I've nearly finished season 1, and short of reading the books (which I'm intending to do), am somewhat at a loss for a good sci-fi series that can match it to watch next. To me it's the best sci-fi on TV since Battlestar Galactica (leaving aside the later seasons of that one).
Can anybody recommend anything else that comes close to The Expanse? Not really interested in "Adventure of the week" style space operas.
Westworld isn't in space but is good scfi.
The 100 can be decent but is also borderline teenie bopper BS. Considering that fact and the inconsistent writing it can be good at times.
I feel like I'm the only person who loves The 100. If you can get past the 1st 4 episodes it loses the teenie-bopper-ness.
No f@cking sh`t lady does it sound like I'm ordering a pizza!
Syfy had 2 miniseries that ran about 2-3 years ago called "Childhoods End" and "Ascension" that I thought were pretty interesting. Both proved disappointing to me, Childhood's End more than Ascension. I thought Ascension was pretty good up until the ending though. A lot of people really liked both though and I feel they are worth a look. I was hoping Syfy would do more miniseries, but that hasn't been the case so far.
shareNo, it really doesn't. There are endless unecessary dialogue scenes about "hard decisions" and "I had to do it" stuff, and periodic unrealistic fight scenes or stupid little story elements, all the way through.
But it's still watchable because of the larger plot elements, which only degrade somewhat in S2 but then recover and stay interesting from the end of S2 and onward.
Only the first season of Westworld is good.
shareThe special effects are dated now, but I highly recommend Babylon 5. The majority of the show is set on the station, though as it progresses there is more in space. And it's definitely not an adventure of the week show.
shareWhy not just suggest Star Trek TNG or VOY or DS9? They are superior to B5 and they are nowhere near as dated becasue of their far superior visual effects.
shareWell Firefly and the movie Serenity of course. If you haven't watched it already. Quite similar in tone.
And Deep Space 9, probably the best of the Star Trek shows.
How is Firefly and Serenity anywhere close to Expanse?
Firefly is a space cowboy story with quite a bit of balanced humor, takes serious topics, make them funny, relevant and yet adding action to it! All with a brilliant overarching storyline, that was never finished because F@#K YOU Fox, that's why.
The Expanse is on the other hand a very serious tv series about an impending war between 3 human colonies, to get the upper hand.
Ranting aside, please do watch Firefly. It's a timeless classic. Like Lost.
Well it's closer together than Star Trek, sasa ke? Maybe "tone" is the wrong word, but they have several themes in common. I also wrote this after reading the expanse book 1 which is more humorous I think.
* Relatively realistic "gritty" space ships
* Dysfunctional family in space
* Underdogs / outlaws against the big guys
* Colorful and slightly dystopian culture of mega corps or government
BTW I thought Serenity finished the overarching storyline perfectly? You can even watch the movie before or after the series.
Well, they had to rush all of it didn't they? I mean if it were regular seasons, we would have just touched the tip of those outer rim madness in season 1. The cliffhanger might have been something like the threat of the bloodthirsty Reavers is imminent, and they are closer to discovering what exactly happened out there.
Also don't you, like, live the universe of Firefly for very long seasons? I mean their merc episodes were so fun to watch!
Oh the merc episode was a masterpiece. "I'm the ship" and all that haha.
And yeah, it's sad it only had only one season, but it also has it's advantages. Series almost always get weaker over time or start to suck. If it went on and started to suck with a bad, boring ending it would have been worse. Instead, it ended in it's prime. Sad but good.
And we got one of the best sci-fi movies of all times with Serenity. I watched that movie first and couldn't believe there was a series that fit so amazingly into it.
Don't you think that The Expanse is a little bit inspired by Firefly? (Firefly came out 2002, The Expanse 2011). Or maybe there are a ton of other sci-fi novellas that I don't know about, but it seems likely to me. At least on screen, we almost always had spaceships being official or military.
Just want to put in my 2 cents that I still think Serenity is the best sci-fi adventure film I've seen in my lifetime.
I had never heard of Firefly, and I thought it was going to be another brainless time-waster from the previews I saw, but the line from the preview from the Captain about 'we might experience some slight turbulence and then... explode' stuck in my mind from the previews. It was clever and funny enough that I decided to give the show a chance since I had time to burn on a Saturday a week after it came out.
I was actually slightly late to the show, coming in just as the escape scene was concluding and the Operative was being introduced. The dialogue and acting were so superb I stood rooted and had trouble finding my seat as I didn't want to look away from the screen.
What an incredible unknown gem! I was blown away by Serenity, and delighted to later find out that there was a tv series too. I think Firefly is terrific, but Serenity is still my all time favorite sci-fi adventure film (eat your heart out Star Wars).
