|
Farmer Crack-rear end posted:the future-tech space drive they have (does it work for surface-to-orbit launches as well?) At least some of the launches out of deep gravity wells involve big railguns, if I recall correctly, but I'm not sure it's necessary. A ship that can accelerate over 1g should be able to lift off on its own, no?
|
#
¿
Jan 25, 2016 16:49
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 17, 2024 15:27 |
|
|
Other resources in demand from the belt: lithium, molybdenum, and tungsten, all necessary to make the setting's tech work and all mostly depleted on Earth generations before the show starts.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 28, 2016 03:18
|
|
|
hollylolly posted:What was the space race thing Miller walked in on a few episodes ago when he was trying to track down the data broker? It wasn't explained other than ...well it was a race or something and apparently super dangerous. If I recall correctly, it's an underground Belter thing involving slapping together a tiny, minimally functional ship, doing one big thrust, and then flying on a ballistic trajectory through whatever impressively dangerous path the pilot has picked with nothing but maybe RCS thrusters for steering. withak posted:It was something that appears in the 2nd or 3rd book. Not sure why they threw it in there. Same reason other things are being brought forward: to establish them as part of the setting and flesh out the world in the process.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 1, 2016 20:56
|
|
|
emanresu tnuocca posted:They usually accelerate at about 0.3g unless it's during combat maneuvers and the such. If I recall correctly, that's also about the apparent gravity near the surface of Ceres. Since it's all based on spin, the closer you get to the core, the lower the apparent gravity, and the more disorienting the coriolis effect (because the acceleration difference between your feet and your head is more pronounced). Unsurprisingly, that's where the slums are.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 7, 2016 22:32
|
|
|
gohmak posted:Was Eros not spinning? The star field was not rotating on the exterior shots. It's definitely supposed to be spinning.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 9, 2016 00:44
|
|
|
Re: gun-chat, I really don't think this is a spoiler since it's just basic information about the setting as we've already seen it, but I'll put it in spoiler tags anyway because there's so much blatant book talk going on. Nobody's got shields. Ship-mounted weapons mostly boil down to torpedoes/missiles at long range, railguns at medium range, and point defense machine guns at close range and/or as a missile screen. I don't remember lasers figuring into combat much, if at all. Maybe as part of missile defense. Debris from impacts and ricochets is a concern, many surfaces have some kind of anti-spalling treatment to keep the air from filling up with metal shavings the second combat starts. Even civilian ships have at least some anti-spalling material in their construction, presumably to deal with strikes from small debris.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 11, 2016 00:05
|
|
|
I think the comms-laser-as-weapon line was in reference to the Nauvoo, the Mormon generation ship under construction at Tycho station, which needs to stay in touch from light years away.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 11, 2016 02:33
|
|
|
Duckbag posted:The Ice and Fire books are all great, even the ones people bitch about. Most of what's "wrong" with the last two books amount to narrative choices (leaving fan favorite characters out of Feast while introducing a bunch of new people all at once, for instance), pacing issues, and frustrating cliffhangers followed by loooong waits for the next book. The underlying story is solid though and there's no reason why an adaptation had to carry over the flaws of the books. I'd say the big issue with GoT is how much the adaptation started diverging from the books over time. It would have been fine for the show runners to plot their own course if they knew what they were doing, but pretty much everything they changed or added was awful. Instead of interesting bit characters like Vargo Hoat and Strong Belwas we got such thrilling original characters as sexposition whore and some guy named Locke. Most of the scenes they added were some combination of filler, gratuitous sex/violence, "shocking" reveals (fetus jars, sorceror-in-a-box, etc.) and melodramatic ("where's my dragons?") cliffhangers. People act completely out-0f-character in many of the new scenes and the dialog often seems like an overwrought parody of Martin's actual writing style. These problems were there from the start ( Ros and the pointless brothel scenes are the worst part of season one, the butchered Qarth plotline is the worst part of season 2), but became much more glaring over time because the show kept moving farther and farther from the source material. I mostly agree with you about Game of Thrones vs. A Song of Ice and Fire. The show is so anemic in comparison that it's hard to consider it the same story at all anymore. So far, at least, I don't get that impression from The Expanse. I need to go back and re-read Leviathan Wakes and probably re-watch season 1 of the show, but the changes that stood out to me the first time through largely made sense. It seems to me that there are three broad types of changes in the TV adaptation: changes for TV practicality, expanding on the source material, and do-overs. Some changes, like the spy, probably fall into more than one category, but let's roll with it. I'm sure there's been at least one significant expedience-based change, but I can't think of one off-hand. Introducing Avasarala early is a good example of expanding on the source material. She gives us a look at Earth that we wouldn't otherwise have, and, although we don't see it in the books, it makes sense that she in particular had a hand in Earth's decision-making during the events of the first book. Then there's do-overs, the changes that directly contradict the source material in significant ways. Almost all of the tension among the Rocinante crew falls into this category. I think these changes are where the book authors, who are apparently pretty heavily involved in the show, recognized things they wish they'd done better and decided to use the show as a second chance. Whether the changes really are an improvement is a matter of taste, but personally, I'm on board with them so far.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 15, 2016 21:56
