SyFy has announced ambitious plans to make a 6-hour miniseries out of Arthur C. Clarke novel Childhood’s End.
Originally published in 1953, the classic novel tells the story of a group of seemingly benign aliens, the Overlords, who take over earth near the end of the 20th Century and guide it toward becoming a peaceful utopia… but at what cost? (cue dramatic music). None other than the great Stanley Kubrick kicked the tires on this one back in the ’60s with an eye toward a feature film, but instead collaborated with Clarke directly on what became 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Enter SyFy who, like apparently every other cable backwater, is hoping to ramp up their output of original content. According to The Wrap, SyFy president Dave Howe claims: “This will be the most ambitious project for SyFy in many years.” Mind you, we’re talking about a network whose greatest claim to fame is a reboot of Battlestar Galactica back before they changed their name. Since? It’s mostly been remarkable for an endless series of cheap, intentionally terrible made-for-TV horror movies with funny titles like Sharktopus.
Nick Hurran (Sherlock) is lined up to direct , Matthew Graham (Life on Mars) is writing the adaptation while Akiva Goldsman (The Da Vinci Code, I am Legend) is one of the executive producers. I think I’ve expressed enough cynicism in this piece, so I’ll leave Goldsman alone for once.
Childhood’s End is planned for sometime in 2015. I hope I’m wrong and that it turns out to be terrific.
OT: Everyone ought to be watching The Honourable Woman! Fastidious writing, searing performances, direction could be better, but still pretty solid. Bet on Maggie Gyllenhaal to win all the awards!