The DVD's main menus coolly opt for a 1970s look and feel, with groovy animation, colors, and score.

Thankfully, no one needs to bother with the knock-off, we've still got the original Life on Mars, and it gets the finish just right, making it sixteen hours of television worthy of the time you invest in it. The production staff gets it exactly right, and not in a way that seems like a gimmick or an ironic ploy. It does seem like the period setting is of greater interest to the show's makers than week-to-week plots. Majors, an actor best known for his ABC TV series of the '60s, '70s, and '80s (particularly "The Six Million Dollar Man"), gets shown around the 125th Precinct set by Jason O'Mara. Thankfully they found period songs from other artists and didn’t just use muzak, but still, that isn’t going to convince me to shell out more money than I have to.In trying to crack the murder of a Vietnam War vet, Sam turns his attentions to hippies and then the gay community. The brown Ford Cortina used by Gene throughout both of the seasons was a 1974 model, which makes it anachronistic. Assigned to protect threatened (fictional) glam rock star Sebastian Grace (Cheyenne Jackson), Chris is convinced he witnessed a groupie's abduction by aliens.

The music soundtrack, even with the song alterations definitely helps make the show, and generally the audio experience for Life on Mars is quite rosy.We don't (yet) plunge into the finer details of the LoM mythology that would mystify the general reader, but if further books are commissioned, there will be plenty of room to get stuck into the minutiae! Senior management eventually decided not to pursue the idea, with Graham telling the Radio Times that the reaction to the idea was "it's going to be silly". And now that I have seen Life on Mars - The Complete Collection I can say, sure enough, they were right. As part of the Criminal Investigation Department, Sam finds himself working under the command of DCI Gene Hunt ( Philip Glenister). For example, during Series 1: Episode 6 Sam hears the voice of his mother in 2006, telling him his life-support will be switched off at 2:00 pm.