What are you watching?

[Landlubber]

I've heard the same argument about Firefly--it was on TV too early. The show aired in 2002, and there was nothing like it on the major networks or even the major cable networks at the time, except possibly Enterprise--but even that was on UPN, not a "major" cable network like USA, TNT, etc. But look at the TV landscape today, and over the past several years: Lost, Smallville, Colony, The Walking Dead, Fringe, not to mention the BSG reboot...and many others. The quality of all these shows is debatable, but that's not my point--my point is that they were all on TV, and all (rightly or wrongly) for better or worse. And that's not even counting all the sci-fi and comic book awesomeness we've had in the theaters over the past 3-4 years. I've heard it argued before that if Firefly had premiered in today's TV landscape, it probably would have survived.

I would watch a reboot of B5. My issue with the show was never the story and plot (although some of the non-story arc episodes were a little silly). I just couldn't see past the poorly-made sets, bad special effects (I know it was the dawn of CGI, but still), and the poor acting on the part of some of the cast members.

[Dakkar]

I just couldn't see past the poorly-made sets, bad special effects (I know it was the dawn of CGI, but still), and the poor acting on the part of some of the cast members.

"Your loss, Sheldon ... " 

I still say the production values, acting, etc were no worse than time-comparable Trek. And even with the CGI being done on basically Amiga Video Toaster, they managed some great stuff. Season 3 and 4 battle scenes left DS9 scrambling to keep up!

[Landlubber]

Sheldon said that B5 was derivative. I don't think that...I just had the other issues with the show that I already mentioned.

I dunno. ST: TNG looked better to me than B5. Might be because I still look at TNG through nostalgia-tinted goggles, whereas B5 is relatively "new" to me. I'm about the only person I know who doesn't like B5, so maybe it is just me.

However, I REALLY like the Starfury starfighter. Makes we wish I'd purchased about 10 of the models back when they were probably $15-$20 at Wal-Mart...now they go for sometimes over a hundred bucks on Ebay.

Speaking of which...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Babylon-5-Gaming-set-2-StarFury-1-Nial-Scale-1-270-Unpainted-Assembled-/282249711514?hash=item41b764cf9a:g:8igAAOSwQaJXRvak

How cool are those?

[Landlubber]

Thoughts on the latest episode of The Expanse...

[spoiler]

I'm really enjoying the show, however...some of the events in the most recent episode weren't explained very well. Like, the fact that both Earth and Mars had a crap-ton of ships in orbit over Ganymede. Luckily I've read the first two books, so I'm familiar with what was going on, but I had to explain that scene to my wife, since they didn't really explain that about the ships. There have been one or two other small things like that so far, but nothing too difficult. But those are small quibbles...otherwise, I'm really enjoying it.

[/spoiler]

[BrdingPrty1]

Llbr,

Well explain it to me...please.

I was also confused. 

Thanks.

[Landlubber]

OK, here's how I understand it, based on the books (Dale, feel free to jump in and correct me here):

[spoiler]

Ganymede is a huge source of food production in the solar system. As tensions in the system have escalated, Earth and Mars have both positioned large fleets in orbit around Ganymede, and have put troops on the surface (that's why Draper and her squad were there). There are zones of control on the surface, hence the Martian lieutenant warning Draper not to get too close to the UN line. Something happens to jam communications (I think that will be explained in the next episode), and both the Earth and Mars forces assume the jamming is a prelude to the other side striking first, so the shooting starts--both in space above Ganymede, and on the surface. The large structures in orbit around Ganymede are orbital mirrors that focus and amplify sunlight to help the crops grow in the bio-domes on the surface; at the end of the episode, you see at least one of them get destroyed, and the pieces starting hitting Ganymede's surface.

They didn't really explain why the fleets were in orbit around Ganymede, but it's basically a flashpoint--maybe kind of like East and West Germany in the Cold War. Lots of forces staring each other down, and it just takes one spark to cause a major fire.

[/spoiler]

[BrdingPrty1]

Llbr,

Right. That part I got.  I couldn't figure out why the two fleets started shooting. Where they shooting at each other or the stealth ships, or both. Earth forces on the surface seem to have been engaged early on..kind of confusing.

