CULT TV
Here on Saturday 8th September great Tommorrow People give aways. Don't miss it !!
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The Tomorrow People was ITV’s answer to the popularity of the BBC’s Doctor Who. Produced by Thames Television between 1973 and 1979, it spanned in total eight seasons and 53 episodes.
The series introduced the audience to the next stage in human evolution, Homo superior. The Tomorrow People had amazing powers which included telepathy, telekinesis, and the ability to teleport themselves (“Jaunting”) over vast distances in the wink of an eye. These special powers came with a price however. The Tomorrow People could not kill. The only weapon they had at their disposal was a stun gun, which would render their opponents unconscious.
The team operated from a secret underground base, the lab, situated in a disused London underground station. The most important piece of equipment in the lab was the super computer, Tim.
The opening story, The slaves of Jedikiah, began with the emergence of a new tomorrow person, Stephen Jameson. He was an ordinary schoolboy. Once he had “Broken out” and changed into a tomorrow person, Stephen (played by Peter Vaughn Clarke) was to be come one of the longest serving Tomorrow People.
THE MAIN CHARACTERS
John: John was the leader of the tomorrow people, and was the first homo superior to “break out”. His age was never revealed, but I would reckon he was in his late teens. John was an inventor, and used the money he earned from this to fund the building of the lab. John’s surname was never revealed as far as I know in the series, but in the Big Finish series of Tomorrow People audio plays, John’s surname is revealed as Dixon. John is played by Nicholas Young, who stayed in the role for the entire run.
Elizabeth: Elizabeth was a trainee teacher at Stephen’s school, and was late in “breaking out.”. She is a kind, gentle person, and a natural diplomat. Elizabeth was often the calming influence when debate among the Tomorrow People got heated. Elizabeth is played by Elizabeth Adare.
The character was introduced at the start of the second series, and apart from a brief spell to cover maternity leave for Adare, Elizabeth was the second longest serving member of the team.
Tim: Tim is the biological computer housed in the lab, deep under London. Tim was a gift from the Galactic Federation, who are the guardians of the Tomorrow People. Apart from providing the team with information, the computer also guides them when they “jaunt”, firstly via “jaunting belts, then in later series, by wrist watch style bands. Tim is also able to stay in contact via the medium of telepathy. Tim has a personality of his own, and can be condescending at times. Tim was given a voice by Philip Gilbert, including the first few series of Big Finish’s Tomorrow People adventures. Sadly Gilbert died in January 2004. The role was taken over by Trevor Littledale.
TIM
Mike: Mike was played by Mike Holloway, the 14 year old star of the pop group “Flintlock”, and the part was specially written for him. Mike had advanced telekinetic powers, which drew him to the attention of a couple of petty criminals . At the end of the previous series (three), there was some doubt if the programme would return, and after a battle with their arch enemy, Jedikiah, the Tomorrow People relocated to the Galactic Federation’s headquarters, the Trig. When the series was re-commissioned, the Tomorrow People returned to Earth, to find Mike had “broken out”, and he joined their ranks.
Other Tomorrow People included Carol (played by Sammie Winmill), Tyso Boswell (Dean Lawrence) and Hsui Tai (Misako Toba)
PRODUCTION
The entire nine season run was produced at Thames Television’s Studios, at Teddington lock. The series was commissioned to replace another popular fantasy/science fiction series, “ Ace of Wands “.
Philip Gilbert, who voiced the computer, TIM, would sit on the side of the set in a soundproof booth, to deliver his lines. He later appeared as the characters Timus and Tinkno, who were clones. They were representatives of the Galactic Federation who the Tomorrow People would to in times of dire need.
The series suffered the same curse as it’s main rival, Doctor Who, namely a low budget. This is particularly evident in later series, where CSO (Colour Separation Overlay) was used for many effects. The model work too, suffered at times, despite a number of models were constructed for the series by Martin Bower who had made his name building highly detailed models for Gerry Anderson’s epic Space:1999 series.
Despite being popular, the series almost ended at the end of the third series, after our heroes had battled their arch nemesis Jedikiah . The final scene showed the Tomorrow People leaving Earth, and a deserted Lab. The series did continue, but later stories became at times comedic, or at least poor. One Story from season six, “Hitler’s last secret “ revealed the German Wartime leader to be an alien!
The series finally limped to an end in January, 1979.
It was resurrected in 1992, for a new audience. Starring “Neighbours” Kristian Schmid as Adam. This incarnation only ran for 3 series.
