Is anybody else watching The Expanse?

yeah i never really got why it was so ~spacious~
seemed v impractical

In the book avasarala gets the one couch and Bobby wedges her power armour in place and lets the armour deal with the Gs. It’s actually a much better image in my mind.

N Y C C 2 0 1 9 :) @ExpanseOnPrime #TheExpanse pic.twitter.com/T4rXKy9hFr

— Dominique Tipper (@Mi55Tipper) October 5, 2019

yeah i never really got why it was so ~spacious~

That's because they are in
.
.
.
.
... space.

an expanse, if you will

I have now read all the books, but have yet to read any of the short stories. a

I think I started with the series around August 20 so it’s been a ride

"Strange Dogs" gives background to some of the stuff in Tiamat's Wrath, but I found the short stories to be poorly written.

I just enjoyed the backstory they gave to various characters like Bobbie, Amos & Johnson.

The writing seems pretty variable in the main books too. Perhaps one of Corey is better than the other Corey?

Ty Franck devised the universe of the Expanse (a binder full of background info) as setting for a tabletop role-playing game, and handles half the viewpoint chapters, including those for the character Holden. Daniel Abraham, former assistant to George R. R. Martin and published author in his own right, handles the other half of chapters, including those for detective Miller. They plotted out the 9-book arc before starting, divy up plot beats for each book, and then write their respective viewpoint chapters, then the other author reviews and lightly edits the other's chapters for continuity/science. Abraham has the harder job editing, as many of Franck's "pear-shaped" situations and air "tasting of copper" still find their way in.

Reading the novels, it's surprising how unpadded they are, despite their size. The big action set-pieces are usually resolved in just a few pages.

with the exception of the on-planet novel that I seem to have enjoyed more than most, there’s pretty much an action/plot/character beat moment per chapter and they all move the story forward

It’s not deep literature, but as a pulpy space science fiction adventure it works really well! The dumbest criticism I’ d seen is about why all the huge galactic events seem to hinge on the actions of Holden and company. Of course it does, they’re the main characters and that’s how the genre they’re going for works!

Also, shit follows them everywhere.

i think proto-Miller even explicitly asks Holden - have you noticed how you're always in the middle of it?

I love proto-Miller.

Was looking at the Expanse role-playing game, and the designers/illustrators seem to be under the impression that the main characters are all trolls:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/70/ce/f1/70cef1ebb360e3f20ce24a750b6a3b4f.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/474x/c6/39/d4/c639d4eb1d58a4b1713e142dd5d99e70.jpg

To be fair, the broadcast series cast the crew really young. Amos in the books starts as a balding middle aged man with a paunch.

My internal image of Amos has always been something along the lines of Herc Hauk from the wire.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EI8m5r5XsAAWGgf?format=jpg&name=small

Explore the unknown. #TheExpanse season 4 premieres December 13 on @PrimeVideo. pic.twitter.com/TVH96KlroC

— The Expanse (@ExpanseOnPrime) November 18, 2019

ヾ(^^ゞ)

😍😍😍😍😍

Same day as UK election results - will be some consolation in the event of a Tory majority I suppose.

Season 4 is up.

aww chap, I just had the same thought

starting it right now and I can’t wait for Holden to start pulling rabbits out of his hat

Oh right saw a non series thing was up on pirate bay. Had serial number including 00 and I haven't had a closer look. So may be making of special or something.
So thought new season must be due.

watch out, there’s a series summary clip (maybe that 00 thing) narrated by... Kevin Smith

I can report that I have watched it and it summarizes the series thus far reasonably well but the attempts at humor are bad

thank fuck for the expanse.

it will be weird not having to wait a week in between episodes.

they’re going a different direction with the planetary hijinks than the books and it’s working pretty well so far! (watching episode 2)

I’m wondering how many hours of sleep I absolutely need to be able to work semi-productively tmrw.

Wife is out at her Christmas party tonight so wondering how many episodes I can cram in

i managed to do four before the cold medication took me out.

It's okay (minimal spoilers):

We won't hear more talk of unlimited Bezos money, as several scenes called for an Emmerich production and got a non-premium TV budget. "A" plot adapts the (by consensus) weakest book in the series. Burn Gorman plays to type, the red shirt death counter ticks up, but it all feels stakeless compared to prior seasons. Of the three "B" plots, "OPA self-policing" is good (esp. Inaros casting); "Bobbie Breaks Bad" is rote, but usefully presages the Martian existential crisis, and has the best action scenes to date; and the "UN West Wing" plot is dire (Pres. Roslin couldn't save it).

Aside: those with subwoofers and downstairs neighbors will need to turn it down. So many doom WHOOMPs and drones that that Zimmer might be embarrassed.

I’m enjoying it a bit more than that!

The subtext is made clear where I’m at, 2/3rds of the way in, in a monologue by the bent cop Bobbie’s fallen in with. The promise of terraforming Mars seems hollow when there are new planets already capable of life beyond the gates, Earth is feeling the pinch — and it’s likely going to be worse by season end I’m guessing — and the OPA is at war with itself. Meanwhile, the Roci crew are seeing what happens when those promised new worlds backfire.

I’m feeling the tension! And I don’t mind a lack of large scale effects when the smaller sets and the camp work pretty well. It’s a very claustrophobic show, tbh

There's tension in the pileup of Blackwater 2350, biblical disasters and afflictions, to be sure. We need two hands to count the ways our heroes are imperiled to certain death by Ep 8. But until the final scenes, these only endanger the Roci crew and a few dozen mostly extras, which is a pronounced reduction in stakes compared to prior big-bads...

Going out tonight, planning to start watching this over the weekend.

i'm going in!

(actually went in 10 mins ago so no one could stop me)

"It's good advice"

god i love these guys

Not even close to being Amos's best line this episode.

"What was she wearing?"

“I’m just going to see if it works”

loved the first episode - boom, straight in, let's go

pvmic but I didn't realize how much I'd missed Amos' upper arms <3

on episode 3 - Amos is basically playing out Justified in Space which I am thoroughly into

Thought "What was she wearing?" was a swing and a miss. Only "I'm free right now" rises to join the Hall of past Amos one-liners.

They’ve skirted around the edges of Amos’s morality a bit, possibly from lacking more of his backstory... but they’re catching up

He’s such a singular presence in the books, because the idea that killing someone who needs killing could affect his mental state or karma? Absolutely not an issue. It’s a sidecar to the Holden narrative logic — if he kills them they needed kill in’, if he saves them then he’s right

I didn't get into this season until episode 7/8, but once it clicks, whoa.

Really like the way that they interweaved the setup for the next book into this season.

Shohreh chewing the scenery is fun.

I've been thinking about how Naomi speaks noticeably slower when she's switched to Belter (as opposed to when she's talking to her Roci crewmates), I figure that's because when you have to communicate over transmissions, going at a measured pace probably helps with comprehension.

Also goddammit the arc for that one character who is hateable in the books but isn't on the show...

i love everyone

I forgot to rewind and check -- was that Filip that set off the bomb that Bobbie escapes just in the nick of time?

Oh the Bobbie stuff... some of it is kind of "What were they thinking?" I mean, I get she's a marine and maybe that's why her tradecraft probably sucks...?

It was a little clumsy but I get where they're coming from -- extricating her nephew from the drug cartel is pulled straight from a short story, and putting her in the middle of the equipment smuggling places a main character in the plot to set up exactly where all that material's going