The Expanse, hard sci-fi show based on a novel series

[Timbrewolf]

You will probably all like this. You're already here for SS13 sci-fi goodness. This is technologically similar (though completely different in tone).

Syfy is doing a series based on the popular science-fiction series "The Expanse". The first episode has debuted. The series is about political tensions in our solar system at a point in time when we have colonized our local asteroid belt. Major factions are the Earth (controlled by the UN), Mars (an independant military power) and the Belters.

The setup is kiiiiiiiinda sorta cliche for scifi and it's not exactly all original territory, but the treatment is very original and they do a decent job of keeping everything realistic.

Go watch it. Ideally if you like the first episode (or it just seems promising) try to read the books over the coming weeks. It'll be worth it. This is probably going to wind up being a big deal.

I may be a horrible human being but when it comes to recommending shit like this I usually don't steer you guys wrong.

[EndgamerAzari]

Shit, I meant to catch this tonight. Forgot about it. At least it looks like they'll have the episodes on their site for the time being, so I can catch up.

[Steelpoint]

"You can't watch this from your location"

Well that ended as fast as it started.

[EndgamerAzari]

Oh good, it's on Hulu.

[Timbrewolf]

Become a SPACE PIRATE

[EndgamerAzari]

After I got stung last time I pirated something I got scared and now I've gone legit.

For now.

[Super Aggro Crag]

fuck hulu

[EndgamerAzari]

Watched the first 20-so minutes on my lunch break. So far it's managed to keep me engaged.

[Timbrewolf]

I'm almost through the first book.

It's pretty damn good.

[ThanatosRa]

Sort of saddened because my dad might have loved it. Also because I had a setting I eventually wanted to write that is very similar. Though I guess I can still because it was supposed to span from the kind of setting this is to something like eclipse phase on to a far future like 10-20k years away.

Edit: Very long lived protagonists.

[leibniz]

It's nice.
The acting is a bit off now and then.
I heard the viewer count is low though.

[Malkevin]

Seems weird having the syfy channel actually producing sci-fi shows again.

So now we've got this, Dark Matter, and Kill Joys to look forward too.

[ColonicAcid]

[ColonicAcid]

why the fuck did they make holdens waifu not a nigerian


for what purpose is this

[Malkevin]

Why is the toothless, ineffectual organisation, the UN, in charge of Earth?
Why is the UN run by dot heads?

Why do all the belters have thick Afrikaans accents?
I can't understand a word they're fucking saying.

why the fuck did they make holdens waifu not a nigerian


for what purpose is this

Because nigger women are ugly and have saggy tits.
Green eyed, blonde haired master race.

[ColonicAcid]

its a new world fag they can love between racial lines!!!

[Malkevin]

>Implying the dirty commie PC nonsense will continue for much longer

[ColonicAcid]

in the battlefield love can bloom!

daily reminder that nowadays not even one tenth of the population of this forum will get this epic ref.

[Timbrewolf]

>Implying the dirty commie PC nonsense will continue for much longer

That raises a pretty good question though

Do you think, even thousands of years from now when we're floating in space stations and playing our PS13's via nanites like that stupid fucking commercial, that racism as we know it will still survive?

I think somehow that yeah it probably still will. Not even like space-racism of the Expanse but good old-timey racial slur shove that nigger out an airlock type lynchings will probably still be there, along with some form of prejudice against the LGBT crowd. Modern society gives us all the evidence we need. Even with all this crazy technology and shared social networking that we have those ideas still persist, perhaps even thrive.

[ThanatosRa]

>Implying the dirty commie PC nonsense will continue for much longer

That raises a pretty good question though

Do you think, even thousands of years from now when we're floating in space stations and playing our PS13's via nanites like that stupid fucking commercial, that racism as we know it will still survive?

I think somehow that yeah it probably still will. Not even like space-racism of the Expanse but good old-timey racial slur shove that nigger out an airlock type lynchings will probably still be there, along with some form of prejudice against the LGBT crowd. Modern society gives us all the evidence we need. Even with all this crazy technology and shared social networking that we have those ideas still persist, perhaps even thrive.

Don't forget that the space-racism will still be there. "hey guys, this faggot is from the moon, get him!"

