Syfy's Overmind

Can Jennifer come out and play?

Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End is a science fiction classic (1953) that presents us with Clarke's vision of space aliens who are as far beyond we humans as we are beyond bacteria. In the previous millennium, Stanley Kubrick brought Clarke's vision to video with the widely-known 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now, in 2015, Syfy has given us their TV mini-series adaptation of Childhood's End.

Imagine Greater Cash Flow
I imagine it was a difficult challenge for Syfy to present a version of Childhood's End that conforms to its television mi$$ion while also being true to Clarke's vision. Did they bend and magnify that vision or shatter it?

source

The End of the World.

I've previously blogged about the first two thirds of Syfy's mini-series and here (below) I look at the final one third. My chief concern is this: did Syfy capture Clarke's concept of aliens who have moved on to an existence that defies human understanding and imagination?

How can anyone possibly tell a story about space aliens who lead an existence that is beyond what we humans can imagine? Clarke, Kubrick and Syfy were forced to craft tales of enigmatic ambiguity while struggling to provide an audience with entertainment and edification.

Karellen's Last Picture Show.

Behold, the Overmind
Karellen and the "Overlords" serve as a near-human intermediate between a human audience and the unknowable Overmind. In the end, we get a brief peek at an alien planet: Jenjedda, in the "Carina star system" (apparently Miaplacidus is the star, 111 light-years away), a world with lotsa lava. Jenjedda is presented to viewers as a vision of the mythical hell.

We get to witness an alien world because Milo stays fresh in a futuristic alien zip-lock storage bag for the 50 year trip from Earth to Jenjedda.

Vindarten greets Milo near Jenjedda

Milo meets Vindarten when the spaceship arrives at Jenjedda and he gets to experience a brief period of contact with the Overmind via the laser-light-show portal that is maintained on Jenjedda. The Overmind is the collective consciousness of the universe, ever expanding and absorbing all worthy creatures such as we humans.

Staying just long enough on Jenjedda for the aliens to off-load the last of their collected bio-samples from Earth (including a giant squid) Milo and Vindarten quickly return to Earth, arriving just in time to see Earth sucked dry of all its last remaining "energy" by Jennifer.

It's Not OVERmind Until It's OVERmind

Return to Jenjedda: we'll have a hot time tonight.

Sadly, the "Overlords" are trapped in the material universe, unable to develop to the point where they can merge into the Overmind. For 100,000 years they have witnessed the ends of many different species and their home planets; humans and Earth are only the latest.

Viewers would like to know if the Overmind made sure that the "Overlords" could never merge into the collective consciousness of the universe or if maybe it was just some fluke of evolution that leaves them trapped in the physical universe, but in Hollywood nothing needs to be explained. I like to think that the "Overlords" are simply peaceful and kind and careful enough so that they can successfully create a space-faring civilization that does not destroy itself. They deserve to inherit the material universe of stars and galaxies. All the many "failure species" (such as we humans) need to be protected from self-destruction and quickly sucked into the Overmind ASAP.

Jenjedda's portal to the Overmind.

Syfy's adaptation of Childhood's End spent far too little time showing us Jenjedda and letting us know why the "Overlords" came to Earth, why they bother to visit worlds like Earth. Sadly, in Hollywood nothing need make sense: $pecial effect$, $cream$ and explo$ion$ are favored over thoughtful explorations.

Arthur Clarke showed Humanity being sucked into the Overmind, but going down while continuing our great struggle to explore, hypothesize and understand.

A great send-up.

Sci Fi Fail
Of course, there is no Overmind, but what should we humans expect if and when we have our First Contact with space aliens? The usual Hollywood answer to that question is: invaders, just like a Mongolian horde arriving to pillage Europe. Clarke had a more rational and a more interesting vision of what First Contact might be like.

Red number nuke day.

Syfy's adaptation blurred its projected image of Clarke's vision by showing us a dozen hapless characters who were simply lost and bumbling (or even atomic bombing) their way to the grave. Yes, Milo is on screen occasionally, doing some sort of Hollywoodesque science, but his lone voice is lost in the Syfy wilderness and he never really manages to "science the shit out of" the Overlords.

Milo experiences contact with the Overmind.

The mindless nihilism of Hollywood failed science fiction fans again. By failing to capture Clarke's vision of Humanity, Syfy's adaptation of Clarke's story turned a meaty science fiction classic into Hollywood-style $au$age.

