How To Build a World: THE EXPANSE | Why You Should Watch [No Spoilers]
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- čas přidán 31. 03. 2019
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How does The Expanse build a world and what makes it so compelling?
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FOOTAGE
The Expanse - Naren Shankar, Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby
Game of Thrones - David Benioff & DB Weiss
Breaking Bad - Vince Gilligan
Battlestar Galactica - Ronald D. Moore & David Eick
Children of Men (2006) - dir. Alfonso Cuarón
Gravity (2013) - dir. Alfonso Cuarón
Interstellar (2014) - dir. Christopher Nolan
The Martian (2015) - dir. Ridley Scott
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Gene Roddenberry & Rick Berman
Star Trek (2009) - dir. JJ Abrams
The Wire - David Simon
Titanic (1997) - dir. James Cameron
X-Files - Chris Carter
MUSIC
Home Sweet Home - Willbe
Daybreak - ElectricMantis
Proton Beat - Gangi
Time - Dinnerdate
Dollar Theatre - Jalen Warshawsky
Pure - rare.
#TheExpanse #TV #Screenwriting
“Go through you like a door” is easy to understand. It says that Bobby won’t even break a sweat getting past her enemy... it would be as easy as going through a door.
I don't get the confusion either.
It's even a common saying used as a threat. We just say different things these days like, "I'll fuck you up," instead. Homeboy needs to read those books he said he doesn't read.
@Swazi Prince wtf are you talking about. Amos is a beast and he's white. The main character is white. The bad ass Martian lieutenant who died in the beginning is also white. The show doesn't portray any one group in a negative light lol
@Swazi Prince if I had a dollar for every time a non-white character was brutally killed by the Lilly white protagonists/antagonists in hundreds of tv shows and movies, lol.
@Swazi Prince Not past tense, it still happens. Just as nonwhite actors/actresses are racially typecast and forced into stereotypical roles. You can google racism, colorism and stereotyping in MODERN Hollywood. White actors/actresses still have it much better than everyone else.
Smart move Amazon, The Expanse is one of the best SyFi series ever made!😀
i am beginning to thing its "The best". Babylon 5 had a similar scope of world building but lacked the budget to make the visuals stand out even for its time. i consider myself a Trekkie but each of the shows had its highs and lows while the expanse is quite consistently good. we can talk about other contenders but each one will fall on some point, the expanse is the most all around great syfi experience i can think of. it kinds of sets a new bar, like "the wire" or the soprenos did for their respected genres...
Coincidentally enough that's another sci fi show
@Know One what? syfy is a tv channel
@Stevehow so? the expanse is based on a world created for a MMORPG,then a TT RPG , and then a series of books. the amount of BG materiel Ty Franck had was very extensive. it was all world building for years before the actual plot of the books and series ever came about... try watching their Google talk, if your a fan I'm sure you'll enjoy it..
It is the best show ever made by anyone.
The evacuation of air from the Roci is not just to keep from losing the air. That's the obvious reason. But there are two other even better reasons. First, air has quite a bit of mass. If its evacuated to tanks near the centerline, then its mass is centralized and the Roci can turn much faster. Also, any bullet holes that leaked air would become an unpredictable thruster. I love this show because I felt the writers thought of all three!
I heard also railguns and PDC rounds can combust chambers in the ship that still is pressurized using the oxygen in the pressurized cabin.
So in season 1, where they are inthe Donnager and Shed dies, that chamber SHOULD have combusted from the abrasion of the railgun projectile on the metal it shred through on the ship. I'm willing to overlook it by saying "Mars builds too well for that."
well it can also prevent/minimize any risk of fire inside during the fighting
The only thing I remember them messing up was those gravity assists Alex did one episode. It would take you decades to complete that, however I can see why they would add it into the story.
@@laxjoh I mean I think that Mars being the foremost military power in the system, and that being their grandest warship, it will be the pinnacle of engineering. If we can think of it in our time, they have of course thought about it.
You would also get a shock wave from the passing projectile. Shed was unable to hear that, but the others should have been impacted by the shock wave.
2:03 I swear it was a stroke of genius having Avasaralla being played by this wonderful actress.
thats called 'good casting'
@Sam Williams If you think she's an annoying character from the tv show, wait until you read the books LOL
@Eric Cartman The character isn't annoying, the actress is however, terrible voice makes me cringe
I love her character, even though people find her annoying and how they don't like her voice, just her personality is refreshing as we're used to the very serious leaders that around found in the rest of the show and most other universes which I like
@@soph1823 Eh I love her voice. I for one think people are being way too nitpicky. Like for example, Chrisjen's character is from India even if the actress is Iranian. So it makes sense if she speaks English. At the same time, Americans traditionally have a tendency to make fun of people with broken English accents; particularly the commonly teased ones are Indian-English accents. I don't recall if they specifically linked her heritage but if she is of Hindi background, her accent should even sound more "annoying" as people put it.
People need to get over it. Americans themselves can have shitty accents when speaking English which is pretty hilarious. Tree fiddy? Cuoooffee? I love hillbillies but their accents are also funny at times.
I love the throw-away scene in S02E11 where the crew encounters some random scavengers on Ganymede. They have no problem with them, and everyone goes on their way. A very short scene which has absolutely nothing to do with the plot. But it shows that the 'heroes' aren't the only one trying to solve problems in this show.
If I recall correctly, it's actually pretty significant for the plot. Yes it's not relevant to the "A" plot of searching Meng's daughter and stopping Protogen's experiment, but it's telegraphing the start of the "B" plot of Ganymede station's slow death.
‘Whatever I goddamn like!’ remains my favorite line ever in TV dialog. Avasarala is lowkey the biggest badass on the show. The character’s evolution has been one of the most interesting on the show. I can’t wait to see what Madame President does next.
