The Expanse Returns April 11th (Woot!)

This is a season debut that I have to take special note of. The Expanse returns this Wednesday, April 11th, on the SyFy Channel.

Returning with a Hugo Award under its belt, which it won in 2017 for the final episode of Season 1, 'Leviathon Wakes,' and with five other award nominations, The Expanse only promises to get better with each passing season.

In case you've missed my rave reviews about The Expanse in past posts--

The Expanse -- Seven Reasons Why You Should be Watching this Show  Feb 2017

The Expanse: (Truly) Quality Sci-Fi Returns to Television  Jan 2016

Rewatch: The Expanse Sci-Fi Series  Aug 2016

--let me tell you just five things that make this show so phenomenal.

The Romance!
Yes, I said the "R" word and yes, that's my lead. As a SFR writer, I look for moving, believable romances in the heart of a terrific sci-fi experience, and this series has it all!

The Expanse encompasses a compelling, unpredictable romance between two of the main players (and trust me, it's not the only compelling romance in the series). This one is between Holden, tragic, reluctant hero and tunnel-visioned, windmill-tilter on a quest to save humanity, and Naomi, a brilliant engineer and humanitarian, who's catch phrase is: "You underestimate my ability to break things."

I could attempt to explain the nuances of their relationship, but in all honesty, this fan-made video does it so much better. (So, quick--here it is before YouTube zaps it.)

Don't let this video fool you. The Expanse is about so much more than just a truly awesome romance (or two). This video managed to bring together most of the romantic scenes between these two characters.

The Characters! (Big wow here)
The story is told primarily through three main characters--James Holden, a newly-promoted XO on the 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.

Though The Expanse has much more Sci-Fi than R, the two male leads' actions and motives are initially 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 by an advanced and previously unknown stealth ship, 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 Naomi Nagata (engineer), Amos Burton (muscle), Alex Kamal (pilot), James Holden's shipmates who are all survivors of the doomed Canterbury. Chrisjen Avasarala, political heavyweight. Julie Andromeda Mao--former pilot of the Razorback racing ship and rich girl turned OPA rebel who ultimately is a direct connection between several 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 secretly heading up the OPA.

This is a short study done of hardened, cynical Ceres Station cop, Miller, and his infatuation with Julie Mao and their climatic meeting that happens after her death, but...well...it's a twist as only The Expanse can deliver. And in spite of this heartfelt goodbye to Miller, it promises to keep on delivering.

Pay special attention to the last four words uttered by Miller in this clip.

 

The Sci-Fi Factors!
There are sooo many things to love about this show, but the authentic science fiction (is that an oxymoron? No, I think not) is one of the most mind-blowing. The shows production team has strived to get everything right. Even the star fields in the backgrounds of some of the space scenes have been researched to be sure they are absolutely correct. How the characters move in a weightless environment and the gear they wear to function in such has been done with realism. How artificial gravity is generated, usually in one of three ways: centrifugal, thrust-based, or spin-generated, is all based on known science.

And space battles? The characters gear up in their enviro-suits before battles with the anticipation that their hull is going to become Swiss cheese. How basic is that? But as elemental as it is, have we ever seen it done before?

Have I convinced you yet? If not, take a look at this enthusiastic endorsement by Spacedock.com:

Think science is boring? Check out this scene of a "flip and burn" maneuver, which shows how a ship in space might actually change direction. (Star Wars, please take note: No bank-and-turn in an airless environment!)

"The juice" mentioned in this clip is another factor. It counteracts the effects of a high-G maneuver, keeping arteries and blood vessels elastic so they don't rupture in the forces generated by the thrust, at least for a time. (We learn later that even the juice can't counteract high-G burn for an indefinite period in one heart-pounding space chase scene.)

Diversity and Inclusivity!
This is absolutely one of the most diverse casts of any genre on television, anywhere--and the beauty of it is it's all seamless. Because this future of humanity has resulted in a blending of cultures where race is no longer a factor and ethnicity is a non-issue. People are just people. Some are powerful and calculating, some are exploited and angry, and some are just pawns of one or the other. According to their background, they have beliefs and dialect unique to their situations. (I also wrote these elements into my novel Inherit the Stars, where all races merged and then were divided again according to political, social and planetary differences.)

