Stephen (Tomorrow People)
Encyclopedia
Stephen Jameson is a fictional character
from the British
television
series The Tomorrow People
. Stephen's first appearance is in "The Slaves of Jedikiah", and last appeared in Into the Unknown, Part 4: The Circle. Stephen is portrayed by Peter Vaughan-Clarke
.
At first he finds it hard to believe that he is a Tomorrow Person, but soon comes to accept this.
, Carol
and Kenny
had been monitoring Stephen, as he had been unconsciously tuning into their thoughts, via his telepathy
. As Stephen is in the process of breaking out he keeps hearing voices, the voices of the Tomorrow People calling him. While running, trying to escape the voices in his head, he collapses and is taken to hospital
. While at hospital, he is visited by Carol, who explains about the voices Stephen has been hearing. Stephen finds her story hard to believe, but Carol asks if he trusts her, he says he does. Carol then guides him through his "breakout". She tells him that he is a Tomorrow Person, the next step in human evolution
. After explaining more about the Tomorrow People, two men enter Stephen's hospital room and shoot both Carol and Stephen with stun gun
s. As Carol lies unconscious, the two men kidnap Stephen. They load him into the back of a van and drive off. He regains consciousness and contacts the other Tomorrow People, but before they can help him he is stunned again. Soon after the van pulls up outside a big house and the men unload Stephen and take him into the house. Stephen wakes up in the house and tries to contact Carol again, the man holding him prisoner, Jedikiah, tells him it is useless to try because the silencer band on his head prevents him from using telepathy. Jedikiah tries to get information from Stephen, when he refuses, Jedikiah put him in a machine. The machine reports to Jedikiah that Stephen is a Telepath, and also has latent telekinetic and teleportation abilities.
, at first he is shocked that the computer can speak, but soon becomes relaxed with the artificial intelligence
. When Carol, Kenny and John all leave to go home, Stephen is captured again, by Jedikiah using mind control
. While Jedikiah holds Stephen captive in The Lab. Carol has a feeling something is wrong and jaunts to John. When they come to find Stephen they see something outside The Lab and jaunt, the device traps them in hyperspace
, where they start to dissipate. Stephen tries to communicate telepathically with the other Tomorrow People but cannot due to the silencer band on his head. Later Kenny cannot contact the others and jaunts to The Lab. He frees Stephen and Stephen tells TIM to get John and Carol back. As they return to The Lab Jedikiah shoots them with his gun and kidnaps Kenny.
before the ship explodes with Jedikiah onboard.
", the ability to instantaneously transport oneself from one place to another, telepathy
, the ability to read the minds of other Tomorrow People and telekinesis, the ability to move objects with the power of the mind. Telepaths can also use their teleportation abilities to teleport other inanimate objects. A barrier which exists in the minds of all Telepaths, The Prime Barrier, prevents them from deliberately killing any living organism.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series The Tomorrow People
The Tomorrow People
The Tomorrow People is a British children's science fiction television series, devised by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran between 1973 and 1979. The series was re-imagined in 1992, Roger Price acting as executive producer...
. Stephen's first appearance is in "The Slaves of Jedikiah", and last appeared in Into the Unknown, Part 4: The Circle. Stephen is portrayed by Peter Vaughan-Clarke
Peter Vaughan-Clarke
Peter Vaughan-Clarke is a British actor, born in Wandsworth, London on 11 June 1957.Vaughan-Clarke is best known for his portrayal of Stephen Jameson in the TV series The Tomorrow People in the 1970s, a character he returned to later in life in the audio continuation of the series by Big Finish...
.
Overview
Stephen is the first Tomorrow Person we see "breakout" on screen.At first he finds it hard to believe that he is a Tomorrow Person, but soon comes to accept this.
Stephen's breakout and kidnap
The three original Tomorrow People, JohnJohn (Tomorrow People)
John is a fictional character from the British television series The Tomorrow People. John's first appearance is in "The Slaves of Jedikiah", and appeared in every episode until the series ended. John is portrayed by Nicholas Young.-Overview:...
