The Tomorrow People Part One: Breaking Out, 1973



Since the end of Timeslip and Catweazle in late 1972, Look-In had been somewhat devoid of telefantasy content. The Tomorrow People would change that, and in issue 18 dated 28 April 1973 - the week before the series started on television - it was introduced to readers with a double page b/w feature (above).

Watch Out! The Tomorrow People Are Coming warned the feature, outlining the format and briefly profiling the main characters, TIM, and the 'non-Tomorrow People' Ginge and Lefty. As the rest of the first series continued, a double page feature - a single page interview and full page colour picture (see below) - also appeared on an occasional basis for each of the four stars: Sammie Winmill (issue 25), Nicholas Young (issue 27) and Peter Vaughn-Clarke (issue 28), culminating with Stephen Salmon as Kenny in issue 30.



With issue 31, appearing as the last part of 'The Vanishing Earth' aired, a regular two page strip appeared on pages 9 and 10, the first in colour with the second in b/w. This first strip, as with three of the subsequent five, has been the subject of much debate among fans. Regular Look-In writer Angus P. Allan claims to have written all the scripts for the Tomorrow People strips, but the fact these four were also adapted by series creator Roger Price as stories for the novels has divided opinion on their origin for years. The fourth strip, aka A Much Needed Holiday, was later made into a two-episode story for the fifth television series, so Price's ownership here cannot really be disputed.

The Tomorrow People Archive has now confirmed these story ideas as originating from Roger Price's pitch document for the series from 1970. The probable scenario is that, like co-writers Brian Finch (for television) and Julian R. Gregory (for the first novel 'The Visitor'), Allan worked these into usable scripts. While largely uncredited for his work on the title, Angus Allan was by this time already the mainstay of Look-In's comic strip output. While other writers, such as editor Alan Fennell, assistant editor Geoff Cowan, Scot Goodall and Richard O'Neill would contribute, Allan came close to writing all of each issue himself for a good many years through the 1970s and early 1980s.

The first strip, aka The Invasion Of Earth, contains the same ending as its pitch outline, different for the novel version. The second strip, aka Thor's Hammer, also appears in this document but presumably did not translate into novel form, being a straight-forward adventure with no other readily defined characters than the Tomorrow People themselves. Conversely, Time Waits shows signs of being an early 'draft' of the novel version. The frame where Carol receives a phone call from Saiyan shows a figure watching her through a door. At this point, the only real reference to Carol's home comes from 'The Visitor', living with her parents and two younger sisters, but no explanation is forthcoming in the strip. It could be Stephen, later seen following her, but the text adaptation - featuring Elizabeth in her flat instead - explains John is also there at the time. As the strips have more exposition than usual, there is still conjecture on how much the original outlines were expanded upon by Roger Price, before Angus Allan adapted them.

Media Watch: Season One

The Slaves Of Jedikiah: 5 parts
Written by Brian Finch and Roger Price.
Transmitted: Monday 30th April 1973 to Monday 28th May 1973

The Medusa Strain: 4 parts
Written by Brian Finch and Roger Price.
Transmitted: Monday 4th June 1973 to Monday 25th June 1973

The Vanishing Earth: 4 parts
Written by Brian Finch and Roger Price.
Transmitted: Monday 9th July 1973 to Monday 30th July 1973

Novel: The Visitor
Written by Roger Price.
Published: July 1973

The Tomorrow People strip guide - part one



Story One (aka The Invasion Of Earth)
Written by Roger Price (story) & Angus P. Allan (script).
Drawn by John M. Burns.
Pages 9 & 10, colour & b/w.

Part 1 - Issue 31, week ending 28 July 1973
Orbiting around the Earth, many obselete and forgotten satellites, launched by both American and Russian space agencies, have passed into history and become space junk. One such obselete piece of debris however, has been given a new lease of life... by the Tomorrow People...
The satellite now known as 'TP1' relays information to TIM in the Tomorrow People's base in a disused part of the London Underground railway system, - an alien space ship is on course for Earth. John, Stephen, Carol and Kenny decide to investigate firsthand before any World authorities detect it, and jaunt up into space. But as they peer in through an observation post, they are unaware of the space-suited figures who have moved in behind them, and opened fire...

Part 2 - Issue 32, week ending 04 August 1973
Danger inside the alien space ship...

The four Tomorrow People come round to find themselves imprisoned in individual capsules, and are interrogated by the commander of the alien Kraatans. When he does not get the answers he wants, Stephen's capsule starts to crush him, and he jaunts to safety. Reacting in fear, the Kraatans open fire, but all four jaunt outside to plan. John returns to be captured, while the others have located the ship's artificial gravity... and make some adjustments. Floating around helplessly, the Kraatans are forced to surrender. The commander explains a series of devastating wars has made their own planet uninhabitable, and the crew are the sole survivors searching for a new world to make their home. The Tomorrow People offer to help find a new world, unaware some of the crew plot against them...

Part 3 - Issue 33, week ending 11 August 1973
The Assassin Strikes!
TIM sifts through the vast store of knowledge about the universe programmed into his memory banks by the Tomorrow people’s Sophostrian friends, and determines the fifth planet of the Regus system is suitable, having no intelligent life and being similar to Earth at the time of the great reptiles. The Kraatan commander thinks John is joking, as it would take a lifetime to reach, but it may be possible to warp their ship through hyperspace. A Kraatan assassin tries to shoot John, to be saved by the commander, but escapes. An innocent crew member is to executed as a sign of faith but John stops it. It is decided a Kraatan should see Regus Five to see if it is suitable, but only the commander’s son Raa is small enough to be jaunted, and he is accompanied by Stephen, Carol and Kenny while John remains to adapt the ship. The survey is promising, but as Kenny tests the water, Carol is prevented from jaunting by a strange tentacled creature, and captured…

Part 4 - Issue 34, week ending 18 August 1973
Carol is taken prisoner!
Kenny tries to stop the creature with his stun gun but only knocks out Carol instead. The huge monster makes off with her, as Stepehn and Raa jaunt to join Kenny, and the three give chase. The creature climbs a mountain, and hurls a boulder at its pursuers, injuring Raa. The Kraatan gives Stephen his blaster, but the Tomorrow People are unable to take life. Raa realises his people have nothing to fear from them, and could have conquered Earth. But the creature hurls more boulders and, losing his blaster, Raa is left unarmed as it bears down on him…

Part 5 - Issue 35, week ending 25 August 1973
Gamble to save a life!