In The Expanse what divides them is where they hail from -- Earth and Luna, Mars, or the Belt and the Outer Planets -- a trio of cultures that are all at desperate odds with one another. Each society has its own goals, its own priorities, and its own agendas. Whether they are white, black, asian, middle eastern, eastern European, pacific islander, or--in the case of one character -- a genetic blend of eight individuals of unstated ethnicity--their conflicts are based on their place in the solar system, not the skin color or the culture of their ancestors. No one cares.

Gender also doesn't matter, and this series features several standout female role models, including the powerful politician, a formidable Martian Marine, and the brilliant engineer and possible former OPA operative who has a soul-deep compassion for others.

In this future, race and gender elements no longer define the individual. And there are no token anythings, just a beautifully blended cast of brilliant actors.

This fascinating interview done during Comic-Con highlights six of the cast members discussing their characters:

The Politics!
Politics in our time triggers a lot of conflicting emotions, and politics 200 years from now is no different...it just has different dynamics and different triggers. So here's the set-up. The United Nations is now the governing body for Earth and the Moon. Because robotics and artificial intelligence has basically done away with a human workforce, very few people hold jobs and instead live on a small government handout. The masses are poor and struggling. And the wealthy and powerful are enormously so. The attitude of the UN territories is pretty much stated in dialogue by one of the main characters, UN Deputy Undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala (one of the most influential people in the solar system...and with a powerful mouth to match): "Earth comes first."

Mars has established itself as it's own political entity and is populated by tough, resilient colonists who take great pride in their planet, have a formidable space fleet and a tough-as-carbonite military (MCRN--Martian Congressional Republic Navy). Their ships are some of the best and most advanced in the solar system, that is until the mystery stealth ship comes on the scene. But Mars has a great dream they are striving for but haven't been able to reach. The achievable date keeps getting moved farther into the future.

The Belters are made up of the brave or desperate souls who occupy the asteroid belt and planets beyond. They have evolved in multiple low gravity environments. They're the working class of the system, living on a ships, space stations, a few asteroids and some of the moons of the Outer Planets. They are downtrodden and the exploited. As one Belter put it (paraphrasing): "The Belt had enough water for a thousand generations. And the Earth and Mars took it! They've made their fortunes on our backs!"

The OPA or Outer Planets Alliance is a movement that arose from the malcontent of the Belters. They vow to take back what they feel is rightfully theirs, but they're a scattered, disorganized collection of gangs and groups. One businessman and former military officer headquartered on spacestation Tycho wants to change that, and he'll use every resource he can muster or steal to get it done.

The events in Season One beautifully laid the foundation for a fast-moving, heart-pounding and often shocking Season Two. Season Three promises even more. Here's a quick peek:

This show has something for everyone...and I hope the SFR community will support it, because this kind of quality SF with R television only comes around once in a great while.

I hope you'll tune into Season Three of The Expanse on Wednesday.

Have a great week!

P.S. Thanks for hanging with me to the end of this blog. If you're intrigued with The Expanse, here's one more video you might really enjoy.

 

 

What is this Epstein Drive of Which You Speak?

This past week I had great cause to celebrate. The news came out that The Expanse was being renewed for a third season on the SyFy channel.

Break out the champagne and the Billins, everyone, the party is on!

Redecorating the Roci
SyFy's The Expanse Television Series

As you might know from some of my past blogs, I LOVE THIS SHOW! The Expanse has everything a great space drama should have--realistic adventure, a difficult quest, fabulous characters, intricate politics, amazing dialogue, science-based world-building, the gunship Rocinante...and even a touch of romance.

In fact, the last episode included a declaration of love between two of the characters. Being a SFR fan, the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) romantic sub-plots throughout the story arc really cinch this as one of my favorite SF(R)s on television...ever!

