NBC Special Treat (TV Series) Into Infinity (1975) User Reviews

Anderson Quickie

[zillabob · 6/10 · 12 November 2008]

Between seasons 1 and 2 of SPACE:1999-remember that the first season was shot from 1973-1974 but wound up not appearing on US or UK TV until Fall '75 and season two started up in late 1976- Gerry Anderson was asked to make a quick Sci Fi show for NBC's SPECIAL TREAT (which was NBC's occasional answer to ABC's Afterschool Specials). The trick was it had to be a thinly veiled science lesson for the kids. In this case, it vaguely remakes the LOST IN SPACE concept, this time about two distinct family units on a spaceship that is to accelerate to light speed, to journey to the star Alpha Centauri, but then, due to a mishap , they get sucked into a black hole and taken to another universe. Brian Blessed and Nick Tate-both SPACE:1999 veterans play the elders. Tate drops his Aussie accent in this show so he'd be easily understood by US kiddies, and, to not come across like his Alan Carter character. They use some rather flatly lit spaceship sets from Year 1 of SPACE:1999(the inside of The Ultra Probeship from Dragon's Domain) very crudely re-dressed. The costumes seem a thrown together affair as well. All the money seems to have been spent on a new model of the spaceship "The Altares" however, it's poorly photographed, even by the standards of SPACE:1999(which at the time were quite good). Too many strange lens flares are used and the black hole looks like a really cheap effect(unlike the rather good matte painting from the Space:1999 episode "Black Sun"). The music score, not done by Anderson regular Barry Gray, was done by Derek Wadsworth who did the electronic jazz theme music to Season 2 of Space:1999. It further makes the effort seem quick and cheap.

The best attention is paid to the science, which is explained in correct, but expository dialogue that lets us know this is a science lesson, in fact.

The quick, hour long film is known as THE DAY AFTER Tomorrow in the US and, INTO INFINITY in the UK. It was filmed very quickly, in something like 9 days before SPACE:1999 Year Two had geared up. It was in fact longer with extra footage in foreign markets as it was sold to Europe as a feature length film. Fanderson-the Gerry ANderson Fan Club-issued the film on VHS and eventually DVD, a few years ago exclusively through them.

The mists of time roll back to reveal.........

[prowler0000-2 · 6/10 · 7 September 2009]

a most obscure Sci-Fi offering, that to my knowledge, has not been repeated since it's incipient showing.

synopsis: small crew with SFX far beyond what was required, venture into the cosmos, with "ear-worm" theme tune & pre-"Gordon's ALIVE?!?!?" Brian Blessed & experience "The Black Hole" shenanigans 5 years before V.I.N.CENT, Maximillian & cohorts.

I wish this thing was available to see again, probably some obscure copyright reason why it's not, but come on Gerry and/or Sylvia...it's 34 years old. some countries are younger....

Anyhoo, I still have fond memories of "Into Infinity", (hey, i'm a proud Brit!!), & am still looking forward to a rendezvous with the crew in the not too distant future.

Backdoor Pilot in case "Space: 1999" Tanked?

[doctorwholittle · 7/10 · 26 December 2005]

I haven't seen this since it aired on a Dallas, TX. NBC affiliate one summer afternoon in 1976 (it was entitled "E=MC2" over here in the US, & "The Day After Tomorrow" everywhere else outside the UK, hence my not being able to find out anything about it for the longest time), so my memories of the details are a bit on the fuzzy side (the DVD is available for sale at Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's official website, so I may have to snag it just to satisfy my curiosity:

From what I recall, Nick Tate is the captain of a ship that gets drawn into a black hole when their mission goes inexplicably awry, & it seemed like it was setting up what this crew's / family's journey into the unknown would entail. Although I was a mere lad at the time, it struck me that maybe Nick Tate was preparing for a new series should the Anderson's current series, "Space: 1999" (also co-starring Tate as Captain Alan Carter) go the way of the dodo. Also, it's interesting to note that this movie's concept predated Disney's "The Black Hole" by three years.

The Andersons have never really been known for "real" sci-fi, but their reputation for over-the-top action / adventure was what kept them going for so long, & this, from what I recall, was no different. Like their Supermarionation series "Thunderbirds Are GO!", "Stingray", & "Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons", as well as their live-action efforts "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun", "UFO" & the aforementioned "Space: 1999", the "Sci" was far less prevalent than the "Fi", but they still made cracking good action series that kept the attention of (mostly) younger viewers.

The SPFX were, as was always the case with the Andersons, state-of-the art & very slick. They'd probably pale in comparison to today's standards, but there's something about the (now) cheesy look that's more than nostalgic. Also, their production values were on par with all their other series / movies, which is to say it looked goooooooood!!

