i could have watched an entire show just about Mars. i loved that worldbuilding.
I watch the whole show 3 time, and now reading the books. Still worth it. Such a shame that the tabletop RPG does not use any social mechanics well described in this universe
It was the reliance on the white male saviour trope that soured it for me. James Holden was such an annoying character for me. It had so much potential
I mean it’s just following the books here. Holden is the primary character it follows. Although the show did have to cut out several POVs across the series due to time constraints (Bull, Havelock)
I just thought his character was cringey and there were way more interesting characters to focus on than him
It’s the same in the books. He’s not supposed to be super likable.
Yeah.
He’s… not awful. But its especially egregious when Miller, Burton, Bobbie, Drummer and such have more charisma in a pinky toe than poor Holden has in his whole body.
The books are beloved by their fans. So the show gets a lot of passes. The show was a mess.
I don’t have the issues with the cast that most do. Steven Strait is reviled as Holden.
The Expanse first season was clunky and took a while to get going.
Season two and three were great.
SyFy cancels the show.
Amazon resurrects it.
Season four was a total dud. Amos was completely sidelined and Holden spent the whole season wandering around a gravel pit talking to a dead guy (miller). It was the Miller/Julie Mao thing all over again. Then there were the dangerous slug things.
Season five just completely sucked ass. I swear to god there was at least two scenes an expose with Naomi, her baby daddy and baby saying the same thing over and over again. Add to this was the comically terrible storyline of Amos returning to earth.
Season six was too little too late and was really bad.
The Expanse never had a chance to be GOT.
I completely disagree.
Season four was a total dud. Amos was completely sidelined and Holden spent the whole season wandering around a gravel pit talking to a dead guy (miller).
Following the books, although S04 did trim some characters from the New-Terra/Ilus arc.
Add to this was the comically terrible storyline of Amos returning to earth.
Why was that terrible? I don’t follow there.
i know S 4 followed the books, but what difference does it make. It was still terrible.
Why was Amos return to Earth terrible?
Nothing happened. Amos’ life on earth was hinted at and talked about throughout the how and again it was a big nothing.
He told a mafia boss to fuck off then for reasons decided to go down an elevator shaft to hook up with a chick who tried to kill them. Then there is an apocalypse and Amos climbed up an elevator shaft and finds a resort to escape earf…
i know S 4 followed the books, but what difference does it make. It was still terrible.
I’m saying a lot of detail was gone from that arc. An entire POV character was missing. In the books, we had Havelock return who was on the security detail team but operating from orbit. Skipped the entire Naomi being captured by Murtry’s security forces in orbit, the breakout and rescue from the ship. I don’t really think Holden talking to Miller was like Miller and Julie on account that the context was very different.
Nothing happened. Amos’ life on earth was hinted at and talked about throughout the how and again it was a big nothing.
I mean he picked up Clarissa and bought her into the crew after escaping earth. What would you have expected references to his backstory to involve?
He told a mafia boss to fuck off then for reasons decided to go down an elevator shaft to hook up with a chick who tried to kill them. Then there is an apocalypse and Amos climbed up an elevator shaft and finds a resort to escape earf…
He didn’t go there to “hook up with her”.
I’m saying a lot of detail was gone from that arc. An entire POV character was missing. In the books, we had Havelock return who was on the security detail team but operating from orbit. Skipped the entire Naomi being captured by Murtry’s security forces in orbit, the breakout and rescue from the ship. I
So you are pointing out that season four of the TV show was missing the vast majority of the content that made the story good in the book the season is based on…
Idk about “vast majority” but a lot of detail was missing. Book 4 was set entirely on Ilus. The Bobbie plotline was a sort of adaptation/edit from Season 5 (or what might’ve been going on in the background) and Avasarala’s plot was entirely invented for the show. Done to not make those actresses sit out an entire season.