"I am that guy"
Probably my favorite TV one liner. The Expanse has a lot of amazingly well written characters, and the show wouldn't be as good if it were missing any of them, but I think Amos has to be my favorite.
Yeah, I probably have to go with "I am that guy" especially considering the context of that line. I do agree that Avasarala has one of the best character arcs, Bobby being a close second, trying to deal with disillusionment and betrayal.
@@joshfritz5345 Totally telegraphed that the line is about to be said, but no less bad-ass for it.
Yes that is one of my fav lines in the show! She knew Mars couldn't do SHIT to stop her from asking questions and she made sure they were aware she was gonna go ahead and damn well do it. Love her!
Some fun facts: The Expanse setting was originally designed for a MMORPG that was cancelled,then it was turned into a tabletop game,before it became a series of novels.
The 2 writers were assisting George R.R.Martin ,while he was writing the 4rth book of his ''Song of Ice & Fire'' series.Their main job was to help GRRM with all the worldbuilding aspects of the book,like the history of the Houses etc.
That explains why the worldbuilding is so detailed and why GRRM is a big supporter of the books and the tv show.
Also,the 2 book writers are heavily involved in the tv-show and the producers are consulting them on pretty much everything.
I'd love to see the MMORPG realized somewhere down the road, I'd imagine Star Citizen's game engine would make a good basis since it's already got many of the systems such a game would be needing, just strip out the FTL drives and let everything run on proper orbital mechanics
Really - these guys were involved in the ASOIAF world building too? That’s awesome, and makes sense. They are the two best world building creations I have come across in the last 20 years.
@@willmosse3684 As far as I know,one of the 2 book writers was GRRM's permanent assistant and the other guy helped out ocassionally,that's how they started out.
The MMORPG project didn't worked out so GRRM helped them to get a book deal,the rest is history.
He also supported the show,during the online campaign after Scy Fy cancelled it with tweets etc.
@doubleP Wow - that’s awesome, thanks. How the hell did I miss that? I follow GRRM fairly closely, and signed up to and followed the Expanse renewal campaign too. I will read up on it more. Cheers
@@UNSCPILOT TBH the golden ages of MMORPG is fading away/already phasing out so it'll be an extremely tough to create a full scale MMORPG. However there is a game called Elite Dangerous that is extremely difficult and feels far more realistic than any space-piloting game I've seen. You have to power down parts of your ship to allocate energy to weapons, vice versa. Thrust and movement is very confusing compared to most which make it as simple and intuitive as possible whereas Elite follows a more realistic piloting approach to it (at least I feel like).
If they can combine a bit of that with some elements of games you're talking about, that would be amazing. I guarantee though if you can pick factions, 90% of the people will join Mars.
"I'll go through you like a door." - Easily and without interruption, as if there is little to no obstacle. It's not really a hard concept.
Jack Miller Yeah, I didn't have a problem with that. Sometimes the belter creole got a bit silly imo. I would expect it to be a little subtler.
@@brainmind4070 Bobby isn't a belter. She's a duster (martian). So she wouldn't be speaking belter creole
@@geronimohayauxdutilly2136 I believe my original comment was a reply to a comment that has since been deleted, or I may have accidentally replied to the wrong comment. I certainly wasn't referring to Ms. Draper, just how some of the dialogue in The Expanse could have been better.
@@brainmind4070 the show improves on the books, which while having really intricate plots also have wooden dialog and flat characters, while the show improves those things quite a bit.
Unless it's closed
As a native New Mexican I can positively say that the Albuquerque portrayed in Breaking Bad ain't fiction. Also, The Expanse is the best hard sci-fi I've seen on tv.
The books are even more entertaining. they are so fast paced and tense you never put them down, just wanna rush through them
@@karimshebeika8010
The books are great. I saw the first two seasons before I started reading them, though, so I'm legit in love with both on their merits.
@Zerebrat Eightyseven and I expect them to jump over cibola burn
It's the best hard sci fi I've seen and it's not even a hard sci fi. It just reminds us of one because they pay more attention to detail and laws of physics and gravity than most hard sci fi's. A hard sci fi wouldn't technically have the Epstein drive or protomolecule related technology.
Breaking Bad is fiction. That it may mirror reality in some regards doesn't mean it isn't.
Damn, I'll never get over how awesome of a character Chrisjen Avasarala is. I like space battles and adventures in this show but she's very something very special and definately a major reason why I love The Expanse.
The diversity is something that i love about the Expanse. Often diversity in television feels forced. A woman that is supposed to be strong that comes across as faked, a shoehorned in gay couple or transgender etc. In The Expanse it all fits. Race doesn't really matter, you can't tell by the color of the skin if someone is good or bad (something that annoys me greatly about other shows). Gender doesn't really matter (or age), one of the strongest characters in the game is an incredibly attractive early 60s persian woman, another one a young lady from the first nations. This feels real cause it IS real, these are the things that are starting to become normal here and now. And I enjoy that about the Expanse more than i probably should. I can't wait to see (and hear!) Shoreh and Cara again!
Great comment.
The "diversity " works because it's literally unacknowledged in the story, and is just....natural. That's how it's done, Hollywood. No mary Sue's, no "wisecrackin' black chick ", no "wise asians", just, people.
Take note, Disney, Faux Trek, etc.
And Cara Gee is super hot! LOL!!
Yeah, no more villian is a white guy with blond hair and blue eyes and either a German or elitist English accent cliche. One of the main villains is an Asian man, but most factions aren't painted in black and white. The only racial conflict is the Earthers vs the Martians vs the Belters.
