Expanse S4 release date and clip from SDCC

Release date: December 13

YouTube Clip, including the first Roci touchdown on the alien world of Ilus/New Terra

Good vibes already! Love how they actually remember that Naomi, a born Belter, will have some trouble with not only the gravity but the open air... as does Martian Alex, used to being under a dome.

(Now, to calculate when to start the rewatch binge...)

Just bumping with a quick note: Season 5 has been confirmed.

Link: Variety

Going by the books, the next two seasons could well blow 1 - 3 out of the skies, in a good way.

Bumping with a new trailer and a Tor.com review of the NYCC premiere of the first ep of S4.

Trailer Link on YouTube - spoiler-free, except insofar as knowing certain people are obviously still around, set to JFK's moonshot speech...

Review Link - fairly spoiler-free, especially if you've read the books and caught up with S1 - S3

So far, I'm getting good vibes.

talktidy said:

I see that Amazon has added a Kevin Smith fanboying over the show and doing a previously on The Expanse.

I am probably a cheap date, but it made me laugh.

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YouTube link to Kevin Smith explaining The Expanse.

I saw that. Fun, though I think the rushed summary kinda missed the mark on some major plot points, and would confuse more than help anyone planning to jump in cold-turkey. (And... it's streaming, folks. This ain't like the old days where you had to wait for the benevolence of network reruns to catch up.)

Also: The real, actual, we-totally-mean-it-this-time final trailer for S4, with some more plot details.

Want... want now...

ALShades said:

I actually couldn't read past book 1. It wasn't a bad book, but kind of lacked stakes for me...or something. Not sure. I enjoyed the show more than the one book. Do they get better? I'm a big fan of the UN ambassador lady, and I've heard she shows up in the books at some point.

I'm really curious to see what this new season brings, knowing nothing about the series past 1. I'm staying away from trailers as I'd prefer to experience it as it happens. I'm excited though. There's been more and more good SF/Fantasy shows on TV these past 10 years.

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If you mean Chrisjen Avasalara, she was spliced in to the first season from Book 2 - and, yes, she does indeed have a strong recurring role in the books. I thought the books got stronger as the stakes raised with the opening of the ring gates and the increasing danger from the force/entity responsible for the extermination of the original protomolecule creators; this season looks like it gets into one of the main new conflicts, not just with the land rush to the new worlds but with the precarious position it puts the Belters in.

I like the tweaks they make in the storyline for the TV series, and generally prefer them, though I also enjoy the books; I consider them parallel universes.

Kjbartolotta said:

Yeah, as much as it embarrasses me to admit it, I love the book series but have yet to be grabbed by the TV show. Might give it another try in a season or two (personally woulda just skipped Cibola Burn if I was the showrunners, not that they can't make it work).

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Don't be embarrassed to like or not like what you like or don't like. They are different media, and different presentations, and we all have different tastes. Some like the book or the series, some like both, and some like neither.

(Though those who like neither are wrong, wrong, wrong! J/K, of course... there are plenty of franchises out there I don't enjoy that others see as gospel. I'm personally rather sick of the endless Star Trek iterations, for instance.)

Somewhat related, but the entire Expanse book series (so far) is part of today's (November 24th) Kindle deals, if anyone were looking to stock up and binge...

And fans of the show, take a look at the Expanse: Origins graphic novels, based on the show more than the books; the collected Kindle edition has a bonus origin story. Not on special today, but worth a read.

(Will not include the link, since it'll be obsolete in a day anyway - go to Amazon through the link at the top of AW, give this site some click-throughs.)

Introversion said:

Maybe. For me, it's the interaction between the characters. Much better developed IMO than the books, where most of the characters seemed a bit shallow or flat to me.

I particularly love how the actor Wes Chatham portrays Amos -- it's "more Amos than Amos", down to every little deadpan twitch and quirk.

Thomas Jane also does far better at fleshing out Detective Miller than the books did, IMO -- I credit both his performance and the writing here.

Shohreh Aghdashloo is just superb as Chrisjen Avasarala, one of my favorite characters from the book.

All of the cast, really, are good. But if it hasn't grabbed you, it's just not your thing. We forgive you.

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I believe some of that comes from interaction with actors and other writers, particularly people used to visual media that is, by necessity, driven more by character portrayal and dialog than a written POV; the characters in the books can be a little flat at times, but I find the overall story interesting enough to make up for it, and the politics are very astute and relevant. (There's also a bit of that "second bite at the apple" when you adapt a book, I think, allowing one to make minor adjustments in light of later material.) Though, as I said, I consider that each version works well in its own medium, IMHO.

Amazon just informed me that my pre-order of The Art and Making of The Expanse has shipped, due Tuesday (which probably means Wednesday, because Amazon is almost always a day late anymore... and we live within proverbial spitting distance of both Amazon HQ and a major warehouse, so there's really no excuse.) Anyone else pre-order? I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it.

--

ETA: I finished reading the book. Nice visual compendium of various aspects of the show (though I think I found an error on Page 12: I rewatched the scene, and I'm pretty darned sure it was Holden, not Amos, erasing the Roci's markings in S3 Ep 1 when they hear that Earth and Mars declare war. I mean, we just saw Amos and Alex go in and have their argument in the airlock while Holden lingers outside and gets the wristpad alert before he starts sweeping the hull markings, so unless Amos was really quick about suiting back up and cycling the lock... plus the build looks more like Strait than Chatham... but I could be wrong. Probably am.) I would've liked a few more interviews and articles about the thought processes, development, and actual concept-to-reality translation, but I usually do in these books. Worth the money to me, at least.

talktidy said:

Probably everybody on this thread is already aware, but...

Season 4 is up.

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Just saw that...

And I have early start at work tomorrow, so I can only get an episode or two in before I have to go to bed - and this weekend I'll have to sneak shows during drying breaks on my stubborn holiday projects.

Rarely have I felt such a mixture of elation and frustration...

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ETA: I watched the first episode tonight (all I can manage due to aforementioned Other Things).

Spoiler-free initial thoughts:

- There is a definite shift in this season. Higher FX budget, different overall "look," slower pacing (so far) with a more cinematic feel, longer episode run times, plus a larger sense of scale in some ways; we see Mars and it's not just domes or a valley, but huge shipyards and commuter corridors and apartments and bars, for instance. So, while it's still The Expanse, it's not quite the same Expanse we knew from SyFy. I can see this turning a few die-hards off, but overall I think I'm liking what I see (and hear.)

- Some characters are in very different places, mentally and physically and otherwise, than they were before, though so far I'm buying the transitions and nobody reads as "off" (at least not yet.)

- There's been a time jump, as one might expect, so a good bit of this episode is establishment/"where they are now", with callbacks to previous seasons of the show and events from the book, plus new material that has been integrated to maintain character arcs and interactions.

- The first episode picks a bit of an odd place to end, IMHO; I think they're counting on binge watchers just plowing straight through, so concluding points may not be considered as important a punctuation as they would be for weekly-airing shows.

- Lest I forget: New opening credits! Not just minor tweaks like in previous seasons (like when Deimos was destroyed), but new shots altogether in with the old.

TL,DR: One episode down, very much enjoyed, and I'm still cheering in my head that the show is back from the dead. The ship's logo should be a phoenix, because the Roci's risen from the ashes and is more beautiful than ever.