Recommended Sci Fi TV: Childhood’s End (2015)

Recommended Sci Fi TV: Science fiction and fantasy shows from the past decade or so that you may have missed and that we believe are worth checking out.

What Is It?

Based on Arthur C. Clarke’s classic novel of the same name, this mini-series begins when enormous alien spacecraft appear over Earth’s major cities, and the mysterious visitors, known as the Overlords, announce that they intend to guide humanity into a new era of peace and prosperity. With war, poverty, and conflict quickly disappearing under their supervision, humanity enters what appears to be a golden age. But as the decades pass, people begin to wonder about the true motives of their alien benefactors and what their long-term plans might mean for the future of the human race.

Aired: Syfy, 2015, 1 Season Totaling 3 Episodes

Starring: Mike Vogel, Osy Ikhile, Daisy Betts, Yael Stone, Georgina Haig, Charles Dance

Developed By: Matthew Graham

Bottom Line: This mini-series sticks close to the spirit of Arthur C. Clarke’s classic novel while fleshing it out to deliver a very good sci-fi TV production that deserved more attention than it received.

Why Is It Worth Watching?

2015 was a notable year for Syfy as they attempted to go back to their sci-fi roots after several years of putting out “genre lite” entries like Warehouse 13, Being Human, and Haven. That year saw the premieres of Dark Matter and Killjoys and also brought us the first season of The Expanse. Along with those, another notable sci-fi entry arrived—the mini-series Childhood’s End, based on the Arthur C. Clarke book—but it did not get much attention.

Very early in the mini-series, we see the iconic scene where the giant spaceships appear over many of Earth’s major cities, and some longtime fans of the genre might groan: “Here we go again.” We have already seen that on television in the V mini-series from 1983 and then again in the 2009 revival, and we also saw it in 1996 with the feature film Independence Day. But Clarke was actually the first to do it with his book back in 1953, so the mini-series adaptation can’t be blamed for retreading, and that sense of familiarity you feel throughout the six-hour production comes in large part because he introduced so many concepts that have since become science fiction tropes.

But give the mini-series credit for spinning the material in such a way that it does not feel like a hackneyed journey through sci-fi clichés. Instead, it updates this story about aliens arriving on Earth and wresting control from humans who are on the verge of taking their destructive nature into space. And while it takes plenty of liberties with the source material, it still sticks close to the spirit and basic premise of the book. The mini-series shortens the story from a multi-generational tale to a more compact timeframe, but that is done so that it plays better to a television audience and can maintain many of the same characters throughout its three-night run. And since character development was not a strong point of Clarke’s original book, the changes and merging of the lead players do not hamper the production and perhaps even make it stronger.

I am not going into too many of the plot details because I believe Childhood’s End is best experienced as spoiler-free as possible, but I will give a warning that the first installment (the strongest of the three nights) sets up a story that does not play out quite the way you think it will. That’s the same in the book, though, because Clarke was interested in the bigger, more epic story that this eventually morphs into. But the mini-series still does a good job of expanding on the characters and fleshing out some of the ideas while never feeling padded. It did skimp on some of the details from the last section of the book, and that final scene as the Overlords depart from the planet did not quite match up to the epic feel it had in the source material when it tied everything together in a satisfying conclusion. But overall, the mini-series did quite a good job with the adaptation, even if its budget limitations were noticeable at times.

I should also note the first-rate acting delivered by many of the main cast members. Mike Vogel (Under the Dome, Bates Motel) takes the lead role of Ricky Stormgren, who is changed considerably from the character in the book, but I believe for the better. The flashback sequences to his dead wife got a bit tired, though, and seemed almost pointless by the third night. Then there is Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister from Game of Thrones), who should have received Emmy consideration for his portrayal of Karellen. He plays the character as sympathetic and almost apologetic, which ties well to the plight of the Overlords that we learn about by the end of the story.

Unfortunately, Childhood’s End did not deliver good ratings for Syfy, though I believe that was because many viewers were still rejecting the channel after it turned its back on its core audience when it rebranded in 2009. If it had performed better, the network might have considered doing more mini-series or movies adapting sci-fi classics, but they did not continue in that direction. This mini-series was worth the effort, though, and genre fans should certainly seek it out.

Where Can You Watch It?

The entire series has been released on DVD and Blu-ray and is still widely available in that format.  You can also purchase it VOD, but it is not currently streaming on any of the major services.

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