If you've been living in another galaxy far, far away and haven't heard about The Expanse, you might want to check out some of my previous blogs (okay, raves) about the show. You can find them here:

The Expanse: Seven Reasons Why You Should be Watching This Show (Feb 2017)

Rewatch: The Expanse SyFy Series (Aug 2016)

The Expanse: (Truly) Quality Sci-Fi Returns to Television  (Jan 2016)

The basic premise is that about 200 years in our future, mankind will have colonized the asteroid belt and the moons of the Outer Planets (note shameless promotional banner of my upcoming novel inserted here for effect....and because I needed more graphics) primarily to reap the rewards--water and minerals. Earth and the Moon are under United Nations jurisdiction, Mars has established itself as an independent colony of considerable military strength and no friend of the Earth/Moon, and everyone else is relegated to the outlier places in our solar system are collectively referred to as "the belters."

But how do they get around these huge, well...expanses...of space in a timely manner in the future?

Two words. The Epstein Drive.

What the heck is that?

There's actually no clear answer. That's where the "fiction" part comes in for this science fiction drama, although its far from mere hand-waveum.

Although the drive system isn't explored in great depth in the TV series, many fans have drawn their own conclusions from the books that it's a type of propulsion system used in this future--purely fictional and not entirely detailed--but believed to be a magnetically contained fusion reactor system that uses steam as a propellant.

Described as "magnetic coil exhaust acceleration" on a Wiki page, it's super efficiency allows ships to "burn" halfway to their destination (continuous acceleration) then perform a flip and burn at approximately the halfway point (to counteract the thrust and begin deceleration) until they reach their destination. (Flip and burn is shown in one scene of series when they change direction to intercept a distress signal, but "flip and burn" as a standard part of flight isn't really explored in detail in the series.)

Sol Epstein, inventor of the Epstein Drive
SyFy's The Expanse television series

The Epstein Drive is invented about 50 years from now--or about 150 years before the events in The Expanse--by a man from Mars named Solomon "Sol" Epstein, hence Epstein Drive.

If you're a viewer, you may have already watched the episode Paradigm Shift that includes a portion derived from Drive, a prequel short story by the James S. A. Corey writing team that explores the development of the Epstein drive by Solomon. (The series has a history of tying in some of these short stories into the overall story arc that's quite brilliant and the past-future analogies in this episode are particularly poignant.)

You can read the prequel Drive free online here: http://www.syfy.com/theexpanse/drive/

What I love about the Epstein Drive element is that it's generated some vigorous debate and hypotheses between those well-versed in science. (Maybe a bit like the communicators on Star Trek inspiring Marty Cooper to invent the cell phone, is it not?)

If you're one of those SF(R) fans who has a genuine interest in reading thoughts about the actual science (raises hand), there's quite a lively comment string about the Epstein Drive that can be found here: http://expanse.wikia.com/wiki/Epstein_Drive

May your week be powered by magnetic coil exhaust acceleration. (Have a great week.)

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: Seven Reasons Why You Should be Watching This Show

First, I'm going to make a guess.

You're here because you love science fiction in more ways than just books.

If so, trust me, if you're not already doing so, you should really check out The Expanse, SyFy Channel's original series that is just starting its second season. Why? Because it's everything good science fiction should be--told within the framework of a darkly imagined future, with terrific characters, factual science (which is neither boring nor dumbed-down) and very high stakes.

For booklovers, this television series was based on a series of books by James S. A. Corey, which is actually the writing team of Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham. I got to see Ty Franck in action with a panel of Caltech scientists and this author can hold his own with the most brilliant minds. Getting it right was very important to him.

The series "went deep" with the books, pulling in characters from connected novellas to round out the cast and the story. I haven't read the books yet. I'll save that for a time after this series ends--which hopefully will be in the distant future. This one's a keeper.

Some describe it as "Game of Thrones meets Battlestar Galactica" and though the tag fits it's also a little superficial. I haven't fallen this much in love with a sci-fi series since the demise of Defying Gravity, which was never given a chance to find an audience due to network politics and a DOA time slot late on Sunday night. 

