Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Childhood's End

 Childhood's End
type
TVTItem
 Childhood's End
label
Childhood's End
 Childhood's End
page
ChildhoodsEnd
 Childhood's End
comment
Childhood's End is a three-episode series on Syfy and based on the novel of the same name by Arthur C. Clarke, originally published in 1953 and based off of a 1950 short story of his. The plot concerns the Alien Invasion of an alien race called the Overlords. After stopping war and establishing a world government, they start to maintain peace on Earth, but refuse to show any images of themselves. Humanity enters a golden age, but at the cost of their culture.It originally aired over three nights, December 14-16, 2015 at two hours per episode.For tropes from the book, click here.
 Childhood's End
fetched
2023-04-11T22:28:35Z
 Childhood's End
parsed
2023-04-11T22:28:35Z
 Childhood's End
processingComment
Dropped link to AdaptationalNameChange: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
 Childhood's End
processingComment
Dropped link to BattlestarGalactica2003: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Childhood's End
processingComment
Dropped link to Christine: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
 Childhood's End
processingComment
Dropped link to CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Childhood's End
processingComment
Dropped link to Signs: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Childhood's End
processingComment
Dropped link to Thor: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Childhood's End
processingComment
Dropped link to V1983: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Childhood's End
processingUnknown
Christine
 Childhood's End
processingUnknown
AdaptationalNameChange
 Childhood's End
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Childhood's End / int_106f1a77
type
A Form You Are Comfortable With
 Childhood's End / int_106f1a77
comment
A Form You Are Comfortable With: For their first communication, the Overlords use projections of dead loved ones to explain their intentions.
 Childhood's End / int_106f1a77
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_106f1a77
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_106f1a77
 Childhood's End / int_12628662
type
The Call Knows Where You Live
 Childhood's End / int_12628662
comment
The Call Knows Where You Live: And will disassemble your house to make its point.
 Childhood's End / int_12628662
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_12628662
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_12628662
 Childhood's End / int_17fe889f
type
Goal-Oriented Evolution
 Childhood's End / int_17fe889f
comment
Goal-Oriented Evolution: The entire purpose of the Overlords is to shepherd species that are on the brink of taking the final step to join the Overmind, by making the final generation of children both physically and mentally well as possible through decades of their influence. Karellen mentions to Milo that they've done it many times over the past hundred thousand years, and will continue to do so after Earth.
 Childhood's End / int_17fe889f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_17fe889f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_17fe889f
 Childhood's End / int_1e669b8e
type
Humanoid Aliens
 Childhood's End / int_1e669b8e
comment
Humanoid Aliens: Discussed. It's a concern that people will react badly if the aliens turn out to look like humans, but Karellen insists that they don't.
 Childhood's End / int_1e669b8e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_1e669b8e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_1e669b8e
 Childhood's End / int_23473ae7
type
Adaptation Expansion
 Childhood's End / int_23473ae7
comment
Adaptation Expansion: The characters love lives are unimportant to the book if even brought up in the first place. Here they are given a large amount of weight.
 Childhood's End / int_23473ae7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_23473ae7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_23473ae7
 Childhood's End / int_26ac510e
type
Mythology Gag
 Childhood's End / int_26ac510e
comment
Mythology Gag: In the original short story and novel, Karellen dislikes the idea that human artists are depicting him as a centipede, preferring the equally-baseless theory that he's a robot. In the series, it's the other way around. Milo is in hibernation next to a squid. In the novel, he hides inside a diorama of a whale battling a squid.
 Childhood's End / int_26ac510e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_26ac510e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_26ac510e
 Childhood's End / int_29d16652
type
Removed from the Picture
 Childhood's End / int_29d16652
comment
Removed from the Picture: When the Overlords use Milo's grandfather, he disappears from the photograph.