Clarke's novel illustrates how humans use science to explore the universe. Yes, we can get ourselves into trouble. In 1953, the possibility of nuclear war was on Clarke's mind. Here in 2015, our attention has shifted to CO₂ and climate change. In the future there will be additional challenges to our ingenuity and self-control. An alien Supervisor is not going to show up and save us from ourselves. Our childhood's end will arrive after we have all successfully snapped out of our dreaming fantasies, our myths and fantasies about there being a god-like force watching over us. Really: we have to grow up and take care of ourselves.

The City at the Edge of Forever.

In science fiction everything has to make sense. In the land of Syfy, everything just need$ to make money. When the "Overlords" arrive on Earth they quickly make war impossible, but then the "mayor" of New Athens still manages to keep a spare atomic bomb in his house so that he can go out with a bang rather than a whimper. Like most of what passes as science fiction within pop culture these days, Syfy's adaptation of Childhood's End is really $en$le$$ anti-science fiction. But it $ell$.

reading is fundamental

So, while I can't stop myself from feeling that Syfy's adaptation of Childhood's End could have been better, I do confess that I went into viewing this mini-series with much trepidation and I know that it could have turned out far worse. I hope people watch this television program and I hope that it leads more people to read Arthur Clarke's novel Childhood's End.

Tails high, brothers!

AWARD WINNER
Related reading: SIHA 2015.

"this “Childhood’s End” is so wrapped up in perpetuating suspense that it’s not very thought-provoking" - Tim Grierson

cover by Malcolm Smith

Related Reading: Playmate by Leslie A. Croutch (download)
                             In "Playmate", Children are suddenly being transformed into a "new and improved" life form. It would be interesting to know if Clarke read this 1951 story by Croutch before he wrote "Guardian Angel" (published 1950). Sadly, there is not even the slightest hint here (download) that Clarke had seen "Playmate".

Next: the end of science fiction?

Karellen sure knows how to get a rise out of the children. Maybe Syfy will
do a television series that follows Karellen on future assignments around the galaxy

Long Live Karellen!

We all have guns!

I just watched the middle third of Syfy's adaptation of Childhood's End. After the first "episode" I was worried about how Karellen would defend himself against religious fanatics, but I did not expect Syfy to make us watch the Supervisor get blown away by a religious fanatic.

Supervisor Karellen

The Year: 2035
The religious fanatic (Peretta Jones) seems convinced that Karellen is evil. Of course, after 20 years of seeing Karellen at work, and witnessing his deployment of advanced alien technology that allows him to heal the dead (such as the murdered Milo), we must wonder: why should Karellen care about a little thing like getting shot?

SIHA 2105

Answer: because this is Hollywood, where nothing has to make sense and where profit$ are measured by the number of commercial$, $ex acts and act$ of violence that you can cram into an hour of screen time. Episode 2 of SyFy's adaptation of Clarke's Childhood's End is a jumbled mess. Leaving most of the dangling plot threads on the cutting room floor, I want to address the question: does this TV show present us with an interesting alien (SIHA: 2015)?

2015 winner: most unlikely farmer award.

Why Can't We Be Friends?
Episode 2 failed to continue showing Karellen's sense of humor, but it did reveal that he is trying to be a friend to Ricky. Why? We may never know.

Ricky (Mike Vogel) is the most unlikely Hollywood farmer since Kevin Costner didn't actually do any farming in Field of Dreams. We never see Ricky doing any farm work, but in Episode 2 he tells us how tired he is from all the corn harvesting. Right.

In the barn.

Jennifer Greggson's arrival...
Such lovely glowing eyes you have!

And we learn that Karellen has prevented Ricky and Ellie from having children. Why? Because in the future it is going to be difficult for parents to deal with what happens to their children.

All that would be fine, but then we are taken a step too far. We are asked to believe that because Ricky visited Karellen's spaceship, Ricky is poisoned. But buddy boy Karellen arrives on the farm with a vial full of a rare and precious elixir that will save Ricky's life.

Milo's SETI project.

Strike a Nerve
And then, at the end of Episode 2, our token religious fanatic sneaks into the barn and blasts Karellen with a shotgun. Karellen proves he is mortal and falls to the ground. Brother Ricky gives up the cure for what ails him and uses the rare and precious elixir to save Karellen's life.

