The Expanse: Season One [Blu-ray]

If you are still reading a review of Season One of "The Expanse" I'm assuming you haven't yet watched it. You may know that it's a TV adaptation from a series of sci-fi novels. The SyFy channel hadn't really had a good hit since it ended the long "Battlestar Galactica" series, which was causing a downward spiral: fewer viewers means less revenues means less to work with to produce something new and good. In adapting this story for a TV series they received some financial assistance from Comcast, which was also looking for new original content to offer subscribers. It was a bit dicey whether or not it would be renewed, but while the viewing audience for the fixed-schedule broadcasts declined, producers noted that the demand for viewing it online or streaming on demand was holding up very well, so it was renewed for a second season (last year) and a third, presumably final season, which should begin airing mid-2018. At this point Amazon Prime, Netflix and NBC Universal have all had a hand in distributing it.I have read some of the criticisms from the minority of viewers who gave it low ratings and will address them in a minute.This is an excellent TV fiction series. I highly recommend watching Season One as soon as possible. You'll then want to watch Season Two, and perhaps right about the time you finish Season Two, the third season will begin airing and you won't have to wait a year like some fans have had to do!Some have noted it's a little like "Game of Thrones" in space. In a couple of ways, that is true. First: both have a strong fan base, and both have received positive reviews from critics. Secondly, every truly good fiction mirrors enduring traits of human nature, regardless of the setting. Both Game of Thrones and The Expanse manage to do this, which is the essence of good storytelling.The story begins some 200 years in the future. Mankind has succeeded in colonizing the Moon. Earth is even more populated than today, and its natural resources are rather depleted. Environmental changes and pollution are worse problems than they are today. As for the Moon, of course it doesn't even have an atmosphere, so it too needs various resources for colonies to survive. The earth and moon have managed to live with a single government: the United Nations. A research colony was then set up on Mars, for exploration, research and conceivably, maybe some day the possibility of "terraforming" Mars to make it liveable without domed structures and space suits. But--rather like America rebelled against a distant Great Britain which it felt was unresponsive to the needs of the colonists, after a couple of generations had lived on Mars, people chafed at the distant United Nations and declared its independence. The Earth and Moon had much bigger military forces, but Mars had some of the best scientists and technicians. Nuclear war threatened but cooler heads finally prevailed. An uneasy truce between the new Federation of Mars and the U.N. has existed since. Meanwhile, Earth and Mars both began colonizing the asteroid belt and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, for quite practical reasons: resources. Water, in the form of ice. Energy, in the form of methane and the like. Rare earths, etc. Now generations of humans began growing up on these much more distant outposts: the "Belt" and beyond. The name of the show, "The Expanse", conveys the enormous scale of distances out in the asteroid belt and the gas giants. Almost all the "belt" colonies are actually run by corporations. Like Mars before, the "Belters" also want freedom and their own government. They resent feeling like slaves to the corporations and to supplying Earth, Moon and Mars with most of the resources they labor to extract. The main thing which has prevented their outright revolt is the sheer distances between the many colonies. Belter "patois" starts developing, each significant colony having a slightly unique variant of this conglomerate from several languages from Earth. Each colony also has an underground economy and its own gangs, rather like differing districts in big cities. As the story begins, humanity is now in a delicate balance of power among the three main factions: the United Nations, Mars, and the outer belt colonies. Any small incident could possibly escalate into outright war (does this seem at all like the world in 2018?). And of course, to make a good story a new and unexpected factor is thrown into this tense stew.It's not uncommon for people to watch the first episode, complain "I don't understand what's going on", "there's too many characters" and "it seems boring." That was the way I felt after episode one. A friend advised me to give it at least 2 more episodes before giving up. But by the end of episode two, I was totally hooked. I've now watched seasons 1 and two twice, and eagerly await season 3.Some complain "why all the sex and the bad language?" Well as for sex, the series was sort of "in your face" about that. There's a brief zero-gravity sex scene (no, not full nudity either) essentially at the beginning of the very first episode--and that was probably the steamiest it EVER got. Hey--it's a part of life--especially if you're stuck for months on end, away from home most of the time and you're young and healthy, relationships start to form on board. Because a fair amount of the action is on board ships of various kinds: mining ships, cargo ships, military ships etc. Other important locations are right on Earth (looks like a future New York City and the seat of the government), on Mars, and on various major colonies out in "the Belt". As for the language: anyone who has been around either miners, military or merchant marines must know that their language is often "spicy". The language in this show does include swearing, but there are plenty of shows with far worse language than this. Again, it's appropriate to the settings and if anything, milder than the reality would be.Some complain they're frustrated they can't understand the "Belter patois", when two belters talk among themselves. Once again: like the real world. Go to Tokyo and you won't understand the conversation there either, unless you speak Japanese or someone is polite enough to address you in English. It really doesn't matter because, just by the context of the situation and their expressions and gestures, basically you know what they are saying to each other even without understanding the words. Likewise some complain that at times external noises make the conversation hard to hear. Yep--remember the radio chatter in the first "Alien" movie? They had a hard time making each other out too. In this case, subtitling will come to your rescue and you can see every word. And lastly: if you feel confused in the beginning, understand that you are watching the action unfold as if you are with the people experiencing it. Often they don't exactly know what's going on either, and you are experiencing it much like the characters are. They have to make assumptions and speculations, which are not all correct--and you the audience are puzzling through the events along with them. Every murder mystery uses this sort of device, and they are quite popular. Some stories give the viewer a much more godlike view, knowing more than any of the characters do, but this show limits the audience's viewpoint: it's a little wider view than most of the characters have, but not by very much.Most of the acting in my opinion is very good and some of it is excellent. The blending of real sets and computer-graphic imaging is excellent and I for one felt it looked quite realistic. At times, it was even quite beautiful. The story line is intriguing, the dialog is strong, the pacing is excellent with just the right mixture of action and character development, and lastly, there's just enough humor thrown in occasionally to keep the drama in the story from becoming too heavy. I wasn't familiar with any of these actors before I started watching, and I've grown to really enjoy watching them. Lastly the show mostly manages to avoid classifying characters as "good guys" or "bad guys". It's done in a way that you can appreciate just why various characters would feel and act as they do, even when they are in opposition to each other. This is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the most entertaining TV shows I've watched in a long time. Anyone who can tolerate a "science fiction" setting should give it a try.

