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Expanse #5 Game done changed.


mcbigski

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Has there been any true-sounding non-PR explanation as to why Amazon dropped The Expanse after Season 6? Bad viewing figures? Low subscription numbers attributed to the show? Too expensive to renegotiate actors' contracts? (Isn't there something about 6 seasons re: actors' contracts in US law?) I must admit I'm a bit miffed that this phenomenal show has to end after only one more season (while, for example, Supernatural, which I really liked during Kripke years, went on and on and on and became a walking corpse after 15 seasons).

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Yeah I certainly would have wanted more. I understand that in the books there's a huge time-skip though so maybe that explains this as a natural endpoint possibly leading in to another show later in the timeline?

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The show creators have said several times that Expanse has some other ideas as far as next steps. And they've said that once they were 'rescued' they planned on getting 6 seasons. 

But otherwise, no - we've not heard anything. 

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20 hours ago, Mr Fixit said:

Has there been any true-sounding non-PR explanation as to why Amazon dropped The Expanse after Season 6? Bad viewing figures? Low subscription numbers attributed to the show? Too expensive to renegotiate actors' contracts? (Isn't there something about 6 seasons re: actors' contracts in US law?) I must admit I'm a bit miffed that this phenomenal show has to end after only one more season (while, for example, Supernatural, which I really liked during Kripke years, went on and on and on and became a walking corpse after 15 seasons).

The Expanse was one of the Top 10 streamed shows in the US in 2019/20 apparently (after Season 4), behind really only the absolute mega-hits like The CrownStranger Things and The Boys, which considering The Expanse is cheap by Amazon standards probably means that viewership was not a problem at all.

I suspect what happened is that Alcon sat down with Naren, Ty and Daniel after the rescue package came through and asked them when they could end the show in a realistic timeframe, bearing in mind that shows that go nine seasons are almost totally non-existent, and they decided six. It sounds like they realised that the time skip gave them the perfect opportunity to end the show there, with some rejigging and it also meant avoiding the problems with either recasting the entire show or giving everyone prosthetics to make them look older. Season 4 doing so well I think came as a surprise, and they may have changed their mind on the prospect of aiming for nine seasons if they'd known that. That will be clearer once we know how Season 5 does; my sense is that Season 5 is doing even better, certainly in terms of media coverage.

For US contracts, shows are bound by the De Haviland rule, which means you can get people to sign up for six-season contracts with a renewal option for a seventh, but after seven seasons you need to renegotiate the contract from scratch, usually with agents demanding massive pay increases (because the show is a hit, the actors are now well-known and could get other jobs elsewhere etc). One theoretical way around that is to either renegotiate before the six-season contract expires to take you through the end of the show, so the actors get an earlier pay rise, but maybe not as much as if they'd waited until later (this is how HBO handled Game of Thrones). Another is to end the show but replace it with a sequel show which is effectively the same thing with a name change for legal purposes. I don't think I've seen anyone actually do this before, but it would allow them to get around the restriction, except the actors could still demand higher rates for the sequel show.

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Well I'm glad that's out of the way.  The Inaros-Nagata family drama hour was becoming tedious, even when the ending of it is Naomi's single most bad ass moment IMO.  Also, I feel like someone with Marco's megalomania would have gone for spiffier uniforms.

Still, everything seems set up for a great finish.  As far as this specific episode goes, it's kind of like front half of last season.  Entertaining and high quality, of course, but definitely more of a moving the pieces into place sort of episode.  (Last season I went from very mildly disappointed to THIS IS ALL FUCKING BANANAS AT ONCE AND TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!! So reserving final judgement....)

Maybe they could have left Amos's plot point from last week hanging til now and tightened this one up, but I'm just a guy.

 

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1 hour ago, mcbigski said:

the ending of it is Naomi's single most bad ass moment

Obviously the asteroid attack was much anticipated, but this was one of the top two moments from the book that I'd personally been looking forward to seeing this season.  And I think it delivered.

