Detective Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara) is your typical modern cop that would fit nicely into a C.S.I. or similar forensics-based crime drama. The only problem is, after getting hit by a speeding car, he wakes up in 1973 and is forced to not only try and make sense out of the strange time-traveling situation he finds himself, but also work in a world where the good guys firmly believe that the ends justify the means and you do whatever it takes to take criminals off the streets.
The show opens up with Tyler and his partner/girlfriend, Maya (Lisa Bonet), chasing down a serial killer. What they don't realize at first is that this man is actually a copycat from similar murders 35 years in the past. But when Sam gets knocked out and joins his precinct at that time, he realizes the connections and does everything he can to stop the current murders and keep the the copycat from doing everything again. But when he doesn't simply wake up or go back to the present, he realizes that this killer isn't why he was sent back in time, and spends his days taking out the bad guys and dealing with his fellow cops.
The other people of Precinct 125 include Detectives Ray Carling (Michael Imperioli of The Sopranos), rookie detective Chris Skelton (Jonathan Murphy), Officer Annie Norris (Gretchen Mol) and Lieutenant Gene Hunt (none other than Harvey Keitel, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction). This family of cops fits nicely together and each character has their role. Keitel is perfect for the role as he plays exactly the character you would expect. This no-nonsense harassed cop does whatever it takes to bag the criminal and Ray follows in his footsteps as the street-wise hardened cop. Neither one is above a bit of police brutality in order to get the answers they need. Meanwhile, Norris dreams of getting her Detective Badge, but knows getting into that boys-only club is tough to do. Meanwhile, Skelton finds himself not only learning how to do things the Hunt/Carling way, but when Tyler comes into the picture, he starts learning of more politically (and legally) correct ways of doing things... a situation that leads him stuck in the middle and being pulled in both directions more times than not.
At only 17 episodes, there are very few that are wasted on the overall plot of the series. Early episodes have Tyler hearing and seeing glimpses of his 2008 world. At times, he hears Maya and his mother talking to him while Sam lays in a hospital bed, and each time he does, he gets more and more convinced that the case he is working on will bring him back to his own time. Meanwhile, the only person he has had the nerve to tell about his past is Annie. At first, she simply attributes his problems as a result to the bump on the noggin he sustained, but as he provides more and more evidence of his knowledge of the future (mostly little things like the ending to Soilent Green or the outcome of a boxing match), she begins to believe him. But, her belief, as well as his ability to talk to his hippy-chick neighbor, Windy (Tanya Fischer), never really gets him closer to finding out what is going on and getting back home.
Eventually, he runs into his mother, Rose (Jennifer Ferin), his four year-old self (played by Caleb Wallace) and even his father, Vic (Dean Winters) who Sam realizes will run out on his wife and kid at little Sammy's birthday. Of course, unable to tell Rose his real name or his beliefs about her being his mother, Sam is forced to use an alias in her presence, Luke Skywalker, which ends up being quite amusing over and over again. Each time Sam runs into the Tylers, he ends up learning a bit more about himself, which, of course, ultimately leads to knowing why his father disappeared as well as a confrontation that leads to all of the answers in the last episode of the series.
There is one drawback to Life on Mars though, and that is the noticeable lack of budget put into the visual effects. Throughout Sam's journey, he has tons of odd visions, but the oddest running-theme is that of a toy rover. When he first sees this toy, it is not only big enough for a man to ride on it, but it flashes him and causes some strange memories to appear. The CG for this particular sequence is only rivaled in cheesiness by the numerous times this same robot (and many others) appear really small and crawling all over people's bodies. But in the end, I forgave this bit of lower-quality because the rest of the experience is just that good.
There are also quite a few good special features on this DVD. Life on Mars: The Complete Series comes with the standard assortment of deleted scenes, bloopers and commentaries, but I really enjoyed the Making-of featurette "To Mars and Back" (definitely do not watch this until you've seen the entire series) and the featurette that follows O'Mara from dawn to dusk. But the best out of them all is a tour O'Mara gives to Lee Majors (aka Steve Austin from The Six Million Dollar Man) of the 125 as they discuss how much has changed in 35 years.
Life on Mars spans quite a few genres, and any fan of either Sci-Fi or cop-dramas will definitely be interested in this series. While I haven't seen the original BBC production the show is based off of, from what I understand, it is a pretty faithful recreation that really grabs the essence of the older show, and even though it has a different ending, it should still be enjoyable to those who've seen the British version as well.
