4 ms·

The designers (not just UI but all of them) on The Expanse did such an incredible job. It’s probably my favourite looking Sci Fi series or movie of all time. Th

by sen 5y ago

The designers (not just UI but all of them) on The Expanse did such an incredible job. It’s probably my favourite looking Sci Fi series or movie of all time. The attention to detail is incredible too, I’m on my third watch-through of the series and notice new things all the time.

fenk85 5y ago
You will love the book series then, goes into much more details and is hard to put down, i binge read the lot
- alexgmcm 5y ago
  I think some stuff is improved in the series though. For example, the story from Cibola Burn seemed a lot better on the show than the book in my opinion and some of the characters are better. In particular, Ashford's character is massively improved (it helps that David Strathairn plays the role incredibly well). The books are very good though and I can't wait for Leviathan Falls. Also, it seems the series will stop at the end of Babylon's Ashes.
  - rkachowski 5y ago
    I absolutely love how they changed "Ashford" in the books from an elitist obstructive middle manager into "Klaes Ashford" - legendary OPA member, space pirate and "The Ghost Knife of Callisto". The show really gives the opportunity to explore the individual motivations of the characters; the books are also great and they complement each other, but I feel that the books are almost too fast paced to really savour the environment and setting.
    - alexgmcm 5y ago
      Yeah, he's probably my favourite character in the series. The way his character develops and changes is incredible and the acting is really well done.
    - 7sigma 5y ago
      That scene in the behemoth in s3e11 between camina and ashford is one my favourite. Their discussion of what it is that makes belters what they are in that situation, such great writing
  - tspiteri 5y ago
    Some things work differently on TV and on books, and they changed things to make the storytelling better suited to TV. For example Camina Drummer was introduced much earlier in the TV series so that Fred Johnson had someone to talk to on screen, which wasn't needed in the novels. And then the character worked so well that they expanded it to cover more stuff. I really like that they prefer a good story over sticking to the exact "canon" of the novels. And in "they" I include the novel authors, who are very involved in the TV series.
    - alexgmcm 5y ago
      Yeah, I think having the novel authors involved has helped make the series as good as it is. We still have the final season though - let's hope it doesn't do a "Game of Thrones".
      - ddxxdd 5y ago
        >let's hope it doesn't do a "Game of Thrones". Don't get your hopes up too high; "The Expanse" is often nicknamed "The Expense" due to its high special effects budget. Amazon Prime may decide that later seasons need to have their budgets cut.
        tspiteri 5y ago
        Game of Thrones did not have a budget problem for the last season; it had a writing problem. While other seasons used the novels for the build-up and for the story to make sense, the last season did not. And while the author does know where he wants to land, he hasn't worked out, or hasn't shared, how to get there completely yet. The tv show went there with no proper buildup, which is what makes that season poor. To me, the final situation, or who wins/dies, is not the problem, nor are the effects. As for The Expanse, it's season not seasons; the next season will be the final season. I cannot see the tv series ending in the same end point as the final novel, that is I cannot see them cramming four novels with one huge time gap in between into one season. But I do believe it will come to a satisfactory conclusion at some alternative end point.
        5y ago
  - manmal 5y ago
    I agree. I read the books after watching the first four seasons, and I felt disappointed how Ashford is described and handled in the books. Also, the books set a very high bar for Naomi's "solo adventure" (let's call it that to prevent spoilers), and the series did such a great job, and stayed very true to the source. It was satisfying seeing this unravel almost exactly as I had imagined it.
  - goatlover 5y ago
    The Cibola Burn book did a much better job of explaining things on Illus, particularly the alien stuff. And the Investigator POV chapters were wild. You don't get as much of that on the show.
    - alexgmcm 5y ago
      That's true, the investigator POV stuff was cool. But all the romance I found really unrealistic and ham-fisted. They cut that completely out of the show.
- sen 5y ago
  Halfway through my third reading and still not sick of it. It’s without a doubt my favourite Sci Fi of all time.
patja 5y ago
They use an incredible number of off the shelf shower grab bars I recognize from Home Depot in the interior of pretty much every ship. I find things like that a bit distracting.
- lovegoblin 5y ago
  This is true of every show, though. You just happen to know what those specific shower bars look like.
- kayfox 5y ago
  I like that they thought about that, in a lot of shows and movies you see ships in space where gravity may not exist at times with no visible way for people to move themselves around under zero-g, so its refreshing when a show puts in the work to create a set that looks usable in space.
- bityard 5y ago
  The grab bars on the Zarya also look like something you'd easily find in Walmart: https://www.nasa.gov/images/content/114306main_iss010e25228_hires.jpg https://www.nasa.gov/images/content/114306main_iss010e25228_... Maybe when it comes to something as simple as a grab bar it's hard to get too imaginative in the first place? Once you start _really_ looking for them, you can pretty easily pick out items on a set and go, "oh yeah, that looks like a repurposed so-and-so."
- duskwuff 5y ago
  The Expanse uses a lot of repurposed props in general. One of the cryogenic pods in S2 is a roof storage rack for a car. The flight controls in the Rocinante are 3DConnexion mice. I recall seeing one maintenance tunnel with walls covered in laptop cooling pads. And so on. :)
  - ruytlm 5y ago
    As another, many of the spacesuit backpacks/oxygen packs are very lightly disguised Ogio motorcycle backpacks: https://ogiopowersports.com/products/no-drag-mach-5-stealth https://ogiopowersports.com/products/no-drag-mach-5-stealth

