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story identification - Youths can teleport, they are chased by the government


There was a film from the 80s on where young people can teleport anywhere they think.



These guys are recruited to make studies with them, maybe from the government or a secret company which wants the take advantage of their habilities.


I saw it at on cable TV around 1990-1997.


Any clues?



Answer



I'm betting you're thinking of The Tomorrow People, which aired from 1973 to 1979, or the remake, released in the 1990s.



The original series was produced by Thames Television for ITV. The Tomorrow People operate from a secret base, The lab, built in an abandoned London Underground station. The team constantly watches for new Tomorrow People "breaking out" (usually around the age of puberty) to help them through the process as the youngsters endure mental agonies as their minds suddenly change. They sometimes deal with attention from extraterrestrial species as well as facing more earthbound dangers with military forces across the globe keen to recruit or capture them for their own ends. One thing they lack is that they are incapable of ever killing another life intentionally. This pacifistic element of their make up is referred to as the "prime barrier" and any Tomorrow Person who causes the loss of life would be driven insane by the confusion in their brain (although it would appear that none of them are vegetarians so clearly have no issue with being carnivores). They also have connections with the "Galactic Federation" which oversees the welfare of telepathic species throughout the galaxy. In addition to their psychic powers (the so-called 3T's of telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation), they use advanced technology such as the biological (called in the series "biotronic") computer TIM, which is capable of original thought, telepathy, and can augment their psychic powers. TIM also helps the Tomorrow People to teleport long distances, although they must be wearing a device installed into a belt or bracelet for this to work. Teleportation is referred to as jaunting in the programme. The team used jaunting belts up to the end of Series 5, after which they used much smaller wristbands.



This has the teleporting youths, pursued by the government, in the right timespan. The only catch is that it was a TV series, not a movie, although I wouldn't be surprised if multiple episodes were shown sequentially, or bundled as such, as a feature-length film.


Intro (original)






First two episodes of the 1990s remake





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