I really don't want to see The Expanse fall into the same pit, so I've made it my mission to spread the word. If I were ever to write straight sci-fi, this would be the kind of story I'd want to tell.

Here are some insights from the author team, because what writer out there doesn't want to know what it's like to stand on the deck of a ship you created on a page years before? (Hey, we can all dream, can't we?) They also discuss their system for collaborating. (Cool insights for authors, but readers may prefer to skip it.)



I could give you a hundred reasons why this show rises above the rest, but instead, I'll key in on just seven things that make The Expanse so remarkable. And I'll do it with clips so you can get an actual taste for this world.

Number 7.
The future. It's 200 years from now, but a time that still reflects much of the here and now. The slang has changed and the language has evolved, but the basic needs, desires and struggles of humanity are the same as we begin to colonize the solar system. In this clip, the cast explains the complex world-building behind The Expanse.



The wide diversity of the cast is just one element that seems dead-on. As we start to colonize our solar system, I believe it will be a global effort and that means the colonies will reflect global diversity. The future won't belong to, as Ty Franck put it during a Caltech panel discussion, "white guys in space." And true to that thinking, this is not a "white guys in space" series. In fact, it's also not a "guys in space" series. It's shot through with strong, tough-minded female characters--engineers, politicians, military officers and even marine gunnies.

Number 6.
The characters. Holden--reluctant leader. Miller--jaded cop. Chrisjen--driven politician. Naomi--brilliant engineer. Amos--mechanic and bad-ass loose cannon. Alex--ice trawler pilot with a eye-brow raising past. The story begins with three story threads--Holden's, Miller's and Chrisjen's--that become closely interwoven as events unfold. Julie Andromeda Mao is a minor character who creates the glue for all the plot threads. Detective Miller, the cop from asteroid Ceres, is assigned to find her because a missing person report was filed by her fabulously wealthy father, and Miller ends up chasing her halfway across the solar system. Solving the case is not his primary objective. She is. Holden, a newly drafted Executive Officer on an aging ice trawler is soon on her trail too, but for different reasons. What happens to Julie Mao (no spoilers, but....OMG, wow!) will create huge political complications for Chrisjen. (Who, BTW, has one of the most spectacular wardrobes ever created for television.)

To get a better sense of these multi-layered personas, here's an introduction in the actor's own words.



Oh, and let's not forget Roci. More about her in Number #4.

Number 5.
Realism. The title of this clip is Zero G Gunfight. Two hundred years in the future no method of generating reliable artificial gravity has been invented yet. There's some gravity generated due to movement, such as thrust gravity, spin gravity, etc., but much of the time, it's just plain no gravity. So what do they do to avoid floating about? Two words. Mag boots. Sometimes the gravity cuts out unexpectedly--like in the middle of a firefight--and then they need to have knowledge of the laws of physics to save their butts. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. James Holden uses his head--and his boot--to work through this dilemma.



The production teams' devotion to realism was also highlighted in the Caltech panel. They actually have a person responsible to ensure the starfield shown in the background of the space scenes depicts the correct stars and orientation to the particular point in space where the action happens. Has anyone even thought of that before for a sci-fi television series?

Yes, amazing realism.

Number 4.
Attention to detail. Here's one example. What do you do after you inherit a Martian gunship from a vaporized destroyer? Disguise it. Stat! Starting with the transponder that identifies the ship.



James Holden explains that Rocinante means "work horse" in Spanish. But it also carries a meaning in popular folklore. Rocinante was the name of Don Quixote's horse when he went on his impossible quest and dreamed his impossible dream.

Coincidence? I think not. One of the episodes is titled Windmills.

Number 3.
Seamless science. Case in point--Flip and Burn: High G Ship Maneuver. They get the science right, but still make it suspenseful and fascinating. No, Virginia, "suspenseful science" is not an oxymoron, and you don't necessarily have to blow things up to make a scene dramatic. (Though there is plenty of that, too.)



This is one of my fave scenes to date (but there are probably too many to count).

