The Expanse on SyFy: Discussion - Spoilers.

[Baron Of Hell]

Hmmm Stargate looked pretty low budget to me. I could be remembering wrong but it didn't seem to be doing anything better than Dark Matter or Kill Joys.

Anyway The Expanse looks like it has a bigger budget than all three put together.

[Gen. Chris]

Hmmm Stargate looked pretty low budget to me. I could be remembering wrong but it didn't seem to be doing anything better than Dark Matter or Kill Joys.

Anyway The Expanse looks like it has a bigger budget than all three put together.

Stargate Universe being the exception.

For its time though all the Stargate's had good CG.

Again, Dark Matter is clearly low budget. You can just tell from the sets, so I don't expect much out of its CG. Personally I worry the CG and budget of the Expanse will make it difficult for Syfy to keep renewing it. I can certainly hope though.

[ecgordon]

I don't think I'll ever understand people who don't want to think about the show they're watching or book they're reading.

[ClockworkNebari]

I have minimum experience with this Expanse 'concept' I know more about other scifi like Marvel, Batman movies, Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Stargate etc I literally leafed through a friends book flipping pages so I did not know what to expect. I did watch some eps not knowing what to expect, some elements of this show are good, other elements leave me dissapointed. The acting? I'm not sure but I feel this show has possibly been miscast? Some people in the series are good, the guy playing Kamal is good some nice moments, the Burton actor is cool and reminds me of the actor playing ChiefTyrol in Battlestar 2003, Detective Miller is very strong and easily the best actor of this series the girl playing off him Octavia a female cop is also very strong. The fx and art I expected to see more Asteroids and more Mars in the series, you know like something alien in a scifi planet or like the movie from Paul Verhoeven with Arnold Schwarzenegger...more science fiction more red planet? some of the scifi isn't really what I expected. The ships do look great and I think some of the set designs really work. Not sure of what's going on with the pace, or maybe there is too much religion, or the politics develops wrong or the story? I don't know maybe I was expecting more darkness and mystery like Dredd/2000 AD a Tales from the Crypt comic or Event Horizon or Gattaca or Sunshine...I will give this series another go but I may give up soon...its good but not great

[ecgordon]

This is an entirely different story than anything else you mentioned. You shouldn't anticipate seeing things simply because you expect them based on what has happened in other movies/TV shows/books. If we do get any scenes on Mars it won't be this season, if they stay close to the books, but maybe next season. Then again, Avasarala, the UN executive, didn't appear until the second book, so who knows? As far as aliens, yes and no, but also completely different than anything you've ever seen before.

[ClockworkNebari]

For me this show has problems, I can not tell you exactly what those problems are I'm normally not a big reader of scifi and I have not read the books. One problem is maybe the story, why should this show stay close to its scifi books? Are these books exceptional in a way? Would they rank above other top 10 books of all time, would they even rank against a top 30 scifi novels? and would it be wiser to allow the show more freedom?
I also have a problem with the acting ability, the Expanse as I watch it has possibly been miscast. I think on other shows like the Wire or Game of Thrones the actors are strong enough to carry a show, they are strong enough to act out a linear story. Other scifi like Trek or Stargate had the option of episodic fillers, you could bring 'guest actors' on a show but the Expanse with a linear story does not seem to have this option. Tv shows like Trek and Stargate had acting talent, but they always were able to write filler episodes and have some good actors guest on their shows. I think the Expanse has good actors but is missing good writing or is missing acting talent. The TV today does have very strong actors and actresses Zachary Quinto, Grace Park, Steven Yeun, Elodie Yung, Kiefer Sutherland, Marton Csokas, Gina Torres, Sarah Bolger, Cote de Pablo, Rosario Dawson, Chris Pratt and many, many other tv actors have the strength to carry a show. While I was watching the Expanse I thought to myself 'oh s*** how long, how many hours will I have to watch some of these people'....not all is bad the show has some very good talent but telling its linear story with these scripts and these actors is going to be difficult.

[Gen. Chris]

The show already seems to be nearly prohibitively expensive, so why would we need filler? Filler is good for some shows like Stargate but for a show like this it would be a waste of their budget.

I have not read the books (yet) but I'd rather have them stick as close to the source material as possible so we don't end up with a similar situation like what Game of Thrones had to do in the most recent season (cramming books four and five together...it worked but barely)

[ecgordon]

I've read the first four books, one and four being the best so far, but I've heard great things about #5. One thing the producers and writers have not said is whether the first season will complete the story arc of the first book. If they do, I don't see how they can avoid leaving some things out, especially since Avasarala wasn't in the first book at all. I've seen the first four episodes (multiple times), and it's hard for me to believe they can do it in just six more eps. I have an advantage of knowing a lot from the start, but repeat viewings have brought to light some subtle things I didn't notice the first time. I know they have a lot of great story to draw on, and there are characters in later books I really want to see on screen, so forgive me if you think I'm trying to over-sell the show. I just want it to succeed so we get those later stories and characters.

