The Expanse - Syfy

That was pretty good.

I think my favorite was the "Walking on Sunshine and don't it feel good" bit, it's the perfect theme song for the Mars delegation.  The orders prior to disembarking were 'Stay strong and don't let the Earthers see any weakness', lol.   It's not so much the gravity difference, and the Martian Marines fare a bit better because they train in 1 G, but it's the horizon that causes "Earth sickness".  They're used to living in domes and the Earth's horizon causes severe disorientation.  Just love the little details like this throughout the series.   Of course Avasarala is "The Queen", lol.  I also love Drummer -such a badass!  What a great find in casting Cara Gee.

I love Drummer! During her season 3 speech before the Behemoth enters the ring I sometimes want to stand up and pound a table with my fist or the floor with my foot.

The bits with Miller had me busting up. Like he's some sort of playa. I thought the X-Files Theme during the scene in the hotel room on Eros was about appropriate. Of course who doesn't love Drummer? I hope that when the time comes to install a ventilation system in Anderson Dawes's cranium she performs the procedure.

People might not realize just how foul of a creature Dawes is. In his own way he's probably worse than Errinwright. What I mean by that is that there was a degree of magnanimity to Errinwright crimes, because he was thinking of Earth primarily. Going about it all wrong, yes, but at the basis his motives was centered on others. Not that it matters in the final tally. Crimes against humanity for some "higher purpose" are still crimes against humanity. By comparison, Dawes might say he is acting for the good of the Belt, and for the Belters, might even believe that, but what he really means is that he himself is "the good of the Belt". He's every petty crime lord who fancies himself a benevolent leader, from Al Capone to Pablo Escobar. His actions regarding Ashford reveal his character and nature. Klaes Ashford was, if you recall, a pirate. But following the incident at Ganymede something of a formal Space Navy is created by the OPA. The Belters would never accept Fred Johnson, an Earther, as a leader without Dawes, but Ashford is a Belter, thus a possible rival for leadership. Dawes gives Ashford a high position in the Space Navy and then sets him up for failure, ordering him to take command of the Leviathan on what is almost certainly a fool's errand to the ring. Ashford does not disappoint, nearly getting the entire human race killed, but he was actually in a no-win scenario. Even if he had chosen Option D: Don't Be A Douchenozzle, Don't Undermine Drummer, And Oh Yeah, Maybe Holden Isn't Nucking Futs it still would not have worked out for him back at Ceres because Drummer would have taken all the glory. That's why I say I want Drummer to be the one to end Dawes's miserable existence. She's the new hero of the Belters so she's the new threat to Dawes.

Jared Harris is fantastic as Dawes and I missed him in S3.   Hopefully we'll see more of him in S4 before Drummer ventilates him.  (I hope not.)




My favorite scene of his was with Miller when he related the true story about his sister.  We can see exactly what influenced him to start his Extremist "Black Sky" movement.




Some more detail:  Dawes has a scar on his neck from the old space helmets that malfunction and leave burns- the mark of the Rock Hopper.  I guess the new helmets don't do this but the younger generation get tats around their neck to show their Belter heritage based on the scars left by the old generation helmets.

It looks like some Rock Hoppers still use outdated, cheap equipment.  Diogo's uncle clears a live wire from his helmet, he actually opens his helmet quickly to remove it, lol.   It's probably not the first time he had to make quick repairs.
And no you don't "flash-freeze" in space and can survive for about 25 seconds.

So when can we expect S4?

Sometime in 2019? On Amazon which picked up the show from (stupid) Sighfigh. 10 episodes. Not quite 13 but 10 is better than zero.

I understand that they just wrapped up filming.  Now it goes into months of post production.

eta:

Not quite, they still need to film eps 9 and 10 in Jan. They will have a SDCC promo in the summer and the release is scheduled sometime in the fall.

Sometime in the Fall...I can deal with that, if I must. Have to say though...I really do not like what SDCC has morphed into. It has become the Burning Man of fandom.

I live in San Diego and I haven't even been to it. Would love to if I could get on the 2 year waiting list or win the lottery. Probably not as bad as that, but not worth the energy. I've only seen some of the peripheral events outside of the main center.

Some very creative folks in The Expanse fandom..

Happy New Year!



