The Expanse

Discussion of performing arts, including theatre, film, television, and music.
Post Reply
User avatar
Alatar
of Vinyamar
Posts: 10585
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:39 pm
Location: Ireland
Contact:

Re: The Expanse

Post by Alatar »

Season Two Trailer! See Bobbie in action!

Image
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
User avatar
Primula Baggins
Living in hope
Posts: 40005
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:43 am
Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
Contact:

Re: The Expanse

Post by Primula Baggins »

Looks good to me! Thanks, Alatar. I'm pretty sure I know which scene the first episode will open with, given that one of the articles I linked says Bobbie's in the first scene. I predict it will totally kick butt.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
User avatar
Alatar
of Vinyamar
Posts: 10585
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:39 pm
Location: Ireland
Contact:

Re: The Expanse

Post by Alatar »

Actually, I suspect the first scene will be an introduction to Bobbie and her Marines before "that scene".
So, we start with Bobbie at her team in episode 1. And we get to spend time with them before the events on Ganymede and the beginning of Caliban’s War. So, what it allowed us to do is build characters, build the team camaraderie, build all of that Martian perspective that we had to pull back in Season 1 and bring that front and center into season 2. That helps us frame the Earth, the Belt, and Mars. That really is the tripod on which we’ll see them stand.
Image
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
User avatar
Primula Baggins
Living in hope
Posts: 40005
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:43 am
Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
Contact:

Re: The Expanse

Post by Primula Baggins »

Oh, OK. Works for me. In the book, "that scene" is the first time we meet Bobbie, and it's spectacular. But the book has the advantage that it can put us into her point of view throughout that scene; we see and feel everything she does, right up until—well. Film can't do it quite so immediately, short of having characters yell things that they can simply think to themselves in a book. So I guess they decided to make us care about her and her team before it happens.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
User avatar
Inanna
Meetu's little sister
Posts: 17685
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2006 5:03 pm

Re: The Expanse

Post by Inanna »

Dammit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
User avatar
Jude
Lán de Grás
Posts: 8195
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2006 4:54 pm

Re: The Expanse

Post by Jude »

Well, the book is a real page-turner, so thank you for recommending it :)

Don't know if I'll ever get around to watching the TV show, though.
Image
User avatar
Primula Baggins
Living in hope
Posts: 40005
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:43 am
Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
Contact:

Re: The Expanse

Post by Primula Baggins »

Don't worry—we can still be friends and everything.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
User avatar
Alatar
of Vinyamar
Posts: 10585
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:39 pm
Location: Ireland
Contact:

Re: The Expanse

Post by Alatar »

Image
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
User avatar
Maria
Hobbit
Posts: 8221
Joined: Wed Mar 15, 2006 8:45 pm
Location: Missouri

Re: The Expanse

Post by Maria »

Cool! :D
We just finished the audio version of the first book... and I have to say I like the TV production better. Usually I'm a fanatic about the book version of something, even if I see the TV version first. But in this case, the story seemed to drag a LOT. It could have been the reader, I suppose, as he was only mediocre in his performance. Even after we got past the part covered in the TV series it just didn't hold our attention. When we start choosing silence over the current audiobook during our commute, it's a definite trouble sign, and that happened several times in this book.

I don't have any urge at all to start up the second book, even though I've already bought it.

*sigh*

I'm looking forward to the show, though. :)
User avatar
Primula Baggins
Living in hope
Posts: 40005
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:43 am
Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
Contact:

Re: The Expanse

Post by Primula Baggins »

<squees helplessly>

And Maria, I just finished a re-read of the second book and I think it moves faster and is (even) more exciting than the first. I enjoyed it thoroughly even though I'd already read it once; it was fun just to observe the authors' skill at keeping the suspense up and pulling me forward. The stage also expands pretty significantly, and we finally meet Avasarala, who is one of my favorite characters and can be much more, ummm, colorful in the book. And Bobbie. I think you would like Bobbie.

