Childhood's end

Year of release : 2015

Run time : 1h20min- 1h25min , 3 episodes

Genre : Sci Fi / Mini Series

Cast : Mike Vogel, Charles Dance, Julian McMahon

The Australian mini series are based on Arthur C.Clarke's 1953 novel of the same name.

Part 1 - The Overlords

On a beautiful 2016 morning, planes are being stopped and brought down slowly from the sky.

Large spaceships appear on top of major cities of the world,and people's beloved dead significant other or relatives,appear to them. They all deliver the same message,that the one speaking to them through them,is Karellen, the supervisor for earth.

Karellen tells the world through the face of their beloved,that the aliens came to stop  war,famine,inequality,and bring upon the Golden Age of Man. Karellen says they are not conquerors but enablers,and yet,they are telling people what to do,and there are consequences for not abiding by their rules .

The people working at a famous publication calls them the Overlords.

One of the men working for The Globe,the one who called the aliens,the Overlords, sees this as a plot to take over earth and kill the humans. He gives this great analogy of what the aliens are doing with what his uncle used to do,with the pigs he raised at his farm,which he sent to slaughter by having a choirboy sing to them. The pigs loved the singing and went to slaughter of their own free will. He says the aliens are doing the same thing. And considering the way the episode started,he might be correct.

He starts a movement called FreedomLeague which starts playing announcements against the aliens.

The government hears the ones who didn't comply with the aliens' demands had the sun blocked.

Karellen chooses Ricky to be his ambassador or prophet. He tells him what to tell governments and what he wants them to do. Whenever he takes him on the ship, he puts him in this honeymoon hotel suite he shared with his first wife who died,the one who probably was his true love. This creates a rift between him and his fiance.

Karellan never reveals himself to him,as he speaks to him from behind a one way mirror,as he says humanity is not ready to see their true face.

 

The story is narrated,sort of,by a man who used to be a kid at the time all this started happening,Milo. He lived with his mother(who might have been a prostitute due to what she was wearing and the fact she was always on the corner of the street -,although this is never addressed).

They were poor,but the kid was very smart.

One night the kid is sh0t d3ad in the chest by his mother's dr@g dealer,and the aliens deal with the dr@g dealer,healing the boy,who was also in a wheelchair.

Somehow the aliens always know where they are,what they are doing,and can always hear them.

Part 2 - The Deceivers

15 years later, Karellan reveals himself to the world. He looks like humanity's idea of evil,like the devil.

The leader of the FreedomLeague is dealt with,as his movement kidnap Ricky. The aliens film them from outside the building they were in,and stream it worldwide. From the get go the humans are on the aliens' side.

4-5 more years later(so 20 years since the aliens arrived),we find out people don't age anymore,they don't need jobs,as they have everything and are prosperous.

 

Ricky and his now,wife,can't have children,and he finds out his trips to the space ship were bad for his health.

We hear the ones who want to live like before the aliens arrived,live in a place called New Athens.

People stop doing anything,including research,as the aliens and through them,the brainwashed people, think there's no need for such things anymore. The only one who questions it is the man who used to be in a wheelchair as a kid.

A kid has night terrors,as every night he is visited by a space ship,and he tells his psychiatrist,who's also religious, he is taken to their planet,a place of fire where's a one eye which sees everything (this reminded me of the eye of Sauron,in 'The lord of the rings'). That very moment, the kid hears his sister's crying,who is in his mother's belly,and he runs to her,while the religious woman's neckline with a cross, hangs her,bending the cross. This to me,means these aliens are not aliens,but demons(This is also confirmed though the fact the religious woman sees her dead mother-which as we know,that's how the aliens appeared to them when they arrived,and walking towards her she falls out of the window. The woman dies after she goes to this family's place,and sees the alien ship by their window,and tells them about it,and about her cross bent by their son. They think her a looney,of course,the aliens are good.eye roll. Oh,wait,I think it's after she shoots Karellan,and Ricky,in his infinite wisdom,brings him back with the shot Karellan gave him to cure his disease-the disease given by the aliens. And by the way,them being aliens,they only had one shot to cure the disease. Which was given to Karellan.So Ricky is still dying.).

 

The leader of the last remaining research facility,which is closing down,based in Africa,is taking orders from Karellan,who wants him to bring to their event the pregnant woman(who,by the way,was impregnated by the aliens) with her son. Before this, the alien creates out of nothing a new room into the facility.

The leader also tells us Karellan took the male and female of each species on earth,for their zoo,but he thinks it's for an ark.

The son is connected to his mother or maybe sister,as he has these moments in which he thinks of what his mother is thinking,and when touched screams 'Don't touch us'.

The room with a certain device was made for this woman,or more like,the daughter in her belly. Karellan asks her to accept her mission,and in the end she accepts.

Part 3 - The Children

Jennifer is born, and a few years later, many children gather at her place. She can talk to them telepathically.

Her parents decide to move to New Athens.

That doesn't help,as while there, Jennifer ascends,and takes all the kids with her.

 

The aliens told them their children are gonna be fine,on a different planet, and they will not be able to have kids anymore,as pregnant women have their pregnancies disappearing from existence.

Before this,Ricky's health is getting worse,and while passing out in his wife's arms, he says Annabel's name. He is put in the hotel room again,and Karellan offers to keep him there forever,with Annabel,as a gift. Ricky refuses.

Milo realizes something strange is happening to the kids,as they seem to have super powers. They all seem to see a triangle with an eye inside it.

He sets his mind to stole away on the aliens' ship to see where are they taking the animals of the earth. The journey takes 80 years.

No matter how great people might think this utopia, they stopped doing anything,they don't want to do anything,they don't care to gather knowledge anymore,not even see what's out there,which I find odd. You'd think that they'd want to at least travel outside the earth,to see the stars.(One character actually says in New Athens they paint and such,which suggests they don't even paint or write music or movies,anymore,as if their ability to create was taken from them)

Karellan says in a previous episode to the religious woman that all religions of the world cannot be right,suggesting there's no God,and yet,on the ship, one of the aliens talks about the Overmind, the mind which created everything and keeps everything together,so God.

Also,Jennifer destroys the earth,which makes her the AntiChrist.

Also,the alien planet looks like hell,and I think that's also where the Overmind exists,which I find odd.

 

One thing I don't get is,why destroy the earth?Even if people were evil,it was still not the earth's fault!You don't destroy a planet to make sure humans whom you made sterile,won't survive.

They took the kids and animals,what was wrong with earth,considering they were saying Jennifer was drawing the earth's energy to destroy it?!So the earth was fine!

Those kids and animals could have remained on earth!Writer's inspiration,I guess!

In spite of all that,this is one of my favorite movies,it has everything: -heart and soul,through Ricky and his wife,and his memories of his first wife,whom was the love of his life. I felt bad for him that he lived something so beautiful and had to lose it,and felt bad for his new wife,who had to live knowing she wasn't his first choice. Through Milo and his love interest,and Jennifer's parents.

-it has the sci-fi,the supernatural,the aliens agenda.

-it makes you question the world we live in,with the good and the bad,religion,science.. the existence of aliens and their intentions.

 

The actors were great.

I liked the way the movie was shot,especially in the first episode.

The visual effects were great,the space ships looked real,the make-up was great. Whenever I saw Charles Dance in the demon-like alien outfit,I kept on wondering how long did he spend in the make-up department.

 

The soundtrack was good too.

The critics gave it a score of 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, although they say it doesn't live up to the books that inspired it.

The series are for sale on Amazon ,AppleTv, Fandango at Home.

Rating : It's so money !