The Expanse (Amazon) [** Spoilers **]

pixelburp

I'm glad season 2 onwards dispensed with the self-censoring of the language, because I don't want to live in a universe where Avarasala's vulgar mouth went unaired.

iguana

pixelburp wrote: »

The thing is, like a lot of real life parallels, the Inners caused this in turning the other way rather than addressing blatant exploitation and abuse against the "native" people of the belt. They were happy to reap the rewards of a class and race kept under the heal of unaccountable Private corporations, then act shocked when the Belters lashed out the only direction they could.

To be entirely fair to the people of earth, the majority of people there don't live particularly good lives either. From what little we've seen life on basic is actually pretty shït. Ordinary earth humans may not be worked like the belters are but that's because there is genuinely nothing for them to do. The have a subsistence living with crap homes, no luxuries and nothing to give them purpose. They have a tiny chance of winning a lottery that might get them trained for a job but the majority will just live out their lives in little more than squalor and that's it. Those who have jobs and luxuries have pulled up the ladder under them for their families. Most people lived like Amos did until he got lucky enough that crime paid for him to get off planet.

breezy1985

iguana wrote: »

To be entirely fair to the people of earth, the majority of people there don't live particularly good lives either. From what little we've seen life on basic is actually pretty shït. Ordinary earth humans may not be worked like the belters are but that's because there is genuinely nothing for them to do. The have a subsistence living with crap homes, no luxuries and nothing to give them purpose. They have a tiny chance of winning a lottery that might get them trained for a job but the majority will just live out their lives in little more than squalor and that's it. Those who have jobs and luxuries have pulled up the ladder under them for their families. Most people lived like Amos did until he got lucky enough that crime paid for him to get off planet.

But they do get a vote and a voice. Belters have to pay of water and air just to survive and even though Earth controls much of the belt it does not extend basic to Belters

iguana

breezy1985 wrote: »

But they do get a vote and a voice. Belters have to pay of water and air just to survive and even though Earth controls much of the belt it does not extend basic to Belters

I think of it kind of like the Earth elite being the British empire. The belters are Irish/Indian/other colony peasants. The Earth masses are British peasants. Yes the colony peasants have it worse but it's still just a different consistency shït sandwich of a life. Up until the ring gates opened the only society where the average person had a decent life was Mars.

EoinMcLovin

https://youtu.be/4PJpkGPtAHE

Season 6 starts on December 10th with only 6 episodes. Concludes on January 14th

pixelburp

Oh yes. December 10, let's go. Now let's have a season 7 ordered and it'll make my month.

Funny I was only thinking there has been zero news of this for months.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994541#Comment_117994541

Isn't this definitely the final season for the foreseeable future

Yeah that rime shift is a perfect excuse to pull the plug. Last book is out in Nov, yeah?

pixelburp

Shít, only 6 episodes though? That sucks. There's definitely no way this can wrap up the whole story - not least the protomolecule one

I could see a few ways around it TBH but a 10 episode final season would really be better

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994585#Comment_117994585

Really? I dunno, cos without

Spoiler Warning

Duarte having those 30 years to establish Laconian power, and the means to poke the protomolecule bear, it's hard to compress that story. Not naturally anyway.

Especially the last moments of season 5 expressly hint towards that entire arc.

A lot of fans are pointing towards a couple of movies to wrap things up; ala Firefly / Serenity. Then again, maybe Netflix will pick it up again; they love giving dead shows 3 more seasons to finish things (and that's literally all we need here!)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994645#Comment_117994645

These be BOOK thoughts, DO NOT CLICK when just looking at the series

Spoiler Warning

Instead of him finding just ship yards, have him find completed ships. No need to build up to the return.

Using the ships alone could be enough to kick that particular hornets nest.

But yeah, more seasons would be the most preferable

Homelander

****, only six episodes. Please god, please don't let The Expanse go down the Game of Thrones route. Now having said that, while GOT was suffocated in the last season by a breakneck pace, it also didn't help that the writing was utterly atrocious.

I think six episodes of roughly 60 minutes - while far too little obviously - is also enough time to play with that it can be wrapped up somewhat successfully with a clever, tight script.

All in all, we didn't do bad to get six seasons to be honest. There was a period there where it was on very rocky ground and on track to be cancelled outright. It might not be optimal, but it's without question been the best sci-fi on TV since Battlestar and I'm at least glad it got to go out on its own terms, an unideal as all as they might be.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994679#Comment_117994679

Spoiler Warning

Hmmm given the Builders didn't seem humanoid, seems unlikely the ships would be compatible straight out;

The series has made pains to emphasise how unknowable and alien the protomolecule race was; convenient ships might be a little too much.