So what's "the juice"? In the "Science Behind The Expanse" panel at Caltech, the writers explained that high G events such as what James Holden called a "flip & burn"--or flipping the ship around to fire the engines in a new direction, or merely to slow down by counteracting acceleration--refer to the heavy gravity produced by the thrust of a starship pushing the passengers toward the rear of the vessel. This causes the blood vessels to stress and capillaries to burst, especially in the eyes. "The juice" is a formula that makes the arteries and blood vessels more elastic during the time the ship is moving forward rapidly in space, exerting huge pressure on the human body. Fascinating stuff.

Number 2.
Sexy times! Yup. There's sexy times in the asteroid belt--some of it in Zero G. But sorry, no video! The only clip I could find was overdubbed with cheap porno music, so I'll spare you that. You may have gotten a glimpse of Holden's sexy times in the Number 6 characters video above. The relationship is short-lived, but very, very important for Holden's character and for an understanding of what drives him on this quest to tilt with windmills.

Number 1.
Expect the unexpected. This is the pivotal scene in the first episode that sets everything in motion. Our prime crew (James Holden, Naomi, Amos, Alex and the medic) is sent out in the Knight, one of the shuttles from ice trawler Canterbury (aka "The Cant") to investigate a distress signal originating from a derelict ship called the Scapuli.

They board the Scapuli to investigate and THEN...well, just see for yourself.



If you're not convinced by this point that you must see this show, then it's probably not for you. (Move along, move along...)

But to quote a few hundred thousand rogue belters, "Remember the Cant!"

____________________________________

P.S. I've reference the Caltech panel on "The Science Behind The Expanse" several times in this blog. If you're interested in viewing it, you can find it on YouTube (just click the title above to be linked). It runs about an hour and a half and discusses the Epstein drive and many other topics in more detail. Many thanks to fellow SFR author Sabine Priestley for bringing it to my attention in a Facebook post.

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.

SPACE FOR TV WRITERS: VACUUM SUCKS

In today’s science lesson, boys and girls, we’re going to review some basics that the writers of television science fiction seem to have forgotten. The shows I’m going to rant about are generally categorized as space opera—adventures set in space, sometimes with a military framework—and are among my favorites, but in a few cases, the writers just went too far with poetic license. That’s okay if you’re writing fantasy or paranormal, but in science fiction, the science should be a little more rigorous, even on TV.

Let’s start with The Expanse, the fifth season of which just concluded on Amazon Prime Video. There’s a lot to love about this series, based on the books by James S. A. Corey, starring Stephen Strait, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham and Shohreh Aghdashloo. The ongoing political and shooting battles between three factions in the near future: Earthers (which include colonists and others on the moon), Martians (long-time colonists who are now independent of Earth) and Belters (independent spacers who make their living among the asteroid belts and outer planets of the solar system) are constantly entertaining and full of marvelous worldbuilding detail.

Why, then, do we always have to “hear” the roar of ships’ engines in the blackness of space (that is, from the external shots)? As the tagline to ALIEN so famously put it, “In space, no one can hear you scream.” Vacuum can’t transmit sound; there aren’t enough molecules to vibrate to a level where humans can hear it. Those engine sounds would only be heard from inside the ships, if at all. Yet, every time we see those thrusters light up against the backdrop of black space, we hear a roar. No! They would be completely silent. Explosions: silent. If I remember correctly, even Classic TREK in the Sixties got this right, and certainly 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY did.

The writers on The Expanse just plain have a disregard for the dangers of vacuum. They insist on issuing projectile weapons to their crews despite the problems a wayward bullet would cause in a pressurized hull. It’s the future, after all! Give them lasers or proton pistols or something that won’t put a hole in your ship.

The Expanse is excellent, but tends to ignore vacuum.

Things finally came to a ridiculous head this season when somebody got the bright idea to send one of the main characters (Naomi Nagata, played by Dominique Tipper) out an airlock without so much as a rebreather or a light jacket. It was her idea, too, mind you, an escape to a ship tethered alongside the one where she was being held captive. O-k-a-a-y! Someone must have read the research that says an astronaut once lasted 14 seconds in near-vacuum in a testing situation when his suit sprang a leak. Wow! Plot bunny! So they shoved Naomi out an airlock with nothing, had her cross a catwalk to the other ship, open the other airlock and repressurize, all with few effects. No boiling eyeballs or saliva, passing out from lack of oxygen, “bends” from pressure changes, frostbite on various extremities from the extreme cold, etc. Sure, I believe that.

