Nerdy: This cast is massive, though. Expanse fans: Wait 5 minutes. This is a phenomenal show. S1 does a lot of heavy lifting setting up the world and the stakes. It all pays off. Hope you enjoy!
I actually miss a lot of the nitty gritty from early in season 1. The expanding and deadly debris fields from explosions, bullets flying straight through ships killing the crews well before the ships are torn apart, the daily lives of living in the Belt, etc.
Unless you absolutely hate watching with subtitles, I highly suggest to watch this with subs on because there's almost no throwaway dialogue, it's all part of building the world and characters. The weird bird flying is because gravity in Ceres Station (where Miller is) is 1/3 of Earth's gravity (1/3rd G) The Expanse is a very underrated show so I fear it won't get too much attention in YT. But the patreon gang is alive and well. We're currently watching S5 with another reactor.
Def agree on subtitles. Their language and words are also quite different so are accents its hard to catch it all the first time viewing. But it’s part of what makes the world so beautifully diverse and rich.
@@MrNathansdad Not sure if bad form, but if you search The Expanse reactions on youtube and filter in the last week - HER last post is Season 4 Episode 8. She's 2 episodes ahead on patreon.
@@NigelSmith72 Yes, 0.3g is the standard for most ships and stations, but with spin gravity it also depends on what level you're on. The further you are from the axis of rotation the greater the spin gravity. The 0.3g sections are more highly sought after, thus they are more expensive, therefore, that's where the Inners live. The belters all live closer to the axis of rotation and, thus, have to live and grow up in much lower gravity and experience much higher Coriolis force (because your head is closer to the axis of rotation than your feet, it'll be moving slower than your feet and will also feel less gravity).
It's less about the lower gravity and more about the lower air pressure. Remember that bird's flight are predicated on their wing flapping motion and pushing against the air (read : atmospheric pressure) to stay afloat. They get more bang for the buck for thrust against lower gravity for sure, but some of that is taken away by flapping against a lower air pressure environment but with lower air resistance. There's also the aspect that bird's flight ability on Earth (particularly when it comes to navigation and orienting themselves) is predicated on the Earth's magnetic field. There is no similar magnetic field on the station which also likely throws them off as well.
@@Cbricklyne Perhaps I missed it, but I don't think there's any suggestion that the air pressure in stations, surface habitats, and ships isn't roughly Earth sea level.
Some quick helpful info: 1) Watch with subtitles; the belters have a psudo-language called 'belter-creole' is much thicker in the first few episodes. 2) Miller is a belter who works for the Earth (owned and managed) security on Ceres. It's basically their police force. His jaded nature starts to come into focus as you learn more. 3) The filter guy paid of Miller & Miller's Bosses. Miller knows that the system is rigged and the filter guy will never be held accountable; so he instead resorts to taking his cut when he can, and delivering 'alleyway justice' when things go too far.
Agree about the subtitles. Miller a corporate rent-a-cop, which is the only type of police force within the corporation(s) owned belt. And he skirts the line while imagining he would always stay on the right side. So that's what he also expected from the air-filter guy. And while Mars is basically a communist type state but without any real internal opposition, Earth is basically a capitalist state although the government is stronger because it is now unified. 'The belt' (read, anything other than Earth and Mars) is quite literally the new 3rd world(s). And like Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine now, they fear to be the battlefield where the big players fight their wars.
Big part of the first season is world building and setting up everything that happens later on. So it will feel like too much info early on but stick with it and it will pay off! It ramps up in ep 3 for sure! Enjoy the ride!
@@UltimaTheSeraph I'm under the impression that they do plan on picking it back up once the books have finished the next arc. I think it's supposed to be under a new title as well but I can't recall where I heard all this.
@@BrandonDuckett books have finished. Amazon has so much time to pick up the story. If they do not, they will be to talk with other streaming service (or other option) to finish it. There is a 35-year time skip in the books Life spans are much longer, so the characters don't have to age that much.
This show has a lot of faith in the intelligence of its viewers and their ability to catch up to the world they've created and dropped you into the middle of. There is very little hand-holding or TELLING you through exposition dumps. Most conversations are very organic and happen as if between people who live in this world and understand its basic concepts. It's so rare to get a show that respects its viewers and their intelligence, so it's truly wonderful 😊
That faith in the intelligence of the view is misplaced in these two. This is the dumbest response I've seen to this show. They are clueless and dense.
The Expanse is one of the best television shows ever made, and based on one of the best science fiction book series. The first few episodes of the first season is a bit of a rough adaptation, but it settles down soon. It even manages to improve on the source material in some ways along the way. Hopefully they'll be able to wrap things up with the planned movie (streaming movie) trilogy. The science in the Expanse isn't 100% accurate, but they took the effort to be more realistic than any other series before. Attention to detail goes beyond almost any other show, and the crew always always, ALWAYS took the time and effort to think things through, like about how fluid flows in an environment where artificial gravity is produced through spin, or acceleration, rather than magic handwaves like in Star Trek and most other shows. There's no method of traveling faster than light in this setting. Right now, everything essentially conforms to realistic physics except the fuel efficiency of the space ships, which allow them more constant acceleration, meaning it would take maybe a week or two to travel between Earth and Mars, instead of the closer to at least 7 months it would take us now, 4-6 months to go to Saturn instead of 7+ years, etc. But communication is still at the speed of light... which means it takes between 3 minutes and 22 minutes for a message to go reach Mars from Earth, with a delay if any message is communicated back. The show does take liberties in a few places, but they still take the time and effort to think about and show things that most other space movies or shows would handwave away.
DS9 and Babylon 5 were my favorite shows because of the very real human drama, until The Expanse. We will keep trying, but It is going to more than 300 years for us to be better people.
No hyper drive, no artificial gravity, no inertial dampers, no shields. What you see in the expanse is just extrapolation of existing technology. The Canterbury (the big ice hauler) was not activating hyper drive, it was just turning round and doing a massive deceleration (High G) to match velocity with the Scopuli (the empty ship) using its main fusion drive engines, hence the phrase "Flip and Burn". Because it was a High G manoeuvre the crew needed drug support to prevent stroking out from blood vessels popping, clots in the brain etc - thats what "The Juice" is.
Everyone likes different things. I always had to mute her and watch with subtitles. I called it "frog voice protection" because of her vocal fryyyyyyyyyyyy. Edit: I should say I really appreciate her acting in general and the character.
It would be better to make a comment like this with the Ep. 4 reaction. People, please avoid spoiler-ish comments. What you say is not a big reveal but when YOU watched the show did YOU know in advance Episode 4 was where you were supposed to fall in love with the show? Why not let them experience the ups and downs of the roller coaster organically, as you probably did. I know it's tempting to make comments about so many, many things we're going to look forward to. But making comments like this is low hanging fruit. Talk about the impact the scenes had on you. The first (wrong) guesses you made about the show... stuff like that would be more entertaining. Don't mean to be scolding. Just that so many people jump the gun with hints of upcoming dialogue. Etc. Etc. Etc. I think would love to know how you EXPERIENCED each episode.
I don't see how saying which episodes you got into a series are spoilers. Ppl do this all the time. The same with books ("wait until you get to book 4 of the Wheel of Time and it will explode in world-building!"). It's a normal way to tell ppl that bigger and better is on the horizon. People have a tendency to tune out of a series if it doesn't 'grab' them straight away. They watch 2 or 3 episodes max and then, bye, bye. Urging to keep watching 'til a certain point is helpful and keeps ppl watching.
Heck yeah Lets go! Best show ever made from start to finish in my opinion(Read all the books too, even better). Season 1 is bringing you into this world, and it is a lot; but it really starts picking up in season 2 and just keeps going! So excited for your reactions to these!
@@NerdyNightly I've waited forever for you guys to react to this show. This is in my top 3 shows of all time. First few episodes are slow world building but once it gets going it's a non stop roller coaster. Going to join your patreon immediately. Please keep with it. I know you will love it.
The events with both Miller and Holden strongly parallel each other in this episode. Both are happy turning a blind eye to things around them, but both have events transpire such that they are forced to re-evaluate their positions.
Always happy to see somebody new getting into The Expanse! The show does take a few episodes of world building before things really start to move forward, but once it does it goes really fast and hard. You can make a thousand guesses and only one will be close to accurate, and likely the one you thought was furthest from possible. One thing that most love about this show, every character has growth, assuming they live long enough. There are no one dimensional characters. Those you love will do something you hate, those you hate will bring tears to your eyes. Keep watching and enjoy the ride!
OMG - you just converted me to a regular viewer. Things you need to know in advance: - You will be very confused initially; don't worry, this is normal - It will seem slow and turgid... until episode 4 :) - Every season ramps up from the last - except season 4 which is a "catch your breathe" season... - Expanse fans are called "Screaming Firehawks"... for reasons - Learn to love cliffhangers... - Lastly, remember season 1 is a group of people trying to learn how to make a complex, dense, hard-sci-fi show for TV... Once they figure it out, their passion is unleashed...
