The Expanse

Grimmlokk

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Pleasantly surprised by it. Like everyone else the characters don't really look how I imagined them, and like everyone else I don't really care.
 

spronk

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If you liked this and want more scifi, get 12 Monkeys (coming back for season 2 in April), Killjoys, and Dark Matters. All great shows that got renewed. I would skip Childhood's End, wasn't very good and a 1 shot miniseries anyways. Defiance was ok, parts were good and parts were just terrible.
 

Ganthorn

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My only complaint has been the scene on the catwalk with the storm troopers shooting at them and hitting practically no one. It isn't unique to this show but it is something that always bugs me.
 

Grimmlokk

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My only complaint has been the scene on the catwalk with the storm troopers shooting at them and hitting practically no one. It isn't unique to this show but it is something that always bugs me.
Sooooo many sparks. It was silly. But I loved the previously mention zero-G maneuver by Holden to save himself and Naomi.
 

Ukerric

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If you liked this and want more scifi, get 12 Monkeys (coming back for season 2 in April), Killjoys, and Dark Matters. All great shows that got renewed. I would skip Childhood's End, wasn't very good and a 1 shot miniseries anyways. Defiance was ok, parts were good and parts were just terrible.
Dark Matter is weak, and Killjoys felt a bit formulaic. But 12 Monkeys is a pure joy to watch. Can't wait for the big reveals on exactly what Jennifer Goines means in the show.
 

LachiusTZ

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Watched 2-5, not exhausted this time, and really liking it.

Don't like the earth women's voice, but that's pretty nitpicky.

Really enjoyed the battle in ep4
 

Qhue

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Episode 5 was a "catching your breath" episode after the tour de force of episode 4, but it was a good way to introduce a major new character who obviously has a hefty chunk of backstory but really couldn't be properly integrated until now.

I did enjoy them getting used to their new ship, had a sort of Blake's 7 vibe to it.
 

Azrayne

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I think they could have done it with 2 minutes of conversation instead of playing it out with a flashback across the entire episode - I guess this way it kind of cements the situation the Belters are in in a way that exposition wouldn't have, but I think the event itself lost a lot of it's power when he just blew the station up instead of charging in and slaughtering them all.

Overall the adaption feels a bit weak to me - not awful or anything, but it feels like they've upgraded the tech, colored up and prettified the setting, toned down the grimier elements.
 

Jorren

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Yeah it does not evoke "The Butcher" as much. Good episode overall though.
 

a_skeleton_03

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Still not loving the lack of crew cohesion. In the book they were way tighter by now. There is enough story in the books that we don't need a side plot of crew tension.
 

Kirun

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Still not loving the lack of crew cohesion. In the book they were way tighter by now. There is enough story in the books that we don't need a side plot of crew tension.
Yeah, as somebody who didn't read the books, even I'm starting to get annoyed at all the squabbling/distrust.

These people just went through a thorough interrogation process on the fucking flagship of Mars, none of them obviously cracked, so what's with all the damn distrust? Especially hilarious when you consider how "broken up" they are after Amos gets his melon popped. If they hate each other this much, why would they care if he got iced? It's pretty internally inconsistent and it's starting to rustle me.
 

Ukerric

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Yeah, as somebody who didn't read the books, even I'm starting to get annoyed at all the squabbling/distrust.
They are much closer than they started with at the end of ep 1. when the Canterbury was blown up. They started with fighting against each other, and they're now at the point where they agree to disagree. It's just a slower process than need to.

The episode felt less of a filler episode than I was worried about, but it was still slow. The big problem is the botched introduction of the Butcher of Anderson Station. It's very different from what was done (in a short story published separately, not even the main books), doesn't leave you with any sense of how UN Colonel Fred Johnson can end up being a big OPA cheese. It takes too long without accomplishing what it sets to do.
 

Cybsled

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I disagree. The whole point of that segment was that it intentionally led you to believe that it was happening currently, but then at the end they do the reveal and you realize this wasn't a current event and the person responsible for killing all those people is the person offering help. It does confirm that ultimately he was responsible for making the call to murder all the people on the station and understand why there was some reluctance on going to Tyco station.
 

Qhue

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The first time we cut to that segment it says "11 years ago" so I was never under the impression it was concurrent with the events.
 

Void

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The first time we cut to that segment it says "11 years ago" so I was never under the impression it was concurrent with the events.
Yeah, I was gonna say, someone looked away for a moment when they were watching it seems.
 

Kirun

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The episode felt less of a filler episode than I was worried about, but it was still slow. The big problem is the botched introduction of the Butcher of Anderson Station. It's very different from what was done (in a short story published separately, not even the main books), doesn't leave you with any sense of how UN Colonel Fred Johnson can end up being a big OPA cheese. It takes too long without accomplishing what it sets to do.
How does it happen in the books? I'm assuming it's a lot more "shocking"/gory? If so, I'm betting they toned it down simply due to it being network television. Even with a "toned down" version, you still feel the gravity of the situation IMO; especially when you see the father/daughter floating around space, clutched to each other.
 

Ukerric

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How does it happen in the books? I'm assuming it's a lot more "shocking"/gory?
You could argue that it's more gory, since instead of blowing the station, he leads an assault with a company of space marines. He has orders to retake the station for the corp. that owns it, not to blow an expensive piece of infrastructure to bits. His marines kill every defender they encounter during the retaking and manage to damage the air recyclers during the battle, leading to the asphyxiation of all the civilians hidden in their rooms on the station. Which he blames on those stubborn defenders, if they didn't force him to blow their barricades, maybe the station would have survived.

The thing is, the entire presentation is punctuated with his talks with the rear echelon, and notably the negotiation team who explicitly tell him that negotiations have failed and he's now a go for assault. So he goes. And finds out the jammed broadcast (which is basically mostly what we see in the show) about how they were trying to surrender all the time, which he flatly contradicts what he was told.

The bit with Naomi saying that men with ideals are dangerous? He resigns very publicly after his superiors congratulate him for making even a bigger example than they expected to and are probably going to award him the biggest medal they have, and he can expect to be a general soon. And pubwalk around Ceres trying to get killed by the Belters for his actions. And then Anderson Dawes (the OPA guy Miller talks to all the time), who is named after the Anderson Station (his parents were working for the same corp and were not very original) tells him that if he gets himself killed over this, then the guy and his little brain-damaged girl have died for nothing and it's a waste (Belters don't like waste).


Now, the contrast between the original "butcher" of Anderson Station and the show's is so absurd, I'm half expecting that the record will be set straight in a further episode (if that's so, not the next one, but probably prior to the assault of Toth Station near the end). But the entire exposition, dragged over the entire episode, is - IMHO - completely botched, because if they separate the "he kills everyone" and then, episode later "but he didn't know!" it will feel extremely artificial.
 

Haus

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Watched the first four episodes with the wife and we're really enjoying it. Full disclosure : I haven't read the books. But is it going to keep reminding me of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress every couple episodes? I know there are significant differences, and maybe it's just my nostalgic love for the old Heinlein book, but I see a lot of very similar plot points forming.