Childhood's End on Syfy

[RedEyedGhost]

I think they're doing a sufficiently good job of portraying the creepy.  The time scale is quite a bit different from the book, but overall I think they've adapted it pretty well.

[Tears of Lys]

I've never read the book, but this was pretty damn good, IMO.  The ending was particularly beautiful.

Although, I would've stayed.

When he pulled the necklace off his girlfriend, I shouted out, "You BROKE HER!"  

 

[mcbigski]

I really liked it too. The reveal at the end was perfect. Prior to it, I found myself wondering what it was the Overlords would look like, but I never thought that it would be disturbing because of religious reasons. That is such a great twist.

I thought the shocking bit was that the Overlord looked like Twyin Lannister.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

I liked Part 3 a lot, particularly the ending which I presume was similar to what happened in the book. Very satisfying to see that no punches were pulled.

Although, I would've stayed.

Same...I mean I understand Milo's spirit being broken after what happened, but why not make the best of it? 

One thing I really enjoyed was how chill the Overlords were about the whole thing. No big deal that Milo stowed away on their ship to their home planet and got to see all the secrets hiding behind the curtain. Karellan did tell them that the adults could live out the rest of their lives the way they saw fit, after all. 

[MisterOJ]

I liked Part 3 quite a bit too. The ending was very good.

One thing I didn't get though, was why they had all the religious themes/tones/imagery and then, in the end, that basically didn't amount to anything. Felt like a tease with no real payoff. Or, maybe there was one, and I'm just too slow to pick up on it.

[JoeyBanana]

I liked Part 3 quite a bit too. The ending was very good.

One thing I didn't get though, was why they had all the religious themes/tones/imagery and then, in the end, that basically didn't amount to anything. Felt like a tease with no real payoff. Or, maybe there was one, and I'm just too slow to pick up on it.

Well...

It's about humanity becoming one with the universe itself. Whether you call it God or the overmind, the outcome is the same. Humanity ceases to exist and goes to (space) heaven.

[Leofric]

I enjoyed the this for the most part, though some of the Rikky stuff got a little slow. 

One thing that was kind of lost in the adaptation I think:

 

 

In the book if i remember correctly (and it has been many many years since I read it) The Overlords interfered because the chance the Cold War could end in nuclear war and have the potential to destroy humanity before they could join the Overmind.   In this adaptation there seemed no clearly defined reason as to why Overlords stepped in at this point in time and seemed to accelerate man's evolution.  

 

I also wonder if humanity had been allowed evolve on their own to the point they could join the Overmind rather than guided by the Overlords, they wouldn't have needed to destroy the Earth to get enough power to join the Overmind.

 

 

[Tears of Lys]

I liked Part 3 a lot, particularly the ending which I presume was similar to what happened in the book. Very satisfying to see that no punches were pulled.

Same...I mean I understand Milo's spirit being broken after what happened, but why not make the best of it? 

One thing I really enjoyed was how chill the Overlords were about the whole thing. No big deal that Milo stowed away on their ship to their home planet and got to see all the secrets hiding behind the curtain. Karellan did tell them that the adults could live out the rest of their lives the way they saw fit, after all. 

Well, it's not like Milo was gonna tell anybody about what he learned.  From their point of view, it didn't really matter WHAT Milo learned. 

Funny thing, but I really liked the Overlords.    They had a tough job, but handled it with grace and aplomb.  

[Ferrum Aeternum]

Funny thing, but I really liked the Overlords.    They had a tough job, but handled it with grace and aplomb.  

Ha, same here. I like any story where the obvious "evil" turns out to not be evil at all.

[Black Wolf Smith]

Having never read the book, the show drew me in, and couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next, and what was really going on.

The ending sucked, but that was what was suppose to happen.

I'd give it B+ overall, good solid mini series, but it had a few scenes that where things were a bit confusing, or didn't make a lot of sense.

[Fragile Bird]

Did I miss something?  There was a bit of the show that I didn't see because I was late coming home one night, but one of the dynamics between the Overlords and the Overmind was the fact that the Overlords could never join the Overmind, that their childhood would never end, and so in a way they were jealous of humans for what they would never take part in.  In the end when Milo decides to witness the final stage and offers to communicate with Karellan, Karellan is grateful because that eye witness account brings them as close to the experience as they will ever be.  Was this ever explained to anyone by Karellan?

Edited to correct - just checked, and the Milo character has another name in the book and also snuck off planet and returned to see the end.  (I thought it was Ricky, but of course, too many years pass in the book).

 

[Astromech]

I liked Part 3 quite a bit too. The ending was very good.

One thing I didn't get though, was why they had all the religious themes/tones/imagery and then, in the end, that basically didn't amount to anything. Felt like a tease with no real payoff. Or, maybe there was one, and I'm just too slow to pick up on it.

My take was that humans already some concept of the collective conscious of the universe due to "religious" imagery  and beliefs such as the appearance of the overlords as devils, their ship as analogous to Noah's ark,  the apocalypse, etc. Humans already seemed to have a sense of their own fate and that collective conscious was imparted into our shared myths and beliefs.

[Born Yesterday]

It had its flaws, but overall I liked it.

