History Series / TheTomorrowPeople

* ''Series/TheTomorrowPeople1973'', the British series.

[[quoteright:265:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheTomorrowPeople.jpg]]

1970s British SpeculativeFiction series created by Roger Damon Price, who also created ''YouCantDoThatOnTelevision''. ''The Tomorrow People'' followed the adventures of a group of ''Homo Superior'', [[EvolutionaryLevels the next stage]] [[HumanSubspecies in human evolution]]. The titular Tomorrow People were an {{ensemble|s}} of three to five children and young adults born with [[PsychicPowers special powers]], primarily telepathy and the ability to [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleport]] or "jaunt". Using these abilities, the Tomorrow People fought to protect earth from home-grown and extraterrestrial menaces, while keeping their own existence secret from world governments that would misuse their powers, awaiting the day when they could (very politely and bloodlessly) take control of the world away from the [[HumansByAnyOtherName "saps"]] (short for ''homo sapiens'').

It is almost impossible to discuss ''The Tomorrow People'' without comparing it to Classic ''Series/DoctorWho'', to which it was, essentially, {{ITV}}'s answer.[[note]]''Series/{{Primeval}}'' being their weapon against the new ''Doctor Who'' series.[[/note]]

Starting in the third season, the team often traveled to other worlds (played by the BBCQuarry through a sepia filter) on missions for the Galactic Federation, an interstellar alliance of telepathic species.

''The Tomorrow People'' was {{reviv|al}}ed in the mid 90's with the help of {{Nickelodeon}} for three seasons. During the TurnOfTheMillennium, Creator/BigFinish produced a series of ''The Tomorrow People'' audio dramas, [[WeMeetAgain reuniting many of the original cast members]]. The audio series has now concluded, although yet ''another'' revival (which is HotterAndSexier than its past incarnations) came about on the CW, but lasted just a season. [[Series/TheTomorrowPeople2013 It has its own page now.]]