, Carol
Carol (Tomorrow People)
Carol is a fictional character from the British television series The Tomorrow People. Her first appearance is in "The Slaves of Jedikiah", and last appears in The Vanishing Earth: Part 4. Carol is portrayed by Sammie Winmill.-Overview:...
and Kenny
Kenny (Tomorrow People)
Kenny is a fictional character from the British television series The Tomorrow People. His first appearance is in "The Slaves of Jedikiah", and last appears in The Vanishing Earth, Part 4. Kenny is portrayed by Stephen Salmon...
had been monitoring Stephen, as he had been unconsciously tuning into their thoughts, via his telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
. As Stephen is in the process of breaking out he keeps hearing voices, the voices of the Tomorrow People calling him. While running, trying to escape the voices in his head, he collapses and is taken to hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
. While at hospital, he is visited by Carol, who explains about the voices Stephen has been hearing. Stephen finds her story hard to believe, but Carol asks if he trusts her, he says he does. Carol then guides him through his "breakout". She tells him that he is a Tomorrow Person, the next step in human evolution
Human evolution
Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...
. After explaining more about the Tomorrow People, two men enter Stephen's hospital room and shoot both Carol and Stephen with stun gun
Stun gun
Stun gun may refer to:*Electroshock weapon, an incapacitant weapon that momentarily disables a person with an electric shock*Directed-energy weapon, a weapon that emits energy in an aimed direction without projectile, if it causes unconsciousness...
s. As Carol lies unconscious, the two men kidnap Stephen. They load him into the back of a van and drive off. He regains consciousness and contacts the other Tomorrow People, but before they can help him he is stunned again. Soon after the van pulls up outside a big house and the men unload Stephen and take him into the house. Stephen wakes up in the house and tries to contact Carol again, the man holding him prisoner, Jedikiah, tells him it is useless to try because the silencer band on his head prevents him from using telepathy. Jedikiah tries to get information from Stephen, when he refuses, Jedikiah put him in a machine. The machine reports to Jedikiah that Stephen is a Telepath, and also has latent telekinetic and teleportation abilities.
Stephen's rescue and recapture
John, Carol and Kenny discover where Stephen is being held and jaunt there to help him. They rescue him from Jedikiah, and return to The Lab. At The Lab Stephen is introduced to TIMTIM (Tomorrow People)
TIM is a fictional character from the British 1970s television series The Tomorrow People. His first appearance is in "The Slaves of Jedikiah", and appeared in every episode until the series ended. TIM is voiced by Philip Gilbert. Gilbert revived the character in the Tomorrow People audio series...
, at first he is shocked that the computer can speak, but soon becomes relaxed with the artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
. When Carol, Kenny and John all leave to go home, Stephen is captured again, by Jedikiah using mind control
Post-hypnotic suggestion
A Post-hypnotic suggestion is a behavior or thinking pattern that presumably will manifest after a subject has come out of the so-called "hypnotic state" .According to a psychologist at the University of New South Wales:...
. While Jedikiah holds Stephen captive in The Lab. Carol has a feeling something is wrong and jaunts to John. When they come to find Stephen they see something outside The Lab and jaunt, the device traps them in hyperspace
Hyperspace (science fiction)
Hyperspace is a plot device sometimes used in science fiction. It is typically described as an alternative region of space co-existing with our own universe which may be entered using an energy field or other device...
, where they start to dissipate. Stephen tries to communicate telepathically with the other Tomorrow People but cannot due to the silencer band on his head. Later Kenny cannot contact the others and jaunts to The Lab. He frees Stephen and Stephen tells TIM to get John and Carol back. As they return to The Lab Jedikiah shoots them with his gun and kidnaps Kenny.
The Cyclops
Stephen, with the help of John and Carol, discovers that he was under the control of the Cyclops. The three Tomorrow People jaunt back to the house where Stephen was kept. They discover a bomb and jaunt out. Shortly after they are contacted by the Cyclops with co-ordinates to teleport to. John and Stephen leave Carol behind in The Lab, but when they arrive on the Cyclops' ship they are caught in a force field. TIM jaunts Carol to the ship, but to different co-ordinates. She shoots Jedikiah with her stun gun, and he damages part of the ship which controls the force field. Stephen and John now free, go to rescue Kenny. The Tomorrow People meet the Cyclops, who tells them he needs Telepaths to control his ship, as he is running out of the atmosphere he needs to survive. They save the Cyclops and jaunt back to EarthEarth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
before the ship explodes with Jedikiah onboard.
Powers and abilities
Like other Tomorrow People Stephen possesses various psychic abilities. The primary powers of all Telepaths are "jauntingTeleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
", the ability to instantaneously transport oneself from one place to another, telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
, the ability to read the minds of other Tomorrow People and telekinesis, the ability to move objects with the power of the mind. Telepaths can also use their teleportation abilities to teleport other inanimate objects. A barrier which exists in the minds of all Telepaths, The Prime Barrier, prevents them from deliberately killing any living organism.