SummaryThe adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction novel where aliens called Overlords, led by its ambassador Karellen (Charles Dance), promise through human liaison Ricky Stormgren (Mike Vogel) technological advances for the planet.
SummaryThe adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction novel where aliens called Overlords, led by its ambassador Karellen (Charles Dance), promise through human liaison Ricky Stormgren (Mike Vogel) technological advances for the planet.
Ultimately, Childhood's End is a successful adaptation of a much-beloved novel that will satisfy fans and newcomers alike--wrapped nicely at both ends with colorful characters and effects, but faintly lacking a little something in the middle.
Childhood’s End is great enough that nitpicking feels unwarranted.... How Graham and company made such endearingly dour worldviews into a rollicking six hours of layered complexity and B-movie schlock is beyond me.
This is a mini series that says so much about the problems of humanity but never attempts to make any kind of political commentary about the human race. It builds in a manner that has you wanting to know what comes next. At times it does seem to stray into areas that make little sense at the time but by the time you get to the end, all becomes very clear and worth every minute of viewing. A gem of a series that could easily get missed.
It has some flaws but overall a very good adaptation and a deep breath of true science fiction. Some people of course don't understand that writing a book and writing a script for tv are two different things.
For all its running time over three consecutive nights, Childhood’s End leaves a sense of a story not quite told--the result, largely, of the fact that it deals so much in large themes and generalities and provides so little of character and detail. Even so, it’s entirely compelling drama, with a uniformly fine cast and dazzling special effects.
Like a deluxe edition of The Twilight Zone, with echoes of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Children of the Damned and even Rosemary's Baby in its sprawling and (at first) quietly sinister narrative, this fable reminds us that something looks too good to be true, it usually is. [7-20 Dec 2015, p.17]
At times the production can seem underbudgeted, the direction overwrought. Here and there, the dialogue sounds as if it had been written by an alien who picked up English from broadcasts of B-pictures. As the series' resident alien, Charles Dance--both as a disembodied and later an elaborately embodied, commanding voice--gets the best of this business.
Syfy’s adaptation plays with Clarke’s plot and themes but does so in such a leaden, DOA way that it’s almost like a grade-school paper from someone who didn’t read the assignment.
Visually stunning with feature film effects and solid performances, this TV adaptation deviates from the epic novel in some ways to accommodate a television audience and time frame, yet keeps the essential power and thoughtful themes. If you seek space based warfare and space opera themes you should look elsewhere, but if you are looking for a great story from one of our planet's best minds, Childhood's End may be for you.
The first part of this miniseries was a fine version of SF novel masterpiece but then after second episodes I was very upset. Twisted plot with irrational scenes lots of stupid dialogues and very boring. Nice special effects and that’s all. If you want good SF series with alien invasion please check Falling Skies or V.
The first part was a well thought modernization of the SF masterpiece. The second part was closer to Children of the Corn and the Exorcist, while the third part was written by people who would probably have drunk a barrel of vodka each (flying children ??? really ??). So I give a 9 for I, a 4 for II and a 0 for III. Total 4.3333333. Stick to the book !!!
I really tried to like this adaption. The main problem is that Arthur C. Clarke is just a damn good writer and the writers of this show are just so awfully bad. Thats why the episodes are so damn long and boring. If you look at the source material (the book), it contains less than 200 pages and still managed to tell a riveting story. The intention when outlining the series was probably benevolent, and granted - the visuals don't look half-bad - but the terrible dialogue, the repetition, and the overlength is just killing it for me. With a decent screenplay and some decisive compression of the story - I feel this could have done much better.
Never read the book so went into this with no expectations aside from hoping for an entertaining 6 hours. Thankfully with FF on a DVR I did not waste 6 hours - even an hour was too much. Slow, confusing, weak acting, over acting, etc. Really disappointed - only finished it to see what happened.