From the Television Obscurities YouTube channel, here are the opening credits to The New People. I waited decades to finally get the chance to watch these opening credits and I was not disappointed. They start off with a quick shot of an ocean and beach followed by a nuclear explosion. This connects directly to the setting of The New People: a fictional island in the South Pacific called Bomano that was an unused Atomic Energy Commission testing site.
Read my in-depth article about The New People
Other aspects of the opening credits very much reflect what are now considered stereotypes of the late 1960s. There’s a hippie holding a flower standing in front of soldier, two or three brief shots of protestors waving signs, and a quick shot of a wounded soldier being carried by a group of soldiers.
You’ll notice there are no actual credits shown during these opening credits. The main cast of The New People was credited at the start of the closing credits. I have no idea why but presumably the show’s producers had their reasons.
For anyone curious, the source for this video is a 16 mm film print of the episode “Lifeline” (originally broadcast October 27th, 1969). The 16 mm film was digitized as widescreen full high definition video with a resolution of 1920×1080 and a 16:9 aspect ratio. Pillar bars maintain the original 4:3 aspect ratio.
