The Expanse optioned for Television Series

[Jaxom 1974]

Has there been any casting news that I've missed by just not going back to the start of the thread...?

[Rhom]

Has there been any casting news that I've missed by just not going back to the start of the thread...?

Not that I recall.

[Rhom]

You seem to have a different take on the characters than I do, Holden I tend to think of as a self righteous jack ass who is trying to do the right thing but often makes it worse.

I'll grant you that the crew of the Roci are treated as exceptional, but I never got the impression that they were supposed to be running it better than the Martian Navy would have, just that Naomi, Alex and Amos are all top of their field for their specialties. Holden I don't think is :P he just gets carried by his crew.

I'll second REG's head nodding here. I liked the response Holden is given in AG as to why he was the one contacted "Miller thought you were an okay guy." There's nothing special about him, he's just an okay guy. He's also pretty self-absorbed and Naomi calls him on it pretty early on. He was always just looking for the new thing when a woman would come on board and then would get bored with them. He's definitely not some perfectly moral paragon. The beauty of Holden/Miller as the only characters in LW was just what a great contrast they were for each other.

ETA:

Surely they can get away with a single "fucking" in an episode? I always forget how strict things are for network shows, but I thought they could have that much at least. I really do want to hear that because it's such a wtf moment in the book I imagine it will only be amplified actually hearing it.

I'm no prude and certainly I swear more than my parents would ever approve of... but this sort of thing always does bother me. Why do we need swearing to add emphasis? Would it be any less stunning to just see the line be "DON'T TOUCH ME!"? Do we need the extra adjective?

An asteroid just

screamed and dodged a gigantic ship/missile. That's pretty damn surprising itself.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

You seem to have a different take on the characters than I do, Holden I tend to think of as a self righteous jack ass who is trying to do the right thing but often makes it worse.

I'll grant you that the crew of the Roci are treated as exceptional, but I never got the impression that they were supposed to be running it better than the Martian Navy would have, just that Naomi, Alex and Amos are all top of their field for their specialties. Holden I don't think is :P he just gets carried by his crew.

Also, most of the crew have had decades of military experience. Not to mention the Roci is mostly automated.

[Corvinus85]

I'll second REG's head nodding here. I liked the response Holden is given in AG as to why he was the one contacted "Miller thought you were an okay guy." There's nothing special about him, he's just an okay guy. He's also pretty self-absorbed and Naomi calls him on it pretty early on. He was always just looking for the new thing when a woman would come on board and then would get bored with them. He's definitely not some perfectly moral paragon. The beauty of Holden/Miller as the only characters in LW was just what a great contrast they were for each other.

ETA:

I'm no prude and certainly I swear more than my parents would ever approve of... but this sort of thing always does bother me. Why do we need swearing to add emphasis? Would it be any less stunning to just see the line be "DON'T TOUCH ME!"? Do we need the extra adjective?

An asteroid just

screamed and dodged a gigantic ship/missile. That's pretty damn surprising itself.

In a line like this one, the swear word adds more than just emphasis, it also adds threat.

[williamjm]

And also the way that four or five basically merchant marine folks could run a military ship better than the military. Still, I'll give it a few episodes. Which, come to think of it, is how I felt about BSG initially.

I think both Holden and Alex are ex-military, so they know plenty about running a warship. That said, it does seem a bit odd that they never try to recruit any more permanent crew members in the later books, even if just to spread the work around a bit.

[Rhom]

I think both Holden and Alex are ex-military, so they know plenty about running a warship. That said, it does seem a bit odd that they never try to recruit any more permanent crew members in the later books, even if just to spread the work around a bit.

I had hoped that Bobbie would join up with the crew. Obviously, that was not meant to be.

[Jaxom 1974]

I had hoped that Bobbie would join up with the crew. Obviously, that was not meant to be.

Maybe that'll be the change they make to the show ala Game of Thrones... :p

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

Maybe that'll be the change they make to the show ala Game of Thrones... :P

It would also make some of the violent situations they get themselves into way too easy. You want to board our ship? We've got a power armored space marine.

[Spockydog]

It would also make some of the violent situations they get themselves into way too easy. You want to board our ship? We've got a power armored space marine.

Spoiler for Cibola Burn:

Well, judging by Avasarala's conversation with Bobbie in the epilogue, it may well be the power-armoured space marine that's tearing her way into the Roci at some point.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

Spoiler for Cibola Burn:

Well, judging by Avasarala's conversation with Bobbie in the epilogue, it may well be the power-armoured space marine that's tearing her way into the Roci at some point.

I didn't get that impression. Avasarala wanted Holden to fuck things up like he normally does, but he actually sort of fixed the situation. Avasarala isn't the type of person who will go after someone just out of spite and if she wanted to, she would have access to plenty of power-armored space marines who don't have any fond feelings for Holden and Co.

