Anything out there close to as decent as The Expanse (is/was)?

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

I only started watching the Expanse this year - and really enjoyed it.  Having finished the 6.5 seasons... I'm inclined to watch more good sci-fi.

Unfortunately, I don't know what to look for.  There is SOOOO much chaff out there.

Tried "Dark Matter" and found it 'meh.'  (Got through 2, maybe 3 episodes - does it get better???)

Any other good 'space' themed Sci-fi?

...

 

 

Or - any good scifi shows for that matter:

I did really like 'Dark' a German sci-fi series.

(Although "Dark" while fantastic - is not 'space')  

HIGHLY recommend watching this in the original German (w/subtitles where necessary).  This was an unexpectedly compelling show and I really enjoyed it.  (Do yourself a favor and DON'T read up on this; let yourself discover it along the way!)

Really, at this point I'll take any recommendations for good, compelling stories.

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by JoeSchmuckatelli

[kerbiloid]

Sci - unlikely. Fi  - maybe Killjoys.

Dark Matter is like Firefly, either you like the atmosphere, or you don't. Not a hard sci-fi anyway.
(Too much samurai for a space sci-fi. for my taste. Besides that, I like this series.)

 

[StrandedonEarth]

Have you tried the Battlestar Galactic reboot (2003 or so)? Even my wife enjoyed that, and she’s not much of a sci-fi fan. But then, there’s a lot of things she’ll watch if there’s eye candy for her (Apollo for her, Six for me…)

Edited July 5, 2022 by StrandedonEarth

[Kerbart]

For all mankind (The Expanse has some easter eggs referring to it, not sure if you can see that as a nod of approval, but still...)

Star Trek Discovery, and its spinoff Strange New Worlds is doing surprisingly well for me but then again I always liked Star Trek. The science part is of course 0.0 but the stories are compelling and go deeper than just plain action.

[Gargamel]

4 hours ago, Kerbart said:

For all mankind (The Expanse has some easter eggs referring to it, not sure if you can see that as a nod of approval, but still...)

Wut?  Explain please    

 

The “problem” with “The Expanse” is that they took Hard Sci Fi and went way beyond it.      Most of the true hard sci-fi stuff wouldn’t actually work when you sit down and crunch the numbers, at least not in the way they showed it.    And then they have a magic molecule that does so many different things.  And not once, not once, did I question any of it.  Those two writers found the magic path right in between real science and outlandish bafoonery and walked right down the middle of it.   Superbly done. 
 

And you’re going to be hard pressed to find another show / book that finds that perfect balance between realism and fiction. 

[Kerbart]

35 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

Wut?  Explain please   

Season 5, Episode 1, about 47m in, "Established 1973"

I'll admit that I didn't find out this one myself, but it's pretty cool.

 

I agree that the science in the show isn't as exact as some of the fans claim to be, but that they make it feel exact, which is the hallmark of any great hard science fiction.

[Gargamel]

Just now, Kerbart said:

I agree that the science in the show isn't as exact as some of the fans claim to be, but that they make it feel exact, which is the hallmark of any great hard science fiction.

And that’s my point.   It just felt right. 
 

I see your pic, I see the time stamp, I still dont believe you.    Guess I’ll have to go look myself.  

Well dang.    There it is.    That blows my mind.  
 

 

Anyways, @JoeSchmuckatelli, the only novel/show that really made me feel similar was 2001.   

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

8 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Battlestar Galactic reboot

I remember really enjoying Caprica.  I'll check out the reboot; don't remember seeing any of that

[Gargamel]

Just now, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

I remember really enjoying Caprica.  I'll check out the reboot; don't remember seeing any of that

Oh my, you enjoyed caprica?   Well then, you’re in for a very pleasant surprise.   I couldn’t get through 3-4 episodes of it, as it couldn’t hold a candle to the BSG series it spun off from.  

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

4 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

Oh my, you enjoyed caprica?   Well then, you’re in for a very pleasant surprise.   I couldn’t get through 3-4 episodes of it, as it couldn’t hold a candle to the BSG series it spun off from.  