Love the warning sign on the platform ..

Belters and Martians
Mind the Gravity

The Expanse - Crack 2 is in.
Season 3 Spoilers
NSFW
... And we finally get the backstory on Amos and the pumps.  

She's so hot she's making me sexist. OMG.


Amos approves

Excellent editing job of the Drummer speech scene and syncing it up with the perfect Belter/OPA anthem.

"I f-ing hate space"  

MrBill60 wrote:

The Expanse - Crack 2 is in.
Season 3 Spoilers
NSFW
... And we finally get the backstory on Amos and the pumps.  

And how to do Drummer eyes -- thanks, Mr. Bill!

Rolling..."Heeeere's Johnny!"

Another excellent fan-made trailer for the official release of S3 on Amazon on Feb 8.  

February 8!

Hehe, Diogo is such a Felota.

I have now read in a couple of places that it's season 3 that will be available for streaming on Amazon Prime while season 4 will appear later this same year (no date given). Check your own sources everyone! If true, a little disappointing. Nonetheless, 2019 is still close at hand.

Drummer and Ashford  - Awesome!

The "Queen"

davidalan wrote:

I have now read in a couple of places that it's season 3 that will be available for streaming on Amazon Prime while season 4 will appear later this same year (no date given). Check your own sources everyone! If true, a little disappointing. Nonetheless, 2019 is still close at hand.

Yeah, this is for the international release of S3.  Since SYFY cancelled the show and AMZ picked it up, Alcon (who produces the show) had to wait for all of their existing international broadcasting contracts to expire before Amazon Prime could begin streaming season 3 under their own brand.   S4 should be released sometime in the Fall after the SDCC promotion.

Prime now has the show. Makes me want to watch it again.

The series is so tight that I pick up new details every time I watch it.  I'd like to do a weekly episode rewatch in a new thread, but not sure if anyone is interested.    So far only 4 or 5 people total have commented in this thread.  I'd love someone to start a first-watch thread.

Drummer's got 'tude.  

My favorite Drummer moment was on the bridge of the Nauvoo after the failed takeover. "Now we can go."

yessssssssss

So badass...

 

Execution:

Oh Fred Johnson. You're lucky Drummer's on your side.

I found this wonderful primer to the Expanse Universe.

that was great. and informative to a space dunce like me.

So I started my second rewatch. Up to ep. 6 now. And yes, there are little things I keep noticing for the first time. One thing about The Expanse is that, unlike other shows that I have rewatched there is no point where I go "this bit is boring and needless, think I will skip it"

Oh, and davidalan...about your sig. The moon closer to the camera, the lighter colored one, is Europa, the reddish on is Io. Also, if this were the old board I would have politely asked you to downsize it a wee bit, regretfully because I think it's way cool.

Thanks for the info about the moons. And you're right. The sig is too big. If I can downscale it I will. But if I can't I'll get rid of it within a reasonable amount of time.

eta:After a primitive attempt to resize the first image of the two, I just opted to remove it. I know the pic is still vertically large but at least it's half the pair's former size.

I have all three seasons of The Expanse on dvd. Occasionally I plug one dvd in, but it's usually Season 3. If I want to rewatch all the seasons I start with season 1 episode 1. But season 3 is my favorite. One story ends halfway through and then another story begins.

Actually, I take beck what I said about there being no points where "boring" makes me want to skip over them. If David Strathairn asked how they wanted him to play Klaas Ashford and was told "boorish, pedantic, and completely asympathetic" he fuckin' nailed it.

I thought he was fine. Except he's best when in proximity of Drummer and Naomi because they're the worthiest counterparts. Holden is challenging in the brief interrogation scene. On his own he expects to be ruled. So the conflict isn't as juicy. I do like his lines to the Doc on the Thomas Prince: I don't know what that means? ---and--- Just tell me what you want from me! He's exasperated with all the high science talk.

I enjoyed Ashford and Strathairns' take on him. Much better than he was written in the book, as a stereotypical mustache twirling villain. Love the scenes with Drummer and his piratey-Belter accent.

I think that's the problem then. Francks and Abraham created him to be that sort, Strathairn came in and tried to play him a little more "3-D".

