History YMMV / ChildhoodsEnd

* {{Designated Hero}}es: The Overlords. See EsotericHappyEnding below.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: While the Overlords are benevolent, and their takeover of Earth was done peacefully, they still were able to do it thanks to being far more technologically advanced, meaning the moral is still basically that MightMakesRight.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Karellen [[spoiler: literally looking like the Devil]], though that was probably the point the filmmakers were trying to make. The Overlords of the novel [[spoiler: did resemble the Devil, but not blatantly so]].

* EsotericHappyEnding: The Overlords think it's a happy ending, the idea that the children of [[spoiler: the final generation of humans AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence]], but it still involves [[spoiler: the extinction of humanity, and the "ascended" children are a bunch of feral psychic monsters that get assimilated into a HiveMind. Not to mention the Overmind has done this possibly hundreds of sentient races, and only the Overlords say this is a good thing]]. If a different science fiction work kept the same basic plot and cast the aliens as villains, most people wouldn't question their action as villainous.

* NightmareFuel: When the Overlords announce [[spoiler: there will be no more children born on Earth,]] there is a shot of a pregnant woman - whose stomach ''deflates'' as she screams in horror.

* {{Narm}}: When Karellen finally makes his public appearance. What's supposed to be a shocking revelation, its hard not to laugh [[spoiler: at something that resembles Creator/TimCurry's [[Film/{{Legend 1985}} Lord of Darkness]].]]

* {{Narm}}: When Karellen finally makes his public appearance. What's supposed to be a shocking revelation, its hard not to laugh [[spoiler: at something that resembles Tim Curry's [[Film/{{Legend}} Lord of Darkness]].]]

** [[spoiler: Milo's return to Earth, and Earth's end.]]

* RomanticPlotTumor: Ricky's love problem and Milo's girlfriend. Neither advance the plot of the overlords in a way that couldn't be done with non-romance threads, and are mostly just there to appeal to the LowestCommonDenominator in what is a very hard science fiction story.

!!Tropes in the film

* OlderThanTheyThink: Clarke joked in his updated prologue that new readers will think that the opening scene with the fleet of alien ships blocking the sun was ripped off from ''Film/IndependenceDay'' (despite this being written in ''1953''!).
-->"...I am also informed that [[Film/IndependenceDay its]] opening is identical to that of ''[[ChildhoodsEnd Childhood's End]]'' (1953) and that it contains [[ClicheStorm every known science fiction cliché]] since Méliès' ''Film/ATripToTheMoon'' (1903)."
--->-- '''Arthur C. Clarke''', in the Sources and Acknowledgments section of ''3001''

* OlderThanTheyThink: Clarke joked in his updated prologue that new readers will think that the opening scene with the fleet of alien ships blocking the sun was ripped off from ''Film/IndependenceDay'' (despite this being written in ''1953''!). In fact, Clarke himself knew of an even earlier story with the same scene.

* EsotericHappyEnding: The Overlords think it's a happy ending, and the idea is that the children of [[spoiler: the last generation of humans AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence]], but it also involves [[spoiler: the extinction of humans as a species, and the children are ''incredibly'' creepy. Not to mention the fact that the Overmind has done this possibly hundreds of sentient races]]. If a different science fiction work kept the same basic plot and cast the aliens as villains, most people wouldn't bat an eye.

-->"...I am also informed that [[Film/IndependenceDay its]] opening is identical to that of ''[[ChildhoodsEnd Childhood's End]]'' (1953) and that it contains [[ClicheStorm every known science fiction cliché]] since Méliès' ''ATripToTheMoon'' (1903)."

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: It's deliberately left ambiguous [[spoiler: if the Overmind is just in it's manipulation and eventual assimilation of sentient races. The Overlords believe that it's a good thing, but they're basically the Overmind's slaves.]]

* EsotericHappyEnding: The Overlords think it's a happy ending, and the idea is that the children of [[spoiler: the last generation of humans AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence]], but it also involves [[spoiler: the extinction of humans as a species, and the children are ''incredibly'' creepy]]. If a different science fiction work kept the same basic plot and cast the aliens as villains, most people wouldn't bat an eye.

** It also attempts to challenge racism through making "nigger" a polite description no more taboo than "republican". Becomes [[HilariousInHindsight oddly prescient]] when you think about its not-too-different modern use ([[NWordPrivileges within the race]]).

** It also attempts to challenge racism through making "nigger" a polite description no more taboo than "republican".