by sen 5y ago

fenk85 5y ago

You will love the book series then, goes into much more details and is hard to put down, i binge read the lot

alexgmcm 5y ago
I think some stuff is improved in the series though. For example, the story from Cibola Burn seemed a lot better on the show than the book in my opinion and some of the characters are better. In particular, Ashford's character is massively improved (it helps that David Strathairn plays the role incredibly well). The books are very good though and I can't wait for Leviathan Falls. Also, it seems the series will stop at the end of Babylon's Ashes.
- rkachowski 5y ago
  I absolutely love how they changed "Ashford" in the books from an elitist obstructive middle manager into "Klaes Ashford" - legendary OPA member, space pirate and "The Ghost Knife of Callisto". The show really gives the opportunity to explore the individual motivations of the characters; the books are also great and they complement each other, but I feel that the books are almost too fast paced to really savour the environment and setting.
  - alexgmcm 5y ago
    Yeah, he's probably my favourite character in the series. The way his character develops and changes is incredible and the acting is really well done.
  - 7sigma 5y ago
    That scene in the behemoth in s3e11 between camina and ashford is one my favourite. Their discussion of what it is that makes belters what they are in that situation, such great writing
- tspiteri 5y ago
  Some things work differently on TV and on books, and they changed things to make the storytelling better suited to TV. For example Camina Drummer was introduced much earlier in the TV series so that Fred Johnson had someone to talk to on screen, which wasn't needed in the novels. And then the character worked so well that they expanded it to cover more stuff. I really like that they prefer a good story over sticking to the exact "canon" of the novels. And in "they" I include the novel authors, who are very involved in the TV series.
  - alexgmcm 5y ago
    Yeah, I think having the novel authors involved has helped make the series as good as it is. We still have the final season though - let's hope it doesn't do a "Game of Thrones".
    - ddxxdd 5y ago
      >let's hope it doesn't do a "Game of Thrones". Don't get your hopes up too high; "The Expanse" is often nicknamed "The Expense" due to its high special effects budget. Amazon Prime may decide that later seasons need to have their budgets cut.
      - tspiteri 5y ago
        Game of Thrones did not have a budget problem for the last season; it had a writing problem. While other seasons used the novels for the build-up and for the story to make sense, the last season did not. And while the author does know where he wants to land, he hasn't worked out, or hasn't shared, how to get there completely yet. The tv show went there with no proper buildup, which is what makes that season poor. To me, the final situation, or who wins/dies, is not the problem, nor are the effects. As for The Expanse, it's season not seasons; the next season will be the final season. I cannot see the tv series ending in the same end point as the final novel, that is I cannot see them cramming four novels with one huge time gap in between into one season. But I do believe it will come to a satisfactory conclusion at some alternative end point.
      - 5y ago
- manmal 5y ago
  I agree. I read the books after watching the first four seasons, and I felt disappointed how Ashford is described and handled in the books. Also, the books set a very high bar for Naomi's "solo adventure" (let's call it that to prevent spoilers), and the series did such a great job, and stayed very true to the source. It was satisfying seeing this unravel almost exactly as I had imagined it.
- goatlover 5y ago
  The Cibola Burn book did a much better job of explaining things on Illus, particularly the alien stuff. And the Investigator POV chapters were wild. You don't get as much of that on the show.
  - alexgmcm 5y ago
    That's true, the investigator POV stuff was cool. But all the romance I found really unrealistic and ham-fisted. They cut that completely out of the show.
sen 5y ago
Halfway through my third reading and still not sick of it. It’s without a doubt my favourite Sci Fi of all time.

patja 5y ago

They use an incredible number of off the shelf shower grab bars I recognize from Home Depot in the interior of pretty much every ship. I find things like that a bit distracting.

lovegoblin 5y ago
This is true of every show, though. You just happen to know what those specific shower bars look like.
kayfox 5y ago
I like that they thought about that, in a lot of shows and movies you see ships in space where gravity may not exist at times with no visible way for people to move themselves around under zero-g, so its refreshing when a show puts in the work to create a set that looks usable in space.
bityard 5y ago
The grab bars on the Zarya also look like something you'd easily find in Walmart: https://www.nasa.gov/images/content/114306main_iss010e25228_hires.jpg https://www.nasa.gov/images/content/114306main_iss010e25228_... Maybe when it comes to something as simple as a grab bar it's hard to get too imaginative in the first place? Once you start _really_ looking for them, you can pretty easily pick out items on a set and go, "oh yeah, that looks like a repurposed so-and-so."
duskwuff 5y ago
The Expanse uses a lot of repurposed props in general. One of the cryogenic pods in S2 is a roof storage rack for a car. The flight controls in the Rocinante are 3DConnexion mice. I recall seeing one maintenance tunnel with walls covered in laptop cooling pads. And so on. :)
- ruytlm 5y ago
  As another, many of the spacesuit backpacks/oxygen packs are very lightly disguised Ogio motorcycle backpacks: https://ogiopowersports.com/products/no-drag-mach-5-stealth https://ogiopowersports.com/products/no-drag-mach-5-stealth