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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Childhood's End (Blu-ray) (2015)

Childhood's End (Blu-ray) (2015)

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Released 5-Apr-2017

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category TV Drama Series Deleted Scenes-for all three parts, totalling 68:05 min.
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2015
Running Time 246:47
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered
Dual Disc Set
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Nick Hurran
Studio
Distributor
ViaVision Starring Mike Vogel
Osy Ikhile
Georgina Haig
Ashley Zukerman
Hayley Magnus
Daisy Betts
Charles Dance
Julian McMahon
Colm Meaney
Yael Stone
Lachlan Roland-Kenn
Case ?
RPI ? Music Charlie Clouser


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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Plot Synopsis

     Childhood’s End, based on the 1953 novel by Arthur C. Clarke, is a TV mini-series that was shot in Australia and shown on the Syfy channel in three movie length parts over three nights in December 2015.

Part 1: The Overlords (81:55)

     It is 2016 and humans are destroying the planet, and themselves, through global warming, pollution, war, disease, poverty, injustice and famine. Suddenly gigantic space craft appear in the sky over all the major cities of the world, all mobile phones fail, aircraft stop dead in mid-flight and gently subside back to earth and people who have died reappear to their loved ones to reassure them that the aliens mean no harm and have come in peace for the benefit of humankind and the planet. Ricky Stormgren (Mike Vogel), a farmer from Missouri, is selected by the aliens as an intermediary between themselves and humans and is taken up by an alien craft and transported to a reconstruction of the hotel suite where he spent his honeymoon, where he reconnects with his wife Annabel (Georgina Haig) who has been dead for five years.

     There Ricky has conversations with an unseen alien who calls himself Karellen (Charles Dance), the “Supervisor for Earth”, and he is told that Karellen wants to eliminate war, poverty and disease and bring in an era of peaceful prosperity. Ricky, chaperoned by Secret Service agent Paul Danlow (Don Hany), reports the conversations to the government and tries to lead a normal life with his fiancé Ellie (Daisy Betts) despite all the media attention and the people who camp outside his farm fence. However, there is opposition to the aliens and a group called the Freedom League is formed, financed by media mogul Hugo Wainwright (Colm Meaney). And more subtle opposition comes from a young religious girl, Peretta (Lara Robinson), who believes that the aliens have destroyed belief in God.

     In a parallel story, a crippled young Negro boy Milo (Darius Amarfio Jefferson), who has a very enquiring mind and his own theories about the aliens, lives in a New York tenement with his mother. When he is shot and killed by a man dealing drugs to Milo’s mother he is miraculously revived and his disability cured. Fifteen years later Milo (now played by Osy Ikhile) has graduated from university as an Astro-physicist. There is peace and plenty on the Earth, wars, famine and disease have disappeared. And, as the episode ends, Karellen finally shows himself to humans.

Part 2: The Deceivers (85:13)

     Twenty years after the aliens first appeared, the earth is a Utopia governed by a World Federation; there is no war, no pollution as the power is provided by renewable, clean energy, no injustice, plenty to eat and the alien spacecraft continue to hover overhead. Ricky Stormgren is slowly dying, poisoned by his interaction with Karellen’s spacecraft and is trying to be happy with Ellie. Milo has been working in the research facility in Africa of Dr Rupert Boyce (Julian McMahon), but has been put off as all scientific research has been suspended. Instead Dr Boyce is now in communication with Karellen, collecting animals to be cryogenically vacuum packed and sent to Karellen’s home planet. Milo however is still obsessed with finding out all he can about the aliens and he is helped by Rachel (Charlotte Nicdao), who still works for Dr Boyce.

     The main focus of this middle part of the mini-series, however, is the Greggson family; father Jake (Ashley Zukerman), son Tommy (Lachlan Roland-Kenn) and mother Amy (Hayley Magnus) who is pregnant with a daughter they have decided to name Jennifer. The parents are distressed because Tommy is behaving very strangely and they call in Peretta (now played as an adult by Yael Stone), who is now a counsellor but who has retained her religious convictions and distrust of the aliens. When talking to Tommy Peretta becomes convinced that his claim to having been taken to another planet by the Overlords is not his imagination, but real. She believes that the Overlords are deceiving humanity about their true intentions but when no-one else seems to understand she falls back onto her faith and travels to the Stormgren farm in Missouri where she starts to become friendly with Ellie.

     In Africa Dr Boyce hosts a function with a guest list nominated by Karellen; the Greggson family are all invited and flown over from America. At the function Karellen is the surprise guest of honour. He talks to the assembled dignitaries about “your successors” and he shows a special interest in Amy and her unborn baby. Tommy, meanwhile, displays some unusual powers.