 Childhood's End / int_29d16652
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_29d16652
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_29d16652
 Childhood's End / int_3407c500
type
The World Is Not Ready
 Childhood's End / int_3407c500
comment
The World Is Not Ready: The Overlords refuse to show themselves because they think humanity won't understand. Considering Karellen's the spitting image of Satan, this is entirely justified.
 Childhood's End / int_3407c500
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_3407c500
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_3407c500
 Childhood's End / int_34dd5f3
type
La Résistance
 Childhood's End / int_34dd5f3
comment
La Résistance: The Freedom League style themselves as this against the Overlords, distrusting their plans, but prove themselves quite ruthless and are discredited after being recorded trying to kill Ricky. Shortly after the movement collapses.
 Childhood's End / int_34dd5f3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_34dd5f3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_34dd5f3
 Childhood's End / int_38d02d44
type
Batman Gambit
 Childhood's End / int_38d02d44
comment
Batman Gambit: In order to neutralize the Freedom League, Karellen allows Ricky to be captured by them while covertly recording him, knowing they'll expose their true intentions and kill any support they might have. It goes off without a hitch.
 Childhood's End / int_38d02d44
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_38d02d44
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_38d02d44
 Childhood's End / int_396e1c2a
type
Face Death with Dignity
 Childhood's End / int_396e1c2a
comment
Face Death with Dignity: Milo's final fate. Though Karellen is watching and listening to comfort him.
 Childhood's End / int_396e1c2a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_396e1c2a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_396e1c2a
 Childhood's End / int_3a90dc63
type
Aliens Are Bastards
 Childhood's End / int_3a90dc63
comment
Aliens Are Bastards: Played with. The Overlords arrive at Ricky's house, pull the door off its hinges, open the trap door to the basement and proceed to disassemble his house. It turns out that Ricky had already been informed that the Overlords wanted to speak to him personally, and this wasn't done out of malice but because of his Refusal of the Call. They're polite enough to reassemble it on request.
 Childhood's End / int_3a90dc63
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_3a90dc63
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_3a90dc63
 Childhood's End / int_3d64e6e9
type
Adaptational Comic Relief
 Childhood's End / int_3d64e6e9
comment
Adaptational Comic Relief: The Overlord Milo meets has a bit more of a lighthearted personality and an odd speech pattern than Karellen, adding some light fun to a serious ending.
 Childhood's End / int_3d64e6e9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_3d64e6e9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_3d64e6e9
 Childhood's End / int_45ad2569
type
Vagueness Is Coming
 Childhood's End / int_45ad2569
comment
Vagueness Is Coming: While it is understandable the Overlords don't want to come right out and say "We're here to direct your children to the next level of evolution. You can't come with them and your world will be destroyed", they still are more vague about their purposes than they need to be. Heck, the Overmind is capable of discussing this matter with Milo, why can't they explain it?
 Childhood's End / int_45ad2569
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_45ad2569
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_45ad2569
 Childhood's End / int_4a0f839d
type
Cessation of Existence
 Childhood's End / int_4a0f839d
comment
Cessation of Existence: Milo is concerned about whether or not if there's an afterlife for humans (and other non-evolved beings in the universe) to go to after they die. Nothing is said about it either way. Karellen implies to Milo that the dead live on only in the memories of the living.
 Childhood's End / int_4a0f839d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_4a0f839d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_4a0f839d
 Childhood's End / int_4aa5f9f7
type
Ominous Floating Spaceship
 Childhood's End / int_4aa5f9f7
comment
Ominous Floating Spaceship: Just as the original book. However in the book, before Karellen reveals himself, all the many ships over the other cities vanish, revealing that it was actually only one ship. If this was the case in the series, it is left ambiguous.
 Childhood's End / int_4aa5f9f7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_4aa5f9f7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_4aa5f9f7
 Childhood's End / int_4b4f6a2f
type
Mood-Swinger
 Childhood's End / int_4b4f6a2f
comment
Mood-Swinger: The children act like normal emotional kids, until their powers awaken and immediately knows it's time to go.
