How many TV dramas have incarnations in THREE countries?

At least one: Life on Mars

First was the UK version 'Life on Mars (2006)' which made me a forever John Simm fan.

Next was the US version 'Life on Mars (2008)'.

Third was the SK (South Korean) 'Life On Mars (2018)'.

UK (2006) IMDB 8.4 [HEVC 4.23m 1912-1920x1072-1080 16;15;24 31GB]
US (2008) IMDB 7.5 [H264 0.39m 624x352 12;06;24 2.5GB]
KR (2018) IMDB 8.1 [H264 1.71m 1280-1920x608-1080 16;37;25 13GB]

where the bracketed information is the code, bitrate (in millions), resolution, duration and size.

They all have the same premise: A current-time police detective is (somehow) transported 40-50 years into the past, where suspects have rudimentary rights and police routinely abuse them. The transportee wants to get back to his present but doesn't know how. In the meantime he is very confused and remains that way because of voices and images from the future -- the original present. With his modern police procedures he doesn't fit in with the other officers - but nonetheless earns the respect of his mates.

These are really good shows.

You can see how the US and KR versions mimic the original if you look at 'IMDB Images - All Three Shows.gif', which combines the shows' main images on IMDB.

All three sets of cops are wearing 70's clothes (70's-ish?). Each set includes a lady cop in a uniform with a hat. The UK and KR versions have 5 people with the lead in the middle; the US has 4.

The SK version has several scenes that are easily recognized as remakes of UK versions. It also has unique scenes that are interesting because they are about real events in South Korean history during a turbulent era.

IIRC the US version is less faithful to the original UK -- but I might be wrong, and that doesn't matter anyway, it's still good.

A highlight of the UK version is the *excellent* music.

In S02E07, for example, there is a chase scene around a building while Cream plays 'Crossroads'.

Some wonderful person created a UK torrent that has ALL of the songs broken out by episode: 126 songs!

Only about two-thirds of 'Crossroads' plays in the episode but the MP3s are all complete songs. I LOVE IT!

Here are the songs from the first two episodes:

Chris Cornell - Ground Zero.mp3
David Bowie - Life on Mars.mp3 (which the series is named after, of course)
Five Man Electrical Band - Signs.mp3
The Rolling Stones - Out of Time.mp3
The Sweet - Little Willy.mp3
The Who - Baba O'Riley.mp3
Gilbert O'Sullivan - Get Down.mp3
Mott the Hoople - All the Way from Memphis.mp3
Simon and Garfunkel - I Am a Rock.mp3

All of the songs are listed in '\UK (2006) IMDB 8.4\Soundtracks\All the songs.txt'.

IIRC, music is less prominent in the US version, BUT again someone wonderful has put together a torrent of the music -- 67 songs listed in 'US (2008) IMDB 7.5\Soundtrack\All the songs.txt'.

The songs from the first two episodes:

Chris Cornell - Ground Zero.mp3
David Bowie - Life on Mars.mp3
Five Man Electrical Band - Signs.mp3
The Rolling Stones - Out of Time.mp3
The Sweet - Little Willy.mp3
The Who - Baba O'Riley.mp3
Gilbert O'Sullivan - Get Down.mp3
Mott the Hoople - All the Way from Memphis.mp3
Simon and Garfunkel - I Am a Rock.mp3

WAIT HOLD ON WOW: those are the same songs!!! Coincidence? I think NOT! 🤪

* All three shows have a shortcut file 'IMDB.html' which will take you to the show's IMDB page when you double-click it.
* US and UK have 'IMDB Trailer.html' which will bring you to the show's trailer.
* All have the main image from their IMDB page with the name '.jpg' e.g. 'UK (2006).jpg'.
* There are three 'TheShowGrid.html' shortcuts that go to a fantastic webpage with the episodes' color-coded IMDB ratings. Click any cell to go to the episode's IMDB page.
* All of the episodes have an Emby-generated NFO file with MovieInfo-ish information. The UK and KR files are large, US episodes are small.
* All of the episodes have English subtitles.

I would watch them in order they were shown: UK, US, then KR.


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