What is it about this TV show premise that producers’ cannot lay to rest? With the amount of reboots in a pretty short space of time, The Tomorrow People must be an exceptional story that producers are seeking to perfect.
Rodger Price created The Tomorrow People in the 1970s as a children’s sci-fi show for ITV. Price then rebooted it in 1992. The sci-fi series was brought back by Big Finish Productions in the form of audio plays in 2001. Now, The Tomorrow People is going to return to British screens from our friends in the U-S-of-A.
Julie Plec, producer of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, and Greg Berlanti, producer of Arrow, are well versed in the etiquette of sci-fi/fantasy TV series. It is thanks to the producers’ shared love of the original series seen when they were children that has brought The Tomorrow People to our screens once again.
The Tomorrow People Review
Series One, Episode One
When: 9am, Wed 8th Jan, E4
Naturally, all great TV series that have originally aired on The CW must begin in high school with a dashing actor who has been cast to play someone much younger. Meet Stephen Jameson (Robbie Amell), a not so ordinary high school kid who is hearing voices in his head and teleports into other people’s beds in his sleep. But that is not the weird part. He seems to go straight to bed as soon as he gets home from school. Possibly, he is tired of being told he needs to see his shrink more often by his best friend, Madeleine, or from getting his medication nicked by a bully.
The school underdog becoming someone with superpowers is nothing new. Statistics show that to every high school in America there is at least one superhero. However, something about it works. We are comfortable with it. As long as there are new interesting characters with a new set of problems and a gripping storyline that can be maintained, high school is always a good place to start. If not, it will follow the disappointing route of the cancelled The Secret Circle. Thankfully, this pilot episode looks promising.
We learn a lot about Stephen Jameson and refreshingly, we learn at the same time as him, rather than the quick unnatural dialogue some shows do to try and squeeze in a character’s life story. From first impressions, excluding the another leading character, Cara (Peyton List), there are some characters that have little to add as of y. These are the characters who call themselves the “Tomorrow People” or “Homosuperiors”. I, personally, would call anyone who uses those terms to refer to themselves as “dicks”. However, Cara, a pretty badass lady who meets Stephen to finally put him out of his misery, swears that they didn’t choose those names. She informs Stephen that he is not the only one with powers, but interestingly, there is a limit to how far they can take their powers.
Nevertheless, the government want the Tomorrow Peeps neutralised, which they do through a group called Ultra. Who is cast to play the most evil Ultra of them all? Who makes their way through dramas, like a fat kid makes their way through a box of chocolates, playing pure evil?
Mark Pellegrino as Jedikiah Price
Although it is always nice to see a familiar face, this is not where the predictability ends. Stephen’s powers develop instantly when he is forced to use them out of anger or fear. Additionally, it is obvious he is going u-turn some decisions in order for the series to continue. Nevertheless, some of the reasons behind it are satisfactory giving us a reason to stay tuned.
The end of the episode is pretty epic as we get a debriefing narration from Stephen that leads up to The Tomorrow People title card – such a “this is only the beginning” way to end.
Verdict: 4/5 Stars
The pilot episode of The Tomorrow People keeps momentum with fight scenes, a decent plot and character introduction, and has the power to leave us in anticipation of episode two. Every pilot episode’s dream, right?
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