Stephen hurls a rock at the creature, distracting it long enough for Raa to regain his blaster and destroy the creature. Rescuing Carol, the four return to the Kraatan ship where Raa and the girl recover in the sick bay. Worried that Raa has revealed the truth about them not being able to kill, the commander approaches the Tomorrow People. Instead, Raa has told them of Stephen’s great courage in tackling the creature unarmed, and reveals himself to be a Tomorrow Person in the making, communicating telepathically. There is a farewell banquet in honour, but Raa’s new telepathy warns him of treachery – the assassin has poisoned the drink! The commander is saved, and the plotters arrested to be executed, but the Tomorrow people plead for their lives to be spared. The Kraatan ship is warped through hyperspace to the surface of Regus Five, and the Tomorrow People ask Raa what he told his father – the reply: ‘You slew the monster with the power of your minds’, meaning the monster of war and destruction.
The Tomorrow People say their goodbyes. now that Raa has shown the Kraatans are developing telepathic powers too, they, like the Earth, will soon be ready to join the Galactic Federation of telepathic beings.

Reprinted:
• Adapted text story: 'The Invasion Of Earth' in novel 'Four Into Three' (1975)
• Look-In Summer Extra 1978: abridged 8 page b/w compilation.

Novel Concepts:
• As with the other two stories in 'Four Into Three', the novel takes place during Series Three, and so features John, Elizabeth, Stephen and Tyso.
• The novel refers to the satellite 'Watchdog Seven' (the first mention of the satellites under this name) as a Voskhod.
• This story is the first novel to mention Timus Irnok Mosta, 'the Ambassador with Special Responsibilities for Closed Worlds', after his introduction in the television story 'Worlds Away'. Whereas in the earlier strip, the Tomorrow People were not part of the Galactic Federation and had to investigate the Kraatan ship themselves, here it is stated the Kraatans come from a Closed World themselves, and therefore have a right to land on another, such as Earth - the Federation effectively washing their hands of the encounter.
• The Kraatans themselves are 'probably the highest state of evolution achieved by reptiles anywhere in the universe'. Artist John Burns seems to have worked from the same description given here: 'They walked erect on two limbs and had two agile forearms ending in dextrous fingers. The whole effect might have passed for human on a very dark night, if the observer... failed to notice the short horny tail... They had hooded heads and huge slit eyes that were greenish yellow. Their mouths were smaller than one would have expected...'.
• In the strip, only 'Cadet Officer' Raa is given a name but the novel names the commander Vlachtarn, and the traitorous assassin Backthurn. Stephen, attempting to make the Kraatan ship's engine into a Matter Transporter, is given two officers to assist him called Gristan and Palkor.
• A Matter Transporter, introduced in the television stories 'The Doomsday Men' and 'Secret Weapon', is used to get Raa to Regus Five.
• The creatures on Regus Five are called Thralls, and are described as huge reptiles with 'two grasping forelimbs like crab's pincers'.
• The novel omits mention of Raa is becoming a Tomorrow Person, to end on a more anti-war and anti-violence stance, in line with the series' philosophy.

Notes:
• This story was among the original outlines pitched by Roger Price to Thames, under the title 'Invasion Earth'
• While its origin is not made clear in the strip, the satellite 'TP1' (never seen in the series itself) is clearly Russian and of a similar design to the manned Vostok craft.
• The Tomorrow People's telepathic communication is written in lowercase, and TIM's speech in a stylised computer script
• TIM is referred to as being programmed by the Tomorrow People's 'Sophostrian friends'. Sophostria is also later mentioned in the fifth strip.
• The unnamed creature resembles a giant flea with tentacles and a tail, and appears to have the ability to prevent Carol from jaunting. It is interesting to ponder whether it the creature was originally intended to be some kind of Medusa, which has the same properties (and tentacles!).
• In the abridged reprint in the 1978 Summer Extra, the sub-plot of the assassins is dropped.
• Original artwork from this story still exists, including the abridged 8-page paste-up of bromides used in the 1978 Summer Extra.


Story Two (aka Thor's Hammer)
Written by Roger Price (story) & Angus P. Allan (script).
Drawn by John M. Burns.
Pages 9 & 10, colour & b/w.

Part 1 - Issue 36, week ending 01 September 1973
Checking through the miles of data tape from a recent deep space radar experiment, a Jodrell Bank scientist makes a frightening discovery…

A massive meteorite has just appeared, on a direct collision course for Earth. The Tomorrow People are curious how it remained undetected for so long before, only forty-eight hours away from Earth, and TIM surmises the radio activity hid it. World leaders do not tell the public, but a joint venture of America’s biggest rocket, and Russia’s biggest nuclear warhead is launched towards ‘Thor’s Hammer’. The massive explosion burns for six minutes on the surface of the meteor but fails to destroy or divert it. John and Carol jaunt to the meteor to investigate, and find a huge narrow cavern leading to its centre. Back on Earth, John reveals the formation is like a huge primitive rocket motor, which could be used to blast the meteor away from Earth – but it will take the equivilant of a twenty megaton explosion, and the Tomorrow People only have a matter of hours…

Part 2 - Issue 37, week ending 08 September 1973
Plot to steal a missile!
TIM decides the easiest way is to steal a missile with the correct warhead by launching it into space where they can place it on the meteorite. Disguised as a couple of baseball playing kids, Stephen and Kenny severe the power lines of an American missile base and allow TIM to intercept all calls so no-one realises. A subsonic transmitter built into a bat paralyses the base staff, and Stephen and Kenny start the countdown for one of the rockets. But they have forgotten it is programmed for a target in Russia, and both jaunt to the rocket’s guidance computer. Stephen fixes the computer but in an accident, Kenny is knocked unconscious. TIM warns Stephen to jaunt out as the rocket launches…

