The Expanse (SyFy)

.... What is interesting is that The Expanse is so much lower than the others. ...

I haven't seen Legion but out of the recent shows I've seen; The Expanse took the most thinking at the start. What drew me in was the characters and trying to figure out how their stories were going to meet and intertwine. I recommended it to a couple people at work and got two responses of "eh, I wasn't able to really get into it".

It isn't a 'two screen' show. You can't be watching it and looking at your phone at the same time. Shows with subtlety and depth will likely continue to be replaced by shows where the cast shouts out simple statements that can be picked up over the distraction.
One of the geniuses I also recommended Colony to came back and said "I didn't like all the flashbacks they had". He just looked more confused when I said "It doesn't have any flashbacks. That is one thing that makes it so great, so much of what happened and what is going on is a still a mystery".
 
I haven't seen Legion but out of the recent shows I've seen; The Expanse took the most thinking at the start. What drew me in was the characters and trying to figure out how their stories were going to meet and intertwine. I recommended it to a couple people at work and got two responses of "eh, I wasn't able to really get into it".

It isn't a 'two screen' show. You can't be watching it and looking at your phone at the same time. Shows with subtlety and depth will likely continue to be replaced by shows where the cast shouts out simple statements that can be picked up over the distraction.
One of the geniuses I also recommended Colony to came back and said "I didn't like all the flashbacks they had". He just looked more confused when I said "It doesn't have any flashbacks. That is one thing that makes it so great, so much of what happened and what is going on is a still a mystery".

Great observation. I made 3 eps into The Expanse S1 and realized a lot was slipping by me. I had absolutely been 2-screening it and was quite frankly lost. So I went back & rewatched without distraction and was rewarded for that. If anything I appreciate (now) that they don't spoon feed you. Unfortunately that may be its fatal flaw.

Re: Colony, when I watched S1 ep1 I thought I'd missed a show. It dives straight in without explanation which I also liked. This is the reality, figure it out as it goes. And in many ways you are as in the dark as the characters as far as what is really going on. It's a good show and seems to be in good hands on USA.

Same for Legion on FX which also it takes several eps to set up.

Further SPOILER the main character is an unreliable narrator (like Mr. Robot). Y
ou slowly realize what you see is how the main character sees, not necessarily reality.

Which is a great premise but also can be challenging until you realize it.

 
One of the benchmarks I have for movie and TV scifi is how technology is depicted. It is irritating when you have show that beats you over the head with it. Captain Space intones: I am going to take my Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator and combine it with my Bovine Scatatronic blastomator to power the Fulda Space WC Slider drive. Alright I get it you have futuristic technology. :) Expanse is very, very good. The technology you see is completely believable, The smartphones and tablets look completely in context. The use of a tablet as a control panel for a space ship is absolutely going to be. In other words the technology is a part of the back ground and not the story,
 
Finished season 2 on DVD last night. TV SF doesn't get any better than this. Christian and Amos are my favorite characters. Think I'm in love with Draper.
 
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I keep waiting for more to appear,
hoping this is a period of high quality Science Fiction TV shows -
which doesn't happen very often!
 
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Having read the books makes it a bit easier to keep up with what's going on in the show, even if there are a few changes.
 
Having read the books makes it a bit easier to keep up with what's going on in the show, even if there are a few changes.

This is on my list. So far when I was lost I went back & rewatched. All the info seems to be there but some of it only becomes clear if you loop back several episodes.
 
Loved the books though the last couple felt like they were phoned in compared to the previous. The effects were quite good and I very much appreciated the series not trying to improve the story, OTOH I found the casting to be excrutiating to the point of unwatchable. I read quite a few of the supporting short stories, there is a lot of character development done there which (to me) did not appear in the series, as if the acting consisted of a bunch of people wearing costumes and reading lines. For instance, in the books Amos is a palpable threat that subtly radiates off the pages. Contrast how Serenity/Firefly exhibited Jayne Cobb compared to Amos.
 
This is on my list. So far when I was lost I went back & rewatched. All the info seems to be there but some of it only becomes clear if you loop back several episodes.

Binging it on DVD probably lessened this problem for me.

I'm already contemplating watching it again. I may skip season one since I've already watched twice. Probably not though. :D
 
Binging it on DVD probably lessened this problem for me.

I'm already contemplating watching it again. I may skip season one since I've already watched twice. Probably not though. :D

What I appreciate most is that things aren't immediately obvious or dumbed down in explanation. Here's hoping for season 4.

As an aside, the season 3 trailer is a recut of season 1 & 2 happenings. Curious, that Miller is so predominant. Having not read the books, I don't want why -


Also, new cast member -

http://deadline.com/2017/07/comic-con-the-expanse-season-3-elizabeth-mitchell-1202134226/
 
What I appreciate most is that things aren't immediately obvious or dumbed down in explanation. Here's hoping for season 4.

As an aside, the season 3 trailer is a recut of season 1 & 2 happenings. Curious, that Miller is so predominant. Having not read the books, I don't want why -


Also, new cast member -

http://deadline.com/2017/07/comic-con-the-expanse-season-3-elizabeth-mitchell-1202134226/

I'm really looking forward to S3 and if I win a big Powerball will fund S4 & S5 myself. If S3 is on par with S1 & S2, The Eclipse will be in my top five.

I too haven't read the books. I don't recall seeing Miller actually die and IIRC he was human when last seen. Can a belter boy and a proto earth girl find love and happiness on Venus?
 
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Miller is a central character up thru CIbola Burn where the strange situation things have gotten into starts making sense. For my part the series seemed to go off the rails after that, authors kind of searching for ideas though lots of stuff happens. Sadly, Draper is not a prominent character in the later books. Wikipedia says another book is coming out December 2017.. hope they find their mojo again in that one.
 
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