When it comes to weird old title sequences, they don’t come much weirder than The Tomorrow’s People. For a show that was basically:
- At first glance, an attempt by ITV to come up with a competitor to Doctor Who
- At second glance, a sci-fi metaphor for teenagers discovering they’re gay and coming to terms with their sexuality
- At third glance, a way for dirty old men to see lots of young boys without many clothes getting tied up a lot by blokes in black face masks
- Something for which everyone involved should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves
It didn’t half have some great titles.
For those not in the know, the Tomorrow People were the next stage in human evolution – Homo Superior rather than Homo Sapiens, or ‘saps’ as the condescending twonks liked to call everyone else. Capable of telekinesis, mindreading and teleportation, among other tricks, they were normal teenagers until they ‘broke out’ and started exhibiting powers. They’d then end up being nurtured by the other Tomorrow People in an underground spaceship called TIM, while mean, nasty homophobic aliens try to take advantage of them, either here or after they’ve ‘jaunted’ to some other alien planet full of young Tomorrow People who don’t wear many clothes.
With probably only one decent story in its near-decade long run, The Tomorrow People had appalling special effects, some terrible scripts (including one in which Hitler was revealed to have been a slimey green intergalactic conman), some abysmal acting, Peter Davison wearing nothing but an afro wig and gold lamé underpants at one point, and – lest it be forgotten – puppets for aliens. It was pants, basically.
Despite this, it’s fondly remembered, and was revived in the 90s with some bloke off Neighbours, much better special effects and another guy who went on to appear in Battlestar Galactica. It even ended up with a Big Finish range of audio plays featuring the original, ever-changing cast.
I think it’s probably down to this title sequence and the theme tune that it was so popular.