[Black Wolf Smith]

How much is SyFy allowed to get away with? If they could get away with AMC levels of cussing, then a decent script can get around it. Of course they could also go the BSG route by using "new" swear words. I can't recall exactly but I think there were such things in the books already - especially with derogatory terms for different parts of the solar system.

I guess SyFy can do more then I thought, because I just watched Dominion, and it had some partial nudity.

[red snow]

I guess SyFy can do more then I thought, because I just watched Dominion, and it had some partial nudity.

They were always near the mark with the aliens who seem to wear nothing anyhow. Did you watch it in the US though? There's often a change in content depending on where it is aired - Vikings is very different on blu-ray to the original releases.

Nudity is easier to edit in/out as required. Editing out swearing is a lot trickier though and I really hated how "fuck" was silenced in at least two key scenes in Breaking Bad. No half-measures :)

[karaddin]

Rhom - not sure if I'm capable of articulating my stance on deliberate considered swearing. To me swearing is part of our language, it conveys specific things more efficiently than otherwise possible, and in some cases it can't be conveyed without it. There is a whole range of nuance to how it can be used and I find joy in that. I don't care for it as shorthand for lacking vocabulary or for people who are just babbling without knowing what that are saying, but swearing to enhance meaning? All for it.

By way of example, there is an explicit version and a non explicit version of Creep by Radiohead. The non explicit version is still a great song, but doesn't quite do it for me with "I wish I was special, so very special". However the explicit version... My soul weeps when he sings "I wish I was special, so fucking special". That one word may not seem like a big deal, but to me it's the difference between capturing all of the pain and self loathing I've felt at the worst times in my life and just being a decent bit of lyrics. That's not being hyperbolic, the explicit version resonates with me like pretty much nothing else.

William - I think it's two fold, after LW they are very tight knit with each other and very distrusting of anyone else. They are a family, you don't just recruit to a family. Other bit is they like making money, every extra crew member reduces their cut and they are sufficient to make it work with 4.

[red snow]

I guess SyFy can do more then I thought, because I just watched Dominion, and it had some partial nudity.

Maybe my definition of partial differs but it seemed the same as usual for the show. There was one scene that was only implied that was far more mature than anything I've seen on syfy before. That's a classic example of how you can do "adult" without censorship or being overly gratuitous

Karaddin - I'm totally with you on the use of swearing. I'd even say it can be used to highlight a character even in the cases where they use it to highlight limited vocabulary (although you can achieve that in other ways too).

When it comes to swearing you only need to look at Deadwood to see that in can be used as poetry. Same with your Radiohead example, there's a manic street preacher song with the line "i'm fucked with being fucked" that also works really well.

[Corvinus85]

I think both Holden and Alex are ex-military, so they know plenty about running a warship. That said, it does seem a bit odd that they never try to recruit any more permanent crew members in the later books, even if just to spread the work around a bit.

Holden was an officer in the UN Navy, Alex was a pilot in the Martian navy.

And I've always imagined the Rocinante (spelling?) as a fairly small ship (it's a corvette) so adding more permanent crew members would strain their resources.

[The Iceman of the North]

Breaking Bad never got away with it on broadcast so I doubt syfy would either. On boxsets maybe (much like their BSG TV movies had more adult content) or broadcast in countries that are less uptight. If we're to assume sfyy has AMC levels of censorship they can get away with "shit" and plenty of gore/violence and nudity but no nipples or man-parts.

I don't think this will be a big issue for this show but i do think the swearing will have to be tamed. If they invent a swear word and use it in a believable way like "frakking" (or "frelling" in Farscape) they can get away with it. The danger is if the curse sounds stupid and then we lose the impact of the sentence it's used in.

Just keep the swearing in the Belter lingo, and the FCC would be clueless. It's not like anyone would know what 'puta' means.

[Spockydog]

First bit of casting news has broken. Miller is to be played by three time Golden Globe nominee, Thomas Jane. While he might not be a household name, anyone who's seen the adaptation of Stephen King's The Mist will remember his performance. The guy's got chops.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

I have a friend who works for the production company. He's very confident that it'll be good. He says the budget is on the same level as Game of Thrones, and the writers put a serious effort into working out how a spacebattle where everybody obeys the laws of physics would go. Also that even though there wouldn't be any physical differences between Belters and Inner Planeters, there would be significant cultural differences, and that they were making a Belter patois into a workable language.

[Rhom]

First bit of casting news has broken. Miller is to be played by three time Golden Globe nominee, Thomas Jane. While he might not be a household name, anyone who's seen the adaptation of Stephen King's The Mist will remember his performance. The guy's got chops.

I can see that. Stick a floppy hat on him and he'd be all set.

My dream casting for Fred Johnson would be Dennis Haysbert and considering how much he's actually on screen, I would think you could get him fairly cheaply.