The Tomorrow People however, refuse to die. In 2002, Big Finish, the production company responsible for their acclaimed Doctor Who audio plays, were granted a licence from Freemantle, who by then owned Thames Television to produce a brand new series of Tomorrow People adventures in the audio medium.
Original stars Nicholas Young and Philip Gilbert reprised their roles and John and TIM respectively. Other actors who portrayed TP’s in the 70s have also appeared in the 5 series that have been produced so far. The most welcome return for me at least, is that of an early Tomorrow Person, Carol, played by Sammie Winmill. If you remember the Tomorrow People from the 1970s, and haven’t yet discovered the Big Finish plays, I suggest you do. The stories are more adult, in content and therfore much more enjoyable for that.
TRIVIA
- Future Doctor Who Peter Davidson made one of his first television appearances in the story “A man for Emily” alongside his future wife, Sandra Dickenson.
- A young Keith Chegwin played a gladiator in the story “ A rift in time “
- In the second season final serial, “The doomsday men “ props from Gerry Anderson’s series “ UFO “ were used, namely the space suit used by a Chinese astronaut, and computer panels from Moonbase control.
- Non Tomorrow People were referred to as “Saps” , a shortened term for “Homo Sapiens”
- Roger price, the series creator and writer of the comic strip of the Tomorrow People in “look-in – the junior TV times” reused a strip idea in the story “ Worlds away “ and again in “ A much needed holiday “
- The haunting theme to the series was composed by regular Doctor Who composer Dudley Simpson. An early version of the theme can be heard in the Jon Pertwee story “ Frontier in space “
- Pauline Quirk appears in “The blue and the green “as a classmate of Stephen’s.
- Tyso was the only tomorrow person who could kill!
- One of the Tomorrow People’s “Sap” friends, Chris, was played by a young Christopher Chittell who would go onto greater fame in the Yorkshire Television soap, “Emmerdale”, playing the character Eric Pollard.
- Louise Jameson, who played Leela during Tom Baker’s tenure of Doctor Who plays the role of Eleanor’s (a new TP in the Big Finish audio stories) mother.
Kevin Goodman
After the phenomenal success of their previous “Supermationation” programmes, Supercar and Fireball XL5, the husband and wife team of Gerry and Silvia Anderson began work on what is reported to be Britain’s first full colour television programme, “Stingray”.
During the latter part of the production of Stingray, the Anderson’s minds turned to their next project for Lew Grade’s ITC organisation.
A mining disaster in Saxony, Germany caught Gerry Anderson’s attention. Time was running out for a group of trapped miners, and an ingenious rescue method, unheard of at the time, reached the stranded miners in time.
This event sparked an idea with Anderson. What if there was a rescue organisation that could attempt rescues using state of the art equipment and in situations where all normal forms of rescue would fail?
The genesis of the seeds to his most well known and popular programme were sown. This new series, entitled International Rescue would follow the exploits of millionaire ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy and his five sons, who crewed the amazingly advanced rescue craft.
Early design sketches by Derek Meddings, the special effects supervisor of the principal craft, clearly show International Rescue on the side of the craft, not the now familiar Thunderbirds.
Why the name change came about is unclear, but the series and the titular craft actually got their name from the United States Airfield at Thunderbird field. This name had stuck in Anderson’s mind for years, as his late brother who was killed during the Second World War serving in a mosquito squadron had visited the field, and told the young Gerry about it.
The exotic sounding name had lodged in Andersons mind, and seemed a more dynamic title than International Rescue.
The organisation would operate from Jeff Tracy’s luxurious island, in total secrecy. Each of the main thunderbird craft would be housed in disguised hangers around the island, ready to be launched at a moments notice.
THUNDERBIRD ONE
THE MEN AND THE MACHINES
Thunderbird 1, the sleek and fast reconnaissance/scout craft was piloted by Scott Tracy, the eldest son, and was launched through the retracted swimming pool in front of the main house. (It is said that Scott’s face was modelled on that of Sean Connery) Thunderbird 1 was the first on the scene, and Scott would decide upon which specialist piece of rescue equipment was best suited to the job in hand. He would then call base and request for Thunderbird 2.
Thunderbird 2 was the work horse of the fleet. The middle section of Thunderbird two was an interchangeable pod, of which there were six in total. These pods housed the equipment. Thunderbird two was housed in a huge hangar in the cliff face under the Tracy home. Due to it’s size, the craft taxied to an area where a ramp raised it to approx 30*. The craft’s powerful engines then launched it slowly into the sky. The pilot of Thunderbird 2 was Virgil Tracy.
