Childhood's End - SYFY Original

originally posted by: CIAGypsy
a reply to: nonspecific

It became clear in the very first episode that they took LIBERAL literary license with the Arthur C. Clarke version...

And given the proclivity of some ATS'ers to pick apart Hollywood's "clues" embedded in movies, I'm surprised at the lack of chatter.

I might watch it with a "oh the book was sooooooo much better" mentality

As to Ats who cares about great scifi based on genuine conspiracy theeories with the threat of islam and donald trump to talk about eh?

Well I hope others got to see the finale ...

My cable box decided to give us the middle finger and we spent almost the entire two hours getting it to reboot around several error codes.

I caught ... maybe 40 minutes total of the whole two hours.

a reply to: ketsuko

One word to describe the end -

Anti-climactic

originally posted by: nonspecific


As to Ats who cares about great scifi based on genuine conspiracy theeories with the threat of islam and donald trump to talk about eh?

At least that is more interesting, however slightly, than Caitlyn Jenner, the Kardashians, or lots of other stupid # people watch these days.... Lol

originally posted by: CIAGypsy
a reply to: ketsuko

One word to describe the end -

Anti-climactic

Let me guess..... the aliens left and left the children? Space satan turned out to be a angel in disguise?

EDIT TO ADD. HA! i was freaking half right. Aliens left WITH the kids,and turned out the demons were just doing the bidding of a higher power. Oh and im sure you can guess the earth went bye bye.

I just got around to watching the first episode last night.

Color me as not impressed.

Never read the books so I had no frame of reference.

Not exactly sure I am going to finish watching it.

The whole premise is kinda dumb IMO.

a reply to: yuppa

Kinda makes you wonder why they cleaned up the Earth if they were just going to blow it up anyway, eh?

originally posted by: CIAGypsy
a reply to: yuppa

Kinda makes you wonder why they cleaned up the Earth if they were just going to blow it up anyway, eh?

Maybe for the same reason they keep you healthy and fed until they execute you.

originally posted by: CIAGypsy
a reply to: yuppa

Kinda makes you wonder why they cleaned up the Earth if they were just going to blow it up anyway, eh?

MAkes me wonder why jacob set it off as well.

a reply to: CIAGypsy

Wow what a refreshingly wonderful depressing movie, I won't give any spoilers but it was well worth the watch.

originally posted by: Spider879
a reply to: CIAGypsy

Wow what a refreshingly wonderful depressing movie, I won't give any spoilers but it was well worth the watch.

I might be jaded but i would have to disagree. th e useage of space satan send this show into sharknado territory.

originally posted by: yuppa

originally posted by: Spider879
a reply to: CIAGypsy

Wow what a refreshingly wonderful depressing movie, I won't give any spoilers but it was well worth the watch.

I might be jaded but i would have to disagree. th e useage of space satan send this show into sharknado territory.

Who'd have thought Satan needed a spaceship to go anywhere.....

originally posted by: CIAGypsy

originally posted by: yuppa

originally posted by: Spider879
a reply to: CIAGypsy

Wow what a refreshingly wonderful depressing movie, I won't give any spoilers but it was well worth the watch.

I might be jaded but i would have to disagree. th e useage of space satan send this show into sharknado territory.

Who'd have thought Satan needed a spaceship to go anywhere.....

True if they were supernatural, but they turned out to be working for a being even greater then they and they were simply aliens fugly and scary looking as they were.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Arthur C. Clarke


Read more at www.brainyquote.com...

a reply to: CIAGypsy

Here are the pictures mentioned by Ketsuko. They're just about how we imagine the when reading Clarke's book.

He was famously atheist. Not many people know that he also believed Earth had been visited by aliens in the distant past. He would argue all day that they hadn't visited in the past few hundred years and certainly not during the 50s and 60s. However he was fairly sure they did in the past. This means he might genuinely have been speculating that our religions were partially inculcated by...dun dun dun...aliens.