Part 3 - Issue 38, week ending 15 September 1973
The deadly mistake!
Against the enormous ‘G’ force, Stephen tries to crawl to reach the unconscious Kenny. The rocket is not pressurised, and as the air thins, Stephen manages to adjust Kenny’s belt, and TIM jaunts them both in. Kenny is told to rest as Stephen suits up to help John in space. The missile is brought to a close orbit with the meteor, and the warhead detached and taken into the cavern at its centre. With the timing and fuses set, John and Stephen return to Earth, only to be told by TIM that he has gone over the figures and thinks the bomb will explode fifteen seconds too soon! Instead of heading away from Earth, the meteor will travel faster towards them…

Part 4 - Issue 39, week ending 22 September 1973
Danger for Stephen!
There is only two minutes and forty seconds to detonation, and Stephen quickly suits up to try and delay it. Carol tells him he may be killed but to Stephen it is one life compared to the fate of the world. Jaunting into space, Stephen uses his backpack to jet through the tunnel, only to misjudge and hit the side, and is flung unconscious into space. With only a minute left, John and Carol jaunt into space – John tackles the warhead while Carol searches for Stephen. Stephen cannot be found, and there is no option but for the blast to go ahead. As two hundred miles of flame balst from the meteor, propelling it away from Earth, Stephen recovers and jaunts back to join the others, as the meteor falls into the Sun.



Notes:
• This story was among the original outlines pitched by Roger Price to Thames, under the title 'Thor's Hammer'.
• In this story, it appears TIM cannot activate the jaunting belts to save the unconscious Kenny, nor the lost Stephen at the end. This seems to contradict the later television story 'The Doomsday Men', where TIM is able to do this remotely.
• Original artwork from this story still exists.


Story Three (aka Time Waits)
Written by Roger Price (story) & Angus P. Allan (script).
Drawn by John M. Burns.
Pages 9 & 10, colour & b/w.

Part 1 - Issue 40, week ending 29 September 1973
Even the sophisticated gadgetry of the Tomorrow people – such as the observer satellite – needs servicing from time to time.

Stephen and Kenny finish their job but as TIM prepares to jaunt them back, two other figures - and old man and a boy – materialise instead. The two aliens project a strange power from their eyes, damaging the jaunting equipment and knocking out John and Carol. With the two boys marooned in space, the man – Tutor – and the boy –Saiyan – explain they regret their actions but they are on the run from an evil force called the Guardians. The aliens give Carol their pendants, which allows her to teleport into space and rescue Kenny, but as they return, John and the aliens watch on the Lab screen as a Guardian Sphere appears next to Stephen and draws him in…

Part 2 - Issue 41, week ending 06 October 1973
Stephen disappears!
The sphere closes around Stephen, and it disappears with him. Tutor tells the other Tomorrow people he is in the hands of the Guardians, and John demands an explanation. Tutor relates their world, Saiyonara, ‘is very well organised. All menial work is performed by robots. Everything is ordered. Everything has its place. Everyone hs his place. All Saiyonarans are created and conditioned from birth to fulfil their allotted place in out society. Saiyan was born to rule our planet. It was my job to raise, educate and protect him. On his thirteenth birthday he will ecome absolute ruler of Saiyanara… until then our world is ruled by the Guardians. But they do not want to give up their power. Their only hope is to kill Saiyan before his birthday.’ Telepathically, so the Alians cannot hear, the Tomorrow People debate a course of action, but in an empty school gymnasium not far away, Stephen materialises and warns them not to trust Tutor and Saiyan. After repairing the damaged equipment, the three leave the Aliens and join Stephen in the locked gym, where he explains they are dangerous criminals on the run from the justice of the Guardians. All four return to the Lab, but Tutor and Saiyan have gone, and TIM does not reply…

Part 3 - Issue 42, week ending 13 October 1973
Stephen accuses the aliens!
Kenny finds TIM has been switched off, and reactivates him. The computer cannot recall events, and the Tomorrow People are still torn over who the aliens are. Stephen remains adamant they are criminals who must be handed back to the Guardians for punishment – an uncharacteristic trait for a Tomorrow person – even if the charge is treason and mass murder. John thinks they should all go home for the night, and tomorrow they can try and find Tutor and Saiyan. But Carol receives a phone call from Saiyan, giving her directions by bus – an unusual experience for a Tomorrow person – to a disused warehouse where the aliens are hiding, unaware she is being followed… by Stephen! But despite being undetected all the way there, Stephen’s foot catches a milk bottle, and burning energy from Tutor’s and Saiyan’s eyes bear on the boy…



Part 4 - Issue 43, week ending 20 October 1973
Prisoners of the Medusas!
Carol cries out telepathically, and John and Kenny jaunt to her side. But as John holds the aliens at stun gun point, Tutor reveals ‘Stephen’ to be a robot. He must still be a prisoner of the Guardians, and John asks for Tutor’s help to get him back. Tutor agrees to take John to Saiyonara, if the others look after Saiyan, who comes of age in three days. Donning Saiyonaran robes, John accompanies Tutor, only for both to be captured by robots. John recovers to find himself tied to a post next to Stephen, in a pit surrounded by Medusas – deadly creatures which can rob a telepath of their special powers. A Guardian tells them if Tutor does brings Saiyan back, they will be released unharmed, but if he does not, they will be fed to the Medusas…

Part 5 - Issue 44, week ending 27 October 1973
Tutor makes a fateful decision!
The Guardian demands an answer, and Tutor agrees in spite of John's cries to think of Saiyan, who is being looked after on Earth by Carol and Kenny. In two orbits of the Chronom, all the robots and the peple of Saiyonara will switch alligience to Saiyon, and he must be dead by then. Tutor stares angrily at the Chronom, then is given one orbit to return with Saiyan. While John and Stephen are forced to wait in pit, Tutor arrives on Earth but Carol is suspicious. TIM says it is not their place to interfere, and the two return to Saiyonara where they are taken prisoner. Guarded by a Medusa, Tutor and Saiyan are taken by robots to be executed. But with half an orbit still to go, the robots change alligience, and Tutor explains he used his powers to slow the Chronom. The computer clocks still ran at the same time, so it was later than the Guardians thought. At a great ceremony, the Tomorrow People are honoured guests as Saiyan is installed as official ruler of his world.



