The Expanse
February 18, 2016 by admin_name
The Expanse
released 2015
www.ink2quill.com
”The Expanse” is an American TV series, sci-fi, mystery, drama and maybe even political thriller based on a novel series of the same name by James S. A. Corey. It is produced by Broderick Johnson, Andrew Kosov, Sharon Hall, Sean Daniel, Jason F. Brown, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby and stars Thomas Jane, Steven Strait, Dominique Tipper, Cas Anvar, Wes Chatham, Florence Faivre, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Shawn Doyle, Chad L. Coleman, Athena Karkanis, Paulo Costanzo, Drew Carrymore, Jay Hernandez, Lola Glaudini, Brian George, Elias Toufexis, Greg Bryk, Kevin Hanchard and Jared Harris. Clinton Shorter is the composer.
The story takes place in the future where the solar system has been colonized and factions of humanity are struggling for survival amid a battle over precious resources like water and even gravity. We see the contrasting standard of living between life on Earth, which is really luxurious, compared to the way most of humanity live. Such as the case of the belters who don´t have enough air, water, gravity or food. This is a very harsh picture of society 200 years from now where most of humanity has a very hard life. There is advanced technology for travel and warfare but none of that technology seems to trickle down to aid in humanity´s serious day to day problems. The attention to detail in this series makes it so interesting. For example when we see the effects of low gravity on the belters. This deficiency negatively effects their lives from craddle to grave. In this sci-fi universe being downtrodden is far worse than it is today. In this story humanity has spread out to the stars at a terrible cost.
The way the different plots of the characters are interwoven through a seemingly sinister plot in the background is fantastic. You have detective Josephus Miller, played by Thomas James who is looking for Julie Moa, played by Florence Faivre, and the storyline with James Holden, played by Steven Strait. Both those storylines intersect beautifully with the storyline of Chrisjen Avasarala, played by Shohreh Aghdashloo, looming in the background and influencing events across the solar system. To top it all off you have a frightening technology or intelligence that threatens the very existence of humanity. Josephus Miller and James Holden are both likeable characters with interesting backgrounds and possibly converging interests. So maybe we´ll see some cooperation.
And the people who are the most interesting, in my opinion. The center of the story, as far as I’m considered, are The Belters. These are the people who literally support the economies of Mars, Earth and the colonies like the asteroid Ceres. They live in constant want of life’s essentials, even gravity and water. They do the hardest most dangerous jobs and are nonetheless looked down. Things have not evolved much as far as the way people treat each other. The Belters mine for minerals and ice and maintain the infrastructure out in space. There is a chilling scene in the forst episode were a belter is being tortured on Earth by simplly being left under the weight of Earth’s gravity. His organs, including his lungs, are being crushed by Earth’s gravity while he is being interrogated. Gravity in the asteroid belt is much weaker. This belter is frail and with bones and limbs grown long and slim from lack of gravity and proper nutrition. The Belters live about half as long as people on Earth.
”The Expanse” is a very well crafted tale with excellent world building and fine acting. It´s one of the best sci-fi TV series out today. It is a plausible view of humanity´s future where we have overcome great technological barriers and expanded out into the universe at great expense to our fellow human beings.
So, check out “The Expanse” because it’s a great, well thought out story complete with a convincing picture of a possible future waiting for humankind. It’s complete with interesting technology, political intrigues and machinations and the cautionary message on the importance of quality of life for everyone.
John Ink2Quill
I2Q
Comments
Comments are closed.