"What Didn't You Like About "The Expanse"?" Topic

Amazon's "The Expanse" sci fi series recently finished its 6th and final season. Its often acclaimed as one of the best SF TV series ever made, and IMHO its THE best.

But a recent TMP poll suggested some weren't as keen, accusing it of being predictable and "woke". So if you didn't like it (or even if you did but there were things that niggled), what was it you didn't like and, as importantly, why?

For my own part – I didn't like that it ended at Book 6 and should have gone on to cover 7-9 :)

it was perfect for what it was.

I have never heard of it, so it's kind hard to like or dislike.

It was a great show, the only thing I didn't like was the story line to no where. The guy trapped in an ever increasing speeding spacecraft with no explanation what so ever, or the little girl and alien space dogs.

There's still quite a few books in the series which they haven't touched yet for plots, so the thinking is that there could be additional shows and/or movies to expand the series. The crew behind the series seems to be actively pursuing contracts to produce more episodes, so we'll just have to see what develops.

Never heard of it but then I don't have/want "premium" channels.

Never heard of it, never seen it. And I do watch stuff on Amazon.

I guess that is the nature of social and media fragmentation in the 21st century.

I'm watching it now. Not on a par with FIREFLY but not bad.

The temporal coincidence of the crew and the private eye arriving at the proto molecule threat at exactly the same time was hard to take.

I'd object to the series as being labelled woke. Different sides on the struggles all had their good and bad members, nobody was bad or good just because of their race or sexuality. The badass space marine chick was actually big and beefy enough to be believable.

Exceptional sci-fi program. I will admit I had to watch episode one to get the terminology and factions down…then it was awesome from there on out.

P.

DrSkull,

I agree with you about the Space Marine chick. When they first had her on I was high on her but the actress did an excellent job of making me a believer.

The "Space Marine Chick" was a Martian Marine. I think she would explain to you in rather quick and painful ways that she isn't just a "Space Marine Chick"

DrSkull, Grattan54, when Gunnery Sergeant Draper first appeared I thought she was a bit small. When reading the books I envisaged her as Olympic champion Dame Valery Adams. But Frankie Adams did a great job in the role and really carried it off.

It was great TV, finished watching it last night. Hard to judge it against other TV series though. As far as sticking to the book story lines, I thought they did ok.

I only put Cara and Xan together with their appearance in the novella Strange Dogs, and their appearance in Leviathan Falls last night, as I watched the last episode! How did I miss that?

Be nice to think the rest of the story could be produced somehow, but it would have to be at least three films.

Actually, as a post script, I think the novella The Butcher Of Anderson Station, could be made into a stand alone film.

And did you guys who watch the show know about the extras? Easter Eggs if you will? You have to have a viewing device (I have a Fire Stick) that allows you to see 'X-Rays". If you activate that and there are 5 or 6 extra scenes, one from each episode I think, that got cut. Including one scene between Amos and Bobby 'settling a bet'

That they moved it from the SyFy Channel, and wanted me to pay even more to watch it, over and above my already exhorbitant cable TV bill.

I gave up early on the books. Found the male lead--whose name did not stick with me--just too annoying to be good company. For me, you have to be really, really clever to be that suspicious, self-righteous and generally uncooperative. Think Miles Vorkosigan, Daniel Leary, Dominic Flandry or Lazarus Long clever--or have been raised by wolves like Eric John Stark. Everyone I found interesting was dead by the end of the first volume. Obviously many people disagree with me.

The first/second episode. The main character is a gritty, not too nice detective. Ok, cool, I can deal with a space age crime drama. Then he's infected/dead and we start hopping around to get different view points of different situations that got really confusing for a while. Oh, and then the dead detective comes back for a cameo.

I loved it and the consistent nods to realism. I agree season 6 was too short and wish they'd paid off the dogs story. If I hated anything, it was that they killed Alex at the end of season 5. Loved that character.

As someone who really hates woke story lines I would argue that The Expanse was one of the exceedingly rare shows that gets diversity right. They were characters on their one merits- good and bad.

"That they moved it from the SyFy Channel, and wanted me to pay even more to watch it, over and above my already exhorbitant cable TV bill."

Already had Amazon Prime for the free, faster delivery, discounts, and various other movies and shows. The guinea pug supplies that we use are sold through an Amazon store, so Prime is well worthwhile.

In other words, no additional cost.

Anyhow, now that the series is complete, you can sign up once and watch the whole series.

I had no serious issues.

However, season 5 had a lot of pacing issues and I was completely uninterested in the Naomi Nagata family triangle meets Odyssey meets space trap plot. It went on too long and busted the intensity of the other actions. Or maybe the characters just became 2d. The triad were the weakest characters.

David Manley:
Amazon's "The Expanse" … Its often acclaimed as one of the best SF TV series ever made, and IMHO its THE best.

Honestly, I watch less TV than I used to and there are more choices now, so I never looked at this one. Thanks for the upvote.

My nephew got me hooked when I was visiting for Thanksgiving. One small gripe is that I was impressed how in Season 1 and 2 they stressed the rigors of space travel, e.g., the "juice" necessary for surviving high G maneuvers, the potential lethality of minor things, etc. Much of that seems to have been dropped as the series has gone on.

@Tgerritsen—

I agree completely that the "woke" criticisms of The Expanse are off base, though there are certainly many shows which try to hard on that score (I am looking at you, Apple's "Foundation"). There were people of various colors and creeds and orientations, and none of it seemed artificial or got in the way of character development. I sincerely doubt a settled solar system, a couple hundred years in the future, is going to look like Iowa the way many would like to believe.

I lasted about 120 seconds and lost interest, or rather never acquired any to begin with. There were some people in an airlock, or something, and nothing was happening. I was afraid to waste any more time, so I watched The Repair Shop instead.

I much enjoyed the books and really liked the channel series. The necessity of moving to "streaming" ended my involvement but it was good that it provided a reasonable end for the show. Another vote for the feeling that the show was not "woke" but realistic.

Nothing I didn't like. Individual bits and bobs were a little like "lazy writing", but I would forget about those after the episode was over.

I only watched the first season. It told a great story and came to a good end. I didn't think I'd get into watching it expand into the rest of the galaxy.

I have liked much of what I've seen… on R2 DVD. Annoyed that fave character, (Detective0 was killed off.
Curious? Have not read books and not really likely to… but did TV follow books closely?
That would account for some of the jumping around arcs.