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[lt519]

Here's how you can watch:

Season 1 has ended but re-runs will occur throughout the year on SyFy for the US and on Space for Canada with no current broadcast plans for other international locations. Rights are owned Internationally by Legendary but have not been acted on. Subscription services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime have not been announced. A Blu-Ray/DVD release is scheduled for April 5, 2016.

Streaming with an ISP:
SyFy
Hulu

Pay for Streaming (9 episode season with the first episode free on YouTube via TheExpanse account):
Amazon ($19.99 season/ $2.99 ep)
Google Play ($16.99 season/ $1.99 ep)
iTunes ($19.99 season/ $2.99 ep)

Not convinced? Here's a trailer:

The Expanse Trailer

Still not convinced?

Well it's SyFy and I don't blame you, so keep reading. If you're concerned it'll just get cancelled even if it is good, at least know they've green-lit a second season and have ordered more episodes than originally planned (13 instead of 10).

Variety: ‘The Expanse’ Gets Season 2 on Syfy.

Or watch the intro, intro's are cool.

What is The Expanse?

From SyFy and also the Episode 1 Intro:

Hundreds of years in the future, humans have colonized the solar system. The U.N. controls Earth. Mars is an independent military power. The planets rely on the resources of the Asteroid Belt, where air and water are more precious than gold. For decades, tensions have been rising between these three places. Earth, Mars and the Belt are now on the brink of war. And all it will take is a single spark.

The story follows three main characters: Detective Miller, a "Belter," on the Ceres station played by Thomas Jane (The Punisher, Hung) working on the missing case of rich bachelor-ette Julie Mao. U.N. politician and "Earther" Chrisjen Avasarala, played by Shohreh Aghdashloo, keeping the "peace" between Mars, Earth, and the Belt. And finally Holden, played by Steven Strait (Magic City), a worker on the ice transporter The Canterbury making a discovery that could upset the balance of the whole solar system. Will their stories be linked? Well yes it's still a TV Show.

Source material?

The Expanse is based on the series The Expanse starting with Hugo nominee Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (pen name for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). The source material is often hyped up by Daniel Abraham having worked with George RR Martin and the idea of The Expanse starting as a table top game played by the group. George RR Martin even likes to call it Game of Thrones in space. There are currently 5 books, in order: Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War, Abaddon's Gate, Cibola Burn, and Nemesis Games. A new book is planned for a summer release this year and 9 books total are planned. There are a few short novellas to expand on characters' history and other important events in the book universe: Drive (Prequel free via the SyFy website), The Butcher of Anderson Station, The Churn, Gods of Risk, The Vital Abyss.

Who's running the show?

Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby who have a fairly decent track record with Children of Men and Iron Man. Read this interesting interview:

Into The Expanse

So what makes this special?

Technology hasn't propelled Humans into immortality, it hasn't made them Cyborgs, and space travel is still a bitch. While the setting is in space the story is rooted in the characters. The show's attempt, per Fergus and Ostby, is to follow the Game of Thrones mantra of storytelling through immersion. There is no exposition of the world and there is no character dialogue just to explain things; it's game on from the start. While liberties are taken the material does it's best to stick to the laws of physics and reality. Faster than Light travel doesn't exist, growing up in low gravity has its effects, and yes New York City has finally flooded. Episode 1 dedicates an entire cinematic sequence to a massive ship turning around, exhilarating.

Does it follow the books?

Season 1 covered about 75% of Leviathan Wakes and adds the character Avasarala to provide an Earther point of view. The show makes minor changes, introducing some new characters and some book characters past the first book, but maintains a very true adaptation of the novels.

If you are a non-book reader beware that spoilers tagged as Leviathan Wakes or Book 1 may contain spoilers for Season 2 of the show.

I watched and have no clue what is going on!

It's going to be tough, they aren't spending much time on setting up the world. Here are a couple quick hitters that may be helpful. Some belters speak a slang that is basically gibberish, you won't understand it and you don't have to. Ceres is in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter and serves as a hub for miners of the Jovian system. If you want more the official website has plenty of information through interactive media and even a free novella prequel setting up the universe. But don't worry you'll catch up with the story as the show goes along, the writers are aware of the hurdles. Most importantly at it's heart it plays out like a mystery show, so have fun trying to piece it all together!

So is it good?