Added to that, a lot of the cliffhangers are the good kind, where you get some answers but are then left with "but now what? What are the consequences?"
I just rewatched the show, so awesome that you are reacting to it! As some have pointed out, Gravity plays a big role in the world. Most stations in the belt have 0.3G, and gravity can only exist either by large bodies (Earth, Mars), rotation (most stations), and acceleration (on ships). Adam Savage visited the Prop-shop for the show btw, it might be worth a look when you are a bit deeper into the show. The love that people put into making this show is awesome!
26:02 Probably worth mentioning to avoid confusion later: the Expanse ships don't have fast travel, hyperdrive or otherwise (or artificial gravity, or inertial dampeners, shields, teleports or ray guns). They are rocket ships, and behave like rocket ships in space do - to get somewhere quickly, you use more rocket (and hopefully survive the force of acceleration). You may be initially slightly thrown by the lack of some things we've all grown used to in space shows, that The Expanse doesn't have because those things don't actually make scientific sense.
Subbing to see your Expanse reactions. As others have said, it can be confusing at the start and scattered, but it doesn't take too long to really enjoy it and then you have seasons of great characters and writing to look forward to. Edit to add, if you expect black and white, good vs bad characters, you'll hopefully be surprised to find the Expanse has very human characters flawed good people, bad people you can empathize with, etc.
I know certain people find the first 3 episodes slow and tend to fall off the show. But episode 4 is where the show kicks in and never lets up. Some like me and others were more appreciative of the first three because it's world-building and some just prefer the action to start right away. You two look like you appreciate world-building lore so the first 3 episodes should not be an issue.
Very excited to see you are going to do The Expanse! It's true the first season has some problems with the sound mix. Highly recommend you watch with subtitles. It's my favorite show now, but I wasn't quite sure about it until the final few episodes of the first season. It's worth it though.
HELL YEAH!!! this is some of my favorite scifi ever and the books (all 9 are INCREDIBLE!!) CANT WAIT to see how y’all like it. An absolute insane show wow I’m physically vibrating
meh, the new terra arc is very slow, and the absolute end, the book end, is also debatable/questionable. loved the other arcs though. haven't seen the last tv season, it's supposedly also controversial.
You're going to like this. The attention to detail is very good, objects behave the way you'd expect them to because the crew paid attention to physics.
The Expanse is the best sci-fi show out there. Period ! NASA loves it because of how realistic it is, the story is amazing, the characters great, Avasarala is a freakin queen !
Its great to see you guys react to this show. A word of caution though this show conveys a lot of information through every scene and requires viewers to really pay attention. The first few eps are lot of setup so might req some patience but its really rewarding though.
Congratulations, my friends! The Expanse is one of, if not *the* best sci-fi ever made. You will not regret picking this up! This is a true *science* heavy science fiction, not science fantasy. George R.R. Martin said The Expanse is, "Space adventure the way it ought to be written...a kick-ass space opera!" The story was originally conceived and created to be a multi-player RPG computer game, but when the authors realized that wasn't going to happen due to funding, they turned it into a tabletop RPG board game to play with friends. The origin of the story came together from those games, of which George R.R. Martin was a player. (Ty Frank, one of the co-authors of The Expanse, was Martin's assistant for many years. I often wonder which original character was George's. I think I know, but not sure.) A lot of people call The Expanse "Game of Thrones in space." I like to describe it as if Game of Thrones and Battlestar Galactica had a secret love child, it would be The Expanse. You just got a new sub! P.S. The bird is flying in about 1/3 the gravity of earth, that's why it looked funny. Originally aired on Sci-fi. Picked up by Amazon after a massive campaign by fans, including George R.R. Martin. As it turned out, Bezos was also a fan.
Glad to see you guys pick this up! Episode 4 is usually the point where most people get solidly hooked. Most characters in this show (except maybe the main character) don't conform easily to neat moral categories. And even within the broad categories of "Earth", "Mars", and "Belt", there are plenty of competing powers within who do not agree with each other. Self-interest, rather than morality or ideology, is likely a better lens from which to view individual actions. Highly recommend watching with subtitles in you have them, especially as certain groups have their own creole that can be difficult to parse and understand at first. Looking forward to you guys watching the rest of this amazing series!
12:09 Good people? Bad people? LOL This is The Expanse ! Like in real life, people in this show are more complex than that. There are almost no two-dimensional characters in this show. If they get more than one scene, you feel they the are real people. Most of the characters whether hero or villain perform both compassionate or heartless acts based on their history and agenda. Today's episode: Chrisjen Avasaralla, loving grandmother but ruthless bureaucrat. Miller. Corrupt cop, who grew up on the "streets". Lines his pockets, but remembers the tough life on the streets. Clean air is good ya?
The Expanse is very very realistic. No warp drives (though the engines are still a bit of sci-fi; they allow humans to get to Mars and the belt and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn). No artificial gravity. the ships are more like skyscrappers with the engines are at the bottom and push the floor into your feet (normally at 1/3G, 1/3 of Earth's gravity). Without working engines, there is no gravity. Once you get halfway to your destination, you flip the ship 180deg and decelerate at 1/3G. There are no Phasers, no force fields. Everything done is as realistic as possible. The story line, the acting, the post-production quality is top notch. I am a big sci-fi geek/nerd, and The Expanse has become my all time favorite sci-fi TV series. It will have you on the edge of your seat, then have you in tears.
Glad that you guys are starting this journey. Absolutely the best Sci Fi show on TV in the past ten years. Give it time to grow on you, by episodes 3-4 you'll start to get into the groove. Trust us, the characters, plot, and story arcs will soon make you fall in love with it.
No spoilers. There are a few important things to know about their technology and space in general. Firstly: there is no shield technology. And there are no scifi laser weapons. Secondly: there is no hyperdrive, nor is there some scifi artificial gravity. How do they get gravity in space then? The ships are like skyscrapers with engines at the bottom and multiple floors. And just like when an elevator starts going upwards and you get pushed down into the floor, when the engines are accelerating you get pushed into the floor. And regarding the lack of hyperdrive? They just point where they want to go and keep on accelerating with their regular engines (simulating gravity as a byproduct). Accelerating for a long thime results in a lot of speed. When they are halfway, they flip and decelerate to slow down. If you want to go someplace far away but really fast? Strap in and get ready to experience fighter pilot-like G-forces for hours if not days. Space is big. Thirdly: A hole in a spaceship won't suck everything out with terrible force. If it fits, you can plug a hole with the palm of your hand. There just isn't that big a pressure difference between vacuum and 1 atmosphere of pressure to cause massive damage. And a final point: You do not freeze or explode instantly if exposed to space. The air in your lungs will be ripped out if you do not exhale first. But as long as you do that you will only pass out after 15 seconds from a lack of oxygen. Then you suffocate to death and your corpse will freeze in about 12-26 hours.
The Expanse first 3 seasons is some of the best TV made in a very long time. It will pay off :) You are right, it's not really a fan-service type of show. It's done in a very mature Sci-Fi fashion
Keep in mind that this is all told through characters pov and so we are going to be trying to figure it all out just like the characters. They do not give us much information outside of what the characters actually know. It's one of the ways expanse separates itself from the others. No spoon feeding but all things will be answered and things are being set up to continue to payoff for the rest of the entire series. Hang in there because before you know it you'll be on board and realize just how brilliantly and organically it all happened.
@@meuspeus5483 Haha I'm just happy to find a couple new ch doing Expanse! It's been in a slump reactor wise for a while. I haven't been vibing with some of the chs lately due to terrible upload schedule or just not enjoying the reactors on a pure personal level..BUT now there are a couple I've fallen in love with. Looking forward to watching with these guys :) Also digging @ funnylilgalreacts she's great! I miss seeing all the old crowd! Thanks for saying hi hope you're doing well 💌
So glad to see you reacting to this. By the end of Season 3, this became my favorite show of all time. Also, once Season 4 hits, there are no more awkward commercial breaks, that's when Amazon took over. :)
enjoyed your glass onion review so much but i’m subscribing specifically for this!! the thing i love the most about this is their exploration of the nuance of morality and the effects of big conflicts on common people. this series is my favorite sci-fi/space media, and i can’t wait for you to experience it!!
Love the reaction, guys! You already seem to be picking up on the science and world building stuff quickly. I'm so glad y'all are getting around to this series. You are in for a ride!