|
|
|
Winding up on a boarding party is drawing a short loving straw. The casualty rate for boarding operations in this setting is something like 70%.tooterfish posted:They could've. That's one of the Tachi's roles in fact. Yeah, the reason they were able to book it out of the Donnager the way they did is that the Tachi was a hot standby. Whoops.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 16, 2016 17:24
|
|
|
Pompous Rhombus posted:Just finished reading Leviathan Wakes, this doesn't spoil anything: IDK where you some of you guys got the idea Holden was a kinda dumpy middle-aged-ish guy in the books, he's clearly described as being thought of as "pretty" and/or good-looking by one female character directly and plenty of others indirectly. Miller, not Holden. Book-Miller is more of of a washed up hack than show-Miller.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 23, 2016 15:06
|
|
|
VagueRant posted:I never gave Battlestar a look. Always put off by talk of the ending. I'm clearly not much of a sci-fi guy, but it's worth a go? I do like military settings and people on the forum seem super into it. The show's driven much more by the characters than by the plot. If watching people figure out how to deal with each other and generally scrape by after the end of the world sounds good to you, and if you don't care much about a complete lack of payoff at the end, plot-wise, then I'd say give it a shot.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 23, 2016 20:51
|
|
|
tooterfish posted:I personally feel BSG actually peaked at 33 (yes, the very first episode). Yeah, I'd agree with that, but it's such a good episode that "not as good as '33'" leaves a lot of room for great episodes, though. Hell, even in the back half of season four there was at least one really good, gripping episode, and the plot was almost entirely off the rails by then.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 24, 2016 00:29
|
|
|
Definitely watch the BSG miniseries first.VagueRant posted:One of the most interesting scenes in the show was when Amos was ready to gun down the dudes about to come through the Rocinante's door and Holden was ready to put a bullet in the back of his head to stop him killing those innocent space cops. Camera work aside, something else bothered me about that scene: the wall behind them has several suits of Martian marine body armor on display. I know time is short and all, but at least throw on a vest or something.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 24, 2016 16:15
|
|
|
kanonvandekempen posted:For people that have read the books, is there any chance of an in-depth look at Luna/Mars in the upcoming season(s)? Luna: No, I don't think we see much of Luna at this point. Mars: Depends on where the season ends. I doubt it.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 4, 2016 15:56
|
|
|
Inspector 34 posted:One thing I'm still a little unclear on is why Earth and Mars don't like each other. So far it seems like it's just a military thing with Mars having better guns/ships vs Earth's larger number of gun/ships. Is it more complicated than a military dick measuring contest? Military strength just seems irrelevant without a reason for conflict. It has its roots in the fact that Mars unilaterally declared independence from Earth.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 7, 2016 02:03
|
|
|
Strategic Tea posted:And for all that Earth fucks it up, they're basically a dark twist on the ideal world. It's a socialist utopia where there is food, housing and education for all, and nobody has to work if they don't want to. Well, not exactly education for all. You've got to take a job for work credits for at least a year before a university will consider you. They don't want to waste classroom space on people likely to stay on basic anyway. With the dearth of jobs, it might be a while before you can even get the ball rolling.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 7, 2016 19:27
|
|
|
I'm not sure how tightly rationed Basic is. Big things like housing and medical care are, but I remember at least one passage mentioning that Basic clothes are freely available from vending machines. Also, I'm pretty sure that having dependants affects at least some rations. I recall a character having to move because their kid went off to college, leaving their apartment with fewer people than it was rated for.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2016 12:54
|
|
|
I'm not even sure it's rations so much as uninteresting food. Like, eat as much nutritionally complete reconstituted food product as you want. Now with flavor!*
|
|
#
¿
Mar 12, 2016 04:10
|
|
|
I forget, is there a book thread? This show probably doesn't get enough traffic to warrant a separate spoiler thread, but I'm not sure I want to clog up this thread with a bunch of spoiler tags. I've been re-reading the books and have some guesses about changes they might make for the show.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2016 15:37
|
|
|
gently caress it, I'll put it here. Book one/two adaptation speculation: With Jules-Pierre Mao being introduced early, it occurred to me that they might use him in place of Antony Dresden. Miller killing Mao would give Clarissa at least as much reason to go after Holden as his imprisonment would, if the show gets that far. I'm not sure who they'd put at the top of the Ganymede stuff from book two, though, unless they change the timeline so it's more concurrent with the events of the first book. Given that they've teased introducing Bobbie in season two, that does seem like a possibility to me.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2016 17:02
|
|
|
He's not a book character, as far as I can recall, but there is a minor character that might be a very loose basis for him: the guy who tails Holden and company for a while on Ganymede. I guess they could scale that up to something more substantial.
