Jag
Member
Eh, I've been a massive fan of the books for years, but I think it's too early to call this better than BSG. BSG was freaking epic. As far as comparisons to other sci-fi, this is more Alien and Firefly than BSG.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
The Expanse |S1| Ubiquitous. Mendacious. Polyglottal. Like a couple of donkey balls.
- Thread starter lt519
- Start date
Eh, I've been a massive fan of the books for years, but I think it's too early to call this better than BSG. BSG was freaking epic. As far as comparisons to other sci-fi, this is more Alien and Firefly than BSG.
CopperPuppy
Member
I am in love with this show right now, but it is not even close yet.
Time will tell, of course, but the potential is there. It's my sincere hope that it is given the time necessary to demonstrate that.
You're insane.
Jag
Member
The implication was that they were doing something to the Roci, whether disabling the systems or being in place for a breach. Fred was a space marine (and infamous for spacing protesters) so he probably runs his operations the same way.
The guns Naomi used were the Rocis.
Freeza Under The Shower
Member
Not just the scene. The entire episode. The narrative framing seemed to be poor (the Tycho bits being the better ones because they were calm and long between cuts), with 'what?' being a too common a response to events, but mainly there was the really jarring editing of two distinct different takes as shot and reverse shot. One shot an arm is raised, reverse shot arm is on the bar (several times in a row). And it cuts to the reverse shot when a character's response is still needed (so too quick). It's very obvious in the conversations, and very artificial. I mean, if I can tell, it has to really stand out because I normally don't notice that. Could be my imagination and all, but that was my experience.
(and in defence of the episode, they had to do a lot of story events in very little time and probably should have taken more or cut the 'miner' bit)
Yup, a lot of the editing and framing feels like amateur hour.
Dominican Power
Member
What the hell did Johnson take from the dead Martian?
Tony Redgrave
Member
A data drive the captain of the Donnager gave Lopez before blowing the ship. You can see it in chapter four I think.
Freeza Under The Shower
Member
That actually made sense: a black box type recording would be something a first officer in the navy of the far future would definitely possess. He also served as intelligence, so him having a back-up of sorts would make sense. The other characters don't know about it because they're not military or never got to that rank.
edit: oh, that was shown? I completely forgot about it. Maybe this is more of a 'binge' show than a serial one.
Johnson immediately expressed interest into any dead bodies, presumably due to his military background and (somewhat over the top) extensive knowledge and know-how. It's kind of difficult to accept (for me) that one person would have such extreme knowledge on both military and engineering matters, but I guess that's what the boat he's building is there for. Since we got backstory last week, you can expect
him to alter the deal. Yes, Vader quote! Also note how everyone is now conveniently back on the bus. Or at least that would be the audience supposed expectation. It's somewhat more likely that his knowledge will play a role in figuring who these stealth guys are and get him blown up (haha, karma, bitch) for his trouble. ( Who butches the butcher? Not Yamcha, because he's a jobber)
Jag
Member
I thought Holden knew about it. Pretty sloppy if he did and forgot.
Tony Redgrave
Member
spleenpoker
Member
I just started watching the series yesterday. I just finished episode 3 and I stopped. I'm really enjoying it so far and the premise sounds exciting. My question to you GAF is it worth reading the books? I know, opinions and all that but I just want to hear a few GAFfers opinions.
I'm going to stop watching the show as I hear the first season might only cover half the 1st book and I certainly can't wait till 2017 for some closure
Edit: I forgot to mention but this will be my first sci-fi/space opera novel. Do you recommend I read a different space opera first?
I'm going to stop watching the show as I hear the first season might only cover half the 1st book and I certainly can't wait till 2017 for some closure
Edit: I forgot to mention but this will be my first sci-fi/space opera novel. Do you recommend I read a different space opera first?
I agree with suzu. Just start reading the books in parallel with the show. They are a lot of fun and an easy entry for your first sci-fi series.
A couple of them are novellas. But the ones I've read are good. The story about the Butcher of Anderson station was told in a novella.
The Elite
BOSS
Had no idea.
Jag
Member
Daniel Abraham is half the duo and an accomplished writer. He's got some good books. Great at character development. I'm a big fan of his.
I'll recommend his 5 book fantasy series the Dagger and Coin series. It finishes this year.
Also for readers, Book 6 of the Expanse is due June 2016.
They are good books but not great, I think I'd read Old Man's War series by Scalzi first. All depends on what you like, Scalzi is more of a military scifi with politics while Corey reads more as a mystery. Books 3 and what I've read of 4 are starting to read more like Scalzi books. Corey has much more hard sci-fi staying more grounded in reality.
Kloos series Terms of Enlistment has really good action and a cool world but pretty thin characters.
Steakley has probably my favorite one off military sci-fi book called Armor.
Edit: there's a lot of different Sci-fi out there, so your mileage may vary depending on what you like. Start with Leviathan Wakes since you already seem to like the world.
Kloos series Terms of Enlistment has really good action and a cool world but pretty thin characters.
Steakley has probably my favorite one off military sci-fi book called Armor.
Edit: there's a lot of different Sci-fi out there, so your mileage may vary depending on what you like. Start with Leviathan Wakes since you already seem to like the world.
Personally I think the Expanse books blows Old Mans War away.
Which one has a TV show?!
I'm just very happy either one got a TV show
The Expanse does translate to screen a lot better!I'm a bigger fan of the militaristic Sci-fi books with big set pieces and maneuvers by militaries. But that's just me.
I just finished book 2 earlier this week, and it was very good in my opinion. I hope they get a season 3 so they can do that book. I imagine they'd have to split it across two seasons again though.
Started book 3... and I'll agree, it's not very good so far.
