Saying goodbye to 'Life on Mars'

Whoa. The “Life on Mars” series finale sure was out-there, huh?

Sam wasn’t actually time-traveling, nor was he in a coma (that’s how the BBC version ended).

He and the other main characters were astronauts on a mission to Mars in 2035.

While en route to the red planet, they were all put into a deep sleep and experienced some sort of alternate reality they chose before the mission began. But Sam’s glitched, and he wound up in 1973 with the memories of someone from 2008.

Confused yet?

I am, and I’m still not quite sure how I feel about it.

On one hand, I’m happy that all the main characters wound up together, and that Harvey Keitel’s character was revealed to be Sam’s father (weird, I know. But it worked for me). I was worried the series would end with Sam (Jason O’Mara) going back to 2008 and leaving all his new friends behind in the 1970s.

Still, it was pretty random. You’ve certainly got to give the writers credit for surprising us.

No matter what you thought of that ending, “Mars” should still go down as one of this season’s best, most original shows, and I will miss it for so many reasons.

First of all, there was the music. “Mars” introduced me to some great tunes that were before my time, like David Bowie’s titular track and Harry Nilsson’s “Spaceman.” Other songs the show made good use of were “Rocket Man,” “All the Young Dudes,” “Baba O’Riley” and “Ballroom Blitz.”

I also loved the old-school police work, with absolutely no regard for forensics, and Sam’s hilarious undercover names, which included Luke Skywalker, Tom Cruise and, when he posed as an Irish criminal, Sam Bono.

Then there was the cast: O’Mara, a great leading man I hope to see on television again soon and who now has a permanent spot among my TV boyfriends; Keitel, so perfectly over-the-top as an old-timer who did nothing by the book; Gretchen Mol, who brought an understated toughness to Annie “No Nuts” Norris, the squad’s sole female cop; and, my favorite, Michael Imperioli as the loveably loutish and always entertaining Ray.

Who would’ve thought such a sexist jerk could be so likeable?

Take, for instance, Ray’s idea of Heaven.

“It’s all dancing girls, ice cream sundaes, rivers of bourbon, Led Zeppelin music,” he said in one of the final episodes. “No one’s allowed to wear any clothes. You have to have sex at least 10 times a day, and eat pizza when you’re not having sex. It’s like a rule there.”

And Hell?

It’s “just a great big window you have to sit behind all day long and watch what goes on in Heaven.”

Another thing that surprised me was how badly I wanted Sam and Annie to end up together. I didn’t see much chemistry there initially, but as the season wore on, my biggest hope was for them to couple up before the series signed off.

(Really, aren’t those the best kinds of TV couples — the unexpected ones? I’m thinking of Barney and Robin on “How I Met Your Mother,” Chuck and Blair on “Gossip Girl” and, especially, Joey and Pacey on “Dawson’s Creek.”)

Sam and Annie didn’t exactly end up together — their 1970s, imaginary selves did — but judging by the way he was looking at her on the space ship, there’s some kind of future there.

Too bad we won’t be able to see it.