Reprinted:
• Adapted text story: 'Time Waits' in novel 'Four Into Three' (1975)

Novel Concepts:
• As with the other two stories in 'Four Into Three', the novel takes place during Series Three, and so features John, Elizabeth, Stephen and Tyso.
• The teleportation pendants Tutor and Saiyan use are called Xzetarx.
• Saiyan's full name is Prince Saiyan DeLigne, and the 'coming of age' is called Fealty - from the Latin fidelitas meaning faithfulness - and was a medieval pledge of loyalty to a Lord or King.

Notes:
• This story was among the original outlines pitched by Roger Price to Thames, under the title 'See How They Run'.
• In part 1, John and Carol are playing the game - referred to here as 'Slog' - also seen in the television stories 'The Medusa Strain' and 'The Vanishing Earth'.
• Saiyonara is Japanese for 'goodbye'.
• This is the only strip to feature a monster seen in the series itself (with the exception of the Kleptons in the adapted 'A Much Needed Holiday') - the Medusas from 'The Medusa Strain'.
• Original artwork from this story still exists.


Story Four (aka A Much Needed Holiday)
Written by Roger Price (story) & Angus P. Allan (script).
Drawn by John M. Burns.
Pages 9 & 10, colour & b/w.

Part 1 - Issue 45, week ending 03 November 1973
Every once in a while, the Tomorrow People manage to get ‘away from it all’. A week’s camping on Gallia, a pleasant planet 17 light years from Earth…

The inhabitants of Gallia are a gentle people, living in small farming villages… but the Tomorrow people have their own camp, hidden by a force field which makes it invisible to anyone outside it. John has developed a chameleon attachment to their A.E. suits, which makes it appear as anything they want to, and after experimenting with them, Carol suggests they play a costume drama – Hamlet. But the sound of hunting horns and dogs interrupts them, and they see two boys being pursued by a band of men. Changing their A.E. suits to resemble the boys' local clothing, John and Stephen herd the boys towards their camp, but then one of the hounds attacks Stephen…

Part 2 - Issue 46, week ending 10 November 1973
With the hound’s savage fangs inches away from Stephen’s throat, John fires his stun gun, and both return to the camp, hidden once again by the invisibility force field. Carol and Kenny’s A.E. suits are scaring the boys so they also change them, and offer food to the young fugitives. Cutting off their chains with a laser pencil gains their confidence, but while TIM tells them telepathically through space that the Gallian language will take some hours to master, the boys call themselves ‘Trig’ and ‘Trog’. Exhausted, the boys sleep, and John decides Trig, who does most of the talking, should stay with Carol to learn the language, while he and the boys take Trog to the village to find out what if happening. But when Trog realises where he is being taken, he runs back, straight into the invisible but unyielding wall of the force field…

Part 3 - Issue 47, week ending 17 November 1974
Trog is just dazed, and is cared for by Carol as John tries to learn Gallian from Trig. Meanwhile, Stephen and Kenny, A.E. suits disgused as local clothing, visit the village. There appear to be no children, and the villagers seem terrified of them. But then riders appear, bearing down on Stephen and lassoing him, forcing him to run behind their horse-like mounts to a mine. Kenny jaunts to keep up, and Stephen finds the mines are being worked by children under a brutal regime. Kenny tells Stephen to jaunt out of there, but now chained, Stephen is not sure he can…

Part 4 - Issue 48, week ending 24 November 1974
Despite being whipped, Stephen feels that if he just disappears, he cannot help the children. But that night, after a hard day’s labour, and the children too exhausted to notice, Stephen jaunts back to the Tomorrow People’s camp where his lash wounds are healed. He has found the men, who are not from Gallia either, are mining diamonds, while John has found out more from Trig and Trog. The aliens are Kleptons, oppressors preying on less advanced races. Trig and Trog are shown how to use the laser pencils, and that night Stephen and Kenny use special nerve holds to put out the Klepton guards. The plan goes smoothly, and almost all the children are freed, until more armed Kleptons arrive and open fire…

Part 5 - Issue 49, week ending 01 December 1973
A pitched battle breaks out, as more Kleptons pour out of their sleeping quarters. Trig and Trog lead the last escapees into the narrowest seams of the mine, as the Tomorrow People attampt to fight back with their stun guns. Outnumbered, but able to jaunt, the Tomorrow People slowly turn the tables until the Kleptons surrender… and the true size of the force against them is discovered! The simple peaceful Gallians are overjoyed at the return of their children. Far away from any inhabited worlds is a bare little planet called Stix, and it is here the Tomorrow People teleport the Kleptons in their spaceship and maroon them. Most of the stores in their cargo hold have been emptied, so the Kleptons can enjoy their diamonds. And back on Gallia, the Tomorrow People enjoy the freedom celebrations.



Reprinted:
• Adapted text story: 'A Much Needed Holiday' in novel 'Four Into Three' (1975)

Notes:
• This story was among the original outlines pitched by Roger Price to Thames, under the title 'Slaves'.
• Oops - at the end of part 1, it looks like Carol and Kenny have changed their A.E. suits into native costume on John's instruction, but in part 2 they have not.
• In a slightly post-modern fashion, in part 2 Carol indicates straight at the readers to be quiet when Trig and Trog are asleep, by placing her finger to her lips.
• As well as being adapted into a text story, this strip would later be made into a two-part television serial for the fifth series of The Tomorrow People in 1977. Cue...
• Original artwork from this story still exists.

A Much Needed Comparison:
The DVD release of 'A Much Needed Holiday' states it is an adaptation of the Look-In strip written by Roger Price. In fact, it is fairer to say the television version is more an adaptation of Price's 'novelisation', being closer to the concepts presented there and retaining his interpretation as opposed to Angus Allan's script.

