The Expanse Catch-All

fangblackbone wrote:

Beaten to the punch. I'm not a fan of the Telltale games but this is Drummer!!!!

It is also Deck Nine it seems. That is much more promising to me than Telltale. I thought Telltales was dead anyway, but I guess their name lives on.

On a semi-unrelated note, the first episode of the final season dropped tonight on Prime and boy howdy is Filip coping with being a mass murderer in an unusual way.

Rat Boy wrote:

On a semi-unrelated note, the first episode of the final season dropped tonight on Prime and boy howdy is Filip coping with being a mass murderer in an unusual way.

Whoa! I didn't even realize there was going to be another season.

Solid first episode.
Also that there are extra mini scenes hidden in x-ray... this one was extra Drummer content!
Apparently first five episodes will all have one.

MikeSands wrote:

Solid first episode.
Also that there are extra mini scenes hidden in x-ray... this one was extra Drummer content!
Apparently first five episodes will all have one.

How do you find those?

jigsawhc wrote:
MikeSands wrote:

Solid first episode.
Also that there are extra mini scenes hidden in x-ray... this one was extra Drummer content!
Apparently first five episodes will all have one.

How do you find those?

My tactic was to click around the x-ray menus at random until I found it. Under a menu that said bonus scenes or bonus content maybe? It wasn't obvious.

Maybe they'll add them to the episodes list. They finally did that this week with the Wheel of Time animated shorts.

Found it, Thanks!
Now off to look for the Wheel of Time ones that I did not know existed

Finished book 9. It wasn't my favorite book in the series and the book started off slow but overall, it was a very good finish to a long running series. I wasn't too worried that they were going to screw it up but relieved that it was good.

Good start to the season. I liked the way they walked through the logic of figuring out there was a guide ship running dark to coordinate rock-lobbing.

Spoiler: Strange Dogs (novella) speculation

Including part of the Strange Dogs short story was unexpected. Its been a while since I read either, but I dont think that necessarily connects to anything in Book 6 so maybe they're taking the end of the series in a slightly different direction.

Im super curious how they intend to end the series, cuz I really think that most everyone involved wants to do more

I wonder if they've got a follow up series/movie under discussion?

Anyone looking for the bonus episodes under x-ray note they don't show up on roku. They did show up on when accessing on the web site.

I was looking for this. I think I am going to start watching this as my 2022 I Need to be a Better Geek project.

Any thoughts before I go to prime and start? Is there anything I should know before I start. I have heard the first season is rough.

A bit rough in terms of production maybe, but imo also some of the best. Lots of world building and set up, which I like (more than "the action"), and always thought the tv series did a really good job at introducing the world in the first episodes.

Is it just me or does the actor playing Holden look a lot thinner than in previous seasons?

slazev wrote:

Is it just me or does the actor playing Holden look a lot thinner than in previous seasons?

He does, but I thought they are trying to play up the desperation and exhaustion too.

Steven Strait said in an interview that he intentionally lost weight for the season because he wanted to look like being constantly under stress and uncertainty on an extended mission was having a physical toll on Holden.

I considered that at first, but since his companions look the same as before I just feared it was some health problem.

Naomi is looking a bit haggard as well, it’s just more dramatic with Jim. Amos isn’t going to give a sh*t so of course he wouldn’t be visibly effected and I imagine being stuck in a tin can constantly at risk of being killed feels like a vacation to Clarissa having just spent a year or two under chemical restraint in a supermax prison.

Ep 3

Spoiler:

I've seen Pet Sematary, I know how this is going to go.

ruhk wrote:

Naomi is looking a bit haggard as well, it’s just more dramatic with Jim. Amos isn’t going to give a sh*t so of course he wouldn’t be visibly effected and I imagine being stuck in a tin can constantly at risk of being killed feels like a vacation to Clarissa having just spent a year or two under chemical restraint in a supermax prison.

Meh. Not sure I buy that. Still, it's just a nitpick.

Finished Season 1! Some bulleted thoughts...

-It took me three days to get through the first episode (kids) and then got through the remaining 10 in three days (slow work time). So I thought for a long time that the Canterbury would be a major set of the season and a few of the character relationships on the ship (especially the guy who lost an arm) would be major players. Oops.