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!!The 1970s series and 1990s reboot provide examples of:
* AbhorrentAdmirer: John seems to regard Emily as one of these in "A Man for Emily".
* ActorAllusion: The first 90s story features two police officers named Young and Holloway, named after Nicholas Young and Michael Holloway from the 70s show.
* AdultsAreUseless: Not just useless: an inferior species. In the {{Revival}}, they are also pastiche moronic-adult caricatures as well.
* {{Aesoptinum}}: The main characters' telepathy makes them incapable of killing.
* AgeAppropriateAngst: From Tyso and Andrew when the older teenagers in the group [[ForYourOwnGood forbid them to go out by themselves]].
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: In "Hitler's Last Secret", John explains, straight faced, that "Genes are those body cells known as the DNA molecule." Which is about as biologically accurate as saying "Fribble fribble rhubarb, fribble fribble ploo," and only slightly better grammatically.
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Hold on... Since when was [[InterchangeableAsianCultures Hsui Tai]] a Japanese name?
* BBCQuarry
* BigBad: Jedikiah, although he only appears in seasons one and three.
* BigBrotherMentor: John is this to all the Tomorrow People apart from Carol and Elizabeth. Adam to all apart from Lisa.
* BinarySuns: The show briefly mentioned a planet called [=QX5=] that orbited two suns.
* BloodlessCarnage: "The Revenge of Jedekiah".
* [[ManInAKilt Boy in a Kilt]]: Andrew Forbes.
* BriarPatching: In "The New Gods". An ancient alien consciousness leads John to destroy its idol, thinking it to be the source of the being's power. In fact, the idol was restraining its power, so its destruction set it free.
* BusCrash: In the Big Finish The Tomorrow People line, we are told that Kenny, one of the early Tomorrow People, has been killed by an assassin.
* CaliforniaDoubling: "Worlds Away", on arriving for the first time on an alien planet, one character warns the others, "This isn't just some wood in Surrey," which is LampshadeHanging by the writers — the scene was indeed filmed in a wood in the British county of Surrey.
* {{Cancellation}} / CutShort: The original [[TheSeventies 70s]] series ended with the four-part ''War of the Empires'' when a proper SeriesFinale was still in the writing stages. This was the result of the [[TVStrikes 1979 ITV Strike]] - the very same strike which caused Series/DoctorWho's ratings to go through the roof - with many electrical personnel walking out. The 90s revival and the audio dramas were also cancelled while more material was being planned.
* CanonDiscontinuity: In the Creator/BigFinish audios, for no reason other than the writer's distaste, they make a special effort, in an audio-only medium where no one need ever know anyway, to point out that the switch from tacky belts to tacky bracelets and TIM's upgrade to "mobile trash bin" form have been undone. Also, the names of several of the 90's revival characters are listed among Tomorrow People who died while breaking out, effectively writing off the entire series as a NearDeathExperience.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: The group's 'sap' friends Ginge and Chris, from Seasons 1 and 2 respectively, are not heard from or seen again after their respective appearances.
** The Tomorrow People [[PutOnABus also go through this themselves]]. Kenny and Carol simply vanish from Season 2 and Season 3 respectively ([[AllThereInTheManual apparently they were sent away to the Galactic Trig]]) to be replaced by Elizabeth, and Tyso and Stephen disappear between seasons 4 and 5 (which was apparently due to ExecutiveMeddling since the powers wanted Mike to be the 'star' of ''The Tomorrow People'').
** In the 90s version, no explanation is given for Lisa and Kevin's disappearances.
* ContagiousPowers: In the first season of the 1990s series, Megabyte is the only one of the characters without powers, but then (surprise!) he gets them in the last episode of that season.
* ContinuityReboot: In the 1990s revival.
* DamselInDistress: Carol often played this role in the show's first season.
* DieOrFly: In the 90s reboot, Jade spends much of her series hanging out with Adam and Megabyte and wishing she could be a Tomorrow Person. Her powers are revealed when she saves herself (and her crush Megabyte) from an exploding boiler room.
* [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Differently Powered Individuals]]
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The slow and painful process of 'breaking out' (i.e becoming a Tomorrow Person) which just ''happens'' to occur in one's teenage years...
* DownerEnding: "The Dirtiest Business".
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: "The Lab", the group's HomeBase below the London Underground.
* EvolutionaryLevels: The entire premise revolved around "the next step in human evolution".
* FamilyFriendlyFirearms: ''Homo Superior'' are biologically unable to kill people, so they arm themselves with StunGuns.
* FreeRangeChildren
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In the 90s series an old man is frequently seen taking his tortoise for a (leisurely) walk down the pavement. This is never commented on.
* HandWave: In the second series, it's stated that John found a way to jaunt without giving off the flashy light show. It leads to FridgeLogic when Elizabeth jaunts in an identical manner while she's breaking out.
* HealingHands: Homo Superiors have this power.
* HeKnowsTooMuch:
--> '''Dr. Culix'''': The boy on the bike? He's seen too much. Get him!
* HideYourPregnancy / AbsenteeActor: Elizabeth Adare was [[CommutingOnABus absent for most of the 1978 season]] due to her pregnancy, making her only appearances through the Lab's monitor.
* HollywoodScience: In sufficient quantity that Dr Chris Evans should really have thought twice about having his name listed as "Scientific Advisor" in the credits.