None of this makes any sense, but it shows us that Karellen and Ricky are blood brothers and further humanizes our alien Overlord. Sorry, but after 4 hours of Karellen alien striptease I feel like we should have learned something useful about our Overlords. Thankfully my DVR and the fast-forward button will get me through this.

Is Ricky sick or transforming into an alien?

Karellen is Dead, Long Live Karellen!
Karellen, brought back from the brink of death, tells Peretta that religions are beautiful like poetry, but his message is clear: in these end times, anyone who cannot accept the end of human existence is just making things hard for themselves. He advises: "embrace acceptance". This advice falls on deaf ears and before the end of Episode 2, Peretta kills herself, literally following in her mother's footsteps.

Episode 3: will Milo go to hell?

Imagine there's no heaven
After 4 hours of show time, viewers still know almost nothing about Karellen and why he is on Earth. Or where he came from. In Episode 2, we are told that Karellen has collect 9,000,000 species from Earth, but so far he has not "collected" any humans.

Thank you, Overlords!

We are teased with the idea that Ricky might be the human who Karellen selected as the human specimen to be preserved after Earth is terminated. We have to wonder: maybe Ricky is being transformed into a form of life that can survive in "Hell", or whatever be the name of the Overlord planet where the 9,000,000 species from Earth are taken.

Next: Episode 3 (on December 16th, a birthday gift for Clarke?)

What is going on deep inside Amy and inside Karellen's Psychic Research Institute?

Supervisor Karellen

Karellen finally comes down to Earth, making
contact by way of a great phallic spaceship dock that
proclaims to all: "Earth is fucked".

I just watched the first third of Syfy's adaptation of Childhood's End. There was less gratuitous violence and fewer guns being waved around than I expected for a Syfy production. Still, between the barrage of crass commercials and the scatter-gun editing they managed to make what might have been a good 30 minute Twilight Zone episode into a very long two hours.

Karellen plays footsies with Ricky.

This "episode" was a tale of two creatures: Missouri farm boy Ricky Stormgren and alien visitor to Earth, Supervisor Karellen. Six word summary: Ricky seemed more alien than Karellen. We were also given a glimpse into the remaining two thirds of the saga that will undoubtedly give us more of wonder boy Milo Rodericks as a budding science nerd who wants to visit the home planet of Karellen.

The opening scene (with an older Milo from the future) quickly told viewers that Milo will be the last remaining human. Not a very subtle bit of forshadowing. The most objectionable part of this "adaptation" is the extent to which Syfy went in for fear mongering, including playing the Nazi analogy game with the space aliens.

Big red Karellen and two members of generation K.

Imagine Smarter
As usual for a Hollywood script, there is not a single voice of reason among the "adult" Earthlings in this "adaptation". Karellen does manage to sneak in a bit of humor, but until the last minute he is just a disembodied voice and his job 1 is to hide his physical appearance and pump up the fear of alien invasion.

Milo, as a young boy, is the closest thing to rationality among the 7,000,000,000 hapless humans in Syfy's version of planet Earth. Syfy worked hard to bring Clarke's story down to the level of the typical TV viewer in 2015.

Karellen

Karellen supervises the creation of a New World Order (the political organization of Earth is shifted away from existing nations to a new World Federation) in which war and hunger and capitalism are all eliminated in 15 short years. Ricky does nothing except provide the director (Nick Hurran) with a way to first start and then fray a half dozen never-resolved plot threads, and in so doing, successfully create enough screen time to fit in 95 commercials, including 2 by Colm Meaney's inept and futile band of anti-Karellen "Freedom League" revolutionaries.

Girl Interrupted
Daisy and Mike get their groove back on with
the help of Karellen's high tech vibrator vial.

I'll be tempted to let the DVR do its work on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings so that I can fast forward past all the remaining lame shootouts, pistol-whippings of women by deranged drug dealers, pistol idiocy of government agents, pistol idiocy of stern revolutionaries, sermons by religious fanatics and the remaining 190 commercials.

The question remains, can Syfy's "adaptation" do justice to the aliens that Clarke put into his novel? So far, it looks like they are setting poor Karellen up for some heavy-duty bashing by religious fanatics in Part 2. With luck, his sense of humor will get us past the dreary preaching to come.

Related Reading: "Childhood’s End ... feels generic. It communicates neither Clarke’s style nor a directorial vision." -Scott Timberg

Next: Episode 2 - Ricky learns to use the gun locker.

The Golden Age.