Dale? 

[Landlubber]

As far as I know...

[spoiler]

There were no stealth ships involved...it was just standard Earth and Mars ships firing on each other.

The Earth forces on the surface were indeed engaged early on...but not by the Martians. Remember that thing that was staring into Draper's helmet right at the end of the show?

And remember that the Earth troopers were shooting at something behind them before Draper's squad got knocked out??

[/spoiler]

[Dakkar]

I think Greg's onto it, though ...

[spoiler]It's likely that Stealth Mao-K ships were involved in precipitating the shooting. That would explain why the Martians got punked. And why they were specifically targeting the mirrors - neither side would do that to rain debris down on their own colonies.

The Earth Marines weren't charging the Martians, they were running FROM something, though yeah, that could've been explained by a single line or something.

Bobbie's dead squad all had claw marks on them. Claws.

I'm guessing next week will explain a lot of what happens. [/spoiler]

[Landlubber]

Thanks Dale.

I read a review of this episode a couple days ago where the reviewer opined that this was a good episode, but it had WAY too much stuffed into it. They were trying to give air time to a bunch of different things, and that caused some of the confusion that we're discussing here. For example, while that whole bit about the Epstein Drive was interesting, it wasn't really necessary, and that was time they could have used to better explain what was going on at Ganymede (after all, in a one-hour show, you really only get about 41 minutes of non-commercial material).

Indeed, I wouldn't have understood this episode nearly as well if I hadn't read the book. The events of this episode occur at the beginning of the second book of the series--all of season one, and the first five episodes of season two, pretty much only cover the events of the first book.

On a separate topic...is anyone else here following the show "Colony" on USA? Really good stuff, alien occupation of Earth, main character is the actor who played Sawyer on Lost. It's about halfway through its second season now (short seasons like The Expanse).

[BrdingPrty1]

DUnz. Llbr,

Yes, I was leaning toward some type of stealth ship sneak attack. They would have it easy, just start shooting. Earth & Mars ships would be at a disadvantage not wanting to hit the solar arrays or each other.

I agree, that only the stealth ships would be firing on the solar arrays. I might have to pick up the books.

@Llbr
Watched season one of Colony, liked it. Season two is pegged on the DVR.

[Ruckdog]

In regards to the Expanse, I felt like last week's episode was a bit of a return to the earlier part of the first season. If you recall, the show wasn't afraid to throw a bunch of stuff at the audience without much explanation then, either. That's one of the things I like about what the show runners are doing with this series; they don't do much hand-holding, challenging the audience to pay close attention!

In other news, Star Wars Rebels has been getting really, really good as of late!

[Dakkar]

If you recall, the show wasn't afraid to throw a bunch of stuff at the audience without much explanation then, either. That's one of the things I like about what the show runners are doing with this series; they don't do much hand-holding, challenging the audience to pay close attention!

Having the actual authors on the writing staff probably influences that.
If you paid close attention in the Marine scene, you saw that the UN Marines in the distance were being chased, not charging.

As long as they explain a little more in the follow-up, with flashbacks, they'll keep viewers on board.

They also didn't explain or handhold why[spoiler] Eros changing course and moving without inertia[/spoiler] was a crazy jaw-dropping thing. Even Machelle "got it" though, because of the way they emphasize the physics elsewhere.

[Landlubber]

Yeah, you really do have to pay attention or you'll miss something. That seems to be a trend with these short-season shows--there usually aren't "filler" episodes. Orphan Black, Downton Abbey, and Colony are all like that as well.

Speaking of Colony, BrdingPrty, glad to know at least one other person is watching it. If you haven't started season two yet, well, buckle up--it gets REAL.

Rewatched the latest episode of The Expanse tonight, and I noticed...

[spoiler]

Right at the end of the episode, as Draper is looking up at the creature/monster and the drone is hovering overhead, a red light appears on the drone and you see a bluish-white light in the monster's chest, and then everything turns white and you hear a muffled explosion. I forgot about that in the books.

[/spoiler]

[Landlubber]

I also like that pretty much all the ships in The Expanse are controlled by tablets. No huge interface, no control yoke, just a little tablet computer.