Comic Strip (1973) Line-Up: John, Carol, Stephen and Kenny (Series One)

Novelisation (1975) Line-Up: John, Elizabeth, Stephen and Tyso (Series Three)

Television (1977) Line-Up: John, Elizabeth and Mike (Series Five)

Time Line: Presumably after events in Series One on television

Time Line: During Series Three, after 'Worlds Away' but prior to 'The Revenge of Jedikiah'

Time Line: The second story of Series Five

Gallia: A pleasant planet, 17 light years from Earth

Gallia: A 'Protected World' (not even races from other 'Closed Worlds' are allowed there), with three moons.

Gallia: A Closed World, seemingly desert and quarries, with rich mineral resources. It had an advanced civilisation over 2000 years ago, and it is thought a war over mineral rights led to its collapse.

A Much Needed...: 'Get Away From It All' holiday

A Much Needed...: Quiet holiday, suggested by 'a cunning old Statesman from the Galactic Federation... and he knows just the place'

A Much Needed...: Holiday for Mike, after events in 'The Dirtiest Business', but also an opportunity for John to examine artifacts for the Planetary Archeology Department.

Camp it Up: Conventional tents and a campfire

Camp it Up: 'Pneumatic tents, a campfire and neat scatter of scientific equipment'

Camp it Up: An elaborate construct, possibly within a large tent, with a central swimming pool and living quarters

Force Barrier: 'It prevents anything entering the area, and from outside, also renders the camp invisible' Later in both strip and novel versions, a terrified Trog runs back, and into, the invisible wall

Force Barrier: Donated by His Excellency Timus Irnok Mosta, 'anyone outside the field and looking inwards... would see nothing. Every alien object that did not originally belong inside the Force Field would be invisible to their gaze'

Force Barrier: As per the strip and novel, it hides the 'camp' and protects it In this version, a Klepton walks into the 'invisible wall' - a cleverly realised shot using a sheet of glass

Chameleon Attachment: John's 'pet project' and secretly fitted to all A.E. suits - which they all seem to be wearing at first. 'You can make it look as though you're wearing anything you want. But, of course, it doesn't really change the A.E. suit'

Chameleon Attachment: The Tomorrow People put on the A.E. suits specifically to make use of the Spectra Shift

Chameleon Attachment: Already introduced in Series Two, and forgotten until this story, it seems all three Tomorrow People wear them for no obvious reason than saving time changing appearance to rescue Trig and Trog

Masters of Disguise: John becomes a Red Indian, Stephen a cowboy, Kenny wears a toga, and Carol an Elizabethan lady

Masters of Disguise: Stephen, as a wolf, chases Elizabeth, as Red Riding Hood, rescued by John, as a knight in shining armour, leaving Tyso as Humpty Dumpty, then a Red Indian

Masters of Disguise: John is in Shakespearean mode, Mike becomes a Red Indian (are we detecting a pattern here?) and 'Jimmy Saville', while Elizabeth retains her Red Riding Hood outfit

'The Play's The Thing': Carol has the idea to put on a costume drama play using the A.E. suits, so they perform 'Hamlet'... except John who quotes 'Macbeth'.

'The Play's The Thing': This does not appear, but they use the A.E. suits to put on 'a sort of fancy dress competition'.

'The Play's The Thing': John, in 'costume', enacts part of 'Macbeth' - 'Is this a dagger that I see before me?' (also the line he says in the strip) - for no readily apparent reason.

Trig and Trog: First seen running, chained together, and pursued by men on horseback with hounds. Trig is fair-haired, while Trog is dark-haired.

Trig and Trog: Introduced while still captive in the mine, and their bid for escape is described. Their characters are more defined here

Trig and Trog: Seen first in the mine, and their bid for escape is a fair visualisation of the novel version. Trig is dark-haired, while Trog is fair-haired.

The Hunt: We see men on horseback, with others carrying torches and led by hounds. Implied to be at dusk or night

The Hunt: Tyso can determine, by sound, that 'two people are being hunted, four men all mounted, and... eight hounds' during 'a cold, clear night'

The Hunt: Two Kleptons on horseback, in daylight. Curiously, a horn is heard - which makes sense for the previous versions but not this one

Language Barrier: TIM tells them the Gallian language will take some hours to master

Language Barrier: It is implied the Tomorrow People have translators but no Gallian languages or dialects are on file. (Contradicts Series Two story 'A Rift In Time' where it is said telepaths are able to read minds directly so no language is a barrier)

Language Barrier: John refers to a 'translator unit/belt', which Mike is adapting. Pretty much the same problem, and contradiction, as the novel

The Village: Depicted and described as 'small farming villages'

The Village: A 'sleepy little village' on the edge of a harbour

The Village: Seemingly caves dug into hillsides along the coast

Time for TIM and Timus: TIM remains in telepathic contact with the Tomorrow People, and explains about the Kleptons but Timus is not introduced until the third series

Time for TIM and Timus: TIM only contacts the Tomorrow People at the end, passing on a suggestion from Timus what to do with the Kleptons

Time for TIM and Timus: TIM's role is replaced by Timus, who joins the Tomorrow People with some handy exposition

Klepton Mania: Humanoid, bearded, wearing only loincloths and riding 'horse-like' animals which look reptilian. Described as 'an advanced non-telepathic race known to the Galactic Federation, but who prey on the less advanced people of other worlds'

Klepton Mania: Humanoid, 'black-bearded', and riding 'horse-like' animals. '...technically advanced and morally decadent... they roam this sector of the Galaxy preying on less advance civilisations, oppressing and exploiting them'

Klepton Mania: Green-skinned humanoids, clan in black robed outfits with silver helmets, oven gloves and cattle prods. John recognises their ship, explaining to Elizabeth they are 'a brutal race who enjoy exploiting more backward cultures'

Captive Audience: Captured by the Kleptons, Stephen states he does not know if he can jaunt, implying terror and pain from the whip. It is later explained that if he jaunted, he cannot find out what is going on

Captive Audience: Tyso explains he wants to see where he is taken, as that is where the other children will be

Captive Audience: Despite seemingly dazed by the Klepton cattle prod, Mike tells John they have taken Trog's matter transporter (not used in the other versions) and he cannot abandon him

Mine, All Mine...: Depicted as on a mountainside, with Klepton quarters nearby. '...they need children because they are small enough to crawl into tiny seams of the mines after the diamonds…’

Mine, All Mine...: 'A gigantic cave dug into the mountainside. Crude iron rails ran... to a long low building inside which machinery could be heard... A heavily laden cart was being pushed slowly... by four children...'