 Childhood's End / int_4b4f6a2f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_4b4f6a2f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_4b4f6a2f
 Childhood's End / int_50ed1af4
type
Our Demons Are Different
 Childhood's End / int_50ed1af4
comment
Our Demons Are Different: An interesting example. The reason mankind "made up" demons looking like they do in mythology is because of a pre-memory of the fact that they will eventually arrive and take the children. This point is brought up in the series when Milo talks to Rachel, but blink and you'll miss it.
 Childhood's End / int_50ed1af4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_50ed1af4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_50ed1af4
 Childhood's End / int_5a40d6a
type
Adaptation Distillation
 Childhood's End / int_5a40d6a
comment
Adaptation Distillation: In the book... Instead of the bullet wound Milo is inflicted with being transferred over to the shooternote That doesn't happen in the book at all, the book has a bullfight take place despite the overlords having expressly forbidden cruelty to animals. When the bullfighter stabs the bull at the end of the match, every spectator in the stadium and watching on TV feels the bull's pain. Rickynote who in the book is not a farmer but is the Secretary General of the United Nations, and meets with Karellen in a small room on the spaceship, not a hotel suite talks to a friend about the glass that Karellen hides behind and with some speculation they build a flashlight-like device that should allow Ricky to see through the glass. Ricky attempts this, but Karellen is one step ahead of him and manages to slip out - all Ricky sees is the hoofed foot still in the room as Karellen is stepping out and he hears Karellen laughing at Ricky's attempt to see him. This is in the series, but is merely Ricky taking a picture up against the glass. Milo ("Jan" in the book) gets a full tour of the Overlord's museums and specimens when he arrives at their planet. The ascended children are in the millions, and by the time they're ready to join the Overmind, Rodrick comments they now resemble fleshy, distorted beings, no longer recognizable as human. In the series, the children are only in the thousands, and appear no different than they did over a millenia ago when they first manifested their powers.
 Childhood's End / int_5a40d6a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_5a40d6a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_5a40d6a
 Childhood's End / int_5d397b9c
type
The Mountains of Illinois
 Childhood's End / int_5d397b9c
comment
The Mountains of Illinois: In some shots of Ricky's "Missouri" home there are some odd un-Missouri-like hills in the background.
 Childhood's End / int_5d397b9c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_5d397b9c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_5d397b9c
 Childhood's End / int_66181568
type
Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions
 Childhood's End / int_66181568
comment
Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions: It's made clear that with the coming of the Overlords, religion has faded away for most people, as all the things religions once sought to provide now have been (aside from immortality). Karellen doesn't actually demean it, saying Peretta's faith is "beautiful, like poetry", though telling her that not every religion can be right. The idea that it's wrong is too much for her, though, so like her mother she kills herself. Prior to this, we had seen her church already only drew a dozen or so people to mass on Sunday.
 Childhood's End / int_66181568
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_66181568
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_66181568
 Childhood's End / int_6d332aea
type
Driven to Suicide
 Childhood's End / int_6d332aea
comment
Driven to Suicide: Peretta says her mother was a devout Christian, but killed herself after the Overlords came (presumably as they provided the things which religion failed to). Wainwright is also found hanged in his office, apparently a suicide, when his Freedom League collapses. Peretta also kills herself at the end of Part II, after failing to kill Karellan and being told by him that "not all religions can be right", which causes her to lose what last grip she had on her faith and life completely. The audience is faked out with Tommy, who flings himself off a building but stops a few feet short of the ground. The leader of New Athens kills both himself and the entire city after hearing Karellen's final broadcast, similar to the book.
 Childhood's End / int_6d332aea
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_6d332aea
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_6d332aea
 Childhood's End / int_77063cd7
type
Hooker with a Heart of Gold
 Childhood's End / int_77063cd7
comment
Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Milo's mother. Though the series just barely shies away from saying it outright, it's fairly obvious.
