The Expanse - season 4

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Tom B

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For those who follow The Expanse, season 4 (the first premiering on Amazon) will drop on December 13.

I'm sad that they're dropping it all at once, but very happy that it exists at all. For all the talk of Discovery, Picard, etc., etc., The Expanse is what I'm really waiting for. It's eclipsed Trek for me.
 
I've enjoyed the books and the show.
 
Once I found out that
the setting goes from Solar System Sci-Fi to a blend of "discovering ancient jumpgates" and "nanotech superweapon"
I tuned out. I'll head back to it at some point I guess, but I'm not drawn in like I was in the beginning.
 
Once I found out that
the setting goes from Solar System Sci-Fi to a blend of "discovering ancient jumpgates" and "nanotech superweapon"
I tuned out. I'll head back to it at some point I guess, but I'm not drawn in like I was in the beginning.
Same. I’m not sure why, but it lost me. I never even watched season 3.
 
It's placed itself firmly at the top of my all-time favorite SF series. Season 5 has already been approved.
 
The main conflict those is still Better vs Mars vs Earth vs Humanity as a whole.
 
I have to say, after reading the books, the series is borderline unwatchable. The characters only bear a passing resemblance to the ones in the books, events happen in the wrong order. Or for the wrong reasons. And it's all paced in such a way that you get half a book or so to a season.

It's hard work making the switch!
 
Once I found out that
the setting goes from Solar System Sci-Fi to a blend of "discovering ancient jumpgates" and "nanotech superweapon"
I tuned out. I'll head back to it at some point I guess, but I'm not drawn in like I was in the beginning.
I feel exactly the same way. I finally got a genuinely thrilling, well-made hard sci-fi series and they had to go and foul it by intro'ing "magic" technology. My excitement for the show just evaporated.
 
The characters seem very much the same to me. Not quite as I had pictured them originally, but I have no trouble reconciling the screen version with the book version I pictured as I read it. Amos, in particular, is very different...but I've come to prefer the television interpretation. For me, it's a great combination of hard SF and first contact with the remnants of an alien civilization.
 
I feel exactly the same way. I finally got a genuinely thrilling, well-made hard sci-fi series and they had to go and foul it by intro'ing "magic" technology. My excitement for the show just evaporated.
So episode 1 lost it for you. Because the whole point of the show is we're watching Spanish ships sailing into Aztec ports.
 
The characters seem very much the same to me. Not quite as I had pictured them originally, but I have no trouble reconciling the screen version with the book version I pictured as I read it. Amos, in particular, is very different...but I've come to prefer the television interpretation. For me, it's a great combination of hard SF and first contact with the remnants of an alien civilization.
Apart from the way they act in different ways, have completely different relationships among themselves and generally only have the same names. It's a case study in the same things happen for completely unrelated reasons.
 
Apart from the way they act in different ways, have completely different relationships among themselves and generally only have the same names. It's a case study in the same things happen for completely unrelated reasons.

I don't see them being that different at all, and they act almost identically to their portrayal in the books. Abraham and Franck are doing the writing, so you can't say they don't understand the characters. If anything, the portrayals on the show help me understand a few things that didn't quite click for me in the books. Sorry the portrayals don't work for you. They certainly do for me.
 
Now, now, Steve. Don't be like that.
It's about what Iain M Banks called an out of context problem, and playing on the bridge between single star system and fully interstella human civilisation. The writers are clear about that in every interview I've seen or read with them.

If you don't think that's a fundamental keystroke of The Expanse, that's not on anyone else. It's baked right into the premise from the prologue.

As for the characters, in the books the crew trust Holden right from the get go. It's most of season 1 before they start to warm to him over Naomi. I'd say that alone is a pretty significant difference.
 
It took me five or six episodes to get into, but I like it a lot now.
 
I think I am about half way through season 5. It's a good season so far.
 
I'm liking season 5 but some stuff just seems wrapped up too nicely with a bow on it. Still fun and some of the best stuff on.
 
I'm liking season 5 but some stuff just seems wrapped up too nicely with a bow on it. Still fun and some of the best stuff on.

Tidy wrap ups like Clarissa's escape? Or Naomi's warning? Those two were in the last episode I watched that seemed a bit too tidy.
 
Tidy wrap ups like Clarissa's escape? Or Naomi's warning? Those two were in the last episode I watched that seemed a bit too tidy.
Yup
 
Haven't seen the series, but in the books it's supposed to really exhaust her when she starts it.
Not when it's over? I thought she was wiped after. I think in the show she seems a little dazed or like building up.
 
She seems a little woozy before springing to action. But then there is action. lol
 
Also, just FYI, in the book
The warning for the Roci wasn't nearly as time-critical. It just had to be received before the output reached a certain level. I assumed they changed that in the show for dramatic timing.
 
So. . .can we talk about the Marco Inaros issue? 1. he whisper talks and 2. some episodes he is in 75% of the scenes.
Marco_Inaros_headshot.png
Marcos. . . . :blah:
 
I turn on the subtitles for any of the Belter scenes.
I haven't had to in the past when there's just one or two, but in those Belter heavy scenes that's a good idea. The Belter's reaction to Marco's schemes is actually a pretty interesting story line.
 
I have to say, after reading the books, the series is borderline unwatchable. The characters only bear a passing resemblance to the ones in the books, events happen in the wrong order. Or for the wrong reasons. And it's all paced in such a way that you get half a book or so to a season.

It's hard work making the switch!
I agree. The show has some interesting insights about the setting, but it doesn't compare at all. I also found book 4 rather dull tbh. Book 5, however...
 
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I agree. The show has some interesting insights about the setting, but it doesn't compare at all. I also found book 4 rather dull tbh. Book , however...
At this point, I'm seeing problems with them wrapping the current story up in one episode. And then how they can bring the bigger story to a conclusion in one season.
 
At this point, I'm seeing problems with them wrapping the current story up in one episode. And then how they can bring the bigger story to a conclusion in one season.
I would almost bet there's a cliffhanger ending at this point, especially since Season Six is already approved.

I know there were issues with the actor who plays Alex Kamal, so I've been wondering how they are going to deal with that in the next season.
 
I would almost bet there's a cliffhanger ending at this point, especially since Season Six is already approved.

I know there were issues with the actor who plays Alex Kamal, so I've been wondering how they are going to deal with that in the next season.
They announced season 6 as the last one just after the current one started. With the last book coming out this year some time. And given the way certain plot points from book 5 have been ignored and a certain scene on Mars early on, I have a feeling about how they might bridge that particular gap.

As for Alex, he's the easiest Roci crew member to replace, if you ask me.
 
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