I guess the writer who researched the effects on the human body in a vacuum neglected to note that the astronaut who survived his accident was still wearing his suit (it just had a pin-sized hole) and had a team to revive him. The last thing he remembered before passing out was the saliva on his tongue boiling. Naomi was on her own—and, outside of a few aches and pains, was just fine!

This kind of thing makes me crazy, mostly because The Expanse offers itself as a science-based show. Star Trek, on the other hand, has always pushed the boundaries of what is considered acceptable science. It is true space opera, in that there is an element of the old “Buck Rogers” serials in it, and always has been. Still, the science in TREK has less of fantasy about it than some franchises, and a separate fandom has even arisen around the military structure of Starfleet (with fan groups organized in ships and in cordons of Starfleet “Marines.”)

This third season of the latest iteration of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Discovery, gave fans a lot to think about when heroine Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the U.S.S. Discovery leapt 930 years into their future to protect the secrets of the “spore drive” and time travel. They found a galaxy much changed from the one they knew. A galactic disaster called “the Burn” had rendered dilithium crystals inert, destroying all dilithium-dependent ships in a single stroke. As a result, Starfleet and the Federation all but crumbled overnight, leaving systems and planets prey to slavers and opportunists like the Orion-run Emerald Chain. Burnham had to find allies and connect with what’s left of the Federation, but first she had to find the Discovery, which somehow hadn’t followed the same flight path into the future as she had.

Though I missed the characters that drew me to the series in the first place—Captain Christopher Pike (the delectable Anson Mount of HELL ON WHEELS) and Spock of Vulcan (Ethan Peck)—this third season had plenty of new features (and characters) to keep me intrigued. The writers, though, made a couple of boneheaded mistakes that belong more in fan fiction than on national television.

The gentle Kelpien Saru (Doug Jones), for example, may be a fan favorite, but he is NOT captain material, as he showed multiple times this season. (Remember that episode of Classic TREK when Kirk was split into Nice Kirk and Evil Kirk and Nice Kirk made a lousy captain? Yeah. That’s Saru.) The writers did fix this mistake by the end of the season, in a very satisfying way (I won’t tell you how in case you haven’t seen it.)

But they allowed another major error to stand. You can never, ever, make an ensign First Officer, as they did here. As most of us know who have a military background, there is a command hierarchy that must be followed. People advance in their careers through the ranks. And an ensign is the lowliest officer rank aboard ship. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) has been an ensign for the duration of the show and saved the ship multiple times. (In that way, she’s the very definition of a Mary Sue, the minor female character in fan fiction that takes an overblown role.) I’m sure she’s a fan favorite. Please, for God’s sake, promote her. But don’t make her the First Officer, who answers only to the Captain.

At least that captain is now Michael Burnham, who, despite her flaws, has a commanding presence.

Cheers, Donna

 

 

 

 

 

THREE REVIEWS: DEVILS AND BELTERS AND WHALES, OH, MY!

Surprise! I’m NOT going to talk about STAR WARS today! I’ll leave that to True Fan Laurie on Monday, when I’m sure she will be eager to share her impressions of the new film.

Instead I have a few mini-reviews of some excellent film fare that is other-than-STAR WARS. Perhaps as a side benefit of SW mania, The Syfy Channel is on fire right now with a galaxy full of hot new suns being born every few months or so.

I mentioned the three-night mini-series CHILDHOOD’S END last week. Arthur C. Clarke’s apocalyptic tale fared well under the direction of Nick Hurran and screenwriter Matthew Graham. At least they did the story justice, despite a few minor tweaks, and stuck with the main premise of the book, as I remember it. In other words **SPOILER ALERT** no happy ending for humanity as we know it.The Big Reveal was great, with the aliens' horns, hoofs and tail in splendid display against a gape-mouthed human audience.  Despite a failure to do much with an important secondary character (a religious woman who struggles with the aliens’ presence) and a major slowdown in the second episode, I’d count this as a success.

