The Day After Tomorrow (TV special)
Encyclopedia
The Day After Tomorrow is a 1975 British science-fiction
television drama produced by Gerry Anderson
between the two series of Space: 1999
. Written by Johnny Byrne and directed by Charles Crichton
, it stars Brian Blessed
, Joanna Dunham
and Nick Tate
, and is narrated by Ed Bishop
. It first aired in the United States on NBC
, as an episode of the children's science education series Special Treat
, in December 1975. In the UK, BBC1 broadcast the programme as an independent special
in December 1976, and again in December 1977. The plot of The Day After Tomorrow relates to the interstellar mission of Altares, a science vessel of the future that can travel at the speed of light
. Departing from its original destination, Alpha Centauri
, Altares moves deeper into space and her crew of three adults and two children encounter phenomena such as a meteor shower
, a red giant
star and, finally, a black hole
, which pulls the ship into another universe.
Originally commissioned to produce a child-friendly introduction to Albert Einstein
's special relativity
theory in the form of an action-adventure, Anderson and Byrne conceived The Day After Tomorrow as the pilot episode of a TV series. To this end, writer and producer proposed the alternative title "Into Infinity", although their limited budget precluded the production of further episodes. With a cast and crew that included veterans of earlier Anderson productions, filming on The Day After Tomorrow ran from July to September 1975 and consisted of ten days of principal photography
and six weeks of special effects shooting. The visuals of Space: 1999 influenced both special effects technician Martin Bower
, the designer of the scale model
s that appear in the programme, and production designer Reg Hill
, who re-used set elements from various episodes of Space: 1999 to construct the Altares interiors. Newcomer Derek Wadsworth
collaborated with Steve Coe to compose the theme and incidental music
.
Reception to The Day After Tomorrow remains mixed. Although the model effects and music have been praised, critics have offered both favourable and unfavourable comparisons of the programme's "psychedelic" images to the visual style used by film director Stanley Kubrick
. While Byrne's scriptwriting has been described as "lyrical", and it has been suggested that The Day After Tomorrow includes allusions to the 1960s TV series Lost in Space
, the plot has been criticised for a lack of suspense, generally attributed to the fact that The Day After Tomorrow is primarily a children's science education programme. Further criticism has been directed at the acting, with Martin Lev
's performance in particular being poorly received. Home video releases of The Day After Tomorrow are limited to one VHS and one DVD, both of which are available only to members of the official Gerry Anderson fan club, Fanderson
. Author Douglas R. Mason's novelisation of The Day After Tomorrow remains unpublished.
s, has resulted in an increased probability of human extinction
. The Narrator (Ed Bishop
) describes Space Station Delta as the "jump-off point for humanity's first momentous journey to the stars", and states that the photon
ic-powered Altares is Earth's first spaceship capable of reaching speed of light
: "This could create the effects predicted by Einstein's Theory of Relativity
, effects that could shrink the very fabric of space, distort time, and perhaps alter the structure of the universe as we understand it."
Altares prepares to depart from Space Station Delta on a mission of scientific discovery beyond the Solar System
. Arriving in a United Nations
shuttle, Doctors Tom (Brian Blessed
) and Anna Bowen (Joanna Dunham
) board the vessel with their son, David (Martin Lev
). Jane Masters (Katharine Levy
) relinquishes the care of her dog, Spring, to Commander Jim Forbes (Don Fellows
). Her father, Captain Harry Masters (Nick Tate
), initiates Altares' s "Photon Drive" and the ship commences its 4.3-light-year journey to the star Alpha Centauri
, the first scheduled stop of the mission. As Altares nears the edge of the Solar System, Jane and David observe how Pluto
appears to change colour from blue to red due to the shortening and lengthening of light waves caused by the Doppler Effect
. Arriving at Alpha Centauri, the crew launch a series of satellites to transmit their scientific data to Earth. Their primary assignment complete, both the Masters and Bowen families agree to push deeper into space.
When Altares encounters a star cluster
, Anna relates to Jane the accomplishments of physicist Albert Einstein in the areas of special relativity theory and the unified field theory
. However, the ship is subsequently bombarded by a meteor shower
that results in multiple malfunctions and causes the Photon Drive to re-activate, hurling Altares through space at such velocity that the travellers are rendered unconscious. Some time later, a failsafe forces the Drive to a halt, but the ship is left without power in the gravity of an old red giant
star that is on the point of supernova
. Donning a heat suit, Captain Masters subjects himself to the extreme temperatures inside the reactor core in a bid to repair the Photon Drive. Avoiding fatal injuries, he finally succeeds, and Anna and Jane pilot Altares past the blast radius of the star before it explodes.
Detecting a signal from Space Station Delta, which has reached Altares more than a decade after emission due to the effects of time dilation
, the travellers determine their location and Tom plots a return course to Earth. However, disaster strikes when the ship stumbles into the powerful gravitational field of a black hole
that has formed from the remains of a collapsed star, unable to reach the faster-than-light
speeds required to break free. Calculating the object's rotation, Anna suggests that the black hole could be the portal to another universe. Beyond the event horizon
, the crew are traumatised by space-time distortions and Altares arrives in a parallel universe, from which escape is impossible. The Narrator concludes, "One thing is sure—this is not the final word. Not the end, but the beginning. A new universe, a new hope. Only time will tell."
complete, NBC
agent George Heinemann contacted Group Three producer Gerry Anderson
with a proposal for a new science-fiction TV series, to be titled Special Treat
. It would consist of seven one-hour episodes, each to educate child viewers about a science subject in the more entertaining format of an action-adventure. NBC would distribute information leaflets to schools to publicise Special Treat. Heinemann engaged Anderson to produce a special
that would discuss, as its primary topic, the physicist Albert Einstein
's theory of special relativity
, which holds that the speed of light
cannot be exceeded and that its speed is constant regardless of whether or not an object is in motion.
, that a second series of Space: 1999 would be commissioned. In view of the possibility of cancellation, Anderson and his scriptwriter, Space: 1999 script editor Johnny Byrne, conceived the special that would become The Day After Tomorrow as the prospective pilot episode of a new series. If successful, the pilot–to be titled "Into Infinity"–would result in further episodes, and the series itself would be titled The Day After Tomorrow. Ultimately, no funding could be secured for the production of additional episodes, and The Day After Tomorrow: "Into Infinity" remains a self-contained science-fiction drama.