I saw similarities with the Expanse back when I was first reading Leviathan Wakes years ago, at least between the crew of the Roci and the crew of the Serenity. I was excited when I heard that the Expanse was being made into a tv series, then dejected when I found out it would be done by Syfy, then elated when it came out and proved to be far superior in quality to what I was expecting. It might have been done by Syfy, but it was clear they had put in HBO-level quality, and importantly they had 'stuck to the story', maybe only the 2nd time that has happened in the history of tv? (after Game of Thrones). Or maybe there are other examples that I don't know about. I thought the Last Kingdom was pretty good, but I haven't read the novels it is based on, so for all I know it wildly diverges from the original plot...
I didn't want to pick a fight just to express disagreement when there is no need, but I strenuously disagree with your evaluation of Serenity. I put Serenity as a 2 star movie, even normed for the genre. There are many, many objectionable elements, but I'll just give two which really bothered me.
1) Summer Glau's character is special because of mental abilities. Why do they make her into a completely unbelievable super fighter as well? She weighs 100 lb. and has no muscle at all. It's preposterous
2) This one bothered me more. I don't like sci-fi movies which have no concept of the size of space. In Serenity, they pass through a Sargasso of ships between two outer planets---densely packed ships. This is completely ridiculous, physically. It is possible that the orbit of one planet could be difficult because of space junk, but the space between two planets is so vast this could never happen.
One of the nice things about the Expanse is that it makes space seem big again---bigger than in Star Drek.
Also, Expanse uses real photos of Ceres, which is extremely cool.
About 1), well, it's a tv trope for sure. The idea behind that line "No Power in the Verse Can Stop Me" is precisely that - she sees any attack of the reavers coming before they even start it and simply computes a solution to a complex geometrical problem and executes a series of attacks flawlessly, with inhuman speed and precision. In other words she's a typical comic book hero.
If you do want to criticise her, you could call her a mary sue except that she is nuts, or maybe a "manic pixie dream girl" for the view that is just too perfect to be true.
Luckily, nothing like that in The Expanse! :)
One of the nice things about the Expanse is that it makes space seem big again
bigger than in Star Drek.
If you are talking about the relationship of the crew of Rocinate, I would ahve to agree that It feels really close to the crew of Serenity.
shareIt's an excellent space sci-fi series, which is what OP was asking about. The shows are certainly different in tone, but there are also quite a lot of elements they have in common (mismatched ragtag crew against impossible odds, big evil corporations, colonisation of space, belter creole/chinese-english, both semi-serious about hard sci-fi, etc etc)
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
The OP asked for "as good as", not similar.
shareI think Deep Space 9 is more of a political and religious drama than a Sifi.
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
Star Trek has always been more philosophical science fiction with elements of fantasy (telepathy and neural energy etc) and romance and drama. But it's definitely Sci-Fi. What makes DS9 distinct from all the other star trek shows is that it's the only series that dealt with a real bloody war, not just occasional "oops misunderstanding, here lets be friends again".
shareWell, a lot of ST episodes touch on Cold War themes or the results of all-out war. They're just not action-based war series.
DS9 was based largely on war (once the war kicked off), but that's not the only thing that distinguishes it from previous Trek.
Its primary strength was its long, multi-season plot arcs. Also, the Ferengis provide much more comedic relief than any other series.
What I disliked was the lack of exploration and, as cooleon mentioned, it's somewhat religious. I know it was integral to the plot arc, but the Bjorans as a species are sorta annoying and just make very little sense (a caste-based agrarian theocracy that achieved warp travel before any other race). And once Sisko got religious I found his character very hard to stomach. It's not that there can't be good religious characters in sci-fi. It's more that the spirituality is depicted/written in such a way that it's like a lot of Christian movies, where inane religiosity is presented as if blathering on and on about faith automatically makes you deep and intellectual. Luckily, Sisko's "prophet" phase doesn't last so long, but there are still a lot of facepalm-inducing conversations between Sisko and Kira.
Good points.
Curious though, I didn't have any problems with the religious aspects even though I'm an atheist. And yeah you are right the Bajorans are kind of fundamentalist. And I think the show is rather critical of these "false" dogmas, and much of the rules are just part of the organized religion and not from the prophets at all.
The religious aspects don't really feel like religion to me, more like fantasy. Or technology disguised as magic. Because the Gods are real and just wormhole aliens living out of time. You can always kill them with some techno babble.
So it never felt like a religious drama to me.
DS9, similar to The Expanse? That doesn't even work as a joke. (And no, it's not the best Trek either. Maybe a candidate for last place among the Trek series.)
shareDS9, similar to The Expanse? That doesn't even work as a joke. (And no, it's not the best Trek either. Maybe a candidate for last place among the Trek series. Star Trek is about trekking through the stars, not getting bogged down in some stupid war.)
shareIf they ever make a series based on Kim Stanley Robinson's Red/Green/Blue Mars books, it will rival the Expanse.
