Syfy Monday looked to drum up noise for tonight’s premiere of mini-series Childhood’s End with a street-based marketing campaign based on the show’s portrayal of an alien invasion.

Syfy today in New York City dispatched hundreds of volunteers in all white attire to hand out gift cards branded with the hastag #ThankYouKarellen in recognition of Childhood's End's central alien character Karellen, who oversees the Earth following the peaceful invasion by the alien “Overlords."

In addition to the $5 gift cards, Syfy on Monday also made donations to five Salvation Army kettle collectors around Manhattan.  At the end of the series event – which is based on Arthur C. Clarke’s novel –Syfy also said it will donate 100 coats, scarves, gloves and hats to the New York Cares coat drive. (see a review of the series here)

The network’s marketing campaign for Childhood’s End follows the network’s early video-on-demand preview for another new series, The Expanse (see review), which also premieres tonight. Syfy made available the first episode of the space-themed series on various VOD, TV Everywhere and digital platforms a full month in advance of tonight’s debut.

Childhood’s End, based on the popular science-fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke, begins with an alien invasion in 2016, but unlike other portrayals of extraterrestrial beings coming down to destroy earth, these “overlords” come in peace. In fact, the aliens actually bring about peace around the world as they quickly eradicate poverty, disease, hunger and any form of violence, from countries dropping bombs on their enemies to a local drug dealer shooting people after a deal gone bad.

The aliens chose a human, Missouri farmer Ricky Stormgren (Mike Vogel), to deliver its messages to the people, and he is quickly smitten by the aliens’ overtures. The only unsettling thing regarding the visitors is their reluctance to reveal themselves to the world, fearing that their appearance would be disturbing.

After years of relative calm and peace, the aliens — headed by a leader named Karellen (Charles Dance) — become accepted by the public at large. Others are not convinced that the aliens have humanity’s best interest at heart, though, and believe their benevolence is too good to be true.

The idea of an alien invasion is not new and has been portrayed many times both on film and on the small screen. But Syfy finds a way to distinguish itself from the others by providing an interesting and somewhat unsettling story that reveals a lot about human nature, morality and who is ultimately responsible for one’s own happiness and contentment.

Syfy has tapped Charles Dance to appear in its upcoming six-hour miniseries Childhood’s End, the network said Monday.

Dance (Game of Thrones, Phantom of the Opera) will play alien Overlord “Karellen” in the mini-series, which follows the peaceful invasion of Earth by mysterious Overlords, according to the network.

Akiva Goldsman (Lone Survivor, A Beautiful Mind, I Am Legend) and Mike DeLuca (Captain Philips, Moneyball, The Social Network) will serve as executive producers for Childhood’s End, which will be produced by Universal Cable Productions and Syfy.

“We are thrilled that Charles has picked Childhood’s End following his amazing work in Game of Thrones,” said Bill McGoldrick, Executive Vice President, Original Content for Syfy in a statement.