In preparation, Anderson researched Einstein's work, although he admits that he did not understand his theories. In his script, Byrne proposed that E = mc2, the Einsteinian formula that relates mass to energy
, should appear on-screen at intervals. Of the ending, the script commented that, "it's a universe not only stranger than we imagine, but stranger than we can imagine." Although special relativity is its main scientific and educational focus of the programme, The Day After Tomorrow also examines time dilation
, an effect whereby time decelerates at a rate proportional to that of the acceleration of an object. For the crew of Altares, a ship capable of reaching the speed of light, the mission to Alpha Centauri
is measured in years, while whole decades pass on Earth. That the child characters of David and Jane do not appear to mature into adults during the four-and-a-half-year journey is a possible continuity error, but is also attributable to artistic licence
. To encourage children to explore the subjects discussed in their own time, and develop their researching skills, Byrne scripted the characters to provide only partial explanations of special relativity and other theories.
for The Day After Tomorrow ran for ten days in July 1975 at Pinewood Studios
in Buckinghamshire. Special effects sequences required an additional six weeks of filming at Bray Studios in Berkshire, and production concluded in September. During the production of "Year Two" of Space: 1999, Group Three Productions re-used a number of props that had appeared in The Day After Tomorrow for the purposes of reducing costs. The production staff for The Day After Tomorrow included Anderson veterans who had worked on Space: 1999, among them special effects director Brian Johnson
, editor David Lane
and cinematographer Frank Watts. Charles Crichton
, with credits including eight of the 24 episodes for Year One of Space: 1999, returned to direct The Day After Tomorrow. Since Barry Gray
had other professional commitments, the role of composing the theme music passed to newcomer Derek Wadsworth
, who collaborated with Steve Coe to produce the incidental music
and later composed for Year Two of Space: 1999. Professor John Taylor served as scientific adviser on the production.
In the absence of Bob Bell and Keith Wilson
, who had transferred to the series The New Avengers (1976-77) and Star Maidens
(1976), the role of production designer fell to Reg Hill
. The concepts for the Altares interior were the first set designs that Hill had submitted to Anderson since 1961, during the making of the Supermarionation
series Fireball XL5
. To realise the designs, production staff re-dressed parts of the Ultra Probe
set from the Space: 1999 episode "Dragon's Domain
", along with set elements that had appeared in other episodes. Mistakenly assuming that his commissions would feature in Space: 1999, uncredited special effects technician Martin Bower
designed and built scale model
s of Altares to imitate the appearance of Earth spaceships seen in the earlier series. Long shots used a smaller, three-foot (0.9 m) model. Meanwhile, a larger, six-foot (1.8 m) model, equipped with gas-powered rocket jets to simulate propulsion and a high-powered light for the Photon Drive, appeared in close-up shots. Bower revamped the SS Daria prop that had featured in the Space: 1999 episode "Mission of the Darians" to construct the ten-foot (3 m) model of Space Station Delta. The United Nations
shuttle model measured 2.5 feet (0.75 m) in length.
Most of the cast of The Day After Tomorrow had appeared in or otherwise contributed to earlier Anderson productions. Nick Tate
, who had starred as the supporting character of Alan Carter
in Year One of Space: 1999, featured as the Captain of Altares, Harry Masters. His contract awarded him third place in the credits. Brian Blessed
and Joanna Dunham
, starring as the husband-and-wife team of Doctors Tom and Anna Bowen and billed above Tate, had both had guest parts: Blessed had appeared in the episode "Death's Other Dominion", Dunham in "Missing Link
".
Don Fellows
, starring as Delta Space Station Commander Jim Forbes, had contributed an uncredited voice part to the pilot of Space: 1999, "Breakaway
". Ed Bishop
had voiced the character of Captain Blue
in the Supermarionation series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
before performing in the lead role of Commander Ed Straker in his live-action series UFO
. Neither Martin Lev
nor Katherine Levy had any previous acting experience, although the Pinewood Studios filming for The Day After Tomorrow ran alongside that for the Alan Parker
musical comedy Bugsy Malone
, in which Lev had the role of gangster Dandy Dan. Byrne's dog, Bones, appeared as the Masters' pet, Spring.
as the third episode of Special Treat
. In the United Kingdom, it aired on Sunday 11 December 1976 on BBC1, at 6 pm.
Determining that the use of both the Day After Tomorrow and "Into Infinity" titles would confuse audiences (since The Day After Tomorrow would be broadcast as a special
rather than a pilot
) the BBC
edited the opening titles prior to the UK transmission to remove the former. In the event, it proved to be more difficult to delete the episode title, "Into Infinity", since it had been superimposed on a motion shot of a lift transferring the Bowen and Masters families from Space Station Delta to Altares. Consequently, promotion for The Day After Tomorrow in the United Kingdom, in media such as Radio Times
magazine, carried the "Into Infinity" banner only.
On 6 December 1977, BBC1 broadcast The Day After Tomorrow for a second time in an extended 80-minute format. In 1997, the BBC deleted the master tape of this format from its archives
, although it retains an edited copy for possible future repeat broadcasts. Clips of both The Day After Tomorrow and the Space: 1999 episode "Black Sun" featured in the Channel 4
documentary series Equinox, in the 1997 episode "Black Holes".
episode "Faster Than Light", whose plot relates to the problems that a crew encounter when their spaceship accelerates to light speed. Elizabeth Howell, a science journalist, argues that the programme is remarkable for its depiction of space exploration "in the colonisation
sense, rather than Star Wars
and its descendants who show space as a spot to be conquered." She comments further that the themes are "strangely timeless ... the true, unknown part hits you at the very end." In a review published in TV Zone
magazine in 2002, Andrew Pixley praised the acting, music and direction in general, writing that the film "oozes with the charm associated with the golden era of Anderson
." However, criticising other aspects, he argued that "it is the fundamental concept that falls flat. Rather than making physics a palatable piece of escapist
hokum, the format is dragged down to the level of a scantily-illustrated physics textbook ... something isn't quite right."
Vincent Law, in a review published in the Gerry Anderson-centric fanzine Andersonic, considers The Day After Tomorrow an "oddity" and an "uncharacteristically lacklustre entry in the Anderson canon
", commenting that the programme "cracks along at a fair old pace, but the educational content does tend to deaden the first half of the story and limits the room for character development." Although he credits the production for "getting its science lesson across in a superficial way", he expresses a negative view of the narration, remarking that "at times Ed
[Bishop] comes across like a presenter of one of those old schools programmes from the 70s, just imparting a string of dry facts." Of the characters, it is his view that Jane alone is substantially developed. Meanwhile, the adults onboard Altares are "pretty much peripheral", and David is a "miniature Spock
" who "lurks around the ship either brandishing his slide rule
, threatening to calculate something, or staring out of the porthole (a nice touch!) dribbling about pulsar
s."