Thunderbird 3, the orange space rocket, was used for space rescues and to ferry personnel to Thunderbird 5, International Rescue’s space monitoring satellite. Housed in a silo deep beneath the round house, on the other side of the island, the craft was normally manned by Alan Tracy, with assistance from Scott.
Thunderbird 4 was the smallest of the international rescue machines. This was their underwater rescue and reconnaissance craft. It was carried in pod 4 by Thunderbird 2. When the parent craft reached the rescue zone, the entire pod was released, and dropped onto the sea. The door would open, and the submarine would be launched from a ramp which extended into the sea. Thunderbird 4, could, in an emergency (see Terror in New York City) be launched from Tracy Island using an angled slipway. Ex WASP (See “Stingray”) aquanaut Gordon Tracy was the pilot.
THUNDERBIRD 5
Thunderbird 5 was international Rescue’s space satellite, in geo-stationary orbit above the earth. It’s main function was to monitor radio messages through out the world. Special software, developed by Brains, the organisations brilliant young scientist, was able to filter out all calls for distress, and alert the operator, normally John Tracy. During the design stage of the series, Derek Meddings was stuck for a design for Thunderbird 5. Another prop constructed for the series inspired him, and the unusual shape of the satellite was born. (see the bottom of this article for the answer) John Tracy, it is said, was Gerry Anderson’s least favourite character in the show, and that would explain why he was never involved in any major rescues or story lines!
THE RESCUE MACHINES
One of the major highlights to an episode was to see which new wonderful rescue machine would come trundling out of Thunderbird 2’s pod. Here we will look at a few of the more regularly used machines.
The “Mole” was International Rescue’s burrowing machine, used to tunnel to anyone trapped underground. It was manoeuvred into position on a caterpillar tracked trolley, then up ended as the drill bit began rotating. It would then drill itself into the ground, to the rescue area. Once the rescue had been completed, it would return to the surface, using side mounted caterpillar tracks to grip the hole which it had previously made. (See Pit of peril, city of fire for examples)
The “Firefly” was a bright yellow bulldozer type of vehicle which somewhat bizarrely used high explosive shells, fired from a cannon protruding through the blade to put out fires. (See Terror in New York City)
Hover bikes were carried by both Thunderbirds one and two. These single seater transports were useful for navigating over rough terrain, and carrying small items of rescue equipment. (See City of fire, Attack of the Alligators!) These machines were similar in concept to the “Jetmobiles” seen in Fireball XL5. (One reason for the continued use of these type of devices in Anderson’s series was that he wanted to cut down on the amount of time the puppets were seen to be walking, a human action which the puppeteers had great difficulty mimicking.)
THE MOLE
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward is International Rescue’s London Agent. With her aristocratic charm and flair for danger, she is an ideal agent for the organisation. Her main mode of transport is her shockingly pink Rolls-Royce, FAB1. Parker, her chauffeur is a former master safe cracker, who when discovered by Lady Penelope during one of his more, err, nefarious escapades, was persuaded by her rather than to spend another extended holiday courtesy of HMP, to come and work for her. Parker, along with Gordon Tracy, Brains and Kyrano was voiced by David Graham, who was also one of the voices for the Daleks back in the 1960s!
Kyrano is Jeff Tracy’s manservant and confidant. He is Malaysian by birth, and the two men met while Jeff was at Cape Canaveral. Kyrano is a gentle, kind man, loyal to the family that has adopted him. He also has a half brother. Tin-tin Kyrano is the daughter of Kyrano, and her name apparently translates as “sweet”. She and Alan enjoy a slowly budding romance.
The Hood is the recurring bald bad guy. Tall and powerful, he has the ability to hypnotise people. He is a master of disguise, and often uses elaborate masks to hide his true appearance. He is determined to steal the secrets of International Rescue, and sell them on to the highest bidder. He is Kyrano’s half brother, and has a strange hold over him.
Brains is International Rescue’s genius. With his thick glasses and stammer, and an air of perpetual confusion, but brilliant mind, was the technical genius behind the whole organisation.
BEHIND THE SCENES
MIKE TRIM PUTTING THE FINISHING TOUCHES TO THE ROUNDHOUSE MINATURE USED IN THE FILM “THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!”
