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The Expanse |S1| Ubiquitous. Mendacious. Polyglottal. Like a couple of donkey balls.

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
It improves, yeah. The third and fourth episodes are particularly strong thus far.

Most space opera pilots aren't great, IMO. It's a fault in our stars. (Ugh, I hate me sometimes.) But yeah, offhand the only exception I can think of is BSG's, and that had the extreme benefit of being three hours long.
 

maxcriden

Member
It improves, yeah. The third and fourth episodes are particularly strong thus far.

Most space opera pilots aren't great, IMO. It's a fault in our stars. (Ugh, I hate me sometimes.) But yeah, offhand the only exception I can think of is BSG's, and that had the extreme benefit of being three hours long.

33 was amazing. But I guess that's because we had three hours of solid but unspectacular set-up. Well, if you like the show, Jeff, I gotta give it another shot. Thanks for the info!

Fault in our stars. Heh. ;)
 
Spoilers for the 5th episode.
After the "butcher of Anderson station" name popped up I had to google what's up with this show. The way they presented that nickname made it seem like there was way more importance to certain things that I'm not getting as a non-book reader.
 

jb1234

Member
I like the show and its tone but I don't feel like I'm really getting to know these characters. There's a lot of plot-based mayhem going on but what about the people who are involved in it? That's what I really want the show to start to focus on.
 

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
33 was amazing. But I guess that's because we had three hours of solid but unspectacular set-up. Well, if you like the show, Jeff, I gotta give it another shot. Thanks for the info!

Fault in our stars. Heh. ;)

...haha, you're not wrong: "33" is superior to the miniseries, which is solid but not terrific. :p Still, "solid but not terrific" beats most other sci-fi pilots outta the water, haha.

I like the show and its tone but I don't feel like I'm really getting to know these characters. There's a lot of plot-based mayhem going on but what about the people who are involved in it? That's what I really want the show to start to focus on.

I hear ya, that's a bit of an issue here. Still, I'm not entirely sure how I'd rewrite the first few episodes to amend it. As it stands my biggest issue is that I wish the stakes felt bigger from the beginning; I think the scripts have visibly tried to get audiences to know and understand the cast in some ways, it's just that the success therein is fairly uneven.
 

lt519

Member
Spoilers for the 5th episode.
After the "butcher of Anderson station" name popped up I had to google what's up with this show. The way they presented that nickname made it seem like there was way more importance to certain things that I'm not getting as a non-book reader.

Don't need to spoiler tag aired episodes but will do so anyway for new people still coming in!

Ep 5 spoilers:
He was the one that ordered the destruction of the station of Belt workers in Episode 5's flashback scenes. In previous episodes he passed himself off as OPA leadership when talking to the Mormons. So at this point all we know is the Roci crew is headed to Tycho station which is run by a man that committed terrible war crimes as a Colonel of the UN but has somehow found hiself in an OPA leadership position. Hes been given the nickname "Butcher of Anderson Station" by the public for his handling of that situation. Tycho station is clearly a very technologically advanced station with some of the brightest engineers working on the Mormon's generational ship. We don't really know what they are getting themselves into. Naomoi is pretty clearly terrified of him.

Agreed on the character development. The magnitude of events unfolding I thought were going to be handled through Avasarala's viewpoint and they didn't find a way to get an Inner Planet view on episode 4s big finale, but then again very little time has passed.
 

foxtrot3d

Banned
I like the show and its tone but I don't feel like I'm really getting to know these characters. There's a lot of plot-based mayhem going on but what about the people who are involved in it? That's what I really want the show to start to focus on.

The books were pretty bad at this, the first book that is, we'll see how the show handles this. Honestly, I feel they've already done a better job with the characters than the book. I think the next episodes will focus more on the characters. I'll say that right now Holden is the character that feels really lacking at the moment.
 

Jag

Member
The books were pretty bad at this, the first book that is, we'll see how the show handles this. Honestly, I feel they've already done a better job with the characters than the book. I think the next episodes will focus more on the characters. I'll say that right now Holden is the character that feels really lacking at the moment.

