Getting Expansive

by wjw on December 11, 2015

I’m off doing karate things all weekend, so I thought I’d leave you with some entertainment.

Here’s one of the trailers for The Expanse, the new Syfy series based on the books by James S.A. Corey.  (Disclosure: Jimmy Corey’s a pal of mine.)

I was in Santa Fe last week for the premiere of the first two episodes, which I saw in an actual theater, with popcorn and free booze and TV stars and GRRM and all the goodies you get with a premiere.  And the experience was a double helping of Complete Awesome.  The Expanse is the science fiction series that I, and probably you, have long been waiting for.

For one thing, this series doesn’t condescend to its viewers.  When characters speak in Belter patois, there’s no translator hovering by, there aren’t even subtitles, you just have to go with the scene, and either you get it or you don’t.  You get the political background or you don’t.  You get how the space ships work or you don’t.  The story just happens, it doesn’t stop to give infodumps to the viewers who can’t keep up.  Experienced SF readers should have no problem with any of this.

The first episode premieres on Syfy on Monday night, but you don’t have to wait: Episode One is widely available for streaming online.  Just make sure you see it in HD, and set it to fill the screen, because the future created in this series is amazing.  Just check out the skyline of that future Manhattan.

So go forth and watch that sucker.  My guess is that you won’t be disappointed.

David A.W. December 11, 2015 at 7:42 am

Watched the first episode last night On Demand.

Best damn science fiction show I’ve ever seen. Bumping Babylon5 out of my top spot.

Definately a show people are going to have to watch in a rewindable format. I found myself pausing & rewinding at least a dozen times to try and figure out what some of the dialogue was.

And that has to do with my only quibble about the show. The audio. The dialogue was often hidden by backround/enviromental sounds. They need to up the volumn on the dialogue. But with pause & rewind available I can live with it.

Privateiron December 11, 2015 at 9:24 am

I thought the pilot was good, but the main characters did not really pop. It looks a lot like Babylon 5 with 20 years of development in special effects, which is not faint praise I should add. One day, maybe we will get this generation’s Farscape and then I will be really psyched.

Do they go around having people collectively call them “Jimmy?” I have to admit that would be awesome.

PhilRM December 11, 2015 at 12:15 pm

I would watch more things in actual theaters if there were always popcorn and free booze. (Full disclosure: I don’t really care for popcorn.)

My wife and I watched the first episode on demand and were quite impressed. I hope the rest of the series measures up.

wjw December 11, 2015 at 3:41 pm

Privateiron, they use “Jimmy Corey” in the third person. Which acknowledges the relationship pretty well, I think.

Eric Lahti December 12, 2015 at 9:55 pm

I know this is way off topic, but I think we’ve (briefly) met a couple times at the Black Belt tests. Hope you have a good weekend!

wjw December 14, 2015 at 12:52 am

The weekend was great, as always. See you next time!

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