It's also interesting because the Belters take on a race of their own and unlike most of Hollywood they are not some pseudo African/Arabic race. They don't cop out and make modern stereotypes of poverty or terrorism but make them distinct so no one feels their eyes rolling every time a painfully obvious parallel is shown.
As an avid fan of sci-fi for 55 years I can say that the Expanse is the single best sci-fi franchise I've ever seen. There's the Expanse at the top and then, a few hundred light-years below, everything else.
A Colonial Battlestars Main Battery would like to know your location
BSG was pretty good, FTL travel aside. Then again, the Expanse has the magical protomolecule, which can survive on Venus, change the delta V of a large asteroid by amounts even ships with fusion drives can't match, not to mention other capabilities I won't say in case people are still working on season 3.
I have only seen the first episode of the expanse, but, here are the things i gather I won't like about it. #1, I never got into The Wire or GOT because of the slow start thing, and it has stopped me getting into the expanse. #2 The Expanse has a dark negative sci-fi future, not the optimistic take Star Trek or the Orville has, or that Stargate hopes for. #3 I know enough to know how insanely impractical rocket propulsion is, I really have no interest in conventional propulsion based space epic. #4 I love time travel and time loops, I love wormholes, FTL and a whole mess of, well sci-fi subjects and what I gather is that the Expanse has next to none of this, and this is the main reason I watch Sci-fi, it's for the fictionalized science, but the Expanse doesn't have much fictionalized science and technology from what I gather. However, please correct me if I am wrong.
@@jonathanberry9502 you should try the first 2 seasons before making assumptions.trust me
@Jonathan Berry
#2 It's not negative. Humanity is thriving. And struggle and problems are always and everywhere. ST at first was a bit _too_ optimistic to the point of being utopian nonsence, and the later installments made it wose by trying to inject it with realism that clashes with what was established before. The Expanse is dark cuz it continues the old and proud tradition of poorly lit starships.
#3 The Expanse's propulsion system is in no way less magical BS than the Enterprise's warp core. And having to spend time to travel somewhere is way better than situations like Star Wars where anything and everything is within 15 minutes of flight. Not only it kills the tension and the sense of the vast world, it's also super boring and is always riddled with plot holes.
#4 Humanity in Expanse does obtain a [spoiler] in the third season, which allows them to [spoiler].
#5 Yes, Expanse have none of the technobabble bullshit except for the alien clarketech and the Epstein drive - and *THATS THE BEST NEWS ONE COULD EVER ASK FOR!* It takes the "realistic space would be boring" argument, spits in its face, throws it to the ground, urinates on it, and then bashes it's skull in with a sledgehammer. It does that so profoundly that I now find "yer standard space opera setting" to be _boring snoozefest._ Nothing is a danger, everything is just one "frequency moduation" away from being effortlessly fixed, and the artificial gravity systems are always indestructible and work no matter what.
Doors and Corners!! That's where they get you!
Go into the room too fast kid, the room EATS YOU
We got to talk about that ride kid. Next clue to the case
The Expanse was based off a Tabletop campaign that the writers were playing which is why the Doctor (Shed) died so suddenly, the guy who was roleplaying him lost interest and left so the GM killed off their character. Just a cool detail, but it provides an insight into how the show was crafted and why it's so gritty and grounded.
Which is sad because Miller is one of the best characters in the show. He feels so human. His character fits in a 1940s noir as well as it does in space.
@@TJDieter2191
I agree, Miller is great but I was referring to a different one.
Medical doctors are kind of missing in the expanse after Shed died. kind of feel the autodocs are a token that had to be quickly inserted due to the lack of this character.
@@outerheaven155 That's an interesting observation.
Actually the expanse is based on the idea one its writers had for a video game and was eventually when the writers friend came on board they decided to turn it into a book
In our house we call this show “Space is Terrifying”, because the show/world illustrates that underlying facet every chance it gets. In many ways the setting is the primary antagonist, the one thing the other characters must reckon with in order to prevail - not just the protagonists, either: every character is defined by their relationship with the Expanse and how they engage/ignore/negotiate with it.
The characters are engaging and interesting, because the audience can see how each character derives from, and acts, according to their origins, history and experiences
I'm actually reading the novel series now. The best thing about it's TV show is being so close to the actual material.
I agree, it's a show that de-romanticises space, a kind of revisionist futurology. Just as a good western should leave us feeling that 'the West was terrifying'.
If you haven't read the books and are just basing your "...setting is the primary antagonist" off of the TV show; you have *no idea* how right you are. Strap in, cupcake, you ain't seen nothin yet.
@@harmstrongg - I've read the first four. I know. Oh, do I know....
But even the show does a great job of illustrating the fact that space and human nature are our own worst enemies - the "aliens" are just the catalyst.
Yea it's so good because it's so true. There is no place more dangerous to a human than space.
I have binge-watched the first three seasons of "The Expanse" during the coronavirus "stay at home" orders and I am enjoying this show so much. Phenomenal! I've now ordered to books so I'll start in on those when they get here.
You're going to love the books too. Both show and books are worth revisiting, like many great works. ,8^)
I wouldn't give the showrunners credit for the word building the book authors did. I would give them credit for translating it to screen so well and honestly season one is better than book one.
Does the writing get better? I love the show and I’m an avid reader. But man I’m 80% through Leviathan Wakes and man some of the writing is... rough.
I mean writing as in dialogue and exposition. The storytelling and action are written reeeeealllllly well.
I think the show-runners and prop and sound departments and by equal measure everyone involved in the show should get credit not for creating the world, but for selling it to the screen so fluidly and effectively. Every little nonessential background detail is deliberate and accounted for; for example a lot of thought goes into the props and how they would look and function in this world. It's easy to take for granted just how much extra has to be done for the show imo.