Agree. They really didn't feel like a coherent crew until at least the second book. Maybe they intentionally didn't want to flag who is important and who isn't. That's not even saying whether the crew as of Ep 5 changes.

It does get better. Holden is a fantastic character and they have only hinted at his major strength which is also a weakness.
 

Chiclets

Banned
I've been spoiled with BSG and Star Wars, but this show has alot of promise i just hope it picks up (viewer wise) and does not become another firefly.
 
I think that the issue with the characters is a little bit difficult to adress. The pace of the show is definitely good, it's just that it is very noticeable that it comes from a literary source and that it's being pretty faithful to boot.

There's a lot of information for a newcomer to sink in, specially the Belt and the OPA with the Belt Creole and all. IMO it's not like it's very complicated sci-fi but the book gave the audience a much wider berth to put the pieces in their heads. I'm actually surprised that they're succeding at making it connect so well having account they even complicated things by adding Avasarala to the fry, adding even more sub-plots.

The books are like this too, Leviathan Wakes doesn't get into full gear until
Eros when Miller and Holden meet
. The biggest offender in this respec for met was Cibola Burn, since it doesn't start getting together until VERY late into the narrative. Thing is, when they get going it's just awesome, that's why the series is so good.
 

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
The Expanse, or: How I Saw What His Hair Looked Like and Learned to Love the Fedora.
7YtXycm.gif
 

suzu

Member
I'm sure we'll get more character development soon. We've already got some bits on Avasarala and Miller, so just need to flesh out the Roci crew some more.

Holden - coffee mania
Naomi - belter engineer
Alex - space texan
Amos - naomi's cheerleader/bodyguard, etc

This kind of show would of been better suited if it was a Netflix original series.

Maybe.

The episodes are all free on SyFy's website at least!
 

DieH@rd

Banned
So when Season 1 is over, is it going to basically have covered the first book?

At first I thought they have enough pace to cover entire book, but now... big nope. S1 will cover ~half.

That is a good thing, the events of "shit hitting the fan" sections of the 2nd part really need to get good and detailed coverage.
 

Crispy75

Member
At first I thought they have enough pace to cover entire book, but now... big nope. S1 will cover ~half.

That is a good thing, the events of "shit hitting the fan" sections of the 2nd part really need to get good and detailed coverage.

No wonder S2 got greenlit so quickly then!

No spoilers please, but in the sad event of this being cancelled, will we get a satisfying ending? Or does the book end on a cliffhanger (seeing as it was planned as a series)

---

Am properly hooked now btw. Itching for the next episode. I really want to know what happens with that Mormon starship. You don't show something like that and then not use it in the story. Hints at a big expansion of scope in the story and I can't wait :)
 

DieH@rd

Banned
No wonder S2 got greenlit so quickly then!
In the past SyFy did the same with other shows, but not all of them who got early S2 pickup managed to get S3.


No spoilers please, but in the sad event of this being cancelled, will we get a satisfying ending? Or does the book end on a cliffhanger (seeing as it was planned as a series)

The book has incredible build-up to the finalle, and at the very end something cool and satisfying happens. There is more story to be told in that universe, but at the end of book1, those story threads are not yet introduced so TV watchers will be fine.
 

Crispy75

Member
Hah! I just learned that the reason (E4)
the medic gets suddenly killed is because The Expanse started off as a role-playing game, and the person playing that character had to quit
 

Jag

Member
Hah! I just learned that the reason (E4)
the medic gets suddenly killed is because The Expanse started off as a role-playing game, and the person playing that game had to quit

I knew the Expanse started as an RPG (so did Malazon), but I didn't know that part.
 

Selner

Member
Ep 1-5 are up. Presumably they'll post Ep 6 after it airs(?)

I can't seem to stream to my android phone though, which is sort of annoying. I don't spend a lot of time at a machine I can watch on (blocked at work).