Gerry & Sylvia Anderson are still very much active with their productions company; the CGI remake of "Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons", while recently cancelled, garnered strong ratings, so there's no reason to believe that they'll stop any time soon. I think the concept of "Into Infinity" is definitely worth revisiting & possibly turning into a full-blown series this time around.

..seems to be where it's gone.

[dsisterson · 8 August 2004]

I haven't heard a word about this film since I saw it when I was ten; I remember that it seemed rather uneventful - nothing much happened until the end - but I enjoyed it anyway because it seemed to present a plausible future. I suppose it came right at the end of that optimistic period that began with 'Destination Moon' in about 1950, that told us that the future held great adventures in space that we could look forward to when we grew up. All I remember about the story is this: A family is chosen to be the first pioneers to go into interstellar space on a newly developed starship. They potter around in Earth orbit for a while on a space station, being prepared for their adventure, then off they go in their ship. One of the few shots I clearly remember shows the Doppler light shift on the planet Pluto as they pass it at near-light speed - red as they approach, blue as they leave it behind. Towards the end, the ship falls into the gravity well of a black hole and the family suffer from various uncomfortable photographic effects for a while, but they emerge out the other side safe and sound, where they find they have a whole new universe to explore, where the stars all appear to be seen through special filters to make them look prettier and more pointy, and the sky of space is a deep bright blue instead of black. They all look out of their spaceship window in awe, and there the film ends, just when it looked like getting interesting. It at least had the virtue of presenting a realistic view of what space exploration might be like in the future (except perhaps for the black hole bit) and was worth the effort just for that, but of course Star Wars came along soon afterwards and redefined science fiction in the popular consciousness as 'action movies with spaceships and monsters', and suddenly the medium regressed to the days of Flash Gordon, which is where we seem to have been stuck ever since.

I remember when this was on TV and I loved it!

[angry_kreyon · 6/10 · 15 February 2009]

UPdate!!!! - I found it online in full!!!! it's on the new myspace at this link - https://myspace.com/cubbio21/video/gerry-anderson-39-s-the- day-after-tomorrow-into-infinity-pilot-e/62069764

I have been looking for the name of this show for 20+ years as I remembered seeing it as a kid (about 9 at the time) and thinking WOW! I want to know more! for years I have been trying to tell people about the things expressed in the movie that really impressed me as a kid and inspired my interest in space and beyond! since I haven't seen it since it's original airing, I can't say how good the production or even the acting is, if it's like the space 1999 series stuff, it looks cheesy now, but for it's time was extremely interesting and on the older TV's with poor reception we missed a lot of detail anyway. I don't remember how long it even was, but it captivated me at the time, and I wanted more. I wish I could find this on DVD or something! I know now that it was meant to peak interest in Einstein's theory or general relativity and help explain space/time, and I guess in a way it did Just that for Me! after all I saw it once and 34+ years later I still remember it!

Ambitious but awkward 'educational' space-opera

[jamesrupert2014 · 7/10 · 6 April 2022]

(aka 'The Day After Tomorrow') The five person crew of the 'Alteres', propelled to near light-speed by a 'photon drive', head to Alpha Centauri in the search for possible worlds to colonise. The show was commissioned to 'teach science' to kids via entertainment and the characters spend a lot of time explaining concepts such as relativistic time-dilation, Doppler shifts, black holes, star deaths, and super-nova (but oddly, the ship accelerates at a rate that would have quickly killed everyone on board). In keeping with the target audience and didactic intent, the crew includes a pair of youngsters (Katharine Levy and Martin Lev) as well as Nick Tate (familiar to 'Space 1999' fans as Alan Carter), Joanna Dunham, and the great Brian Blessed (uncharacteristically (and disappointingly) low-key). The show was created by Gerry Anderson and produced between seasons 1 and 2 of 'Space 1999', so not surprisingly the two shows share some miniatures and props. Although more interesting historically than as entertainment and a bit derivative (the final climatic black hole scene seems to be a bargain-basement knock-off of the famous Star-gate slit-screen sequence in '2001 A Space Odyssey' (1968), the show is watchable, albeit mostly for the imagery (the final images are surreal) and model work. All in all, a must-see for fans of British sci-fi TV and/or Gerry Anderson. This obscure made-for-TV film can be found, along with other Anderson curios, on the 'The Lost Worlds of Gerry Anderson' DVD.

