in 1973 at the end of this episode.

But unlike Journeyman and Quantum Leap, Life on Mars will be one continuing, over-arching story, with Sam from 2008 back in 1973. I'm glad to see this, since I thought both Journeyman and Quantum Leap gave too much attention to specific episode story lines, and not enough to the backbone of the plot (Journeyman improved greatly in this respect near the end).

Most of the 1973 touches are authentic and excellent. The music is outstanding - in addition to Bowie, it was great hear the Stones "Out of Time". So was a bit with Cannon - the great Quinn Martin detective - on television in 1973. And the misunderstanding of Sam's saying "cell phone" as his wanting to "sell" something was nice.

The NYPD detectives in 1973, though, are a little bogus in their roughing up of suspects and disregard of their Miranda rights. Miranda v. Arizona was decided by the Supreme Court in 1966. I know, it's tough to get every little historical detail right, but Mad Men has set a pretty high standard, and the culture of 1973 cops is pretty central to this new series.

But Life on Mars gets credit for having the courage to use the Twin Towers as a 1973 backdrop. And the shout-out to Fordham University - Sam's likely romantic interest in 1973, Annie, got a degree at Fordham in psychology - certainly makes me and my students happy.

Looking forward to more time in the past- next week.

See also Life on Mars 2nd Episode in America: Coma, Time Travel, Mars Rover ... Life on Mars Goes On in America: What Happens When a Time Traveler Runs Into His Earlier Self? ... Life on Mars #4: All in the Family ... Life on Mars #5 Meets the Wire ... Life on Mars #6 Meets Itself on Television ... Life on Mars #7: Is Annie Real, Or, Is Life on Mars a False Memory

=== But I just came back - don't say I never give you anything - to post this great video of the Stones' "Out of Time" ... whew, "You're obsolete, my baby, my poor old-fashioned baby..." the original, ragged, Rolling Stone 1966 album performance...



And here, courtesy of ABC TV, is entire premier episode of Life on Mars, for your viewing pleasure...

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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