All I mean is, if you're at all inclined to give it one more try, I think the book you already own is a good bet.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
User avatar
Inanna
Meetu's little sister
Posts: 17685
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2006 5:03 pm

Re: The Expanse

Post by Inanna »

Mumble grumble.
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
User avatar
Primula Baggins
Living in hope
Posts: 40005
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:43 am
Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
Contact:

Re: The Expanse

Post by Primula Baggins »

:scratch:
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
User avatar
Inanna
Meetu's little sister
Posts: 17685
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2006 5:03 pm

Re: The Expanse

Post by Inanna »

Don't have access to books at eNYPL. :(
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
User avatar
Jude
Lán de Grás
Posts: 8195
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2006 4:54 pm

Re: The Expanse

Post by Jude »

Have you tried Interlibrary loan?
Image
User avatar
eborr
Posts: 1030
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:36 am

Re: The Expanse

Post by eborr »

I just saw the first episode of S 2. I thought it was unbelievably good.
Since 1410 most Welsh people most of the time have abandoned any idea of independence as unthinkable. But since 1410 most Welsh people, at some time or another, if only in some secret corner of the mind, have been "out with Owain and his barefoot scrubs." For the Welsh mind is still haunted by it's lightning-flash vision of a people that was free.

Gwyn A. Williams,
User avatar
Jude
Lán de Grás
Posts: 8195
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2006 4:54 pm

Re: The Expanse

Post by Jude »

I just finished Book 2. Maybe I will watch the series after all.

Should I wait until I've finished all the books? How many are there?
Image
User avatar
Primula Baggins
Living in hope
Posts: 40005
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:43 am
Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
Contact:

Re: The Expanse

Post by Primula Baggins »

There are six, right now, and it'll probably be a couple of years before the seventh comes out. I think the plan is eight.

I don't think you need to finish all the books. This is a story that wanders through the universe. If you've read 1 and 2 (and I'm glad you enjoyed 2), you're ready for season 1 of the show, and much of season 2, without spoilers. And those of us who've been reading right along have been experiencing the story and all its surprises without any idea of how it ends. Honestly, I think that's more fun. It's more like life.

The series is really, really good—all the actors are good, including the Oscar winner Shohreh Aghdashloo, who plays Avasarala. The writing is good; even the special effects are topnotch.

But the ratings have gone down this season, and the book authors are asking people to watch the show either as it airs, or within 3 or 7 days afterward, and to watch it on Syfy if they can, rather than renting it from other sources. It's Syfy who determines whether there's a season 3, and apparently that's still hanging fire. Watching it through other channels does not weigh in Syfy's decision.

If they dump it, it might still be picked up elsewhere—it's "prestige" SF. But I would love to see this series continue on an accessible outlet—a high-quality, intelligent series adaptation of high-quality, intelligent written SF. I honestly think that's a first. There have been other wonderful SF shows, but they're not adaptations of written books. And these writers are good. The books are full of scientifically accurate detail, fascinating plot twists, deeply human characters, and a strong fundamental decency that moves me—something I strive for in my own stories.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
User avatar
Frelga
Meanwhile...
Posts: 22447
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:31 pm
Location: Home, where else

Re: The Expanse

Post by Frelga »

I got book 1, but even the first page was a bit to gritty for me right now. I need my fiction warm and fluffy these days.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.

Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
User avatar
Alatar
of Vinyamar
Posts: 10585
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:39 pm
Location: Ireland
Contact:

Re: The Expanse

Post by Alatar »

I'm rewatching Season 1 with the older kids now so we can watch Season 2 together. I'm reading Cibola Burn now, which has quite a different feel to the others.

I believe they're planning 9 books in total.
Image
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
User avatar
Impenitent
Throw me a rope.
Posts: 7254
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:13 am
Location: Deep in Oz

Re: The Expanse

Post by Impenitent »

It's the kind of series that could go on forever - wonderful characters that could each be followed down their own track (as in the novellas) and it's a great big universe out there.

Posting on phone via Tapatalk
Mornings wouldn't suck so badly if they came later in the day.
Post Reply