[Malkevin]

Let me put it this way:

Star Trek's socialist utopia comes about after Earth comes up with some space magic that solves all of humanity's problems with limited food, air, water, energy, and other resources. And I guess something happens that purges the muhammadans from existence.
Thats never going to happen... except maybe the purging of muslims.

The main reason (the other reason being getting rid of silly notion of magical skymen ruling our lives) I'd say we've 'progressed' to the point where we're more accepting of 'others' is because we're the oil generation, which massively ramped production and harvesting capabilities (plus at the start we, the developed world, had only recently taken possession of four largely virgin continents full of untapped resources) - so we have these huge abundance of natural resources... at the moment, we're at the end of that era and its only going to get harder and harder to gain resources that we need - you might think oil is just something you burn in your car to make it go fast but a large portion of oil production goes towards pharmaceuticals and of course the manufacture of synthetics.

So in a couple hundred years, if that, we're going to have an overpopulated earth fighting over dwindling resources.
Welcome to a new era of finding an excuse to hate your fellow man!

Even if we did manage to colonise the solar system with space stations and a colony of mars... the situation would be even worse.
Just think how costly it would be to sustain a sizable population on a space station, which will deteriorate and fall to bits after only a few generations.
Mars would barely be better off, thanks to its dead core the planet practically has no magnetosphere meaning that it will never ever be able to keep an atmosphere as the solar winds blast it off and any colonists that live in domes will still be subjected to a background radiation 83 times that of earth.


But to answer your original question:
No, racism of today will not be the racism of the future.
Because whitey will be gone.

Every white population currently has an unsustained birthrate.
We're the bloody elves, a dying race because we don't breed enough.

Whereas the africans, middle easterners, and indians are still quite happily breeding like rabbits.
And believe me, they're as much if not more prejudice than white man has ever been.

Expect to see rich fat bastard arabs being carted about by negroes whilst the indians wash their fruits and veg in the local sewer.

[ThanatosRa]

As an aside, wasn't there an ok classic Sci fi book that ended up with a general in an endless war being called "That old queer" because he was the only straight dude on the planet?

[Lumbermancer]

Watched the first episode and his shit is really good. Everything looks believable, realistic and nicely detailed. CGI is really good, I hope they didn't blew they whole budged on first ep. As far as the characters go, they are pretty stereotypical for now, and plot is thin. Though two threads have been established with sufficient mystery to get it going.

[Timbrewolf]

As an aside, wasn't there an ok classic Sci fi book that ended up with a general in an endless war being called "That old queer" because he was the only straight dude on the planet?

In "The Forever War" people start to regard the main character as weird as he continually travels greater amounts into the future because he's strictly heterosexual.

[ColonicAcid]

episode 5 full of feelers......




the bodies floating through space bit chocked me up damn dude

[invisty]

The ships are really nicely done. Very utilitarian, reminds me of the Homeworld style. That bit with the Rocicante tearing up the hangar was super cool. I really want to model it and run it through my 3d printer now.

My only real objection so far is the simple violations of physics that are thrown in for cinema reasons: Ships spinning about wildly, with no effect on their occupants is a pretty basic muck-up.

Episode 6 is out.

[Timbrewolf]

They have a wonder drug that somehow toughens up the human body to be able to withstand the strain of a fuckton of G's.

[invisty]

I'm rightly informed that in the books they're basically taking these drugs non-stop during the scenes in the ships.

[ColonicAcid]

no.
They only take the drugs when they're under high G's

they fuck your shit UP REAL hard afterwards, make you jitter for a while before all your muscles cramp the fuck up at once.

[leibniz]

This was fun.
There was a kind of curve with the middle eps of the season being weaker but I liked the ending.

I hope the villains turn out to be okay, or maybe even cool guys with interesting motivations.

[Lumbermancer]

It wasn't super spectacular, but it was very solid all the way though, without any bad episodes.

If I wanted to go read books, could I start with the second novel now? Or are the series missing anything?

[ColonicAcid]

It didn't finish Leviathan awakens.
It only got to about a tiny bit over halfway of Leviathan Awakens.

[Timbrewolf]

I can't stop giggling everytime I recognize one of the flight sticks they use as props.

The.Expanse.S01E06.HDTV.x264-FLEET.mp4_snapshot_13.05_[2016.02.07_21.09.44].jpg (28.63 KiB) Viewed 7735 times