The Expanse

[Bigtime]

Oh man it's coming true :

https://twitter.com/user/status/1353538856537247745

[Fuzz]

Uh huh. We've been stuck in low earth orbit for 40 years, I'm not hopeful.

[FlameOn]

Musk says he'll make it to Mars by 2024... so maybe those timelines aren't that far off. MCR by 2150?

I really doubt any colony in my lifetime is gonna be pretty with trees and spin gravity like in BigTime's pic though.

[Fuzz]

That’s the bonkers claim made by top scientist Dr. Pekka Janhunen, who says millions of people could inhabit a megacity in space by 2026.

Uh, has anyone told him it's 2021? Sure, millions in a non-existant space settlement millions of miles away. Should be no problem to get up and running in 5 years.


Someone might want to check the good doctor into a home for the scientifically insane.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Uh, has anyone told him it's 2021? Sure, millions in a non-existant space settlement millions of miles away. Should be no problem to get up and running in 5 years.


Someone might want to check the good doctor into a home for the scientifically insane.

Or maybe just check the NY Post for crappy, sensational journalism. I had a look at the paper it's referencing, and I can't find any mention of 2026, or even the 15 year timeline they mention. The only sort of timeline he mentions is a 22-year build time, but includes the use of technology that doesn't yet exist (space elevator), so it's not suggesting that this 22-year build time could begin any time soon.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2011.07487.pdf

[Bigtime]

Oh c'mon guys I was just having some fun, bunch of Welwala's.

[Regulator75]

Last episode could have been 20 minutes... Was hoping for more before the finale.

[Fuzz]

Ya, the Naomi story line seems to be taking up a lot of air.

[Fuzz]

Also, Peaches make some really poor decisions. But then goes and makes up for it.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Ya, the Naomi story line seems to be taking up a lot of air.

I see what you did there.

[FlameOn]

Naomi's in the same spot as she was for the last episode, really could have cut out all of her screen time.

Parts on Earth were fun though seeing all the rent-a-cops get roasted and the Peaches Erich bits.

[Inglewood Jack]

by my count, 3 of the 5 seasons so far have been slow paced (1, 4 and 5) so it's not exactly a weird thing that they're drawing this out. my own angst about it is knowing there's only one more season to go, at the current pace that means the Marco storyline is likely the last of the series, unless they wrap it up halfway through next year and do a quickie 5 episode conclusion about the alien builders/destroyers or something.

but yeah it's not just Naomi that seems to have been stuck in the same spot for a while, the following groups have been at it for the majority of episodes as well:

Marco & crew - standing around the Pella staring at screens of stealth asteroids and ship movements

Holden & crew - standing around the Roci staring at screens of ship movements

Alex & Bobbie - sitting in the Razorback staring at screens of ship movements

Drummer & crew - standing around the Dewalt staring at ship scraps and daydreaming about murdering Marco and his crew exchange rep

this doesn't bug me that much since the acting and dialogue is still good, but compared to earlier conflicts like the Earth-Mars war that only lasted the first half of S3, it's not exactly what I was expecting. it's almost the complete opposite of how Game of Thrones wrapped up, where time accelerated by a factor of like ten by this point. I know for sure which one I prefer though.

[Inglewood Jack]

one more thing, the show tends to avoid spectacles and often delivers news of big events through dialogue or other indirect means. again I'm ok with that because of the characters and script, but last episode it seemed to stick out to me more for some reason. like earlier, people were expecting the asteroid strikes on Earth to be shown more directly, using up that supposed big Amazon budget; it didn't bug me that much earlier, but it happened a bunch of times in a row in E9:

- Pallas station is attacked (destroyed?) by the UN, potentially hundreds or thousands of civilian casualties but all we see is a passing glance at news screens for like 2 seconds

- Marco's navy has a big battle with UN and MCRN forces, with significant losses on both sides; presented only as a status report

- Peaches murders like 20 assailants with her bare hands, all off-screen

would be nice to have at least seen one of these conflicts directly. on the other hand, I really got a kick out of that escape shuttle completely incinerating the entire vacation property and surrounding area. is that...a bug or a feature?

[Coys1882]

I love this show but I'm getting really tired of Intergalactic Paul Stanley as the main bad guy.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

I love this show but I'm getting really tired of Intergalactic Paul Stanley as the main bad guy.

Thank you! That's who he reminds me of.

[Inglewood Jack]

I'm fine with Osama Bin Eyeliner, he's convincingly charismatic, manipulative, fanatical and egotistical, and I don't think the viewer is suppose to really like him as long as they understand his position.

while most other good guys have felt a bit static this season, credit to the long arcs of Avasarala (Make Earth Great Again hawk to UN Queen to lunar paper pusher back to UN Queen with humanitarian heart) and Amos (punchy shooty guy to begrudgingly compassionate...and maybe in love?). hopefully they get rewarded for their broader perspective, but as we've seen before it will come with a cost.

[photon]

Yeah I think that's one of the weakest characters when it should/could have been one of the strongest. It probably would have required some deeper changes, but I don't think it's clear in the show how much psychological abuse he put Naomi and her kid through.

He's so flat in the show where he should be much more reviled, more dangerous, but also obvious he's more a bully than a visionary and show how his motivation is based in weakness.

[FlameOn]

Wasn't Marco always supposed to be an super insecure pretending to be a visionary? Like they are playing it up a lot more in the show since you can't hear any of his thoughts or anything but its all still there.

If anything the books showed Marco to be much more of a competent and brilliant tactical thinker that could bloody the noses of the UNN and MCR a lot more than in the show. I'm hoping the producers saved up all the budget for some big show of that in the final episode. Outside of the rock drop at the beginning of the season it's been defeat after defeat for Marco so he doesn't seem that threatening.

[surferguy]

What I am struggling with this season is the lack of the ring.

Major book spoilers - do not read if you haven’t read the entire series.

Spoiler!

I know that the ring doesn’t make much of an appearance in this book but given they are meant to wrap things up next season there is a heap of ground to cover here.


Especially the way things shift after Marco is defeated and the Laconians take hold and really suppress everybody. I mean you see illusions to their power starting happening in this season but things are just a tad boring as far as how the big picture plays out.

.

I want to know what is going on with the ring and the new universes. They barely mentioned it!

More book stuff -

Spoiler!

Seriously what is going on in the in-between spaces??

[Flames0910]

Agree with your points on not showing anything. I completely missed the space battle status update. The first couple seasons didn’t shy away from showing that, even if the special effects were sometimes cheesy.

would be nice to have at least seen one of these conflicts directly. on the other hand, I really got a kick out of that escape shuttle completely incinerating the entire vacation property and surrounding area. is that...a bug or a feature?

I think this was sorta explained by them hitting the fusion drive earlier than normal but I long for the days when their space battles were grounded in science. Futuristic science to be sure, but still mostly plausible.