Preface: I adore the Expanse books. They are some of the best science fiction currently around, and this is not the place to speak ill of them.
Capiche? Cool.
I really enjoy the Expanse show, but I have no idea how people follow it without already knowing the books. It's complicated and textured and layered and hard.
How do you do it?
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It's not that hard. I haven't read the books yet and I like to think I have a decent grasp of what's going on in the show. Nathan has read the books and he notices where they've changed things.
ReplyDeleteI'm like halfway through season 2. People I don't remember just spaced people I don't remember or have much of a connection to.
ReplyDeleteI care because this is human beings being spaced and that's pretty awful, but I don't know why I should care about these particular people.
Could also see it coming, which maybe I was supposed to? I don't know.
Sometimes it's just to show how horrible the people doing the spacing are
ReplyDeleteI'm not convinced they had a choice.
ReplyDeleteBut, when I was 12 I read The Cold Equations, and the math seems to fit.
I binge watch a whole season when it comes out on Blu-ray. It's really not that hard to follow.
ReplyDeleteI've been a space nerd since childhood and ran a Transhuman Space game and the "geography" of our solar system is a real place in my mind. You can name drop an object and I can see its orbit in my mind relative to other orbits.
Larry Lade You realize you just said "It's not that hard; I have expert knowledge of the geography!", right?
ReplyDeleteWilliam Nichols I'm just allowing that maybe there's some level of world-building they could be skimping on and I wouldn't notice.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard regardless of the geography. Like, I know Amos. I know what's inside his head. I know who Lydia is. I know what it means when he says "I don't want to fight you. Because then who would fly the ship?"
ReplyDeleteI mean, I LOLd real hard and paused it. But, I still feel like this'd be real hard to follow. I am surprised that folks disagree so strongly!
Did you follow along while you were reading it the first time? What's the difference between seeing a story unfold on the written page versus the screen?
ReplyDeleteMisha B I find books tremendously easier to follow.
ReplyDeleteSo, for example: Fred Johnson, the Butcher of Anderson Station. I feel like I've been inside his head. I know why he does things.
In the show, he's just one more asshole that I don't really understand. Who has motivations that I can't really comprehend, and a background I don't particularly understand. He makes decisions that I don't follow, except by relying on what I remember.
Also: SPACE SHIPS DO NOT DO 360s!
ReplyDeleteI really probably should get around around to watching this.
ReplyDeleteMatt Johnson Consider reading the books. They are amongst the best scifi around.
ReplyDeleteAlrght, it is actually a 180 and they are not yet at thrust. It's OK. Nevermind the outburst.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Nichols I've read all the books... (double checks goodreads)... I've read all the books that are out except the "extra" in between books. I just never find myself motivated enough to sit down and figure out what i have access to that I can watch it on. I have to see if my cable box will connect to amazon prime...
ReplyDeleteContext: Big love for The Expanse show, and I have not read the books - that's from laziness and a shelf-meter of To Be Read that mocks me every time I consider adding to the stack, and not any desire to not read them.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the show is complicated and textured and nuanced and hard, and I think one of the things I like most about it is the Gibsonian* assumption that you, the viewer, are smart and observant and can fill in the blanks; and if you can't, well, you the viewer can still enjoy some spacefights and CGI and dewy-eyed killers. Me, I like entertainment that makes me work.
*I am sure authors other than William Gibson do the thing where they world-build by inference and leave it as an exercise to the reader to draw conclusions, but I don't know of any that do it so well.
Have not read books, find show easy to follow. Mostly, Crisjen is my hero.
ReplyDeleteI need to get back into the books. I was in the wrong headspace to try and tackle them.
ReplyDeleteI think it’s like The Wire, in that (as Gary says) it expects you to do work. Also, everyone matters. The kid that steals water in season 1 has a story that carries.
ReplyDeleteLove the show, have not read the books. The only thing I find difficult is following Belter, but you can usually figure it out by context. I also find it hard to resist the urge to use the phrases kaka felota and wellwalla.
ReplyDelete