-This is an interesting world, but I don't give a crap about any of the characters.

-The good: It feels like a thought out and expanded world that is a pretty well worn tropes (the Elitist Earthers, the newly independent Martians, and the people on the Outer Rim with their throats pinned by the first two). And I love that the central mystery is that all three powers don't know what is going on but instinctively blame the first two.

-But until the end I couldn't tell you the name of any of the characters, and it seems so contrived how they will be involved in this Solar System altering plot. The main characters are, as I can tell, four of the luckiest people on earth who somehow were the sole survivors of the two biggest acts of war ever (and on both sides) and a cop who by all accounts is really bad at his job?

-And somehow the luckiest bastards and the crap cop arrive at the right place at the same time just in time to cause the sh*t to go down?

-But in spite of that, I am really enjoying it.

-The special effects, until the turn, hold up pretty well. The other special effects, well, I am going to have to suspend some disbelief.

-I really like this show, and I am looking forward to seeing what happens now that supposedly 'gets good.' I hope the characters become more interesting, or are replaced by interesting characters.

Have watched the first three episodes of the latest season. I am really, really concerned that they will once again spend the entire time on boring belter-inner conflict and push the interesting alien-stuff into a side-story.

Like in episode 3

Spoiler:

What happened exactly? UN took Ceres. Oops it was a trap, big surprise. Rocinante somehow fought off three larger ships by herself because plot-armour. That's it. (Well, there was some non-action with Drummer and the continuing Alien-planet thing which I guess we're supposed to care about...?)

On its own these episodes are maybe not standing up well. Fun to watch but in isolation not great stories. As hour 3 of a 6 hour mini-series hopefully it holds up better.

quote is not edit

Math wrote:

Have watched the first three episodes of the latest season. I am really, really concerned that they will once again spend the entire time on boring belter-inner conflict and push the interesting alien-stuff into a side-story.

The political and interpersonal conflicts is literally what the entire series is about, even in the books where they do spend more time on the alien stuff it’s always been little more than a macguffin to force the various characters and factions into new situations.

Like in episode 3
Spoiler:

What happened exactly? UN took Ceres. Oops it was a trap, big surprise. Rocinante somehow fought off three larger ships by herself because plot-armour. That's it. (Well, there was some non-action with Drummer and the continuing Alien-planet thing which I guess we're supposed to care about...?)

I wouldn’t really call it plot armor- they outsmarted attackers that had less combat experience than they do.
It’s also not really elaborated in the show but the Roci has also been modified in ways that aren’t typical for the type of ship she is, and her attackers underestimated what she can do. It makes more sense in the books where they actually take the time to explain the changes. For instance, the railgun they installed at the beginning of season 4 is designed for a Donnager-sized capital ship and is just not something any sane person would put on a ship the size of the Roci. It’s a weapon so far out of her weight class it causes stress damage to the ship every time they fire it.

ruhk wrote:
Math wrote:

Have watched the first three episodes of the latest season. I am really, really concerned that they will once again spend the entire time on boring belter-inner conflict and push the interesting alien-stuff into a side-story.

The political and interpersonal conflicts is literally what the entire series is about, even in the books where they do spend more time on the alien stuff it’s always been little more than a macguffin to force the various characters and factions into new situations.

Macguffin or not, at least it was there. In the previous and current season it's not even that. Nothing about the plot(s) involves the gates or the protomolecule. Nothing.

Even putting that aside, this season is moving at an absolutely glacial pace. In episode 4 now

Spoiler:

Almost no plot advancement whatsoever. Roci crew learned about Holden disarming the warhead but nothing came of it. Avasarala is sad because Ceres was a trap but does nothing about it. Phillip is angry at his dad but did some hull repair instead. The "big action scene" was Drummer stealing some cargo containers. Yawn.

So they introduced the villian from the next books, which is just a massive tease at this point but I hope they do something with it because having just listened to book 7/8, they are my favorite ones.

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

Finished Season 1! Some bulleted thoughts...

Something that boils down to make the characters more interesting or kill them off.

Really curled the monkey paw with that. RIP Joe Miller.