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I just started watching The Expanse
And holy crap this is well made. I hear it gets better in the later seasons, too! It makes me upset that we don't have more science fiction television of this quality, but also glad that I finally found this show. Hopefully I can get caught up quickly and join in with the rest of the world for the season finale. How do you all feel about The Expanse and other contemporary science fiction television?
I found the acting mismatched the production quality at first, but overall it seems to have improved over the first season and I’m enjoying the current season. I think as television becomes more cinematic we’ll be spoiled by more and more high budget sci-fi like The Expanse and Westworld. I’m all for that.
I've also felt the acting to be a bit off at times (I've only seen the first season). I'm also not completely on board with some of the characters. How do you feel about the "cooler than cool" slick neo-noir fedora-equipped space age revolver-slinging gruff detective with nothing to lose and nothing to prove?
Miller is OK. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I was quite surprised at his story arc and how the plot shifts focus (or maybe only seems to shift focus) away from him. I at first thought he was going to be the main focus, but then other characters are introduced and it’s more of an ensemble.
This glorious question is why I’m gonna give this show another try. I started an episode once but I got turned off by the sci-fi channel’s television show aesthetic: overly diffuse whites, soft focus, and blown out highlights. It’s silly to get hung up on this sort of stuff, but I do sometimes.
I've watched... maybe the first four episodes, and it's definitely got the classic scifi wooden first season. Once S3 is finished I'll be watching it in marathon mode to catch up.
Oh lord couldn't have said it better. Him and that stupid fedora.
Agreed. Especially Holden, it seems to me like he's some producer's nephew or something.
Also, why does Naomi have that British accent if she's a Belter? Did I miss something?
I like series all in all, but I though it was pretty slow, especially the first season. Being a huge fan of sci-fi, I think it's not as amazing as fans make it to be, I mean... it seems a bit shallow of the topics.
Yeah I’m enjoying it more for the set pieces and world-building. I really like the belter faction and their creole and the idea of Mormons funding the first interstellar voyage. The macro plot is more interesting to me, but I get that they have to focus on the Roci crew to give some perspective. I also like Avasarala and the politicing.
Yeah, Avasarala and Amos are my favorite characters.
You're right the macro story is much more interesting to me. I just can't seem to get over Holden general character and the actor's performing.
Holden (or rather the actor playing him) is definitely a bit wooden at times and the character is pretty boring but I think it works. He plays the role of the straight man pretty well and acts as a foil for the rest of the Roci's crew and makes their characters more interesting.
I don't know, I just don't believe his faces, tbh. I know the character is supposed to be obnoxious like that, but it just melts away for me. Might be a mixture of the character itself and definitely the acting as well.
Not to give any details, but atm in season 3 she's actually slid into more of the Belter accent and creole. It's a pretty cool character detail— apparently the answer to your question is that she code switches.
Yeah, I'm up to date and saw she was using some creole lately, but still, it's very far from the rest of the Belters' speech (the captain of the ship and the newcomer, for example, I'm sorry I don't remember their names). It takes me out of it quite a bit, I don't think any other Belter had a British accent.
I thought it made sense for what we now know about her. (Man I wish there were spoiler tags...)
I guess "why British specifically" is a valid question*, but more generally I think she sort of turned her back on speaking like a Belter because of her past and the people she was around, and now that she has reasons to try to emphasize her Belter status she's a bit rusty.
*My in-world answer is her standard English accent is British because the person or people she learned it from were, but there probably wasn't that much thought put into it.
Haha, me too. I have goldfish level memory, so I can't think of what you're referring to right now. I did a quick scan of this wikia page, but didn't find anything that could be of any help.
ROT13 to the rescue! This is just me extrapolating (and probably reading into things waaaay too much) 'cause I find it interesting :D
V guvax ure npprag(f) pbhyq or rkcynvarq ol ure gheavat ure onpx ba ure cnfg naq pbqr fjvgpuvat.
Pbqr fjvgpuvat: jr fnj guvf jvgu Zvyyre jura ur jnf gnyxvat gb Rneguref naq fhpu. Ur pbhyq gnyx va perbyr gb Orygref va bar fragrapr, gura fjvgpu gb fgnaqneq Ratyvfu jvgu uvf fubeg-yvirq cnegare va gur arkg. Sbe Anbzv, svefg ba gur Pnag naq gura gur Ebpv, jr'ir zbfgyl frra ure va gur cerfrapr bs Rneguref naq Znegvnaf, fb vg znxrf frafr gb zr gung fur'q unir fyvq vagb hfvat fgnaqneq Ratyvfu zbfg vs abg nyy bs gur gvzr. Abj jr frr ure fheebhaqrq ol Orygref, naq rira vs fur'f ehfgl, vg cebonoyl srryf angheny gb fjvgpu.