Welcome to the Expanse It's all hard science fiction (no force field, no gravity generator, no phasers) and there is no really "good or bad" side Just gray shaded characters with tehir own agenda who sometimes end up be allied depending of the circumbstances For the starts, there are 3 main plot lines Earth with Christjen Avasarala (UN high rank "diplomat") Ceres with Josephus Miller (Bogartian croocked cop) The survivors of the Canterbury with James Holden (XO), Naomi Nagata (technician), Amos Burton (mechanic), Shed Garvey (medic) and Alex Kamal (pilot) They may end up to meet, but it's a long ride (with a slow burn)
This is one of those shows that I almost gave up on but am _so_ glad that I didn't. It's like a snowball rolling down a mountain, it's slow at first but it gradually picks up speed until it's just awesome episode after awesome episode. It's a hard show to recommend because it takes a few episodes for things to start paying off, but boy when it does it does. Love this show.
The authors of the book series met Andy Weir (the author of The Martian) and as they were all fans of each others work, in one of the later books they named a ship the "Mark Watney". The Martian and the Expanse are in the same universe!
The Expanse is the best science fiction show since Babylon 5. Maybe even better than Babylon 5. A few essential facts: Everything in the solar system in the show is real, with one significant modification which you'll learn about later. The physics in the show is real, except for the highly efficient Epstein Drive. The Belt is the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The MCRN is the Mars Congressional Republic Navy (a space navy, obviously). The OPA is the Outer Planets Alliance, a loose collection of various pro-belter groups ranging from political agitators to criminals to terrorists. The central mysteries introduced in the first episode are all explained, eventually. Patience, Grasshopper!
You commented on the shot design with the Ceres Station fly-through. Check out the live action one-shot from around 14 mins to 15 mins. Acting XO Holden and crewmates walk down a couple of corridors, into the elevator, up a few floors, out of the elevator and down a couple more corridors, to the bridge where pilot Alex slides down the stair-ladder and gets into his chair, camera rotates around the stair-ladder to see him from the opposite angle. All without a cut, no fumbled lines, and nobody tripped over the camera operator! Not sure if the elevator effects were physical, post-production CGI, or a combination, but still impressive for a relatively low budget pilot episode. Ambition and style! There are even more impressive shots like this in later seasons but they are so smooth that you might not even notice.
The production team at SyFy felt that they needed to introduce all of the "players" in the series at once, so they decided to blend the first two novels into one stream which is why there are some weird cuts that go on. Also, all of the Belters are using a creole that was created for the series.
Y’all are in for a RIDE!!! Like so many has said this first season especially the first couple episodes are world building and dense material you will need for the rest of the show but it is SO WORTH IT!!
The thing with Miller: He was willing to take the bribe and look away, as long as no one got hurt. The second he saw that it got so bad that people where suffering because of it... THATS where he got angry
So excited you enjoyed it. The Expanse takes about three episodes to get off the ground and for the story to get going. And yeah, the first two episodes were aired together and pair each other for the set up.
So happy to see you guys watching this. Stick with it! It will take around half the season to get a real good feel for what is going on but The Expanse is easily a top 3 show in the last 10 years.
Oooooooo hoohoohoo! Fastest click I ever did, oh baby you two are in for an adventure! Non Spoilers: this plot line was initially a tabletop dnd game amongst friends that got turned into a script. There's also a definite attention to detail for Space Travel, the way ships are crafted to apply gravity with propulsion, the way the Belters are tall, gangly, and have skeletal problems due to low g environments. You will Love this show
Subbed for The Expanse. It is the best sci-fi show I have ever seen. The beginning is slow and full of information but once this show hits its stride omg. Season 3 is probably one of the best seasons of tv ever. I highly recommend watching this show with subtitles, due to the amount of information that’s just dumped on you.
In Miller's mind Death was paying to not have to go through the hassle of inspections, not so that he never had to change the filters. Inspections can be a huge pain in the butt. You have to take time out of your day to unlock stuff and show the inspector around. It's still corrupt, but in his mind it's benign corruption because only idiots would let lifesupport fail. In the belt letting life support systems fail is a capital offense (I think I remember reading this in one of the sections on what it's like to grow up in space, where air was so important).
Was rewatching a bit of this. Remember the conversations Avasarala has at the very beginning of the show. They are setup for some things that are really important… in Season 5. So much early setup and for later payoff. Also, the pirates are Awesome (tm). Drummer and Ashford are incredible.
Ive heard the same complaints about season 1, but i feel its really good showing the chaos of it all. Also first episode you feel overwhelmed with too many characters but then the ship blows up so that cuts the cast downs haha
@@MrNathansdad i do understand people that get mad about it however i thought it so well done like the crew didnt feel like it was put in there to be expendable, its a lived in world that we were just plopped into.
Watching people speculate at the start of The Expanse is something that always puts a smile on my face. There's literally no way you could guess any of where it's going, but I love to watch you try.
Remember what the text at the beginning said: "All it will take is a single spark". The Cantaberry blowing up was that spark. The bird was real. It's just that it's on Ceres, and planetoid that is at 1/3G, so the bird does not need to flap it's wings all the time.
Miller's bribe was agreeing not to worry too much about bureaucratic regulations so that the landlord can cheap out on replacing the filters so often, not to allow him to choke out the tenants. The landlord clearly took it too far. Miller is an old, beat down noir-style cop who understands that crime is inevitable, and only takes action when he has to, and something the novels dwell on a little more is "There's no laws on Ceres, only cops" - who is the government on Ceres? Earth? Mars? Whose law are they enforcing exactly? I found the audio a bit off too, I had to really concentrate to make out what was being said.
I am glad you guys are doing this show these are going to be great reactions...This is one of my favorite shows and it only keeps getting better its amzing to me that it was going to get cancelled until AMAZON picked it up and saved it. It just gets better and better as the seasons go.
Miller tossed the guy into the airlock and told him to fix the air filters because he was doing TOO bad of a job. If you're running a scam with someone, it's best if the guy you're in the scam with doesn't *draw attention to the scam* Miller was taking bribes to not pay close attention to the job he was (not) doing looking after the air filters. If he does SUCH a negligent job that there's this huge breakdown like there was in the episode and the higher authorities have to come by and check out the crisis situation, Miller's corruption will come to light and they both lose. Like, if you're paying a security guard to look the other way while you siphon off maple syrup and replace it with water, he's going to get mad if you get lazy and stop replacing it with water and just leave the drums of maple syrup empty. The other employees and managers are absolutely going to notice that and you'll both get caught.
Exactly, I'm told that he was bribed to not check so the guy could just thoroughly clean and reuse old filters rather than put in new ones but then the guy basically just ran his vacuum cleaner over them.
17:39 Oh that's what the breaks mean! I was wondering because in Germany we don't have that. Well, we still have commercials but we don't film things with specific cuts for them, on channels that have commercials, they just interrupt the film or the show.
There is alot of world building in the first few episodes. You are meant to be a bit lost, since its a mystery and a POV structure of the novels. The Bird btw.... was meant to look 'off' because Ceres only has 1/3 of the Gravity.
Don't let the first 3 eps put you off. I originally gave up on the show but then decided to rewatch 'cos the buzz was so positive. Once you hit ep 4 you will be hooked on the greatest SF series ever made.
A great primer is Alt Shift X"s The Worlds of The Expanse. There are minimal spoilers and sets up the cultures, political structures and explains some of the tech. I had a lot of questions when I first got into the show and searching online exposed me to spoilers. This vid was a great find and answered a lot of questions with few spoilers. I recommend it to folks who haven't read the books.
So in regards to the transparent phones, they know it's not realistic, it was an intentional compromise to allow more freedom in how they shoot scenes where people are getting new information from their phones. They can show the information and the reactions in the same shot.
Big thing you need to know about this series, they will not spoon feed you information. You will be lost, right up until events unfold. And then you'll be lost again. You're going to spend the next several episodes (or seasons) saying "I wish I could understand it better". And that's what makes this show great.
Leviathin Wakes is an astounding novel! They did a fantastic job adapting it for the screen. It only improved after Amazon took up the reins. This production is what gave my concerns relief about WoT series.
Ooh, great choice! It's definitely a show that takes a little time to get the hang of; you'll pick up the science and the Lang Belta over time, I honestly kinda love that they had the confidence to let the audience struggle for a bit at first
28:15 Keep on watching and possibly, rewatch these earlier episodes when you are already significantly more advanced in the series. It's great to rewatch the Expanse later and discover how many things are foreshadowed - some only get resolved literally five seasons/books later.
This is a show that I didn't think I would like but ended up valuing it as one of the best shows on TV. I know it seems super complex in the beginning but once you get bedded in it is such a cool world with a story that takes place at a political level and also a very personal level. And it has that Game Of Thrones quality where there are different sides pitted against each other but you end up rooting for people from every side, At first it doesn't seem like a show where you could really fall in love with the characters until you realize you're in love with them. It's truly a great piece of work.