Hah! I just learned that the reason (E4)
the medic gets suddenly killed is because The Expanse started off as a role-playing game, and the person playing that character had to quit

Very cool. Did you happen to see who was playing all the characters? I imagine the authors were two. But curious which two.
 

lt519

Member
The whole article is here, with SPOILERS:

Evolution of a Space Epic

I wouldn't read it unless you've read the first book.

Abraham played as Detective Miller but they didn't mention the others. Pretty cool read anyway if you are a fan of the series. Franck was basically trying to break into the video game MMO world and wanted a EVE Online type game but with more adventures on ground.

Meanwhile, while Franck’s wife worked on her undergraduate degree, George R.R. Martin hired him as a personal assistant, coordinating his work, public relations, research, technology, and other duties. Franck and Abraham became close friends, hanging out regularly. Abraham, too, had heard a bit about Franck’s RPG world, and asked if he could play too. With their wives as fellow players, Franck set up another game in The Expanse universe. Abraham played as a detective named Miller, living on the dwarf planet Ceres.
 

RS4-

Member
The whole article is here, with SPOILERS:

Evolution of a Space Epic

I wouldn't read it unless you've read the first book.

This was a great read, I didn't realize they had books lined up until 2019. Yesterday I found out that they had another novella which came out a few months ago: The Vital Abyss.

I'll probably read that later on today.

Hopefully other books get picked up as series or films. I'm hoping for something with Avery Cates, and Takeshi Kovacs. (Both series are good reads!).
 

DieH@rd

Banned
Hopefully other books get picked up as series or films. I'm hoping for something with Avery Cates, and Takeshi Kovacs. (Both series are good reads!).

Takeshi could be great in TV form, however my best pick for TV adaptation is The Lost Fleet. Kinda impossible since 99% of the books are set inside a bridge of a single starship [and the rest 1% are few other rooms and hallways of that same ship :D].
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
The Lost Fleet. Kinda impossible since 99% of the books are set inside a bridge of a single starship [and the rest 1% are few other rooms and hallways of that same ship :D].

Are you kidding? Have you seen ANY long running sci-fi show? Single set shows are the BEST ( due to budget). No aliens is second best. Again, just from a budget standpoint.
 

jerry113

Banned
is it just me or does holden look a lot like jon snow

lol what the fuck uncle?!

these space stations do love their blue lighting

i'm surprised holden isn't trying to keep a lower profile after having seen his face on the television

this show makes me want to play Freelancer
 

Mifune

Mehmber
A bit maybe. Thank Zeus this guy is a million times better of an actor than Kit Harington.

I actually think he's about as bland and one-note as ol' Kit. His performance is my biggest issue with the show, although to be fair the script hasn't given him much to work with yet on the character front.
 

suzu

Member
“You’re either some kind of genius, Mr. Holden, or you’re the biggest dipshit in the universe.” lol

I didn't really care for the stuff with the uncle and kid.

We saw so much of Miller's hair in this episode.
 

Chiclets

Banned
Really good episode I'm starting to like the show even more now.It has tons of back story you can tell. I've been telling my friends to watch this and to spread the word out as much as possible lets hope this gets some more traction.
 
Yeah, I love how much story it feels like this show has.

Agree. They really didn't feel like a coherent crew until at least the second book. Maybe they intentionally didn't want to flag who is important and who isn't. That's not even saying whether the crew as of Ep 5 changes.

It does get better. Holden is a fantastic character and they have only hinted at his major strength which is also a weakness.

Cool to hear. Yeah they have little spurts of being a good crew so I was curious about that.
Holden's been pretty good and cool so far with what the crew's been up to.
Nice moment with the crew at the end of the ep too.

Really enjoying this show.


That's a great gif. His reactions are great.
And the hat ofcourse!

Oh and he had an awesome reaction to learning his boss is dirty.

“You’re either some kind of genius, Mr. Holden, or you’re the biggest dipshit in the universe.” lol

LOL

Also, "I'm gonna stop talking" lol :D

Yeah, I didn't even get where they were going with the uncle thing until the end of it.
 
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