Sbe ure cnfg: fur jnf va gur BCN, n oryvrire va gur pnhfr, ohg jura ure xvq jnf fgbyra fur riraghnyyl yrsg vg nyy oruvaq gb wbva gur Pnag. Va gur svefg frnfba jr frr gung fur qbrfa'g gehfg Serq Wbuafba naq fur vfa'g irel pbaprearq jvgu gur Orygre pnhfr. Abg fcrnxvat va n Orygre znaare pbhyq unir orra ure jnl (pbafpvbhfyl be abg) bs frcnengvat urefrys sebz nyy bs gung. Abj gung fur'f ba na BCN fuvc naq ybbxvat bhg sbe gur vagrerfgf bs gur Oryg, ure vqragvgl nf n Orygre vf fubjvat guebhtu ntnva.
Clever! Thanks for taking the time.
Yes, what you say is definitely plausible, makes sense. Code switching is a common enough phenomenon and her past sets fine with your theory.
However, I don't think I caught any other character with a British accent in the whole show. The "standard" English seems to be American (even in Mars, I think?) so it seems so out of place. Also, code switching like that would be fine with a bilingual, having perfect accents. I know I'm nitpicking, but it seems terribly sloppy of the creators. Unless there is more to her story, I think it just bad casting/acting/planning.
I wouldn't be surprised if there is an explanation for this later in the series. The attention to detail in regards to su h thing surprising once you dig into it. Alex for example is from the mariner valley which was mostly colonized by Texans, Indians and Chinese hence the vague indian look and mariner drawl (which is described in the books as a forced Texan accent).
Then there is also lang belta which is the fictional language, spoken by the belters, created for the show.
That's really interesting~ I haven't read the books, but I've been assuming that most (if not all) of the details that make the show's world feel so alive originated in the books.
Last night I found an article about the Belter creole that's pretty interesting. At least some of the discrepancies and differences between actors is intentional, and they have less formal and more formal pronunciations. They also experimented with three different versions of each line in the first season to get a feel for things, so some characters have much "heavier" creoles while others have more of just an accent.
Oh, have you read the books? Do they say the Naomi has a British accent?
Lang belta is not in the books??
I have. I don't think they mention anything about it but there are a lot of subtle things they add in the show.
No, not exactly. The belters Creole in the books is not a fleshed out language like land belta. Lang belta was created for the show by Nick Farmer, a professional linguist, and Daniel Abraham recommends learning that instead of the one in the book which was created with a lot less restrictions.
Ok, I then have to keep thinking it's sloppiness.
You mean to the actors?
No, I mean for the fans who want to study it.
Oh, ok. Cool. Thanks for the info.
Yeah, that's fair~ It might be a stretch, and probably is more a result of reasons you mentioned, but I'm willing to suspend disbelief with it just 'cause I'm so enamored with the idea of code switching in a sci fi show :D
Fair enough. I love linguistic details as well. I just wished they did them better in general. Like Jodie Comer's Russian accent in Killing Eve, it's really well done I think. And she's British.
For me it was the casting, I thought the acting was just fine, but some of the casting was lackluster. However, I like them all just fine now. I am so glad the show was saved.
Does the acting get better? I quit during the first season found the acting almost cringe-worthy.
I think the acting improves in later seasons, but not to the point where it feels Emmy winning. Personally, each season has felt better than the last and the show has only gotten better in most aspects.
spoilers The only thing that got me through the Season one finale was the hope that the two worst characters might die of radiation poisoning.
It gets better in an exponential way. Not even remotely kidding.
And bonus points, while there are differences it's compatible with the books, so if you enjoy one odds are you'll enjoy the other.
I recommend The Expanse to pretty much everyone who likes good sci-fi, but the first 2-3 episodes are really awkward and not representative of the show's quality, in my opinion.
I hope it gets picked up again after season 4. I think it will struggle with the networks, because it's not the kind of show with immediate ratings success, it's a slow-burner with a very long tail.
Luckily I was stuck on a plane with nothing to do but watch the first season.
Have you read the books? They're very good. I think the show was canceled so if you find yourself jonesing for more after, check them out.
Actually, it seems that a few days ago, Amazon agreed to take over the show for the fourth season.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/05/the-expanse-has-officially-been-saved/
Oh, nice!
I had never heard of this show until now, but after some brief googling, this looks great. Thanks for mentioning it!
To answer your question, I've actually been a little disappointed in science fiction shows lately, as I haven't been able to find something that doesn't just fall into the "Lost" plot cycle, where each episode, regardless of quality or importance, is just another cliffhanger that gets played off like the end of the world (which is ironic, given some of the subject matter).
Hopefully though, this show could change that!
Are you watching The Handmaid's Tale, though? And have you watched Battlestar Galactica?
Handmaids tale is good. For anyone planning to watch it, be patient with the first 3 or 4 episodes.
Of the Handmaid's? Umm, I was definitely gripped from the very start.
There's always Black Mirror, if you don't mind having all hope for the future slowly ironed out of your soul. :D