The Expanse

[Spacehost]

You simply can't afford to do really believable effects work on dozens of characters on a $20m an episode TV series. You'd either have the few named low-G characters who looked the part and crowd scenes full of unconvincing extras or bizarrely short Belters.

"Wait for a movie deal" is daft, you couldn't compress nine 700-page books down into a workable show without completely gutting the thing. It'd make adapting The Lord of the Rings look easy. They were never going to be able to precisely duplicate everything in the books on screen.

[JohnC]

First episode is out a couple of weeks early.

[Mogster]

Well I watched it. It wasn't amazing or anything, but it seemed a step above the average SyFy production. Basically it was decent... for a SyFy show.

[Spacehost]

Considering you only get one half of the first little itty bit of the novel it's a bit of a tease, but it looks expensive (which is my one worry from the older trailers, but I guess they spent a lot of money on post-production). I'm optimistic about it.

Tonally and visually it seems about right at least.

[Geo]

Can you spoiler at which point it ends? I can't imagine them getting 40 mins if it's the teeny bit I'm thinking of.

[JohnC]

Can you spoiler at which point it ends? I can't imagine them getting 40 mins if it's the teeny bit I'm thinking of.

The Canterbury was nuked

[Mogster]

Did the second episode ever actually air for this? I can't find it anywhere, but 3 and 4 seem to have downloaded themselves.

[JohnC]

The second is only due to air tonight. 3 and 4 seem to have leaked early.

[Mogster]

Ah, that would explain it. How bizarre!

[Spacehost]

All 4 are on Syfy's website now, I think someone datamined them to get them early.

[Spacehost]

The show's doing okay, three episodes in, but it's definitely setting stuff up more than it's delivering. The Avasarala arc is really interesting if you've read up on the books, they're thinking about five years ahead to set up major things, but as a casual viewer I could see it being a bit frustrating.

[Tezcatlipoca]

I'm tempted to watch 3 and 4 as well as 2, but then I'd just have a gap before 5. Unless more leak early...

[Alex W.]

Still no word of a UK airing?

[Spacehost]

No, which is odd. I could see Netflix or Amazon picking it up but they're probably waiting to see what the US viewing and streaming figures are like.

[hauk]

Watched the first 2 episodes and enjoying it so far. Surprised people are saying it looks cheap, I thought the effects were decent and certainly much better than other shows on SyFy.

[Tezcatlipoca]

I gave in and watched the third and fourth eps too, even though it meant then having a longer wait for ep five.

It's getting very interesting, and ep 4 really ramps things up.

I'm tempted to try the books...

[Clyde]

I've already started reading Leviathan Wakes. I want to at least read the first one before I start watching this show, hopefully before it comes to UK television. Currently I leave the book in work and read it during my lunch so I'm lucky if I can get 1 hour of uninterruption and read more than one chapter. So far (roughly 30-40 pages in) I'm very intrigued.

[Spacehost]

I gave in and watched the third and fourth eps too, even though it meant then having a longer wait for ep five.

It's getting very interesting, and ep 4 really ramps things up.

I'm tempted to try the books...

Episode 4 is where things really kick off, if they can maintain momentum the way they do in the book from that point on we're in for a hell of a treat.

[hauk]

Just watched episode 3, things are starting to get interesting.

[Tezcatlipoca]

I started reading Leviathan Wakes last night, just after midnight... and didn't go to bed until 8am

Love it. This series is going to be epic.

[Moz]

This is really good, but I can't quite put my finger on why. Might simply be the novelty of having a good sci-fi show on TV again.

[Spacehost]

I really hope there's some sick merch for this eventually. I want a model Tachi and a Pur N Kleen T-shirt.

[hauk]

Up to episode 6 now, really enjoying this. Thomas Jane is fantastic, most the cast are TBH. Little unsure what Jared Harris's accent is though. Is he supposed to be South African? I hope that character is written that way in the book and it's not just something the actor came up with.

[JohnC]

I think maybe some of the native space people aren't really supposed to have exact Earth-equivalent accents.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Up to episode 6 now, really enjoying this. Thomas Jane is fantastic, most the cast are TBH. Little unsure what Jared Harris's accent is though. Is he supposed to be South African? I hope that character is written that way in the book and it's not just something the actor came up with.

I think maybe some of the native space people aren't really supposed to have exact Earth-equivalent accents.

Belter Creole

Belter Creole is the patois language spoken by many people who have grown up in the Asteroid Belt. It's a mix of several Earth languages that were spoken by the original human settlers in the Belt colonies.

[hauk]

That makes sense, although it really does sounds South African maybe a little bit Jamaican.

[Spacehost]

The hand gestures are bits of American Sign Language if that helps.

[The Disco]

Is this Space: Above and Beyond with tits, swearing and a big budget?

[JohnC]

No.

[The Disco]

Aww, sad times.