SyFy "The Expanse" and RAH

[RDKirk]

For anyone who was a fan of old-school "hard" science fiction, I recommend "The Expanse" on SyFy. This environment is something Robert A. Heinlein could have written, thirty percent "The Moon is A Harsh Mistress," twenty percent "Friday," twenty percent "Citizen of the Galaxy," and the rest out of his "Future History."

It's Old Earth versus New Mars with the Belters caught in the middle.

No space warp travel in this one...just slow crawling around the solar system in reaction ships that have to do hard core "skew flips" to change direction. No blasters or phasers, just rocket torpedos and slugs...with computerized aiming, for Pete's sake.

Get this: Punch a hole into a space ship and there is not explosive decompression. There is just a big air leak--you break out a patch, float over to the hole, slap the patch over it, and caulk it. Just like real life. The only bad part is that there is still sound in vacuum. Otherwise life in space looks totally Newtonian.

And brush up on the Heinlein-ish space jargon, 'cause it's the only way you're going to keep up with the dialog.

 

[St_Worm2]

Thanks RD What do you think of the cast, the acting, the plot development, the character development, etc.?

 

[RDKirk]

Thanks RD What do you think of the cast, the acting, the plot development, the character development, etc.?

Not bad. Not exciting...rather normal. There are two lines to the plot going on. One is a seedy Belter cop in the seedy Belter area searching for a missing rebellious heiress. The other is a looming war between Earth and Mars over the Belt and outer planet resources...which is being instigated by an unknown group. The lead characters in that plot line appear to be a handful of Belters crew members who survived the destruction of their ice freighter by that mysterious group.

There isn't really any standout acting (although the acting is good), just following the story about where these characters and the plot are going.

At one point, the leader of Earth (an Indian grandmother) observes the questioning of a Belter saboteur. This is a real Belter--not an Earthan or Martian who migrated to space. This was a guy born and bred weightless. He was taller than normal and anorexically thin...his torture was being suspended against a wall by hooks under his armpits and held by his own weight.

 

[RDKirk]

"The Expanse" is into its second season. IMO, it's one of the best five SF series that have ever aired on television. One of the standout characters initially appeared to be the flattest character: The spaceship mechanic and all-round-tough-guy Amos. But he's revealing more and more character and probably has a more significant backstory than any of them. I've heard that is a revealing prequel novel about the Amos character--but this is right on the verge of being gleanible from the series--that Amos had been held in slavery as a child prostitute, which has both stunted his moral compass in many ways and clarified it in others.

He seems simultaneously resigned to fate (The universe doesn't care. If you live or if you die, the universe doesn't care. Success is living through the next minute) and at the same time seems to take glee in every minute he does survive. He gets through an intense armed standoff alive and his comment is, "That went well."

When the others are failing in the task of interrogating a scientist who has been mentally adjusted to feel no sympathy for human test subjects, it's Amos who says to the captain, "Do you know how to get a pedophile to talk about what he does? This guy isn't answering you because you're trying to shut him down." Then Amos uses techniques he undoubtedly learned as a child prostitute to get the scientist to gleefully talk about his gruesome experiments.

One thing Amos has shown is an intense loyalty for those he trusts as his leaders. This was clarified in the latest episode where he tells a man, "There are three kinds of people in the universe: Bad people, people you follow, and people you protect."

 

[Sketcher]

For anyone who was a fan of old-school "hard" science fiction, I recommend "The Expanse" on SyFy. This environment is something Robert A. Heinlein could have written, thirty percent "The Moon is A Harsh Mistress," twenty percent "Friday," twenty percent "Citizen of the Galaxy," and the rest out of his "Future History."

It's Old Earth versus New Mars with the Belters caught in the middle.

No space warp travel in this one...just slow crawling around the solar system in reaction ships that have to do hard core "skew flips" to change direction. No blasters or phasers, just rocket torpedos and slugs...with computerized aiming, for Pete's sake.

Get this: Punch a hole into a space ship and there is not explosive decompression. There is just a big air leak--you break out a patch, float over to the hole, slap the patch over it, and caulk it. Just like real life. The only bad part is that there is still sound in vacuum. Otherwise life in space looks totally Newtonian.

And brush up on the Heinlein-ish space jargon, 'cause it's the only way you're going to keep up with the dialog.

Season Six, the final season, has just wrapped up.

The plots and most of the recurring characters were compelling throughout.

Very epic moments, amplified by the buildup. Youtube clips do not do them justice.

Definitely not clean, unfortunately. R-rated fare.

 

[Sketcher]

Spoiler: Season 2

One heck of a ride. It could have ended when Eros hits Venus, but it kept building and building. I do wish there had been one more episode since it seemed that Miller convinced Johnson to hijack the Navoo too easily. There should have been a buildup to his making that decision, more so than the Mormons insulting him in Season 1.

 

[Sketcher]

Spoiler: Season 3

Amos is seen developing. Instead of killing Monica, he angrily demands an answer, and lets her and her partner (uncomfortably) leave alive. Season 1 or 2 Amos would have ended her right there.

Priceless moment: "Spin tha drum!"

 

[Sketcher]

Spoiler: Season 4

Miller's arc comes to a satisfying end. Sure, his trope was a well-trod one, but they really got a lot of mileage out of him, and I appreciated it - he was one of my favorite characters early on.

Amos's relationship with Chandra was hilarious. As messed up as he was, it made me wonder how messed up she was.

 

[Sketcher]

Spoiler: Season 5

Made me sad for multiple reasons. But the story itself of the sad events was well-told.
I didn't like Alex's death. I understand that they had to write the actor out of the show because of the allegations, I just wish that didn't have to happen. I liked Alex.

 

[Sketcher]

Spoiler: Season 6

Wrapping up season 5's plot, mostly solid. Be sure to watch the bonus content in your browser, as the TV doesn't have it yet. I wish they'd worked those scenes into the actual episodes, I don't understand why they needed to be separate. The last one was over the standard runtime anyway (and that one did feel a bit rushed). Glad to see Drummer survived.