 Childhood's End / int_77063cd7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_77063cd7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_77063cd7
 Childhood's End / int_771b9373
type
We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future
 Childhood's End / int_771b9373
comment
We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future: One of the gifts given by the Overlords is essentially perfect health. People can still die, but disease is a thing of the past.
 Childhood's End / int_771b9373
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_771b9373
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_771b9373
 Childhood's End / int_80251be3
type
How We Got Here
 Childhood's End / int_80251be3
comment
How We Got Here: The series begins with an older Milo Rodricks, the last living human on Earth, speaking with an Overlord probe just before he's about to die. The next six hours are a flashback to what led to the extinction of humanity.
 Childhood's End / int_80251be3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_80251be3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_80251be3
 Childhood's End / int_84c5ec0b
type
Free-Range Children
 Childhood's End / int_84c5ec0b
comment
Free-Range Children: Even with the children being the next step of human evolution with their own powers, the fact that so many children can be filling Jennifer's neighborhood without any adults wondering why all these kids are all over the lawn and the street and none of their parents has followed them there is pretty weird.
 Childhood's End / int_84c5ec0b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_84c5ec0b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_84c5ec0b
 Childhood's End / int_863fa679
type
What Happened to the Mouse?
 Childhood's End / int_863fa679
comment
What Happened to the Mouse?: As Ricky has phone trouble, a crop duster behind him slows and is lightly placed in the cornfield. We never see if the pilot (who was obviously dusting crops for Ricky) came over to Ricky or Ricky went over to him, or indeed what, exactly, any of the airborne people experienced. Milo's mother disappears after Part I. She's shown only in a photograph, which might imply that she's dead, but it's never said for certain either way.
 Childhood's End / int_863fa679
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_863fa679
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_863fa679
 Childhood's End / int_87b8f581
type
Refusal of the Call
 Childhood's End / int_87b8f581
comment
Refusal of the Call: Evidently Ricky was informed that Karellen wanted to speak to him personally when his dead wife appeared to him. When the Overlords show up, Ricky hides.
 Childhood's End / int_87b8f581
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_87b8f581
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_87b8f581
 Childhood's End / int_906ed7b4
type
Apocalypse Maiden
 Childhood's End / int_906ed7b4
comment
Apocalypse Maiden: Jennifer, who draws all the children of the world to her in a rapture-esque sequence. It takes over eighty years for them to fully end the world, however.
 Childhood's End / int_906ed7b4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_906ed7b4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_906ed7b4
 Childhood's End / int_91e894b4
type
Apocalypse How
 Childhood's End / int_91e894b4
comment
Apocalypse How: Class X: The ascended children of humanity consume Earth, making the planet implode, as they join the Overmind 85 years after the Overlords announced their true purpose.
 Childhood's End / int_91e894b4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_91e894b4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_91e894b4
 Childhood's End / int_9788e2b1
type
Black Dude Dies First
 Childhood's End / int_9788e2b1
comment
Black Dude Dies First: An interesting aversion - the main black character is the last living human by the time he dies.
 Childhood's End / int_9788e2b1
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Childhood's End / int_9788e2b1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_9788e2b1
 Childhood's End / int_9a69794d
type
AppropriatedAppelation
 Childhood's End / int_9a69794d
comment
Appropriated Appelation: The Overlords are named as such by the press. They just go with it, although Karellen considers it a little too bombastic.
 Childhood's End / int_9a69794d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_9a69794d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_9a69794d
 Childhood's End / int_a2ff4e6f
type
Single Tear
 Childhood's End / int_a2ff4e6f
comment
Single Tear: Karellen, as he watches Earth being destroyed.
 Childhood's End / int_a2ff4e6f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_a2ff4e6f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_a2ff4e6f
 Childhood's End / int_aa2bd65c
type
Mordor
 Childhood's End / int_aa2bd65c
comment
Tom Greggson mentions, in addition to the hellish landscape he sees in a vision, to also seeing a flaming eye.
