Customer Reviews

The Tomorrow People - Set 1

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I love THE TOMORROW PEOPLE. This, with DOCTOR WHO and YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON TELEVISION(Go Moose!)were the staples that kept my world together back in the 1980's. As to why... that's hard to explain. Anyone looking at the series today may be a bit put off by its low budget, often off kilter effects (early "jaunting" seemed to come across more like some disco acid flashback), "this and that" writing style (it's very obvious when the writers are padding out the middle episodes - and for a show that was supposed to be a simple adventure, they seemed to go through some of the most complex escapes I've ever seen... really, instead of jaunting or just walking through the door marked EXIT they opt for digging their way out through the center of the Earth with a rusty butter knife - NOTE: this DOES NOT happen in the show - but gives you some idea of how they work around the problem), and (sometimes) uneven performances and wonder what the "big deal" was.

I guess you could say that, like the X-MEN, THE TOMORROW PEOPLE got it right with their target audiences. Young teens, both male and female, wondering if there was something, anything, that made them special... and this show spoke to that. Special Powers, a living computer (TIM), space travel, hyper space, time travel, aliens, robots - you name it, this show managed somehow to pack it all in and make it work each and every week. There a number of positives to take from this show... empowerment, equality, friendships, trust, truth, respect for life - the show was heavy with lessons and values... and to be honest, it is also lousy with attitude as well. As advanced as THE TOMORROW PEOPLE were - they also were rather closed minded. Normal humans were called "Saps" - short for Homo sapains, which is fine, but it did seem to put the Tomorrow People above us (John's attitude towards normal humans always seemed to be a bit cold - and whenever it might seem that the Tomorrow People might be found out, he drags out his "we'll be put in cages" speech, which is funny since a majority of the aliens they meet in the course of the show often end up putting them in actual cages - so maybe he had a point all along), not alongside us. They erased minds at will, often to cover their tracks in their adventures, and sometimes seemingly because they can. There's an air about the show that sometimes smacks of "we're better... much better than you" - its casual, and you have to look for it, and while it is a bit dark (because the Tomorrow People are the next step in human evolution - they will replace us, and they will colonize the universe), it rings true - it's just unusual for a show to have this air (watch for this in THE BLUE AND THE GREEN - watch the message on screen, but then push behind it and just compare it to how the Tomorrow People live and operate). I can't say there's anything more than what you see on the screen - but, then again, they're might be.

Finally - we get ripped off. While the UK Edition (Region 2) sports commentary on all the episodes - we only get commentary on THE SLAVES OF JEDIKIAH. And while it's great... it does grate. I, for one, would love to have heard comments from all the cast on the whole set, not just what amounts to a big tease from the producers of this set. Also, I'm not sure who put the graphics together for this collection - but they seemed to have gone out of their way to remove ANYTHING that smacks of the show. No CLOSED FIST, no OPEN HAND, even the font is alien to the series. I don't know why this was done (the UK sets represent the show much better), but it (I beleive) actually makes you not want to look at it. There's nothing to catch the eye, nothing to make it stand apart or even give people an idea of the kind of show inside. Poor work.

Excellent show. I love it... I just wish the people who released here loved it as much as I do and gave us the whole package... bloody Saps...

I think that this series, if you liked it when you were younger, isn't that bad still. I don't "regret buying it" as some do.

First, it might not stand up to today's TV, but then again most TV today doesn't stand up to what came out in the 80's anyway.

I do not, not for a second, regret getting this. I recall watching it on Nickelodeon. It was after I found Tom Baker's Doctor Who, but before I really got *INTO* British Sci-Fi. This series broke the mold that the British had more to offer than Doctor Who.

OK, the effects aren't stellar. Maybe the writing needs more. But it had something else people forget: atmosphere. As Jeremy Bentham wrote: 'it's all about putting aside reality for 30 minutes and immersing yourself in the story' (I paraphrased that a bit). Don't expect it to be Citizen Kane!! Put your expectations to one side and just remember it as a series trying to find it's feet and get a new concept out. Watch it for the joy of your youth, or the joy of finding something new. For those of you who regretted it, there is always eBay.

The special effects are, well, like Dr. Who, but the writing is actually pretty good for what was a kids show in the mid 1970s. Often I'm disappointed when I watch shows I remember from my younger days but with these first two seasons of "The Tomorrow People" I was reassured that I had something resembling good tastes when I saw it on cable in the 1980s. The sound is a bit off but my bet is its the tv show's sound, not the DVD -- just turn up the volume a bit more.

I gotta say...everyone is saying the most obvious thing: Lack of most of the commentaries. However, I gotta remind everyone that the picture quality of these DVDs are excellent! Much better than their region-free UK brethren. I am surprised that they did not release them in a more normal fasion...ie: the UK series style (of around 13 episodes or the US season style of Season 1 in a boxed set then Season 2...etc.

However, we DO get a better buy this way. $50 US is an excellent price. I, like a previous reviewer, found them at Best Buy...

They DO include the excellent feature of the "Teaser" at the end of the episodes. Very much UK! (As the commentators point out: "It is because the eposidoes ran short on time!")

A&E, talkbackThames, THAMES, FreemantleMeedia, NewVideo -- listen up: INCLUDE ALL COMMENTARIES IN THE FUTURE! We deserve it and there is no downside for you!

Excellent...all-in-all!

