- [Voiceover] The Day After Tomorrow,
also known as Into Infinity, first aired on NBC in 1975,
and then the BBC the following year.
- [Narrator] And you will share it.
- [Voiceover] In this one-off 50-minute television special,
the crew of the lightship Altares,
consisting of pilots Captain Harry Masters
and his daughter Jane.
- Oh, good girl.
- [Voiceover] Plus scientists Tom and Anna Bowen
and their son David make history
as they travel to Alpha Centauri,
before choosing to push forward into deep space.
- Okay, we go on.
- [Voiceover] In true Anderson fashion,
disaster follows as an accident
with the ship's photon drive sends the Altares
out of control beyond all known reference points.
- And now we've got no idea how long
we've been unconscious, or how far we've travelled.
- [Voiceover] With a return to Earth no longer an option,
the Altares is now lost in space
and in surprisingly frequent danger
from a variety of space phenomena.
- Meteorite shower, supernova.
- Black hole.
(sighing)
- [Voiceover] Soon after production came to an end
on the first season of Space: 1999,
Gerry Anderson was commissioned
to produce The Day After Tomorrow
at the request of George Heinemann,
then Controller of Children's Programming at NBC.
- What does that mean?
- It means we may have a chance.
- [Voiceover] Heinemann was preparing a series
of one-hour television specials aimed at a teenage audience
under the umbrella title of Special Treat.
This series would include a variety of documentaries,
animated versions of classic literary stories,
and action adventure shows with an educational theme.
- Yes, I do want to know what's out there in space.
- [Voiceover] Looking for someone to create a special
that would explain Einstein's special theory of relativity
and other space phenomena in an exciting way,
Heinemann pitched the idea to Anderson, who then set to work
with Space: 1999 script editor Johnny Byrne
to create the story.
- Well, good luck.
Until we meet again.
- [Voiceover] Filmed at Pinewood Studios over 10 days
between the first and second season of Space: 1999,
the special does feel very much like it's set
in an alternative universe of that show,
albeit one where the moon never left orbit.
- That's impossible.
- [Voiceover] The special's tone and visual style are
also very similar, thanks in part to using many
of the same production personnel,
including director Charles Crichton
and several of the show's actors.
- We're ready to go.
- [Voiceover] Nick Tate was of course best known
as Space: 1999's captain Alan Crash Carter,
while Brian Blessed, Joanna Dunham and Don Fellows have
all appeared in guest roles.
- What is it sweetheart?
- It's all so confusing.
- [Voiceover] Child actors Martin Lev
and Katharine Levy were new to the Anderson universe.
- [Narrator] A universe not only stranger than we imagine,
but stranger than we can imagine.
- [Voiceover] While rounding up the cast was Captain Blue
and Commander Straker himself, Ed Bishop, as the narrator
and Johnny Byrne's own dog Bones as Jane's dog Spring.
Who she had to leave behind.
(whimpering)
The Altares itself was designed and built
by Space: 1999 model maker Martin Bower,
who was under the impression
that the craft was actually intended
to be used in that series.
- But we can't do it.
- [Voiceover] As a result, the ship looks very similar
to the equally ill-fated Meta probe and Ultra Probe
from that series, while it's launching point,
Space Station Delta, was appropriately enough,
cannibalised from the spaceship Daria models seen
in Mission of the Darians.
- Looks like we're on our way.
- [Voiceover] Throughout the special,
various other familiar pieces of art design
and set can also be seen,
such as Voyager 1's control console providing
the same function on the Altares,
and Moonbase Alpha's nuclear generator door.
- Radiation screens operative.
- Despite being aimed at a slightly younger audience
than Space: 1999's, The Day After Tomorrow managed
to balance its goals of scientific education
and entertaining adventure with admirable skill.
- Just as Einstein predicted.
- Mm, what a genius he was.
He predicted all this before we'd even learnt to fly,
let alone travel through space.
- [Voiceover] Its science, although not 100% accurate,
is certainly close enough to retain the viewer's interest,
and is delivered in such a way
that it doesn't feel like a lecture.
- You think you know it all.
- Just enough to get us where we're going.
- [Voiceover] The small cast are also rather likeable,
and the fact that the Altares crew is made up
of two family units,
rather than a group of highly-trained special agents,
gives the episode a rather endearing quality at times.
- Just help each other, all we can,
and hope that we make it.
- [Voiceover] The episode also retains something
of Space: 1999's pessimistic attitude towards the future.
- [Narrator] They come from a world
where natural resources have been squandered,
where pollution and the haphazard destruction
of the environment has put the future
of humanity into jeopardy.
- [Voiceover] The adventure element of the special is
largely up to Space: 1999's standards too,
although long-time Anderson fans may spot some similarities
between this episode's story
and that of Fireball XL5's Faster Than Light.
- Lost, all gone, the drive.
- I can't get the drive.
- We're gonna build up speed
and there's nothing we can do about it.
- [Captain Harry] We just keep hunting signs of.
(dramatic music)
- Easy, easy sweetheart.
- I've had to look at the main motor, Steve.
- All right, we go in in relay.
- You can only stay in there 10 minutes.
- 15 minutes maximum.
(whirring)
(steam blowing)
(bird squawking)
(tense music)
- [Voiceover] There's also a rather trippy journey
through a black hole
that plays a little like Space: 1999's Black Sun on acid,
but the episode remains a visual treat throughout.
- If we do survive this,
there's no way back.
- [Voiceover] Although he had only been commissioned
to produce a single episode,
Anderson held out hope that The Day After Tomorrow
might become a full series.
However, that would never happen,
although Special Treat would continue running on NBC
for nine seasons until 1985.
- It's no good, we can't break free.
- [Voiceover] However, Anderson would soon receive the news
that Space: 1999 would be returning
for an all-new second season,
which would make further use of many props
and models seen in The Day After Tomorrow.
Many of the Altares computer banks would turn up
in Moonbase Alpha's new Command Centre,
while the main control console would be seen
in the weapons section and the fire suit would return
in The Bringers of Wonder.
- How do you feel?
- Never better.
- [Voiceover] Nick Tate and Brian Blessed would
also be returning for the new season.
- Our destinies are linked, you know.
- [Voiceover] While composer Derek Wadsworth would take
over from Barry Grey, thanks to his work scoring
The Day After Tomorrow.
- Hang on, we could be in for some gravitational turbulence.
- [Voiceover] The Day After Tomorrow is now available on DVD
and of all the Gerry Anderson television pilots
that never went to a full series,
this is the one that seems to have had the most potential.
- The first real break we've had, Tom.
- [Voiceover] It's unlikely that the limited format
of one unarmed spacecraft alone
in the void could've sustained multiple instalments,
but the episode concludes on an open-ended note
that does leave you wondering where a miniseries
might have taken the Altares next.
- [Narrator] One thing is sure, this is not the final word.
Not the end, but the beginning.
- [Voiceover] Although the original novelization written
to accompany the special back
in the 1970s was never released,
a brand new novelization by Gregory Norris was published
by Anderson Entertainment in October 2017,
with a sequel novel to finally continue
the story being released in 2019.
- Looks like we get to visit the planet after all, David.
- [Voiceover] 45 years after the Altares was first launched,
The Day After Tomorrow is still an enjoyable watch,
particularly for Space: 1999 fans.
- We've done it.
- [Voiceover] Although we'd never see any further adventures
from the Altares crew on television,
their one mission still holds up to repeat viewings,
and The Day After Tomorrow's recent reincarnation
on the printed page proves that there are
always more stories to tell in almost every corner
of the Gerry Anderson universe.
(dramatic music)