Drummer also wasn’t even in the books at this point beyond being a side-character (very different to her book adaptation) and Ashford was a completely different character, and jailed at this point.
Ilus was a lot more detailed plot. I don’t dislike the shows interpretation of it, but they had to trim a lot.
Hmm… What could the difference be between the two shows… Hmmmmmmm… Nope I can’t figure it out. The two shows are identical in every meaningful way. One of the two shows certainly did not contain gratiduous eyeball gluing scenes.
The Rocinante WAS a beut.
Those point defense cannons, phwoar 💦
Love this show and the books, especially the audiobooks narrated perfectly by Jefferson Mays. If you haven’t checked out the books, you’re missing out on some of the best sci-fi in ages. I love that they are set in a very unique time period in the future that we don’t see a lot of: earth has colonized the solar system but interstellar travel is not possible. No warp drive or hyperspace. That means traveling from one planet to another can take months.
The show does such a great job of showing and explaining accurate space physics. No artificial gravity. You want gravity? Best we can do is engine-generated thrust.
All the characters have great arcs too. I was sad that the final three books were never adapted, but the way the books were written means that they can easily finish the series with a movie trilogy if they want.
James SA Corey started a new sci-fi series I am digging so far, The Captives War. VERY different from The Expanse but still fascinating
earth has colonized the solar system
Inyalowda taking credit for what beltalowda did. Every time.
I knew it was gonna be good sci-fi when they had someone get beheaded in zero gravity and blood pooled into a ball above their head.
I was sad that the final three books were never adapted
I haven’t read the books, and that was the biggest hook for me. Such a cock-tease. Some day I’ll probably read ‘em, I’m familiar with the authors’ fantasy books from way back when they used a single pseudonym, Daniel Abraham, and liked their stuff.
But damnit, I wanted to see it onscreen!
I’m convinced it will be revived as a cartoon for the last three books.
I think it’s coming back as live action, in about 5-ish years, to let the actors age naturally and reduce the need for constant heavy makeup.
Second the audiobooks. Absolute masterpieces.
About halfway though the first book; really enjoying it thus far. I will say, its length is giving me some whiplash after reading The Forever War just prior. That was a crazy easy read.
The expanse is one of the best space shows I’ve seen.
Beltalowda!
It’s as good as advertised. The adaptation of book 2 (S2E6-S3E6) is still my favorite season of television ever. The character of Camina Drummer is also one of those wild TV adaptation stories where the new writing and the actor were so good that they had to keep bringing her back.
I’m okay with where the series ended–even successful shows these days aren’t likely to get full adaptations–but the shortened final season still makes me sad. It’s even shorter than it looks on paper, too, as part of the runtime includes one of the novella plots, which only serves to set up a future storyline. Maybe they’ll pay that off eventually with a new production, but it’s awkward as hell in hindsight.
I’m pretty sure I remember that they do plan to continue it, but there was a time jump or something and they wanted a break?
You’d probably know better if you read the books though, but we very well might see more on TV even if it’s a new cast.
The show ran into issues with distribution rights. SyFy didn’t want to keep funding it because the views were from next day streaming rather than live broadcast. SyFy made less (or nothing?) from the streams.
Amazon bought the rights and funded the final season, but didn’t continue the because the viewership wasn’t huge and they were funding Rings of Power instead.
at least that’s my vague recollection from 8 years agot
Even the author was saying it’s a pause at the time and not canceled outright.
It’s a decades long jump to the next book, so they didn’t want to do it right away. Amazon might have canceled it in the normal sense, but that wasn’t the whole story.
Granted that doesn’t mean Amazon or Alcon or whoever else is going to take it up, no one commits to doing another season 5 or 10 or more years from now, but the intention is to continue it.
They made my boy Holden into a shit bag for the show. Like total fuck stick. Book Holden is much more realistic.
