THE EXPANSE --it's premise, plot and socio-political implications

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Aboard the Rocinante that is coffee! I liked how Holden was happy to finally be able to get good coffee.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Aboard the Rocinante that is coffee! I liked how Holden was happy to finally be able to get good coffee.

LOL, I noticed that. :) I think this show has raised the bar for space opera by taking it away from interpersonal drama and taking the team concept in scifi into a new area. There is much less one-on-one drama and more group effort and no melodrama. I also like it that there is no wisecracking comedic relief. This show is serious adult drama and feels very realistic.

If Syfy keeps going in this direction, they might win me back. :)
 

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
One thing I find annoying about this show is the consumption of alcohol. In every single episode, people are drinking alcohol (or appear to be). During the day, at night, at home, etc. Reminds me of the 1960s TV shows which showed alcohol consumption had cigarette smoking in every episode.

I like Detective Miller, but I don't think his cracked phone is cool. I have started rewatching the show already. :) It's really well done. I still do not understand how these ships are able to go from one place to another so quickly with the propulsion systems they are using. What are they? What is the tech?

hasn't the movements of the Rocinante been mainly within the "belt" area

and tycho station IS NOT named after the asteroid of the same name

I thought it was, but the expanse wiki says it is named after the company Tycho, which is named after its founder

so Tycho station is within the asteroid belt

http://expanse.wikia.com/wiki/Tycho_Manufacturing_and_Engineering_Concern

the martian ships-I assume-are already on patrol in the belt


so I am guessing that distances traveled have not been that far--though,without the right propulsion system, "that far" might as well be 'around the block' or miles away-no fast engine, you are going to get there anytime soon

from the same wiki--it is an "Epstein Drive" that the ships are using--the TACHI is the smallest class of ships to have such a drive

The Epstein Drive is a modified fusion drive invented by Solomon Epstein one hundred and fifty years before the start ofLeviathan Wakes. It enabled humanity to travel from Earth and the inner planets, and colonize the Asteroid Belt and outer planets.

The drive utilizes magnetic coil exhaust acceleration to increase drive efficiency, which enables spaceships to sustain thrust throughout the entire voyage. A ship fitted with the efficient Epstein drive is able to run the drive continuously for acceleration to its goal and then after flipping at about the halfway point is able to run the drive continuously during deceleration. Previous engine designs used propellant less efficiently and could not be run long enough to achieve the high velocities that the Epstein drive permitted.


but is it "real?"

seems to be a derivation (?) of this actual theoretical system(from wiki):

A mass driver or electromagnetic catapult is a proposed method of non-rocket spacelaunch which would use a linear motor to accelerate and catapult payloads up to high speeds. All existing and contemplated mass drivers use coils of wire energized by electricity to make electromagnets. Sequential firing of a row of electromagnets accelerates the payload along a path. After leaving the path, the payload continues to move due to momentum (at constant velocity, assuming lack of friction with the environment).

Although any device used to propel a ballistic payload is technically a mass driver, in this context a mass driver is essentially a coilgun that magnetically accelerates a package consisting of a magnetizable holder containing a payload. Once the payload has been accelerated, the two separate, and the holder is slowed and recycled for another payload.

Mass drivers can be used to propel spacecraft in three different ways: A large, ground-based mass driver could be used to launch spacecraft away from Earth, the Moon, or another body. A small mass driver could be on board a spacecraft, flinging pieces of material into space to propel itself. Another variation would have a massive facility on a moon or asteroid send projectiles to assist a distant craft.

Miniaturized mass drivers can also be used as weapons in a similar manner as classic firearms or cannon using chemical combustion. Hybrids between coilguns and railguns such as helical railguns are also possible.[1]
 

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
LOL, I noticed that. :) I think this show has raised the bar for space opera by taking it away from interpersonal drama and taking the team concept in scifi into a new area. There is much less one-on-one drama and more group effort and no melodrama. I also like it that there is no wisecracking comedic relief. This show is serious adult drama and feels very realistic.

If Syfy keeps going in this direction, they might win me back. :)

IDK, the pilot is cracking more and more funny stuff as things progress

mainly to himself though-a way to calm his nerves I suspect
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Yes, they are basically fusion drives but the Epstein breakthrough means they are much more efficient than what a fusion rocket would ordinarily be. As a result it cuts the travel time in the solar system to more reasonable numbers.
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Last night's episode was interesting. While there wasn't a load of action it was tense and no navel gazing. It was also very clearly a "bridge" episode in that it was putting our characters into position for the unrolling of the overarching plot. Miller heads to Eros and the crew of the Rocinante are investigating a ship for the OPA. I think this is where everyone starts to come together - when they discover what happened to Julie Mao.

