Vintage British show gets modern revival
By Lauren Paulsen, Columnist
3/5
Supernatural television shows are coming out in droves nowadays, and it’s hard to find a fresh new idea.
The Tomorrow People recycles an old idea about a teen who thinks he’s crazy when weird things start happening to him, but as a mystery woman’s voice tells him in his head, he isn’t crazy.
In fact, this boy, Stephen, is part of a new race of humans known as Homo Superior, who develop psychic abilities during adolescence—this is also known as “breaking out.” To make things interesting, this new species of humans has a psychological make-up that keeps them from deliberately killing other people.
Stephen finds this out by following directions from the voice in his head and finding a bunch of other teens with powers as well. Oh, and we mustn’t forget the big bad organization that is trying to kill off his kind!
The original British series first aired in 1973, was re-imagined in 1992, and had a third incarnation in 2001. So what makes this incarnation any better?
For starters, the graphics.
One of my favourite parts happens near the beginning when Stephen goes to bed in his room and wakes up to find himself not only in his neighbour’s house but sleeping between the not-so-happy couple. Apparently, this has happened before. As it turns out, he’s actually teleporting in his sleep. Now, when these guys teleport, there is a neat swirl animation that looks really cool. I just want to keep watching them teleport.
A second example is when Stephen actually stops time to prevent a just-shot bullet from hitting one of his new friends. The gun has just been fired, so you can even see the shell flying out, and it looks like ripples in the air are coming out of Stephen’s hand.
But how can we expect anything less from a show nowadays? We certainly do love our special effects, especially when they are realistic.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the episode until the ending when Stephen decides to work for the big bad guy. This made me give the show a lower rating than I was planning to in the beginning. However, the rest of it was good enough that I will continue to watch this series. Who knows, maybe there’s a reason behind Stephen’s decision?