Holden and Naomi were pretty annoying in the show, especially compared to the book. But I think it’s a natural result of getting no inner monologue. Maybe not in the case of Naomi, but definitely for Holden. I mean he does some kind of dumb things, and he’s a bit of a generic self-centred white dude. Without much of a way of understanding where he’s coming from, it’s bound to come across in an annoying way.
The other characters IMO are all great.
I didn’t really care for the casting of Holden. He didn’t come across as a leader to me, especially when he was angry and all that. I think the rest was pretty good, Miller being the best.
Both Holden and Amos were far better in the books. Didn’t help they had to cut the actor who played Alex from the show, too.
Waitwhat. Is this why he died??
yes.
In the books he retired back to Mars to be with his family. The actor couldn’t not be a shitbag so he had a stroke instead.
Please dont use double negatives, i doesnt sound right hehe.
But i didnt know he was such a dick of a guy. Kinda sad cause he played alex nicely, but knowing what you told me, its the best they couldve done
I didn’t like how much they argued during the first season. The book crew were much more professional and acted like they already knew each other for many years. Which they did.
TV Holden and Amos still had their moments. Still some of the best characters on television.
Oh, maybe I’ll give the books a try because I hated show!Holden
Never read the books and I couldn’t stand Holden. Every time he was on screen was unbearable and it only got worse with every season. I just wanted to go on another Joe Miller - Space Detective adventure, or whatever Drummer was up to.
James fucking Holden!
I heard that in her awesome, broken, voice and i fucking love it haha
Amos. Fucking. Burton.
You can’t take the razorback
a fantastic show. if you like sci-fi and political drama, it’s a must watch.
If only Amazon didn’t need to waste a billion dollars on a failed LotR series.
I’ve rewatched The Expanse multiple times. Watching a single episode of Rings of Power felt longer than watching the extended version of Fellowship of the Ring
As a huge expanse fan(also several watch throughs), s2 of rings of power was really good imo. That said, I think I would trade it for a final proper season or two of the expanse
That’s good to know, I might have to give it a chance then. The first season was honestly painful to watch, so I didn’t even bother with the second.
And there’s a lot of things I’d trade for more seasons of The Expanse
The first season just sets up the second but you can honestly skip it
2 billion in the first season and probably the same in the 2nd one. im afraid STARGATE wont fare much better, if they suck the budget out of that, among other potential issues. I suspect they did that with invincible, because you can tell theres been declining animation quality from 1-3. not to mention sci-fi being 10 episodes is usually enough tfor stargate.
Oh yes. Loved the books. Still trying to get my hands in the complete blu-ray box.
Book 4 was a difficult read because the antagonist is ridiculous. His motivation was “the company” without any real reason for it beyond a paycheck. No one is that blindly loyal without a personal reason, it was dumb. Up until this character, we had nothing but rich characterization. This antagonist felt lazy and 2D, making the book difficult to get through. An entire antagonist built out of tissue paper.
Then, in later books, we sort of lose the crew, to old age, so we have to rewire our brains to accept them in different roles, as old people. Aging changes the landscape. It’s like that last season of Fringe where you’re questioning what you’re watching. You even check the vid to make sure it’s actually Fringe. Later, you accept it as Frimge, but it’s not immediate.
Strong disagreement on you over Murtry. He was head of security and given a free hand at dealing with the Belters however he saw fit. There have always been racists eager to kill and harm minorities, and he was getting paid to do it.
Edit to add more: his contract was going to essentially make him a baron on New Terra, collecting a percentage of any future revenue from the colony. He just had to remove the skinnies by any means necessary, and then he was going to be set for life. That’s essentially how the Americas were colonized by Europeans, so idk why you find it so hard to believe that the ruthless racist in a hyper capitalist society wouldn’t act the same way.
All he talks about is the company, but your interpretation adds a layer that makes him make more sense.
His personal motivation was being king of his particular hill. When you’re out on the frontier, fear makes you want control.
I had a bigger problem with Elvi’s fawning, personally. Thank the gods that wasn’t in the TV adaptation.
