The Expanse

Damn. If the Syfy (I hate that abbreviation) Channel would show more stuff like this and less from The Asylum, I'd watch it more. This is simply great SF. The physics of space travel are as realistic as can be. The characters, from Miller the beat up Belter Cop, to Amos the Earther, to Holden the righteous captain by default and the places, Ceres, Tycho, Earth and Mars are all well defined and believable. The sfx is brilliant and the ship designs look like they've evolved from what we use today. The situations, different governments vying for power, resources and land, are all excellently done. A really great adaptation of a really great book series. This should be watched by anyone who even claims to be a sf fan.

The Expanse is a sci-fi series that takes place hundreds of years in the future where humanity has colonized the solar system and where Mars has become an independent military power. Tensions between Earth and Mars have put them at the brink of war. It follows a space ship and it's crew as the race through the solar system exposing one of the greatest conspiracy theories in human history. I never watched this show while it was on cable but finally started watching it once Amazon Prime Video picked it up. I just heard so many great things about it and how it was one the best sci-fi shows ever created. I'm glad I finally gave in and watched it because I couldn't agree more...this is one of the better sci-fi shows I've ever seen! I'm so glad Amazon picked it up and continued the show. It got even better at Amazon because they gave them a bigger budget. It just finished the last season and ended on a great note. People are talking about a follow up movie so maybe there's still more to come. We can only hope!

It's hard to even describe how good of a show The Expanse is, especially if you're a sci-fi fan. All you have to do is read through the reviews to see how loved this series is. I don't know anyone who's seen it who doesn't like it. It has an 8.6 rating for a reason. It's so good that I definitely plan on watching it a second time through in the near future. The series just ended after season 6 and even though it had a conclusion to the story and didn't end on some cliffhanger, it still is open ended enough to have another season or movie on the future. If you haven't seen this incredible series yet then do yourself a favor and go watch it immediately. I'm warning you now though to give yourself enough time because you're going to want to binge it as fast as you can.

OMG I love this show. I've seen up through S02E03 on Amazon Prime.

I only gave it a 9 because I don't like to give anything a 10.

Others have gone into good detail of what is good about this show so I'll just add some bullet points that I didn't see covered (although with 250+ reviews I probably just missed 'em)

In no particular order other than stream-of-consciousness:

* Detailed, realistic science fiction * Space behaves like, well, space * Gravity. They did a stellar job with gravity. It isn't perfect. But they emphasize realistic ways to simulate gravity (ships under continuous acceleration, spinning, ring-shaped space stations). And they shut gravity off when appropriate. * Space ship battles are incredibly thoughtfully designed, with an eye for small details. They pump the air out of the ship before a battle, for goodness' sake. I can't think of *any* other scifi space show that goes into these details * Consistency. Characters act consistently. Environments act consistently. * Details. So many details! Mag boots. Ship maneuvers. technology such as computer/handheld devices. All so believable. * Mormons! There are mormons, because, of course there are. And they aren't even the bad guys! (I only state it this way because too often, mysterious religious groups are used as hollywood shorthand for "bad guys"). The presence of Mormons just enriches the worldbuilding. * I love the fact that Eros station just looks like a giant potato with a porthole on its butt. It isn't polished. It isn't flashy. It's grimy and utilitarian. * I love that every move made by a spaceship has corresponding thrusters pushing it in that direction. The space ships do not fly like fighter jets, like they do in other typical sci fi shows. They fly like rocks. * I love the fact that space craft tracking screens look like legitimate space object tracking screens, with curved, mathematically drawn projected trajectories.

I can't gush enough about the "hard" sci-fi elements. I haven't even gushed about the production yet:

* Story is detailed, in-depth, and engaging. It's basically a political/war drama, but it is very well written. * Acting is great. Seriously. Even the throwaway characters are great. * Anyone can die at any time. Very Game-of-Thrones-y in this regard, in a good way. Builds tension very realistically. * Costumes, sets, graphics, cinematography are all excellent

Star Trek. I used to like Star Trek. Have you seen Star Trek Beyond (2016) though? That was terrible. Everything that is done wrong in Star Trek Beyond is done correctly in The Expanse. In fact, I'm not sure I can watch any Star Trek show or movie again after The Expanse.

Ultimately The Expanse feels like a combination of Battlestar Galactica (2005 one) and Firefly, more than any other series I can think of.

This is possibly (probably) the best television or even cinematic experience I have ever seen (particularly in the sci-fi realm). I am very stingy when it comes to TV shows since I feel that often they are inconsistently realized. I created an IMDB account just to drop a review for this one.

I just finished an episode in season 2 that made me cry and just stare at the credits for 2 minutes, motionless. No other show has ever so consistently provided the following for me:

• Non-stop realistic character development and exposition
• emotional gravity and consequences; every action has a reaction and every single second of seemingly unimportant exposure or backstory is relevant to building character and stakes in the story. No fluff here.
• a real and believable world with new thoughts and a reason for everything
• delivered creative, thoughtful, new ideas and plot points which make me question the nature of life and humanity
• great acting from all levels of character

This series reminds a lot of the video game series Mass Effect but with even more consistency and thoughtful execution. Don't miss this, very much underrated in my opinion.