3 replies to this topic

[Destructor!!!]

 

I can't believe I haven't posted a topic about this before now!

 

It's a SyFy original TV show based on the series of speculative-future, hard(ish)-SF books by James S.A. Corey collectively known by the same title.

Season 1 will deal with events from book 1, "Leviathan Wakes". Episode 8 of the 10-episode first season aired on Tuesday.

 

I've really been enjoying it. The plot is subtle, and you have to concentrate to catch everything, but what I really love is the detailed world and the realism. If the human race gets its collective shit together about space, this is pretty much what it might look like in 200 years.

 

Check out the awesome main title sequence:

 

 

And the season 1 trailer:

 

And here's a prequel story by the author of the books.

 

I've been reading a lot of hard-SF books lately - Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy and associated books, most notably. I saw the above trailer in the last year, and got super-excited. It looked like a grittier take on the world that the Red Mars trilogy ends up building, so I immediately bought and read Leviathan Wakes.

Given that I went in with the trailer images in my head, it's hardly surprising that the pilot episode "Dulcinea" nailed my expectations in the looks department - but I have been thrilled by the cast's realisation of the characters, and the competence and confidence of the writing. The universe felt thoroughly established from moment one.

The part that buzzed me the most - and I suspect is highly important to the denizens of this particular forum - is how much attention and detail was lavished on the ships, sets, and in particular, the depiction of Variable Gravity and Momentum. It's by no means perfect, but the amount of effort and artistry expended to depict everything between high-G and no-G is magnificent. There's a space manoeuvre in the pilot episode that in other shows would be a single line of dialogue, but in this is one of the most epic and thrilling space sequences I've ever seen on TV. Just amazing.

 

I recently encountered the VFX supervisor for the show, Bob Munroe, on Reddit. We got talking, and he asked me for any nitpicks I had about the effects or science in the show. A week later (a couple of hours ago), I got a response: he agreed with a lot of my (very politely presented - dripping with praise, in fact) criticisms, and would be implementing some of my suggestions in season 2 - he even printed out my messages and put them in his reference binder!

Needless to say, I'm completely gobsmacked!

 

Anyway, it's an awesome show, and if you haven't checked it out, you owe it to yourselves as Sci-fi fans to check it out. SyFy are seemingly making good on their promise to return to their roots.

 

You can binge-watch the aired episodes on SyFy's website, if you live in the US. Space.ca if you're in Canada. The rest of us have to "get creative".

[WORF22]

this is one of my new fav shows now. i love it. expanse and  dark matter are good scifi.

[robster]

Yeah,it's an ok show. I'm watching it.....for now.

 

J-R!

[Destructor!!!]

Dark Matter and Killjoys are enjoyable shows, but to me, they're on a much lower tier in pretty much every way. I still like them both.

 

The Expanse is aiming at the high-brow drama market inhabited by the likes of Game Of Thrones and Battlestar Galactica. So far, I think it's hitting that mark. What so frickin' sweet in addition to that is that it's a high-budget hard (for TV) sci-fi.

 

I'm obviously a massive Trekker - I'm here, aren't I? - but compared to The Expanse, Star Trek is high-fantasy, with an era-appropriate and understandable ignorance of physics. I'd love a Trek series in the physical and mechanical mould of The Expanse - which is to say, believable tech. An Enterprise retcon showing extrapolations of modern tech and the difficulties it imposes through physics that the more advanced tech of the later shows papers over. (I really am a lore/tech-first kinda guy.) ((Pacific 201 seems to be sorta aiming for that kind of feel.))

 

I like the characters in The Expanse, I think the writing is smart (and funny), and the plot is interesting. It doesn't do hand-holding. But the massively dominant appeal for me is the realism. So it's incredibly cool that Bob Munroe was receptive to my critiques in that regard.