The Day After Tomorrow (TV special) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Day After Tomorrow |
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Opening titles, featuring "Into Infinity" subtitle
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| Written by | Johnny Byrne |
| Directed by | Charles Crichton |
| Starring | Brian Blessed Joanna Dunham Nick Tate Katharine Levy Don Fellows |
| Narrated by | Ed Bishop |
| Composer(s) | Derek Wadsworth Steve Coe |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Gerry Anderson |
| Cinematography | Frank Watts |
| Editor(s) | David Lane |
| Running time | 47 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Gerry Anderson Productions |
| Distributor | NBC |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC (United States) BBC1 (UK) |
| Original release | 9 December 1975 (US) 11 December 1976 (UK) |
The Day After Tomorrow (also called Into Infinity in the UK) is a 1975 British science fiction TV special. It was made by Gerry Anderson, known for shows like Space: 1999. The story was written by Johnny Byrne and directed by Charles Crichton.
The special stars actors like Brian Blessed and Nick Tate. It tells the story of a future where Earth's environment is in danger. A science spaceship called Altares uses special photon energy to travel at the speed of light. The crew journeys far into space. They face challenges like a meteor shower, a red giant star, and even a black hole. This black hole pulls their ship into a whole new universe!
The Day After Tomorrow was first shown in the United States in December 1975. It was part of NBC's Special Treat series. In the UK, it aired on BBC1 in December 1976. People have had different opinions about the special. Many liked its special effects and music. Some found its visuals very unique. The story was made to teach about science, so some felt it wasn't as exciting as other adventure shows.
Contents
Journey to the Stars: The Story
In the future, Earth faces big problems. Pollution and damage to the environment threaten human life. A narrator explains that the Altares is a special spaceship. It uses the amazing power of photons. This lets it travel at the speed of light. Traveling this fast can cause strange things to happen. For example, it can change how space and time work. These ideas come from Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.
The Altares and its five crew members are leaving Space Station Delta. Their mission is to fly to Alpha Centauri. They want to find planets like Earth that humans could live on. When astronauts travel at light speed, they age more slowly than their families back on Earth. So, the crew includes two families. There's Captain Harry Masters and his daughter Jane. Also, Doctors Tom and Anna Bowen and their son David.
Tom, Anna, and David board the Altares. Jane leaves her dog, Spring, with Commander Jim Forbes. Captain Masters starts the Altares' photon drive. The ship begins its 4.3-light-year journey to Alpha Centauri. As they leave our Solar System, Jane and David see Pluto change colors. It turns blue, then red. This happens because of the Doppler effect. It's how light waves change when something moves very fast.
Deep Space Adventures
When they reach Alpha Centauri, the crew sends out satellites. These send information back to Earth. Their main goal is complete. But they decide to go even deeper into space. The Altares soon flies into a group of stars. Anna tells Jane about Einstein's ideas. These include special relativity and unified field theory.
Suddenly, a meteor shower hits the ship. Important systems are damaged. The photon drive turns on again by itself. This sends the ship flying at an incredible speed. The travelers are knocked out. Luckily, a safety system stops the ship. It stops near a red giant star. This star is about to explode in a supernova.
Captain Masters puts on a special heat suit. He goes into the ship's power core. It's very dangerous, but he needs to fix the photon drive by hand. He succeeds! Anna and Jane then pilot the ship away. They escape just before the star explodes.
Facing a Black Hole
Later, the crew picks up a signal from Space Station Delta. They can now figure out where they are. They set a course to return to Earth. But then, disaster strikes! The Altares gets caught in the pull of a black hole. The ship cannot go fast enough to escape. Anna believes the black hole might lead to another universe. She tells everyone not to give up hope.
They cross the event horizon. This is the point of no return for a black hole. They experience strange space-time changes. But they come out on the other side of the black hole safe. They can't go back home, though. As the Altares gets close to an unknown planet, the narrator says something important. This isn't the end, but a new beginning. A new universe, a new hope. Only time will tell what happens next.
Making the Special: Production
After the first season of Space: 1999 finished, Gerry Anderson got an idea from NBC. George Heinemann, an NBC executive, wanted a science fiction TV series. It would teach kids about science through action and adventure. NBC even planned to give out leaflets to schools. Heinemann asked Anderson to make an episode about Albert Einstein's special relativity theory. This theory says that nothing can go faster than the speed of light.
Anderson's company, Group Three, wasn't sure if Space: 1999 would get a second season. So, Anderson and his story editor, Johnny Byrne, thought of Heinemann's episode as a test. They called it "Into Infinity." They hoped it could become a new series called The Day After Tomorrow. But Anderson couldn't get enough money for more episodes. So, "Into Infinity" became a one-time special. It is now mostly known by the series title.