If you were a fan of The Tomorow People from back in the days when it was shown on Nickelodeon, there is a lot to like about this four disc set. Granted, by today's standards the sets look cheap, the special effects look cheesey, some of the acting is poor (Kenny, anyone?) but The Tomorrow People is still a lot of fun, and at times can be just as enjoyable as vintage Dr. Who (which this very much resembles). If you liked it then, you'll like it now. But I have one problem with this set, and it is a big one. When the series was released on DVD in the UK, a cast commentary was included on every episode and those in the know have been commenting on how fun and entertaining these commentaries are. I purchased a few of the R2 discs myself and can attest to the fact that the commentary tracks alone are worth the cost of the DVDs. Unfortunately, for some reason the folks at A&E Home Video have opted to include only the commentary on Slaves of Jedikiah, the series one opener, and have not included them on any of the other stories. A poor decision, and one that prevents me from giving this my whole-hearted recommendation. In fact, if you are able to play them, I suggest looking into getting the UK editions which are also much more attractively packaged, instead of the R1 releases.

Summing up: Worthwhile stuff, but packaged by dunderheads.

I loved watching TP again. Hard to explain the appeal; you will see some of the worst acting, worst sets, worst effects, bad telecine and dodgy chromo-key on display anywhere in the 1970s. And yet...sometimes it looks fantastic, the stories are often original and engaging and the good acting performances definitely outweigh the bad. Most indefineably of all it has charm. Although there are campy moments (which can be enjoyed as such) it is the stories and the characters that hold the attention.

I am intrigued by the removal of the commentaries. The UK boxes describe these as the funniest commentaries on DVD. Quite a claim but I think I might just agree. They are hilariously bitchy and embittered (time was not terribly kind to the TP stars after the show finished, well at least as far as their acting careers went). The comments on other actors and the production team are unbelievably cruel (but hysterically funny); and yes, ribald is the word. They are also very non-PC. At one stage you hear the sound of beer cans being opened (which might explain much) and not infrequently someone says "that will be edited out." The worst of the expletives are bleeped out but it seems that's about as far as the editing went. Was it all a terrible mistake?

I've often wondered about this TV show and what happened to it. I first saw it just a couple of weeks ago at Tower Records and could not beleive what I saw. My G/F is also into sci-fi and I told her about this show a few times. I ordered the set and just watched the first DVD. I was expecting to be disappointed by the shows special effects with this being the era of CGI and special effects having come SO far in the 30 years since this show was first on.

I warned her that it would probably appear cheesy and about it's low budget nature. While some things were almost laughable compared to today, overall it was better then I was expecting. The stories were more complicated then I remember, the stories do tend to suck you in and make you care about what happens to the characters. It was pretty cool about the things that Tim can do, with him being a biological computer, I was surprised that they even understood about that back then, the way that he can create food, tap into hospital and other computer before the advent of the internet and much more.

Some of the acting is worse then I remember, you can tell that some of the lines are spoken too fast, some direction needs work and such, but again, for a kids show in the early to mid 70's, it was fairly well done. I'm Glad that I bought this first set and will probably get the second set too. My G/F also enjoyed it and thought that it was pretty cool too.

My being into the mind, Qigong, Chinese Gung-fu, meditation and internal force energy, science, astronomy and sci-fi in general, this show always held a special place with me. As a child that grew up being bothered and picked on, this show was a huge escape for me and helped me to understand many things and inspire me in my training and in overcoming myself.

It's in this light that I continue to watch the show. Just as Lucas gave us a solid foundation of Spirituality and morality with Star Wars, this show also did the same thing in a different way. As long as you keep in mind that the special effects and some of the acting is not what you would expect today and if you enjoyed it when you were younger, I'm sure that you'll also enjoy seeing this great sci-fi series again as I myself do.

For the uninitiated: The Tomorrow People was a classic science fiction show that originally aired on ITV in the UK back in the 70's. It centers around a group of young people (teenagers and 20somethings) who represent the next stage of human evolution. They have various telepathic powers, which they use to battle various sorts of evil throughout the course of the show.

Now, you'll hear reports about the bad acting (especially during the first series, the actor playing Kenny in particular, was awful, and in fact never really did much acting after he left the show) and the dodgy special effects. But I think the creativity and intentions of the show ring through clearly and outweigh the downside.

I think anyone who likes stuff like Doctor Who would love this show, as I've always thought it was fantastic. My only complaint is that they left off most of the audio commentaries that appear on the region 0 DVD's that were released in the UK. These commentaries, which feature the show's stars Nicholas Young and Peter Vaughan-Clarke are incredibly hilarious and frequently quite ribald (the latter might be why only The Slaves Of Jedikiah was used on the American release). If you don't mind paying a little extra money, and your DVD player can play PAL discs, I'd recommend popping over to Amazon UK and buying the first series boxsets.

Remember back in the early to mid-80s when Nickelodeon was the bomb? Before SpongeBob, before RugRats, there was such classics as You Can't Do That..., The Third Eye, Pinwheel, Danger Mouse and Count Duckula!

Well The Tomorrow People was included in that bunch and had my 7 yr old eyes glued to the television! I have been collecting the UK editions for awhile now, so I'll base them upon my review.

The show holds up extremely well. Laughable FX granted, but the story and actors willing to committ really holds your interest. While the first season was good, especially with introducing Stephen, the show really hits its stride with Season 2, when Elizabeth shows up. John is in it for the long haul (as is TIM), while future storylines include mind-controlling fingerpaintings, the revelation that Hitler was a shape-shifting alien and is back on Earth, and the near sacrifice of an asian telepath.

Everyone grab your jaunting belts (or watches) and hop on for the excitement!

I remember watching this series on Nickelodeon when I was a little kid. I'm thrilled to be able to see it again. It is dated, but still a lot of fun! For a campy, melodramitic good time, check out this series. It's all about the "tomorrow people," a group of teenagers who have become the first members of the next stage of human evolution. They have special powers and one weekness -- they can't kill or use their powers for evil.