Law believes that the general standard of production design and special effects is lower than that of Space: 1999
, expressing satisfaction with the scale model
effects but suggesting that "the slow-motion filming and wobbly mirror effects are more in keeping with Blake's 7
." He views the "info dump
" opening titles as a weak imitation of the Space: 1999 introduction, and the multiple appearances of the E = mc2
equation as confusing. Certain props, such as the slide rule, and design elements, such as punched card
s, are also objects of criticism for Law, who questions whether a futuristic spaceship that can travel at the speed of light would be equipped with such relatively primitive technology. Although he suggests that the plot device of the accident-prone Altares reflects the shifting public perception of space exploration in the 1970s, "a time when optimism in the space programme
was on the wane", Law considers such design elements to be indicative of the manner in which The Day After Tomorrow "has stood the test of time less well than other series."
In an internet blog retrospective, literary critic John Kenneth Muir
lauds Johnny Byrne's "lyrical" scriptwriting, refers to Brian Johnson
's special effects as "top-notch for the era", and considers Frank Watts' filming "stunning". To him, the message of the special implies a "high-tech, science-minded update of the whole Lost in Space
format", while the plot effectively mixes elements of the "claustrophobic" and "action-packed" with "psychedelic
" elements such as the descent into the black hole
, a subject on which he alludes to the work of film director Stanley Kubrick
: the sequence is "a Kubrickian wonder, a montage dominated by double images, slow-motion photography and the use of a creepy distortion lens. Pretty powerful stuff for a kids' show." Law, on the other hand, considers the faster-than-light
shots to be the best special effects, and compares the black hole sequence unfavourably to the closing act of Kubrick's 1968 science-fiction film, 2001: A Space Odyssey
: "Kubrick's Star-Gate it is not."
Arguing that The Day After Tomorrow is "kinda like Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey ... for kids", science-fiction writer and reviewer Christopher Mills expresses disappointment with the effect of the black hole itself, but describes the fall into the anomaly as "very colourful". However, in contrast with Muir, he views the sequences set inside Altares during the descent as "a bit of a hoot", directing particular criticism at the use of gesticulations on the part of the actors. Commenting of the script that the plot contains "plenty of wonky pseudo-science and insanely improbable coincidences", Mills also recalls his fascination at "how 'British' ... the characters were, facing each new peril with remarkable calm and 'stiff upper lip
' stoicism. By the time they're caught in the clutches of the ominous black hole, they're apparently so resigned to being jerked around by the universe that they just hold hands and calmly await their fate."
Muir comments that the feel of The Day After Tomorrow is "a little more colourful (less minimalist) in colour and costume than Space: 1999' s sterling Year One", with such elements as Wadsworth's "hard-hitting, hard-driving musical score" livening up the proceedings. The music has also received praise from Law, who notes a "dynamic pace", and from Anderson himself. Muir summarises the final product as a "Year One-style 'awe and mystery of space' narrative, but one conveyed in the more colourful-looking or -sounding Year Two fashion", and a "time capsule of once-state-of-the-art science fiction". To Law, it is "half-forgotten experiment which is now perhaps only of interest to aficionados", but "an interesting look at what might have been" if Anderson had produced further episodes. Mills interprets it as a "solid little piece of 70s juvenile sci-fi" that is "maybe not quite as 'scientifically accurate' as it pretends to be, but fun".
(BBFC) certified The Day After Tomorrow as U
. Fanderson
, the official fan society dedicated to the productions of Gerry Anderson
, holds all the home video distribution rights. Licensed releases of The Day After Tomorrow are limited to a 1997 VHS and a 2002 DVD, both of which are exclusive merchandise available to Fanderson members only. Space Police (a pilot that inspired the series Space Precinct
) is included on the DVD, which presents both films in a digitally remastered format. In addition to Region 0 and dual PAL
-NTSC
coding, it contains special features such as production and design photographs. Both the VHS and the DVD include the opening titles as originally presented prior to the 1976 BBC edits. In his 2002 review, Andrew Pixley praised Fanderson for the professionalism of the release, which he described as "excellent".
Science-fiction writer Douglas R. Mason, an author of original Space: 1999
novels, produced a novelisation of Johnny Byrne's script for The Day After Tomorrow. Mason's publisher, Futurama Publications, had intended to distribute further books, since Anderson had conceived The Day After Tomorrow as the pilot episode for a prospective TV series. When Anderson abandoned this idea, Futurama cancelled Mason's novelisation, which remains unpublished.
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
television drama produced by Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
between the two series of Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
. Written by Johnny Byrne and directed by Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton was an English film director and film editor. He became best known for directing comedies produced at Ealing Studios...
, it stars Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".-Early life:The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born in the town of Goldthorpe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England...
, Joanna Dunham
Joanna Dunham
Joanna Dunham is an English actress, best noted for her work on stage and television. She has also appeared in several major motion pictures.-Career:Dunham was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England...
and Nick Tate
Nick Tate
Nicholas John "Nick" Tate is an Australian actor best known for his role as Eagle pilot Alan Carter in both seasons of the 1970s science fiction television series Space: 1999, as well as for playing the role of Gordon Hamilton's errant brother James in the 1980's soap opera "Sons and...
, and is narrated by Ed Bishop
Ed Bishop
Ed Bishop was an American film, television, stage and radio actor based in Britain.-Early life:Bishop served in the US Army from 8 October 1952 to 24 September 1954, working as a disc jockey with the Armed Forces Radio at St. Johns in Newfoundland...
. It first aired in the United States on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, as an episode of the children's science education series Special Treat
Special Treat
Special Treat is an occasional series of specials on NBC that were geared toward teenagers, similar to ABC's Afterschool Special. It debuted in 1975 and ran through the 1985 - 86 season.-See also:* ABC Afterschool Special...
, in December 1975. In the UK, BBC1 broadcast the programme as an independent special
Television special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...
in December 1976, and again in December 1977. The plot of The Day After Tomorrow relates to the interstellar mission of Altares, a science vessel of the future that can travel at the speed of light
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
. Departing from its original destination, Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus...
, Altares moves deeper into space and her crew of three adults and two children encounter phenomena such as a meteor shower
Meteor shower
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most meteors are smaller...
, a red giant
Red giant
A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius immense and the surface temperature low, somewhere from 5,000 K and lower...
star and, finally, a black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
, which pulls the ship into another universe.