10:25 "Burn me and mine, and I'll go through you like a door". How does that sentence need explaining? She is literally going to push him aside and go through him if she is betrayed... So yea, it's a threat.
"We had a garden, and we paved it"
Not having an April fools joke video was the most surprising thing you could possibly do today. Thanks for the great vid!
"...and I'll walk through you like a door"
it's BOTH threat and insult, and both very good ones, in my opinion. to me, it instantly summoned an image of Bobbie in her power armor, just casually walking through closed, locked, steel door.
Yeah she's basically saying I'll go through you as easily as opening a door, which is pretty badass IMHO.
'I'll go through you like a door' is just wordplay on the first clause, 'I've never crossed anyone first.' So yeah, it sounds weird but needs to be put in context.
And the point Ideas At Play makes "doors... you're kind of supposed to go through them", well yeah, that's how EASILY she'll go through him, as if he's not even there.
@@MemoriesAreLost precisely. does not require overthinking, it's that simple.
@@MemoriesAreLost "i'll make your ass a door"
Accurately extrapolating the near future in terms of past science, industry, and politics, and then reminding us that human behavior hasn't really changed, is brilliant. It asks big questions and forces us to consider alternate viewpoints. NatGeo's "Mars" docu-drama does this too, but a lot of folks are put off by its social and political msg.
10:59 that scene gets me every time, bad-ass, straight-laced, space marine from mars "Bobbie Draper" has been kicking ass and killing people in her power armor with absolute professionalism throughout the whole series.
And in that one scene she was reduced to emotional state of a child, the combination of her not being used to earths earth's gravity and her face marveling and the expanse of an ocean that shes only ever dreamed of an seen in pictures, the actress did a phenomenal job conveying all of these emotions.
cecollins68 Yeah, she was a cool character. Die-hard allegiance to Mars shattered when she learned the truth. Her entire identity called into question.
@@brainmind4070 feels very captain america-esque, she's patriotic but not blindly. She upholds her country's ideals not its leadership.
@@GSlice37 Yeah, I guess it's a little like Captain America, but, if I remember correctly, Captain America's leadership didn't try to kill him to test a new weapon.
@@brainmind4070 wasn't that kind of the plot of CA 2?
@@GSlice37 You mean Winter Soldier? I never watched that one. I saw The First Avenger and Civil War, so if you saw WS, you would be a better authority than I.
chrisjen avasarala is my 2nd favorite charakter, right behind miller.
and The Expanse delivers in the books AND in the show. Thats GoT level insane
GoT died out by season 5~ unfortunately.
It's funny so many people compare this show/series to Game of Thrones. The authors of the Expanse were GRRM's assistants I think.
Detective Miller is my favourite character followed by Chrisjen then Bobbie Draper
For me right now The Expanse is way better than GoT.
I like Miller also, but my #1 is Chrisjen she basically kick ass.
In order to quell the raging GoT fans who've been so sorely disappointed by the show's ending (myself included) I've heartily recommended this as an alternative. The results so far are great. Amazing what you can do with a book series that's nearing completion.
That ending itself is not the problem. The problem is that it was RUSHED. That's because GRRM hadn't finished the book series yet at the time of S7, so he just gave the producers how it would end, and left all the rest in between for them to fill up.
Jonathan Baker
You are correct.
I read a comment somewhere that said the last hour of the finale would have been an entire season of old GoT. The pacing was totally screwed.
No other SciFi series is as realistic as The Expanse when it comes to keeping everything within the laws of physics. Such great attention to detail in any scene that involves traversing space, be it within a ship, with a space suit or even without one (yes, you read that right).
From the language perspective, there's way more than 90% that never makes it to the show. The smattering of Belter the audience hears is the tip of the tip of the iceberg. But it's a testament to the writers and how they use Belter that the audience understands that there really is a full language there.
4:03
Belter culture doesn't really value self-reliance. They say "the more you share, the more your bowl will be plentiful". They actually emphasize the opposite: mutual aid and solidarity.
Self reliance on the community/ local level though.
But on asteroids the community might be millions of people, There's an example of a guy who got thrown out of an airlock on Ceres for selling substandard air filters.
it actually does - culture does not refer to an individual and the whole belter community wishes independence
Self-reliance in the sense of reliance on you and yours, not the government
Of course they're all about mutual aid and solidarity, they're quite openly anarchists.
(actual anarchists, not the capitalist ones)
This show is brilliant, it intertwines political drama with mystery and personal development of the main characters, it is kind of like GoT except in space and without ruining character acrs or main story plots
The incredible attention to detail is one of the greatest things about this show. It truly seems to be a labor of love by cast and crew. I think it's the best, most intelligent, science fiction series ever made. Not only is the story completely engrossing, it treats its characters and its audience like intelligent adults.
Thank you so much for making this video. I think since maybe Caprica, science fiction world building had been lacking but then here comes The Expanse: with this beautiful fully imagined science fiction world that takes it one step further in that it’s actually attainable. And it’s all in the little things. Whether it be water pouring into a cup sideways because of the spin gravity, or slingshotters, or one of my personal favorite: the hand signals developed in the Belter language as a result of an entire culture developed using shotty technology that often broke down or didn’t work right and basically had to developed their own means of communicating in space. It’s so detailed and the characters feel so real. I love that they never even question their world because we don’t. That’s the other big mistake imo is that we always get these exposition dumps from characters explaining the functions of their world and I’m like wtf? That would never happen. You could say The Expanse does that with the Ceres opening a little, but they do it by integrating it in a heavily central plot point which is the OPA uprising. They know how to quietly world build with the little things, and they know how to integrate the world building into the story. Two crucial hallmarks of world building IMO. Also the story and characters are amazing. Side note: another of my favorite examples was in S3 when all the ships decelerated and everyone was caught in Zero G with internal bleeding and then due to the blood clotting in zero g they were like fuck; all these wounded are screwed then that generated a whole plot point of them spinning the drum on the behemoth. That’s not only great world building but great storytelling because they used the laws of the world to generate drama. Fucking love this show holy shit
Just binged season 3 last week... amazing season indeed. Can't wait for season 4!
