Syfy's 'Childhood's End' Proves There's No Easy Fix For Humanity's Problems

How do you bring a classic work of science fiction that's as much about grand ideas as plot, and replaces its main cast midway through the book, to the screen? As the cast and crew of Syfy's adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End told their San Diego Comic-Con audience Saturday morning, the key is in humanizing the subject.

"The story is about the lives of the human beings who are affected by a giant event," said director Nick Hurran of the story in which humanity is offered the chance to solve all its problems by an alien who claims to be Earth's administrator (Charles Dance). "As much as its about the giant event, it's really about the effect that has on a number of human beings. Is it 'be careful what you wish for?' There's a telling passage in the book that says, 'the only enemy of utopia is boredom.'"

"There's nothing appealing about utopia," screenwriter Matthew Graham added, expanding on that idea. "You don't want to make it a place for people to want to live in, and we're certainly not trying to sell you guys on the idea of utopia. We're trying to say that when you take away pain and suffering, it's actually kind of dull."

Julian McMahon, who plays the self-described "naive" billionaire Dr. Rupert Boyce, said that he's scared of the utopia created in the story — although part of that might be down to the name given to the aliens responsible. "The governing body in this piece is also called 'the Overlords,' and that just doesn't sit with me either," he said, laughing. "We might not be too comfortable with the idea of government these days, but 'Overlords' suggests we have no freedom at all."

The other actors who appeared in the panel seemed to agree with this anti-utopian worldview. "I realized my utopia would have a lot of what happens on the book on a grand scheme, but one person's utopia is not the same as another," Daisy Betts, who described her character Ellie as the heart of the show, said. "How can there be a prescribed utopia that makes everybody happy?"

Yael Stone, whose character Peretta rebels against the Overlords, admitted that while she might "sell part of [her] soul" if aliens offered the chance to repair the environment damage humans have created, suggested that it only makes sense for people to be suspicious of any quick fixes. "Ehen we look at our human history, whenever someone says, 'I have the answer, I can solve everything,' you have to ask what's going on," she said. "I'm very skeptical of someone who claims they have the answer."

Answering fan concerns about how true the series will stay to the original book, Graham said, that he "tried to preserve what was important about the book. If I left anything out, Nick would come up to me with the book, with passages underscored to say, 'what about this?' It's challenging to decide how to fix the world in 88 minutes. You have to show minutes and hope the audience fills in the rest. You cn't go into too much detail, otherwise it starts to turn the story into a fairy tale. That was the biggest challenge, and also the most fun."

Although no spoilers were given, staying true to the novel means that the utopia created comes with its own problems — and Curran and Graham confirmed that the ending of the novel is the end of the book, as final as that might sound. "The title of the series tells you all you need to know about the ending," Curran teased. All will be revealed when Childhood's End debuts on Syfy in December.

'Childhood's End' Producers Talk Long Road to Adaptation

One of the most revered works of science fiction, Arthur C. Clarke's 1953 novel Childhood's End has famously never been adapted to for the screen. That changes Dec. 14 when Syfy debuts the long-gestating miniseries based on the book.

The 62-year wait puts a bit of pressure on the project, something executive producers Matthew Graham and Michael De Luca were quite aware of when they set out to make the six-hour series about an earth coerced into a utopia by mysterious aliens.

"As people who love the book ourselves, we felt a responsibility to do it justice — mostly we came from a place of wanting to please ourselves," said De Luca. "In doing that, we think we'll please the fans."

Graham, who also penned the project, said the same pressure is on those who've done adaptations of the many works of William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. "You're going to be faced with the same or even greater sense of custodianship," he said. "You can't let that stymie yourself. You can't change the book. It will always be the same book."

One reporter pushed them on whether the tone of the project would have been different had it been filmed closer to its publication and before events like the attacks on Sept. 11 and increased global conflicts. There's no difference to making the show now than in the 1950s," said Graham. "All of the stakes we live in under the moment seem almost indistinguishable to me."

Graham, who says he first read the book when he was 14, admitted he never wondered why it hadn't been made into a film or television series at the time. "I didn't think of it being a movie," he said. "I just remember being obsessed with what the overlords looked like as he teased that out over the course of the book."

Speaking of which, the image of the omnipresent alien Karellen, voiced here by Charles Dance, will hold up to what is described in the novel.

"To those people who have read the book, I assure you that Karellen is the Karellen of the book," insisted Graham. "He is not taken metaphorically. It would be crazy to deviate from what Arthur C Clarke did."