Thunderbirds was filmed in two production blocks, of 24 episodes and then a further eight commissioned by Lew Grade. There are subtle differences between the two blocks. The second block reused the more detailed intricate models of the starring craft constructed for the first Thunderbirds feature film. Virgil Tracy was voiced by a different artist in the final production block.
The second feature film, Thunderbird 6 was produced during the busiest period in Anderson’s career. Captain Scarlet had finished production, the studio was gearing up for the next series, Joe 90, and plans were underway for the studios first science fiction feature film, Doppelganger (AKA Journey to the far side of the sun).
One major innovation created for the series was the “Rolling road”, where 3 separate elements of the FX shots would enable more realistic movement. The foreground was on a motorized pulley system moving at a fast speed. The mid section, for example a runway, was again motorized, moving at a slower speed that the foreground. The final element, the sky cloth, was moved at a slower speed than the other two. This made the effect of an aircraft taking off, for example, much more realistic.
During the episode Attack of the alligators real baby alligators were used in conjunction with accurate miniature sets to give the illusion of giant alligators attacking. Special effect superemo Derek Meddings was in the water tank, with one of the animals on a lead, ready to yank it into shot. When he pulled on the lead, he realised that the animal had escaped, and Meddings cleared the tank in one bound, much to his team’s amusement.!
Anderson’s backer, Lew Grade, once brought the entire board to the studios, to see the team in action. When the party reached the special effects stage, the Anderson’s had instructed the SFX team to put on an impressive display of pyrotechnics. When the cue was given, an explosion was triggered on the set. Due to the importance of the visit, a larger than normal explosive charge was used. The concussion from the resulting explosion dislodged a long forgotten and disused storage unit up in the roof of the sound stage. Dust and debris rained down on Grade and the board. For a few moments there was a stunned silence. Anderson said “I could see the headlines in the following days papers…film producer attempts assignation of ATV board.” Fortunately, Lew Grade saw the funny side, and started to laugh. The board spent the remainder of their stay removing debris from their hair and clothes…
During the studio’s heyday, it was known in the industry as a mini Hollywood, and Anderson was known as the “British Disney”.
One question that people always ask is “What does “F.A.B” stand for? At the time of production, during the swinging sixties, FAB was an abbreviation of one of the “in words” at the time, fabulous. Years later, Anderson, who by now realised that the question would not go away, came up with the acronym “Fully advised and briefed”. Other acronyms used in his series included P.W.O.R “Proceeding with orders received” (Stingray) and S.I.G, “Spectrum is green” (Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons)
THE PERILS OF FILMING
As with all of Anderson’s previous productions, the puppets which were approximately 1/5th scale, were operated from a gantry high up in the studio. The puppeteers were able to choreograph the movements of the puppets by watching the film camera’s view from a television monitor which was broadcasting signals from a television camera attached to the film camera. With the strong arc lights used to negate depth of field problems, it must have been a very hot and uncomfortable job!
Thunderbirds benefited from the hour long format, allowing for greater character development , and extended action scenes.
Another reason for the success of Thunderbirds, at least for me, was the stirring theme tune, composed and conducted by Barry Gray, the musical maestro whose music added so much to all of Anderson’s series. Allied to the fast action packed opening titles, you knew as you sat down to watch an episode that it was all go!
MERCHANDISING
In a world where we are constantly bombarded with merchandising and spin offs, Thunderbirds and Anderson’s production company AP Films, then latterly Century 21 (The name, incidentally, that Fireball XL5 was originally going to be called, and it’s pilots name? – Joe 90!) led the way. Books, the comic TV Century 21,w as for a time, Britain’s best selling comic, records, kits, clothes, in fact, you name it, there probably was an item related to the series. Dinky toys produced two die-cast toys from the series, FAB1 and Thunderbird 2. FAB 1 was Dinky toys second best selling line, only being beaten by yet another Anderson related item, the SPV from the next Anderson series, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons.
So just what is the appeal of Thunderbirds? As the series is rebroadcast every five years or so, a new mini generation of young fans are hooked. But why? Why does a series now well over forty years old capture the imagination? As Gerry Anderson once remarked “If I could capture the success of Thunderbirds each time, I’d be a happy man”.
To me, the reason is this: Thunderbirds shows man at his best. No-one is ever killed, there is always a happy conclusion, the hardware still to this day amazes me. Indeed as I write, I’m watching Trapped in the sky again. Just for review and research purposes of course!
*Compare the shapes of Thunderbird 5 and the roundhouse in the behind the scenes picture…
THUNDERBIRD 2 BLASTS OFF ON ANOTHER RESCUE MISSION
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