One of the best descriptions I've seen is that Holden is a D&D Paladin, and the Expanse is about why having a Paladin in the party only causes trouble (but as time goes on, becomes all the more essential to have).
The Expanse is a top 5 favorite show of all time for me. The characters, the world building, the visuals, the story - it's all excellent. Can't wait to hear your reactions to it. There's a lot to take in but everything will pay off in time.
I'm so glad you're watching the Expanse. It's a great show. While all the different parts of the story that we are following are very important (there is no useless info) i feel that the bit on Ceres is the one that has the most worldbuilding. Especially since belters are the most different from current-day society so we need more about them at the beginning to figure out how the world has changed. So Miller has the most difficult part to convey to the audience. Yes, he is a corrupt cop, and quite obviously jaded and angry at the world. But in the end, he is a belter. That's the purpose of the scene with the guy who was bribing him. Crime and misdeeds can be overlooked if needed, but if you mess with the air or the water the belters are going to make you disappear and no one will complain.
Welcome to the Expanse where there is not any plot armour. Every character is written to be rounded out, even the single episode ones. Space is trying to kill everyone all the time. You need to read every screen they show you and have to have subtitles on. Where so many people do terrible things then point out why they had to because others did terrible things to them, and you do see their point. Even the worst character is not a villain in their own mind, they are the hero of their own story.
As far as Miller, the detective, he's a film noire trope, the broken detective, jaded and cynical but really has a heart of gold. Not a detective, but picture Humphrey Bogart's character in Casablanca....
Subbed for this, may even jump onto Patreon. This is my favourite series ever. As most of the comments have already said, it's a slow burn for the first few episodes, and the characters may not even be 100% likeable at first because we slowly peel away things that make them tick over the course of the show. It's beautifully written, with incredible music, effects and acting. Buckle up for an amazing ride.
The greatest space sci-fi show ever! it's amazing. So glad you're watching this! (This and AOT are my fav of all time, well written shows) What makes this show so special is the way they address life out in space in a believably accurate way. Also, the intro and outro music and visuals are A+, very memorable. I bought a 3d printer just to make a large model of the main ship that comes up later :)
You should _definitely_ watch this with subtitles on as it will make the Belter Creole significantly easier to understand. "And then, the Fire Nation attacked." I mean, yeah, kinda. "The cast is massive." Well, give it a couple minutes. Miller's bosses are also corrupt so, if he hadn't taken the bribe and attempted to do an inspection, he'd have been assigned shit duties instead (or just tossed in an airlock and spaced) and, the next time an inspection rolled around, someone _else_ would have been assigned, someone who _would_ take the bribe. I'm not saying that Miller isn't a corrupt cop (and kind of a shitty person in general, as you'll find out), but he exists in a corrupt system where, if you're a cop, you're either a new cop (like his new partner, Havelock), a corrupt cop, or you're a dead cop. Technically he isn't actually even a cop, he works for a private security firm called Star Helix which has a contract for the commercial installation that is Ceres station, owned and operated by a consortium of Earth corporations (officially, it's a protectorate of the UN, but you gotta read between those lines). Imagine if you lived in a mall (which is also an industrial complex and airport) and the mall cops had guns, almost complete authority, and very little oversight. Oh, and, if you leave the mall you suffocate. While this stuff _does_ kinda get explained here and there, this show doesn't hand-hold the viewer, many things that are explicitly stated in the novels are told either through offhand comments, background character conversations, set dressing (like signs), or implied through character actions. You _absolutely_ will miss stuff and, while you could potentially argue that what I've said is slightly spoilery (since some of it gets sort of explained later), its literally just worldbuilding rather than events in the show. There is, after all, some 330 years of history to catch up on. Oh, and technically the Canterbury is owned by an Earth corporation called the Pur'n'Kleen Water Company (whose headquarters is around Saturn), so it is an Earth ship with a very eclectic crew (Earthers, Martians, and Belters). To be honest, I'm not sure it's ever specifically mentioned to be an Earth corporation, but, while some belters own ships, they don't have any substantial corporate holdings so it'll either be an Earth ship or a Martian ship and I'm almost certain it isn't Martian (or, rather, wasn't, oops). For the record: While there are certainly good and bad people (and corporations), it would be a mistake to think of either Earth, Mars, or the Belters as all good or all bad, much like the real world. Is any given country the good guys or the bad guys? It depends on who you are and what day you're asking. From the perspective of the Middle East, the US have been the bad guys for over half a century, constantly meddling in their affairs for the betterment of American corporations. Today, Russia are the bad guys from the perspective of Ukranians, but that doesn't mean Russians, in general are. It's a very realistic political landscape to go along with the mostly realistic technological developments (the engines are sci-fi magic in that they're unrealistically efficient, but that's about the extent of the conscessions to narrative up to this point in the fictional history).
Welcome to The Expanse! Be aware that a lot of the questions you are asking will be answered but maybe not immediately. Also, be aware that there is a high show-to-tell radio. Backgound info is generally drip-fed, so you get to know the characters organically.
17:50 the birds are behaving as they would in low gravity, also the same with the ice block ripping off an arm.... it was meant to be realistic for low g.
Already I can tell your reaction to The Expanse is going to be AWESOME! I wish you were doing 2 at a time so I can binge your reactions. This is like eating candy. Fine wine. Free cash. Good job.
As others pointed out, it's better to watch it with subtitles because there's a lot of accents and dialects. Plus I think they tried to represent the lack of sound in vacuum by muffing voices in this first season. Other thing to consider is that ships are set up as buildings because thrust is the way they simulate gravity. There's a lot of setting up but it will be greatly paid of as the show goes on. Almost every detail matters in one way or another. There aren't many pure evil/good characters in this. Most are different shades of grey...most. Episode 4 is usually the hook. And the show will probably never go down from there. It's a constant up.
Nerdy: This cast is massive, though.
Expanse fans: Wait 5 minutes.
This is a phenomenal show. S1 does a lot of heavy lifting setting up the world and the stakes. It all pays off. Hope you enjoy!
my thought exactly, half the cast is about to go boom.
i chuckled when he said that
I actually miss a lot of the nitty gritty from early in season 1. The expanding and deadly debris fields from explosions, bullets flying straight through ships killing the crews well before the ships are torn apart, the daily lives of living in the Belt, etc.
Unless you absolutely hate watching with subtitles, I highly suggest to watch this with subs on because there's almost no throwaway dialogue, it's all part of building the world and characters.
The weird bird flying is because gravity in Ceres Station (where Miller is) is 1/3 of Earth's gravity (1/3rd G)
The Expanse is a very underrated show so I fear it won't get too much attention in YT. But the patreon gang is alive and well. We're currently watching S5 with another reactor.
Who? (If it's not bad form to say)
I agree Subtitles are great to have if you don't want to miss any dialogue
Def agree on subtitles. Their language and words are also quite different so are accents its hard to catch it all the first time viewing. But it’s part of what makes the world so beautifully diverse and rich.
@@MrNathansdad Not sure if bad form, but if you search The Expanse reactions on youtube and filter in the last week - HER last post is Season 4 Episode 8. She's 2 episodes ahead on patreon.
Agreed. IMO, the best way to learn Belter Creole is having the subs on.
The bird is supposed to be real, but the low gravity from spin gravity means it flies much differently due to less need for flappies.
I believe Ceres is supposed to be 0.3G, isn't it?
@@NigelSmith72 Yes.
@@NigelSmith72 Yes, 0.3g is the standard for most ships and stations, but with spin gravity it also depends on what level you're on. The further you are from the axis of rotation the greater the spin gravity. The 0.3g sections are more highly sought after, thus they are more expensive, therefore, that's where the Inners live. The belters all live closer to the axis of rotation and, thus, have to live and grow up in much lower gravity and experience much higher Coriolis force (because your head is closer to the axis of rotation than your feet, it'll be moving slower than your feet and will also feel less gravity).
It's less about the lower gravity and more about the lower air pressure.
Remember that bird's flight are predicated on their wing flapping motion and pushing against the air (read : atmospheric pressure) to stay afloat.
They get more bang for the buck for thrust against lower gravity for sure, but some of that is taken away by flapping against a lower air pressure environment but with lower air resistance.
There's also the aspect that bird's flight ability on Earth (particularly when it comes to navigation and orienting themselves) is predicated on the Earth's magnetic field.
There is no similar magnetic field on the station which also likely throws them off as well.
@@Cbricklyne Perhaps I missed it, but I don't think there's any suggestion that the air pressure in stations, surface habitats, and ships isn't roughly Earth sea level.
Some quick helpful info: 1) Watch with subtitles; the belters have a psudo-language called 'belter-creole' is much thicker in the first few episodes. 2) Miller is a belter who works for the Earth (owned and managed) security on Ceres. It's basically their police force. His jaded nature starts to come into focus as you learn more. 3) The filter guy paid of Miller & Miller's Bosses. Miller knows that the system is rigged and the filter guy will never be held accountable; so he instead resorts to taking his cut when he can, and delivering 'alleyway justice' when things go too far.