But, oh, boy, the show that followed it? Wow! THE EXPANSE is gritty near-future SF noir at its best. Earth is unified and prosperous under UN control. Mars is colonized and powerful under military rule. Earth and Mars are on the brink of war. “Belters,” unorganized and scrambling for every credit, mine the asteroid belt for ice and minerals. They’re caught in the middle. Water and air are resources worth killing for and conflict is inevitable. Add a rich, rebellious Earth girl who disappears under strange circumstances, a down-on-his-luck Belter detective hired to find her, what’s left of a Belter ice crew snatched up by a Martian cruiser and OOOH, YUMMY! Even if the effects, acting and writing weren’t so good, I’d be in. But they are! If you missed the show’s premiere, you can binge-watch the first four episodes on Syfy OnDemand.

My final mini-review is not about science fiction at all. It’s not about romance either. But it is about the writing process, in a way. And also Chris Hemsworth.

In 1820, the whaling ship Essex out of Nantucket, Rhode Island, was stove by a whale in the literal middle of the Pacific Ocean and sank, leaving its captain, first mate and several crewmen stranded in three small boats. The phrase “stove by a whale” means not much to us in this day and age. No whale has yet tried to attack any of the little boats that cruise along observing them off the Pacific coast or in Hawaii. But this whale, said to be from 85 to 100 feet long, made a run at a wooden ship of roughly the same length and knocked a hole in the hull, then came around, got up to speed and did it again, smashing the timbers to pieces. The ship’s crew had just enough time to salvage a few essentials—sails, water casks, hard tack—before the Essex went under.

At the time of the attack, the whalers of the Essex were hunting in a pod of whales—females and their calves, males circling the outside. Was this the alpha male protecting the pod? (Not that whales are known to have alphas.) Or, as these God-fearing men thought, was it the wrath of God himself, vengeance for some wrong they had done?

IN THE HEART OF THE SEA, in theaters now, directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth as a heroic—and thoughtful—first mate Owen Chase, tells the story of the Essex, with a little dramatic embellishment. But not as much as the original dramatic license taken by one Herman Melville, who adapted the tale in 1851 for his novel Moby Dick, or the White Whale. What makes Melville’s adaptation an epic literary masterpiece, rather than a fascinating story of survival against nature, is how he translated the experience of these particular men into something universal about humanity.

I’ve read part of the book that IN THE HEART OF THE SEA is based on (I’d like to finish it, too!) and it’s intriguing as history. But Melville’s novel is transcendent. The beginning—“Call me Ishmael.” The ending—“Only I am left to tell the tale.” The characters—Ahab (who will forever look like Gregory Peck to me), Starbuck, Queequeg, Pip. The description of the whale—white as the snow, with a notch in his tail and a wrinkle over his brow, crisscrossed with scars and the remnants of harpoons where he’d been struck before by lost whalers, and he corkscrewed as he breached. (All of this is noted in the new film, too, by the way—a nice touch.) And the theme, drummed into generations of high schoolers—man vs. God and the results of that defiance. 

Ron Howard’s device in his film is to have Melville pull the story of the Essex out of the youngest survivor of the disaster, now grown old in Nantucket. He’s heard the story and become obsessed with writing it. But by the end of the old man’s tale, Melville has seen the elements that will make his novel what Nathaniel Hawthorne later called “the American epic.” The irony is that the book sold poorly in Melville’s lifetime, a critical success, but a commercial failure. The white whale sank him, too.

So, enjoy your weekend at the movies, STAR WARS fans! If you can’t get into the show, you can always go next door and see IN THE HEART OF THE SEA or stay home and binge-watch THE EXPANSE. 

The next two Fridays bring us Christmas and New Year’s Day, so I won’t be posting again until January 8, 2016. Enjoy the holidays, everyone!

Cheers, Donna