Message-ID: <295@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 26-Mar-84 23:46:09 EST
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.295
Posted: Mon Mar 26 23:46:09 1984
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From:  Alan R. Katz 

I have been watching this REALLY STRANGE program on cable (Nickleodean(sp?))
called "The Tomorrow People."  It seems to have been done on a tiny budget
(less than Dr. Who even) but seems to be pretty well done (in a warped
way).  Does anyone know the premise of this show?  (It is from BBC, about
1974, I think).

In short:  The heroes are kids (its a kids show) who have special powers of
some sort.  They can teleport (sometimes they need some kind of gadget, 
sometimes they don't).  They have some sort of self aware computer (or 
something, its not clear its really a computer).  Alot (but not all)
of the science seems pretty much right, it looks like they paid attention
to what their science adviser said.  All sorts of really strange things
happen, but basically good guyes vs. bad guys trying to take over the Earth
in one way or another.


			Alan

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Message-ID: <326@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 27-Mar-84 17:15:00 EST
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.326
Posted: Tue Mar 27 17:15:00 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 30-Mar-84 02:40:46 EST
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From:  Mike Caplinger 

Well, I have cable and can't help watching it sometimes, so I catch
"The Tomorrow People" fairly often.  The premise is basically this:

The Galaxy is populated by hundreds of races; some are telepathic, some
are not.  The telepaths are always mutations from a non-telepathic base
species.  These are developing on Earth, where they are called (for no
readily descernable reason) "Tomorrow People."  The Galactic Federation
goes around finding these people and contacting them; they become
ambassadors for the planet, which is shielded from outside contact
until the telepaths become dominant.  It turns out that the telepaths
are mentally incapable of violence, so they're safe to let out into
Galactic society.

The telepaths also have limited abilities for TK, remote viewing, and
teleportation, called "jaunting" (cf Bester's STARS MY DESTINATION).
Jaunting range is much enhanced (to interstellar distances, even) by
machine amplification.

The show itself follows the adventures of a group of teenagers/young
adults who have been given a sentient biological computer by the
Galactic Federation.  They keep the Earth safe from invasion by hostile
non-telepathic ETs, are on the run from Earth governments, who want to
use their power for war, etc.  Occasionally they go to other planets to
help out pockets of Tomorrow People there.

All in all, it's not a bad show.  The special effects are mediocre
video stuff, and the plots range from pretty intelligent to pretty bad.
But there's a fair amount of thought in the background civilizations
and the premise in general.

Message-ID: <543@aplvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 30-Mar-84 08:44:21 EST
Article-I.D.: aplvax.543
Posted: Fri Mar 30 08:44:21 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 31-Mar-84 07:58:06 EST
Organization: JHU/Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD
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Alan R. Katz  asks for information on the British
show "The Tomorrow People".  I've watched the whole thing on Nickelodeon
and liked most of it, it gets rather silly toward the end.  Each story is
a serial of from 2 to 5 parts.  It is by Thames Television (not BBC).

Alan:	"The heroes are kids who have special powers of some sort."
The "tomorrow people" feel they are the next step in human evolution.
Their special powers (telepathy, short range teleportation- "jaunting",
telekenesis, depending on the person) "break out" during adolescence,
an effect similar to threshold sickness in the Darkover books.  The main
character, John, is the first tomorrow person known to have survived this
without subconsciously rejecting the powers and not being able to use them
fully.  He was contacted by a federation of telepathic alien races who will
one day invite humans to join them and who, since a telepathic race is
developing on earth, watch over it and protect this development from the
interference of violent, nontelepathic races.  An effect of the telepathic
development is the inability to commit any violent acts.  They are dedicated
to finding other developing tomorrow people and in keeping their existence
secret from all governments and military organizations, for fear of being
exploited.

Alan:	"They can teleport (sometimes they need some kind of gadget, 
	sometimes they don't)."
Short "jaunts" don't need power/computer assistance.  For longer distances
the computer can coordinate and trace their teleportation.

Alan:	"They have some sort of self aware computer (or something,
	its not clear its really a computer)."
The computer, named Tim, was build by John using technology from the aliens.

The serials get shorter and sillier as the show progresses.  For Doctor Who
fans out there - the very worst serial has Peter Davison's TV debut, it is
so bad it's embarrassing to watch.

				Mary Anne Espenshade
				...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!mae

Message-ID: <1217@ucf-cs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 29-Mar-84 20:28:43 EST
Article-I.D.: ucf-cs.1217
Posted: Thu Mar 29 20:28:43 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 31-Mar-84 08:30:12 EST
References: <295@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Organization: University of Central Florida
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Disclaimer -- I used to watch the show as a form of static.  MTV was too
	      distracting and it was easier to pipe TTP > /dev/null than
	      try to actively ignore my noisy apartment complex.  All 
	      precision is due to (1) simplicity and (2) repetition.


*The Tomorrow People* was a somewhat inconsistent British television show
of the mid 1970's.  It is my understanding that it was originally intended
for the full audience, but is only used as a kid's show in North America.
(verilee interesting....)

The basic premise was not unlike *Childhood's End*, except that it was 
somewhat less distressing to the adults.  In a nutshell, the "Tomorrow
People" are the evolutionary step beyond homo sapiens, and in fact they 
modestly called themselves "homo superior" and everyone else "saps" for 
the first few seasons.

