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Feigning normality since 1973

The Tomorrow People and Dodgy Special Effects

Filed in: TV & Movies.

Occasionally you come across TV series which are of highly variable quality. Take the classic 1970s British series The Tomorrow People, about a group of youngsters who have developed such psychic powers as telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation (Though sadly not precognition, otherwise they could regularly save themselves a lot of hassle).

I thought I was safe, you see. I'd already seen A Man For Emily, which has to be the most insanely bad episode of any science fiction series ever, and the first two stories of season 6 were actually quite good, but then...

The Thargon Menace started out innocently enough, with some fugitives on the run in a spaceship. Admittedly the spaceship wasn't that good, but I was willing to let that go, special effects beign what they were back then. However the pair decided to consult their on-board computer, named "Thing".

Thing looks like this:

A red and silver puppet with some sort of aerial stuck to its back, and what could possibly be a piece of vacuum cleaner suspended above its head. When it talks (in a voice somewhat like Eric Idle on crack) the thing on its head wobbles commedically. At times you can see the hand operating it, apparently.

At one point, the two fugitives ask it if the air is breathable, and the thing on its head rises about 3 inches and wobbles about.

Needless to say, when the Tomorrow People first encounter it, their reaction is along the likes of "WTF?!"

Laugh? I almost died!

And there's two of them! A second green "Thing" on another of the spaceships!

Hooray for cheesy British TV!

Posted June 7, 2005 7:46 PM

Comments

Is there some sort of retrospective/revival of this show that I don't know about? You're the second person I've seen whose most recent entry is about The Tomorrow People. I liked that show when I was much younger. It was broadcasted on Nicolodeon way back when. I also think I had a mini-thing (as one does when they are about 6) on the guy in the middle. Yikes.

Posted by: Kate | June 8, 2005 11:41 PM

It recently began coming out on DVD. The commentaries are hilarious. :)

Posted by: Alden Bates | June 9, 2005 12:11 AM

Green Thing is a baaaaaad ass muthaflounder
who takes no ship from anyone. You call him
MISTER Thing, boy! Unless you want him to go all
medieval on your butt with some pipe-hittin'
Thargons from the hood. It's quite nice,
MUTHA F**KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Posted by: The Great Quom | September 17, 2005 12:36 AM

Well, all I can say is as a a kids I loved this show. The opening palm scared me.

Posted by: Anonymous | August 8, 2006 3:49 PM

Sorry, but for me, "The Heart of Sogguth" was the worst episode of the seventies series, followed by "The Thargon Menace" and that ghastly Big Momma creature, who resembled Mrs Slocombe on steroids (although the anti-nuke subtext wasn't bad, however)on "A Man for Emily." Most of Seasons Seven and Eight were crap, apart, oddly, from "War of the Empires," which I rather enjoyed.

Posted by: Craig | January 11, 2007 8:59 AM

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