Season 1 is finally over so I can give my full opinion as a book reader. Yes! It was a fantastic season of television that hit right at home with my newly found space opera obsession. Some mid-season lulls and a couple "low-budget" chuckle moments (this show is anything but low budget, but space is hard to do!) are largely overshadowed by excellent CGI, set work, and a phenomenal attention to detail. The source material was great to start with and they did a fantastic job realizing it on the screen. Critics went from raving to slightly pessimistic after the first four episodes and the ones that stuck around largely loved the payoff at the end of the season.

Season Finale Reviews/Reactions (Spoilers in the actual reviews):

TV.com -- Into the Unknown

All of it—the cast, the mood, the visuals—added up to one incredibly impressive first season of hard science-fiction.

A.V Club

Going forward, I’m crossing my fingers that The Expanse will find a way to augment its beauty and melancholy with some bigger narrative risks. There are signs of the writers getting more adventurous in the season’s latter half; here’s hoping the trend continues.

TV Fanatic

That was one hell of a finale, wasn't it? What a terrific season of television!...We've been asking for less ghost shows, wrestling and more sci-fi for years now. It's safe to say Syfy has delivered big time with The Expanse. Let's show them we're grateful by supporting the network and introducing new fans to the series. This incredible story simply has to continue.

io9/Gizmodo: How The Expanse Pulled Off Two Miracles at the Same Time

The Expanse just finished its first season—leaving us with ten episodes of a show which beat all our highest expectations and made Syfy a destination in a way that it hasn’t been since Battlestar Galactica. How?

IndieWire: 'The Expanse' Season 1 Has Totally Changed the Game for Sci-Fi on TV

If you let yourself sink into this complex sci-fi drama that transcends genre, you'll be happier for it...."The Expanse" is something new, and it's worth watching. Get caught up. Get engrossed. It's worthy of that.

4 Episode Press Reviews:
io9: Show we've been wanting since Battlestar Galactica
IGN: A dense and intriguing world.
Roger Ebert: Challenges audience intellect
We Got This Covered: Never boring, frequently thrilling
Wired: The Expanse is the new Battlestar Galactica

Watched it all and can't get enough? Read the books or check out these links for interviews, new media, and news:

Artstation Magazine: Behind the scenes: the concept art of The Expanse
Belter Creole 101
Assignment X: Showrunner Naren Shankar chats about Season 1
Canadian File Centre: VFX Maestro Robert Munroe Keeps It Real On 'The Expanse'
Short video on the use of gravity on The Expanse with some additional commentary from NASA
Ars Technica - Nick Farmer knows dozens of languages, so he invented one for The Expanse
THE EXPANSE | NASA: Behind the Science - Ceres As Is

AIRED TV CONTENT DOES NOT NEED SPOILERS. BOOK SPOILERS MUST BE TAGGED AND PRECEDED BY THE BOOK NAME. Because Season 1 did not cover all of Book 1 please be careful with Leviathan Wakes spoilers. An extra tag of S1 or S2 for Leviathan Wakes is not required but would be helpful

 

[Marauder Shields]

Haven't seen the show yet but I am encouraged by them adding more POV's (compared to books) for season 1. Was one of the main complaints I had with Book 1 and why I have enjoyed Book 2 so much more (still reading).

 

[firehawk12]

Does this show have the Canadian production values of Defiance, Killjoys, or that other show about a group of bounty hunters who lost their memories?

 

[KodaRuss]

Sorta been keeping an eye on this one. Might give it a shot. Really want SyFy to nail one of these shows.

 

[lt519]

Does this show have the Canadian production values of Defiance, Killjoys, or that other show about a group of bounty hunters who lost their memories?

Surprisingly good production values. The Belters have different physical appearances due to low gravity and they did a fantastic job of portraying that.

The CGI is actually fairly decent too. I was really impressed by the production values to be quite honest. Turns out no-gravity sex is awesome too. Check out a trailer

Vimeo trailer

 

[cheststrongwell]

Edgy space sex looks pretty dumb.

 

[xxracerxx]

Surprisingly good production values. The Belters have different physical appearances due to low gravity and they did a fantastic job of portraying that.

Are all belters pretty tall in this? I mean Thomas Jane is no tall guy, he just wants his kids back.

 

[Error]

io9: Show we've been waiting for since Battlestar Galactica

This is all I needed to know, thanks. Will watch when it airs.

 

[suzu]

I enjoyed the books, so I'm hoping the show turns out decent.