Originally commissioned to produce a child-friendly introduction to Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
's special relativity
Special relativity
Special relativity is the physical theory of measurement in an inertial frame of reference proposed in 1905 by Albert Einstein in the paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies".It generalizes Galileo's...
theory in the form of an action-adventure, Anderson and Byrne conceived The Day After Tomorrow as the pilot episode of a TV series. To this end, writer and producer proposed the alternative title "Into Infinity", although their limited budget precluded the production of further episodes. With a cast and crew that included veterans of earlier Anderson productions, filming on The Day After Tomorrow ran from July to September 1975 and consisted of ten days of principal photography
Principal photography
thumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
and six weeks of special effects shooting. The visuals of Space: 1999 influenced both special effects technician Martin Bower
Martin Bower
Martin Bower is a model maker and designer of special effects miniatures for both film and television. His credits include the television series Space: 1999 and the films Alien , Flash Gordon and Outland...
, the designer of the scale model
Scale model
A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...
s that appear in the programme, and production designer Reg Hill
Reg Hill
Reginald E. Hill was a British television producer and was most prominently associated with the work of puppet animator Gerry Anderson.-Professional life:...
, who re-used set elements from various episodes of Space: 1999 to construct the Altares interiors. Newcomer Derek Wadsworth
Derek Wadsworth
Derek Wadsworth was a British jazz trombonist, session musician, composer and arranger....
collaborated with Steve Coe to compose the theme and incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
.
Reception to The Day After Tomorrow remains mixed. Although the model effects and music have been praised, critics have offered both favourable and unfavourable comparisons of the programme's "psychedelic" images to the visual style used by film director Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
. While Byrne's scriptwriting has been described as "lyrical", and it has been suggested that The Day After Tomorrow includes allusions to the 1960s TV series Lost in Space
Lost in Space
Lost in Space is a science fiction TV series created and produced by Irwin Allen, filmed by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965, and March 6, 1968...
, the plot has been criticised for a lack of suspense, generally attributed to the fact that The Day After Tomorrow is primarily a children's science education programme. Further criticism has been directed at the acting, with Martin Lev
Martin Lev
Martin Lev , real name Musa, was a child actor from Liverpool.- Career :Martin started acting at the age of 16, playing David Bowen in the NBC made-for-TV movie The Day After Tomorrow and starring as Dandy Dan in the musical film Bugsy Malone...
's performance in particular being poorly received. Home video releases of The Day After Tomorrow are limited to one VHS and one DVD, both of which are available only to members of the official Gerry Anderson fan club, Fanderson
Fanderson
Fanderson is the official appreciation society for the works of Gerry Anderson. It is a not-for-profit organisation endorsed by Anderson Entertainment Ltd, Gerry Anderson Productions plc and ITC Entertainment Group Ltd...
. Author Douglas R. Mason's novelisation of The Day After Tomorrow remains unpublished.
Plot
On a future Earth, pollution and environmental damage, combined with the depletion of the planet's natural resourceNatural resource
Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....
s, has resulted in an increased probability of human extinction
Human extinction
Human extinction is the end of the human species. Various scenarios have been discussed in science, popular culture, and religion . The scope of this article is existential risks. Humans are very widespread on the Earth, and live in communities which are capable of some kind of basic survival in...
. The Narrator (Ed Bishop
Ed Bishop
Ed Bishop was an American film, television, stage and radio actor based in Britain.-Early life:Bishop served in the US Army from 8 October 1952 to 24 September 1954, working as a disc jockey with the Armed Forces Radio at St. Johns in Newfoundland...
) describes Space Station Delta as the "jump-off point for humanity's first momentous journey to the stars", and states that the photon
Photon
In physics, a photon is an elementary particle, the quantum of the electromagnetic interaction and the basic unit of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation. It is also the force carrier for the electromagnetic force...
ic-powered Altares is Earth's first spaceship capable of reaching speed of light
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
: "This could create the effects predicted by Einstein's Theory of Relativity
Special relativity
Special relativity is the physical theory of measurement in an inertial frame of reference proposed in 1905 by Albert Einstein in the paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies".It generalizes Galileo's...
, effects that could shrink the very fabric of space, distort time, and perhaps alter the structure of the universe as we understand it."
Altares prepares to depart from Space Station Delta on a mission of scientific discovery beyond the Solar System
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
. Arriving in a United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
shuttle, Doctors Tom (Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".-Early life:The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born in the town of Goldthorpe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England...
) and Anna Bowen (Joanna Dunham
Joanna Dunham
Joanna Dunham is an English actress, best noted for her work on stage and television. She has also appeared in several major motion pictures.-Career:Dunham was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England...
) board the vessel with their son, David (Martin Lev
Martin Lev
Martin Lev , real name Musa, was a child actor from Liverpool.- Career :Martin started acting at the age of 16, playing David Bowen in the NBC made-for-TV movie The Day After Tomorrow and starring as Dandy Dan in the musical film Bugsy Malone...
). Jane Masters (Katharine Levy
Katharine Levy
Katharine Levy is a British actress. During her childhood, she appeared in a number of 1970s TV shows, most notably in 1976 as Jane Masters in Gerry Anderson's The Day After Tomorrow and Sandra in Children of the Stones in 1977 and as a young Livilla in I Claudius. Her career as an adult reached...
) relinquishes the care of her dog, Spring, to Commander Jim Forbes (Don Fellows
Don Fellows
Don Fellows was an American actor, born in Salt Lake City, Utah, who spent the bulk of his career acting in England, mostly in television....
). Her father, Captain Harry Masters (Nick Tate
Nick Tate
Nicholas John "Nick" Tate is an Australian actor best known for his role as Eagle pilot Alan Carter in both seasons of the 1970s science fiction television series Space: 1999, as well as for playing the role of Gordon Hamilton's errant brother James in the 1980's soap opera "Sons and...
), initiates Altares
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus...
, the first scheduled stop of the mission. As Altares nears the edge of the Solar System, Jane and David observe how Pluto
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
appears to change colour from blue to red due to the shortening and lengthening of light waves caused by the Doppler Effect
Doppler effect
The Doppler effect , named after Austrian physicist Christian Doppler who proposed it in 1842 in Prague, is the change in frequency of a wave for an observer moving relative to the source of the wave. It is commonly heard when a vehicle sounding a siren or horn approaches, passes, and recedes from...
. Arriving at Alpha Centauri, the crew launch a series of satellites to transmit their scientific data to Earth. Their primary assignment complete, both the Masters and Bowen families agree to push deeper into space.
When Altares encounters a star cluster
Star cluster
Star clusters or star clouds are groups of stars. Two types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters are tight groups of hundreds of thousands of very old stars which are gravitationally bound, while open clusters, more loosely clustered groups of stars, generally contain less than...
, Anna relates to Jane the accomplishments of physicist Albert Einstein in the areas of special relativity theory and the unified field theory
Unified field theory
In physics, a unified field theory, occasionally referred to as a uniform field theory, is a type of field theory that allows all that is usually thought of as fundamental forces and elementary particles to be written in terms of a single field. There is no accepted unified field theory, and thus...