* HumansAreBastards: Pretty much inherent in the series concept.
* HumansAreWhite: Elizabeth was once forced to sit out their visit to a Human Alien planet because there weren't any black people on that world. A native asked her if she was from the same planet as the other Tomorrow People, then commented that there must be "an interesting variety of skin color" on Earth when she said yes.
* HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: The Tomorrow People were presumably safe when jaunting through hyperspace. If they jaunted into hyperspace without protective gear, their bodies would be annihilated. Additionally, hyperspace was seen as a place where time had no meaning, but you'd return to your own time upon leaving. That is, unless some major temporal screw-up had occurred, which ran the possibility of freezing time temporarily.
** Note that hyperspace was not instantly lethal. When breaking out, Elizabeth accidentally became stranded in hyperspace. While she was in deadly danger, there was a reasonable amount of time to deduce what had happened to her and mount a rescue.
* IdenticalStranger: The Galactic Federation's diplomatic corps consists mostly of clones of the actor who also provided the voice for TIM.
* InMediasRes: 1970s series. As a result, the seemingly much more interesting origin story is only ever presented in {{Expospeak}} info-dumps.
* InWorkingOrder: In the 90s remake, the kids use a crashlanded spaceship as headquarters. While it cannot fly, it can act as homing beacon for Tomorrow People, heal them when they nearly drown, enhance their telepathic abilities, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking whip up the best orange juice known to man]].
* KarmaHoudini: None of the villains in the first 90s story (Colonel Masters, Professor Galt, Lady Mulvaney) seem to receive any sort of punishment for kidnapping and unethical experiments.
** The 70s series has Spidron from "The Vanishing Earth" and the KGB agents from "The Dirtiest Business". Also, the US President from "War of the Empires" receives no punishment for attacking the Tomorrow People and opening fire on the Thargon fleet, an act which almost gets Earth destroyed.
* {{Keet}}: Tyso.
* KillEmAll: "The Thargon Menace" has an unusually high body count, with practically every guest character dying.
* LandmarkingTheHiddenBase: Years before the Series/DoctorWho revival did it, the 90s remake had an immortal Egyptian villain hide his power-nexus pyramid in the middle of London... as the top of the Canary Wharf Tower.
* LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard: In the original series, Mike demonstrated a limited but effective form of telekinesis - he can open any lock. A gang of criminals kidnapped him and some of his family for leverage on the superhuman lockpick. At one point, the boss asked one of his mooks if the telekinetic and his family are safe. The mook's response - "Sure. Got 'em under lock and key."
* MadScientist: Doctor Culex. Professor Galt has a few of these tendencies as well.
* MindOverMatter: Several of The Tomorrow People were able to learn this ability.
* MotiveDecay: Jedikiah. In "The Slaves of Jedikiah", the shapeshifting android was not really villainous, but was perpetrating his apparently-evil deeds because he was under orders from a kind alien who mistakenly believed humans to be dangerous and barbaric. In his various reappearances, Jedekiah is simply evil, and obsessed with revenge, conquest, and the eradication of homo superior — and the Tomorrow People already seem to know this to be his natural personality ahead of time.
* NeverSayDie: Averted, at least in the 70s series.
* NoAntagonist: "The Blue and the Green" ultimately.
* NoEndorHolocaust: At the end of "The Blue and the Green", the Tomorrow People solve the problem that aliens are about to cause all humans to commit extreme violence by knocking the entire world unconscious so they only dream about committing violence. What happens to everyone who was driving a car, travelling by plane, being operated on, etc., is never addressed.
* NoNameGiven: Original Tomorrow People John, Carol and Kenny are never given surnames. Particularly egregious with John, the only character to be in every episode.
* NotSoDifferent: The SIS and KGB agents in "The Dirtiest Business" don't seem to have that many differences in terms of methods and motives, and the Tomorrow People don't want anything to do with either of them.
* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: The Galactic Federation, who will spend a lot of time talking about a problem but is reluctant to take action. Due to this one two occasions Timus had to secretly enlist the aid of the Tomorrow People to deal with two specific problems. However at the end of the final story the Federation decides to chance this.
* TheNthDoctor: Jedikiah was played by Francis de Wolff in two out of three appearances, but in a weird move, Roger Bizley played Jedikiah for "The Medusa Strain", which took place right after the end of "The Slaves of Jedikiah".
* PsychicPowers: All Tomorrow People are capable of communicating via telepathy and of teleporting, as well as other powers.
* PyramidPower: Done in the Nineties revival. The plot is that an immortal Egyptian pharoah is trying to recreate the circumstances required when the stars align to give him great power, which requires him to move a bunch of obelisks all over Europe (supposedly explaining why they were brought to London, Rome etc in the nineteenth century). The protagonists point out that this would mean he would have to have built a central focusing pyramid in the middle of them, in central London...they then look behind them and see the pyramidal top of the Canary Wharf Tower. Note this was years before it was used as the Torchwood Tower in Doctor Who.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping / FakeNationality: Nigel Rhodes, who was English and playing the evidently [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Scottish]] Andrew Forbes, often experienced this. There was one episode where Andrew [[{{Fauxreigner}} faked an American accent]]. That often slipped too.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: In the 70s series, Timus from the Galactic Federation and ''the Prime Minister'' on Earth. In the 90s series, General Damon.
