I am someone who grew up with The Tomorrow People, Thames TV's children's show about a bunch of kids with special powers and their intergalactic friends.
Coming home after school, I used to enjoy the storylines and the adventures the team got involved with. As a much older man with a jaded and cynical view of the world (well sometimes), I can watch the original show "ironically" and still enjoy the simplicity of it. I also have my own young kids and have them hooked on it.
When I heard it was getting a US reboot, I wondered just how much it would change, which always leads me to wonder why a US company would remake a children's kids show - given there are so many good writers around with original ideas.
After receiving an advanced copy of the first episode and hearing the exec producer of the show say it was originally a BBC show, well I panicked... what else don't they know about this ITV programme? (ok, maybe it's not important).
The show's creators said they want to make it relevant to 'kids today' - so they glossed it up, made all the characters much older and added lots of action. Basically they made Heroes again.
The Tomorrow People now has a secret organisation called ULTRA chasing them...Stephen Jameson (one of the original shows lead characters) is no longer a nice English boy with smart hair and clothes, he is now a slacker from a broken home with issues.
There are 16 of the 'kids' with powers, as far as they know, yet a government project called ULTRA has been set up with another group of homo-superiors... who cant kill but are being pushed to wipe out the other group... and yada yada yada...
So, you know the Keane song about 'some place only we know', cross this with Heroes, Chronicle, Stormbreaker, Mutant X, erm..Fame, The Faculty..and... well so many more. Take away the humour and add Danny Cannon (who made the 1995 Judge Dredd).. and you get a generic US TV teen-drama show with some set-piece fight scenes. I certainly won't be letting my 10 year old watch it.
I am not saying it is bad, the first episode set up the back story and world well enough, though I thought I was watching a fan movie based on the The Matrix.
There will be those who love it, those who hate it. If you get E4 then check out the show on from Wednesday, but forget about the Tomorrow People, it shares a name and a few basic ideas. For a fix of the old one, try the episode below - one of the best.