Review The Tomorrow People (2013)

[michaellevenson]

First time since I was twelve I've been going through this series after purchasing the DVD's.
Allowances must be made for its age, the fact that it's a kids show and the low budget and child actors in it.., but can't make up my mind if this is brilliant inventive but poorly realized, or just plain c**p.

 

[Gavin]

I loved the Tomorrow People. I'd definitely vote for brilliantly inventive but poorly realised. There are a lot of great ideas that are unfortunately not fully explored due to the fact that it was aimed at kids and didn't have a huge budget. Its also generally a lot of fun. There have been a couple (I think) of remake attempts over the years but I've only seen small clips. I'd love to see this brought back with modern effects capabilities and a bigger budget - similar to the way Doctor Who was brought back and updated for a modern era.

 

[Doctor Omega]

A remake appeared in 1992, with Roger Price acting as executive producer. This version used the same basic premise as the original series with some changes, and ran until 1995

One of two failed revivals.....

What went wrong with this one?

And was it really all that bad?

 

[Gavin]

I've never managed to see anything other than the original series which is pretty dated these days. It seems like the kind of concept that it should be pretty easy to make a successful contemporary series from though so it's hard to imagine why the two reboots were unsuccessful.

 

[Doctor Omega]

The Tomorrow People is an American science fiction television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Phil Klemmer, and Julie Plec which aired on The CW during the 2013–14 American television season.

It was a remake of the original British television series of the same name, created by Roger Price, which ran from 1973–79.

The series follows a group of young people who possess psionic powersas the result of human evolution.

The Tomorrow People premiered on October 9, 2013.

Originally aired Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/8:00 p.m. Central, but on March 17, 2014, it was moved to Mondays at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/8:00 p.m. Central.

On May 8, 2014, The CW canceled The Tomorrow People after one season.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Another failed revival.

 

[Mad-Pac]

I just watched this. I remember the show from early 1970s. At that time I thought it was very cool, very interesting, like any major science fiction show. Many people like to judge old productions based on modern criteria, so they can't realize the show had back in the day and start wondering, "How could people have enjoyed something so poorly made?" Undoubtedly, historical context matters a great deal.

 

[Mad-Pac]

The show could've lasted much longer, but sometimes ratings aren't enough. Even for CW standards. The only thing I thought really forced was the fact that the protagonist, Stephen, I think, was in high school. Meanwhile, he went to bars, stayed up on school nights and never asked his mother to do anything, just like an adult (which clearly he was). But the writers thought it was a good idea to pander to younger audiences, hence the high school thing.

Oh, and 2013 was also the good days when the IMDB boards still existed and tv.com was a real website with great reviews, polls and creatively made curiosities, and a vibrant community of users, not just a dead hollow shell of a website possessed by TVGuide.

 

[Doctor Omega]

While hardly in the Doctor Who league, The Tomorrow People has spawned a fair amount of merchandise over the years, most notably during it's first incarnation.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Big Finish started to produce audio stories, but they eventually stopped.....






The The Tomorrow People Audio Series was produced by Big Finish Productions and began to be sold through their website in April 2001. These audio-only stories were available on CD, and are in continuity with the Original Series, following John, TIM, and new Tomorrow People some two decades after the Original Series ended. It ran for five seasons, ending in a cliffhanger released in April 2007. In December 2007, it was announced that the license to continue production on season six (for which scripts were written, and production believed to have begun on at least the first couple of stories) was not granted by Fremantle Media.


Episodes
Season 1

1. "The New Gods"
2. "The Deadliest Species"
3. "The Ghosts of Mendez"
4. "The Sign of Diolyx"

Season 2

1. "A New Atlantis"
2. "The Power of Fear"
3. "The Curse of Kaaven"
4. "Alone"

Season 3

1. "The Slarvian Menace"
2. "The Warlock's Dance"
3. "A Living Hell"
4. "Trigonometry"

Season 4

1. "Saying Goodbye"
2. "The Lords of Forever"
3. "Queen of Slarvos"
4. "The Plague of Dreams"

Season 5

1. "A Broken Song"
2. "Aftermath"
3. "Spiritus Mundi"
4. "Stemming the Tide"
5. "End of Silence"
6. "Rachel"

Season 6 (proposed)
Season six was believed to have been canceled part way through the production of "Saving the World" and "Talking to God". Links will be provided to the individual stories if more information is ever learned about them.

1. "Saving the World"
2. "Talking to God"
3. "War of the Slarvians"
4. "Tandem"
5. "Godwin's Law"
6. "Buartek"

 

[Doctor Omega]

I believe that this was the only annual ever released.....

 

[Doctor Omega]

There were also five tie-in novels during the seventies: The Visitor (1973), Three into Three (1974), Four into Three (1975), One Law (1976) and Lost Gods(1977).

 

[Doctor Omega]

More recently, this guidebook....

 

[Doctor Omega]

The Tomorrow People - Overview

Children's Sci-fi series The Tomorrow People gets a roasting in this brief documentary. One series that is proof that "the memory cheats" - but it at least had imagination

 

[Doctor Omega]

Tomorrow People creator talks about the series & David Bowie 1/2

 

[Doctor Omega]

 

[Gavin]

There were also five tie-in novels during the seventies: The Visitor (1973), Three into Three (1974), Four into Three (1975), One Law (1976) and Lost Gods(1977).


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I've got (and love) Four into Three. I really should go looking to see if I can find some of the others.

 

[Doctor Omega]

The Bowie song that inspired THE TOMORROW PEOPLE....

 

[Doctor Omega]

I have looked everywhere, but can find no Bowie song that has the lyrics:



"You gotta fight the Federation with all your might,

Ain't no time for all that Cygnus Alpha Penal Colony business..."


The search continues....

 

[Doctor Omega]

There was this 1976 tune though....

from 3:15

Me thinks Dudley Simpson had this single!