Mine, All Mine...: The hexagonal metal entrance to the mine. Inside, the children dig and sift through slurry to find the minerals

So What's Happening?: ‘Their oppressors came one day out of the sky in a great fiery creature – spaceship, I guess – and set up the diamond mine. Then they rounded up the children as slaves. While they hold the children as hostages the Gallians won’t give them any trouble or try to fight…'

So What's Happening?: In a long evocative passage, Trig relates thunder and a 'great fiery chariot' one night heralded the arrival of the Kleptons. A group of men, among them Trig's older brother, go to investigate, to be gunned down by the aliens, who then take the children hostage.

So What's Happening?: Timus uses 'a little gift' to translate Trig and Trog's speech: 'It was two summers ago, when the star fell from the sky and evil men stepped from it' Trog explains men, including his father, went to greet them, and were killed. Trig tells them the children were then taken hostage

Secret Weapon: The Tomorrow People go out of their way not to reveal their superiority to the Kleptons, until the bid to free the slaves

Secret Weapon: Tyso explains 'Trouble is that then they'll know they're up against us and not just the Gallians'

Secret Weapon: Mike jaunts and uses Klepton leader Gremlon's (unnamed in other versions) blaster to free himself and Trog, alerting them to their capabilities

Bid For Freedom: Stephen and Kenny lead Trig and Trog, taught to use laser pencils, to free the enslved children, but are ambushed by a large number of Kleptons

Bid For Freedom: In a carefully orchestrated plan, the Tomorrow People nearly free the children - until Tyso uses a stun gun, alerting the Kleptons

Bid For Freedom: The Tomorrow People, in their A.E. suits, stun the dozen or so Kleptons, and attempt to lead the children to safety

Pitched Battle: A lot of exposition covers the battle between the jaunting, stun-gun-armed Tomorrow People, disguised as Gallians, and the heavily-armed Klepton force

Pitched Battle: A well written sequence in which the four Tomorrow People, disguised as Gallians, battle about a hundred Kleptons using jaunting, stun guns, nerve holds and cunning

Pitched Battle: Gremlon returns, finds the stunned guards, and then holds Elizabeth and some kids hostage. Mike then crawls through a rock passage behind Gremlon to surprise him

Stix...: A bare little planet, far from any inhabited worlds: 'With a lot of hard work it might be possible to scrape a meagre living from the barren soil'

Stix...: 'It is rocky and misty, cold and inhospitable. The only native life forms are a few lichens and fungi...'

Stix...: Pronounced 'Stik-sis', Timus describes it as 'a nasty little planet... very little but rock and rain. They will have to forage for their food...'

...and Stones: The Tomorrow People empty the Klepton ship's cargo hold '...so that you could bring your diamonds - a present from the Gallians. They don't want them!'

...and Stones: 'We knew that you would like to bring the diamonds with you, after you went to all that trouble to get hold of them. The Gallians don't have any use for them, they're just shiny stones...'

...and Stones: John explains the Kleptons 'had to leave most of their stuff behind to make room for more essential items... their diamonds, of course!'

Celebration: The Tomorrow People join in the freedom festivities on Gallia

Celebration: The Gallians hold 'a great celebration with people from miles around', and Trig, Trog and the Tomorrow People as guests of honour

Celebration: The Tomorrow People have their own barbecue, and invite Timus, Trig and Trig to it

So which version is best? Undoubtedly the novel, better thought out and characterised. The strip version concentrates on the action, as it should for its length. While criticised for falling short on the strengths of the novel, the television version is a fair adaptation within the budgetary constraints, and change in characters. Written almost as a sequel to Series Three's 'Worlds Away' (and referring to it heavily), the novel version highlights Tyso's skills, and his absence from the TV version loses these strong points. In hindsight, it could be seen that 'Worlds Away' was springboarded by some concepts (the landscape, hunt, Stephen/Tyso attacked by dogs) from A Much Needed Holiday, meaning the later television serial not only had to be different from its earlier versions - making the Kleptons more obviously alien, for instance - but also 'Worlds Away' with its near identical setting. The glass paintings depicting the rocky, as opposed to lush, landscape of Gallia (as well as the Klepton ship) do well in this, but the SF TV cliche of a quarry to depict an alien world, and being sandwiched by two stronger thought-provoking serials, in 'The Dirtiest Business' and 'The Heart of Sogguth', worked against it.


Story Five (aka The Man Who Knew Too Much)
Written by Roger Price (story) & Angus P. Allan (script).
Drawn by John M. Burns.
Pages 9 & 10, colour & b/w.

Part 1 - Issue 50, week ending 08 December 1973
A Concorde, bought by the communist Chinese, is about to take off from London, bound for Peking…
But ‘Red Bird One’ is not given clearance, and the plane is thoroughly searched by the police before it leaves, causing a diplomatic row. All ports and airports have been watched for two days, as they are searching for Professor Robert McDrew, a top scientist who was working on a new secret weapon before he disappeared. His son Stewart is a boarder at Kilkennedy School in Scotland, and the next day, Stephen is also there as a student. Stephen is looked after by Stewart, and the two quickly become friends, but he is puzzled why a weapon scientist has sent his son to a pacifist school. During a fishing trip, having gained Stewart’s trust, Stephen is shown an island in a nearby loch where Professor Mcdrew is. Out in the canoe, McDrew relates he was working on a weapon that could destroy the world, so he burned all his notes and went into hiding. But a boat rams the canoe, and McDrew and Stewart are taken prisoner as Stephen is left adrift and unconscious in a life jacket…

Part 2 - Issue 51, week ending 15 December 1973

Kidnap on a Scottish loch!
The boat moves off, and Stephen is left behind. But when the cold water brings him round, he jaunts back to the Lab. Meanwhile, McDrew and Stewart are taken to the shore by their captors, and driven off in a land rover. When the Tomorrow People return in a high-speed inflatable dinghy, they find the boat and the car tracks. The kidnappers have taken McDrew and his son to a old castle, and as the Tomorrow People resume their search by helicopter, the scientist is taken to the old but fully equipped torture chamber. If he does not talk, Stewart will be stretched on the rack...