Writing the Story
Gerry Anderson studied Einstein's work for the show. He later said some of Einstein's ideas were hard to show on TV. Johnny Byrne wrote the script. He included Einstein's famous equation, E = mc2, on screen. Anderson said writing the story was "extremely difficult." It was hard to explain complex ideas like time changes in a simple way for young people.
Byrne didn't have a science background. He found the main ideas tough to understand. He read a book called Relativity for the Layman. He realized he needed help. So, Anderson and Byrne got Professor John G. Taylor from the University of London to help. He was an expert on black holes. Byrne said Professor Taylor couldn't do much. In the end, the story was simplified. It showed the Doppler effect and how planets can become black holes.
The special also talks about time dilation. This is when time slows down for objects moving very fast. For the Altares crew, the trip to Alpha Centauri takes only a few years. But on Earth, many decades pass. The child characters, Jane and David, were important. They asked questions that the young audience might have. The dialogue was written so that characters gave only partial answers. This was to make kids want to learn more on their own.
Who Was in the Show? Casting
| Cast | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Actor | Character | Actor | Character |
| Brian Blessed | Dr Tom Bowen | Martin Lev | David Bowen |
| Joanna Dunham | Dr Anna Bowen | Don Fellows | Commander Jim Forbes |
| Nick Tate | Captain Harry Masters | Ed Bishop | Narrator |
| Katharine Levy | Jane Masters | Bones the Dog | Spring the Dog |
Many actors in The Day After Tomorrow had worked with Gerry Anderson before. Nick Tate was a regular on Space: 1999. Brian Blessed and Joanna Dunham had also appeared in guest roles on that show. Don Fellows had a small part in the first episode of Space: 1999.
Ed Bishop had voiced a character in the puppet show Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. He then played Ed Straker in Anderson's live-action series UFO. Katharine Levy and Martin Lev were new to acting. Martin Lev was also filming Bugsy Malone at the same time. Spring, the Masters' dog, was played by Johnny Byrne's own dog, Bones.
How It Was Filmed
Filming started in July 1975 and finished in September. The special cost about £105,000 to make. The main filming took ten days at Pinewood Studios. The special effects filming took six weeks at Bray Studios. Charles Crichton directed the special. He had also directed episodes of Space: 1999. Other crew members, like effects director Brian Johnson and editor David Lane, also worked on Space: 1999.
Derek Wadsworth composed the theme music. He later became the composer for the second season of Space: 1999. Reg Hill, Gerry Anderson's business partner, designed the sets. The inside of the Altares spaceship was built using parts from old Space: 1999 sets. Other props were also reused from that series.
The scale models of the Altares were made by Martin Bower. He was not credited for his work. He was inspired by the spaceships in Space: 1999. A 3-foot-long model was used for far-away shots. A larger, 6-foot-long model was used for close-ups. This bigger model had a bright light for the photon drive. It also had jets that used freon gas to look like exhaust. The Space Station Delta model was 10 feet wide. It was made from an old model used in Space: 1999. Some new props made for this special were later used in Space: 1999's second season.
Like other Gerry Anderson shows, The Day After Tomorrow starts with quick action shots. These give a sneak peek of the story.
When It Aired: Broadcast
The Day After Tomorrow first aired in the United States on December 9, 1975. It was part of the NBC show Special Treat. In the UK, it was first shown on December 11, 1976, on BBC1. The original opening had two titles. First, The Day After Tomorrow appeared over stars. Then, "Into Infinity" appeared over a shot of the lift going to the Altares.
The BBC showed the program as a special, not part of a series. So, they removed the first title, The Day After Tomorrow. They thought having two titles would confuse people. Because of this, the special was listed in TV guides as Into Infinity.
The special was shown again on BBC1 on December 6, 1977. In 1997, the BBC deleted the main copy of the show. But they kept an edited copy for future airings. Clips from The Day After Tomorrow were used in a Channel 4 documentary called Equinox in 1997. On November 9, 2014, the special was shown again on BBC Four. This time it was called The Day after Tomorrow: Into Infinity. Professor Brian Cox introduced it. He said he loved the special as a child and praised its scientific accuracy.
Other Ways to Enjoy the Story
Douglas R. Mason, who wrote novels for Space: 1999, also wrote a book version of this special. It was meant to be the first in a series. But when no more TV episodes were made, the book was canceled. It has never been published. In 2017, a new book version by Gregory L. Norris was published.
The special has a U rating from the British Board of Film Classification. This means it is suitable for all ages. In 2002, a DVD was released. It included The Day After Tomorrow and another Gerry Anderson pilot called Star Laws. In 2015, the special was re-released on DVD. It was part of a collection called "The Lost Worlds of Gerry Anderson."
