The Tomorrow People - The Medusa Strain

Well, I made a promise to give The Tomorrow People another chance, so here we are with the second serial in the first series, The Medusa Strain. This week sees the return of Jedikiah! You remember, the rubbish robot who was helping/hindering the cyclops? The cyclops who wanted to get back home…or was a bit evil…or needed telepaths for…something…

Okay, the first story didn’t make any damn sense, but let’s start with the obvious - it’s only the second story, and they’re bringing back bad guys? Wow - I guess the well of inspiration drained fairly quickly with this series.

Anyway, Jedikiah has been drifting in space for six hundred years (!) before being picked up by a passing ship, run by the nasty Count Rabowski, a galactic thief, conman, and all-around cad. I don’t think he’s even a proper count either! After some minor repairs, Jedikiah is a bit put out that the Tomorrow People left him drifting for quite so long, and vows revenge! However, since it’s the 26th century, they’re probably all dead. Jedikiah reflects on this, decides that what’s in the past is in the past, and decides not to waste his life on revenge. He starts looking at higher education courses, and mulls what to do with his second chance in life.

Okay, he doesn’t do that. He of course vows that minor details like that don’t matter, and that the Tomorrow People must pay! Firstly, he gives himself a new human form. One, that I might add, is in much better shape than the last one, and quite a bit better at acting. Why did he hang around in the previous form if he could do this? Who knows?

Luckily for Jedikiah, Rabowski has the means to travel in time. He has abducted a young telepath called Peter, and using his telepathic powers, they can travel back in time and destroy the Tomorrow People. While they’re in England, Rabowski can also nick the Crown Jewels, which he’s always had a hankering for. No, really.

Special note must also be given to Coppin, Rabowski’s android. Played by Dave Prowse, it’s a huge silver painted man with a thick west country accent wearing nothing but a loincloth. It’s easily the most bizarre android I’ve ever seen - also, every time he bends over, you can totally see his arse. It’s wonderful, in a camp sort of way.

Anyway, I won’t waste any more of your time summarizing the rest of the plot. Suffice to say, it follows much of the same formula as last time. Namely, we are in location one, then back to the lab, then back to location one, then back to the lab, then to location two, then back to the lab, then back to location one, then back to the lab…repeat ad infinitum. There’s something seriously off about the pacing in this show. Thankfully, this one is only four episodes, so it’s not QUITE as tedious as last time - but the show is still padded as hell.

Our heroes are still as useless/annoying as ever. Stephen and Kenny remain ciphers, Carol still delivers all of her lines as if she’s on the verge of completely losing her shit (even in the most mundane circumstances), and John manages to stay as ludicrously unlikable as ever. Arrogant, dismissive, rude, and a general lack of caring are not factors I like to see in my heroes. Or, at least, without someone pointing it out.

The general unlikability of the main hero seems to be part of a larger subtext that runs through this episode. Rabowski is annoyed because Homo Superior has superseded humanity by the 26th century, and some of the dialogue can be taken to suggest that by then, Homo Sapiens are treated as second class citizens. Rabowski makes several statements alluding to this, giving the impression that Homo Superior freely discriminate against those without psychic powers, and nothing Peter says seems to contradict that or suggest that anyone thinks it’s a bad thing.

Some of John’s actions in the present give this impression as well. Ginge, one of the bikers from the previous story, has returned to help out, and he is clearly not valued by John as much as the others. At one point, they link up to use their powers, and Ginge, not realizing exactly what is meant, tries to do that too, but is rebuffed by John, who practically sneers, “Not you!”. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but given all the talk of humanity being dangerous and primitive, and humans being dismissed and insulted, and the general feeling of superiority that the TP’s possess, it does rather give the impression they won’t have time for normal people when they take control.

Another, and more distasteful, subtext is the air of homophobia that appears to be present. Peter, Rabowski’s captive, is a scantily clad boy that is kept in a cage. Both Rabowski and Jedikiah drool over him to a disturbing degree. Then you add in Rabowski’s camp demeanor and scantily clad muscleman android, and he starts to seem like a evil predatory gay stereotype. Which is sort of insulting.

With all the lashing I’m giving this series, I should share one thing I found quite amusing in this story, and that’s the ending. It is one of most bizarre ways to end a show I’ve ever seen, even beating out that episode of Voyager where the cunning plan is to lie down and hope everything works out okay (it does). To sum up, Peter, Carol and Ginge (yes, despite being just a normal human, Ginge seems a lot more competent than most of the others) have been captured and are being held on Rabowski’s ship. John, Stephen and Kenny have set out to rescue them. However, because they’re morons, they get zapped and end up back in the lab, drained. TIM warns them that they must rest and get their strength back.
“No, TIM,” cries John. “Carol and Ginge are our friends! We can’t let them die!”
“He’s right,” interjects Kenny. “I don’t care how bad off we are, we have to try!”
“But…” says TIM. “You could die.”
“If we didn’t try, we’d never forgive ourselves,” says John stoically. “We’re going back for them.”
Dramatic music plays as our heroes risk life and limb to rescue their friends…

In fact, that doesn’t happen at all. John shrugs, says okay, and breaks out the sleeping bags, and they all have a nice nap. While the others are in mortal danger. They don’t seem all that concerned about it, either. I mean, damn! It takes a lot to write a series where the heroes have a snooze while their friends are in jeopardy. Are we supposed to hate these people? Because I really do!

Thankfully, they manage to escape by themselves and show back up at the lab, where the others look up from their nap long enough to vaguely acknowledge their presence and then go back to sleep.

Okay, that’s it. I have The Tomorrow People another chance, and it’s still shit. Boring, repetitive plots, unlikable heroes, dodgy subtexts, and a general sort o crapness. So, unfortunately, you will all be denied more reviews, and if anyone wants to go look there’s some TP DVDs on Ebay right now!