Part 3 - Issue 52, week ending 22 December 1973
Kidnap on a Scottish loch!
Stewart is tortured on the rack as McDrew continues to withhold the information. Meanwhile, John and the others are using a helicopter to find the land rover, and see it near an old castle. Unable to bear watching the torture any more, McDrew gives in… as Stephen suddenly materialises in the dungeon. Thinking it’s his ghost, the men run, leaving a baffled professor. Carol arrives to free Stewart, and John pursues the thugs, using the helicopter to block the road. But the land rover does not stop and runs straight into it…

Part 4 - Issue 01, week ending 29 December 1973
John had jaunted clear, but did not intend to kill the men, who he thought would stop. There is another dilemma – what to do with the professor when others will track him down for his knowledge. Stewart comes running up to them, as his father has jumped from the battlements in an attempt to take his life. John heals him, but realises he will never be safe on Earth. Across light years of space, messages are exchanged with the Galactic Council. Help is promised, and arrangements are made, but as McDrew takes Stewart back to the school to tell the headmaster they are leaving, their car is surrounded and the pupils threatened by armed men. Stephen warns John, and a Galactic Federation spaceship stuns the armed men. McDrew and Stuart watch as the ship lands, to take them to planet Sophostria, so, as John says, ‘One day people on Earth will be able to respect men like that and use their knowledge for good rather than evil’.

Reprinted:
• Adapted text story: 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' in novel 'Three Into Three' (1974)

Novel Concepts:
• The novel takes place after the Series Two story 'The Doomsday Men', and refers to it quite heavily as the concept of Stephen having to board at a Scottish school is quite similar.
• The Chinese Concorde 'Red Bird 1' becomes 'Red Guard'.
• Given a first name in the strip, Professor McDrew is curiously denied one in the novel.
• The Kilkennedy headmaster, confusingly just called John in the strip, is called 'John B' in the novel, and is actually the founder of the school. He is described as 'fit and weather-tanned... about forty years old', but adds that to have founded the school, he must be in his sixties.
• The secret weapon McDrew has made is never detailed in the strip, but in the novel it is how to make an artificial black hole - something even the Galactic Federation cannot do. This also changes the motive for moving McDrew and Stewart off-world for just their own safety, to something seeming a bit more selfish.
• The villains become Meiniar, and his henchmen Creel and Jan.
• It is explained in more, and somewhat humorous, detail how the Tomorrow People acquire their 'high-speed inflatable dinghy', and a helicopter. This suggests John must be at least seventeen (the minimum required age) to fly solo, and events take place some time on from the first television series and book, which implies he is only sixteen.

Notes:
• An early variation of this story was among the original outlines pitched by Roger Price to Thames, under the title 'A Little Learning Is A Dangerous Thing'.
• The Galactic Federation spaceship seen in part 5 is of a similar (if inverted) design to the Kraatan vessel.
• This is the first indication in any Tomorrow People story that they have advanced powers of healing. It is taken that this is also a different technique from the 'experimental reanimation' seen in 'The Medusa Strain' to bring John and Stephen back to life, and more in line with the healing seen in Series Three's 'A Man For Emily'.
• It is mentioned that McDrew and Stewart are being taken to the planet Sophostria, whose inhabitants are mentioned in the first strip.


Story Six
Written by Roger Price (story) & Angus P. Allan (script).
Drawn by John M. Burns.
Pages 9 & 10, colour & b/w.

Part 1 - Issue 02, week ending 05 January 1974
In a world constantly aware of possible threats from deep space, an unceasing watch is kept for alien approach. But a pair of giant, plastic space-bubbles remain totally undetected as they streak through Earth's atmosphere on the last lap of a fantastic journey through the unknown!
The first capsule flies through a massive hurricane north of Australia and, hit by lightning, crashes on a rain-lashed coral island. Its huge long-necked turtle-like occupants perish, unable to reach the water. The second splashes down in the Atlantic, and the three creatures start to explore so they can make their report. Not twenty miles away, a cruise-liner steams towards the West Indies. On the ship John and Carol are keeping a discrete eye on a young boy called Jimmy Davis, who has special qualifications that mean he could be a new Tomorrow Person. A cry from a passenger alerts them to 'sea monsters' on the horizon, and the ship slows at the mysterious sight of the three long-necked creatures approaching. One passenger brings out a movie camera and Carol senses something is wrong. The creatures communicate telepathically, thinking a weapon is being pointed at them, and attack...

Part 2 - Issue 03, week ending 12 January 1974
Can the monsters be stopped?

Carol thinks the creatures will sink the ship, and John decides they should jaunt - they cannot help the others, and John is certain there is much more at stake. But they need to rescue Jimmy, and John asks TIM if it possible for them to jaunt him. TIM suggests they link hands with him, and the computer jaunts the three back to their underground headquaters as the ship is destroyed. Surveying the sinking ship and its survivors, the sea creatures communicate with each other and continue their quest. Jimmy has passed out, and while Carol cares for him, John discusses the creatures with TIM. The fact they detected telepathic communication means the creatures must come from beyond Earth, and John joins Stephen and Kenny on the orbital satellite. As nothing came through on the warning system, a more thorough check is made. A non-matter reading suggests plastic-style craft which cancelled normal detection methods, and TIM is able to trace their origin to the Demeter region with exact co-ordinates. John's decision is for TIM to jaunt them to that location to find out exacty where the creatures come from, but they materialise underwater on the planet Arkon, and with their AE suits set for air intake the three begin to drown...