In any case, there's just the pragmatism that at 6 episodes, they'll have enough time to wrap up the Free Navy plot and little else. Certainly the trailer showed no hint we're even going anywhere near the spoiler part. It'll frustrate but better the unfinished thread than yet another show with a rushed, shítty final season.

Good to see this thread alive again - it's one of the few I kept as a fave after the site update. I'm not sure about how I feel about the new season, but I reckon it would probably need another 20 (at least) eps to close it out according to the existing books. I'll still watch, of course, but I think it's just gonna be a case of the later books being too complex to render onscreen.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994557#Comment_117994557

Pushed to 2022 I think

Still on amazon saying Nov 20th. Want to finish reading before watching final season

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117995665#Comment_117995665

Im hoping that the TV show will finish with the Inaros plot and leave the Laconia one for the future so there will be no need to read the last book before hand.

Can't wait to read it though

Icyseanfitz

6 episodes :( that sucks, cant believe they arnt continuing this show on either, particularly when there is so much drivel continuously renewed

pixelburp

It seems a common trend these days to have a reduced final season. Wonder what the thinking is;

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117997726#Comment_117997726

Momentum has dropped off and they don't need to pull in new fans?

No need to spend big money on something ending that's not a global smash

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117997751#Comment_117997751

For sure, but then even Game of Thrones, surely the smashiest of smash hits, got a reduced final season. As you say it's likely a money saving move, as there's no value to the show anymore. Shame

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117997777#Comment_117997777

GoT was an anomaly, to this. Dumb and Dumber wanted to go off and live the high life with Netflix and Star Wars.

HBO tried to throw money at them to have an EXTENDED season, not truncated. They were offered more seasons to complete the storylines correctly but they refused.

HBO wanted to leverage a smash finale to push their spin off series. I mean look how little hype the prequel is getting, because of that terrible final season.

I think that Amazon are only bothered finishing this off because, while not a massive hit, they probably know that there is a good number of fans with Prime subs just for this show and they don't want to piss them off.

It's funny when you consider that Amazon use The Expanse in all their promotional materials but, at the same time, they have no faith in it

Sad Professor

The way i see it, GoT's final season was split in two and aired 2 years apart with the second half of it called "season 8" instead of season 7.5. HBO have a history of doing this sort of thing with their popular shows - see Mad Men, Sopranos, Breaking Bad. Look it that way and it actually had more more episodes than normal. That the story felt rushed is really a problem with the source material, which went off on a tangent that I don't believe it will ever return from. The showrunners deserve credit for managing to end it at all, which more than Martin will ever be able to say.

I could definitely see Netflix picking up The Expanse. They seem to have money to burn and are throwing it anyone with a shootable script. That's provided there isn't already some plan for films/mini series.

Do we know if these episodes are going to be longer than normal?

Talisman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994557#Comment_117994557

Leviathan Falls - November 16th, 2021

Memory's Legion - May 16th, 2022 (Final novella to tie up the story according to Daniel Adraham)

EDIT: Leviathan Falls release date has been pushed back due to production issues according to the Expanse Wiki. November 30th (US), December 2nd (UK).

Homelander

Yeah I guess actually the sixth and "final" season isn't final in the sense that the writers are apparently not looking to wrap up the story.

It will be really frustrating if it ends up, as a show, going nowhere.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118000011#Comment_118000011

It won't be a problem. You could easily not read the last 3 books and get a compelling end to the story.

Talisman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994679#Comment_117994679

It wouldn't work. Think about it in the context of the timeline of what has been screened of the story so far. They know relatively nothing about the protomolecule still and are unable to harness it. In reality it would take years to reverse engineer the technology which is the reason for the massive time gap between the books.

In response to your spoilered thoughts:

Spoiler Warning

Expecting the defectors to find ready made battleships and instantly know how to operate them would be a leap well beyond what we know to be possible in terms of harnessing the already discovered technology.

pixelburp

I only just finished reading the 8th (second to last) Expanse book and, wowsers. No question, this TV season 6 can't touch the content of books 7 and 8; there's just too much going on. Storylines both interpersonal and galactic. The 30 year jump had to be done to do justice to the big ideas and changes going on, there was no believable way otherwise.

Ha I didn't say it would be good!