John’s development as a real person as well as a Tomorrow person continues apace in ‘The Ghosts of Mendez’ where we meet him actually on a date with an ex-girlfriend preparing for the opening of a new art gallery. But there’s weirdness afoot as two construction workers are involved in a ghastly accident and the gallery itself may be more than just an unusual piece of architecture. ‘The Ghosts of Mendez’ is the most complex of the three stories and in some ways the least interesting. The problem is that the central idea – the living gallery absorbing the human life – is too visual to be successfully depicted by electronic wailing and lots of white noise. The narrative itself gets a bit muddied in places although another potential ‘story arc’ – that human beings are now not only aware of the existence of the Tomorrow People but are also quite clearly wary of them and are at the moment tolerating them while they’re still not too numerous – is one which it’s to be hoped will be explored in future releases.
Big Finish are to be congratulated on their fond reinvention of one of the 1970’s better cult creations. On the regular casting front Nicholas Young as John and Philip Gilbert as Tim are clearly relishing being back in the old routine and slip effortlessly back into their roles despite the passing of over twenty years since their last new TV episode. THE TOMORROW PEOPLE on audio is clearly one of the nichest examples of niche marketing in recent history; the releases are likely only to appeal to those of us old enough to remember the originals although they may attract a few new followers through the recent DVD releases of the show’s first season. Whoever ends up buying them, I hope they’re numerous enough to ensure a good long run of regular releases. There’s a lot of promise here and I’m interested to find out what’s in store next for the next stage in human evolution. For now, I’m outta here….where did I put that jaunting belt? (cue jangly sound effect…)
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