The other was the "There was a button - I pushed it" scene with Holden and Fred, which has long been my favorite random line (especially paired with Fred's response) from the books. I think I actually tweeted at Ty and/or Daniel at one point, probably when the original Amazon announcement was made, that I was happy the series would continue because "there's going to be a button and someone's going to need to push it." 

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Well she injected herself with something, which probably helped.  And she was ready for it as far as timing her last breaths before opening the door.  The Hitchhiker's Guide certainly said it was feasible in the short term...  

You have about 30 seconds, based on a limited sample size of historical incidents.

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There's a lot more detailed answers on the James S. A. Corey Twitter feed both from Ty, speaking from the research he and Daniel and the show writers did for the books/show and quoting a bunch of other sciencey folks, but yes, very possible. 

Hmmm...I've seen other poeple embed Tweets here but I don't know how they did it...

Here's a link to one, and you can see other ones in his feed.: https://twitter.com/JamesSACorey/status/1349436110766657537?s=20

Quote

It takes a very long time to freeze in space. A person who has properly prepared for the loss of atmo has about fifteen seconds before they become unconscious in vacuum.

If you count during the ep, Naomi injects herself just before the 15 seconds pass.

 

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Never seen the Inaros actor before, but I find him to be an impressive villain. Surprised he is not better known.

Similar thing with Wes Chatham. Feels like he should be a bigger deal in the movie business based on his excellent portrayal in this series.

And same goes for Thomas Jane.(He would make a great Harry Dresden.)

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On vacuum - basically you've been lied to your whole life by almost every other movie or show. The expanse is by far the absolute best and most realistic depiction of vacuum - especially on a human body. 

Cyn didn't die - he got knocked out fast (because he was unprepared for it) and then died after. He didn't freeze either. He just stopped moving the same way dead bodies on this show do. 

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43 minutes ago, mcbigski said:

Did Cyn actually die?  Filip was right there to repressurize the airlock.  I assumed he saved him, could be very wrong.

He carried a little inertia from reaching for Naomi into his unconsciousness and drifted forward into the door of the airlock. He could have been saved if Filip could close the door, but from what we could see that wasn't possible. 

By the time Filip could suit up and get there it's way too late for him.

The whole sequence of Naomi on the Pella is one of the biggest gaps between how it's portrayed on the page vs on the screen in that we're in her head in the book, whereas in the show we can't know her motivations as she's getting into the airlock. And they absolutely nailed it despite that big difference.

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I remember an episode of Doctor Who (in the Peter Davidson days, so probably from the early 80s) where The Doctor found himself on the wrong side of an airlock. Now it just so happened that the TARDIS was also out in space, but further away (I can't remember the details as to why it was there). Realising he was in between the ship and the TARDIS, the Doctor, who always carries a cricket ball, throws it at the side of the ship, which sets him in an opposite trajectory, but then manages to catch the ball on the rebound - which propels him enough to get to the TARDIS. Of course The Doctor is not human and by all accounts is an admirable fielder of cricket balls.      

 

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13 hours ago, Free Northman Reborn said:

Never seen the Inaros actor before, but I find him to be an impressive villain. Surprised he is not better known.

Similar thing with Wes Chatham. Feels like he should be a bigger deal in the movie business based on his excellent portrayal in this series.

And same goes for Thomas Jane.(He would make a great Harry Dresden.)

Can't say I agree.  I find the screen depiction of Marcos to be rather dull.  In the actor's defense, it is a very hard part to nail, as Marcos is basically a villain with 99 charisma. 

Thomas Jane was a second tier hollywood actor for a bit there.  He was the lead in The Mist (2007), which is a good Stephen King adaptation, as well as the 2004 Punisher

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24 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

Can't say I agree.  I find the screen depiction of Marcos to be rather dull.  In the actor's defense, it is a very hard part to nail, as Marcos is basically a villain with 99 charisma. 

Thomas Jane was a second tier hollywood actor for a bit there.  He was the lead in The Mist (2007), which is a good Stephen King adaptation, as well as the 2004 Punisher

Haven’t read the books so don’t have a pre existing expectation for Inaros.

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