Childhood's End on SyFy - A mixed bag

[Errant of Patha]

But why did humanity have to die out after this? Why couldn't people keep having kids?

The Overmind aka God, seeded life in the cosmos for the betterment of its self. The overlords know the destruction of the planet will happen to turn the children into pure energy, as a synapses for the Overmind. It's an act of compassion to spare the Earth of living things when the end comes.

To me the most interesting point the religious aspect that is brought up is, the garden of Eden, where the choice of knowledge or blind faith with the tree of knowledge being a cosmic dream. If the people of Earth would have chosen knowledge would have the Earth been spared by running the overlords away?

 

[Joelist]

The thing is that none of that is even mentioned in the book. Really from the book we know little about the origin of the Overmind, and the miniseries really does not engage on that at all. In fact the entire "religious" aspect of the mini was a minus because it was ham handedly done.

 

[Overmind One]

The thing is that none of that is even mentioned in the book. Really from the book we know little about the origin of the Overmind, and the miniseries really does not engage on that at all. In fact the entire "religious" aspect of the mini was a minus because it was ham handedly done.

I would call it spiritual and philosophical, and perhaps religious. It is an enigmatic concept and it has been since 1953. If they washed that out of the miniseries for PC reasons, especially on this tory, then it might not be worth my while?

 

[Joelist]

I don't think it was PC reasons Overmind. I think it was just that (like the book) they did not go into the "what and why" of the Overmind.

 

[shavedape]

From what I saw of it the religious stuff only added confusion. I expected it to make more sense from a religious perspective but it didn't even do that. It was just sort of ho hum.

 

[Overmind One]

From what I saw of it the religious stuff only added confusion. I expected it to make more sense from a religious perspective but it didn't even do that. It was just sort of ho hum.

Unlike many stories which are weighed down by ostensibly "religious" concepts, it is absolutely essential to this story. And the Overmind cannot and should not really be fully explained. I think it is meant to be UNDERSTOOD, more than explained.

 

[Joelist]

Except that it isn't even really mentioned in the book (religious elements). The Overmind is also not fully explained in the book which is fine.

 

[Errant of Patha]

From what I saw of it the religious stuff only added confusion. I expected it to make more sense from a religious perspective but it didn't even do that. It was just sort of ho hum.

That was the point. The overmind was there before anyone knows, the overlords have known about the overmind for about 100,000 years and have past the evolutional stage to be of use to the overmind. Now the overlords serve the overmind.

The overmind as explained in the book is the cosmic consciousness of the milky way/universe. At the end of the book as the overlord answers Rodricks question...

Rodricks asks Rashaverak what encounter the Overlords had with Humanity in the past, according to an assumption that the fear that Humans had of their "demonic" form was due to a traumatic encounter with them in the distant past; but Rashaverak explains that the primal fear experienced by Humans was not due to a racial memory, but a racial premonition of the Overlords' role in their metamorphosis.

Religion was created on Earth to try to understand the cosmic hive mind putout by the overmind.

No, it's not about any religion or who's religion is correct or spirituality, even though Clark's imaginary could be interpreted as such.

 

[Joelist]

Again though it is not really dwelt on. And that was them explaining why humans had a mental image of Overlords that they associated with fear. Nothing to do with the "why" of the Overmind.

 

[Errant of Patha]

Again though it is not really dwelt on. And that was them explaining why humans had a mental image of Overlords that they associated with fear. Nothing to do with the "why" of the Overmind.

That is what I said.

 

[YJ02]

I liked the miniseries, but the book is a lot better than the miniseries. The miniseries had modified the story to appeal to a larger audience than the book did. The book was published in 1954, when science fiction was definitely a niche in the publishing world.

bolded= such is our sad lot today...

 

[YJ02]

In the book, the Overmind is like sentience for the hive mind of the Milky Way galaxy. This also speaks to my Deist beliefs with regard to the Universe. It was the word Overmind that attracted me to the StarCraft games too, and why I created the scifiovermind website (which is now gone).

I’m afraid to see this series because I have my own mental imagery from the books. I read Dune before seeing it and I did not like the original version, although I did like The Children of Dune.

this story-as I am sure the book does as well, but better-sums up pretty well what I believe; a central Universal creator and "gardener" of sorts, one that is mistaken for god, though that is understandable for our previous primitive cultures that conceived those religions

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I liked that SYFY managed to keep out sex. I am sure someone there wanted to add in some scenes but were appropriately skull-numbed for doing so

I liked that though the overmind was told not to be God of our understanding, it was said by Karelan that "religion was beautiful as poetry is beautiful"; that is, religion can be appreciated as a creation of man for its writings, teachings, art and architecture though in the reality of things-it is of little use. I also ,get the sense of meaning that religion-taken in this manner, is perfectly acceptable alongside science. Science trumps religion in its practicality and purposefulness, but both can be appreciated by one person.

Mike Vogel did a great job at resurrecting himself after the last season of UNDER THE DOME!

Didn't like that the story overall-at least the tv version,seems to relegate sci-fi to a 2nd place to fantasy-as in star wars. Did the book use more actual sci fi?

 

[Joelist]

The book was more "sci-fi ish", but remember that all of Arthur C Clarke's work had in common the use of metaphysics. To me the mini was alright but as both ecgordon and I noted it is too long and by compressing the timeline from the much longer one in the book plot issues ensue.

 

[YJ02]

Somehow I missed it, and before I remembered to go back,I deleted from my DVR ep3. Just why were the overlords bringing earth animals on their ship? To release and study elsewhere, or to "seed" another planet?

Or just have a really big BBQ?

 

[Joelist]

Somehow I missed it, and before I remembered to go back,I deleted from my DVR ep3. Just why were the overlords bringing earth animals on their ship? To release and study elsewhere, or to "seed" another planet?

Or just have a really big BBQ?

Never actually explained.

 

[shavedape]

It seems the more this show is analyzed the worse it becomes.

 

[Joelist]

I'd stick with what I said in the OP - it's too long and compressing the book timeline causes plot problems plus the "religion" story is ham handed. But the visuals are good and Charles Dance is excellent as Karellan and it does hit most of the basic plot points in some manner. A mixed bag and at least it is not soap-fi.

 

[Overmind One]

It seems the more this show is analyzed the worse it becomes.

Agreed.

I'd stick with what I said in the OP - it's too long and compressing the book timeline causes plot problems plus the "religion" story is ham handed. But the visuals are good and Charles Dance is excellent as Karellan and it does hit most of the basic plot points in some manner. A mixed bag and at least it is not soap-fi.

I don't think I want to see this. The story of the book is already complete to me, including mental visuals. It is one of my literary foundation pieces. I think seeing an unfaithful interpretation would just make me disgusted.

 

[Joelist]

You know, I'm glad I did see it once. But I am not interested in watching it again.

All thing taken together, it is a step by SyFy in the right direction. When taken together with shows like Z Nation, Expanse, Killjoys and Dark Matter they do seem to be improving.

 

[ecgordon]

I'd been thinking about it for a couple of weeks, wasn't sure I'd bother, but I finally uploaded a review.

http://templetongate.net/childhoodsend-tv.htm