** On one occasion when they were being kidnapped and experimented upon by the establishment, they responded by actually ''kidnapping the Prime Minister''. Once the situation was explained to the Prime Minister, the dear old chap was only too happy to help.
* ReligionOfEvil: The sect of monks that raised Hsui Tai treat children as the reincarnation of their gods and sacrifice them when they come of age to maintain their innocence, before recruiting a new set. Made worse by the fact that their leader doesn't believe in the gods and is merely interested in keeping his position of power and comfort.
* {{Revival}}: In TheNineties as a [[LiveActionTV live-action]] series, and the TurnOfTheMillennium as an [[AudioAdaptation audio drama]] and UsefulNotes/TheNewTens as another live-action series.
* RobotBuddy: TIM, a bio-electronic computer, who later became a mobile trash bin.
* UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}: Tyso Boswell, along with his sister Evergreen, his unseen brother Sam and his parents. Though this is open to interpretation due to the Boswells' blond hair and thick [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents West Country]] accents, which ''could'' make them representative of UsefulNotes/IrishTravellers.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Basically the attitude of US astronaut Dave, who goes AWOL and risks court martial in order to rescue John, who once saved his life.
* SecretKeeper: Chris and Ginge.
* ShoutOut: In the pilot for the '90s remake, the cartoon show that Lisa is watching is an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow''.
** And in "The Culex Experiment", Kevin is playing ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2''.
* SillyReasonForWar: "The Blue and the Green" has most of the world's population on the verge of mass violence and riots between those who preferred the color blue to those who preferred the color green. It eventually turned out that this was being psychically induced by the onset of the pupal stage in a brood of aliens left as eggs on Earth during the fall of Rome. The Tomorrow People save both the aliens and the Earth by knocking everyone on the planet unconscious and giving them violent dreams to provide the necessary psychic energy to the aliens in a comparatively harmless way.
* SpaceClothes: Very tacky belts worn to enhance jaunting abilities, as well as a low-budget, not-at-all-bulky space suit. If they jaunted directly into hyperspace, the suit would keep them in one piece.
** Then there were the bubble-skin jumpsuits in "The Living Skins"...
* SurrealThemeTune: Written by [[Series/DoctorWho Dudley Simpson]].
* TeenGenius: Mainly John, although Stephen did display bouts of ingenuity [[BigEater when he wasn't going after all the food]].
* TeenIdol: Mike Holoway, who played [[TheDanza Mike Bell]], was a singer and drummer in the band Flintlock, who were very popular amongst the teen crowd. His 'popstar' persona was carried over into the show, where his character would play in a band called "The Fresh Hearts". In one episode he was shown to be writing a song and even asking TIM for advice.
* TelepathicSpacemen: The Galactic Federation, a space collective of telepathic species, sends communications to the human Tomorrow People via telepathy. Due to the distances involved, the messages are usually received by a telepathic computer instead of directly, except in desperate cases.
* TimePolice: The Guardians of Time, presumably. The Guardians are a more advanced form of human than homo superior (called either homo novus or homo sapiens temporum), though it isn't exactly clear what their role is, as their appearances all involve them being lured into traps by villains seeking to exploit their ability to facilitate time travel.
* TinCanRobot: TIM had a mobile unit that looked a bit tin-canny.
* TitleMontage: The 1990s version, unusual in that the montages consist of clips from the upcoming episode.
* VideoInsideFilmOutside: 1970s version only.The 1990s version was shot entirely on film.
* WeatherControlMachine: The Nineties remake had a villain who was an American cereal magnate with such a machine; in a more thoughtful example than most, his EvilPlan was to use it to destroy the corn harvest of the United States in order to make his own stockpiles more valuable a la Egypt in Literature/TheBible.
* WeAreAsMayflies: The original series featured a time traveling character called Peter who, despite being over 100 years old, looked about 12. In typical Tomorrow People style, when they speculate on how old his (physically elderly) grandfather is, the best guess they can come up with is "older".
* WeDidntStartTheFuhrer: In the episode "Hitler's Last Secret", it is revealed that Hitler was [[spoiler:a shape-shifting alien]].
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Colonel Masters and Major Turner have no compunctions about kidnapping telepathic teenagers and subjecting them to dangerous medical procedures, but believe they're acting in Britain's best interests.
* WhatTheHellHero: Elizabeth delivers a massive one to John when he initially chooses not to rescue dying astronaut Lee.
* WidgetSeries: Oh ''yes''. A fun thing to do is show an episode or two to someone who can't speak English and gauge their reaction. Odds are it will be confusion or absolute horror.
* YearInsideHourOutside: in one episode they encounter a NegativeSpaceWedgie. A ship entering the wedgie immediately exits the way it came it, but with a around 8 hours passing for the crew. Inexplicably, the crews' watches stop.
* YouCanSayThatAgain: Occurred on a few occasions in the show, each time with someone "saying that again!"