. However, the ship is subsequently bombarded by a meteor shower
Meteor shower
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most meteors are smaller...
that results in multiple malfunctions and causes the Photon Drive to re-activate, hurling Altares through space at such velocity that the travellers are rendered unconscious. Some time later, a failsafe forces the Drive to a halt, but the ship is left without power in the gravity of an old red giant
Red giant
A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius immense and the surface temperature low, somewhere from 5,000 K and lower...
star that is on the point of supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
. Donning a heat suit, Captain Masters subjects himself to the extreme temperatures inside the reactor core in a bid to repair the Photon Drive. Avoiding fatal injuries, he finally succeeds, and Anna and Jane pilot Altares past the blast radius of the star before it explodes.
Detecting a signal from Space Station Delta, which has reached Altares more than a decade after emission due to the effects of time dilation
Time dilation
In the theory of relativity, time dilation is an observed difference of elapsed time between two events as measured by observers either moving relative to each other or differently situated from gravitational masses. An accurate clock at rest with respect to one observer may be measured to tick at...
, the travellers determine their location and Tom plots a return course to Earth. However, disaster strikes when the ship stumbles into the powerful gravitational field of a black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
that has formed from the remains of a collapsed star, unable to reach the faster-than-light
Faster-than-light
Faster-than-light communications and travel refer to the propagation of information or matter faster than the speed of light....
speeds required to break free. Calculating the object's rotation, Anna suggests that the black hole could be the portal to another universe. Beyond the event horizon
Event horizon
In general relativity, an event horizon is a boundary in spacetime beyond which events cannot affect an outside observer. In layman's terms it is defined as "the point of no return" i.e. the point at which the gravitational pull becomes so great as to make escape impossible. The most common case...
, the crew are traumatised by space-time distortions and Altares arrives in a parallel universe, from which escape is impossible. The Narrator concludes, "One thing is sure—this is not the final word. Not the end, but the beginning. A new universe, a new hope. Only time will tell."
Production
In the spring of 1975, with filming on the first series ("Year One") of Space: 1999Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
complete, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
agent George Heinemann contacted Group Three producer Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
with a proposal for a new science-fiction TV series, to be titled Special Treat
Special Treat
Special Treat is an occasional series of specials on NBC that were geared toward teenagers, similar to ABC's Afterschool Special. It debuted in 1975 and ran through the 1985 - 86 season.-See also:* ABC Afterschool Special...
. It would consist of seven one-hour episodes, each to educate child viewers about a science subject in the more entertaining format of an action-adventure. NBC would distribute information leaflets to schools to publicise Special Treat. Heinemann engaged Anderson to produce a special
Television special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...
that would discuss, as its primary topic, the physicist Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
's theory of special relativity
Special relativity
Special relativity is the physical theory of measurement in an inertial frame of reference proposed in 1905 by Albert Einstein in the paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies".It generalizes Galileo's...
, which holds that the speed of light
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
cannot be exceeded and that its speed is constant regardless of whether or not an object is in motion.
Writing
In 1975, Group Three Productions had received no assurance from its distributor, ITC EntertainmentITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company was a British television company largely involved in production and distribution. It was founded by Lew Grade.-History:...
, that a second series of Space: 1999 would be commissioned. In view of the possibility of cancellation, Anderson and his scriptwriter, Space: 1999 script editor Johnny Byrne, conceived the special that would become The Day After Tomorrow as the prospective pilot episode of a new series. If successful, the pilot–to be titled "Into Infinity"–would result in further episodes, and the series itself would be titled The Day After Tomorrow. Ultimately, no funding could be secured for the production of additional episodes, and The Day After Tomorrow: "Into Infinity" remains a self-contained science-fiction drama.
In preparation, Anderson researched Einstein's work, although he admits that he did not understand his theories. In his script, Byrne proposed that E = mc2, the Einsteinian formula that relates mass to energy
Mass-energy equivalence
In physics, mass–energy equivalence is the concept that the mass of a body is a measure of its energy content. In this concept, mass is a property of all energy, and energy is a property of all mass, and the two properties are connected by a constant...
, should appear on-screen at intervals. Of the ending, the script commented that, "it's a universe not only stranger than we imagine, but stranger than we can imagine." Although special relativity is its main scientific and educational focus of the programme, The Day After Tomorrow also examines time dilation
Time dilation
In the theory of relativity, time dilation is an observed difference of elapsed time between two events as measured by observers either moving relative to each other or differently situated from gravitational masses. An accurate clock at rest with respect to one observer may be measured to tick at...
, an effect whereby time decelerates at a rate proportional to that of the acceleration of an object. For the crew of Altares, a ship capable of reaching the speed of light, the mission to Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus...
is measured in years, while whole decades pass on Earth. That the child characters of David and Jane do not appear to mature into adults during the four-and-a-half-year journey is a possible continuity error, but is also attributable to artistic licence
Artistic licence
Artistic licence is a colloquial term, sometimes euphemism, used to denote the distortion of fact, alteration of the conventions of grammar or language, or rewording of pre-existing text made by an artist to improve a piece of...
. To encourage children to explore the subjects discussed in their own time, and develop their researching skills, Byrne scripted the characters to provide only partial explanations of special relativity and other theories.
Filming
With a budget of £105,000, principal photographyPrincipal photography
thumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
for The Day After Tomorrow ran for ten days in July 1975 at Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
in Buckinghamshire. Special effects sequences required an additional six weeks of filming at Bray Studios in Berkshire, and production concluded in September. During the production of "Year Two" of Space: 1999, Group Three Productions re-used a number of props that had appeared in The Day After Tomorrow for the purposes of reducing costs. The production staff for The Day After Tomorrow included Anderson veterans who had worked on Space: 1999, among them special effects director Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson (special effects)
-Biography:Johnson's work on Space: 1999 set the tone for the Star Wars films to follow. George Lucas visited Johnson during the series production because he was so impressed with his work. Lucas asked Johnson to supervise the special effects for the first film but his prior commitment to Year 2 of...
, editor David Lane
David Lane (director)
David Lane is a British television and film director, best known for his association with series produced by Gerry Anderson's AP Films.Lane directed several episodes of the Thunderbirds television series, including "Attack of the Alligators!", as well as the two cinema films Thunderbirds are GO and...
and cinematographer Frank Watts. Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton was an English film director and film editor. He became best known for directing comedies produced at Ealing Studios...
, with credits including eight of the 24 episodes for Year One of Space: 1999, returned to direct The Day After Tomorrow. Since Barry Gray
Barry Gray
Barry Gray was a British musician and composer who is best known for his work for Gerry Anderson.-Life:...
had other professional commitments, the role of composing the theme music passed to newcomer Derek Wadsworth
Derek Wadsworth
Derek Wadsworth was a British jazz trombonist, session musician, composer and arranger....
