Rewatch: The Expanse SyFy Series

After recently re-watching the first season of SyFy's The Expanse, I can honestly say it was even better the second time around. There are so many nuances in the dialogue and images that are so easily missed and yet add layers to understanding the intricate plot as a whole.

This gritty, imaginative Sci-Fi drama takes place 200 years in our future, when humankind has colonized a good chunk of our solar system. It's no utopia.

Here's the Season One trailer.



The Premise
Earth and the Moon ("Luna") are run by the United Nations. Mars is fully colonized and has a powerful military. Everyone else lives a hard scramble life in the asteroid belt mining the asteroids and outer planet moons for water, gases and minerals, most of which is sent back to Earth and Mars. These "belters" aren't happy with their poor living conditions and throw-away treatment by the inner planets.

From their ranks a powerful terrorist organization (or social movement, depending on your point of view) called the OPA--Outer Planets Alliance--has risen and poses a significant threat. Those are the main players in this richly envisioned future society, but the politics are much more complex and precarious than just a three-way standoff.

The Characters
The story is told primarily through three main characters--James Holden, a newly-promoted XO on an ice hauler Canterbury, Joe Miller, a police detective on Ceres Station in the asteroid belt, and Chrisjen Avasarala, a powerful UN Deputy Undersecretary on Earth.

A Martian military gunship in the process of being disguised
as the gas hauler, Rocinante (roughly translates to "work horse"
in Spanish, but also the name of Don Quixote's horse).

Though The Expanse is more Sci-Fi than SFR, the two male leads' actions and motives are driven by their tragic longing for women they can't have, and the fates of all the characters are tied to an event that sparks what could be the beginning of a system-wide war. That event is the destruction of the Canterbury, and a subsequent declaration by James Holden that triggers the catch-phrase of a rising OPA rebellion, "Remember the Cant!"

There are many important secondary characters, including James Holden's shipmates who are all survivors from the doomed Canterbury, Julie Andromeda Mao--rich girl turned OPA rebel who ultimately is a direct connection between two of the characters, Fred Johnson, who a decade before earned the title the "Butcher of Anderson Station," and now oversees the construction of the largest spacecraft ever built, the LDS generation ship, the Nauvoo, while heading up the OPA.

I won't go into the details of the plot (that would take about ten blogs!) but you can review the individual episode synopses on Wikipedia. (Once on the site, you'll need to scroll down.) If you're intrigued, I highly recommend renting or buying Season One and watching the episodes in rapid succession so you can get a better feel for the intricacies of the plot.

This video--The Expanse: Worlds of the Future--gives you a better feel for the show's dynamics with the benefit of some of the amazing visuals.



The Expanse is the most expensive SF series the SyFy channel has ever produced...and believe me, it shows. The sets are meticulous and well-lit, the various ships and locales are detailed and diverse, the special effects are mesmerizing, and the characters are extremely complex and often surprising in their choices and actions.

For those who are already fans of the series, here's the Season Two trailer. (Pretty much guaranteed to raise the eyebrows of those who know the story to date.) Season Two will premier early in 2017.




The Expanse is based on a series of novels by James S. A. Corey, the pen name of the writing team of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.

Have a great week.

The Expanse: (Truly) Quality Sci-Fi Returns to TV

Although I greatly enjoyed SyFy channel's two new Sci-Fi shows last season, Dark Matter and Killjoys, there's been an awakening. No, not that kind of awakening. This brand is a quality Sci-Fi series that's on par with the ill-fated (and much loved) Defying Gravity and many big screen offerings. And by "quality," I mean top notch special effects, believable science, compelling characters, with a dangerous, gritty future solar system as a setting.

Unlike Defying Gravity which was Near Future, The Expanse is set 200 years from now. Man has colonized Earth, Mars and now mines the asteroid belt and outer planets assisted by Ceres Station, located on the dwarf-planet/asteroid for which it is named.

But this is no utopia. Earth and Luna are controlled by the United Nations, and are on the verge of war with the colonized, military-dominant Mars. And the Belters--those left to scavenge in the asteroid belt and rings of Saturn and Jupiter (yes, Virginia, Jupiter does actually have rings), are scrambling to make a living and are pretty much at the mercy of both superpowers--the mice underfoot of the lions, as it were.

The first four episodes of The Expanse start to flesh out a new threat--a ship that lurks in the blackness of space and attacks with superior firepower and technology--and no knows who's side this new foe is aligned with. The story is told through three primary viewpoints--a powerful female politician on Earth, a team of cops on Ceres Station, and the surviving crew of a Belter scavenger ship, The Cant (short for Canterbury). The three story lines soon tie together via in the search for a missing young woman from a powerful family, whose last known whereabouts was aboard a doomed belt ship.

Want a look at the series trailer? Here it is.

The Expanse is based on a series of novels by James S. A. Corey (pen name of the author team of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), which include the novels (in order of release) Leviathon Wakes, Caliban's War, Abaddon's Gate, Cibola Burn, Nemesis Games and Babylon's Ashes.

You might be wondering if the series contains any romance.  It actually starts with a love scene, and a relationship between one of the main characters and his navigator is very quickly defined, and just as quickly killed. No HEA here. But there are hints that other relationships may develop as the story continues. (I haven't read the books yet and have no clue if romance or romantic elements are integral in the novels or might evolve on the small screen.)

Interested? Read more...

The Expanse: Official SyFy Web Site

SyFy Channel's 'The Expanse' App Lets You Fly Spaceships in 3D

Turning a Sci-Fi Series into a TV Epic: Q&A with the Authors on Space.com

The Expanse and the Physics of Stealth in Space

Have a great week.