Gene/Sam and Writing
Life on Mars in a
Post-A2A World
by Clonesgirl
The following are my own thoughts on the ending of A2A, JS not appearing in it and the trouble it's left me with as a fan writer.
The technical stuff:
RATING: White Cortina
WORD COUNT: 880
SPOILERS: Spoilers for A2A 3.08
ARCHIVE: The Motley Collection
NOTE: If you wish to link to this rambling nonsense it would be much appreciated if you could let the
author know.
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The following are my own thoughts on the ending of A2A, JS not appearing in it and the trouble it's left me with as a fan writer. Word count: 880.
I've placed it under a cut as there are Spoilers for the A2A finale.
Warning: Contains Spoilers for A2A 3.08
So Sam Tyler only stayed with Gene Hunt until 1980 and then he deliberately left him to move on? As a Gene/Sam fan all I can say is how crap is that. Then to see Gene actually burning Sam's file and all his pictures and - worse still - burning his leather jacket - well I could positively kick the writers. What a horrible thing to do, especially after the lovely little nod they gave to us Gene/Sam fans in 3.03 (see icon) which was so nice and I just loved it as did every other Gene/Sam fan around. There must have been a collective squee when everyone saw that!
However, if the writers had truly meant for A2A 3.08 to be the complete and total end of the series, as they said, then it would have been lovely to have had Sam come out of the pub, take Gene by the arm and lead him into the pub. In fact Matthew Graham said (in his interview in The Guardian 21 May 2010) that they'd toyed with this idea and thought they'd go with it. However, he was quite diplomatic as to why they didn't and he said that John Simm was never even asked as to whether he wanted to appear in it. We find out why he was never asked in the MG interview in SFX dated 22 May 2010 where he was not quite so diplomatic and really let the cat out of the bag as to the real reason John wasn't in the A2A finale. I quote:
"Yeah, we talked about bringing Sam back. Partly we were worried about being a hostage to John [Simm] saying yes or no… We might have got a whole storyline around it and then he might have got cold feet."
So John Simm has only his own legendary reputation for boredom to blame for this. It was the whole reason there were only two series of Life on Mars in the first place - and how sad is that. So they never even talked to John about him appearing in the A2A finale because they didn't want to be 'held hostage' by him. How utterly tragic. I could only wish that they'd got any actor other than Simm to play the part of Sam Tyler. There are so many talented actors in the UK that they'd have had their choice and we would have most likely had a third series of Life on Mars. Sadly for us fans it wasn't to be and we got the talented Simm with his low boredom threshold and consequent reputation and is it any wonder that professional TV writers are wary of hiring him? After all, he had made it quite clear that he did not want to have anything further to do with Life on Mars, or its fans for that matter. All I can say is thank God Philip Glenister is not like that!
The lovely nod the writers gave to us Gene/Sam fans - the 'Gene ♥ Sam' on the wall and the 'Gene/Sam' written in Alex's notebook - turned into a mere sop which they subsequently yanked away by having Gene burn Sam's file and jacket. My one satisfaction is that, after that, I really expected to see Gene enter the pub with Alex, but the Gene/Alex fans were to be equally deprived. At least I can take some small satisfaction from this as they are the most vocal of the A2A fans. If you dare to mention that you're a Gene/Sam fan over on The Railway Arms they are always the first ones to put you down. Their intolerance is legendary which is why I don't hang around there. So I have no sympathy for the fact that they didn't get what they wanted either. The writers left them as high and dry as they did us Gene/Sam fans.
Side note: I refuse to use the term 'Galex' as, for me, it's associated with something else entirely. As far as I'm concerned, this is the real Galex, and it's been around for far longer than Gene/Alex.
So, to get back on topic, I could ignore canon as created by the writers and carry on thus:
- I could write the characters lives within the seven years that Sam spent with Gene, which is mainly what I have been doing, but I'm having trouble doing that as, if I go by canon, I know that one day Sam is going to leave Gene, and that's like a big, black cloud hanging overhead.
- I could create an a/u where Sam finds out the true meaning of The Railway Arms and decides either not to leave Gene, or persuades him to go with him.
However, my big sticking point is that the criteria for writing any/all of the above options requires that I ignore canon. I just wish I could - and I really mean this - as I'd like to go on writing LoM as it's my favourite fandom and it's always been a lovely place to play. At the moment things are so bad that I can't even seem to write a drabble.
- I could create an a/u where Sam comes out of The Railway Arms and back to Gene.
I think I need inspiration so any/all suggestions are most welcome.
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Footnotes:
1. Ashes to Ashes: co-creator Matthew Graham says goodbye to Gene Hunt - The Guardian, 21 May 2010
2. Ashes Exclusive - SFX, 22 May 2010