Mind you - I'm remembering.  There's a LOT of shows I remember enjoying... and then went back to and was like, "What in the why?"

[Gargamel]

23 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Mind you - I'm remembering.  There's a LOT of shows I remember enjoying... and then went back to and was like, "What in the why?"

Well…. I’ll throw Stargate Universe in there, it’s my personal favorite.    But then you might need 12-15 seasons of SG1/SGA as background for SGU to make sense.     And yes, I do think SG1 is better than Star Trek, so there’s some administration of sodium chloride involved here.  

[StrandedonEarth]

35 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Mind you - I'm remembering.  There's a LOT of shows I remember enjoying... and then went back to and was like, "What in the why?"

Yeah, I gave up on Caprica after a few episodes, But what was cool was seeing the Vancouver Skytrain get blown up. Okay, it was dressed up and probably CGI’d, but some of that location footage was SO familiar. Because it was my old stomping grounds  

BSG was much better though 

[kerbiloid]

2 hours ago, Kerbart said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expanse_(TV_series)	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(TV_series)
Executive producers Naren Shankar Mark Fergus Hawk Ostby Sean Daniel Jason F. Brown Sharon Hall Broderick Johnson Andrew Kosove Laura Lancaster Daniel Abraham Ty Franck Dan Nowak Ben Roberts	Executive producers Ronald D. Moore Matt Wolpert Ben Nedivi Maril Davis Seth Gordon Naren Shankar

This man was definitely suspecting something...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naren_Shankar

Quote

As a writer and producer, Shankar has contributed with works for Farscape, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Night Visions, The Outer Limits, The Chronicle, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, seaQuest 2032, Grimm, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

.... either a crossover of Universes, or the next series promo action.

P.S.
"Jamestown" sounds very original for a first American base.

They hadn't opted to name it Roanoke.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

On 7/6/2022 at 12:54 AM, kerbiloid said:

name it Roanoke

404 Colony Not Found 

[DDE]

On 7/5/2022 at 5:43 AM, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Tried "Dark Matter" and found it 'meh.'  (Got through 2, maybe 3 episodes - does it get better???)

From what little I'd seen of it, it looked like the "cheap" character-driven sci-fi of the 1990s.

On 7/6/2022 at 6:42 AM, StrandedonEarth said:

Yeah, I gave up on Caprica after a few episodes, But what was cool was seeing the Vancouver Skytrain get blown up. Okay, it was dressed up and probably CGI’d, but some of that location footage was SO familiar. Because it was my old stomping grounds

"Please let it not be another Vancouver pine planet..."

[kerbiloid]

18 minutes ago, DDE said:

From what little I'd seen of it, it looked like the "cheap" character-driven sci-fi of the 1990s.

Cheap? What do you mean by "cheap"? 
It's perfectly minimalistic, and definitely not of the 1990s, it's a 2000s style, close to the Neil Johnson's Nephilim saga (Humanity's End, Rogue Warrior, Starship Rising, Starship Apocalypse, etc.), Scavengers, Metal Hurlant. 

This is cheap, and it's perfect in its cheapness. A true masterpiece of DIY.

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijon_Tichy:_Space_Pilot

 

Edited July 8, 2022 by kerbiloid

[Nuke]

babylon 5. 

14 hours ago, DDE said:

"Please let it not be another Vancouver pine planet..."

canada has some good actors but they have some terrible shooting locations that all look the same, and being in alaska i get the same scenery from my deck. hollywood is at least a couple hours distance from more varied biomes. its only down side is that it exists in the state of california. 

[kerbiloid]

44 minutes ago, Nuke said:

canada

Oh, yes, Canada and Germany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexx

[StrandedonEarth]

6 hours ago, Nuke said:

canada has some good actors but they have some terrible shooting locations that all look the same, and being in alaska i get the same scenery from my deck. hollywood is at least a couple hours distance from more varied biomes. its only down side is that it exists in the state of california. 

Hey, we have plenty of mountains, and are only a few hours away from desert scrubland in the Okanogan Valley. Granted, not the same desolate desert as the Mojave, but still...