It is almost impossible to discuss ''The Tomorrow People'' without comparing it to Classic ''Series/DoctorWho'', to which it was, essentially, {{ITV}}'s answer.[[note]]''{{Primeval}}'' being their weapon against the new ''Doctor Who'' series.[[/note]]

* InMediasRes: As a result, the seemingly much more interesting origin story is only ever presented in {{Expospeak}} info-dumps.

* VideoInsideFilmOutside

* {{Cancellation}} / CutShort: The original [[TheSeventies 70s]] series ended with the four-part ''War of the Empires'' when a proper SeriesFinale was still in the writing stages. This was the result of the [[TVStrikes 1979 ITV Strike]] - the very same strike which caused DoctorWho's ratings to go through the roof - with many electrical personnel walking out. The 90s revival and the audio dramas were also cancelled while more material was being planned.

* SurrealThemeTune: Written by [[DoctorWho Dudley Simpson]].

* BigBad: Jedikiah, although he only appears in seasons one and two.

** The 70s series has Spidron from "The Vanishing Earth" and the KGB agents from "The Dirtiest Business". Also, the US President from "War of the Empires" receives new punishment for attacking the Tomorrow People and opening fire on the Thargon fleet, an act which almost gets Earth destroyed.

* MotiveDecay: Jedikiah. In "Break Out", the shapeshifting android was not really villainous, but was perpetrating his apparently-evil deeds because he was under orders from a kind alien who mistakenly believed humans to be dangerous and barbaric. In his various reappearances, Jedekiah is simply evil, and obsessed with revenge, conquest, and the eradication of homo superior — and the Tomorrow People already seem to know this to be his natural personality ahead of time.

''The Tomorrow People'' was {{reviv|al}}ed in the mid 90's with the help of {{Nickelodeon}} for three seasons. During the TurnOfTheMillennium, Creator/BigFinish produced a series of ''The Tomorrow People'' audio dramas, [[WeMeetAgain reuniting many of the original cast members]]. The audio series has now concluded, although yet ''another'' revival (which is HotterAndSexier than its past incarnations) has recently premiered on TheCW. [[Series/TheTomorrowPeople2013 It has its own page now.]]

** The Tomorrow People [[PutOnABus also go through this themselves]]. Kenny and Carol simply vanish from Season 2 ([[AllThereInTheManual apparently they were sent away to the Galactic Trig]]) to be replaced by Elizabeth, and Tyso and Stephen disappear between seasons 4 and 5 (which was apparently due to ExecutiveMeddling since the powers wanted Mike to be the 'star' of ''The Tomorrow People'').

* WeDidntStartTheFuhrer: In the episode "Hitler's Last Secret", it is revealed that Hitler was [[spoiler:a shape-shifting robot]].

* TeenGenius: Mainly John and Elizabeth, although Stephen did display bouts of ingenuity [[BigEater when he wasn't going after all the food]].

* AccidentalInnuendo: Of the visual variety. TIM's balls get tickled on one occasion.

