To make a titanic work of science fiction, one might think one would need to come up with a titanically long book – maybe even a titanically long series to qualify *cough* Dune *cough wheeze*. Ahem.

Mike Vogel as Ricky Stormgren with his rifle on a tractor on the poster for 'Childhood's End' Image via SYFY In traditional science fiction, there are few names as recognizable as Arthur C. Clarke.