Arthur C. Clarke is my favorite science fiction author ever. You can’t beat a writer who actually helped invent technology that is fundamental to our lives here in the future. So, I’m very excited that one of his landmark stories is being made into a miniseries:
Hailed as a revolutionary work of science fiction since its publishing in 1953, Childhood’s End follows the peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious “Overlords,” whose arrival begins decades of apparent utopia under indirect alien rule, at the cost of human identity and culture.
Akiva Goldsman (Lone Survivor, A Beautiful Mind, I Am Legend) and Mike De Luca (Captain Philips, Moneyball, The Social Network) are attached as executive producers. Childhood’s End will be adapted by Matthew Graham (creator of BBC’s Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes). The miniseries will be directed by Nick Hurran, who received a 2014 Emmy Award nomination for Sherlock: His Last Vow and a Hugo Award nomination for Dr. Who. Additional behind the scene credits include Emmy Award winners Neville Kidd (Director of Photography) and Yan Miles (Editor). Both were just honored by the Academy for their work in Sherlock: His Last Vow.
While Syfy does some pretty schlocky movies, their miniseries have always been a cut above, and the folks involved here seem pretty top-notch. Of course, the biggest challenge may be to make sure it doesn’t look like V, which was pretty directly influenced by Childhood’s End. I’m looking forward to seeing how they’ll adapt what is really a pretty brainy story. What do you think?
It’s been a long time since I read it, but I recall there being some pretty schlocky parts of the book. Fun premise, but a bit dated. Syfy could make this really good or really bad.
Certainly there’s a lot that needs to be updated, history and technology-wise. Indeed, the story was written before we’d started launching orbital spacecraft. But the premise of the story is pretty esoteric sci-fi, with a kind of downer ending. It will be interesting to see where they go with that.
The story is a bit depressing a the end. I wonder if they will adapt the ending to perhaps something more upbeat? I guess they could just play up the positive aspect of the end and play down the negative part of it.
I did like Lost Room from a few years ago, and Tin Man wasn’t bad even if I had trouble getting into it. I did not like the adaptation of “A Wizard of Earthsea”, they really screwed that one up.