 

[Sax Russel]

I am a big fan of the intro/music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krqqqgixNq8

 

[TouchMyBox]

So the next episode is Tuesday, right? Hopefully it maintains the momentum of the first.

 

[Alucrid]

i read leviathan's wake, think it's better to read caliban's war before watching the show or after?

 

[lt519]

So the next episode is Tuesday, right? Hopefully it maintains the momentum of the first.

That's right! I'll update the OT thanks!

From what I've heard it slows down. It seems like SyFy is in for the long haul and they want to establish the world, which I'm fine with, I can be patient. I'm also still reading the second book so I want to make sure I'm ahead. I just wish the episodes were like HBO long, not 45 minute long.

i read leviathan's wake, think it's better to read caliban's war before watching the show or after?

You can read this, it won't be a spoiler to you, but just to be on the safe side I'm putting tags around it. It implies a certain character living, which in these shows, can be a spoiler in of itself.

Spoiler

I'm reading it now and I'm about 1/3 the way through. The events are sequential so it seems like Avarasala's introduction into the show is just to give another point of view of the happenings of Book 1. Her plot is new material and doesn't leap into her story in Book 2.

How do people typical handle book spoilers in these threads? Are they totally banned or can you just tag them?

Had difficulty understanding the dialogue in the first episode. Not sure if that is an audio mixing problem or if it's just how the characters talk.

Belters speak an entirely jumbled version of all sorts of languages from Earth. You weren't meant to understand much of the dialogue on Ceres besides the fact that you couldn't understand it. Havelock from the "Inner", Miller's partner, also couldn't understand and was often asking Miller what things meant (also seen comparing his hand size to a belter). It's to show how independent Belter's have grown from Earth and Mars.

Edit: I'm only kind of stalking the thread, trying to make the OT better, so I'm quick to respond (;

 

[Jarmel]

Had difficulty understanding the dialogue in the first episode. Not sure if that is an audio mixing problem or if it's just how the characters talk.

 

[JeffZero]

Glad you made this. Wasn't sure if I was going to end up being the one to do so, what with that other thread I was running.

<3

 

[phazedplasma]

first episode lives up to the book.

I'm in for the long haul

Holden bring me home

 

[DieH@rd]

Books were awesome, and ep1 was very good. S2 is already ordered, so we finally have a good space show back on TV!

 

[Pachimari]

Watched half of Episode 1 last night and I'm interested. But it's hard to keep track of what and who belters are, earthers and Mars people.

What locations do we know about so far? Earth, Mars and Ceres which is close to Venus? And belters are cargo people who transport goods and stuff in the solar system?

I have a hard time organizing it in my head.

 

[Moff]

Watched half of Episode 1 last night and I'm interested. But it's hard to keep track of what and who belters are, earthers and Mars people.

What locations do we know about so far? Earth, Mars and Ceres which is close to Venus? And belters are cargo people who transport goods and stuff in the solar system?

I have a hard time organizing it in my head.

I understand and the tv show will make it a lot harder on the viewers I think.
belters are indeed humans who were raised on space stations and ships, and because they have had a lower gravity for generations their bones and bodies have changed. they are usually thinner and taller than people from earth. in the books that has been the case for a long time. I knew they couldn't make every belter like that in the show, so they changed that a bit, in the first episode someone explains that sometime all of them will have bodies like that, so not all belters have reached that stage, yet. I think it's a good compromise, but yeah, it will be hard for the viewers to distinguish them, especially because tensions between belters and the inner planets will be very important for every story arc in all 5 books. they have given them tattoos now and they kept the special slang they speak, but we'll see how this works.

I really liked the first episode, even more on the second watch, I think it's really well done. I especially liked the physics so far, I hope we will see a lot more than that.

I also would like to mention that I am halfway through the fifth book right now and to my surprise I absolutely love it. the third was mediocre and the fourth straight up bad, so I am glad they managed to pretty much save the series. I hope the show gets many seasons.

 

[Ricker]

Does this show have the Canadian production values of Defiance, Killjoys, or that other show about a group of bounty hunters who lost their memories?

I enjoyed all of those,as well as Znation...I hope this one is good also...I like that this is on Space up here in Canada,the quality of the HD is awesome,sometimes I think its 1080p.

 

[Achamian]

First episode inspired me to read the first book which was great hopefully more episodes will inspire me to read the rest

 

[Ledhead]

Just checked out the first episode after a recommendation from a friend. I liked it! Acting wasn't too bad and the premise is interesting. I will definitely try and keep up with the episodes as they are released.