Their native talents, which do not appear until the early teens, are
teleportation, telepathy, and psychokinesis.  In return for their
abilities they are unable to kill others, even in order to save themselves.
(Have I heard this somewhere before?)

Although they can teleport themselves, they generally use those devices
(there were three versions of them) for added range.

The computer was a "biological" computer which "John" constructed from
pieces he (unknowingly) received from the "Galactic Federation". Yeah.

Somehow, this computer was also capable of telepathy and monitoring all
television and radio frequencies throughout the world, along with
controlling several deep-space spacecraft which act as a "DEW" line for
the earth.  No mention was ever made of how these satellites were placed
into position.

Of course, this computer is fully intelligent, and as I recall occasionally
quoted Shakespeare.

They also had several other interesting devices, to put it mildly.  I must
admit, however, that the devices generally made some sense, despite the
fact that the nearest real-life equivalent would cost billions of dollars
and require a nearby FermiLab or CERN,  while theirs either fit into a
pocket or were part of the computer's equipment.

As I mentioned, the shows were somewhat inconsistent.  Here is a breakdown
by season, but I've forgotten a great deal of the details:

1: (1972?)  Characters: John, (white male, late teens)
			Carol, (white female, mid-late teens)
			Peter, (white male, early teens)
			..?.., (black male, early-mid teens)

   Action:  Primarily tried to protect themselves from the hostile "saps."
   Spent a great deal of time in converted subway lab.

2: Characters:  John, Peter
		Elizabeth, (black female, early 20's)

   Action:  Still protecting themselves from hostile "saps," although
   Elizabeth, a school teacher, forced them to spend more time helping
   others.  Went forward 500 years and assisted a "time lord" or something,
   making enemy of robot they teleported to Mercury.  Went back to Roman 
   times, screwed up, and returned to a 20th century Roman empire spread
   throughout the galaxy.  Something about a steam engine....

3: Characters:  John, Peter, Elizabeth
		..?..  (white male, early teens)

   Action: Rescued another tomorrow person from the evil grasp of a 
   parapsychologist, and hence the evil grasp of the military. (Come
   again?), meet yet another tomorrow person (..?..: white female, 
   early 20's) working for the military, freed a planet held by the
   same aliens who (1) built the pyramids of Egypt, (2) use mind-waves
   that prevent parapsychological abilities, and (3) enjoy humanburgers.
   Robot from first season returns, generally makes the show half-way
   exciting, and tries to enslave the TP.  Results in TP being
   sold out in supermarkets worldwide... no, that was Johnny Carson,...
   oh yeah,  Galatic Federation Hero arrives, takes TP (no, I will NOT
   say it!) back to Federation Headquarters for indefinite period, 
   parapsychologist goes into coma from shock of losing his subjects.

4: Characters:  John, Elizabeth, ..?.. (?)
		Mike (white male, early teens)

   Action: Show renewed.  Several TP return to earth. Meanwhile, yet
   another TP arrives on scene, leads to interesting discussion of
   social classes in mid 1970's England.  By now the TP have started 
   working their way into the British Government (i.e. they kidnapped
   the Prime Minister), tangle with Russian spies, tangle with M5 or
   Scotland Yard or some other such group, save the world from destruction
   by a radical Scottish terrorist group that (1) hijacks a rocket to
   (2) hijack a U.N. peacekeeping space-station armed with nuclear 
   weapons.  (Some of the writers were listening to the Governor of
   California, apparently).

5: Characters:  John, Elizabeth, Mike
		Sun Lee (?) (oriental female, late teens)
		Andrew (white male, early teens)

   Action: Set finally replaced with something looking half-decent.
   Mini-computer (portable) constructed.  Sun Lee (?) saved from
   human sacrifice in orient.  Andrew caught while creating ghosts
   and goblins in his father's hotel, Nessie on the Loch.  Show definitely
   shows the end of imagination of the writers.

   Finale:  Earth caught in war between two alien species.  American 
   President made to look like a total idiot.  AP speaks with *heavy*
   Texas accent, also.  American military also made to look like total
   idiots, worse than *WarGames*.  Galactic Federation suddenly decides
   to play "But what can we do" when it is discovered that the earth
   is soon not to be, John thrown in jail because of emotional outburst
   in front of council (*very* cheap aliens, incidently).  Fellow TPers
   with aid of American astronaut they saved earlier in show steal 
   military spacecraft, go to Federation Headquarters, and nuke it.
   (Note: FH is a giant spacecraft thingee).  The perfect shots they are,
   they hit an empty warehouse.  (With a nuclear weapon?  I think someone
   needs to talk to the writers...).  John released, TP go back to earth
   a single-handedly defend it, hand control back to the American President
   (which is good for a few chuckles), and the Federation comes to them 
   to apologize, saying they were right and it was time for a new beginning
   in the Federation....


Conclusion: It has got to be better than *HeMan: Master of the Universe*
for impressing kids with science fiction.  But I keep wondering how the
Tomorrow People would ever survive.  They went through probabily 10 TP,
and except for one instance "he" never noticed "she" (and vice versa) 
despite living together around the clock and being at an age when hormone
levels are rather high.  But, of course, a kid won't notice that, RIGHT?!


ave discordia				going bump in the night ...
bruce giles

decvax!ucf-cs!giles			university of central florida
giles.ucf-cs@Rand-Relay			orlando, florida 32816