For those whose comments have been either skeptical or mostly negative, I'd like to ask if you've ever fallen in love with a show very quickly, within the first four episodes? Nearly the first season of ST:TNG was weak, and most shows take their time establishing their premise and developing characters. ClockworkNebari has mentioned The Wire, so I know he can appreciate a well-acted, well-written show. That and Firefly are among the very few I knew right away were special. I think this one has the potential to be as good as anything Syfy has offered before.

[TOIVA]

Finally gotten around to watching the first four eps (that I considered as all we'll get - I confused it with Childhood's End that is merely a miniseries). I must say I'm impressed.

I'm happy the show tries to portray space a bit more realistically than the typical Sci-fi and I guess it succeeds, most of the time. I just had a bit trouble believing humans (albeit not necessarily used to Earth atmosphere) would survive the wildly changing air pressures around them during some of the scenes.

As far as story goes, I don't really have criticisms either. Maybe except the MCNS Donnager action:

Spoiler:

Obviously at the start of the battle, Donnager isn't really feeling any threat. Then they discover the assailants aren't just fools and the Donnager has quite some hard work to do to defend itself. And then somehow, abruptly, we're in a situation where the Donnager is losing and everyone finds the situation hopeless. And to top it off, the 1 or 2 surviving attacking ships (of 6 at the start of the battle) launch boarding parties. How people from such small vessels could so easily overrun a huge warship is hard to fathom - and they were apparently controlling most of the Donnager at the end.

That just felt like a disconnect. But maybe a review of the episodes will make more sense.

[knowles2]

Just watch episode 3 and 4 an thought they were better than 2 and 1. I'm starting to get into this show.

Finally gotten around to watching the first four eps (that I considered as all we'll get - I confused it with Childhood's End that is merely a miniseries). I must say I'm impressed.

I'm happy the show tries to portray space a bit more realistically than the typical Sci-fi and I guess it succeeds, most of the time. I just had a bit trouble believing humans (albeit not necessarily used to Earth atmosphere) would survive the wildly changing air pressures around them during some of the scenes.

As far as story goes, I don't really have criticisms either. Maybe except the MCNS Donnager action:

Spoiler:

Obviously at the start of the battle, Donnager isn't really feeling any threat. Then they discover the assailants aren't just fools and the Donnager has quite some hard work to do to defend itself. And then somehow, abruptly, we're in a situation where the Donnager is losing and everyone finds the situation hopeless. And to top it off, the 1 or 2 surviving attacking ships (of 6 at the start of the battle) launch boarding parties. How people from such small vessels could so easily overrun a huge warship is hard to fathom - and they were apparently controlling most of the Donnager at the end.

That just felt like a disconnect. But maybe a review of the episodes will make more sense.

I think that explains by the Mars captain, she thought nothing the Solar system could match her ship capability and no one was better at engineering that Mars seem to be the genuine feeling amongst martians. That arrogant caught her off guard.

I think these new vessels were also more advanced than the Donnager, it was stated by the Donnager crew that they never seen rail guns on such small ships before. They also seem to have hit the Donnager engines and power systems Not sure about their size compare to the Donnager, we didn't see both this group of vessels and the Donnager in the same scene together. The Donnager seem to have huge amount of space for shuttlebay and judging the ship personnel numbers vs personnel numbers is a bit difficult. We saw the stealth ships launch pods that attach to the Donnager hull all over the place.

We also only saw one of the attacking ships destroyed.

I'm intrigue about that cult building themselves a ship to take themselves to another star system. And what the OPA has really got plan for her when they borrow her and what ever other vessels they have been building on the side lines,

[Morbo]

I was ready to call it quits after the first 2 episodes, because it was so confusing to follow - there were so many characters and storylines being thrown at you all at once with zero context or background. Thankfully the next few episodes were a little easier to follow - kind of. I still have no idea what The Punisher is doing. The story out on the ships is much more interesting thus far.

[TOIVA]

Hmm, I had an impression the attacking vessels were very small while the Donnager was monstrously huge (which ain't saying much about fighting capability, sure, but small can hold only so many people). And I also thought almost all of the attacking vessels were destroyed by the Donnager.

If you got a different idea from the episode, knowles2, it might really be that I missed things or were imagining things. A rewatch is a must now.

[poundpuppy29]

interesting reviews I will buy an ep to see if I like it and buy the season on amazon if I like it that means I will have to alter my sig again

[ecgordon]

interesting reviews I will buy an ep to see if I like it and buy the season on amazon if I like it that means I will have to alter my sig again

You can watch it for free at syfy.com, the first four episodes at least, but I'm not sure how long they will be available.

[poundpuppy29]

You can watch it for free at syfy.com, the first four episodes at least, but I'm not sure how long they will be available.

good to know thanks