Well, I didn't like farmer Stormgren or anything about him, and would much rather see this blind old lady from Korea in his place. I also think Milo's role needed a better actor.

Some changes were welcome: Boyce being a researcher in biology instead of mysticism was nice, and Clarke would probably agree - he changed his mind about this over the years, didn't he?

A couple of themes could be handled better. Mainly, the dual nature of the children's ascension as a heartbreaking end but also a fascinating beginning, horrifying but wondrous:

"What you have brought into the world may be utterly alien, it may share none of your desires or hopes, it may look upon your greatest achievements as childish toys - yet it is something wonderful, and you will have created it."

It didn't help that the demise of earth was left unexplained, making it look like mindless destruction, petty even. In the book the explanation was a bit vague, as far as reasoning goes, but thematically solid, pure poetry. Much like an egg or a plant seed is consumed in the process of creating new life, so must earth perish to bring into the world this completely new thing and nurture it.

It's been many years since I read the book, so I don't remember: did anything from Earth actually survive? I don't think so, but I really liked that beacon "humans were here" in the end, even if it was a bit corny. The lark ascending, how appropriate.

Finally, Charles Dance is amazing, Karellan was fantastic from start to finish, and his performance in those final moments was a perfect visualization of what I consider one of the greatest closing lines in literature:

"The weight of centuries was upon him, and a sadness that no logic could dispel."

[Born Yesterday]

double post, darn

[Crazydog7]

This whole series reminds me of something Scifi oh sorry SYFY would have put out in the glory days along with Children of Dune or Taken not without flaws but I really liked Vaughan Williams ~ The Lark Ascending great musical choice and at least they stayed true to the ending something I wasn't expecting from them.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR2JlDnT2l8

[mcbigski]

It didn't help that the demise of earth was left unexplained, making it look like mindless destruction, petty even. In the book the explanation was a bit vague, as far as reasoning goes, but thematically solid, pure poetry. Much like an egg or a plant seed is consumed in the process of creating new life, so must earth perish to bring into the world this completely new thing and nurture it.

 

Haven't read the book, so that part seemed especially WTF.  Wouldn't it make more sense for the godhead/overmind/whatever to keep earth going and shear the sheep instead of skin it?  Plenty of other planets around to blow up if they needed power.  And even if not, why wait for Milo to get all the way back 100 years plus after the rest of the adults presumably died off? 

[Spockydog]

Saw the finale last night. Jesus.

Afterwards, I read the plot summary of the novel. I wish they hadn't changed Richard to Ricky. Yeah, I know they wanted an everyman, but the story would have been a lot more interesting had it been told from the UN's perspective.

And wtf was the point of Ricky's dead wife? His death scene/hallucination was excruciating. That whole subplot added absolutely nothing.

ETA: And if you're going to use human evolution as the major plot device of your story, you'd should really stretch the story over more than two generations.

 

[Pliskin]

ETA: And if you're going to use human evolution as the major plot device of your story, you'd should really stretch the story over more than two generations.

Well, the whole point was to artificially accelerate the human ascension, so that's not really an issue here.

[Tears of Lys]

This whole series reminds me of something Scifi oh sorry SYFY would have put out in the glory days along with Children of Dune or Taken not without flaws but I really liked Vaughan Williams ~ The Lark Ascending great musical choice and at least they stayed true to the ending something I wasn't expecting from them.  

 

That is so beautiful.  And I'm happy to say that sometimes the Youtube comments are actually worth reading.  One commenter wrote, about depression:

" I feel your pain, my friend. I truly do. It is a constant battle isn't it? Sometimes there are no words to describe the heights, depths and breadths of this companion of ours. I was listening to a wonderful talk the other night on TED TV by David Whyte, poet and modern-day philosopher (my hero) who recited a poem called 'Lost' by David Wagoner. Prior to the recitation, David Whyte tells of a Northwestern Indian tribe who live close to a dense Cedar Forest. The forest is so thickly populated that within minutes of setting foot inside, the cardinal directions are lost to you. Before setting forth, the young ones would ask of the Elder, 'What if I get lost in the Forest?' The elder would answer see poem below

I resonate completely with the Lost feeling and I suspect you will too. Here is something beautiful in its simplicity, not unlike the music we are hearing; something maybe we all can hang onto in these times of feeling utterly bereft and lost...

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here and you must treat it as a powerful stranger, must ask permission to know it and be known.

The forest breathes. Listen. It answers, ‘I have made this place around you. If you leave it, you may come back again, saying, ‘Here’.

No two trees are the same to Raven. No two branches are the same to Wren.  If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you, you are surely lost. 

Stand still. The forest knows where you are. You must let it find you."

 

I'm sorry that this post isn't entirely on point, but I wanted to share that beautiful tone poem that "Childhood's End" brought me to.

 

[Spockydog]

Well, the whole point was to artificially accelerate the human ascension, so that's not really an issue here.

Yeah, I get that. But over the course of one generation? Come on.

How long was the process in the novel?

And why did jobs become obsolete all of a sudden? Did civilization just shut down? Or did the Overlords import an army of unseen robots to do all the jobs that are required to keep society functioning?