The Expanse
I cannot praise what I've seen so far highly enough (I'm on episode 8 of 10). The show is a prime example of "show, don't tell" storytelling. Nobody explains anything, there isn't really technobabble and they had a linguist develop the Belter language. The attention to detail comes across in the show, too, and it's just fantastic.
Blatantly stolen from the SA TVIV thread:
Premiere: Two-night event, December 14 & 15 @10/9c on SyFy.
The Expanse is a space opera set several hundred years in our future, after humanity has colonized the solar system. Part neo-noir mystery, part action adventure, and part political thriller, it is the basket in which SyFy is putting a lot of its eggs in a bid to bring back solid, engaging sci-fi series. The story revolves around two men, James Holden and Joe Miller, who are swept up in a mystery that spans the entire solar system and could end up changing how humanity sees the stars, for better or worse.
It’s based on the novel series by James S. A. Corey (aka Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), and adapted for television by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Children of Men and Iron Man). SyFy is really throwing its weight around with the production and marketing. It’s been given a very high budget, and they’ve tapped some serious talent on both the cast and crew side of things. The direction and cinematography are beautiful, and the visual effects are absolutely stellar.
The People
Jim Holden (Steven Strait) - An Earther and one of our main heroes, Holden is the righteous man with the inescapable conscience who takes on the responsibility of the series’ plot.
Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper) - A Belter and a brilliant engineer, Naomi is also Holden’s XO in their crew of four.
Alex Kamal (Cas Anvar) - The crew’s crack pilot from the Mariner Valley, Alex is retired Martian Navy.
Amos Burton (Wes Chatham) - Another crew member from Earth, Amos is the mechanic and the muscle.
Josephus Miller (Thomas Jane) - A hard-boiled detective in space. Miller is a jaded, rough-edged Belter cop who is given the job of locating a missing woman, Julie Mao, and unraveling the mystery that follows her.
Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) - The Deputy Undersecretary for the United Nations, Avasarala is the leader of the UN (and subsequently, Earth) in all but name.
Julie Mao (Florence Faivre)- The crux of the series’ mystery, Julie Mao is the missing daughter of one of the system’s most powerful merchant families.
The Politics
Even with an entire solar system in front of them, humanity still manages to fight over territory, leaving things in a constant state of political tension between the three main groups: Earth, gathered under the control of the UN and the cradle of civilization; Mars, technological and military powerhouse; and the Belters, unaffiliated settlers who colonized and work the asteroid belt for the planetary governments. Earth is the only planet where people can live on the surface, and in spite of the strain they've placed on the environment, they suffer from all the elitism that provides. Mars is fiercely independent from Earth, but the inhospitable conditions on the planet mean its only strength is in its powerful military and scientific community. The Belters are largely responsible for humanity’s outward stretch, adapting to low gravity and working the outer system for the other governments while being heavily reliant on them for supplies. But shit rolls downhill, and the Belters get two planets’ worth, leading to the Outer Planets Alliance resistance movement starting revolts on the sidelines while Mars and Earth butt heads.
Early Premiere Release
On November 23rd, the pilot episode, “Dulcinea,” was made available on pretty much every legal streaming service available, including the SyFy site. Hulu, Amazon Video, Playstation, Xbox, etc.
However, the videos on several of the platforms, including the SyFy YouTube and Facebook accounts, have since been made unavailable. As of this posting, it’s still available region-free on the Canadian affiliate Space Facebook account here. If you know of any other region-free sites for non-US viewers, please link them and I’ll add them to the OP.
The SyFy site is chock full of interesting featurettes and goodies, including the VR App (or, if you don’t have an iPhone or Android device, this 360˚ video), which lets you check out some of the sets so far. There should be some new additions leading up to the premiere, so keep an eye out.
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