Part 3 - Issue 04, undated (probably week ending 26 January 1974)
A shock for the three pals!
Struggling in the water, they are surprised when one of the huge sea-monsters dives at them, clutching the tiny forms in its massive claws and taking them to the surface. Swimming on its back, with the recovering Tomorrow People on its hugh flat stomach, the creature addresses them telepathically! It recognises them from Earth, the planet its explorers were sent – one ship destroyed, the other running into ‘hostile activity’ – as their own world Arkon is doomed from overheating of the core. Their suits now set to internal re-cyclic respiration, the Tomorrow People are taken by the creature to their council under the surface. On Earth, Carol has tested the unconscious Jimmy Davis, and found he is not the type to be one of them after all. With information relayed from Arkon, TIM believes the core can be cooled by penetration of the ocean, but the Arkonians have no knowledge of the machinery necessary for the task. Taking Jimmy to near a police station where he can be found, with an explanatory note, Carol prepares to suits up and join the others. But TIM warns them rapid cooling could cause the core to be totally destroyed…

Part 4 - Issue 05, undated (probably week ending 9 February 1974)
The Akronian explorers under attack!
On Earth, the three Arkonians are attacked by air forces – one is killed, while the other two smash the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco harbour. Carol arrives on Arkon with a hypersonic impulse disintegrator, and it is the moment of truth as she volunteers to operate it herself – but too rapid cooling will destroy the planet. The disintegrator vapourises iron-hard rocks, cutting into the core for long minutes before the heat is releases. The ocean starts to boil, terrorising their Arkonian guide, but John tells him the heat will dissipate – and he is right! Nature balances, the oceans cool – and Arkon is saved, much to the gratitude of its race. The Tomorrow People return to their headquarters in London, to find the two remaining Arkonians have been destroyed by nuclear submarines - leaving the world to argue the existence of sea-monsters.


Notes:
• This is the first 'new' strip, and also the first to feature a slightly more callous attitude by the Tomorrow People about death. While they are unable to help, John and Carol are forced to abandon the other passengers to save Jimmy, and as the Arkonians were intelligent aliens, should there not have been more remorse at the loss of the three destroyed by the Earth's military?
• The Arkonians resemble almost classic descriptions of the Loch Ness Monster, and interestingly, the version seen in the Doctor Who story 'Terror of the Zygons'. But considering this strip predates that by some two years, it is interesting to wonder if their design was influenced by this.
• The 'linking of arms' to carry a non-jaunting person is something the Tomorrow People try in the novel 'The Visitor'. It also appears the following year, and is used much later in the 1990s version of the television series.
• The Tomorrow People's orbital satellite makes a third appearance in the strip.
• Oops! - the name of the planet changes from Arkon to Akron during part 3.
• The idea the Tomorrow People are still looking for more of their own kind dovetails nicely into the second series.
• The back page of issue 5 is a full page portrait of Elizabeth Adare (from the end of part 2 of 'The Blue And The Green' - see below).
• Original artwork from this story still exists.

The strips could be seen as continuing directly from events in 'The Vanishing Earth, which seems to properly introduce the Tomorrow People to the Galactic Federation, but their 'Sap' friends Ginge and Lefty do not make the transition. These early stories are also interesting in their treatment of the format. 'The Visitor' relates John, Carol and Kenny were told of their evolutionary position by the alien Sophists, 'an immortal race of philosophers' from planet Sophia. This seems to translate into the Sophostrians, a non-corporeal species mentioned in 'The Slaves Of Jedikiah' and 'The Vanishing Earth', who the strips tell us were also responsible for programming TIM, and later become hosts to The Man Who Knew Too Much when he is deemed too dangerous to remain on Earth. Sophostria could be implied to be part of the Federation, but in light of later series stating TIM was programmed by Timon Irnok Manta, clone brother to Timus, too few facts in any contemporary related media lay this open to broad interpretation.

Some early concepts from the pitch, such as needing a Teleporter device rather than 'jaunting' (a term 'borrowed' from Alfred Bester's SF novel Tiger! Tiger!) under their own volition, still seem apparent in The Invasion of Earth, where Raa is jaunted with the Tomorrow People as if the belts are responsible, and Time Waits, marooning Stephen and Kenny in space. Another curiosity is the 'Chameleon Attachment', which gets its first outing here before being seen on television. As the Tomorrow People were already aware of, and had encountered shape changers like Jedikiah, one has to wonder if John's invention was an attempt to emulate this. However, this seems to contradict Series Three's 'The Revenge Of Jedikiah', where Elizabeth demonstrates briefly the illusion of this without a Spectra Shift. There is a further implication that most telepathic species may have this ability, as seen with the Nola Bears in the Series Two novel story 'The Great Mothers Of Matra'.

That said, the strip is a faithful evolution from the confines of the series' production, limited mainly to Earth locations, to the more space-traversing adventures only hinted at on-screen. It would be the third television series before the Tomorrow People visit another planet, but in this first 'strip series', they journey to four, and meet more alien races and creatures. Visualising these was top British comic artist John Burns, and this would be his first contribution to Look-In after Countdown & TV Action, the publication he had worked on since early 1971, folded. He would remain on The Tomorrow People for most of its first three years. Burns' vivid, almost psychodelic, use of colour fitted the series perfectly, and it is a pity that one of the two pages each week is only in black and white.

However, by the end of the year the fantasy of the series was being counterpointed by the stark reality of economic hardship. December 1973 saw the introduction of the Three Day Week, in order to ration electricity to vital services and industry. The knock-on effect of this began to show in Look-In shortly into 1974, with a special announcement in issue 3 stating the title would be published 'every other week' until further notice - subsequent numbers being undated.

The back page of issue 5, which would have been cover dated 2nd February - the week before the second series started - but more probably appeared a fortnight later, featured a full colour photo with the caption 'Elizabeth Adare has become one of "The Tomorrow People" in the new TV series. See the next Look-In for more details'...

Part Two of this series will feature in a future Upload.

The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History would like to thank:
Jackie Clark
Roger Price
Angus Allan
Phil Clarke
Peter Hansen
John M. Burns
Dave Johnson
and Kim Stevens
- for his help with this feature.

All references to the original pitch document remain the rights of Roger D. Price, and The Tomorrow People Archive, and are reproduced with permission.

Version 1.1 - 31.12.07


Any comments or notes about any of the strips, please contact technodelic@blueyonder.co.uk.

All text © The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History, and its respective writers, and may not be reproduced without permission.
All images © their respective copyright holders