Agree about the subtitles. Miller a corporate rent-a-cop, which is the only type of police force within the corporation(s) owned belt. And he skirts the line while imagining he would always stay on the right side. So that's what he also expected from the air-filter guy. And while Mars is basically a communist type state but without any real internal opposition, Earth is basically a capitalist state although the government is stronger because it is now unified. 'The belt' (read, anything other than Earth and Mars) is quite literally the new 3rd world(s). And like Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine now, they fear to be the battlefield where the big players fight their wars.
“The Expanse” isn’t a television show.
It’s a time machine, and will leave you simultaneously both hopeful and terrified for our future.
Holden: I'll take it
@@alessandrogirotto9 There's a button
@@blackpaw29 That's how you go through life, don't you?
Yeah, it's such a likely outcome for space expansion. The only thing that's impossible is for Earth uniting
@@Bayard1503yeah i think a Future where the USA, Europe, China and india have clonies on mars and in the belt is more likley.
This is the best written scifi show, ever. And way up there in list of best written television, ever.
You are SO in for a treat.
Hahahahahaha
Good one.
@@Bloodtoxx You disagree?
@@captain_britain Yes.
Spoilers:
Multiple loose ends that go nowhere and a shitty ending.
@@Bloodtoxx whats a better scifi than this?
Big part of the first season is world building and setting up everything that happens later on. So it will feel like too much info early on but stick with it and it will pay off! It ramps up in ep 3 for sure! Enjoy the ride!
Yes 3 is the episode where people get hooked
Much more episode 4, than 3.
@@ksbsnowowl3569 Absolutely this... First time attempted to watch it I gave up at episode 3. Took me years to realise what an epic mistake I'd made...
Season one is a mystery thriller. Gotta be here for the slow burn and the clues along the way.
The first instinct was a good instinct: The plot is bigger than one episode.
NOOO WAAAAAAAAAYY LETS GOOOOOO! This is my favorite sci-fi series from the last decade. Hope you both enjoy it!
It's only the best Sci-Fi show ever! It's popularity is criminally underrated. I wish they would continue and pick up what's left from the book.
@@UltimaTheSeraph I'm under the impression that they do plan on picking it back up once the books have finished the next arc. I think it's supposed to be under a new title as well but I can't recall where I heard all this.
Lettttttsss Go!!!!!!!
@@BrandonDuckett books have finished. Amazon has so much time to pick up the story. If they do not, they will be to talk with other streaming service (or other option) to finish it. There is a 35-year time skip in the books Life spans are much longer, so the characters don't have to age that much.
Same
This show has a lot of faith in the intelligence of its viewers and their ability to catch up to the world they've created and dropped you into the middle of. There is very little hand-holding or TELLING you through exposition dumps. Most conversations are very organic and happen as if between people who live in this world and understand its basic concepts. It's so rare to get a show that respects its viewers and their intelligence, so it's truly wonderful 😊
That faith in the intelligence of the view is misplaced in these two. This is the dumbest response I've seen to this show. They are clueless and dense.
The Expanse is one of the best television shows ever made, and based on one of the best science fiction book series. The first few episodes of the first season is a bit of a rough adaptation, but it settles down soon. It even manages to improve on the source material in some ways along the way. Hopefully they'll be able to wrap things up with the planned movie (streaming movie) trilogy.
The science in the Expanse isn't 100% accurate, but they took the effort to be more realistic than any other series before. Attention to detail goes beyond almost any other show, and the crew always always, ALWAYS took the time and effort to think things through, like about how fluid flows in an environment where artificial gravity is produced through spin, or acceleration, rather than magic handwaves like in Star Trek and most other shows.
There's no method of traveling faster than light in this setting. Right now, everything essentially conforms to realistic physics except the fuel efficiency of the space ships, which allow them more constant acceleration, meaning it would take maybe a week or two to travel between Earth and Mars, instead of the closer to at least 7 months it would take us now, 4-6 months to go to Saturn instead of 7+ years, etc.
But communication is still at the speed of light... which means it takes between 3 minutes and 22 minutes for a message to go reach Mars from Earth, with a delay if any message is communicated back.
The show does take liberties in a few places, but they still take the time and effort to think about and show things that most other space movies or shows would handwave away.
I agree, this is the closest to scientifically accurate any sci-fi show have ever made.
The Expanse is one of my favourite series of all time, really happy to see you guys reacting to it
DS9 and Babylon 5 were my favorite shows because of the very real human drama, until The Expanse. We will keep trying, but It is going to more than 300 years for us to be better people.
@@michaelgonzalez6295 Yep, right there with you.
No hyper drive, no artificial gravity, no inertial dampers, no shields. What you see in the expanse is just extrapolation of existing technology. The Canterbury (the big ice hauler) was not activating hyper drive, it was just turning round and doing a massive deceleration (High G) to match velocity with the Scopuli (the empty ship) using its main fusion drive engines, hence the phrase "Flip and Burn". Because it was a High G manoeuvre the crew needed drug support to prevent stroking out from blood vessels popping, clots in the brain etc - thats what "The Juice" is.
Shoreh Agdashaloo could read the driest of license agreements and I would listen in full. Her voice is that iconic.
She’s going to have to add profanity.
Everyone likes different things. I always had to mute her and watch with subtitles. I called it "frog voice protection" because of her vocal fryyyyyyyyyyyy. Edit: I should say I really appreciate her acting in general and the character.
@@Justanotherconsumer - ALL license agreements SHOULD include profanity built in...
ep 4 is when most people really fall in love with this series
Episode 3 gets a lot of people there already
"Who would be crazy enough to...." One minute later you are hooked.
Yup, I thought 1 to 3 were kind of boring and not many characters interested me. Things changed with episode 4.
It would be better to make a comment like this with the Ep. 4 reaction. People, please avoid spoiler-ish comments. What you say is not a big reveal but when YOU watched the show did YOU know in advance Episode 4 was where you were supposed to fall in love with the show? Why not let them experience the ups and downs of the roller coaster organically, as you probably did. I know it's tempting to make comments about so many, many things we're going to look forward to. But making comments like this is low hanging fruit. Talk about the impact the scenes had on you. The first (wrong) guesses you made about the show... stuff like that would be more entertaining. Don't mean to be scolding. Just that so many people jump the gun with hints of upcoming dialogue. Etc. Etc. Etc. I think would love to know how you EXPERIENCED each episode.
I don't see how saying which episodes you got into a series are spoilers. Ppl do this all the time. The same with books ("wait until you get to book 4 of the Wheel of Time and it will explode in world-building!"). It's a normal way to tell ppl that bigger and better is on the horizon. People have a tendency to tune out of a series if it doesn't 'grab' them straight away. They watch 2 or 3 episodes max and then, bye, bye. Urging to keep watching 'til a certain point is helpful and keeps ppl watching.
This is a welcome surprise... *STRAP IN!*
Heck yeah Lets go! Best show ever made from start to finish in my opinion(Read all the books too, even better). Season 1 is bringing you into this world, and it is a lot; but it really starts picking up in season 2 and just keeps going! So excited for your reactions to these!
Thank you so much for the Super Thanks! We are stoked to be on this journey, and for this story to open up to us!
@@NerdyNightly I've waited forever for you guys to react to this show. This is in my top 3 shows of all time. First few episodes are slow world building but once it gets going it's a non stop roller coaster. Going to join your patreon immediately. Please keep with it. I know you will love it.
You two are in for one helluva ride. This is gonna be good! And don’t worry… by the time you finish episode 4, you’ll be fully addicted.
The events with both Miller and Holden strongly parallel each other in this episode. Both are happy turning a blind eye to things around them, but both have events transpire such that they are forced to re-evaluate their positions.
Always happy to see somebody new getting into The Expanse! The show does take a few episodes of world building before things really start to move forward, but once it does it goes really fast and hard. You can make a thousand guesses and only one will be close to accurate, and likely the one you thought was furthest from possible.
One thing that most love about this show, every character has growth, assuming they live long enough. There are no one dimensional characters. Those you love will do something you hate, those you hate will bring tears to your eyes. Keep watching and enjoy the ride!
OMG - you just converted me to a regular viewer. Things you need to know in advance:
- You will be very confused initially; don't worry, this is normal
- It will seem slow and turgid... until episode 4 :)
- Every season ramps up from the last - except season 4 which is a "catch your breathe" season...
- Expanse fans are called "Screaming Firehawks"... for reasons
- Learn to love cliffhangers...
- Lastly, remember season 1 is a group of people trying to learn how to make a complex, dense, hard-sci-fi show for TV... Once they figure it out, their passion is unleashed...