, who collaborated with Steve Coe to produce the incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
and later composed for Year Two of Space: 1999. Professor John Taylor served as scientific adviser on the production.
In the absence of Bob Bell and Keith Wilson
Keith Wilson (production designer)
Keith George Wilson was an award-winning production designer who began work at AP Films, working as art assistant on Fireball XL5 and many other Gerry Anderson productions to follow. As a production designer he created all the futuristic sets for Space: 1999 and Star Maidens...
, who had transferred to the series The New Avengers (1976-77) and Star Maidens
Star Maidens
Star Maidens is a British science-fiction television series made by Portman Productions for the ITV Network. Produced in 1975, and first screened in 1976, it was filmed at Bray Studios and on location in Windsor, Bracknell and Black Park...
(1976), the role of production designer fell to Reg Hill
Reg Hill
Reginald E. Hill was a British television producer and was most prominently associated with the work of puppet animator Gerry Anderson.-Professional life:...
. The concepts for the Altares interior were the first set designs that Hill had submitted to Anderson since 1961, during the making of the Supermarionation
Supermarionation
Supermarionation is a puppetry technique devised in the 1960s by British production company AP Films. It was used extensively in the company's numerous Gerry and Sylvia Anderson-produced action-adventure series, the most famous of which was Thunderbirds...
series Fireball XL5
Fireball XL5
Fireball XL5 is a science fiction-themed children's television show following the missions of spaceship Fireball XL5, commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol...
. To realise the designs, production staff re-dressed parts of the Ultra Probe
Ultra Probe
The Ultra Probe was a fictional spacecraft in the Space: 1999 episode "Dragons Domain".A long-range explorer ship, the Ultra Probe was designed to take a crew of four to the planet Ultra, which had been discovered by Professor Victor Bergman in 1994...
set from the Space: 1999 episode "Dragon's Domain
Dragon's Domain
"Dragon's Domain" is the twenty-third episode of the first series of Space: 1999. The screenplay was written by Christopher Penfold; the director was Charles Crichton. The final shooting script dated 21 January 1975, with blue-page amendments dated 29 January 1975 and yellow-page amendments dated...
", along with set elements that had appeared in other episodes. Mistakenly assuming that his commissions would feature in Space: 1999, uncredited special effects technician Martin Bower
Martin Bower
Martin Bower is a model maker and designer of special effects miniatures for both film and television. His credits include the television series Space: 1999 and the films Alien , Flash Gordon and Outland...
designed and built scale model
Scale model
A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...
s of Altares to imitate the appearance of Earth spaceships seen in the earlier series. Long shots used a smaller, three-foot (0.9 m) model. Meanwhile, a larger, six-foot (1.8 m) model, equipped with gas-powered rocket jets to simulate propulsion and a high-powered light for the Photon Drive, appeared in close-up shots. Bower revamped the SS Daria prop that had featured in the Space: 1999 episode "Mission of the Darians" to construct the ten-foot (3 m) model of Space Station Delta. The United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
shuttle model measured 2.5 feet (0.75 m) in length.
Casting
| Cast | |||
| Actor | Character | Actor | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Blessed Brian Blessed Brian Blessed is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".-Early life:The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born in the town of Goldthorpe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England... |
Dr Tom Bowen | Martin Lev Martin Lev Martin Lev , real name Musa, was a child actor from Liverpool.- Career :Martin started acting at the age of 16, playing David Bowen in the NBC made-for-TV movie The Day After Tomorrow and starring as Dandy Dan in the musical film Bugsy Malone... |
David Bowen |
| Joanna Dunham Joanna Dunham Joanna Dunham is an English actress, best noted for her work on stage and television. She has also appeared in several major motion pictures.-Career:Dunham was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England... |
Dr Anna Bowen | Don Fellows Don Fellows Don Fellows was an American actor, born in Salt Lake City, Utah, who spent the bulk of his career acting in England, mostly in television.... |
Cmdr Jim Forbes |
| Nick Tate Nick Tate Nicholas John "Nick" Tate is an Australian actor best known for his role as Eagle pilot Alan Carter in both seasons of the 1970s science fiction television series Space: 1999, as well as for playing the role of Gordon Hamilton's errant brother James in the 1980's soap opera "Sons and... |
Capt Harry Masters | Ed Bishop Ed Bishop Ed Bishop was an American film, television, stage and radio actor based in Britain.-Early life:Bishop served in the US Army from 8 October 1952 to 24 September 1954, working as a disc jockey with the Armed Forces Radio at St. Johns in Newfoundland... |
Narrator |
| Katherine Levy | Jane Masters | Bones | Spring |
Most of the cast of The Day After Tomorrow had appeared in or otherwise contributed to earlier Anderson productions. Nick Tate
Nick Tate
Nicholas John "Nick" Tate is an Australian actor best known for his role as Eagle pilot Alan Carter in both seasons of the 1970s science fiction television series Space: 1999, as well as for playing the role of Gordon Hamilton's errant brother James in the 1980's soap opera "Sons and...
, who had starred as the supporting character of Alan Carter
Alan Carter (Space 1999)
Alan Carter is a fictional character from the television series Space: 1999. He was played by Nick Tate. He is of Australian origin and is in his early thirties.-Character biography:...
in Year One of Space: 1999, featured as the Captain of Altares, Harry Masters. His contract awarded him third place in the credits. Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".-Early life:The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born in the town of Goldthorpe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England...
and Joanna Dunham
Joanna Dunham
Joanna Dunham is an English actress, best noted for her work on stage and television. She has also appeared in several major motion pictures.-Career:Dunham was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England...
, starring as the husband-and-wife team of Doctors Tom and Anna Bowen and billed above Tate, had both had guest parts: Blessed had appeared in the episode "Death's Other Dominion", Dunham in "Missing Link
Missing Link (Space: 1999)
"Missing Link" is the seventh episode of the first series of Space: 1999. The screenplay was written by Edward di Lorenzo; the director was Ray Austin. The final shooting script is dated 5 April 1974...
".
Don Fellows
Don Fellows
Don Fellows was an American actor, born in Salt Lake City, Utah, who spent the bulk of his career acting in England, mostly in television....
, starring as Delta Space Station Commander Jim Forbes, had contributed an uncredited voice part to the pilot of Space: 1999, "Breakaway
Breakaway (Space: 1999)
"Breakaway" is the first episode of the first series of Space: 1999. The screenplay was written by George Bellak ; the director was Lee H. Katzin. Previous titles include 'Zero-G', 'The Void Ahead' and 'Turning Point'. The final shooting script is dated 22 November 1973...
