4 ms·

This was my first thought when I read this article. It seems someone there read Alien III before creating the Expanse, and then greatly added to it. I'm so glad

This was my first thought when I read this article. It seems someone there read Alien III before creating the Expanse, and then greatly added to it. I'm so glad I started watching the Expanse and hope it continues to improve.

ethbro 9y ago
Second season was just as good as the first, for me!
- throwanem 9y ago
  I can't get into details without spoiling both seasons of the show and some pretty considerable plot turns in Caliban's War and possibly Abaddon's Gate as well - but I will say that I've been really disappointed with the way the latter half of the second season, in particular, has turned some major characters into absurd caricatures of themselves. I don't know whether I'd feel the same way if I hadn't read the novels, but considering that I've long since lost patience with writers who waste my time or insult my intelligence or both, I suspect strongly that I would. In any case, if you're uncertain over whether to read the novels or watch the series, and intend to invest time in only one of the two - go with the novels. The show has impressive space visuals, I give it that unreservedly - but in every other respect, the novels outdo the show to a frankly embarrassing degree.
  - ethbro 9y ago
    Will definitely give the books a try then. Agreed there there was some stilted dialog and testing the limits of character believability for purposes of plot movement. But all in all I still enjoyed the pacing. (Trying to word this ambigiously) I think the political side was better done than the micro. (Also, Shohreh Aghdashloo is a great actress)
    - throwanem 9y ago
      I agree - and she is! It's always a pleasure to see her in something that lets her show off her chops. I think I can skate up to the edge of spoiling, but not cross over the line, in saying: the character beats, especially late in season 2, are clearly drawn directly from the novels, and in the novels they work - but in the show, the way that they're misordered, compressed in time, and exaggerated in intensity to the point of excess makes them really hard to take. It's not that the show does everything wrong, by any means - up until roughly mid-season 2, it did enough things well enough that I was willing to excuse the missteps. Since then, though, while they haven't started doing more things right, they sure have started doing more things wrong, and at this point I'm all out of forbearance - I only watched to the end of season 2 out of an urge to finish what I'd started.

ethbro 9y ago

Second season was just as good as the first, for me!

throwanem 9y ago
I can't get into details without spoiling both seasons of the show and some pretty considerable plot turns in Caliban's War and possibly Abaddon's Gate as well - but I will say that I've been really disappointed with the way the latter half of the second season, in particular, has turned some major characters into absurd caricatures of themselves. I don't know whether I'd feel the same way if I hadn't read the novels, but considering that I've long since lost patience with writers who waste my time or insult my intelligence or both, I suspect strongly that I would. In any case, if you're uncertain over whether to read the novels or watch the series, and intend to invest time in only one of the two - go with the novels. The show has impressive space visuals, I give it that unreservedly - but in every other respect, the novels outdo the show to a frankly embarrassing degree.
- ethbro 9y ago
  Will definitely give the books a try then. Agreed there there was some stilted dialog and testing the limits of character believability for purposes of plot movement. But all in all I still enjoyed the pacing. (Trying to word this ambigiously) I think the political side was better done than the micro. (Also, Shohreh Aghdashloo is a great actress)
  - throwanem 9y ago
    I agree - and she is! It's always a pleasure to see her in something that lets her show off her chops. I think I can skate up to the edge of spoiling, but not cross over the line, in saying: the character beats, especially late in season 2, are clearly drawn directly from the novels, and in the novels they work - but in the show, the way that they're misordered, compressed in time, and exaggerated in intensity to the point of excess makes them really hard to take. It's not that the show does everything wrong, by any means - up until roughly mid-season 2, it did enough things well enough that I was willing to excuse the missteps. Since then, though, while they haven't started doing more things right, they sure have started doing more things wrong, and at this point I'm all out of forbearance - I only watched to the end of season 2 out of an urge to finish what I'd started.