6 ms·

To me, The Expanse was the equivalent of a reboot of B5. Interstellar politics, realistic physics, and multi-season plot arches made it a really dramatic, yet g

by yardie 3y ago

To me, The Expanse was the equivalent of a reboot of B5. Interstellar politics, realistic physics, and multi-season plot arches made it a really dramatic, yet geeky show in the same vein as B5. If there is to be a reboot of B5 I feel it would take off from where The Expanse finished rather than where B5 ended over 25 years ago.

vidarh 3y ago
I loved The Expanse, but the setting is very different, and I'd feel cheated if I was promised a B5 reboot and got The Expanse. So much of B5 comes down to the very alien conflicts and unfolding of the time loop. In terms of continuation I might prefer a continuation of The Expanse over a continuation of B5 - because of the time loop, the B5 story is very closed and complete in a way that means I feel if you were to do anything else in that universe without it getting tedious you need to do something entirely different that'd pretty much need to be its own thing. But where The Expanse TV series ended they had pretty much just started a new story.
misnome 3y ago
> realistic physics It was a while ago, but a lot of the action tension in the first couple of seasons seemed to rely on things like, "We are leaving [jupiter moon], we are in a rush! Adrenaline is high!... We are arriving at [Mars Moon] 30 seconds later, nothing has changed!". And suspense of "Earth is launching missiles now, oh-no they are about to hit us so we must dodge them!". It paid lip-service to being "Realistic" physics, but it was just a thin veneer. (Completely fine with "alien physics"/"drive physics" because that is in the story construction. It's everything else, that goes out the window instantly).
- vidarh 3y ago
  Having written two (self published) novels so far that tries to get it right, I know I've made stupid mistakes, and it's really hard to get it right without seriously limiting the story, or just hard to get it right full stop. So frankly I'm impressed how well The Expanse TV series did, though they certainly took liberties. They at least seemed to mostly try even when it wasn't important from a plot point of view, but then also used it for better effect as part of the plot. B5 was much more relaxed about that, with JMS explicitly saying in the context of B5 that ships "travel at the speed of plot" [1][2], and with ostensibly having the station rotate for perceived gravity but leaving C&C near the middle where it'd have near zero g, nor did they make the view out their window rotate (pet peeve: should have been a viewscreen, and C&C should be nowhere near the hull; those things are also very much plot driven). For B5 I'd agree they paid lip service to it. For The Expanse I feel it goes at least a bit deeper. I feel like they come at it from different sides: B5 ignores realism beyond the very superficial (e.g. the station rotating) for the most part except when necessary for the plot, while The Expanse tries to remain realistic except when deviating was necessary for the plot. Note: Realistic not accurate, and I do think there's big gap between what is realistic to an average audience, even if asked to pick out holes, and what is accurate. [1] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TravelingAtTheSp... [2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/57948595 https://www.patreon.com/posts/57948595 "HOW FAST DO WHITE STARS TRAVEL? They travel at the speed of plot."
- izacus 3y ago
  I'd love to see where you've seen examples of that, because the The Expanse books are very careful to keep their eye on distances and travel times. The show seemed to follow that as well.
- sillywalk 3y ago
  The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5 has lots of bits from JMS who responded personally to a bunch of stuff on .. GE.NIE ? and USENET.. during B5 production. http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/ http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/

by yardie 3y ago

vidarh 3y ago

I loved The Expanse, but the setting is very different, and I'd feel cheated if I was promised a B5 reboot and got The Expanse. So much of B5 comes down to the very alien conflicts and unfolding of the time loop. In terms of continuation I might prefer a continuation of The Expanse over a continuation of B5 - because of the time loop, the B5 story is very closed and complete in a way that means I feel if you were to do anything else in that universe without it getting tedious you need to do something entirely different that'd pretty much need to be its own thing. But where The Expanse TV series ended they had pretty much just started a new story.

misnome 3y ago

> realistic physics It was a while ago, but a lot of the action tension in the first couple of seasons seemed to rely on things like, "We are leaving [jupiter moon], we are in a rush! Adrenaline is high!... We are arriving at [Mars Moon] 30 seconds later, nothing has changed!". And suspense of "Earth is launching missiles now, oh-no they are about to hit us so we must dodge them!". It paid lip-service to being "Realistic" physics, but it was just a thin veneer. (Completely fine with "alien physics"/"drive physics" because that is in the story construction. It's everything else, that goes out the window instantly).

vidarh 3y ago
Having written two (self published) novels so far that tries to get it right, I know I've made stupid mistakes, and it's really hard to get it right without seriously limiting the story, or just hard to get it right full stop. So frankly I'm impressed how well The Expanse TV series did, though they certainly took liberties. They at least seemed to mostly try even when it wasn't important from a plot point of view, but then also used it for better effect as part of the plot. B5 was much more relaxed about that, with JMS explicitly saying in the context of B5 that ships "travel at the speed of plot" [1][2], and with ostensibly having the station rotate for perceived gravity but leaving C&C near the middle where it'd have near zero g, nor did they make the view out their window rotate (pet peeve: should have been a viewscreen, and C&C should be nowhere near the hull; those things are also very much plot driven). For B5 I'd agree they paid lip service to it. For The Expanse I feel it goes at least a bit deeper. I feel like they come at it from different sides: B5 ignores realism beyond the very superficial (e.g. the station rotating) for the most part except when necessary for the plot, while The Expanse tries to remain realistic except when deviating was necessary for the plot. Note: Realistic not accurate, and I do think there's big gap between what is realistic to an average audience, even if asked to pick out holes, and what is accurate. [1] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TravelingAtTheSp... [2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/57948595 https://www.patreon.com/posts/57948595 "HOW FAST DO WHITE STARS TRAVEL? They travel at the speed of plot."
izacus 3y ago
I'd love to see where you've seen examples of that, because the The Expanse books are very careful to keep their eye on distances and travel times. The show seemed to follow that as well.
sillywalk 3y ago
The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5 has lots of bits from JMS who responded personally to a bunch of stuff on .. GE.NIE ? and USENET.. during B5 production. http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/ http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/