|
|
#
¿
May 3, 2016 23:38
|
|
|
kerwyn posted:Cotyar Ohhh, okay. The description in that article doesn't really fit, but he's at least slightly more of a character than the one I mentioned.
|
|
#
¿
May 3, 2016 23:57
|
|
|
He's a really minor character in the books, and the fact that he's appearing in so many episodes is throwing me off. I can't think of another character/characters they could merge him with to end up with that much screen time. Whatever they're doing with him, I think most of it's got to be totally new. With the books' authors so involved in the show, though, it's easier to see it as a sort of do-over and be more optimistic about it.Baloogan posted:he is the weak rear end slave who uses his brain to get ahead in life and rape someone I think Took me a minute to realize you were talking about his Spartacus character (I assume).
|
|
#
¿
May 4, 2016 13:58
|
|
|
coyo7e posted:His summary I found was like "Avasarala's head of security detail" or something similar, but the only guy I could think of who came close was the lunatic security dude on slug planet. He doesn't seem big and intimidating enough to pull of that guy, although maybe with a poorly-shaven head and some power armor he'd be intimidating. Whatever role he's in I'm sure he'll kick rear end in it though. Oh, no, way different guy. Cotyar's the older bodyguard/security guy with Avasarala and Bobbie on Mao's yacht. He's seriously a minor character in the books. Edit: you're spoiling a pretty huge development there. Probably don't want to do that to the show-only folks.
|
|
#
¿
May 4, 2016 15:31
|
|
|
Pharmaskittle posted:CB was ok, but it could've just been a side book about totally different characters and worked just as well if not better. It doesn't feel like a main series book, and the main cast doesn't have to be there for every little thing that happens in the universe. Yeah, I'll agree with that. Having both Basia and Havelock in the mix was more than enough of a connection to the previous books' casts, if that's required for some reason. I will say I probably judged Cibola Burn a little more harshly than I otherwise would have because of the lovely audiobook narrator. The guy who read the rest of the series was unavailable, and they guy they replaced him with had just the worst instincts.
|
|
#
¿
May 9, 2016 19:02
|
|
|
How are u posted:the worst is his god-awful loving cadence that sounds like a bad stereotype of a native american accent from decades ago. Holy poo poo, YES. That's exactly what came to mind for me too.
|
|
#
¿
May 22, 2016 07:10
|
|
|
NZAmoeba posted:Only watched the show recently, how much am I supposed to actually understand the patois of the belters? Most of the time it makes me wish they were subtitled, not to directly translate, but to just let me know the words they're saying so I can figure out the translation myself. Heck most of the characters need subtitles because everyone is mumbling or drifting off to silence when they speak and it's a bit frustrating having to rewind to the same line over and over. It depends a bit on the scene/character; some of the underclass and deep OPA are hard to understand even for outsiders who have been in the belt for years. A lot of the time, though, yeah, it's just weird sound levels on the show. I'd say a good chunk of the belter-speak we hear is foreign words you've probably come across before and could figure out from context. Edit: I don't know how many languages are mixed in, but at a minimum, it includes Spanish, German, and Japanese.