"Learn to love cliffhangers" - that's an understatement
Added to that, a lot of the cliffhangers are the good kind, where you get some answers but are then left with "but now what? What are the consequences?"
I just rewatched the show, so awesome that you are reacting to it!
As some have pointed out, Gravity plays a big role in the world. Most stations in the belt have 0.3G, and gravity can only exist either by large bodies (Earth, Mars), rotation (most stations), and acceleration (on ships).
Adam Savage visited the Prop-shop for the show btw, it might be worth a look when you are a bit deeper into the show. The love that people put into making this show is awesome!
Adam Savage is my hero, so I will definitely check that out when the time is right!
@@NerdyNightly Then you'll be glad to know that he has a cameo quite a bit later in the series.
Gravity in this series almost feels like an additional main character to the show. It always has to be accounted for.
Hooboy, one of the best, well written, and grounded in actual science sci-fi shows there is. This deserved more than the 6 seasons it got tbh.
They did what they could with the books. A sequel series would probably need a new cast and that’d be a shame since the cast they have is so good.
Also there is a dialect used throughout the show for the belters that makes subtitles very helpful picking up what's English and what's the dialect.
26:02 Probably worth mentioning to avoid confusion later: the Expanse ships don't have fast travel, hyperdrive or otherwise (or artificial gravity, or inertial dampeners, shields, teleports or ray guns). They are rocket ships, and behave like rocket ships in space do - to get somewhere quickly, you use more rocket (and hopefully survive the force of acceleration).
You may be initially slightly thrown by the lack of some things we've all grown used to in space shows, that The Expanse doesn't have because those things don't actually make scientific sense.
Subbing to see your Expanse reactions. As others have said, it can be confusing at the start and scattered, but it doesn't take too long to really enjoy it and then you have seasons of great characters and writing to look forward to. Edit to add, if you expect black and white, good vs bad characters, you'll hopefully be surprised to find the Expanse has very human characters flawed good people, bad people you can empathize with, etc.
I know certain people find the first 3 episodes slow and tend to fall off the show. But episode 4 is where the show kicks in and never lets up. Some like me and others were more appreciative of the first three because it's world-building and some just prefer the action to start right away. You two look like you appreciate world-building lore so the first 3 episodes should not be an issue.
Very excited to see you are going to do The Expanse! It's true the first season has some problems with the sound mix. Highly recommend you watch with subtitles. It's my favorite show now, but I wasn't quite sure about it until the final few episodes of the first season. It's worth it though.
Also the subtitles help because the belters often speak the belter dialect which is pretty much it's own language. Oye beltalowda!
HELL YEAH!!! this is some of my favorite scifi ever and the books (all 9 are INCREDIBLE!!) CANT WAIT to see how y’all like it. An absolute insane show wow I’m physically vibrating
meh, the new terra arc is very slow, and the absolute end, the book end, is also debatable/questionable. loved the other arcs though. haven't seen the last tv season, it's supposedly also controversial.
First few eps are a lot of world building. This show has to help you unlearn all of the bad scifi physics that bad scifi has taught you
You're going to like this. The attention to detail is very good, objects behave the way you'd expect them to because the crew paid attention to physics.
The Expanse is the best sci-fi show out there. Period ! NASA loves it because of how realistic it is, the story is amazing, the characters great, Avasarala is a freakin queen !
Episode 4 is when most people who haven't read the books get hooked (book readers come pre-hooked).
Its great to see you guys react to this show. A word of caution though this show conveys a lot of information through every scene and requires viewers to really pay attention. The first few eps are lot of setup so might req some patience but its really rewarding though.
Clarus: It definitely leaves on a bang!
Nerdy: ...crickets...
Clarus: ...dies a little inside...
S1E4 is when people get Hooked.
S1E7-S4E1 is basically a nonstop adrenaline ride.
Hope you enjoy!
Congratulations, my friends! The Expanse is one of, if not *the* best sci-fi ever made. You will not regret picking this up!
This is a true *science* heavy science fiction, not science fantasy. George R.R. Martin said The Expanse is, "Space adventure the way it ought to be written...a kick-ass space opera!"
The story was originally conceived and created to be a multi-player RPG computer game, but when the authors realized that wasn't going to happen due to funding, they turned it into a tabletop RPG board game to play with friends. The origin of the story came together from those games, of which George R.R. Martin was a player. (Ty Frank, one of the co-authors of The Expanse, was Martin's assistant for many years. I often wonder which original character was George's. I think I know, but not sure.)
A lot of people call The Expanse "Game of Thrones in space." I like to describe it as if Game of Thrones and Battlestar Galactica had a secret love child, it would be The Expanse.
You just got a new sub!
P.S. The bird is flying in about 1/3 the gravity of earth, that's why it looked funny.
Originally aired on Sci-fi. Picked up by Amazon after a massive campaign by fans, including George R.R. Martin. As it turned out, Bezos was also a fan.
Glad to see you guys pick this up! Episode 4 is usually the point where most people get solidly hooked.
Most characters in this show (except maybe the main character) don't conform easily to neat moral categories. And even within the broad categories of "Earth", "Mars", and "Belt", there are plenty of competing powers within who do not agree with each other. Self-interest, rather than morality or ideology, is likely a better lens from which to view individual actions.
Highly recommend watching with subtitles in you have them, especially as certain groups have their own creole that can be difficult to parse and understand at first. Looking forward to you guys watching the rest of this amazing series!
12:09 Good people? Bad people? LOL This is The Expanse ! Like in real life, people in this show are more complex than that. There are almost no two-dimensional characters in this show. If they get more than one scene, you feel they the are real people. Most of the characters whether hero or villain perform both compassionate or heartless acts based on their history and agenda. Today's episode: Chrisjen Avasaralla, loving grandmother but ruthless bureaucrat. Miller. Corrupt cop, who grew up on the "streets". Lines his pockets, but remembers the tough life on the streets. Clean air is good ya?
The Expanse is very very realistic. No warp drives (though the engines are still a bit of sci-fi; they allow humans to get to Mars and the belt and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn). No artificial gravity. the ships are more like skyscrappers with the engines are at the bottom and push the floor into your feet (normally at 1/3G, 1/3 of Earth's gravity). Without working engines, there is no gravity. Once you get halfway to your destination, you flip the ship 180deg and decelerate at 1/3G. There are no Phasers, no force fields. Everything done is as realistic as possible.
The story line, the acting, the post-production quality is top notch. I am a big sci-fi geek/nerd, and The Expanse has become my all time favorite sci-fi TV series. It will have you on the edge of your seat, then have you in tears.
You two starting the Expanse just made my new year. Wow what a treat you are in for! Also its a slow burn of a show just keep with it!
Also Miller (the detective) is really a complex guy to understand
Glad that you guys are starting this journey. Absolutely the best Sci Fi show on TV in the past ten years. Give it time to grow on you, by episodes 3-4 you'll start to get into the groove. Trust us, the characters, plot, and story arcs will soon make you fall in love with it.
No spoilers. There are a few important things to know about their technology and space in general.
Firstly: there is no shield technology. And there are no scifi laser weapons.
Secondly: there is no hyperdrive, nor is there some scifi artificial gravity.
How do they get gravity in space then? The ships are like skyscrapers with engines at the bottom and multiple floors. And just like when an elevator starts going upwards and you get pushed down into the floor, when the engines are accelerating you get pushed into the floor.
And regarding the lack of hyperdrive? They just point where they want to go and keep on accelerating with their regular engines (simulating gravity as a byproduct). Accelerating for a long thime results in a lot of speed. When they are halfway, they flip and decelerate to slow down.
If you want to go someplace far away but really fast? Strap in and get ready to experience fighter pilot-like G-forces for hours if not days. Space is big.
Thirdly: A hole in a spaceship won't suck everything out with terrible force. If it fits, you can plug a hole with the palm of your hand. There just isn't that big a pressure difference between vacuum and 1 atmosphere of pressure to cause massive damage.
And a final point: You do not freeze or explode instantly if exposed to space. The air in your lungs will be ripped out if you do not exhale first. But as long as you do that you will only pass out after 15 seconds from a lack of oxygen. Then you suffocate to death and your corpse will freeze in about 12-26 hours.
The Expanse first 3 seasons is some of the best TV made in a very long time. It will pay off :)
You are right, it's not really a fan-service type of show. It's done in a very mature Sci-Fi fashion
Keep in mind that this is all told through characters pov and so we are going to be trying to figure it all out just like the characters.
They do not give us much information outside of what the characters actually know.
It's one of the ways expanse separates itself from the others.
No spoon feeding but all things will be answered and things are being set up to continue to payoff for the rest of the entire series.
Hang in there because before you know it you'll be on board and realize just how brilliantly and organically it all happened.
Hi Belinda! Thought I'd see you in here.