The way the 2nd book ended I was expecting a nice start to book 3... but that fizzled in a big way
.And for people who want to start the books, just remember that season 1 of the show is only about half of the book.
muzzymate
Member
I started listening to the audiobook of the first Leviathan Wakes. Was going to listen to it in parallel to the story of both the book and TV show. Decided against that after the
short story was revealed out of order from the show. Will just wait to listen to the audiobook till after Season 2 finishes.
Butcher
My experience with BSG was severely tainted by the lackluster ending. No matter how many times the intro said "and they have a plan", the series and the ending showed that the writers really didn't have a plan at all.
Whenever I think of BSG nowdays, what comes to mind first is "black market".
Further more, BSG ended up being more of a soap opera than a space opera, and compared to The Expanse, so far, BSG's production values were pretty low.
BSG had very solid production values, especially from the second season forward. The ship sets are terrific and the staff did a lot more to make Vancouver forests look dangerous than Stargate ever could. And some of the special effects work is classy as hell, like Galactica jumping down to New Caprica.
The ending has really checkered so many long-term perceptions, and that's truly a shame.
The ending has really checkered so many long-term perceptions, and that's truly a shame.
BSG had better character drama (than we've seen so far). Just in the miniseries you get a really good handle on Adama, Starbuck, Baltar, Chief, Roslyn, Apollo. Very strong characters. And the effects work later on was superb - as mentioned the rescue off New Caprica, but the space battles in general were nicely done.
But like Paganmoon and so many others, I can't watch it these days knowing that the story literally goes nowhere and they were making it up on the hoof. From what I hear, the Expanse authors already have the last paragraph of the whole saga written, and the series is all plotted out. This appeals to me greatly
But like Paganmoon and so many others, I can't watch it these days knowing that the story literally goes nowhere and they were making it up on the hoof. From what I hear, the Expanse authors already have the last paragraph of the whole saga written, and the series is all plotted out. This appeals to me greatly
Jag
Member
I agree with you. The ending was very disappointing and they clearly never had a plan. However, the show was fantastic and the ending was just a small part of it.
It is about the journey not the destination. Literally, in the case of BSG!
This video (cherry picked BSG space porn) tends to disprove that statement.
muzzymate
Member
Whoa there! Let's not go crazy. Put the lens on that this was a sci-fi television show in 2003. The show had more production value than some sci-fi movies of the day. I just picked up the complete series on bluray and the show still holds up visually more than decade later. Though seriously, that fake film grain still looks dumb and makes my bluray rip file sizes huge. Ending aside, the show is still fantastic.
SolidusDave
Member
The scene with the miners. I was half expecting the uncle to launch an asteroid towards Earth, Starship Troopers style
Now that's terrorism.
(though I guess that wouldn't have worked as it was already broken up into little pieces)
Now that's terrorism.
(though I guess that wouldn't have worked as it was already broken up into little pieces)
Dominican Power
Member
The scene with the miners. I was half expecting the uncle to launch an asteroid towards Earth, Starship Troopers style
Now that's terrorism.
(though I guess that wouldn't have worked as it was already broken up into little pieces)
Wouldn't Earthers have technology to divert Asteroids from hitting them?
bah you're right, I edited it
SolidusDave
Member
haha, well at least now I hope the series can get far into the books if the stakes get so high.
I assumed it was to get to the goodies inside, makes it easier to see where which metal etc. is in the rock. Or to make sizable portions a ship can collect or grind or whatever.
But now that I think about it, it would make more sense to blow it up once you reach your destination and not before. He even complained they would lose stuff because of the broken net...
Continuing the BSG comparison, I don't think this show has had it's '33 minutes' yet. And that was like the 2nd episode of BSG (which hooked me on the show completely). I'm loving what I'm seeing, but the pace is slow and there hasn't been a lot of tension (CQB almost got there, but not quite).
Yeah, that's what threw me. The net scenario didn't seem to lend itself to cracking the asteroid open in the middle of nowhere.
Exploratory
Banned
BSG characters flippflopped all over the place (like in a soap opera). "This episode, I have these opinions I hold very firmly, next episode, I will change my mind, for no reason!"
I mean, I loved BSG, bought all the boxsets (until the final season), but thinking back upon it, it was pretty shallow with the character "developments" as they didn't develop, but just flopped between different personalities at random.
I mean, I loved BSG, bought all the boxsets (until the final season), but thinking back upon it, it was pretty shallow with the character "developments" as they didn't develop, but just flopped between different personalities at random.
BSG had better character drama (than we've seen so far). Just in the miniseries you get a really good handle on Adama, Starbuck, Baltar, Chief, Roslyn, Apollo. Very strong characters. And the effects work later on was superb - as mentioned the rescue off New Caprica, but the space battles in general were nicely done.
But like Paganmoon and so many others, I can't watch it these days knowing that the story literally goes nowhere and they were making it up on the hoof. From what I hear, the Expanse authors already have the last paragraph of the whole saga written, and the series is all plotted out. This appeals to me greatly
When I saw Amos the first time, I thought "CHIEF?"
I did a RTTP: BSG half a year ago, but I stopped at the end of Season 2. Season 3 Opening (first 4 Episodes were great, especially BSg dropping in on new Caprica but my feelings about the religious overtones and the Ending soured my experience the second time watching it.)
I said in the Thread: watching BSG the first time is intense and great. You try to solve the puzzle and want to know how it ends. But after knowing how it ends.... It is just like reading a mystery novel, trying to solve who the murder is and how he had done the Murders, only to be told at the end, it was MAGIC all along.
Freezasaurus
Member
Same. And whenever I see the guy who plays Holden, I can't help but see Sam Witwer.