Science fiction shows are a staple of television programming since shortly after the TV set was invented. Shows about the supernatural, shows with the paranormal as the focus and others created in a similar vein have populated the boob tube for a long time. In the 21st Century, supernatural shows are all the rage, combining both the paranormal and sci-fi action to create an exciting hybrid that have thrilled audiences with their tense storytelling.
With The Tomorrow People, a show about the next evolution of humankind, we have a combination of the supernatural and science fiction that goes beyond what has been seen before.
The Tomorrow People involves the race of homo superior, people with the powers of telepathy, teleportation and telekinesis. Stephen Jameson doesn’t know it, but he is a member of them and all of a sudden he is plunged into a world where others of his kind are fleeing a secret organization called Ultra.
He winds up working for Ultra in order to subvert their activities and help the other Tomorrow People but also to find out what happened to his father. The first couple of episodes deal with him attempting to play both sides in the conflict to accomplish these goals. It is not an easy job for Stephen, as his loyalties are sorely pressed and his internal strife is quite daunting. Emotionally, he is torn.
In the third episode, things get even more complicated for Stephen when he meets a new partner, a fellow telepath that could potentially learn who he is really working for. The other Tomorrow People find out a way to get into the Ultra mainframe computer if they have Stephen’s help. They succeed but Cara’s past catches up to her when the mainframe comes up with the name of a new Tomorrow Person. They track this person down but it winds up being a trap and Cara gets captured.
Stephen becomes convinced to by Ultra to stop Cara’s powers and he fools them into believing that he has. Later, he is at a party and telepathically hears one of his fellow classmates think about committing suicide but as he would only expose his people’s powers if he intervenes and helps her, he can do nothing. Instead, he gets Cara to help out without using her powers; so the secret is safe with them but not for long. One of Stephen’s friends Astrid sees him teleporting and confronts him.
The rest of Cara’s past comes out and we learn that she had been a deaf girl accused of killing a boy but she was in fact only defending herself when she used her powers.
She had only discovered her powers at that moment when she was attacked. Cara regained her hearing at that moment and spoke to her dad. Her father in turn gave her enough money to run away and Cara left before saying goodbye to her younger sister. That was five years ago and Cara is still reeling from the incident.
This program is deeply entrenched in this idea of family loyalty and the history there in and how it effects the present. Cara is troubled by what happened to her those years ago and is still facing the ramifications of it after the series begins. Stephen of course is still trying to come to terms with not only his powers but also what his father and mother were; they were also Tomorrow People and Stephen is still trying to track down what happened to his dad, all the while attempting to fool his uncle, who is the leader of Ultra, his enemy.
There are no easy answers and each member of the cast is doing what they think is right for themselves. No villain thinks they are the villain and that has never been truer than on The Tomorrow People, a sci-fi thriller with drama.
More of The Tomorrow People
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