1970s sci fi series

[darrenbeazley · 8/10 · 14 August 2007]

I remember into infinity when this was first aired and i think it was a pilot for a series that never took off. I would love to know if i can get this on DVD as i really enjoyed it. I think it was aired in 1975 which made me about 12. Funny how you can remember things that were only on TV once that long ago, so it must have been good for me to remember.It was a shame the series didn't take off as i can remember how good the plot and effects were. I would imagine this pilot episode must still be about somewhere and it would be lovely if i could get a copy. So if anyone can tell me if i can get this anywhere on DVD i would be much appreciated

Andserson curio

[Unicorn-9 · 4/10 · 8 February 2007]

I had vague memories of seeing this show as a kid in the 70s, and recently found one of the Fanderson DVDs on ebay to add to my Gerry Anderson collection.

Well, let's be blunt about this: it's not very good. The effects and models are very much influenced by 'Space 1999' (the main ship looks a lot like the 'Ultra Probe' from that show), and for the era they're not bad. But the plot, characterisation and acting is even below 'Space 1999' levels and in many ways the setting makes even less sense. The music is also rather naff: the music in most of Anderson's shows was memorable in itself, but this one sounds like they accidentally used a music tape from a 70s cop show.

So it's an odd combination of science lecture (relativistic red-shift, etc) and SF adventure for nine year olds. For me one of the the biggest issues is the way it makes the kids such a major part of the plot: I mean, are you really going to trust interstellar navigation to a ten year old boy? They justify having them on the ship by saying that the adults don't want to leave their kids behind because they'll be decades older by the time their parents come back, both due to travel time and time dilation, but an adult crew might have made the story more believable. Another issue is that they lecture about relativity so much but don't understand it, nor is the technology even remotely accurate: an Anderson 'hard SF' show in the 70s would have been a pretty interesting concept, but you don't get that here.

All in all, an interesting curio and it might have made a decent series if they'd produced any more, but it's well below the standard of Anderson's earlier SF shows. I couldn't recommend it to anyone other than Anderson fans, but if you do want to see it the Fanderson DVD has both NTSC and PAL versions on one disk and decent picture quality, so it's probably the best way of doing so.

Proper Science Fiction for a change

[grayure · 1 October 2002]

Since I was nine on the one occasion I saw this film ( it is aimed at children), I wasn't very aware of such issues as acting and characterisation, so please forgive the rather autistic tone of this review and my memory of it might be poor, but it has often come back to mind over the intervening years. It is an example of a film which is proper "hard" science fiction, which is very rare in cinema or television.

The plot of a science fiction story must depend on its setting, which should be scientifically plausible. If the story could be transferred to any other setting, it is not SF. By this criterion, 'Star Wars' is not SF because the setting could be fantasy or mediaeval without changing the plot, and 'Outlander' is basically a Western in space. 'Into Infinity' could not take place anywhere other than on a spacecraft travelling near the speed of light.

It is also 'hard' SF with a firm scientific basis. Special relativity, the Doppler effect and the evolution of stars are among the real phenomena portrayed in the film. Little is changed from established theories to "improve" the story. Unlike TV series such as Star Trek, there is no technobabble, no unfeasible physics and no made up elementary particles. It is nearly all straight science. There are only a couple of flaws I remember.

Besides these aspects of the story, the look is also quite impressive. I still occasionally dream about some of the scenes, many of which are visually stunning for the time. The sets are futuristic in a very 'seventies style which I will always think of as how the "future" ought to look.

I can't comment on the dramatic merits of the film, though surely you can't go wrong with Brian Blessed, but on the SF side of things I just wish there were more examples of this sort of thing in cinemas and on TV.

Not too bad for 1976 Sci-Fi

[jcole · 5 January 2002]

I remember seeing this when it first aired. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The plot might seem a little stale today, but for 1976 the story and the effects (at the TV level) were very good. I would like to find a tape of this show. If anyone has one, please let me know. Thanks.

Wonderful film and it is British (at least, I think it is)

[imdb-667-5146 · 2 October 2011]

I remember this when it first came out, except in the UK, it was called "Into Infinity". It was only ever shown, if memory serves, twice and it was about a starship that could accelerate up to and beyond the speed of light. I particularly liked the fact that it was, for the time, very accurate and being a fan of physics, was an attempt to explain some basic theories. Since then, knowledge about Black Holes (they go through one at the end) has been enhanced and in reality they would not have survived, but it was a great plot for the time. It would have gone well as a 2 part episode of Space 1999 as it had all of the right mixture of ships (look at the ship - is this not the "Ultra Probe" from the episode "Dragon's Domain"?) and Nick Tate is in the show as Harry Masters, but he could have easily been Alan Carter. It is a pity more films were not made in this way - Science Fiction, but with a great deal of Science Fact too.