The Expanse-Syfy

Someone refresh my memory on the Anubis. I know we've heard that name earlier in the show, but I can't remember what we were told or when.

 

The Anubis was a stealth ship that captured the Scopulus (sp) and destroyed the Canterbury. Julie Mao escaped it and went to Eros (infected by the proto molecule) on its shuttle. NOW, the last episode differs in detail and timing from the book so anything else I write would be (I think) spoiling.

Despite some detail and timing departures from the book, the series is great. Overall they are maintaining the "spirit" of the book and doing it quite well. If this was a take on a Tolkien book, the purists would be in a rage.

 

Thanks. I guess I was confused as I was assuming that the opening scene of the series was Julie Mao on the Scopuli. But was that taking place on the Anubis? Or were both ships infected with that weird cluster looking thing that seemed to feed off energy when the ship was powered up.

 

She was shown on the Anubis. More information on the proto molecule should be coming RSN.

 

Watched the S1 finale - liked it and the season as a whole. It's not perfect by any means, but there is a solid core to it which makes it stand out. Some thoughts and grades about relative strengths and weaknesses:

A+ Sets. They're amazing, both in detail and scope. Loved the cool blue lighting aboard Holden's ship.

A Interfaces. The computer and mobile user interfaces are really well thought out and rendered.

B+ Storytelling. It can be a little disorienting/opaque from time to time, especially with so many different threads unfolding at the same time. The narrative is at its strongest when it follows a single story for most of the running time of an ep.

B Characters/actors. None of the characters are particularly likable or charismatic (I didn't know any of the main actors except Shohreh Aghdashloo, whose voice is rather annoying). It took a long time for me to figure out who they were and how they related to one another. However, by season's end, they did all come together and I got a better picture of what makes each tick. Binge watching would no doubt have helped in this regard.

B- Ships. Spaceships and space structures simply don't look 'real'. They look like colored cartoons rather than solid structures with great mass.

B- Gravity. Many lapses in portraying the lack of gravity or even low gravity. Heck, in the finale, a character with activated mag-boots sits down on a ship and drinks a beverage from an open cup sitting on the console!

C Audio. The audio mix is beyond horrible. It's like someone used a baseline of massive bass and modulated the actor's voices just slightly above that baseline. Fail.

Looking forward to season 2 (with 13 episodes).

 

I will watch the last two episodes tomorrow. I agree with your assessment.

 

Activated gravity cup?

 

And what were they drinking - a magnetorheological fluid?

 

I don't know, I was just kidding. I haven't watched it yet. I'll keep an eye out for it. I think you're more sensitive to this stuff than I am, but it is lazy if they could address it by just having the person use a covered cup.

 

Me too.

Yeah, I guess I am more sensitive to anomalous physics than many might be. I try to give most of these things a pass when I'm enjoying the story, but there are just some things, despite my best efforts, that just jump out and make me wince.

 

I've enjoyed the series as it has progressed so much that I ordered the first three books. Thanks guys for keeping me interested in this. I might have passed after the first episode if not for the comments here.

 

Great finish. Season 2 starts JANUARY2017?

 

The season just ended so it kind of makes sense. That's why I bought the books.

 

The books are great, I read them before seeing the TV series (and was delighted to learn about the series). I wonder how easy some of it was to follow without having read the books; I know there were some changes made in the story line from the books to the series, but I enjoyed it so far. The other issue I have with any of these series, is watching the episodes individually as they are released. I guess I've been spoiled by bing watching stuff after completion of a series or season; it makes following the story line easier. This is not a complaint in particular about this series; more an observation about my preferred viewing habits.

 

That's disappointing, but hopefully we get more than 10 episodes for the second season.

 

We will, as mentioned before, s2 will have 13 episodes.

 

Good news, I didn't know that. Or I forgot. Thanks.

 

The seventh book "Babylon's Ashes" will be published in August.

 

So, plenty of material there to use, but will the show make it that far? While it's excellent that syfy picked up another season and expanded the ep count, the ratings haven't been exactly stellar(!) while also being syfy's most expensive property. In the new TV landscape, will the ratings matter to keep this show going for multiple seasons into the future? I hope so.

 

I was just thinking about that and we both know that money talks. The networks have been known to quickly eliminate a program when ratings aren't acceptable.

If this season was very expensive, I wonder how much next season will cost? Depending how they depict certain storylines, next season could be more costly. Consider that they covered approximately thirty-three of fifty-five chapters from the first book and that there are still a number of high cost action scenes remaining.

 

I doubt that they will cut the budget much for season 2, certainly not enough to be noticed on screen, as that would work against what it has established, and the 'look' is one of the show's strongest aesthetics.

The sunk cost that went into the sets and production methods for season 1 would represent a high initial outlay, but once in place, the existing infrastructure would lead to lower costs per season going forward. Of course, the book series is rather sprawling so new environments would also need to be created, but I still think that there will be a lot of resulting savings.

I have a feeling that this show may not live or die by traditional ratings standards. I think syfy sees this show as a flagship property, like say Game Of Thrones for HBO (minus the ratings so far!) and so if it can shop it around not just locally but globally and on demand, the numbers may start looking attractive.

If syfy is serious about rebranding itself back to being a SciFi network, then it needs a long running flagpole series, like this.

 

I've been binge-watching this series and just finished episode 6. I agree that the audio makes the dialogue difficult to understand on a show that is already challenging to follow. My On Demand only goes up to ep 9 so I may have to spring for the blu ray set which has just been released. (Heck even if the whole thing was On Demand I might still get the blu ray).

 

Best hard sci-fi (syfy?) show on TV in years.

 

Trailer for season 2. Returns 1/17/17!

 

Here is a link to the Comic-Con panel. I only skimmed it, but they showed one scene from the upcoming season. Not sure what it is - some large ship (the Nauvoo?) launching. This should be right where the scene is shown to the audience.