And yeah, the beginning of this video saying that battle did it differently than most sci-fi... very true, but Battlestar Galactica also had laser-less, force-field-less space battles with realistic inertia and acceleration and all, so... the Expanse isn't alone. I haven't actually seen Caprica yet, but will get around to it sometime. Season 4 Expanse first. ;)
Read the books. Not because they're cause of quality, they just give a different perspective.
Yes the biggest problem with the show is time is perceived by the viewer and reader differently.
The show can make hours long communications delays seem like instantaneous communication with no light delay due to the way its shot, these delays are much more explicit in the book.
@@outerheaven155
That's one thing that's much easier to portray in a novel than a TV show or movie - long waits.
The books ARE better.
I am currently reading the first book and Miller and Holden feel so much different compared to what they did and said in the first season of the show. Of course they had to condense everything down to be show-viable, but in some scenes I feel like it changed the character in the wrong way.
@@SETHthegodofchaos I totally get that. The novels have a LOT of characters and a lot of story. I think they've mostly done a remarkable job of being true to the spirit of the books, while sometimes combining characters and storylines in ways work for television.
I just look at the books and the series as being their own variations on the same basic story, but inevitably fans of one are going to be disappointed by the other sometimes.
Good video, but as an avid reader of the books I'm a bit upset by the complete lack of credit given to Daniel Abraham and Ty Frank. They created this world and wrote this amazing story. While she's undeniably a great author, NK Jemisen has nothing to do with this series. Please don't mislead people, I've already seen a few comments thinking that she's the one who created this world.
I always tell people who like the series to read the books. I love the series but the books are on a different level. Totally agree that Daniel Abraham and Ty Frank deserve much more (if not all) the credit for the world building
@@antonymaday6861 the showrunners for sure did a great job with bringing it to life, so they deserve some credit. Just didn't understand why NK Jemisen was inserted into the video, that's like having a worldbuilding video about Game of Thrones and mentioning the producers and JRR Tolkien multiple times but not George RR Martin
Yeah no disrespect to NK Jemisin, she's awesome, but it would have been good to clarify that she's just being cited as an expert on world-building and had nothing directly to do with The Expanse.
@@chrisbessette5460 She was mentioned in the video for her commentary on world building, not because she is involved in the Expanse book series or show.
Soo true!!!! Give the proper creds!
"I'll go through you like a door" is quite a easy to understand threat. He's closing her in as a kind of barricade, but saying I'll go through you, simply means, your blockage is not effective, I'll open you up easily
This series is simply the best-written, best executed Sci-Fi Show I have ever seen.
I just re-watch season 1 and I just looove how well-made everything is.
This time around I can apreciate the more technical aspects of it as the sheer emotional impact of seeing the show first-time often shook me like a rail-gun impact during a 12 G evasive maneuvre. :P :D
It will be so easy for Gunny to go through him that it would be just like walking through a door. Very good threat imo.
Also read the books, all of the world building is taken straight from them, the only difference being that the books have a BIT more of it :)
It's a very believable Marine threat. Know Marines, they would say stuff like that. Not the most eloquent, nor elegant, but always vividly get the point across.
Just so you know, I have not heard about this serie EVER and never used Prime Video ever before this video that popped up on my CZcams feed. I got interested thanks to you and started watching the serie right after your video. I've binged watch 6 episodes straight. Thanks.
Oooooo boy, keep going! Season 1 builds into season 2... which kinda has two halves... same with season 3, two very different halves. So really, it's kinda like 5 seasons so far, and more to come! Just gets better and better, too.
The reference to Avasarala at 2:02 is PERFECTION. Also, for the record, the book series is really good! It's writing is smooth and its plot is gripping. Characters change a little, decompressing with more space to tell individual's stories, but the plot is not lost.
"As science fiction fans are programmed to do from birth..." Oh *so* true. The programming is intensive and comprehensive.
I'm so glad _THE EXPANSE_ was picked up by Amazon. Props to all of those who fought hard to save the show.
Definitely the best Science Fiction show I've ever watched - and I love the fact that they've proven time and again that realism can actually be a hell of a lot more dramatic and exciting than any amount of Handwavium, Unobtainium and Magitech.
Watching it with one of my sons at the moment and I look forward to showing it to my younger children when they're old enough... any excuse to watch it again. :P
This non-spoiler review pumped me with so much excitement to start binge watching this show!
Amazing analysis and video essay. Will definitely give it a try!
That was the best introduction into the universe of the Expanse ! Thank you very much ! It needs more love !
Fun fact: the writers claim that the Martian is set in the same universe as the Expanse. Makes sense, too. Even though Andy Weir said that this wasn't the case, it was made canon when a ship called the _Mark Watney_ was mentioned in Babylon's Ashes
I wish you hadn't cut off the scene of Holden talking about natives not seeing sailing ships at 9:50, because what I absolutely love about this show is that he immediately says that it's actually a bullshit myth but might actually be true in the case of running into actual aliens.
Sam M. Because showing the full scene pulls away from the “white men bad” narrative XD
@@Audiotrocious
Don't worry, the slaving and mass murdering is enough to create that.
The expanse is literally the best TV show of all time, I was so pissed when SYFY cancelled it but now that amazon has it, the show can be grittier and more real. It won't be bound by regulations of network TV. James Holden is one of the best characters in any show.
