The Tomorrow People 1:1 (The Slaves of Jedikiah)
Tagline
Your children are not your children, for they dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit even in your dreams.
Plot Outline
The Tomorrow People are a group of youngsters that represent the next step in the evolution of mankind. Gifted with powers of telepathy, teleportation (which they called 'jaunting'), and telekinesis they fend off alie
Tagline
Your children are not your children, for they dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit even in your dreams.
Plot Outline
The Tomorrow People are a group of youngsters that represent the next step in the evolution of mankind. Gifted with powers of telepathy, teleportation (which they called 'jaunting'), and telekinesis they fend off alien terrors and guard Earth against possibly it's greatest enemy - man himself.
In this first story John, Carol and Kenny help 14 year old Stephen to 'break out' as his latent abilities surface. Carol and Kenny are out in London attempting to pick up Stephen's chaotic thought patterns, whilst John (the eldest and first of the Tomorrow People to 'break out') co-ordinates the exercise from their secret base in a disused underground Station with the help of their computer TIM. The first attempt is cut short, as Stephen collapses in the street and is taken to hospital.
But their activities have been noticed by the shape changing Jedikiah, who wishes to harness the power of the group for his own ends. Jedikiah's henchmen kidnap Stephen from the hospital as Carol visits him to explain what is happening. Then the race is on, not only to rescue Stephen and help him bring his powers under control safely, but also to thwart the plans of the evil Jedikiah.
Review
The B.B.C. had dominated children's sci-fi programming since 1963 with Dr. Who, and in the early seventies commercial operators made a few attempts to capture some of this market. Thames had tried with 'Ace of Wands' which achieved reasonable adventure with a dash of mysticism on a low budget, whilst A.T.V. had produced the more heavyweight and sci-fi grounded show 'Timeslip'. Both were brave attempts, but lasted only a few series.
It did, however, pave the way for 'The Tomorrow People' which relied for its launch on the directing talents of Paul Barnard and Darrol Blake. Both of these had experience from work on Doctor Who, and Darrol the added benefit of having directed 'Ace of Wands'.
The first series of thirteen episodes told three separate stories, and 'The Slaves of Jedikiah' bears the responsibility of introducing the main characters, explaining their abilities, and how they operate from their base. Even with the lion's share of the episodes to do this (five, compared to the others getting four each), there isn't much room left for the story. Some of the actors were a bit below par as well, which damaged the show far more than the low budget ever did.
Making allowances for this, and remembering the primitive effects available to television in the seventies, the results are still enjoyable even to today's children bought up to expect more sophisticated fare. I say this because my wife and I have sat down to watch this with my little girl of seven and my eleven year old son. While we are watching for the nostalgia, our children responded to the story and the excitement of the traditional cliff hanger ending in just the same way as viewers back in 1973 would have done when it first aired.
The show ran for eight seasons, with a new-cast revival in the nineties which survived for three years.
The story does well to incorporate all the necessary set up detail about the group, whilst providing an opportunity for all four of the leads to be in jeopardy from the evil Jedikiah at some point. There is just enough dark menace from the villain to scare the children without upsetting them, and the writer has two bumbling henchmen to lighten the tone whenever required.
As already stated, acting standards are variable and adults will have to sit on their hands to avoid the temptation to bring out the red card at times. In general though the show carries itself in spite of such moments and it is a reminder of how good children's drama could be if given a chance.
Video
As you'd expect for a 30 year old TV show it is full frame 4:3 ratio, yet the picture quality is staggeringly good. The contrast and colour is soft compared to today's video, but the original material has been well looked after and no doubt is as good today as it was on first broadcast. Dropouts on the original material and artifacts caused by the transfer are rare.
Audio
The original mono soundtrack has been retained, and although the quality is a little 'muddy' in places with some dialog tending to drop into the background, it is still reasonable. I presume that the cost of a remix would be prohibitive, but it is a shame as there are references in the accompanying commentaries to the dissatisfaction with some of the audio that a remix could possibly have addressed.
Extras
Full marks here. It is rare to find much more than scene access and a few text biographies on a release of an old T.V. show, but Revelation Films have pulled out the stops for The Tomorrow People. In addition to the aforementioned character and actor biographies, you get a detailed episode guide to 'The Slaves of Jedikiah', a short essay on how 'The Tomorrow People' came to fruition, and an episode guide that details title, cast and transmission dates for all eight seasons.
It looks like there isn't much photographic material that survives from the early days, as some of the pictures contain cast members that weren't even in the first series, let alone the first story. Hopefully there will be more relevant material on later DVDs, as the show was very popular in it's day and had a serialisation in 'Look-In' (a very popular children's TV magazine of the day).
A short plug for a series of audio tape adventures made by Big Finish productions seems a little weak by comparison as it is not a coherent extract but a random series of 'sound bites' accompanied by pictures taken in the recording studio. It was interesting to see some original cast members as they are now, but a meaningful preview would have made a better advert for the product, which is obviously the intent considering the sales pitch with which it ends.
Big Finish productions redeem themselves however by providing an excellent audio commentary for the episodes that feature Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen) and Philip Gilbert (the voice of TIM). The facilitator does a superb job at prompting the conversation in specific directions when needed without seeming intrusive or manipulative.
Apart from scene specific reminiscences, the three actors cover how they personally came to be cast, the experience of working for Thames, their thoughts about the show overall, and their fellow actors. Their comments are honest, even when not very complementary, and frequently made me laugh. They obviously have fond memories of the show and this comes across well. There are major Hollywood talents that do not redeem themselves as well on their commentaries, and the three should be proud of the job they did bringing to life events of thirty years ago.
The product is in a standard keep case, with all features and text listed on the cover slip art. With each episode lasting about twenty five minutes, there are chapter stops only for the previous episode synopsis and next episode start. Consequently the interior of the case is blank, with no insert. The DVD has the visually striking 'open hand' image that became firmly associated with the show from the first episode.
The cover art for the third story of series one and subsequent releases include series and episode numbering. Revelation Films plan to include this on any reprints that may be required for the first two DVDs. The cover also states that Sammie Winmill (who played Carol) features in the audio commentaries, and although I haven't heard all the way to the end of it yet, this may well be an error that is corrected in a later reprint.
Overall
A very solid effort that bodes well for the handling of the remaining shows. The DVDs are available individually and as a box set, which makes their acquisition even more cost effective. There are plans to release all the series on DVD, and I can imagine this appealing to not only fans keen to relive their youth, but also to parents wishing to have an alternative to modern children's programs available for rainy days. I know my two are now firmly fixed on this being the regular weekly 'treat' to sit down and watch another episode with us.
Grown ups can wonder that cardboard props, wooden acting, and dodgy chroma key special effects could ever have kept us happy, but if they are in any doubt just watch it with a child and you'll see that's not what matters. The Tomorrow People is sci-fi and fantasy that children can relate to, and if that starts them on a path to Tolkein, Heinlein, Asimov, et al then that's no bad thing.
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