Toomorrow: Standard Edition – Deaf Crocodile (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: UK, 1970
Director: Val Guest
Writer: Val Guest
Cast: Olivia Newton-John, Benny Thomas, Vic Cooper, Karl Chambers, Roy Dotrice

Release Date: September 22nd, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 93 Minutes 47 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $29.95

"21 year-old Olivia Newton-John stars, pre-Grease fame, in this utterly bonkers Mod-Pop / Sci-Fi musical about a multi-racial group of London art college musicians whose songs are the cure to the computer sterility suffered by the alien Alphoids, circling Earth in their crystal spacecraft." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information given about the transfers, "Released for barely a week on its original 1970 run and unseen for decades, Toomorrow has been restored by the British Film Institute and Deaf Crocodile from the original 35mm negative for the first time."

Toomorrow comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 42.8 GB

Feature: 27.1 GB

The source looks excellent; flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, contrast, black levels, image clarity, and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic appearance.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English with removable English SDH and English subtitles. The track sounds clean, clear, and balanced, and the music sounds appropriately robust.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a WWII propaganda short film directed by Val Guest titled The Nose Has It (8 minutes 3 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an experimental short film titled If I Could Turn You On, featuring an avant-garde performance at the Camden Roundhouse, one of the locations used in Toomorrow (12 minutes 43 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival interview from 1998 with director/writer Val Guest, conducted by The Guardian newspaper (64 minutes 56 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a video essay by film critic Celeste de la Cabra titled Toomorrow:  Musical Humanism Through the Stars (11 minutes 56 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a video essay by Someone’s Favorite Productions featuring a 1988 audio interview for the British Entertainment History Project with director Val Guest discussing his work on Toomorrow, moderated by Roy Fowler (10 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with author and music historian Andrew Sandoval.

Summary:

Val Guest wrote and directed Toomorrow. Notable films he’s directed include The Quatermass Xperiment, Quatermass 2, The Abominable Snowman, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Jigsaw, Assignment K, and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth.

Aliens on the brink of extinction discover sonic vibrations on Earth that can save them. The sonic vibrations are coming from a rock band that calls itself Tomorrow. The aliens temporarily abducted them to extract the sonic vibrations before returning them back to Earth with no memory of what just happened.

Don Kirshner was the man behind Toomorrow; he had been the producer for The Monkees' earliest output. He wanted to take the blueprint laid out from that experience working with The Monkees and manufacture a band for a theatrical feature film. Toomorrow was the first film in a three-picture deal between Don Kirshner and producer Harry Saltzman, most known for the 1960s James Bond films. Unfortunately, from the outset the two clashed creatively, and a lawsuit by director Val Guest against Harry Saltzman buried Toomorrow for four decades.

Toomorrow is a science fiction film with musical performances. The vibe and look of Toomorrow is entrenched in the late-1960s free love culture. While there are science fiction elements, they are most prominent in the latter-half of the film. That said, when it comes to the special effects and futuristic sets, they look incredibly dated.

Two of the four who portray the band Toomorrow had no acting experience. Only Olivia Newton-John (Grease) and Benny Thomas acted before and after Toomorrow. While most of the performances are serviceable, even at this stage of her career, Olivia Newton-John had star power.

The narrative is essentially the band Toomorrow overcoming a series of obstacles culminating with them getting their big break. The finale serves up a “was it all a dream?" twist that serves as a perfect coda. The music suits the counterculture aspects of the film, and while catchy, none of it really stands out. Ultimately, Toomorrow is a one-of-a-kind cinema experience that greatly benefits from Olivia Newton-John’s presence.

Toomorrow gets a definitive release from Deaf Crocodile. Recommended.

Note: There is a deluxe release of Krakatit that comes in a slipcase and a 60-page book with a transcript of 2002 Q&A with Val Guest at the American Cinematheque, conducted by Dennis Bartok, an essay on Val Guest and Yolande Donlan written by Dennis Bartok, and an essay written by film critic Walter Chaw (Film Freak Central).

Written by Michael Den Boer