{"id":19534,"date":"2015-12-14T23:20:50","date_gmt":"2015-12-14T15:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/cant-wait-for-star-wars-the-force-is-strong-with-childhoods-end-and-the-expanse-on-tv\/"},"modified":"2015-12-14T23:20:50","modified_gmt":"2015-12-14T15:20:50","slug":"cant-wait-for-star-wars-the-force-is-strong-with-childhoods-end-and-the-expanse-on-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/cant-wait-for-star-wars-the-force-is-strong-with-childhoods-end-and-the-expanse-on-tv\/","title":{"rendered":"Can\u2019t wait for \u2018Star Wars\u2019? The force is strong with \u2018Childhood\u2019s End\u2019 and \u2018The Expanse\u2019 on TV"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cas
Like Han Solo, spaceship pilot Alex Kamal (played by Cas Anvar) has a complicated past in \u201cThe Expanse,\u201d which has its TV premiere on Syfy tonight. (Photo by: Rafy\/Syfy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While you\u2019re waiting for \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens\u201d to invade theaters this week, you can tune in a couple of other star wars on TV \u2013 with settings and themes that hit much closer to home than the goings-on in a galaxy far, far away.<\/p>\n

Starting tonight, the Syfy channel is bringing two classic science-fiction sagas to the small screen: Arthur C. Clarke\u2019s \u201cChildhood\u2019s End,\u201d a novel about space aliens that was written before dawn of the Space Age; and \u201cThe Expanse,\u201d a series of future-looking novels and short stories by James S.A. Corey (the pen name for collaborators Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck).<\/p>\n

The Expanse<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cThe Expanse\u201d weaves a tale of battle and intrigue involving Earth, Mars, Ceres, an Outer Planet Alliance and even the Mormons, in a style that\u2019s been compared to \u201cGame of Thrones.\u201d The novels and Syfy\u2019s adaptation have won the endorsement of none other than George R.R. Martin, who\u2019s been writing the novels on which the \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d sex-sword-and-sorcery series is based:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the show that fandom has been waiting for since \u2018Firefly\u2019 and \u2018Battlestar Galactica\u2019 left the air \u2026 a real kickass spaceship show, done right,\u201d Martin wrote after hosting the world premiere at his theater in Santa Fe.<\/p>\n

Who am I to argue with George Frickin\u2019 R.R. Martin? Fortunately, I don\u2019t have to. After previewing the first four episodes, I\u2019m hooked. \u201cThe Expanse\u201d has all the gritty feel of the aforementioned space operas. And if it\u2019s sometimes confusing to keep track of all the connections between characters \u2013 ranging from a mysteriously missing interplanetary heiress to an asteroid-belt gumshoe with the \u201cBlade Runner\u201d mojo of Agent Deckard \u2013 don\u2019t panic. I think it\u2019s supposed to be that way.<\/p>\n

Eventually you\u2019ll find yourself rooting for Earth, Mars or the OPA the way \u201cGoT\u201d fans root for Jon Snow or Daenerys Targaryen. (Buzz Aldrin has already picked his team.)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FvZeQD1Vf2s<\/p>\n

Childhood\u2019s End<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Speaking of \u201cGame of Thrones,\u201d one of the bad guys from that HBO series is playing a key role in Syfy\u2019s \u201cChildhood\u2019s End.\u201d In \u201cGame of Thrones,\u201d Charles Dance pulled the strings behind the scenes as Lord Tywin Lannister, until that character met with an ignoble end at the end of Season 4. Tonight, Dance resurfaces as Karellen, the alien overlord who arrives with a fleet of spaceships to oversee Earth\u2019s pacification.<\/p>\n

The three-part miniseries may sound as if it\u2019s starting down the same road as \u201cIndependence Day,\u201d but Clarke had something more cerebral in mind when he wrote the book in 1953. These aliens are so powerful that Earth can\u2019t put up much of a fight, and soon it looks as if the planet is really on its way to becoming a paradise. Nevertheless, the earthlings wonder who these unseen aliens really are \u2013 and wonder how much of a point there is to life when superintelligent beings have everything figured out.<\/p>\n

Syfy\u2019s adaptation adds some twists to the novel\u2019s plot: For example, the overlords\u2019 chosen emissary is a Missouri farmer in the mold of sci-fi movies such as \u201cSigns\u201d or \u201cInterstellar,\u201d rather than a Finnish-born U.N. secretary general. But like the book, the miniseries gets into big questions that are, if anything, more pointed than they were in the 1950s: What\u2019s technology doing to us? What do scientific advances mean for religion? How do you balance freedom and security? And what\u2019s the ultimate meaning of our existence?<\/p>\n