The Tomorrow People 2:2 - A Rift In Time
01/12/2002 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
Video: Revelation PAR 50130. 100 minutes - 4 episodes. Price: £ 8.99-£10.99 (shop around for the best price). Starring Elizabeth Adair, Nicholas Young, Peter Vaughn-Clarke, Chris Chittel, Philip Gilbert, Peter Speight and Stanley Lebor. In many respects, the 70s second season
of 'The Tomorrow People' was a development and growth season.
This particular story explains and demonstrates some simple basic
problems of time travel that the youngsters of my day could understand.
Peter (actor Speight) the time traveller from Season One's story
'The Medusa Strain' dreams messages to the future of his enslavement
in the past to Stephen and John. This is later followed up with
the clue to seek out a Roman vase.
Stephen
procures it by convincing a psychic researcher that if a picture of the vase allows
him to telekinetically manipulate dice then the real thing would be better. The
archaeologist is convinced to let him look it over and only then does Stephen
discover it is the lid not the vase that holds the secret and jaunts off with
it. The Tomorrow People might be compelled never to do kill anyone but thieving
seems to be acceptable. The message on the lid allows John to create a
sub-nuclear acting time-travelling device that inadvertently whisks Stephen into
the future. There, he meets one of the Guardians of Time and explains Peter's
predicament. The Guardians are not allowed to help each other in the past but
does allow Stephen to borrow the necessary devices for the Tomorrow People and
Chris to go into the past to rescue Peter. A discussion with the archaeologist,
as well as returning the lid, gives the location where to start looking: a gladiator
school in Chichester. In the past, after delivering Stephen to the gladiator school
for money, they discover their abilities don't work and realise there is another
time traveller interfering with their mission.
They raid the gladiator
school with, Chris leading the way, only to prevent the other time traveller from
escaping and blowing the place up. It isn't totally destroyed but sufficiently
to allow them to set the boy slaves free before returning to the future where
they discover things aren't the way that they left it. The Roman Empire
is still thriving because technological advancement had started soon after they
left in the past. Realising that an alternative reality had been created, they
return to the past to prevent one of the returning slaves, Cotus, from returning
to the school and discovering the water pump. Their moves are followed
by the time traveller, himself a Roman leader, who is out to stop them preventing
his reality. Ultimately, it is one of his soldiers under his orders whose actions
prevent the Roman Empire reality from coming into existence.
As I commented
in the first paragraph, the demonstration of not what to do when travelling into
the past is graphically depicted and quite sophisticated thinking for 1974. The
distribution of action amongst the actors isn't so hot with Elizabeth Adair getting
less to do. Known faces amongst the supporting cast are Peter Duncan who
later on became a host on BBC's 'Blue Peter' and Stanley Lebor who later appeared
in BBC's 'Ever Decreasing Circles' showing here he was very good at dramatics.
You're either buying 'The Tomorrow People' videos to relive your past
or for your children to watch. Whichever, this is a story worth having
a look at.
GF Willmetts 
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