* TheDanza: Elizabeth M'bundo was played by Elizabeth Adare, and Mike Bell was played by Mike Holoway.
** Wildly averted in the 90s remake; three of the four actors were Kristian, Christian, and Kristen, while the actor named Adam did *not* play the *character* named Adam (Kristian did).
* DemotedToExtra: Tyso's fate by the end of series 4, after being OutOfFocus since the middle of series 3. Apparently his portrayer, Dean Lawrence, didn't seem to mind as he had been planning to leave at the end of that particular series anyway. On the ''Beyond Tomorrow'' documentary he even issued a TakeThat to episodes produced for series 5 and later.

* {{Documentary}}: The TalkingHeads - centred ''Beyond Tomorrow'', which was [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes finally released in 2005]] after being filmed in 1997.

* NoBudget: For much of the original series. The 90s version significantly improved in budget, though.

* WeAreAsMayflies: The original series featured a time traveling character called Peter who, despite being over 100 years old, looked about 12. In typical Tomorrow People style, when they speculate on how old his (physically elderly) grandfather is, the best guess they can come up with is "older"

''The Tomorrow People'' was {{reviv|al}}ed in the mid 90's with the help of {{Nickelodeon}} for three seasons. During the TurnOfTheMillennium, BigFinish produced a series of ''The Tomorrow People'' audio dramas, [[WeMeetAgain reuniting many of the original cast members]]. The audio series has now concluded, although yet ''another'' revival (which is HotterAndSexier than its past incarnations) has recently premiered on TheCW. [[Series/TheTomorrowPeople2013 It has its own page now.]]

* CanonDiscontinuity: In the BigFinish Audios, for no reason other than the writer's distaste, they make a special effort, in an audio-only medium where no one need ever know anyway, to point out that the switch from tacky belts to tacky bracelets and TIM's upgrade to "mobile trash bin" form have been undone. Also, the names of several of the 90's revival characters are listed among Tomorrow People who died while breaking out, effectively writing off the entire series as a NearDeathExperience.

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[[quoteright:325:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the-tomorrow-people_3185.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:The Reboot]]

''The Tomorrow People'' was {{reviv|al}}ed in the mid 90's with the help of {{Nickelodeon}} for three seasons. During the TurnOfTheMillennium, BigFinish produced a series of ''The Tomorrow People'' audio dramas, [[WeMeetAgain reuniting many of the original cast members]]. The audio series has now concluded, although yet ''another'' revival (which is HotterAndSexier than its past incarnations) has recently premiered on TheCW.

!!The 2013 reboot provides examples of:
* AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler: Cara killed a boy attempting to rape her, but his father was too well connected and she can never go back.]]
* BattleCouple: Cara and John. They spar particularly well with each other.
* BigBad: As in the 1970s show, Jedikiah is this. [[spoiler:However, in this reboot, it does not appear that he is anything more than an ordinary human being, abilities-wise.]]
* TheChosenOne: Stephen. [[spoiler:He has abilities the other Tomorrow People lack, such as the ability to slow time, as well as to exert his powers in a building in which Tomorrow People ''should not'' be able to exercise them.]]
* DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: [[spoiler:Stephen decides to do this, working for Jedikiah while secretly reporting back to Cara. Jedikiah thinks he's a double agent but he's gambling on Stephen one day leading him to the Tomorrow People and Stephen overheard him, so really its a matter of who maneuvers who at this point.]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** Jedikiah's is a truly horrifying example of KickTheDog. [[spoiler:He tells a turncoat Homo Superior YouHaveFailedMe, ''admits'' he's going to kill him, gives the HS a gun to ''attempt'' to kill the sociopathic sap first, smirks as the [[RestrainingBolt shutdown engages]], then nonchalantly takes the gun back and shoots the HS in the back of the head.]]
** Stephen's makes you feel sorry for the guy. [[spoiler:He winds up ''in between'' a married couple, to which the husband rather strenuously objects. And he very obviously has no idea how he did it.]]
* FantasticRacism: Goes both ways. Ultra obviously sees the Tomorrow People as a threat to the human species to be eliminated, while the Tomorrow People hold themselves apart from "saps", i.e., normal humans. One of the reasons Steven won't stay with them is because he won't separate from his family.
* GenreSavvy: Ultra, in general. They have a pretty good grasp on what makes people tick, and Stephen uses this to his advantage to [[spoiler:surprise Kurt, the would-be teenage bandit.]]
** A specific sub-example is Jedekiah knowing his brother quite well, even after several years apart. [[spoiler:Well enough to spot, at first glance, a modified mechanical watch that hides a critical protection chip, the "D" chip.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: John was an Ultra agent before Stephen's father recruited him into the Tomorrow People.
* InterruptedSuicide: [[spoiler: Cara managed to talk down one of Stephen's classmates.]]
* KeepingSecretsSucks: [[spoiler: Stephen has to keep his powers a secret from Astrid, who witnessed him teleporting away, for her own safety.]]
* LampshadeHanging: Paying homage to the 1970s series in these examples:
-->"We're called Tomorrow People, and we didn't choose the name, I swear."
-->"You, my friend, are a Homo superior." "We didn't pick that name either."
* LockedRoomMystery: It's a mystery to the characters but not the audience: How Stephen manages to "sleepwalk" into a couple's bed through their locked doors, despite having strapped himself down in his own bed the night before.
* MindProbe: Ultra calls it debriefing.
* MoodWhiplash: [[spoiler:In one moment, Stephen is seething about his father and to all appearances would have nothing to do with him or the group associated with him. Scene cut to him in the bathroom accidentally activating his telekinesis abilities. Cue instant rhapsodizing about how awesome it all is to his skeptical friend, and all but raring to get back to the group of Tomorrow People.]]
* PsychicStatic: Using your most painful memory to shield your thoughts.
* RestrainingBolt: The Tomorrow People can't kill anyone. It's not that they ethically won't; their own brains engage some kind of shutdown mode when they try.
* VancouverDoubling: As of the second episode, filming is being done in Vancouver standing in for New York. Some recognizable aspects of Vancouver can be made out if you look closely.
* VillainHasAPoint: Jedikiah Price obviously has some FantasticRacism issues, but he is correct about the problems that would arise from teenagers and young adults spontaneously manifesting super-powers. [[spoiler: Which is shown in the second episode as a teenager uses his power to make people rob a bank and then an armored truck.]]
** Jedikiah also has concerns about what would happen if a Homo Superior mutant were born with the powers but not the no-killing limitation.
* WeaponizedTeleportation: We see two Tomorrow People training in their underground base. During their spar, one teleports behind the other, putting them back to back. The other looks around and ''[[CrowningMomentOfFunny taps the teleporter on the shoulder to get his attention]]'', and they go back to fighting.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Dr. Jedekiah Price [[spoiler:intends to either suborn all Tomorrow People to his own interests, or kill them.]]
** [[spoiler:For example, as of the second episode, he admits that he intends to use Stephen to get to the Tomorrow People-- and kill them all. Though I suppose an argument could be made that he's well-intentioned as far as homo sapiens goes.]]
** [[spoiler:In the third episode he rationalizes the narrow focus Ultra has on the basis of a rather twisted "for the greater good" ideology. He barely dismisses Stalin's crimes, only ''pro forma'' reciting the "he was a monster" line. It is clear that he fancies himself a man in that mold, one who "must liquidate" a designated enemy to further his goals.]]
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: [[spoiler: Cara can't go back because of an AccidentalMurder and it turns out her father didn't want her back.]]
* YouHaveFailedMe: If a HS botches a mission they are killed for it by Ultra.
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* RestrainingBolt: [[spoiler:The Tomorrow People can't kill anyone. It's not that they ethically won't; their own brains engage some kind of shutdown mode when they try.]]

** [[spoiler:In the third episode he rationalizes the narrow focus Ultra has on the basis of a rather twisted "for the greater good" ideology. He barely dismisses Stalin's crimes, only ''pro forma'' reciting the "he was a monster" line. It is clear that he fancies himself a man in that mold, one who "must liquidate" a designated enemy to further hos goals.]]