Wow!
I'm starting Babylon's Ashes now. Hopefully I can catch up before the final book this fall..
That brings me some hope but also seems potentially disappointing. The show's quality is so high that seeing the climax of the story suddenly shift to comics or something would actually be depressing IMO. Better than nothing, for sure, but very strange seeing that it should in theory have all the money in the world behind it with Bezos' interested.
DEFINITELY hyped (but will remain cautiously optimistic) for what was mentioned about the potential for "features" though...
I hope you enjoy it!Wow!
I'm starting Babylon's Ashes now. Hopefully I can catch up before the final book this fall..
I hope you enjoy it!
You've also got The Silmarillion and The Unfinished Tales to complete before The Lord of the Rings: Second Age premieres hopefully in December.
Even better - something in the vein of Jupiter: The Nexus Incident.
You basically commanded at most 9ish capital ships and it was all very oriented around how you positioned *and* oriented your ships. 3D position was important, and you could see thrusters fire as ships rotated to line up their largest weapons with targets. Subsystem targeting was the biggest chunk of strategy - you rarely blew up ships wholesale, instead you worked to cripple their weapons or their ability to escape and could then board them with commandos. The late game had energy weapons and shields, but at the start you're in our solar system (near Jupiter, as you might expect) with Expanse level tech. Later battles involve an alien enemy somewhat akin to the Protomolecule/Builder tech. First few battles are shieldless, heavy on missiles and rail guns. It's one of those games that has demanded a sequel for ages.
The more I think about it the more perfectly it fits in my head.
Human ships even have braking thrusters:
Thought it would be interesting to go back to this now that Season 5 is over.Comparing this thread to the season 4 thread is kind of refreshing. Let's compare:
- 320 posts into the Season 4 thread
- 1 day after the entire season went up
- 4 days after the thread was posted
- People had already finished the entire season, talking about whether they liked it
- Annoying thread to follow if you hadn't finished the entire season within 24 hours due to spoilers all over the place
Yeah this thread doesn't have as much traffic yet, I'd far prefer that to threads being bloated up primarily with people who happen to have enough time to watch 10 hours of a TV show within 24 hours and minimizing per-episode talk.
- 320 posts into this thread
- 4 days after first three episodes went up
- 10 days after the thread was posted
- People actually talking about each episode on its own merits, still excited for what's to come
How is it beneficial to people who cannot binge though? Everyone still has to dodge spoilers when they enter the thread as soon as an episode airs.Thought it would be interesting to go back to this now that Season 5 is over.
So within a couple weeks after the entire season 4 aired in late 2019, conversation about the show was basically dead.
- Sunday after Season 5 ended: ~1500 posts
- Season 4:
- Sunday after the entire season aired: 604 posts
- By February 7th, 2020: 777 posts
- Overall: 903 posts
Meanwhile, the weekly release schedule of season 5 roughly doubled the amount of raw posts about the show on this forum in the same amount of time, and involved a much larger number of people.
Seems like the weekly release schedule is a huge win for engagement and attention the show got, and also beneficial to people who cannot binge 10 hours.
Based only on what's been shown on the show, the Barkeith was attacked by something that looks very close, graphically, to the portrayal we've seen of the destruction of the ring builders. They're the pretty clear #1 suspects for what happened.The finale was amazing, but I'm wondering about what happened at the very end: were those red swirling entities the same things that killed the builders? Did Marco know that was going to happen? It seems like they got tricked into thinking they'd get a new system, but instead got "fed" to that void of destruction. Or did it just...happen...? It was very chilling, and I'd love to know more.
I have to say, I prefer a staggered release schedule. I really don't enjoy bingeing - I don't even like watching more than one episode at a time, but prefer to kind of digest an episode of something - and having the series play out over weeks lets it get more mindshare than it would otherwise.Thought it would be interesting to go back to this now that Season 5 is over.