BLUF: The Expanse is both the best on-screen SF made in my lifetime AND among the best SF series ever written, and even better, they co-exist without any problem. The show can be perfectly enjoyed without reading the books, and in spite of the obvious and necessary differences between the show and the books, unless you are obsessive about such things (and I tend to be), having read the books does not in any way diminish enjoyment of the shows--a very rare accomplishment to be sure.I've been an avid and voracious reader of SF since the 70s, and I've been a fan of almost all genres of SF TV and movies (not keen on the heavy-horror stuff) since the mid-60s. In all that time, I've only seen a few movies or shows I deem so bad their only value is to show how bad it can be, e.g., Starship Troopers, Saturn 3, Robocop, and a bunch of grade D stuff not even worth mentioning. Still, I like things like Johnny Mnemonic, the original Judge Dredd, both versions of Dune (the new version especially), and most SF series like Babylon V, almost all things Star Trek (but not Janeway, Voyager, or the new Discovery travesty), Firefly (gone way too soon), EVERY Star Wars movie and show (yes, all!), and on. I liked Lost in Space, Space 1999, and I especially liked the serials that would play before the Saturday matinees.With that as background, I will say again that The Expanse is both the best on-screen SF I've ever watched, and right up there among the best SF written. To be sure, it's a space opera, so it compares more to things like the Lensmen, Asimov's Robots and Foundation series, and Heinlein's stuff than to Bradbury (everything), Miller (Canticle for Leibowitz), or Stewart (Earth Abides), but there are elements of pure, speculative, and fantasy SF threaded throughout. It is, quite simply, not only extremely well written SF, but also the most coherent, seamless, generally flawless TV SF shows made. And that doesn't even being to get into the excellent match between the actors cast to play the roles and the imagined characters of the books. In fact, the one enhances the other exceptionally well, as if they were written at the same time, or at least with an eye to the visual production when the literary version was in the making.If you like SF of any kind, and if you relish great SF TV, you just can't go wrong with these. And Season 4 (book 4 from the looks of it) is die to be aired in December, and from the trailer it looks like they are on track to keep up the good work! I am just thrilled.

I really enjoyed this Series! Not the long wait since the likes of Farscape, Firefly, LEXX... which I thoroughly loved. (Of course Firefly was cut short by low-life FOX.)This Series has started off very well. BUT, I could have done without the GRAPHIC fornication! We all know that sex takes place BUT... MUST WE BE A PARTY TO IT????? Childish! Infantile! Boorish! Female Drama! Assinine low-life females and children insist on including such GRAPHICS! When merely the "SUGGESTION" of adult sex is quite enough! We, the viewer, DO NOT have to be a PARTICIPANT!