I've read all but the latest Expanse books and just finished Red Mars (and starting Green Mars), and there's a lot of interesting overlap.
Both books use corporations as kind of the ultimate bad guy, deal with complex problems which stem from Earth's overpopulation and resource problems and political conflicts between people bound to space vs. people from Earth.
In some ways, the Red Mars series could almost transition into the Expanse series as its future. The big development that Expanse has that Red Mars doesn't is the Epstein drive which allows for continuous 1-G acceleration which puts the outer planets within reach, but not other solar systems unless you build a generation ship.
Well if we are on the topic of other really good sci-fi book series, I'd suggest they make a series out of these ones:
Pandora's Star - Peter F. Hamilton - Commonwealth Saga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Saga
Epic sci-fi book series with one of the most evil and scary space aliens imaginable.
Revelation Space - Alistair Reynolds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revelation_Space
Explores the idea of an interstellar society where "lighthuggers" travel for years between the stars, edging closer and closer to light speed.
Old Man's War - John Scalzi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man's_War
A great sci-fi novel with many cool ideas, aliens, space combat, romance and lots of humor.
Would love to see them do a tv series based on the Commonwealth series by Peter Hamilton, by far my favorite of those series you have listed.
I was also very happy to hear that the Takeshi Kovacs series (Altered Carbon) will soon be coming from Netflix, that's definitely in my top 3 sci-fi literature of all time.
It would be crazy expensive if they did it justice, but I really think Neal Asher's Polity series would make for an awesome premium tv show. Actually, I suppose it the Commonwealth would also be similarly crazy expensive.
They were actually making Red Mars into a series but it got dropped. To ambitious I believe.
shareRed Mars would make a good "based on" series but the book itself delves far too deep into the minds of its characters and the "action" is often just endless driving across the planet. The tail end of the book has a lot more "action", but IMHO that'd be something I'd criticize about the book, as the larger events seemed to compressed.
It also has kind of weird chronology, skipping a number of years ahead on a few occasions which would make for a tough film adaptation.
But if you had the right writer involved, I think you could streamline Red Mars and make a decent series out of it.
I suggest the Stargate franchise, Firefly, Star Trek Deep Space 9, and the movie Serenity.
shareExcatly what i would suggest nice !!
shareAgreed. I also second Westworld and Babylon 9 (which makes a fascinating comparison to DS9... there was even a plagiarism lawsuit).
And for far-out, witty, marvelously imaginative Sci-Fi, Farscape. Admittedly different in tone, but an incredible series nonetheless.
I also confess to liking the reboot of Doctor Who and the Torchwood spinoff.
Finally, while they're not space operas, Fringe, Dollhouse and Orphan Black share the same slightly noirish ambiance.
He just told you he didn't want any "adventure of the week" stuff and you're still wasting his time recommending Stargate.
shareI read awhile back they (someone) were going to make a series based on Asimov's Foundation books - but haven't seen any more about it.
Anyone know anything?
Deep Space 9 is a great show. Not as 'gritty' as this and more optimistic being Star Trek but it does have its darker moments and just a great war arc.
Hopefully the new Star Trek show will be good too. But Expanse surprised me. I never even knew what it was until a month ago and was really really good. Not for everyone but very impactful.
I can't explain my taste, but Voyager is the later Trek series for which I have the most affection. Yes, there were a lot of corny episodes, but there were more episodes based on moral dilemmas, as in the original. Janeway had charisma, too.
TNG is fine, but just too dated for me now. Enterprise was just awful.
DS9 had its moments, but I didn't appreciate the respect paid to magic and religion. That was really against the spirit of the original.
Yes TOS which had several episodes and lines of dialogue that focused on the positives of Christianity. Much prefer DS9 which had a more nuanced view in Religion.
Voyager characters didn't grow or change at all in 7 years
For space shows, your other options for current shows are Dark Matter and Killjoys, neither of which is as good as The Expanse in my opinion. I've watched all of Dark Matter, it has a serialized plot, but it's episodes are also somewhat adventure of the week, especially at the beginning.
For non-space sci-fi, Orphan Black is awesome and I think comparable to The Expanse as far as being a complex story with mystery, it's just not set in space.
Man and that lead actress can sure act! She plays so many parts and I often forget it's the same person.
Dark Matter just keeps getting better, but agree it's not as good as Expanse. I haven't heard of killjoys.
That's what I was going to say, with Dark Matter having the higher production quality (shinier tech) and better acting but less of a compelling season-long or series-long Story going on, and Killjoys having the reverse: interesting long-term story (though it's not the only thing being focused on) but weaker acting and cheaper looking production.
Bonus: like The Expanse, Killjoys also features a kind of "special goo" that plays a big part in the long-term story. :)
LEXX.
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