Big thanks for posting this thread. I had no idea a TV show was being shown and have just downloaded the first two episodes. Won't be reading the rest of the thread in case someone points out a goof or glaring problem that kills it for me.

originally posted by: Kandinsky
a reply to: CIAGypsy

Here are the pictures mentioned by Ketsuko. They're just about how we imagine the when reading Clarke's book.

He was famously atheist. Not many people know that he also believed Earth had been visited by aliens in the distant past. He would argue all day that they hadn't visited in the past few hundred years and certainly not during the 50s and 60s. However he was fairly sure they did in the past. This means he might genuinely have been speculating that our religions were partially inculcated by...dun dun dun...aliens.

Big thanks for posting this thread. I had no idea a TV show was being shown and have just downloaded the first two episodes. Won't be reading the rest of the thread in case someone points out a goof or glaring problem that kills it for me.

Being aethesist i SUSPECT he was taking a jab at relgion when he designed the Aliens appeareance. So h e thought HEY! lets use the devil as a alien!! No i suspect it was a jab at christians in general not anything to do with aliens.

@ciagypsy. Yeha i totally agree.

a reply to: yuppa

If you read the book, the story does make a few feints at religious ideology and how people defend beliefs in the face of reality.

His choice of aliens being demonic in appearance could well have been dramatic irony. After all, demons aren't just a Christian's worst nightmare, they are rather universal in our mythologies and can provoke a visceral, subconscious reaction in most of humanity. Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, pagans as well as all churches of Christian faith feature demons.

A wider view is looking at how we, as people, attribute qualities to other beings based on appearances. Clarke's played on that by presenting saviours in the very guise of our most existential enemies. There's a lot of truth there too imo. If we encounter aliens that have large, gnashy teeth and look aggressive, we'll be rather nervous and more than a little 'judgy.'

a reply to: Kandinsky

There were a few jabs in that show (yes, I watched it all)... the alien was to be viewed (by ACC) as Satan exactly to provoke the religious, particularly Christians, among us. He also took a stab at science (it will eventually destroy us) and the media (they lie and spin).

What I couldn't figure out was why Earth needed blowing up. Made no sense to me.

a reply to: masqua

I haven't watched the show yet. The book can be listened to over here if you have the time.

Can't say much about the ending without giving out the spoilers.

It's like Clarke overlaid an idea of humanity being progressed/evolved by that which it fears the most. It's iconoclastic and creates cognitive dissonance because even while people are reading the story, they wonder if the 'visitors' are tricksters.

a reply to: Kandinsky

The intent behind the story as laid out in the 3 part series was made plain by the transportation of every species of life on Earth to the Overlord's home planet... a Noah's Ark. This, and the imaging of the alien as Satan made that part very clear. It was a hit piece against religion.

What was less obvious was the alien's warning about science... that it would wind up killing humanity. Probably related to the nuclear family of bombs. Today, people fear the Large Hadron Collider and a decade ago it was HAARP. Tomorrow it'll be the Triumph of Trump.

The upshot seemed to be that, in order to change mankind completely, the aliens enhanced the powers of the children before taking them off-planet (dunno where) and then having the 'key child' destroy Earth, finishing off us 'lesser humans'.

As a side-note, I'm sorry that I've created a 'spoiler' post or two, but that book has been out a long, long time. I also feel sorry for anyone that did not enjoy reading Science Fiction or comic books growing up. They missed a helluva lot of fun, as well as some great lessons in social possibilities, political constructs and plain old human nature.

a reply to: Kandinsky

I haven't read the book, but your (and others) comments on this thread have piqued my curiosity.

The SYFY movie is passable, considering they only had 3 episodes. (Each episode is supposed to be 2 hours in length but I SWEAR there's a good hour of commercials in EACH episode....) The writers didn't do a very good job of conveying any horror or global concerns that the Earth's "savior" just happens to look like Satan. There is some... But it is not realistically portrayed for sure. I'm curious to see how Clarke portrayed it in the original book....