 

[jon bones]

enjoyed the pilot a lot, recommended it to some bros hopefully they give it a shot

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

Read the first book. Wasn't sure I wanted to revisit this universe.

 

[lt519]

What locations do we know about so far? Earth, Mars and Ceres which is close to Venus? And belters are cargo people who transport goods and stuff in the solar system?

I have a hard time organizing it in my head.

So far we know about Earth, Ceres, and The Canterbury

Belters mine the rings of Saturn for ice and minerals that the Inners, Mars and Earth, need to survive. These trips can take a very long time, like one or two per Earth year. Belt stations operate under the Inners but you can see in the first episode they aren't too happy or treated too well. Ceres is basically a hub for the miners to bring materials from the outer planets, and smaller asteroids in the belt, and for the Inners to pick them up. Belters live on these hubs or spend most their time on mining ships just visiting the hubs for some R&R. There are other stations like Ceres but they haven't been introduced yet and are smaller. Besides accelerated travel one of mankind's greatest achievements was spinning Ceres to create enough gravity and a liveable conditions on the asteroid.

 

[JeffZero]

Yeah, I think the one potentially crippling thing about this show out the gate (besides the elephant in the room that is all the "er, it's on SyFy? Pass" thought processes) is that it moves a bit too fast in the beginning, flinging slang and slang and terminology and still more slang at speeds that had some critics' head spinning.

If audiences survive that and the quality remains then I think there's a recipe for success here.

And this pleases me.

 

[GavinUK86]

Ah, glad to see someone made an OT.

Really excited to this how the series plays out considering the way the book goes.

 

[DieH@rd]

Writers of the book are producers of the show, so I presume S1 will cover first book faithfully [as best as budget allows].

 

[The Elite]

Does this show have the Canadian production values of Defiance, Killjoys, or that other show about a group of bounty hunters who lost their memories?

No. This feels a lot more realized. You aren't going to be stuck in a Vancouver forest every week.

I do think this is shot in Toronto.

 

[JeffZero]

Stargate made the most of it.

O'Neill lampshaded it.

O'Neill lampshaded everything.

 

[X-Frame]

I really liked the first episode. The characters will have to grow on me, as they're not how I pictured them (especially Miller), but I'm on board!

 

[~Devil Trigger~]

I liked the 1st eps

love the concept alot

 

[Himynameischris]

Watched last night, really liked it, Loved the scene where they alter course. Will keep watching for sure,

 

[RS4-]

No. This feels a lot more realized. You aren't going to be stuck in a Vancouver forest every week.

I do think this is shot in Toronto.

Yeah, it's shot here. I'm not sure who films in Vancouver anymore. Maybe Man in the High Castle.

 

[spwolf]

just watching it, loved all the books and show seems amazing so far. SyFy went long way from Eureka to this, awesome.

Very high movie like production values, great actors, great casting.

 

[zroid]

Pretty stoke for this. Haven't seen the pilot yet, just gonna watch it tomorrow.

 

[DangerMouse]

Really enjoyed the pilot, can't wait for the second ep on Tuesday and will probably re-watch the first tomorrow.
The space shots were also as impressive as some had said, I thought they looked great.
Interesting premise and setting and potentially interesting cast.

Watched last night, really liked it, Loved the scene where they alter course. Will keep watching for sure,

Yeah, that was a great scene.

Spoiler

Didn't expect some of the characters to lose their ship in the first ep. I liked a bunch of the ship scenes too...

 

[ramuh]

So good! Watched it on demand. Can't wait for Episode 2. Surprisingly, Thomas Jane's character I liked the least, but maybe he will grow on me.

 

[Kvik]

Finally, I've been starved for sci-fi since Dark Matter/Killjoys/Defiance(RIP) ended its season. Looking forward to Childhood's End too. (where's the OT?)

Trailers looks good.

 

[lt519]

I really liked the first episode. The characters will have to grow on me, as they're not how I pictured them (especially Miller), but I'm on board!

I expected Holden to be way older and may have a hard time with that for a bit. I did like Miller though, cheesy hat aside, he nails the cop that blurs the ethical lines and is a bit of a loose cannon.

Watched last night, really liked it, Loved the scene where they alter course. Will keep watching for sure,

I give it crap in the OT for all the effort they put into that scene, but lovingly so. It's actually a big theme. Space travel still isn't easy and human limitations still apply.