So within a couple weeks after the entire season 4 aired in late 2019, conversation about the show was basically dead.
- Sunday after Season 5 ended: ~1500 posts
- Season 4:
- Sunday after the entire season aired: 604 posts
- By February 7th, 2020: 777 posts
- Overall: 903 posts
Meanwhile, the weekly release schedule of season 5 roughly doubled the amount of raw posts about the show on this forum in the same amount of time, and involved a much larger number of people.
Seems like the weekly release schedule is a huge win for engagement and attention the show got, and also beneficial to people who cannot binge 10 hours.
Just finished the season. By far the worst.
Marco sucks, Philip sucks, most other villain characters/plot lines sucked, splitting up the main characters sucked, the Call of Duty shootout scene on earth sucked, Tortured Naomi sucked, etc
The stuff that happened in the last episode of the season would have happened in like episode 3 of an earlier season. So much filler.
Agree with this 100%, the season dragged so hard it was a struggle to get through, and we've really enjoyed all previous seasons. The Naomi storyline was the absolute worst, she was unbearably annoying for most of her scenes, of which there were many. Relieved it's over... hoping next season is much more in line with the others.
Agree with this 100%, the season dragged so hard it was a struggle to get through, and we've really enjoyed all previous seasons. The Naomi storyline was the absolute worst, she was unbearably annoying for most of her scenes, of which there were many. Relieved it's over... hoping next season is much more in line with the others.
Thanks very much for the big brain answer! That all makes sense about the Barkeith.Based only on what's been shown on the show, the Barkeith was attacked by something that looks very close, graphically, to the portrayal we've seen of the destruction of the ring builders. They're the pretty clear #1 suspects for what happened.
As for what Marco knew - on-screen he's talked almost exclusively about Earth, Mars, the Belt, and the relationships between them. Whenever he talks about the rings, it's in ways that are political rather than technological. He also doesn't have any more of a scientific background than is typical for a normal Belter. There's no reason he'd have any knowledge of the rings beyond what's public. It's entirely likely that you as a viewer know more about the rings than Marco does as an inhabitant of his universe.
The Martians do now have their new system. The ship that got destroyed was one ship from a fleet, and before it got destroyed it was receiving transmissions from the system they were headed to (the rest of the rogue fleet are already there). This isn't the case of their plans being wrecked or anything - they have the planet they wanted, they have the protomolecule, they have Cortazar, they're just down one ship.
As for whether it just happened, that's where the answer becomes a spoiler. I will be vague enough that it won't be much of a spoiler, but tagging it anyway:
None of the characters in the Expanse understand the rings enough to know (or cause) what happened at the end of season 5. There is a reason for it though.
I know this isn't what you mean, but the board game is actually not bad at all.
Totally agreed. Naomi's story dragged so much. Her whole arc this season could have been conveyed across four episodes max. I couldn't believe we stuck with her repetitive family drama and escape attempts clear through to the finale.Agree with this 100%, the season dragged so hard it was a struggle to get through, and we've really enjoyed all previous seasons. The Naomi storyline was the absolute worst, she was unbearably annoying for most of her scenes, of which there were many. Relieved it's over... hoping next season is much more in line with the others.
There are so many other things I'd rather have seen. Any of the stuff you mentioned would have been much better.yeah the thing that got me hard into the show and books was (1) the protomolecule and its effects on humanity as a civilization (2) the politics between the various factions and how different they each view the human race. Almost all of that was gone this season, there was little to no nuance to Naomi, Marco Inaros, the Earth storylines, etc. It was all black and white "these are the bad guys, these are the people caught in the middle, watch them Game of Thrones each other".
Naomi's story was just awful, it was constantly "let me go do something! SHIT I FUCKED UP WHY DIDN'T I THINK THIS COULD HAPPEN". I guess Holden's tactical and strategic genius finally rubbed off on Naomi. I woulda loved more Drummer and belter viewpoints, a big chunk of that felt really missing and its bizarre given how much time we spent with Naomi fixing cables. Or just more Avasarala and Bobbie, it was a real bummer we barely got any time with them together.