". Ed Bishop
Ed Bishop
Ed Bishop was an American film, television, stage and radio actor based in Britain.-Early life:Bishop served in the US Army from 8 October 1952 to 24 September 1954, working as a disc jockey with the Armed Forces Radio at St. Johns in Newfoundland...
had voiced the character of Captain Blue
Captain Blue (Captain Scarlet)
Captain Blue is a character in the 1967 Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. He is a senior officer of the Spectrum organisation and a close friend of Captain Scarlet....
in the Supermarionation series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as Captain Scarlet, is a 1960s British science-fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions company of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, John Read and Reg Hill...
before performing in the lead role of Commander Ed Straker in his live-action series UFO
UFO (TV series)
UFO is a 1970-1971 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth, created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 Productions for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.UFO first aired in the UK and Canada...
. Neither Martin Lev
Martin Lev
Martin Lev , real name Musa, was a child actor from Liverpool.- Career :Martin started acting at the age of 16, playing David Bowen in the NBC made-for-TV movie The Day After Tomorrow and starring as Dandy Dan in the musical film Bugsy Malone...
nor Katherine Levy had any previous acting experience, although the Pinewood Studios filming for The Day After Tomorrow ran alongside that for the Alan Parker
Alan Parker
Sir Alan William Parker, CBE is an English film director, producer, writer and actor. He has been active in both the British cinema and American cinema and was a founding member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain.-Life and career:...
musical comedy Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in New York City in the Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, as dramatized in cinema...
, in which Lev had the role of gangster Dandy Dan. Byrne's dog, Bones, appeared as the Masters' pet, Spring.
Broadcast
In the United States, The Day After Tomorrow aired on Tuesday 9 December 1975 on NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
as the third episode of Special Treat
Special Treat
Special Treat is an occasional series of specials on NBC that were geared toward teenagers, similar to ABC's Afterschool Special. It debuted in 1975 and ran through the 1985 - 86 season.-See also:* ABC Afterschool Special...
. In the United Kingdom, it aired on Sunday 11 December 1976 on BBC1, at 6 pm.
Determining that the use of both the Day After Tomorrow and "Into Infinity" titles would confuse audiences (since The Day After Tomorrow would be broadcast as a special
Television special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...
rather than a pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
) the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
edited the opening titles prior to the UK transmission to remove the former. In the event, it proved to be more difficult to delete the episode title, "Into Infinity", since it had been superimposed on a motion shot of a lift transferring the Bowen and Masters families from Space Station Delta to Altares. Consequently, promotion for The Day After Tomorrow in the United Kingdom, in media such as Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
magazine, carried the "Into Infinity" banner only.
On 6 December 1977, BBC1 broadcast The Day After Tomorrow for a second time in an extended 80-minute format. In 1997, the BBC deleted the master tape of this format from its archives
BBC Archives
The BBC Archives are collections documenting the BBC's broadcasting history.- Overview :The archives contain 1 million hours of media material dating back to the 1890s, with early material on wax cylinder. With other materials such as photos and written documents the archive contains 11 million...
, although it retains an edited copy for possible future repeat broadcasts. Clips of both The Day After Tomorrow and the Space: 1999 episode "Black Sun" featured in the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
documentary series Equinox, in the 1997 episode "Black Holes".
Reception
Chris Bentley, author of The Complete Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Episode Guide, notes plot similarities between The Day After Tomorrow and the Fireball XL5Fireball XL5
Fireball XL5 is a science fiction-themed children's television show following the missions of spaceship Fireball XL5, commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol...
episode "Faster Than Light", whose plot relates to the problems that a crew encounter when their spaceship accelerates to light speed. Elizabeth Howell, a science journalist, argues that the programme is remarkable for its depiction of space exploration "in the colonisation
Space colonization
Space colonization is the concept of permanent human habitation outside of Earth. Although hypothetical at the present time, there are many proposals and speculations about the first space colony...
sense, rather than Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
and its descendants who show space as a spot to be conquered." She comments further that the themes are "strangely timeless ... the true, unknown part hits you at the very end." In a review published in TV Zone
TV Zone
TV Zone was a British magazine published every four weeks by Visual Imagination that covered cult television. Initially, it mostly covered science fiction, but branched out to cover other drama and comedy series.-History:...
magazine in 2002, Andrew Pixley praised the acting, music and direction in general, writing that the film "oozes with the charm associated with the golden era of Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
." However, criticising other aspects, he argued that "it is the fundamental concept that falls flat. Rather than making physics a palatable piece of escapist
Escapism
Escapism is mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an "escape" from the perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life...
hokum, the format is dragged down to the level of a scantily-illustrated physics textbook ... something isn't quite right."
Vincent Law, in a review published in the Gerry Anderson-centric fanzine Andersonic, considers The Day After Tomorrow an "oddity" and an "uncharacteristically lacklustre entry in the Anderson canon
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
", commenting that the programme "cracks along at a fair old pace, but the educational content does tend to deaden the first half of the story and limits the room for character development." Although he credits the production for "getting its science lesson across in a superficial way", he expresses a negative view of the narration, remarking that "at times Ed
Ed Bishop
Ed Bishop was an American film, television, stage and radio actor based in Britain.-Early life:Bishop served in the US Army from 8 October 1952 to 24 September 1954, working as a disc jockey with the Armed Forces Radio at St. Johns in Newfoundland...
[Bishop] comes across like a presenter of one of those old schools programmes from the 70s, just imparting a string of dry facts." Of the characters, it is his view that Jane alone is substantially developed. Meanwhile, the adults onboard Altares are "pretty much peripheral", and David is a "miniature Spock
Spock
Spock is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Spock also appears in the animated Star Trek series, two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, seven of the Star Trek feature films, and numerous Star Trek...
" who "lurks around the ship either brandishing his slide rule
Slide rule
The slide rule, also known colloquially as a slipstick, is a mechanical analog computer. The slide rule is used primarily for multiplication and division, and also for functions such as roots, logarithms and trigonometry, but is not normally used for addition or subtraction.Slide rules come in a...
, threatening to calculate something, or staring out of the porthole (a nice touch!) dribbling about pulsar
Pulsar
A pulsar is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. The radiation can only be observed when the beam of emission is pointing towards the Earth. This is called the lighthouse effect and gives rise to the pulsed nature that gives pulsars their name...
s."
Law believes that the general standard of production design and special effects is lower than that of Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
, expressing satisfaction with the scale model
Scale model
A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...
effects but suggesting that "the slow-motion filming and wobbly mirror effects are more in keeping with Blake's 7
Blake's 7
Blake's 7 is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC for its BBC1 channel. The series was created by Terry Nation, a prolific television writer and creator of the Daleks for the television series Doctor Who. Four series of Blake's 7 were produced and broadcast between 1978...