It's actually already at the exactly correct level of grittiness, we don't need to go any edgier.
You made this show look so much better than I was expecting it would be based on the trailer. Definitely going to check it out. The attention to detail is what it’s all about for me. Not to mention you compared it to 2 of my favourite series.
So smart. On so many levels. Every person and team involved is elevating the story. I forget I'm watching a show. I become lost in it. Not an easy task.
High praise.
Your videos are INCREDIBLE! Keep doing this amazing essays please 😁
Also, can you do a “Why you should watch” video on Master of None. I love that show and it is so great
Already watched this show, but I just love seeing other people talk about how great it is 😍
It's so underrated
Yeah I just got on the expanse binge train and damn this show blew me away. I can’t believe it isn’t talked about more
Hey I love your channel and you and capri's podcast, you guys make great content :)
Brilliant video man! Subbed
This does credit to the brilliance of the expanse and that is the best compliment that I can possibly give
Ahh I remember being apart of the hype to save the expanse, even made a video myself with some epic music. Glad amazon picked the expanse up.
People be like "The Boys is the best serie of Prime video", but The Expanse has a much better writing and more complex characters, and a better developed world-building in my opinion.
Truly underrated show, and the books are masterpieces
Excellent video. Pretty much sums up what's so good about the Expanse without even needing to mention scripts, direction or acting.
You did a great job with this video!
I love this show... I found it so immersive, but like you said, I can see how it's hard for some people to pass through the "world building phase".
I would also recommend to everyone to watch it, it's definitely worth it. ;)
I think what makes the expanse so good, it is based in real science and especially Newtonian physics. It is a great touch with the effects of gravity on the individuals too. Cant wait too see the next season
The most important aspect of this show is the timelines it is set in. It's not that far future that we have some magical shield around ships or there are not even crease of the cloths of the crew after battle etc. It's shows as a genuine progression of civilization if it gets chance to colonize solar system and various geopolitical scenario coming within. This perfectly aligns with the mentality and hence the emotional state where they carry the residue of the same as they just recently moved from earth. We can go with many other details of similarl kind. There are movies and shows which are either made to show our conquest in galaxies and far space or something like we are on earth and alien attacks it. No show tells the story of something which will happen in between. That is the beauty of this show
I'm sold, checking this out tonight!
Yeah... The show creators didn't really come up with most of that. The writers behind S. A. Corey did an amazing job at that. The show creators did an amazing job adapting it to the screen though. Credit where credit is due. And about the books.... Read/listen to them. They are fracking awesome.
I have watched the three seasons back-to-back three times in a row now on Amazon Prime. I love the show. But more importantly, I love many of the main characters. That said, my two most favorite characters are Bobbie Draper and Drummer. However, make no mistake I love and appreciate the crew of the Rocinante as well. Looking forward to season four only if Frankie Adams and Cara Gee reprise their roles.
Don't worry, they'll be there.
Hell yes, you just got a sub for this video. Well done, thank you for your concentration on the lore and in this case physics of a world that makes a GOOD story.
The Expanse is one of the best series I've seen in ages. Good plot, great characters, #drummer drool and good cgi. Love some of the details like cracked phones and dirty windows
Ayyyy great show
I love this show and your video made me love it more
Great show. Great video.
I'm so glad this show is alive and got a 5th season in the works. I finally got around to watching it and it is absolutely breathtakingly amazing.
I love that youre covering the Expanse series but seriously alot of the heavy lifting was done by the authors of the series. All that attention to detail is detailed in the book which is why its hard sci fi.
Has off to the writers but also to the producers of the show because you see a lot of cinematic butchering to get the point across quickly. They realised that without attention to the details, the story would not land. So respect to them for letting it speak for itself.
Love the Expanse, cannot wait for new season and thanks Amazon for continuing the series, SciFi sucks always cancelled good shows...
Jep, I love The Expense and that was a brilliant analysis.
VERY Well Done!!!
Best space sci-fi ever made.
I loves me some STTNG, DS9, Babylon 5, and BSG... not sure I can pick a fave, but the Expanse is right up there with the others I love at the tippy top of my sci-fi TV pyramid.
Nope
@@gfox9295 I have only seen the first episode of the expanse, but, here are the things i gather I won't like about it. #1, I never got into The Wire or GOT because of the slow start thing, and it has stopped me getting into the expanse. #2 The Expanse has a dark negative sci-fi future, not the optimistic take Star Trek or the Orville has, or that Stargate hopes for. #3 I know enough to know how insanely impractical rocket propulsion is, I really have no interest in conventional propulsion based space epic. #4 I love time travel and time loops, I love wormholes, FTL and a whole mess of, well sci-fi subjects and what I gather is that the Expanse has next to none of this, and this is the main reason I watch Sci-fi, it's for the fictionalized science, but the Expanse doesn't have much fictionalized science and technology from what I gather. However, please correct me if I am wrong.
@@jonathanberry9502 I only watched the first 4 seasons of GOT. Wife and I stopped paying for HBO and didn't feel like backdooring the rest of the show (she was a book reader, I wasn't, but neither of us wanted to keep going). Wire was good from start to finish.
New Expanse season coming this month and we're excited to continue. Neither of us have read the books. Anyway, if a slow start puts you off a story... you're gonna miss out on a ton of good stuff. But you probably already know that.