 

[Selner]

I just finished listening to Leviathan Wakes over the weekend, and I'm a little hyped to see this show now.

I watched the first episode when I was about halfway through the book. Some very interesting differences jumped out right away, but I guess here is not the place to talk about those differences? Not sure if this show will have enough interest to support two threads, oh well.

Someone asked about locations.
There's a neat graphical thing on syfy.com that shows the locations and has a brief description of each.
http://www.syfy.com/theexpanse/enterthefuture/

Some of what is there could probably be called a spoiler by purists.

But it's a bunch of interesting backstory. There's even a little prequel story, which doesn't come from the books and seems have been written for the show.

 

[Moff]

I watched the first episode when I was about halfway through the book. Some very interesting differences jumped out right away, but I guess here is not the place to talk about those differences? Not sure if this show will have enough interest to support two threads, oh well.

Yeah, I'd love to discuss the differences and the other books. it's a dumb situation, though. because there is definitely not enough interest for two threads and I don't want to alienate non-readers here.

 

[Jag]

Great (first) OT. Loved this series since it first came out. Very excited for the show.

 

[lt519]

Not sure if this show will have enough interest to support two threads, oh well.

Yeah, I don't think we are at that level haha. I'll update the OT to include the SyFy link for background information, may be useful to people if they start watching.

The book writers have also released Novella's that are prequels for most the characters.

I can't get the SyFy page to load but I am guessing you are taking about Drive which is the (free) story of how their ships are capable of the accelerated travel (Epstein drives).

Great (first) OT. Loved this series since it first came out. Very excited for the show.

Thanks I'm really rooting for the show and hope people can give it a chance. The SyFy name and even people comparing it to something with the name Battlestar Galactica will immediately turn people off. Shallow as it may be, they should avoid the Battlestar Galactica (which sounds extremely nerdy) comparisons if they want to pull in the mainstream.

 

[Somnia]

Really looking forward to watching this tonight. I know I could have watched episode 1 already, but decided to wait till it aired.

 

[JeffZero]

With luck there will one day be enough interest for two threads.

 

[Selner]

Yeah, I don't think we are at that level haha. I'll update the OT to include the SyFy link for background information, may be useful to people if they start watching.

The book writers have also released Novella's that are prequels for most the characters.

I can't get the SyFy page to load but I am guessing you are taking about Drive which is the (free) story of how their ships are capable of the accelerated travel (Epstein drives).

Yeah, the Drive short story.
Epstein's Yacht is off-handedly mentioned in the beginning of the book, so the little story expands a little bit on that.

And the SyFy website is a little crazy. It won't load on this machine either, but it'll load on my phone.

Hopefully interest will increase once the show starts.
May not get two threads this season, but if it takes off Season 2 might have enough. It was already renewed, right?

 

[KodaRuss]

Had difficulty understanding the dialogue in the first episode. Not sure if that is an audio mixing problem or if it's just how the characters talk.

This was me as well. I found it really hard to understand what was going on as well. I was kinda watching my 8 month old at the same time so I might have to rewatch it I guess.

We'll see, it didnt really grab me. Ill record it and maybe watch episode one and two later.

 

[lt519]

This was me as well. I found it really hard to understand what was going on as well.

I took a snippet from the first encounter with a low-life belter in the book and the first encounter in the show:

&#8220;And then it was all pow! Room full up with bladeboys howling and humping shank,&#8221; the girl said, waving a hand. &#8220;Look like a dance number, &#8217;cept that Bomie&#8217;s got this look he didn&#8217;t know nothing never and ever amen. You know, que?&#8221;
...

&#8220;Bomie vacuate like losing air,&#8221; the girl said with a chuckle. &#8220;Bang-head hops, kennis tu?&#8221; &#8220;Ken,&#8221; Miller said. &#8220;Now, all new bladeboys. Overhead. I&#8217;m out.&#8221; &#8220;And Bomie?&#8221;

The book doesn't even explain it well. So you'll have a really hard time in the show without descriptors. Don't get too hung up on that, it's just showing the difference between common Belters and other humans. If it's the rest of the show, don't worry, there's no exposition and they are just putting you into an existing world that is already moving, you'll catch on fast.

 

[JeffZero]

It was already renewed, right?

Correct. They did that with SGU, too, though, so we still need to make sure to spread word on this show to every corner of our friendsphere if we want to see it succeed.