If anyone is familiar with Larry Niven's Ringworld series, the [/i]Man-Kzin Wars[/i] set of short story and novella collections, which features works not just by Niven but also by his pals Jerry Pournelle, Dean Ing, and a few select others, serve as a prequel of sorts. I have always felt that the main inspiration for the Belters The Expanse came from the "Sol Belters" ( the people who live and work in the Main Belt in our system) and the "Dragon Swarm" who populate the main belt of the A-B Centauri system.

Ashford seems to be almost a carbon copy of a certain Dragon Swarm pirate captain. It's been a while since I read the books but I am certain that my housemate still has them floating around somewhere.

I have been working on my Belter accent. Think I am getting it down. One thing, you notice that Drummer, Ashford, Dawes, Diogo, they all talk differently. Heck, even Martians. There's a hint of Texas in Alex's speech while Draper is nearly pure Strine.

I have a gift for the nuances of accent. I spent some years playing a Russian weretiger in a LARP on Saturday nights on the U of Washington campus. One evening we had a new player show up, also playing a tiger, so we spent the whole evening playing together, I was in character the whole time, never dropped the accent. The next week he returned, I was already in character when he got there, so it was straight to playing. When game ended I finally went back to talking normally and his eyes got huge...He thought I was actually Russian. If you must know, my "key" for hitting the accent is articles. Russian does not have them. So I consciously talk to omit them, "That is nice house" instead of "That is a nice house", and I am there. I am working on Belter in much the same way. Interject their speech patterns and terms to lock down the accent.

TBC wrote:

I have been working on my Belter accent. Think I am getting it down. One thing, you notice that Drummer, Ashford, Dawes, Diogo, they all talk differently. Heck, even Martians. There's a hint of Texas in Alex's speech while Draper is nearly pure Strine.

I have a gift for the nuances of accent. I spent some years playing a Russian weretiger in a LARP on Saturday nights on the U of Washington campus. One evening we had a new player show up, also playing a tiger, so we spent the whole evening playing together, I was in character the whole time, never dropped the accent. The next week he returned, I was already in character when he got there, so it was straight to playing. When game ended I finally went back to talking normally and his eyes got huge...He thought I was actually Russian. If you must know, my "key" for hitting the accent is articles. Russian does not have them. So I consciously talk to omit them, "That is nice house" instead of "That is a nice house", and I am there. I am working on Belter in much the same way. Interject their speech patterns and terms to lock down the accent.

What's really a joy is listening to the Audiobooks narrated by Jefferson Mays.  He has Avasarala down perfectly and also gives Draper a slight Texan accent.  I remember hearing a rant from Avasarala while I was driving and almost lost it, spit out my coffee and everything, lol.

Her rant in Caliban's War went something like this with her wonderful East Indian accent.  Avasarala is also depicted as a short ,white haired, older woman in the books.

Avasarala rant:

That was my introduction to Avasarala...lol  She's much more extreme in the books.

I love all the easter eggs and references which makes re-watching so rewarding.. however this is pretty blatant and the first thing I said to my wife when I watched this scene was "My Precious!".  

yes I thought of that too. from the moment prax launched the radiation ball to the cradling and floating in space and the final lava-like burn up.

Yes, they are so obsessed with their "precious", whether it's the Ring or a radioactive core, that they are oblivious of their deaths.

Favorite lines time...

Amos: You need a new face, Buddy. I'll gladly give you one.

Alex to Amos: What's wrong with you?

Amos to Alex: I wish I knew.

Naomi to Miller: Keep thinking happy thoughts.

Then the look Holder gives Naomi. Omg and Wtf.

Prax to Amos: If you were a plant you'd have a fatal lack of chlorophyll.

At the Tycho Bar:

Daniel to Amos: Hi I'm Daniel.

Amos to Daniel: I'm not interested Daniel.

Then Amos to Daniel: How do they treat you here?

Daniel to Amos: Better than most. (?)

Amos to Daniel: That Buck that's been ogling you. He's got a knife in his right pocket. (?)

Daniel to Amos: Thanks.

Daniel leaves. Then Alex to Amos: What are you their union rep?

Dawes to Miller:  If Julie were here right now she'd spit in your face.



Holden: You're going to use the Nauvoo as a battering ram??
Naomi: The Mormons are going to be pissed.