Is anybody else watching The Expanse?

For those who never handled one, that's a slide rule.

Maybe this is a stretch but the sudden thrust of Gs, the maneuvering of such vast hulks of gear in frictionless space, feels like it has a narrative echo in S2E5-7 - when the ballad of Miller and Mao slingshots into a new story of factional conflict. The story of Phoebe and Eros, which has been barrelling along at a million miles an hour, skids into a new trajectory. Suddenly it's not just the military brass who has a tribe. The Roci crew get testy with each other. As everything starts splitting apart, Dawes appears. Holden keeps saying they have to stick together, but who's he talking about? The Roci? Alone in the universe (apart from maybe the poor Medécins sans Frontières dudes) it's a genuinely cooperative unit - Mars, earthers, a belter - all working together, partly out of necessity, partly out of fear, partly out of idealism. But everybody else? C'mon Holden - you're dreaming

re slide-rules: i keep my BRITISH THORNTON AA010 (comprehensive) within reach of my writing desk! Still in its (p ugly 1970s dark grey plastic case). It was a bit of a swank purchase as a 15-yr-old, we were steered towards a much more basic one

https://i.imgur.com/nNQ7VuG.jpg

(note breakfasty croissant crumbs i shd probably have swept up first, what can i say, i'm a PIRATE)

for some reason reading irony-poisoned twitter this morning reminded me of this exchange

naomi: are they hypoxic?
krisjen: they're whistling past the fucking graveyard

mark - did you notice that all-in-one spraypaint technology has been leveraged for tattoo parlours? diogo gets his belter neck tattoo in about 10 seconds flat! another set of craftspeople put out of work by technology :(

There's this old SF magazine cover of a space pirate gripping a slide rule in his teeth:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7a/27/85/7a278551149fbd27a84644729e8851d2.jpg

Oh, fuck, already posted, somehow it didn't show for me until I made a dickhead of myself.

tracer: this technology already exists!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D_yFpMNU8AA2iN4.jpg

the hair!!!!

The stare!!!! (Drummer)

the two white men in the center!

Yeah, both Naomi and Alex should definitely be featured more prominently than than Amos.

It should be Drummer in Amos’ place. A male earther, a female belter, it all makes sense.

or y'know ... Naomi? ... if this season is going to be about what the next book was about, Naomi has as significant a role as Holden iirc

I don’t even read fiction

holden shd be v tiny on that poster, w/red-rimmed bug eyes and also wearing miller's stupid hat

I sincerely hope that the holden family are into massive egg beater sculptures because it’s testing my suspension of disbelief to think that the laws of fluid mechanics have changed enough in the future to allow ground mount vertical axis wind turbines to be worthwhile.

Ack the are shrouded by trees and the damned house.

Actual goosebumps.

Definite higher budget feel. But boooo to December.

Welcome to Ilus. pic.twitter.com/X84gZMf2Gu

— The Expanse (@ExpanseOnPrime) July 20, 2019

One thing I did miss is that Season 5 has already been confirmed, so yay

How many books have been televised, and how many are there in total?

There's going to be 9 in total (8 released so far) and the new season will be book 4

Thanks.

we just started this and are pretty into it, just dropping in here to note that. I like how they go for the "everything in the future is rusty and broken" look most of the time.

also cool to know that there will be an S5, thanks

lol yes, basically the future looks like Gary, Indiana.

If S5 is based on Book 5, then damn .... looking forward to that for sure

My guess:

Season 4 will be book 4 + the Bobbie Mars novella + Sol system background from books 5 and 7.

Season 5 will be the arc from books 5-6.

Season 6 will be the arc from books 7-8.

Season 7 will be the forthcoming book 9 (the confrontation with the what fans are calling the Goths), plus a healthy amount of denouement.

plant guy
"half the station's in ruins, infrastructure's smashed.. how are we supposed to find anyone there?"

alex
"the first step is getting there. we'll leave the Somnabulist once we dock and then we'll mingle with the locals"

plant guy
"and then?"

alex
"and then we'll assess the situation"

plant guy
"are your plans always this vague?"

amos
"this is about average"

except amos plays the punchline like he's proud of average which is like punchline 2.0

His name is Praxidike Meng, and he deserves more respect.

one of my all-time favourite characters but they barely know him at this point - they actually call him 'plant guy'!

I was kinda more mocking the authors, there...

ok! certainly did not intend disrespect. but i never knew his name was praxidike so thank you.

they call him Prax fwiw

when bobbie lays eyes on those cucumber sandwiches in jules pierre-mao's luxury cruiser

<3

s3e1 is just so good.

- avsarala's security guy is hot
- drummer doing upside-down chin-ups with a visibly bleeding abdomen
- drummer's full-body revulsion at johnson's revelation that he volunteered the existence of the protomolecule to dawes. every lines drips with disgust. (tho there's a scene in s2 where it's implied they used to have a relship.. hmm)
- drummer is reminded of the existence of naomi. '-bitch.'
- despite their sophisticated electronic navigational systems johnson/gee's command centre is festooned with neatly hand-drawn equations and notes on orbits and telemetry
- that said the spaceships are not really as crud-punk as some people make out
- the escape from pierre-mao's spaceship is sensational. a set piece that not only spans episodes, but seasons - and thoroughly worth it. the mech suit. the esprit de corps. sometimes it's a pleasure just watching people you admire (and even people you don't) working out how to wriggle free from a bad situation. trying every door, having every door slam in their face. now what?
- s2 was full of moments for amos - some weird, some suddenly profound, some no more than a pause held a moment too long. feel like alex now is like OK I get a backstory goddammit! i have softened towards alex, the big galoot, but i'm not sure i needed his guilty, pathetic call back home. just when i was warming toward ya kid. turns out you're kindof an asshole. iirc his wife calls back in a later episode and is like "hi alex. sorry, i've moved on. BYEEE!' which makes me kinda feel for him here. but not really. she's right.
- after the Tycho vs Io power struggle i feel like Naomi wants to say, 'well, could you drop me off?'
- Avsarala's bodyguard has an emotional moment prior to Avsarala's escape with Bobbie in the racing skiff. He turns to Bobbie. 'good work, Marine.' without hesitation Bobbie replies 'same to you, spy!'
- 'Hitch your tits and pucker up, it's time to peel the paint!'
- 'Brace for impact!' Bobbie i appreciate the consideration but we're at 6G suckin juice, i can't do much more than i'm doing right now

security guy = 'cotyar' i have just discovered. the wonders of subtitles! the actor's from beirut.

we need a gallery of Bobbie's reaction shots when she tries new food - the 'red kibble' face was priceless

"if this is one of your 'teaching moments' i'd prefer to bleed out in silence"

i am enjoying the hell out of this!!!

reading thru this thread it finally twigged -- the handball scene with drummer and naomi could be a lil nod to this gem:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outland_(film)

I just ordered a Blu-Ray of Outland; will watch for anything that makes me think of The Expanse.

ha I haven't seen it since I was a teenager, I hope it holds up

btw how is jared harris's ridiculous mashup accent so entertaining and energetic and david strathairn's such a mess? you hate to see it.

Harris' sounds like a real, albeit ridiculous, accent; Strathairn just sounds like a bloke doing a silly voice...

And also a bit like Papa Lazarou:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHdcP-WxSRE

they're both extremely good not bad, you're not allowed to carry on watching if you diss the endless mutability of full-on belter codeshifting

it's almost as if you want their accents to wear UNIFORMS

"in this fucked up alien place, we're all on the same side"

drummer re-growing her own spine through force of will while getting around on jerry-built mech legs is some hardcore next ish