I haven’t watched the more recent seasons, only 1-4. I can’t imagine them fitting everything that remained into 2 seasons.
Book 5’s adaptation didn’t feel super rushed. I think most of the fans were more annoyed by some changes to The Big Thing.
Book 6, yeah. I’m glad we got what we got, but would have definitely preferred a full season. Hopefully they’ll get the rest on screen some day.
Yeah that was one of the cringier parts of the books that the show improved on by omitting 🙏
Yeah, I gave up after book 3. So much blah blah blah and nothing of substance being said. It went from fun space zombie insanity to boring political “thriller” in the blink of an eye. I hear book 4 was even worse.
I still haven’t seen the show.
I like the complexity, the many layers are the lure. Like GoT with the mysterious threat beyond the wall. This is a sci fi version of GoT, system politics and fighting alongside this mysterious alien shit unfolding in the system. Except for the part where it’s completed.
Book 4 was meh, but the next two make up for it. They do a good job crawling inside Naomi’s head, what it was like for her, being abused by a Cluster B personality disorder in her old life.
Amos has a good run as well.
There’s always audiobooks. Jefferson Mays narrates and he is quite good.
The show holds a better balance. But it’s definitely a political show like GoT.
I don’t mind political. It was just boring soap opera on a spaceship. Though it has been a few years. Maybe I should try and revisit them. Science fiction is typically my jam.
To me it got real good whenever it wasn’t about the weird space zombies that somehow also are worker crews that build wormhole gates.
I don’t mind a good political thriller. Book 3 was a soap opera on a space ship. I hear they do get better later on.
The show is fine, but books are fantastic.
The casting was really great, but overall the show had the feel of a cheaper SyFy channel show and not an HBO quality show.
I know SyFy doesn’t have the same budget as HBO. I know that science fiction isn’t cheap either.
For me personally, the low budget SyFy shows are fine, but for mainstream America,it’s not going to break through that way.
PS: if you haven’t read the books, I highly recommend it. It’s my favorite series.
The production was extremely high-quality. They had great sets, invented amazing computerized wire-rigging tech for the gravitational work, and were pioneers in the use of stabilized cameras to achieve spectacular shots that would have been impossible otherwise.
On top of that the CG for space scenes was great.
For the sake of others reading who might benefit from another perspective. I thought it was a high quality production that was so so far from the shite of a syfy production. One of my favourite sci fi shows ever. Read the books too, but I absolutely loved the show.
They way they realistically approached the mechanics of moving over very large distances also satisfied the geek in me.
Strong strong recommendation from me.
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend or imply that it was cheesy. It’s not! I just don’t think it reaches the level to break into mainstream culture. I mean Sci-Fi has a higher bar because most audiences still see Science Fiction as too nerdy, which is really unfair bc some of the best stories are sci-fi.
Anime struggles with the same issue. People tell me they don’t like anime, but as soon as I make them watch Spirited Away, they love it.
Both anime and sci-fi have grown, but it’s not quite there. (Except for Star Wars? But I like The Expanse show better than those movies so what do I know)
Both anime and sci-fi have grown, but it’s not quite there. (Except for Star Wars?..
Star Wars is not science fiction. There is no science in Star Wars. There is a lot of religious fantasy fiction labelled as science fiction because it takes place in space.
I think a lot of people like sci fi when it’s effortless. Star wars etc. They don’t want to get too deep into the technicals like star trek does. The expanse has that effortlessness imo. Nothings overly explained, they spend about 14 seconds talking about acceleration and deceleration just to frame the timelines for travel but it’s not geeky.
Whoever else said it in this post is right, the porkpie hat killed its chance at true fame, and the implication that this is some kind of true crime mystery show. Both of which are wild unintentional misdirections away from what the show actually is!
Star wars isn’t sci-fi it’s space fantasy
It’s such a good hat though
