Is anybody else watching The Expanse?

loll

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2021 season is nominated in the ILX TV poll, with voting ending this weekend:

ILX's Best Television of 2021 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends After January 31, 2022

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (3 minimum, 25 maximum, ranked by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

Can we have some more please.
I guess it ends on something of a high but still not happy that there won't be more.
Hope some of the folks go onto further good stuff.
I need to read some of this, but am reading about 20 different books at the same time right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmRQXpbeA-0

no amos calling her chrissy, no credibility

The Expanse: The Animated Series (1973): pic.twitter.com/sPncnDSIG4

— Alasdair Beckett-King (@MisterABK) February 23, 2022

lmao thats awesome

so good

Hi I'm late to the party but I just started this and oh my god it's good. I think I gave the first episode a go a short while back but was confused about whether people were speaking Belter Creole or just mumbling. But by the power of subtitles, voila, I am a convert - and only two episodes in. Good grief, that second episode was STRESSFUL!

Took me a few tries to get into it but it just gets better and better.

Welcome dl!

one of us, one of us

Can’t wait for the Drummer game next year. The zero-g stuff looks cool. Not the same as having more show obviously but I’ll take what I can get.

Wrapping up the first book tonight - it's pretty decent but it drove home how much of what I loved about the series was the actors. Not enough Anderson Dawes in the book (or Jared Harris in the series IMO).

wildly otm re dawes

haven’t read the books

Books are good! It's clear they're written by two people, though, as the quality varies wildly from chapter to chapter -- not sure if that gets better in the later books

I think I am choosing to continue with the TV show rather than the books based only the time commitment

The TV series ends around book 6. Someone upthread recommended reading books 7-9 to finish the story. I was v glad I did.

I liked the books but don't think they really offer much if you've watched the show. They mostly stick to the same stories, and they read like the TV show (short scene-like chapters, not overly heavy on description). Books 7-9 are well-worth reading since we're not getting a TV version anytime soon

Books > show for me, although with the huuuuge caveat that the first book is boring IMO.

I loved the books. Like others here, the first one didn't grab me right away. If memory serves, you start seeing some major divergence between TV and books around book 3. The story in the books goes places I hadn't imagined it would, and I can see why they never bothered trying to film it. It's well worth reading all of the books just for the last few.

I totally forgot that Jonathan Banks (Mike from Breaking Bad) was on the first episode of this

Very strange cameo, just appears for a minute

Just finished the last book a couple days ago.
Now I’m sad I’m out of book.

Did you read the short story/novella collection?

NO!?

The collection's pretty decent overall, not quite a full dose of book (400 pages give or take) but fill in some spaces between the books (and one after).

I will def look into it. “Upgrade” was my next book and I’m already almost done (I’m usually a slow reader)

Maybe give Donaldson's Gap Series a go if you fancy some more politics + space opera xps

(First book can be a grim and unpleasant read but it's very short)

https://www.mining.com/web/asteroid-mining-startup-astroforge-to-launch-first-missions-this-year/

"Huntington Beach, California-based AstroForge came out of stealth mode last May..."

wow, they really are using cutting edge future tech

AstroForge’s goal of refining platinum-group metals from asteroids, with the aim of bringing down the cost of mining these metals. It also hopes to reduce the massive amount of carbon dioxide emissions that stem from mining

i feel like launching stuff into space negates these two goals right off the bat?!

I never posted in this thread, but since it got a revive—

I binged this show last month. I’d tried a few times in the past but something about the first episode really turned me off. A friend assured me it gets much better so I persevered—and yes, it did pay off.

Anyway, I found this thread and basically followed you all here episode by episode as I watched, which gave me the feeling that I wasn’t watching it alone & late. So, thanks for keeping me company everyone.

Aw <3

It's weird how that first episode gives such an inaccurate impression. It makes it seem like you are going to watch a series all about d-bag Miller and his shitty haircut being space Columbo with a bunch of goofy belters. The show doesn't completely find it's footing until they get the Roci.

Luckily Miller gets sidelined as things progress, but they never really solve their Holden getting indignant and shouty with everyone problem.

think I watched the first episode 3 times. First time I turned it off 10 minutes in.

i never minded Miller. he was never supposed to be likeable and i enjoyed him for what his role was on the show. the books deal with him much better tho (i read them after watching the show) – it's kind of a running joke how much he creeps the shit out of literally everybody.

amazing show, i keep hoping they'll come back for more. i do think it's a distinct possibility but might be awhile.

the thing about Holden is he's space Jon Snow to an extent, but the character is a lot more likable and Steven Strait is a solid comic actor when the role calls for humor.

I didn't mind Miller either, i kinda thought he was likable, albeit truly weird. when he got inside Holden's head it made for some good comedy (see above, Holden was vv funny in a lot of those moments.) Also, Holden seeing Miller with his fedora (which never made the trip with him to meet the Roci crew) was the sign Holden wasn't losing his mind.

the most awkward part of the show was dealing w/the Alex character at the end, but the production was in a no-win situation.

https://i.imgur.com/wmDdtoo.gif

amazing show, i keep hoping they'll come back for more. i do think it's a distinct possibility but might be awhile.

I don't want to wait 30 years.

I keep saying this but there is an “interactive fiction” style videogame coming soon where Drummer is the main character, played by Cara Gee. I assume you get to play as her.

Telltale has a good pedigree with this sort of thing. https://telltale.com/the-expanse/

First episode supposedly out this summer.

the last three books i thought were amazing too. they'd make a great movie.
also i ate pizza at the place that is owned by the actress who played Monica Stuart (she was there serving pizza)!

i loved Miller! i think he was good as a slightly-but-not-really-uh normcore? “way in” to the show … like you toodle along w him into the bigger wtf ideas of the show & then off you go

It is sorta funny that the first protagonist (Miller) gets sidelined fairly quickly, and Holden pretty gradually loses his lock as main character too. After the season on the alien planet it seems like he never really had a whole lot to do. It became about the rest of the crew.

the most awkward part of the show was dealing w/the Alex character at the end, but the production was in a no-win situation.

― omar little, Wednesday, January 25, 2023 bookmarkflaglink

They definitely did what they could with that last season - getting on abruptly without Alex, limited number of episodes... and I would assume they didn't fully know they were getting canceled until after they'd committed to the awful subplot with the little girl on the other planet, which never resolved.

At first I was a little let down by how much is unresolved by the end of the series but after talking with a friend I kinda like it as a metaphor for global warming. They come to some great conclusion about how to get along with each other but they just willfully ignore this massive threat looming in the distance. They know its there but after everything they went through with the protomolocule, the idea of something out there that is even more malevolent is just too hard to comprehend.

The awful subplot with the little girl becomes central to the final 3 books. Really worth reading to see how everything plays out. Shame they didn’t have the backing to finish out the series.

and I would assume they didn't fully know they were getting canceled until after they'd committed to the awful subplot with the little girl on the other planet, which never resolved.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think it was canceled a second time? IIRC the showrunners specifically said that season 6 would be its last, not that it was a diktat from on high (FWIW Amazon rescued it from its first cancellation because Bezos is a notable fan).

IIRC the showrunners specifically said that season 6 would be its last, not that it was a diktat from on high

Well that makes that creative choice really perplexing then. It took up so many precious minutes in such a short season, only to go completely unresolved.

I get that it relates to the books, and that the door could always be open to a future season... but as pure television it's irritating and unsatisfying.

I honestly think the Amos/Clarissa plotline in S5 is one of the best TV achievements of the last decade, just riveting