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Review/preview: Childhood's End
Channel: Syfy—Starts December 14 at 8/7c
Author: Arthur C. Clarke, adapted by Matthew Graham
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Matthew Graham may not be an instantly recognizable name here in the U.S., but plenty of us have enjoyed his work. Graham is the screenwriter behind the critically acclaimed series Life on Mars, and has also written episodes of Doctor Who and other Syfy hits. This Monday Syfy will air the first installment in what some critics have called his biggest challenge yet, one that came about when a producer casually tossed a battered paperback copy of a 60-year-old science fiction novel at him and asked if he had ever thought of taking it on. That book was written by none other than grandmaster Arthur C. Clarke, and its name is Childhood’s End.

Childhood’s End opens in a familiar way: Advanced alien spaceships appear, suddenly and ominously, over major American cities. But Clarke didn’t get the opening idea from blockbusters like Independence Day—quite the opposite. For the last half century, books and movies got it from Clarke’s seminal book. For more on how the series stacks up against the novel, follow below (and watch the trailer) if you dare, Earthlings!