A few years ago, there was a TV show called The Tomorrow People which I only saw a few episodes of. It was a paranormal show in the midst of many paranormal shows, but in this case dealt more with telepathic and psychic sorts of powers. I remembered watching it and thinking…wasn’t there something like this before?
And I was correct. It was a remake-though really more of a re-imaging because the look and style is much different from the original.
The original The Tomorrow People was a British children’s SF show which ran from 1973 to 1979. The basic idea is that humans are reaching a new step of evolution and these new humans are developing various psychic powers- telepathy, telekinesis, and teleportation usually at the onset of puberty although a few are a bit older. Anyhow, there is an organization that tracks tomorrow people and helps them adjust. There is also a biological computer called TIM, and a secret base, and they sometimes deal with a galactic group that tracks telepathy all over the universe. The Tomorrow People (homo superior) are fundamentally unwilling to kill and have to hide from those who want to exploit their powers. It was supposed to be the ITV answer to Doctor Who and it has that kind of SF, mystery, adventure sort of feel. The theme music is by Dudley Simpson who also did a lot of the Doctor Who music as well as the them music for Blake’s 7 and the very short lived Moonbase 3.
It doesn’t age particularly well. Clothing. Hair. Limited budget and not-so-special special effects. The acting is…well…not exactly the best. It does have a nostalgia value for a few episodes 🙂 And I have to admit, some of the plots were rather sophisticated and compelling.
However, I realized this wasn’t even the version I was remembering. The Tomorrow People was revived in the 1990’s. It ran on Nickelodeon from 1992-1995. It’s similar to the original-though they had a psychic spaceship rather than the computer and they use their powers more freely, but still don’t kill. It’s one of the early roles for young Naomie Harris who has sent moved on to be Pirates of the Caribbean, James Bond, and an Academy Award nomination for Moonlight.
The newer 2013 version is more young adult than children’s show with edgier plot lines. Plus, the emergence of The Tomorrow People and the governement/military involvement is amped. It didn’t see very many episodes, but I think any alien invasions or Doctor Who-ish type plots are dropped.
Big Finish ran a brief audio drama series based on the original.
*By the time this finishes, the first season of Star Trek: Discovery will be finished and I can assess how I feel about it. I have been watching Star Trek: Voyager which I hadn’t seen in a while and forgot a lot of those first few seasons. It’s better than I remembered it even if there are a few clunker episodes. I also finally have a chance to watch Killjoys. It wasn’t broadcast overseas so I had to wait for Netflix. So far, it’s a fun one.
THE ECHO ZONE 
I have not heard of The Tomorrow People until now. Maybe I will look at it if I run across it.
I finished my year long odyssey through the world of Star Trek by finishing Enterprise a week ago. I started with Original Series and proceeded from there. I too was surprised how much of the franchise seemed new to me again. Or I was just seeing from a different perspective. Still loved the entire thing. As yet, I have not seen any of Discovery. I will watch it when it shows up on Netflix or Prime. In the mean time, I am currently watching Earth: Final Conflict – again. I had forgotten that Majel Barrett had a recurring roll in it. Though I shouldn’t be surprised since she shows up in most of Gene Roddenberry’s work, even if it is as no more than as the voice of the computer. I am enjoying the revisit, though it too seems new to me because it has been so long since I watched it last.
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Hi! I watched some of the Trek movies again and was surprised at how much I’d forgotten:) Star Trek: The Motion Picture was practically brand new. Earth: Final Conflict I’ve always enjoyed. It gets a bit lost in later seasons, but it’s a fun one.
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