." He views the "info dump
Exposition (literary technique)
At the beginning of a narrative, the exposition is the author's providing of some background information to the audience about the plot, characters' histories, setting, and theme. Exposition is considered one of four rhetorical modes of discourse, along with argumentation, description, and narration...
" opening titles as a weak imitation of the Space: 1999 introduction, and the multiple appearances of the E = mc2
Mass-energy equivalence
In physics, mass–energy equivalence is the concept that the mass of a body is a measure of its energy content. In this concept, mass is a property of all energy, and energy is a property of all mass, and the two properties are connected by a constant...
equation as confusing. Certain props, such as the slide rule, and design elements, such as punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
s, are also objects of criticism for Law, who questions whether a futuristic spaceship that can travel at the speed of light would be equipped with such relatively primitive technology. Although he suggests that the plot device of the accident-prone Altares reflects the shifting public perception of space exploration in the 1970s, "a time when optimism in the space programme
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
was on the wane", Law considers such design elements to be indicative of the manner in which The Day After Tomorrow "has stood the test of time less well than other series."
In an internet blog retrospective, literary critic John Kenneth Muir
John Kenneth Muir
John Kenneth Muir is an American literary critic. He has written twenty-one reference books in the fields of film and television, with a particular accent on the horror and science fiction genres....
lauds Johnny Byrne's "lyrical" scriptwriting, refers to Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson (special effects)
-Biography:Johnson's work on Space: 1999 set the tone for the Star Wars films to follow. George Lucas visited Johnson during the series production because he was so impressed with his work. Lucas asked Johnson to supervise the special effects for the first film but his prior commitment to Year 2 of...
's special effects as "top-notch for the era", and considers Frank Watts' filming "stunning". To him, the message of the special implies a "high-tech, science-minded update of the whole Lost in Space
Lost in Space
Lost in Space is a science fiction TV series created and produced by Irwin Allen, filmed by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965, and March 6, 1968...
format", while the plot effectively mixes elements of the "claustrophobic" and "action-packed" with "psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
" elements such as the descent into the black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
, a subject on which he alludes to the work of film director Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
: the sequence is "a Kubrickian wonder, a montage dominated by double images, slow-motion photography and the use of a creepy distortion lens. Pretty powerful stuff for a kids' show." Law, on the other hand, considers the faster-than-light
Faster-than-light
Faster-than-light communications and travel refer to the propagation of information or matter faster than the speed of light....
shots to be the best special effects, and compares the black hole sequence unfavourably to the closing act of Kubrick's 1968 science-fiction film, 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
: "Kubrick's Star-Gate it is not."
Arguing that The Day After Tomorrow is "kinda like Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey ... for kids", science-fiction writer and reviewer Christopher Mills expresses disappointment with the effect of the black hole itself, but describes the fall into the anomaly as "very colourful". However, in contrast with Muir, he views the sequences set inside Altares during the descent as "a bit of a hoot", directing particular criticism at the use of gesticulations on the part of the actors. Commenting of the script that the plot contains "plenty of wonky pseudo-science and insanely improbable coincidences", Mills also recalls his fascination at "how 'British' ... the characters were, facing each new peril with remarkable calm and 'stiff upper lip
Stiff upper lip
One who has a stiff upper lip displays fortitude in the face of adversity, or exercises great self-restraint in the expression of emotion. The phrase is most commonly heard as part of the idiom "keep a stiff upper lip", and has traditionally been used to describe an attribute of British people ,...
' stoicism. By the time they're caught in the clutches of the ominous black hole, they're apparently so resigned to being jerked around by the universe that they just hold hands and calmly await their fate."
Muir comments that the feel of The Day After Tomorrow is "a little more colourful (less minimalist) in colour and costume than Space: 1999
Other media
In 1997, the British Board of Film ClassificationBritish Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...
(BBFC) certified The Day After Tomorrow as U
History of British film certificates
-Overview:The UK's film ratings are decided by the British Board of Film Classification and have been since 1912. Previously, there were no agreed rating standards, and local councils imposed their own - often differing - conditions or restrictions...
. Fanderson
Fanderson
Fanderson is the official appreciation society for the works of Gerry Anderson. It is a not-for-profit organisation endorsed by Anderson Entertainment Ltd, Gerry Anderson Productions plc and ITC Entertainment Group Ltd...
, the official fan society dedicated to the productions of Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
, holds all the home video distribution rights. Licensed releases of The Day After Tomorrow are limited to a 1997 VHS and a 2002 DVD, both of which are exclusive merchandise available to Fanderson members only. Space Police (a pilot that inspired the series Space Precinct
Space Precinct
Space Precinct is a British television series that aired from 1994 to 1995 on Sky One and later on BBC Two in Britain, and in syndication in North America on the SyFy Channel....
) is included on the DVD, which presents both films in a digitally remastered format. In addition to Region 0 and dual PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
-NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
coding, it contains special features such as production and design photographs. Both the VHS and the DVD include the opening titles as originally presented prior to the 1976 BBC edits. In his 2002 review, Andrew Pixley praised Fanderson for the professionalism of the release, which he described as "excellent".
Science-fiction writer Douglas R. Mason, an author of original Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
novels, produced a novelisation of Johnny Byrne's script for The Day After Tomorrow. Mason's publisher, Futurama Publications, had intended to distribute further books, since Anderson had conceived The Day After Tomorrow as the pilot episode for a prospective TV series. When Anderson abandoned this idea, Futurama cancelled Mason's novelisation, which remains unpublished.
See also
- Albert Einstein in popular cultureAlbert Einstein in popular cultureAlbert Einstein has been the subject of or inspiration for many works of popular culture.On Einstein's 72nd birthday on March 14, 1951, UPI photographer Arthur Sasse was trying to persuade him to smile for the camera, but having smiled for photographers many times that day, Einstein stuck out his...
- Alpha Centauri in fictionAlpha Centauri in fictionAlpha Centauri, the closest star system to the Sun, also known under the traditional name Toliman, is frequently referenced in science fiction stories, especially those involving interstellar travel...
- Black holes in fictionBlack holes in fictionThe study of black holes, bodies so massive that even light cannot escape, goes back to the late 18th century, though the term 'black hole' was only coined in 1967...
- Supernovae in fictionSupernovae in fictionIn works of fiction, supernovae are often used as plot devices.*In the 1999 RTS game Homeworld, one of the missions take place in a dust belt near an active supernova. The protagonists' target is a nearby research station observing the event...