She calls him from prison in an earlier season, basically saying that it might sound pathetic, but she doesn't really have anyone in her life any more, and didn't know who else to use her call on. She says she just remembered that he was nice to her on the Roci on their journey back (as a prisoner). He's taken aback, but seems to come around fairly quickly.One thing I ma not clear on-- what's Amos' connection to Peaches? Why does he care?
Yep, no hesitation recommending them.Assuming you've read the books, can you recommend them to someone who loved the show and enjoys sci-fi literature in general?
After she was captured at the end of season 3, she was returned to Earth for trial (and conviction and sentencing, since her guilt was not exactly in dispute). It was the crew of the Rocinante that took her back. She spent much of that time with Amos. Since she'd been posing as a fake engineer team lead (and gradually learning enough about engineering that she wasn't totally faking it at the end), he had her performing engineering tasks on the ship under his supervision rather than just dumping her in a locked room.One thing I ma not clear on-- what's Amos' connection to Peaches? Why does he care?
She calls him from prison in an earlier season, basically saying that it might sound pathetic, but she doesn't really have anyone in her life any more, and didn't know who else to use her call on. She says she just remembered that he was nice to her on the Roci on their journey back (as a prisoner). He's taken aback, but seems to come around fairly quickly.
Oh shit yeah, I forgot that (very important!) detail.Also she wanted to confirm that he had purposely left the controls on the airlock unlocked during a certain job on the Roci, giving her the option to space herself, as a kindness to her. Which he had, since given the reverse circumstance he would have appreciated having the option.
It's kind of an affecting scene, so i remembered it very well, but it was easy to forget since it was all packed into that first setup episode in Season 4
Thanks! Looking forward to starting them.
Book Bull is great, and there's a couple of characters that TV Drummer drew inspiration from that are pretty cool.I really want to start reading the books, but I was sad to learn Klaes Ashford is a completely different (and much worse) character in the books.
For those of you who read them, are there cool/badass/funny characters that weren't in the show to make up for Klaes?
Season 6 is confirmed as book 6, plus potential new material.Completed S5 now, still the best show in sci fi right now by a huge margin. Naoimi's story was incredible, I think what makes this show so good is that they keep that human element at the core of it.
How many more seasons does this show have in it, based on the original material?
Book Bull is great, and there's a couple of characters that TV Drummer drew inspiration from that are pretty cool.
There's a character in Cibola Burns, a love interest of Elvi, that was omitted from the show who's quite fun.
You're welcome. I hope you enjoy the books.
I'd recommend reading the books yes. They're different enough from the TV show to provide some fresh perspectives on the characters and the world of The Expanse.Just wanted to say, that I loved The Expanse. I heard the first time that it exists when season 5 started. I watched some episodes and was hooked. I have to say that the first two seasons were my favorites though, the last one was somewhat entertaining, but also a lot of Naomi gasping for air and all the family drama nonsense.
Man, the universe offers so many possibilities. Is it worth reading the books after finishing the 5 TV seasons?
Thanks, I have still some unused Audible credits waiting to be used and the reviews are good. Will use them for the first books in the series :)You're welcome. I hope you enjoy the books.
I'd recommend reading the books yes. They're different enough from the TV show to provide some fresh perspectives on the characters and the world of The Expanse.
For now, reading books 1-5 would be ideal, as reading book 6 will spoil season 6 for you. Books 7-9 would be best read after season 6 ends.
Oh geez! For All Mankind starts up again in 2 weeks? Do you know when they announced that date? There was a trailer last year sometime, but I hadn't seen anything since.Don't miss For All Mankind as well. Second season starts later this month!
Oh geez! For All Mankind starts up again in 2 weeks? Do you know when they announced that date? There was a trailer last year sometime, but I hadn't seen anything since.