 Childhood's End / int_aa2bd65c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_aa2bd65c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_aa2bd65c
 Childhood's End / int_bd2812b5
type
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence
 Childhood's End / int_bd2812b5
comment
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: The children born in the utopia created by the Overlords develop psychic abilities and eventually ascend their physical forms to join the cosmic Overmind, leaving their parents behind.
 Childhood's End / int_bd2812b5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_bd2812b5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_bd2812b5
 Childhood's End / int_bd80925e
type
Forced Perspective
 Childhood's End / int_bd80925e
comment
Forced Perspective: Karellen is big, and Charles Dance is not as big. Hence this is used in some shots like when Ricky is talking to Karellen in the barn. When Karellen is in a scene rarely do you see him interacting with the people around him.
 Childhood's End / int_bd80925e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_bd80925e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_bd80925e
 Childhood's End / int_bd8b2b0b
type
To Serve Man
 Childhood's End / int_bd8b2b0b
comment
To Serve Man: One of the Freedom League's ads raises this thought, depicting pigs being cared for before being led to slaughter and turned into sausages. Not the actual motivation of the Overlords, however.
 Childhood's End / int_bd8b2b0b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_bd8b2b0b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_bd8b2b0b
 Childhood's End / int_c45e0fea
type
Adaptational Timespan Change
 Childhood's End / int_c45e0fea
comment
Adaptational Timespan Change: The Overlords reveal themselves to mankind after fifty years in the novel. This is to give the older humans like Ricky a chance to die off so the Overlords reveal themselves to humans already accustomed to having Overlords. In the series, though, 15 years allows the main cast to remain through the entire series.
 Childhood's End / int_c45e0fea
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_c45e0fea
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_c45e0fea
 Childhood's End / int_c60a9136
type
Ultimate Life Form
 Childhood's End / int_c60a9136
comment
Ultimate Life Form: The Overmind, a Hive Mind made up of countless evolved children of many species.
 Childhood's End / int_c60a9136
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_c60a9136
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_c60a9136
 Childhood's End / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 Childhood's End / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: Milo's mother mentions the Aliens from Signs. When the Overlords arrive ready to completely dismantle Ricky's house to encourage him to come out, it's very similar to when the Aliens arrive for Barry in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. A TV in the background is showing Battlestar Galactica as the Overlord ships first appear. Specifically, it's the fall of the twelve colonies. When asked what to name the aliens, the first suggestion is the Visitors. Tom Greggson mentions, in addition to the hellish landscape he sees in a vision, to also seeing a flaming eye. The Beam that Jennifer creates (along with its apparent counterpart on the Overlords' home-world) to merge with the Overmind brings the Bifrost to mind. Little Richard's version of "Keep A-Knockin'" was used in a similar way in Christine when someone was being denied parlay.
 Childhood's End / int_c75df49a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_c75df49a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_c75df49a
 Childhood's End / int_c8d6d621
type
I Will Wait for You
 Childhood's End / int_c8d6d621
comment
I Will Wait for You: Rachel to Milo, just before he stows away on an Overlord ship. Unfortunately she dies long before he comes back, and if the state of her frozen corpse is anything to go by, she dies relatively young.
 Childhood's End / int_c8d6d621
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_c8d6d621
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_c8d6d621
 Childhood's End / int_d32d01aa
type
Sterility Plague
 Childhood's End / int_d32d01aa
comment
Sterility Plague: Once the children are ready to ascend (specifically, Jennifer), unevolved humans are no longer able to bear more, which leads to the end of humanity.
 Childhood's End / int_d32d01aa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_d32d01aa
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_d32d01aa
 Childhood's End / int_d54fa1a6
type
Magic Antidote
 Childhood's End / int_d54fa1a6
comment
Magic Antidote: Karellen gives one to Ricky to cure the debilitating illness that will eventually kill him. Ricky ends up using it not on himself, but to save Karellen's life after Peretta shoots him with a shotgun.
