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Gamespotting: Life on Mars (UK)
Life on Mars is a British TV series about a modern-day cop who gets knocked into a coma and wakes up in 1973 (the title is a reference to a David Bowie song from the period). There's also an American remake, but let's not go there.
The first few episodes revolve around the lead character, played by the Thom Yorke-ish John Simm (above center), getting used to life in the ancient days of the 1970s. In the fourth episode, he and his fellow cops are getting ready to foil an armed robbery. They bring out an assortment of firearms. This is the UK, where the police don't carry guns, so it's a bit of a big deal as they're taking up arms. Simm looks a bit uncertain with his pistol. When the other cops ask if he's sure he can handle a gun, he sights down the barrel and quips, "You should see my Playstation scores!"
Of course, the intended joke is that it's the 1970s so, haw haw, the other cops don't know what a Playstation is. But the real joke is how the line is written. "Playstation scores"?
First, who associates his scores with a particular platform? Second, what shooters have scores, especially back in 2006 when the series was shot? Third, a trained policeman is going to equate firearm skill with videogaming? I'm digging the series, but what an utterly failed attempt at a videogame reference.
By fuzzy green at 6:04 AM ON 03/04/09
What an odd thing to get upset about. It's likely because citing a particular game would mean even less to half the audience as it's not really a geek audience show and the rest follows from that generic prerogative stand point. Would you rather he say "Well I've got 56 experience points on Call of Duty Modern Warfare". No of course you wouldn't and it wouldn't suit his character either
What a good show it is though.
"Don't move! You're surrounded by armed b*stards!"
-Gene Hunt
By Tom Chick at 8:14 AM ON 03/04/09
You're absolutely right, Mr. Green. This would be a very odd thing to get upset about. And if I see someone who's upset about it, I'll certainly tell him that! :)
The point of the gamespotting entries is to note how games are portrayed in popular culture. Like how those of use who use computers can tell when someone isn't really using a computer in a movie, or how a gun enthusiast might realize the wrong sound is used for a particular gun. As hobbyists, these are things we notice. So when Life on Mars uses "Playstation scores" to presumably indicate that the character played videogames, it sounds false to my ear.
For better instances of gamespotting, search for The Wrestler and King of the Hill on this site. They're both excellent examples of how popular entertainment can use videogaming in an authentic way to further their stories.
By fuzzy green at 11:11 AM ON 03/04/09
Point taken Tom and you cite good comparisons too. I am, as it happens, a film/tv soundman so I know what you mean about using the right thing for the keenly attentive ear.
That said, The Wrestler uses the very dated-ness of that game to drive plot, Life on Mars uses a plethora of anachronistic throwaway lines, like Blackadder did, as jokes to the viewer. Now I'm nit-picking but in its' context he also is using a thick layer of standard British sarcasm, so accuracy of both a games ability to train anyone in gun use or a requirement for the exact game to be understood is negated. It's excruciating nit-picking but there you are.
By Ginger Yellow at 3:08 PM ON 03/04/09
The now old UK sitcom Spaced (US readers may know one of its stars, Simon Pegg), on the other hand, had fantastic videogame references, because it was written by people who knew and loved them and was able to assume its audience did too.
By Starky at 4:34 PM ON 03/08/09
I Think it a pretty fair comment for an off the cuff joke...
For pretty much a decade (1995 - 2005) playstation was pretty much synonymous with "video gaming", just as Nintendo was the decade before that.
I know here in the UK (especially northern England), during that time it was VERY common to use the term "playstation" when meaning video game - video game itself wasn't a popular term in the UK, it was (and still is) much more an American term, one which only started getting used here after internet (along with lots of other Americanized words in gaming culture), and not one we really used - the term computer game (even on consoles) was far more common.
Sure there were other platforms, but all of them paled into insignificance compared to the PS1 and PS2 - Even the Xbox never so much as dinted the dominance of the PS2.
This was also one of the few times when a lightgun games actually made it to a home console, worked, and did it WELL - the Namco lightgun and time crisis was excellent.
Also the series may have been filmed in 2006, but it was in pre/production since 1998, starring a 30-something actor, who I seriously doubt would be at the cutting edge of video gaming, and the wii hadn't conqured the world at that point, and the PS2 was still the console king (still is today if you count machines in homes/use rather than monthly sales).
In short: it's a perfectly reasonable and utterly natural video game quote to a British ear, and as a Brit I'd not have thought twice about the use of that quote.
Having probably used the exact same phrase (or close too it) a few thousand times growing up between 95 and 05.
By Tom Chick at 6:38 PM ON 03/08/09
Starky, excellent counterpoint. Thanks for the post. Spoken like a man with Playstation scores to be proud of! :)
Tom Chick:
Starky, excellent counterpoint. Thanks for the post. Spoken like a man with Playstation scores to be proud of! :)...More »