Side note, it's interesting how the story unfolds a lot like the characters are playing an RPG. The player characters in that perspective are Miller and the crew of the Rocinante, with the rest being Non Player Characters. As I recall reading somewhere that the authors developed the story by playing the setting as an RPG. Judging by the results this may be a good method of storybuilding.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
i am sure OM is opposed to caffeine consumption in the future as well :smiley-laughing021:

Nah, my life would be meaningless without coffee. :) The way Holden reacts when he takes that first sip of coffee from beans is much like my first cup each morning. First, taking that cold bag of whole beans from the fridge, then opening the bag and getting that rich aroma of what is to come...then pouring exactly 1/4 cup of whole beans into the grinder. WZWZWZWZWZWZZW! Fresh ground beans into the metal filter in the coffee maker, then pouring of the water and the agonizing wait until enough coffee has brewed to fill my cup. Then, that first sip.

I get coffee. :)

But all that damned alcohol in the show? What is that all about?
 
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Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Last night's episode was interesting. While there wasn't a load of action it was tense and no navel gazing. It was also very clearly a "bridge" episode in that it was putting our characters into position for the unrolling of the overarching plot. Miller heads to Eros and the crew of the Rocinante are investigating a ship for the OPA. I think this is where everyone starts to come together - when they discover what happened to Julie Mao.

Side note, it's interesting how the story unfolds a lot like the characters are playing an RPG. The player characters in that perspective are Miller and the crew of the Rocinante, with the rest being Non Player Characters. As I recall reading somewhere that the authors developed the story by playing the setting as an RPG. Judging by the results this may be a good method of storybuilding.

I am getting ready to watch this episode. Thanks for the prep! I guess you could call me part of the audience for this show now. I was actually wanting to see more after my marathon last weekend.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
IDK, the pilot is cracking more and more funny stuff as things progress

mainly to himself though-a way to calm his nerves I suspect

I agree here. But his humor is more like that you expect from your real life personal friends. It's much more natural and not cheesy like Scotty's "Get down from there!" thing with his Turdlian alien sidekick Keenser

keenser.jpg


This show is growing on me like Dark Matter did, but seems more adult and better written. It may just be the best actual science fiction series on the air at the moment.
 

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
I agree here. But his humor is more like that you expect from your real life personal friends. It's much more natural and not cheesy like Scotty's "Get down from there!" thing with his Turdlian alien sidekick Keenser

View attachment 32501

This show is growing on me like Dark Matter did, but seems more adult and better written. It may just be the best actual science fiction series on the air at the moment.

Careful!! you run the risk of intersecting with nuBSG fans!!
:icon_lol:

http://www.wired.com/2015/12/geeks-guide-the-expanse/

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-expanse-is-the-show-we-ve-been-wanting-since-battle-1717279167

http://www.zimbio.com/TV+Preview/articles/k1pA3nuw7Di/Syfy+Aims+Hook+Firefly+Battlestar+Galactica
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
That is interesting. In a way The Expanse is NuBSG without the soap.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
That is interesting. In a way The Expanse is NuBSG without the soap.

My feelings exactly. And this show reaches that bar and raises it considerably. Are you listening Syfy?
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
That is interesting. In a way The Expanse is NuBSG without the soap.

the soap is there..still building up on its way to "climax" (Miller and the girl cop//Miller's earther partner and his hooker gf//the female on the rocinante and someone on board)

they'll get to it--it is the SYFY channel after all and they just can not resist

once they digest these reviews about how ppl think it is like BSG, someone at SYFY will say "Oh,well, how can we make it more like BSG?!"

then the show will go crap-fest in its chase after BSG-esqueness

<<Remember my position on BSG; I really liked it BUT at the same time I freely admit much of what me and others liked about it was a result of TPTB's stumbling through the lack of a plot plan and foresight in the writing--it worked out--but it is wrong for anyone to try to recreate that "mistake", they have tried in the past and failed>>
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
Aboard the Rocinante that is coffee! I liked how Holden was happy to finally be able to get good coffee.

There is a ship called the Rocinante? :daniel_new004:

I wonder if that's a RUSH reference as the space ship in their song Cygnus X1 is called the Rocinante (after Don Quixote's horse no doubt).
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Actually Holden named it Rocinante after the Don Quixote reference.
 

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
Actually Holden named it Rocinante after the Don Quixote reference.

apparently in the book, that is why he named it Rocinante

however, in the show, they name it that because-as Holden is beginning to say "It's Spanish for..."
he is interrupted by Amos, who finishes by saying "...workhorse. I knew a woman named Rocinante, she was good to me."

and they leave it at that. no mention of DQ is made

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