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2016 01:33
|
|
|
Heads up, Leviathan Wakes is currently on sale at Audible for $4.95, and today's the last day of the sale.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 13, 2016 16:39
|
|
|
Milky Moor posted:Miller's definitely supposed to be an older guy. He's described, I think, as looking like a bulldog. quote:Amos is supposed to be older, too, and balding, if I remember right Speaking of changes from the book, one tweak I'm not so sure about has to do with the landlord using cheap/bad air filters (it's in the first episode and early in the first book, so I'm not using spoiler tags). On the show, Miller threatens him to get him to use better filters in the future. It's only discussed rather than shown in the book, but in that version it's basically an open secret that Miller and/or other Star Helix cops murdered him for using bad filters. Really drives home the idea that Belters take their air and water supplies seriously.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 24, 2016 13:42
|
|
|
Anyone got an approximate timestamp for the conversation?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 10, 2016 00:41
|
|
|
Thanks! Fister Roboto posted:I thought he was making a joke at the sleeping guy's expense. Sounds like it to me, too. If I recall correctly, cheap transports keep things calm-ish by being free-handed with drugs. He might be calling the guy an addict, which would explain the bit about being used to guys like him. It's an oddly phrased exchange, in any case.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 10, 2016 06:34
|
|
|
hottubrhymemachine posted:Read the first book, loved it and dove immediately in to the second. Finished that in a few days and read the third and found it kinda disappointing. Now I'm ten pages into the fourth book and I haven't opened it on my kindle since last week. Anyone else feel like the quality dipped with 3? Books three and especially four tend not to be people's favorites. If you push through, you'll probably enjoy the fifth book a good deal more.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 10, 2016 23:47
|
|
|
FetusSlapper posted:Why was it such a personal thing? I'm defiantly reading way to much into a brief moment of a sci-fi space opera. Not that they couldn't have added a layer for the show, but the match head thing doesn't happen in the book, as far as I recall, and the Holden/coffee connection pretty much boils down to Holden always being really appreciative of a good cup of coffee.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2016 02:45
|
|
|
Combat Pretzel posted:You sure? Because that scene didn't come as a surprise to me. Can't be assed to reread the book to prove a point, tho. Well, now I'm not sure. I think I recall taking the scene as a no-exposition version of "Holden is disappointed in his coffee options" rather than something explicitly from the book, but I could definitely be wrong. Either way, the gimmick boils down to Holden being kind of obsessive about good coffee, which is hard to find in space.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2016 11:55
|
|
|
Phi230 posted:There's no reason belter's wouldn't have eggs or livestock Plants are pretty much always going to be more energy-efficient. For belters who can afford meat, it's vat-grown, which avoids spending energy on all the parts of the animal you're not planning to eat. I think I recall mentions that their vat-grown meat is actually pretty good, so they've at least go that going for them.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 14, 2016 14:32
|
|
|
Probably all of that should be in spoiler tags.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 17, 2016 03:07
|
|
|
koreban posted:Given the response to canonical changes in GoT the show vs. the books, I'd still be very cautious about planting a flag that this show will "do it right" before seeing what their 2nd season pans out with. What makes the difference, I think, is that the writers of this show seem to have more input than GRRM has, and for all that some things have to get pared down, they seem to be using the opportunity as a sort of do-over, tightening the early story in light of what they know is coming later.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2016 00:59
|
|
|
I guess Babylon 5 is fine if you've never seen DS9 
|
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2016 05:09
|
|
|
Milky Moor posted:I always think about how there's no way to determine whether a Cylon is any different to a person... but they have some kind of computer interface mechanism in their hand which you can cut open and plug wires into. It's somewhat pedantic but it's always something I think about. I think if you're dealing with the end of humanity, cutting open someone's hand in a way that doesn't render it inoperable isn't really that severe a thing to deal with. Yeah, Cylon biology never made much sense. Along the same lines, the Mitochondrial Eve bit at the end was kind of a dud. I get the impression that the writers liked the term but didn't really understand the concept very well, so they acted like it was more significant than it really was.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2016 16:24
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 17, 2024 15:27 |
|
|
I thought the show was great for much of its run. There are several episodes that I still think are among the best in the genre. The characters were engaging and well-developed, and there were interesting plot hooks all over the place. Weird choices like "The Woman King" aside, most of the problems cropped up when it came time to start actually resolving those plots. As I understand it, the writers were mostly winging it, and I think it really showed in how things wrapped up. My disappointment in the show is "revisionist" only insofar as it's hard to find the breadcrumbs interesting when I know they don't lead anywhere.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 18, 2016 06:10
|
|