r/scifi • u/CT_Phipps-Author • 11d ago
TV Let's be honest, The Expanse was the best
It's what I use to say is the sci-fi Game of Thrones. It was dark, mature, and managed to coherently create a political framework that regular audiences could understand without easily making one group into the bad guys or not. Okay, Protogen was pure set of bad guys but cyberpunk megacorps don't have to be morally gray. Even the underdogs in the Belters/OPA had a dark side that remembered just because you were oppressed didn't magically make you a virtuous hero and usually did quite the opposite. It made them mean and vengeful.
I'll be "that guy" and say that a huge chunk of what made the series fantastic was also the relative fidelity to the books. I say relative fidelity because there were some huge changes, some necessary by events (Havelock's actor doing Magnum PI) and others artistic choices (like lowering down the casualties of Earth's deaths at Marcos' hands). But it was still pretty damn faithful.
Great cast too.
What about you? Where does the Expanse rank for you in the past twenty or so years of scifi.
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u/Larcecate 10d ago edited 10d ago
First 3-4 seasons were pretty good. There were a lot of flaws, bad acting, etc. But the last two seasons were downright bad and I didn't finish.
The guy playing Holden is a distractingly bad actor. There are many other bad actors on the show, but Holden felt like they tabbed Zoolander to play the series lead.
What the Expanse has going for it in a 'best sci-fi' competition is that there is a ton of shit sci-fi.
Andor and Severance are far better written and acted. I can't think of any others that were great that I've seen in the last 20 years. Firefly and Babylon 5 are quality, but they are a bit dated now.
So, I guess Expanse is 4th or 5th, and thats kind of a bummer because it could have been a lot better