The CGI used for deep space and asteroids shots was really top-notch. The spacecrafts are even plausible. However, James and Naomi are the only characters that aren’t self-satisfying, homicidal jerks! Even the UN Undersecretary tortures prisoners. A 1940’s-style cop beats up suspects, and sometimes becomes a homicidal killer! The overpopulated asteroids are filled with peasants living and working like they did in Medieval Europe.And mind you, this is hundreds of years in the future. So where are the robots, automation and advanced AI? In fact, today AI piloted jet fighters beat seasoned human pilots in simulated dogfights!This TV series is like Battlestar Galactica meets the B-movie The Green Slime. In fact, these movies are vastly more entertaining and less annoying than The Expanse.

34 minutes and still pretty much lost in what the hell this all about. sorry.

The Twenty Third Century. Solar system colonized. Water in very short supply. Tension growing between Earth and those who settled on Mars. Is a third party trying to provoke a war? An unlikely partnership investigates - Detective Joe Miller and Ship Captain Jim Holden - mavericks both.Clearly cult viewing, fans ecstatic. Sadly I emerged from seven hours of colour-drained confusion little the wiser - overwhelmed by special effects, underwhelmed by character development. Key to enjoyment is caring what happens. Despite trying hard, I simply did not.Undoubtedly failure to appreciate is my loss. Admiration is great for all who managed to keep up.

Im voraus sei gesagt, dass ich die bisher auf Deutsch erschienenen sechs Bücher gelesen habe, die ersten drei schon vor längerer Zeit. Schon ganz zu Beginn der Lektüre ist mir aufgefallen, dass das Layout der Story für eine Serienumsetzung geeignet ist, oder eher, genau dazu konzipiert ist. Das Autorengespann schreibt von Anfang an ein Drehbuch. Das finde ich völlig in Ordnung. Die Geschichte ist episch, mit einer Vielzahl von Charakteren, deren Wege sich häufig kreuzen, und spielt in einer exotischen, aber gerade den Genre-Fans vertrauten Umgebung. Und das sind nicht die einzigen Parallelen zu "A Game of Thrones".Die Geschichte spielt aus logischen Gründen im 24.Jahrhundert, aber das Verhalten der Personen, die gesellschaftlichen Gegebenheiten, die Ethik und natürlich die Technik sind nicht weit von unserer Zeit entfernt. Auch das ist in meinen Augen die richtige Mischung, um mögliche Zukünfte verdaulich und unterhaltsam darzustellen. Gekünstelte Fremdartigkeit und Extrapolation sind da eher hinderlich und oft genug von der persönlichen Interpretation des Autors unglaubwürdig verzerrt. Aber hier haben wir ja schon (mindestens) zwei, die die Geschichte schreiben, und für die Serie kommen noch einige, z.B. die Regisseure, hinzu.Die Figuren in dieser ersten Staffel waren mir von Anfang an völlig vertraut. Tatsächlich habe ich sie mir auch optisch so vorgestellt - bis auf James Holden. Der sieht in der Serie aus wie Jon Snow mit kurzen Haaren, und spricht auch noch mit der deutschen Stimme von Kit Harrington. Sei's drum, insgesamt passt es. Schön auch, das Mr. Ehrmantraut mal kurz rein schaut.Natürlich entwickelt die Story sich langsam, und -für mich wohltuend- wenig actionbetont. Der Plot ist hinreichend komplex, um das Interesse hoch zu halten, wird aber entgegen der Buchvorlage gekonnt gestrafft. Die visuelle Darstellung der Planeten, Himmelskörper, Raumschiffe und -stationen ist optisch beeindruckend und professionell.Die erste Staffel endet natürlich mit einem Cliffhanger. Ich bin ehrlich gespannt, wie die mir ja prinzipiell noch ein gutes Stück weiter bekannte Geschichte umgesetzt werden wird. Die Bücher zwei bis vier fand ich weniger gut als den Start, aber auch bei R.R.Martins Büchern zu Game of Thrones gab es Längen, die die Serie später gekonnt vermieden hat.Spannende Voraussetzungen bietet der Plot genug, die Figuren sind dreidimensional, aber hinreichend vereinfacht, um leicht verständlich zu bleiben, die Handlung bietet Humor, Gewalt, Sex und technischen Bombast in bekömmlichen Portionen, und darüber hinaus eine Philosophie, die klug genug ist, sich nicht aufzudrängen.Zusammenfassend ist mein Eindruck, dass dies hier eine bewusst und professionell auf Serienverwertung ausgelegte Geschichte ist, die -schon wieder eine Parallele zu GoT- weniger auf ein finales Ziel, sondern eher auf die breite Schilderung einer exotischen, aber dennoch zugänglichen, sogar vertrauten Welt abzielt, und unendlich weiter gehen kann- jedenfalls solange, wie das Interesse vorhanden ist.

