For those of you familiar with the Expanse series by authors Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham (writing under the name James S.A. Corey), the long-awaited television adaptation is about to get underway in earnest on the SyFy Network. To whet the appetites of potential viewers, and to build buzz among those of us who have read at least the first novel, Leviathan Wakes, the initial episode has been released online. You can watch it via Youtube, with the link/video posted below.
My non-spoiler thoughts:
I thought they did a great job staying faithful to open chapters of the novel. I liked the special effects well enough and feel that the set and ship design we’ve seen thus far fit well with my mental images conjured while reading the novel. I’m reserving judgment on the casting choices simply because we don’t really get a great deal of time with the cast in just this one episode. I did picture Holden older, though.
I’ve read other non-spoiler reviews which follow a similar theme in that a person familiar with the book watched it with someone unfamiliar and the person who hadn’t read the book felt it was a bit confusing getting up to speed. I did the same thing, watching it with Mary, and while she certainly sees that to some degree, she wasn’t overly confused.
I don’t have cable/dish, so I’m not sure that I’ll be able to keep up with the show as it airs, but I’m tempted at this point to either subscribe to streaming or to pay for each individual episode if they end up available on Amazon Prime. We’ll see how it goes. Thus far, I’m in.
If you’ve seen the episode, or watch it soon, feel free to engage in a more spoiler-filled discussion in the comments. Please head each of those comments with the SPOILER tag.
I didn’t know they were making this. I am impressed with the first episode. I agree that they stayed true to the opening chapters. You can see that the authors were involved in the production because the look and feel are consistent with what they described. As I watched, I caught myself tying to recall elements from the book to identify characters, but I needn’t have bothered as they were set up pretty well.
I also pictured Holden as being older, but perhaps this works better as a way to explain some of his impetuous actions. None of the other characters appeared to be ill cast so far.
I’d like to see more, but like you, I’ll have to see what options there will be for cable cutters. Thank you for sharing.
I was hoping you would watch it and let me know what you thought. It has been so long since I’ve read the book that I wasn’t sure I would remember much about it, but as things were unfolding I kept finding myself thinking “oh…this should happen next” and by and large it did.
I noticed Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham were listed as producers. Hopefully they have some good input throughout the series.
The book series is very descriptive, at times frustratingly so, except every time I thought that I also recognized it had to be in order for the reader to have the necessary context for the world they had created. Adding the visual component goes a long way in advancing the storyline while not skipping that context. I like the way they kept the belter language as well.
My only nitpick was with Miller’s quarters, which seemed far more dreary in the book, but the balcony was necessary to set up the character’s next action.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS
I liked the Belter language too, and the way they represented them physically.
I envision Holder as being about 35-40, so – I didn’t watch – if he’s portrayed younger than that it’s a mistake, which doesn’t bode well. I wonder how many episodes they will give each book. Does this episode end where the first book does?
Oh heck no, I think they are comparing it to Game of Thrones because each season will be one of the books, if not just part of a book. No way they could even make a story that would make any sense if they tried to cram the book into 46 minutes.
Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to you!
Thanks, and to you guys too.
We had the same thing happen at my house, my husband has read the book but I have not. I did find it a bit confusing but it all eventually began to come together and I am looking forward to seeing more 🙂
They did cram an awful lot of set up and book information into that one short episode, so I’m not surprised that it would be a bit confusing for someone coming in cold. I think they rushed the opening explanation text on the various places/people groups, but I understand why given that they wanted to just get right into the story.
I saw it a few days ago with some friends who have not read the books (even though I’ve been pushing them for ages): overall, they had no problems following the story, even though they agreed that a second viewing would help them. For my part, I think they did a wonderful job giving necessary information in dialogues that avoided any info-dump, and the visuals provided the rest of the information. Very stunning visuals as that…
Like other posters, the actor portraying Holden does look a bit on the young side, and Miller is not shabby enough 🙂 but so far I’m not displeased with the choices. Time will tell, of course.