Expanse has plenty of fictionalized science fiction tech. While the propulsion systems (at least in the first few seasons) tends to be a bit more realistic than Star Trek/Star Wars/etc. there's plenty of wild, out there stuff happening as of the most recent season (SPOILER-ISH ALERT.................... okay... basically, a giant alien-robot-built space ring to transport us across the galaxy, more or less, etc. etc... very Contact/Stargate-esque). If your worry was that it's too realistic, I'd put that worry aside and try diving back in. Watch the whole first season. It's just what, 10 or 12 or 14 eps? If you don't like it by the end of the first season, then maybe it's not for you. But there's 2 or 3 major plotlines going on (the space scenes, the scenes on Earth, and the scenes in the asteroid belt with the detective). They all converge by the 2nd season, but they're very different in season 1 and you should get a feel for all of them before deciding if the show's for you or not.
Lastly, I don't think Expanse is particularly "dark" or "negative" as you put it. It just depicts realistic human behavior. Fighting between Earth/Moon, Mars, and the asteroid belt... backstabbing, drama, etc. Any sci-fi that doesn't take human nature into account better be about just aliens... but then it has to take alien nature into account instead!
@@jonathanberry9502 1. I will agree The Expanse has a slow start, but it's kind of a necessary evil because unlike Star Trek and the like, it is not an established IP, so it has to do quite a bit of world building. I'd say things start to pick up at S1E4 and things really start to pick up at the end of Season 1. And things only get better and more crazy from there.
2. The Expanse isn't necessarily optimistic, but its not pessimistic either. The world I'd used to describe it is realistic. Its not a dystopia where life is hell for everyone. There are obviously people that are quite well off, and others who aren't, which is how it is in the real world. It's not a utopia either where we all sing kumbaya and there's peace forever. Thats just unrealistic. One of the main questions the series poses is whether war is part of being human. There are lots of characters who argue both sides.
3. Conventional propulsion is practical for the world it is set in, being in the solar system. (They don't use "conventional" chemical rockets btw. They use the Epstein drive, which is a very powerful and efficient nuclear fusion drive) Travel times are usually a few days to a few weeks, but they cut out a lot of that boring time. I think using conventional propulsion and not using magical engines that can transport you light years in a second and can do so without feeling any acceleration really enhances the show rather than takes away from it. Space is an inherently dangerous place. It's always trying to kill you, even your own ship is.
4. I really don't want to go into detail about this because I don't want to spoil anything for you, but I will say FTL travel does eventually get introduced.
Ultimately, I think you should really give this show a good try. If you're tight on time, at least watch til episode 4 of season 1. If you have a little more, watch the entire first season. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this is the best science fiction show of the decade, and I hope you'll find this truth as well. Not that rotten tomatoes scores are everything, but just to give you an idea, across all 4 seasons, it has a critic score of 93% and an audience score of 97%, which is almost damn near impossible to please both critics and the audience.
Tenye wa chesh gut beratna.
By far my favorite show of all time. I'm so happy that Amazon saved it.
Crazy well done!
oh man the expanse is one of my favorite things right now. great video but even this only begins to scratch the depth of how great the world building is. Good world building makes the world a character onto itself and great world building makes it speak to the characters and cultures in that world. One of my favorite instances is in 5:08 in the video where that character pours a drink taking into account the coriolis effect of spin gravity; then in the same episode in a different scene he finds himself in the 'nice' part of the station which would have gravity behave closer normal earth gravity and pours a drink making a mess of the pour even pouring more cautiously. This speaks to where that character is used to being and the social stratification within that station. And the show does this all the time and doesn't rub your face in it, both scenes is maybe 6 seconds total but tells you so much without saying a word. Or belter linguistics not just verbally but hand gestures being integral as well, which would be necessary if you spend so much time in suits and coms go down since sound doesn't carry in space that would be used at a distance or by pressing their helmets together so that they can speak to each other.
Man i can keep gushing about this show its so much of so many other things i like. Its part Game of Thrones, Mass Effect, gritty noir, political thriller and Don quixote but executed well while not being derivative of them.
This show is amazing. The best thing Amazon can do is to make sure this show goes on for ONLY as long as the story needs it to be with a strong ending.
I love Star Trek, Star Wars, and any number of other sci-fi properties, but in terms of presenting a fully realized science-fictional world -- both the world-building aspect that N.K. Jemisin talks about, and the efficient storytelling that introduces it to newcomers and makes it feel real and lived-in -- the honors have to go to Mass Effect and The Expanse.
The world is whatever Star Trek and Star Wars need it to be to tell whichever story they want to tell (this is especially noticeable, for better and for worse, with both properties' newer movies and shows). Mass Effect and The Expanse tell the stories that the worlds they inhabit demand to be told.
How is Mass Effekt on the same level than Expanse? They entire design of both ships don’t make any real sense, you don’t have clamps or security belts for the crew, they don’t even have seats on all stations and that’s a death sentence in space. I love Mass Effect and I love to play it over and over again, but if there was a Expanse RPG game out there, I’d never touch ME ever again.
@jerocortidor element Zero is exactly the kind of mc Guffin that makes Mass effect more fantasy then since fiction. Between element zero and biotics even star wars is way more realistic. ME tries to look like a real sci-fi hit the science behind it is so terrible that a six year old could make out how terrible it is. Comparing Mass effect to good sci fi like the Expanse or BSG is just an insult to the latter.
nice video
I pushed the subscribe :) good luck man
I've read all of the books with the exception of the one that was just released. If anything the show really tightens things up and more than makes up for the short comings of the novels. I was one of the tens of thousands of redditors from r/TheExpanse who took part in the letter writing campaign to save the show, and I'm glad to see that the show is finally reaching a broader audience. At the time the show was cancelled it was barely getting more than half a million tuning in every week and the show was relatively obscure, now I hear about it everywhere. Love the vid btw!