Absolutely top quality science fiction show. It develops slowly but the humanity inherent in it is there for all to see. The main characters include a cop who seems a bit lost or as he says "there is no law on Ceres just cops". Then there is the XO of the Canterbury who doesn't want to be an officer, the slightly crazy Amos who looks like muscle but ends up being quite a bit more, Naomi who seems to have her own agenda as part of the OPA, the outer planets organisation. Earth and Mars are at odds with both massive military powers, the Belt being manipulated and exploited by both Mars and Earth. The outer planets trying to gain a foothold and someone else with unexpected power and resources. Finally, a weird something that kills but is a seemingly alien form of life. A fake emergency beacon draws in the Canterbury but it's a trap and it is destroyed by stealth ships with advanced weapons, a tiny crew escape to tell the tale but are captured a Mars battleship who themselves come under attack by the same stealth ships. The Martian crew helps the escaped from the Canterbury get away at the loss of everyone on board. The show is so damn good, lots of intrigue, power plays but still some decency remains in individuals. The story draws you in, the visual effects are stunning, the science mainly realistic. The only weakness is sometimes the voices are not easily understood when they speak out of spacesuits, sometimes the conversations jump right in with little warning so the viewer has to catch up fast. But it sure is good.

Disappointing science fiction series that did not live up to its favourable reviews.‘The Expanse’ portrays rivalry at some future time between the government of Earth and its ex-colony, the Republic of Mars, over exploitation of the mineral resources of the Asteroid belt, including frozen water.This series combines something of the feel of ‘Alien’, ‘Blade Runner’ and the 2000s remake of ‘Battlestar Galactica’, which may sound promising. Unfortunately, it has less memorable characters, plots, dialogue and concepts than any of these. Having found the early episodes disappointing I jumped ahead to the last episode to see if, as many series do, 'The Expanse' improved as it went along. Sadly not.It tends to be dimly lit. Perhaps that is how things would be in the Asteroid belt, further from the Sun than we are. However, it is depressing to look at too much darkness.As I cannot really recommend The Expanse, if you are looking for a good, original science fiction series with interesting characters, situations and ideas then I recommend the following, though as noted below many of them were only really good for part of their run:-Battlestar Galactica (the 2000s remake, not the 1970s original) especially the excellent so called ‘Mini Series’ which sets up the story and confusingly comes before Season 1.-Battlestar Galactica's prequels ‘Caprica’ and ‘Blood and Chrome’.-‘Firefly’ (which gets better as it goes along, so if not initially convinced skip ahead to the later episodes) and its film continuation ‘Serenity’. Both were created by Joss Whedon, who is also famous for creating 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and its spawn 'Angel'.-‘Dark Matter’ Season 1 (less original after that)-‘Farscape’ Seasons 1, 2 and especially 3; mostly less good after that-'V', the Twenty-First Century remake. I have not seen the 1980s original.-Lexx the first two TV movies of Season 1. Those are great although the series sadly went off the boil after that, despite churning out several more Seasons.-‘Dollhouse’ another Joss Whedon science fiction series, set on Earth rather than in Space.

Um es auf den Punkt zu bringen: mit Ausnahme einiger nicht so gelungener Dialoge stimmt an dieser Serie alles und es ist zu hoffen, das nach dem Absetzen der Serie nach der dritten Staffel durch SyFy ein anderer Produzent die Serie fortführt. (Amazon, please help)Die Serie ist komplex aufgebaut mit diversen Handlungssträngen, wie man es z.B. aus "Game of Thrones" kennt, was inmitten der meisten Serien eine wohltuende Ausnahme darstellt. Der Mainstream ist da doch weitaus eindimensionaler angelegt. Die Hauptdarsteller, also die Besatzung der "Rocinante" erinnern, wie auch das Raumschiff selbst an den Genre-Klassiker "Firefly", was ich durchaus als Remineszenz verstehe.Der Anfang der Story mit dem Krimi-Touch und dem zynischen, wenn auch sympathischen Cop "Miller" gibt dem Ganzen eine wunderbar eigene Note.Ich könnte jetzt noch ewig weiterschreiben, jedoch belasse ich es bei diesem Fazit:Für SciFi-Liebhaber mit Leidenschaft für komplexe Handlungen ist "The Expanse" absolute Pflicht.#savetheexpanse