Part 3: The Children (79:39)

     It is four years since Amy’s daughter Jennifer has been born. The human race is evolving; all the children born have kinetic powers and a telepathic connection with each other but are primarily linked through Jennifer, the four year old who is the key to what is happening. Fearful for their children, Jake and Amy take them to New Athens, the last free city on the planet; run by Jerry Hallcross (Tanc Sade) this is the last place where human arts and culture is still practised. In Missouri Ricky is very sick and in pain and Karellen offers him eternity in the hotel suite where he spent his honeymoon with Annabel. In Africa Milo convinces Rachel to cryogenically vacuum pack him and to smuggle him onto an alien spacecraft with the next batch of animals being sent to the alien’s home planet. But it seems that the fate of the Earth has already been determined.

     Childhood’s End could never be accused of being short of themes or ideas, in fact there are so many that it sometimes fails to gel and bursts at the seams. The themes include the destruction of the planet by humans through pollution, overpopulation, war and famine, thoughts about God, culture, art, science and free will plus the question of what, for prosperity, peace and the end of famine, injustice and war, would we be prepared to give up? What is human life without struggle? Is struggle necessary for the flowering of arts, culture and scientific enquiry? These are intelligent, thought-provoking questions and a heady, complex mix.

     In delving into these themes, and more, Childhood’s End is by turns scary, sad, melancholy, confusing, exciting and poignant. It manages its complexity by being essentially four different stories which only marginally intersect. For example, the sections concerning Ricky are about memory, time and immortality, while Peretta’s is about faith, a theme which is raised but then drops out in the last part. The Milo sections are about knowledge and scientific enquiry while the Greggson’s are about evolution, and family. This means that characters and themes can and do disappear from the plot for extended periods. The earlier episodes are the best as they have mystery and concentrate on people, but as the series develops it becomes quite outlandish and does not really resolve the questions it raises.

     Despite this, the series keeps one interested due to the likeability of the major characters, the good sets and production values. The CGI is of course not up to major big budget Hollywood standards, but it is more than adequate and works because the focus is kept firmly on the human (and alien) characters rather than special effects; we see enough without the CGI dominating.

     The very first scene in Part 1 of Childhood’s End shows Milo in a ruined urban environment saying that he is the last human on earth. Thus, right from the start we know that this is not going to end well for humanity. The climax, and the conclusion, of the series is a downer but taken as a warning about mankind’s inhumanity to fellow humans, and the desolation of the planet, the warning is probably even more compelling today than when Clarke was writing in the 1950s.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Childhood’s End is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, the original broadcast ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG 4 AVC code.

     This is a recent TV mini-series, filmed using digital cameras, so detail is clean and sharp. Colours, especially the greens of the fields, are rich and natural. Blacks and shadow detail are very good, skin tones natural, brightness and contrast consistent.

     I noticed no marks or artefacts.

     English subtitles are available in a clear white font.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is English DTS HD-MA 5.1.

     Dialogue is easy to understand. Effects and the music were clean. The surrounds and rears are frequently used for crowds and ambient effects, plus directional panning for small spacecraft and they could be very loud and enveloping when needed, such as the sequence where Ricky’s house came apart piece by piece or the craft leaving Earth. The sub-woofer added rumble to the space craft and other effects.

     The original score by Charlie Clouser was dramatic, poignant and sad at various times.

     I did not notice any lip synchronization issues.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Disc 1

”The Overlords” Deleted Scenes (28:45)

     There are 13 deleted and extended scenes; quite a few show Jake and Amy as young people before they get married and Amy’s illness that is mentioned in the subsequent parts. In the extended scene where Ricky first converses with Karellen the cameraman and boom appear in the mirror a few times. Before each scene there is a text screen naming the scene. The scenes can be selected individually or there is a play all option.

Disc 2

”The Deceivers” Deleted Scenes (18:49)

     15 deleted scenes. There are a couple involving Karellen where the CGI of his wings and legs is not complete. Before each scene there is a text screen naming the scene. The scenes can be selected individually or there is a play all option.

”The Children” Deleted Scenes (20:31)

     12 deleted and extended scenes. A number show actors before a green screen and incomplete CGI; the last has sketches and a boom showing. Before each scene there is a text screen naming the scene. The scenes can be selected individually or there is a play all option.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     Our Blu-ray of Children’s End is identical to the US release.

Summary

     Childhood’s End is complex, compelling, intelligent and thought provoking television. For prosperity, peace, the end of famine, injustice and war, what would humanity be prepared to give up? Science fiction can ask such questions of course but it is not all fiction for throughout our history people have given up control of their lives if the trains run on time! But, as the mini-series indicates, there is always a price to pay!!

     The video and audio are good. Extras are an extensive array of deleted scenes.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE