1970s British
Speculative Fiction series created by Roger Damon Price (who also created
You Cant Do That On Television).
The Tomorrow People followed the adventures of a group of
Homo Superior,
the next stage in human evolution. The titular Tomorrow People were an
ensemble of three to five children and young adults born with
special powers, primarily telepathy and the ability to
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 "saps" (a diminutive of
homo sapiens).
It is almost impossible to discuss
The Tomorrow People without comparing it to
Doctor Who, to which it was, essentially, ITV's answer. It is even harder for these comparisons to be favorable. Similar in scope and tone,
The Tomorrow People looks and feels a lot like
Doctor Who if all the characters were Adric and the budget were cut in half (And given that the budget for
Doctor Who seemed to be 5 bubblegum wrappers and a rubber band, this is saying a lot). The fact that the series managed to remain popular through eight seasons in spite of consistently over-ambitious
special effects and fairly shoddy writing is something of a mystery.
Starting in the third season, the team often travelled to other worlds (played by the
BBC Quarry through a sepia filter) on missions for the Galactic Federation, an interstellar alliance of telepathic species.
The Tomorrow People was
revived in the mid 90s with the help of Nickelodeon for three seasons. More recently,
Big Finish produced a series of
The Tomorrow People audio dramas, reuniting many of the original cast members.
This series provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless (Not just useless: an inferior species. In the Revival, they are also pastiche moronic-adult caricatures as well)
- BBC Quarry
- Dis Continuity (In the Big Finish 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 Near Death Experience)
- Hollywood Science (in sufficient quantity that Dr. Chris Evans should really have thought twice about having his name listed as "Scientific Advisor" in the credits)
- Identical Stranger (the Galactic Federation's diplomatic corps consists mostly of clones of the actor who also provided the voice for TIM)
- In Medias Res (As a result, the seemingly much more interesting origin story is only ever presented in Expospeak info-dumps)
- Jonas Quinn (many cast members were replaced over the years)
- Landmarking The Hidden Base (years before the Doctor Who 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)
- Psychic Powers
- Revival
- Robot Buddy (TIM, a bio-electronic computer, who later became a mobile trash bin)
- Space Clothes (Very tacky belts worn to enhance jaunting abilities, as well as a suit to keep them together should they have to jaunt into hyperspace)
- Special Effect Failure
- Teen Genius (John)
- Telepathic Spacemen (The Galactic Federation)
- Teleporters And Transporters
- Twofer Token Minority
- Where Did They Get Lasers (Homo Superior are biologically unable to kill, so they arm themselves with stun guns)
