Submitted by icedrift t3_zu2dix in television
xevizero t1_j1hcqrg wrote
Is this a great show? Does it go anywhere? I'm into scifi, should I get into it? I'm scared to be hurt again after countless mediocre shows and dropped series..
[deleted] t1_j1hxk4c wrote
I felt season 1-3 are really solid sci-fi with excellent worldbuilding and fun mystery plots. Season 4-6 have peaks but overall I felt it lacked what made 1-3 interesting. YMMV, of course, some people think it was good all the way through.
xevizero t1_j1hy0fw wrote
What genre of scifi is it? Soft, down to earth? Star wars space magic? Grim and dark?
Iannelli t1_j1hzu5r wrote
Not the person you asked, but I've seen The Expanse described as "hard" sci-fi. It's heavy on space technology, warfare, flight mechanics, things like that. A bit grim and dark at times.
Overall, The Expanse is the single greatest piece of sci-fi that I've ever personally seen. The show is so. Fucking. Good. It's hard to even explain it. The writing, the filming, the pacing, the way they shoot scenes... it's just a marvel to witness.
[deleted] t1_j1i884k wrote
I'd say it is 'hard-ish' and grim, the setting at the start explores the social, labour, and warfare effects based on the premise of a hyper-efficient space ship drive. So it takes travel times, gravity, economics, etc, serious, there's some heart-rending stuff in there.
I think people tend to call it hard sci-fi mostly because it is pretty rare for tv sci-fi to really explore the mechanics of space travel to this type of degree but there's also a lot of stuff it omits. I think the show is really good at taking a slightly fanciful premise and exploring it in quite a thorough way. Maybe I'm cooled on it now that it's been a while since I watched it but I remember when it came out it was just amazing to have a ship dock with a spinning space station and realise it thought it through more than I had.
nataliechaco t1_j1ig0v4 wrote
very politcal. Ive only read the book but it is probably the most 'realistic' depiction of humanity in space. I know some described the book as Game of Thrones in space but id argue its half that and half its own amazing thing.
Delicious-Tachyons t1_j1iwc7h wrote
no space magic. no warp drives, transporters. if you want to land on something you flip the craft around via RCS and hit the rockets while also strapped into chairs that keep you from stroking out from the g-forces kind of sci-fi.
kathryn13 t1_j1hpwng wrote
The show is fantastic. The creators stick the landing! Worth checking out. The details and foreshadowing are pretty amazing which I didn’t realize until future seasons.
xevizero t1_j1hr8za wrote
Is it done? Like, start to finish?
kathryn13 t1_j1hwjvr wrote
The expanse is based on a 9 books series. Basically seasons 1- 6 are books 1-6. Books 7-9 take place after a substantial time jump in the story and it makes sense to end the tv show there. The writers were involved in the series. I ended up reading the whole series after watching the show. The show makes parts of the books better and the books make parts of the show better. They really compliment each other well. The overall story line is exactly the same.
blackfeltfedora t1_j1hs9pz wrote
They left room to go back but yes the story is concluded.
xevizero t1_j1hwrn8 wrote
Thanks (= I feel like checking it out now!
xGenocidest t1_j1iyimd wrote
Yes, it's one of the best Sci Fi shows around. First few episodes are slow, but it helps to put you into their Universe. Most people start to realize their hooked around Episode 3 or 4.
It's also one of the more grounded Sci Fi shows when it comes to space travel and combat, actually feels like it could be a real thing in the future. Their ships are designed like Skyscrapers, they do a hard burn w/ constant acceleration to create the sense of gravity, then they do a 180 halfway to their destination and start slowing down to keep it up. Machine guns on ships have thrusters that fire to counteract the force so it doesn't change the ships trajectory. No gravity defying technology or space lasers. It's easy to miss out on some of the details if you're not looking since most people are used to all the crazy stuff and handwaving in most Sci Fi shows.
nebkelly t1_j1jxlp8 wrote
I wouldn't call it great. More like a Starz type level like Spartacus or Black Sails. Imo no, it doesn't really go anywhere.
If you can limit your expectations and put up with some bad plot and writing you can have a lot of fun with it.
xevizero t1_j1jxwwv wrote
Other people here seemed to be much more into it. What would be your grievances, if you can say without spoiling the specific?
nebkelly t1_j1jzd4z wrote
It is very corny at times, the casting was very different to the books, some of the main actors are not great. While the overall plot is cool (Earth v Mars v Belters), what actually happens each season is fairly silly and disjointed.
An example of a much better modern SF show is For All Mankind and... that show is maybe a 7 or an 8/10 compared to The Wire or whatever TV benchmark you want to use.
Unfortunately there is not a huge amount of spaceflight SF so people lap up what content we can get.
Edit - strongly ecommend reading the series before watching, or even just the first book.
Traece t1_j1mcbpo wrote
Wow. I never thought I'd see For All Mankind compared to The Wire but here we are.
I don't mean that in a good way, FAM had a good first season and then committed one of the biggest trainwrecks into a B-tier soap opera I've ever seen. It's genuinely so bad I wouldn't even recommend someone watch the first season for fear that a person might suffer the fate of watching the other two. That's not something I'd want to inflict on anybody.
If you had compared The Expanse to The Wire, I'd say you might be overreaching a little, but only a little bit.
nebkelly t1_j1ovkbo wrote
I didn't compare them favourably. I referenced The Wire as a benchmark neither of them come close to.
Traece t1_j1oxgy6 wrote
>An example of a much better modern SF show is For All Mankind and... that show is maybe a 7 or an 8/10 compared to The Wire or whatever TV benchmark you want to use.
I don't see any universe in which this is neither a favorable comparison, nor a close one. Being 7 or 8/10 compared to The Wire is a high accolade by any metric, and quite close on a scale of 10. You even went so far as to say FAM is "a much better modern SF show."
the_amazing_lee01 t1_j1hxret wrote
Overall, I'd say it's a very good show worth watching. Some seasons are better than others, but they are all pretty solid.
Cyyyyk t1_j1k65n8 wrote
If you re into sci-fi then The Expanse is mandatory viewing.
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