@@squaddie67
Hi Ian!!
I'm always lurking somewhere lol
I hope you're doing well
friend:)
lol I came here to the comments looking for you! :P
@@meuspeus5483
Haha
I'm just happy to find a couple new ch doing Expanse!
It's been in a slump reactor wise for a while.
I haven't been vibing with some of the chs lately due to terrible upload schedule or just not enjoying the reactors on a pure personal level..BUT now there are a couple I've fallen in love with.
Looking forward to watching with these guys :)
Also digging @ funnylilgalreacts she's great!
I miss seeing all the old crowd!
Thanks for saying hi
hope you're doing
well 💌
So glad to see you reacting to this. By the end of Season 3, this became my favorite show of all time. Also, once Season 4 hits, there are no more awkward commercial breaks, that's when Amazon took over. :)
enjoyed your glass onion review so much but i’m subscribing specifically for this!! the thing i love the most about this is their exploration of the nuance of morality and the effects of big conflicts on common people. this series is my favorite sci-fi/space media, and i can’t wait for you to experience it!!
Love the reaction, guys! You already seem to be picking up on the science and world building stuff quickly. I'm so glad y'all are getting around to this series. You are in for a ride!
Welcome to the Expanse
It's all hard science fiction (no force field, no gravity generator, no phasers) and there is no really "good or bad" side
Just gray shaded characters with tehir own agenda who sometimes end up be allied depending of the circumbstances
For the starts, there are 3 main plot lines
Earth with Christjen Avasarala (UN high rank "diplomat")
Ceres with Josephus Miller (Bogartian croocked cop)
The survivors of the Canterbury with James Holden (XO), Naomi Nagata (technician), Amos Burton (mechanic), Shed Garvey (medic) and Alex Kamal (pilot)
They may end up to meet, but it's a long ride (with a slow burn)
This is one of those shows that I almost gave up on but am _so_ glad that I didn't. It's like a snowball rolling down a mountain, it's slow at first but it gradually picks up speed until it's just awesome episode after awesome episode. It's a hard show to recommend because it takes a few episodes for things to start paying off, but boy when it does it does. Love this show.
The authors of the book series met Andy Weir (the author of The Martian) and as they were all fans of each others work, in one of the later books they named a ship the "Mark Watney". The Martian and the Expanse are in the same universe!
The Expanse is the best science fiction show since Babylon 5. Maybe even better than Babylon 5. A few essential facts:
Everything in the solar system in the show is real, with one significant modification which you'll learn about later.
The physics in the show is real, except for the highly efficient Epstein Drive.
The Belt is the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
The MCRN is the Mars Congressional Republic Navy (a space navy, obviously).
The OPA is the Outer Planets Alliance, a loose collection of various pro-belter groups ranging from political agitators to criminals to terrorists.
The central mysteries introduced in the first episode are all explained, eventually. Patience, Grasshopper!
You commented on the shot design with the Ceres Station fly-through. Check out the live action one-shot from around 14 mins to 15 mins. Acting XO Holden and crewmates walk down a couple of corridors, into the elevator, up a few floors, out of the elevator and down a couple more corridors, to the bridge where pilot Alex slides down the stair-ladder and gets into his chair, camera rotates around the stair-ladder to see him from the opposite angle. All without a cut, no fumbled lines, and nobody tripped over the camera operator! Not sure if the elevator effects were physical, post-production CGI, or a combination, but still impressive for a relatively low budget pilot episode. Ambition and style! There are even more impressive shots like this in later seasons but they are so smooth that you might not even notice.
The production team at SyFy felt that they needed to introduce all of the "players" in the series at once, so they decided to blend the first two novels into one stream which is why there are some weird cuts that go on. Also, all of the Belters are using a creole that was created for the series.
Y’all are in for a RIDE!!! Like so many has said this first season especially the first couple episodes are world building and dense material you will need for the rest of the show but it is SO WORTH IT!!
The thing with Miller: He was willing to take the bribe and look away, as long as no one got hurt. The second he saw that it got so bad that people where suffering because of it... THATS where he got angry
So excited you enjoyed it. The Expanse takes about three episodes to get off the ground and for the story to get going. And yeah, the first two episodes were aired together and pair each other for the set up.
This gets better - way better - as it goes along. You are in for a seriously wild ride here. I'm subbing for this.
So happy to see you guys watching this. Stick with it! It will take around half the season to get a real good feel for what is going on but The Expanse is easily a top 3 show in the last 10 years.
Oooooooo hoohoohoo! Fastest click I ever did, oh baby you two are in for an adventure!
Non Spoilers: this plot line was initially a tabletop dnd game amongst friends that got turned into a script. There's also a definite attention to detail for Space Travel, the way ships are crafted to apply gravity with propulsion, the way the Belters are tall, gangly, and have skeletal problems due to low g environments.
You will Love this show
Subbed for The Expanse. It is the best sci-fi show I have ever seen. The beginning is slow and full of information but once this show hits its stride omg. Season 3 is probably one of the best seasons of tv ever. I highly recommend watching this show with subtitles, due to the amount of information that’s just dumped on you.
In Miller's mind Death was paying to not have to go through the hassle of inspections, not so that he never had to change the filters. Inspections can be a huge pain in the butt. You have to take time out of your day to unlock stuff and show the inspector around. It's still corrupt, but in his mind it's benign corruption because only idiots would let lifesupport fail. In the belt letting life support systems fail is a capital offense (I think I remember reading this in one of the sections on what it's like to grow up in space, where air was so important).
Was rewatching a bit of this.
Remember the conversations Avasarala has at the very beginning of the show. They are setup for some things that are really important… in Season 5. So much early setup and for later payoff.
Also, the pirates are Awesome (tm). Drummer and Ashford are incredible.
"What the fuck?!?" ought to be the motto of The Expanse.
Ive heard the same complaints about season 1, but i feel its really good showing the chaos of it all. Also first episode you feel overwhelmed with too many characters but then the ship blows up so that cuts the cast downs haha
Lol, I was also thinking "don't worry, that big cast is about to get cut waaaaay down" 👀
@@MrNathansdad i do understand people that get mad about it however i thought it so well done like the crew didnt feel like it was put in there to be expendable, its a lived in world that we were just plopped into.
@@belfire777 People get mad about that? Just watch the show. They'll understand why it happened.
Watching people speculate at the start of The Expanse is something that always puts a smile on my face. There's literally no way you could guess any of where it's going, but I love to watch you try.
Remember what the text at the beginning said: "All it will take is a single spark". The Cantaberry blowing up was that spark.
The bird was real. It's just that it's on Ceres, and planetoid that is at 1/3G, so the bird does not need to flap it's wings all the time.
No one has ever asked about the match and the coffee. Basically, the sulfur in the match mellows out the bitterness in the coffee.
Miller's bribe was agreeing not to worry too much about bureaucratic regulations so that the landlord can cheap out on replacing the filters so often, not to allow him to choke out the tenants. The landlord clearly took it too far. Miller is an old, beat down noir-style cop who understands that crime is inevitable, and only takes action when he has to, and something the novels dwell on a little more is "There's no laws on Ceres, only cops" - who is the government on Ceres? Earth? Mars? Whose law are they enforcing exactly?
I found the audio a bit off too, I had to really concentrate to make out what was being said.
I am glad you guys are doing this show these are going to be great reactions...This is one of my favorite shows and it only keeps getting better its amzing to me that it was going to get cancelled until AMAZON picked it up and saved it. It just gets better and better as the seasons go.
Miller tossed the guy into the airlock and told him to fix the air filters because he was doing TOO bad of a job.
If you're running a scam with someone, it's best if the guy you're in the scam with doesn't *draw attention to the scam* Miller was taking bribes to not pay close attention to the job he was (not) doing looking after the air filters. If he does SUCH a negligent job that there's this huge breakdown like there was in the episode and the higher authorities have to come by and check out the crisis situation, Miller's corruption will come to light and they both lose.
Like, if you're paying a security guard to look the other way while you siphon off maple syrup and replace it with water, he's going to get mad if you get lazy and stop replacing it with water and just leave the drums of maple syrup empty. The other employees and managers are absolutely going to notice that and you'll both get caught.
Exactly, I'm told that he was bribed to not check so the guy could just thoroughly clean and reuse old filters rather than put in new ones but then the guy basically just ran his vacuum cleaner over them.
Exactly
17:39 Oh that's what the breaks mean! I was wondering because in Germany we don't have that. Well, we still have commercials but we don't film things with specific cuts for them, on channels that have commercials, they just interrupt the film or the show.
There is alot of world building in the first few episodes. You are meant to be a bit lost, since its a mystery and a POV structure of the novels.
The Bird btw.... was meant to look 'off' because Ceres only has 1/3 of the Gravity.