 Childhood's End / int_d54fa1a6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_d54fa1a6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_d54fa1a6
 Childhood's End / int_d8ec79d5
type
Benevolent Alien Invasion
 Childhood's End / int_d8ec79d5
comment
Benevolent Alien Invasion: The Overlords stop all wars, switch humanity over to clean energy sources, cure all disease, extend lifespans, and so forth. It's even lampshaded as being an "awfully considerate" invasion. At the end of it, all humanity is rendered sterile and their children are stolen, but the overlords nevertheless left them with a paradise to live out their remaining days. The series generally tries to keep it a mystery whether the Overlords are actually trying to help or whether they have darker motives, with the trailer for the finale playing up the latter possibility, before it finally turns out that they were helping all along.
 Childhood's End / int_d8ec79d5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_d8ec79d5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_d8ec79d5
 Childhood's End / int_d99a228f
type
Unusually Uninteresting Sight
 Childhood's End / int_d99a228f
comment
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The mass of children surrounding Jennifer's house has not lead local homeowners to call the police or ask for them to get off their lawns or resulted in frantic parents following their children there. See Free-Range Children, above.
 Childhood's End / int_d99a228f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_d99a228f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_d99a228f
 Childhood's End / int_e42e91b4
type
Godwin's Law
 Childhood's End / int_e42e91b4
comment
Godwin's Law: One of the Freedom League adverts compares the Overlords to Hitler, in that their seeming benevolence will give way to something evil.
 Childhood's End / int_e42e91b4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_e42e91b4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_e42e91b4
 Childhood's End / int_e6558beb
type
Artistic License – Space
 Childhood's End / int_e6558beb
comment
Artistic License – Space: The glyphs the Overlords use to communicate amongst themselves are in the shapes of constellations as seen from Earth's sky. If this system of writing had really been invented by the Overlords, they would most likely have used the shapes of constellations from their own homeworld's sky. Constellations are imaginary patterns and only exist from a certain point of reference; people standing in another part of the universe would see different shapes even if some of them contained the same stars. And naturally, their own sun wouldn't be visible among their constellations. Where the scientist first talks about the "Carina system," there seems to be a great deal of confusion in the script between star systems and constellations. Carina is a constellation; any star system would be named after one of the stars in the constellation of Carina, e.g. Eta Carinae, not the constellation as a whole.
 Childhood's End / int_e6558beb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_e6558beb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_e6558beb
 Childhood's End / int_e9f517e1
type
Artistic License – Geography
 Childhood's End / int_e9f517e1
comment
Artistic License – Geography: As the Overlords arrive, it's daytime in Missouri and in Mumbai - at least one should be in darkness or twilight. Even the news broadcasts show no locations with darkness.
 Childhood's End / int_e9f517e1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_e9f517e1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_e9f517e1
 Childhood's End / int_f3d5d15f
type
Creepy Child
 Childhood's End / int_f3d5d15f
comment
Creepy Child: The masses of children speaking and acting in unison.
 Childhood's End / int_f3d5d15f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_f3d5d15f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_f3d5d15f
 Childhood's End / int_fdbdc112
type
Practical Effects
 Childhood's End / int_fdbdc112
comment
Practical Effects: Because the look of the Overlords was a closely kept secret to add oomph to The Reveal, viewers were surprised to see that Karellen was Charles Dance in costume, and not a voiced CGI character as they expected.
 Childhood's End / int_fdbdc112
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_fdbdc112
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_fdbdc112
 Childhood's End / int_name
type
ItemName
 Childhood's End / int_name
comment
 Childhood's End / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 Childhood's End / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Childhood's End / int_name
 Childhood's End / int_name
itemName
Childhood's End

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Adaptational Timespan Change / int_221f2dd9
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Artistic License – Space / int_221f2dd9
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Disabled in the Adaptation / int_221f2dd9
 Childhood's End
hasFeature
Throwing Off the Disability / int_221f2dd9