The Expanse is easily the best Sci-Fi series I've watched
I have only seen the first episode of the expanse, but, here are the things i gather I won't like about it. #1, I never got into The Wire or GOT because of the slow start thing, and it has stopped me getting into the expanse. #2 The Expanse has a dark negative sci-fi future, not the optimistic take Star Trek or the Orville has, or that Stargate hopes for. #3 I know enough to know how insanely impractical rocket propulsion is, I really have no interest in conventional propulsion based space epic. #4 I love time travel and time loops, I love wormholes, FTL and a whole mess of, well sci-fi subjects and what I gather is that the Expanse has next to none of this, and this is the main reason I watch Sci-fi, it's for the fictionalized science, but the Expanse doesn't have much fictionalized science and technology from what I gather. However, please correct me if I am wrong.
The entire plot is how humanity react to first contact.
11:09 Funny thing is, all that is part of Expanse and shapes Earther identity.
Spoiler:
Amos grew up in Baltimore, a city half flooded with rising sea levels.
In the introduction of the Expanse the statue of liberty is shown with walls built around it to compete with rising sea levels
Just binge watched the 3 seasons in a week, an amazing series definitely deserves more viewers.
It is such a masterpiece, deserves way more love.
I absolutely love the expanse. It reminded me, weirdly, of Deadwood - my absolute favourite series, I wish someone had sweet talked Bezos to bring that back! - but now I understand why I feel how I do about both shows, actually.
Even though Deadwood is historical, not SFF, the characters and story are so rooted in the world, and it's so easy to understand they have been living in the world and shaped by it for years before we started watching them. It's immersive; the cast of characters have so many perspectives which change over time and feel realistic yet somehow philosophical and important. Its not got worldbuilding like the expanse, obviously, but for a show inhabiting our world I feel they really try to understand and convey that time period, and how it shapes people and people shape it. Deadwood uses detail and language incredibly well and every time I rewatch it I notice something new that was carefully chosen to convey something to the audience. The Expanse feels very similar.
Very different shows on many levels but both feel real and complex and you can feel the weight and pressure of the things we don't see (time before story starts, world outside story's boundaries). And both have excellent characters and plot which takes a few watches to really sink into, but once you're there it's an incredible experience and you're in love with the show!
Well, IMO/IME etc.. I didn't express that quite how I wanted to but I loved your video and analysis, and I appreciate anyone talking about The Expanse and SFF genre shows. I feel like they say something so fascinating and important about humanity. The genre has so much scope. It makes me sad when all people see are lasers and forcefields and elves with magic wands. Thank you :)
Also I never thought about why I so often initially struggle to get into my favourite shows (The Expanse, The Americans, Deadwood, Battlestar Galactica even) despite exciting plots and great writing/directing/acting. They all need to convey a lot of information about a world and/or situation that is totally unfamiliar, even The Americans and Deadwood set in our own world take a few episodes to show us the world of the story. I appreciate learning that, thank you! I look forward to the next show I struggle to get into
Great comment! I never really considered looking at Deadwood through the lens of SFF-style worldbuilding, but it totally works! I rewatched the whole series earlier this year and it still remains my favorite (or at least top three) series of all time. Come to think of it, that same brand of worldbuilding can be seen in David Milch's other two HBO shows (John from Cincinnati and Luck), both of which are still worth watching even though they were cancelled after a single season each.
Rosie Puplett not sure if you heard but Deadwood is coming back as a TV movie on HBO in May
Deadwood is a really nice analogy. The creators wanted to portray a lawless town moving towards more… civilized governance partly because the dangerous people who got rich off it in the beginning now see stability as necessary for their survival (thus Swearingen is one of the major pushes towards civil government and joining a state).
One could argue that The Expanse picks up the exploration of the Solar System at a similar juncture.
Um, Deadwood 'movie' is May 31, 2019 on HBO.
read the books, they are amazing
The audiobooks are fantastic too !
The narrator doesn't only "read" the story, he "plays" it.
Characters each have their unique voices and intonations, it's a blast to listen to.
Uhm... most audiobooks I have listened to have that. Which is still great but it is not unique.
I absolutely love the show. It's a fresh take on the space/sci-fi genre. They go as far as giving the different factions unique cultures, throwing in a mix of politics, and realistic space combat. My only issue with the world building is the population statistics. Mars is at 9 billion people 200 years after colonization, that's practically impossible even with the most optimistic scaling. That would essentially mean their population grew by 100,000 people a day and idk how that's even remotely possible. Most of them would've immigrated there so where did the space infrastructure come from? How did they sustain such a rapidly growing population without first terraforming? Overall it's still a fantastic show
@Ideas At Play, read the books, they're just as good if not more.
Freakin heck dude...where are your millions of subscribers?? i guess i can give you one. Great content; never stop!
Such a fantastic series. I'm going to start the books soon.
Best science on TV. I love the details. They deal things all other sci-fi TV and movies seem to miss, like how do you tell or measure time when your on the other side of our solar system?
Gravity actually failed at Orbital Mechanics though.
The Expanse is so good because it doesn’t treat the audience like morons.
Very nice job.
Awesome!!! Thanks
My wife was born in the Philippines. Belter Creole reminds me somewhat of the various Filipino dialects, that combination of Polynesian, Spanish, Chinese, American English that I hear so colorfully from her.
I agree, dialogue and some characters come off cheesy and just bad, but the example you gave isn't that good, 10:26
"I'll go through you like a door"
You said: "you're kinda supposed to go through them" (doors)
Yeah, and that's what she meant, that she has no problems going thru him like she goes thru doors
i was looking for this comment, like the dialogue made perfect sense?
Amazon keeps suggesting I watch it, thank you for giving me the nudge I needed to check ot out. It sounds like something I will love.
Hey, I've watched this before! And I'm gonna watch it again now.
Also, I very much recommend reading the books - everything the show has, the books have too, and even more, and more detailed, and incredibly well described. Including literally all of the zero-g effects.