Don't let the first 3 eps put you off. I originally gave up on the show but then decided to rewatch 'cos the buzz was so positive. Once you hit ep 4 you will be hooked on the greatest SF series ever made.
A great primer is Alt Shift X"s The Worlds of The Expanse. There are minimal spoilers and sets up the cultures, political structures and explains some of the tech. I had a lot of questions when I first got into the show and searching online exposed me to spoilers. This vid was a great find and answered a lot of questions with few spoilers. I recommend it to folks who haven't read the books.
So in regards to the transparent phones, they know it's not realistic, it was an intentional compromise to allow more freedom in how they shoot scenes where people are getting new information from their phones. They can show the information and the reactions in the same shot.
Big thing you need to know about this series, they will not spoon feed you information. You will be lost, right up until events unfold. And then you'll be lost again. You're going to spend the next several episodes (or seasons) saying "I wish I could understand it better". And that's what makes this show great.
Leviathin Wakes is an astounding novel! They did a fantastic job adapting it for the screen. It only improved after Amazon took up the reins. This production is what gave my concerns relief about WoT series.
Greatest Sci-Fi show ever. Please do not stop. It improves from good exponentially.
Ooh, great choice! It's definitely a show that takes a little time to get the hang of; you'll pick up the science and the Lang Belta over time, I honestly kinda love that they had the confidence to let the audience struggle for a bit at first
great show! Glad you guys are doing it! maybe you could put on subtitles especially for when they are speaking the belters language, could be useful!
Nothing is given to you there is no handholding it requires an intelligent audience which is why it is so loved. It get's better.
You should watch with subtitles. It really helps with world comprehension, especially early on while getting used to belter dialect.
26:50 It's less of a War Stalemate and more of a Cold War. Basically think of not quite Cuban Missile Crisis Levels, but pretty close.
28:15 Keep on watching and possibly, rewatch these earlier episodes when you are already significantly more advanced in the series. It's great to rewatch the Expanse later and discover how many things are foreshadowed - some only get resolved literally five seasons/books later.
This is a show that I didn't think I would like but ended up valuing it as one of the best shows on TV. I know it seems super complex in the beginning but once you get bedded in it is such a cool world with a story that takes place at a political level and also a very personal level. And it has that Game Of Thrones quality where there are different sides pitted against each other but you end up rooting for people from every side, At first it doesn't seem like a show where you could really fall in love with the characters until you realize you're in love with them. It's truly a great piece of work.
One of the best descriptions I've seen is that Holden is a D&D Paladin, and the Expanse is about why having a Paladin in the party only causes trouble (but as time goes on, becomes all the more essential to have).
The Expanse is a top 5 favorite show of all time for me. The characters, the world building, the visuals, the story - it's all excellent. Can't wait to hear your reactions to it. There's a lot to take in but everything will pay off in time.
I'm so glad you're watching the Expanse. It's a great show.
While all the different parts of the story that we are following are very important (there is no useless info) i feel that the bit on Ceres is the one that has the most worldbuilding. Especially since belters are the most different from current-day society so we need more about them at the beginning to figure out how the world has changed.
So Miller has the most difficult part to convey to the audience. Yes, he is a corrupt cop, and quite obviously jaded and angry at the world. But in the end, he is a belter. That's the purpose of the scene with the guy who was bribing him. Crime and misdeeds can be overlooked if needed, but if you mess with the air or the water the belters are going to make you disappear and no one will complain.
Welcome to the Expanse where there is not any plot armour. Every character is written to be rounded out, even the single episode ones. Space is trying to kill everyone all the time. You need to read every screen they show you and have to have subtitles on.
Where so many people do terrible things then point out why they had to because others did terrible things to them, and you do see their point. Even the worst character is not a villain in their own mind, they are the hero of their own story.
Yeah we're gonna have subtitles on moving forward. Very excited to get into that complicated narrative you're talking about
As far as Miller, the detective, he's a film noire trope, the broken detective, jaded and cynical but really has a heart of gold. Not a detective, but picture Humphrey Bogart's character in Casablanca....
PEADAR!!!!!
I've missed ya!
Hope you're doing well friend!
Oh you are going to love this journey 😁😁
Also, the audio balance is improved after the first few episodes as they tweak the sound design.
Audio: Check is Amazon prime defaulted to 5.1. 5.1 tends to muffle voices. Change it to plain stereo for head sets.
Subbed for this, may even jump onto Patreon. This is my favourite series ever. As most of the comments have already said, it's a slow burn for the first few episodes, and the characters may not even be 100% likeable at first because we slowly peel away things that make them tick over the course of the show. It's beautifully written, with incredible music, effects and acting. Buckle up for an amazing ride.
The greatest space sci-fi show ever! it's amazing. So glad you're watching this! (This and AOT are my fav of all time, well written shows)
What makes this show so special is the way they address life out in space in a believably accurate way. Also, the intro and outro music and visuals are A+, very memorable.
I bought a 3d printer just to make a large model of the main ship that comes up later :)
You should _definitely_ watch this with subtitles on as it will make the Belter Creole significantly easier to understand.
"And then, the Fire Nation attacked." I mean, yeah, kinda.
"The cast is massive." Well, give it a couple minutes.
Miller's bosses are also corrupt so, if he hadn't taken the bribe and attempted to do an inspection, he'd have been assigned shit duties instead (or just tossed in an airlock and spaced) and, the next time an inspection rolled around, someone _else_ would have been assigned, someone who _would_ take the bribe. I'm not saying that Miller isn't a corrupt cop (and kind of a shitty person in general, as you'll find out), but he exists in a corrupt system where, if you're a cop, you're either a new cop (like his new partner, Havelock), a corrupt cop, or you're a dead cop. Technically he isn't actually even a cop, he works for a private security firm called Star Helix which has a contract for the commercial installation that is Ceres station, owned and operated by a consortium of Earth corporations (officially, it's a protectorate of the UN, but you gotta read between those lines). Imagine if you lived in a mall (which is also an industrial complex and airport) and the mall cops had guns, almost complete authority, and very little oversight. Oh, and, if you leave the mall you suffocate.
While this stuff _does_ kinda get explained here and there, this show doesn't hand-hold the viewer, many things that are explicitly stated in the novels are told either through offhand comments, background character conversations, set dressing (like signs), or implied through character actions. You _absolutely_ will miss stuff and, while you could potentially argue that what I've said is slightly spoilery (since some of it gets sort of explained later), its literally just worldbuilding rather than events in the show. There is, after all, some 330 years of history to catch up on.
Oh, and technically the Canterbury is owned by an Earth corporation called the Pur'n'Kleen Water Company (whose headquarters is around Saturn), so it is an Earth ship with a very eclectic crew (Earthers, Martians, and Belters). To be honest, I'm not sure it's ever specifically mentioned to be an Earth corporation, but, while some belters own ships, they don't have any substantial corporate holdings so it'll either be an Earth ship or a Martian ship and I'm almost certain it isn't Martian (or, rather, wasn't, oops).
For the record: While there are certainly good and bad people (and corporations), it would be a mistake to think of either Earth, Mars, or the Belters as all good or all bad, much like the real world. Is any given country the good guys or the bad guys? It depends on who you are and what day you're asking. From the perspective of the Middle East, the US have been the bad guys for over half a century, constantly meddling in their affairs for the betterment of American corporations. Today, Russia are the bad guys from the perspective of Ukranians, but that doesn't mean Russians, in general are. It's a very realistic political landscape to go along with the mostly realistic technological developments (the engines are sci-fi magic in that they're unrealistically efficient, but that's about the extent of the conscessions to narrative up to this point in the fictional history).
Welcome to The Expanse! Be aware that a lot of the questions you are asking will be answered but maybe not immediately. Also, be aware that there is a high show-to-tell radio. Backgound info is generally drip-fed, so you get to know the characters organically.
17:50 the birds are behaving as they would in low gravity, also the same with the ice block ripping off an arm.... it was meant to be realistic for low g.
Already I can tell your reaction to The Expanse is going to be AWESOME! I wish you were doing 2 at a time so I can binge your reactions. This is like eating candy. Fine wine. Free cash. Good job.
The belter creole they invented is probably part of the reason you have trouble following the dialog.
Oh wow. Welcome to the family! This show is amazing and I'm really looking forward to see your reactions. Subbing right now!
As others pointed out, it's better to watch it with subtitles because there's a lot of accents and dialects. Plus I think they tried to represent the lack of sound in vacuum by muffing voices in this first season.
Other thing to consider is that ships are set up as buildings because thrust is the way they simulate gravity.
There's a lot of setting up but it will be greatly paid of as the show goes on. Almost every detail matters in one way or another.
There aren't many pure evil/good characters in this. Most are different shades of grey...most.
Episode 4 is usually the hook. And the show will probably never go down from there. It's a constant up.