Austin: I can't be moved to tears by my own music Mike: I regularly laugh at my own jokes Has the same energy as Troy saying when he dies he'll greet Death like an old friend and Mike going "Nah, they'll have to take me kicking and screaming" 🤣
The Expanse is one of the best SciFi series out there, both show and books. If Austin or anyone is considering reading the books, I would seriously recommend listening to the Audiobooks done by Jefferson Mays. His performances in the audiobooks are some of the best voice work I have ever heard He portrays perfectly such an array of voices and emotions, that he crushes effortlessly. Truly is a masterclass in how to narrate an audiobook, to the point I struggle to listen to other narrators since he raised the bar so high. Cannot sing the praises enough of those audiobooks, highly recommend.
EXPANSE!!!! 🎉 Watched the show, went and read the series of books, then happily continued in the show as it was picked up by Amazon. Love the content - both video and written!
Oh man, Animal Well is incredible. Very strong Tunic and Outer Wilds vibes, while never feeling derivative of those in any way. Don’t think it quite surpasses those, but it’s great
The Expanse is the best Sci-FI show of all time. Never felt that connected to the main team of characters. And it's also a masterclass on how to have a thousand strong female characters without turning them into caricatures of modern feminism.
There are a few great competitors for it, but just very different, like Stargate SG-1, Atlantis and Universe, DS9, Babylon 5. The writing and realism is just on another level on Expanse. Space opera perfected.
Why is no one talking about how bad the last season was though? I've never seen a season that was so obviously, painfully cut short on it's budget. Just a really weak ending to an otherwise excellent show.. And I feel like I'm the only one who watched it sometimes with how discussion about the show glosses over it
@@aether388 Yeah the last season felt kinda rushed. I think that was mostly due to Amazon not wanting to fund it anymore and wanting them to wrap up it with as little budget as possible. I could be wrong about that but I think I remember reading something along those lines. Also they had to unceremoniously kill off one of the main characters because of the actor's sexual harassment
@aether3885 Probably because it was definitely not terrible, nor was it rushed. It was just short. Season 6 is not meant to be the literal end of the overall story, and it very clearly sets up the later books (there are 9). Amazon chose to end the show at S6, so they tied up all the loose ends they could with the characters, with the hope that it'll return one day. Both S6 and Book 6 work as a pause, before the final book trilogy. A lot of the story is tied up very well, with the obvious nod to later events. You're entitled to your opinion, but it is a rare and unpopular one. Personally, Season 6 is my second or third favorite season of the entire show. And the final episode is my favorite episode in the series.
I love how the show introduced characters way earlier. I love the show and book in different ways. I do like how they do perspectives during the chapters. Especially when Holden and Miller are working together and you get their individual inner monologues for the same event. Having Holden describe what he's seeing at face value and having Miller describe it via an analytical lens so super cool.
Same! And they were able to do that so seamlessly because the book writers were actually in the tv show's writing room, (which you NEVER see when it comes to adaptations). They also did something that i've never seen another adaption of a book ever before, and that's actually improve on book characters in the show. Ashford and Drummer aren't remotely as interesting and as well fleshed-out in the books as they are in the tv-series! The Expanse is prolly the single best live-action adaptation I've literally ever watched, and having the authors involved in the writer's room I think had a lot to do with it.
@@8301TheJMan Honestly I think I prefer every show character over their book counterpart (and I say that as a huge fan of the books). I think they added a lot of depth to everyone, both the principal characters and the secondary characters. Although I agree, this is most notable with characters like Ashford, Drummer, Errinwright and Cotyar.
The Expanse benefited by having the book writers in the writing room, but not leading the writing room. Franck and Abraham were smart enough to know that they did not know everything when it came to adaptation.
Not onboard with Austin's new camera angle, can't see the wall tiles properly on the PWL set. (yes, Austin's studio is the PWL set, don't question my head canon)
I'm still frustrated that the adaptation of The Expanse never got to adapt the final three books. It's like adapting The Lord of the Rings without including The Return of the King. Everything builds towards that final act. The show sets up tons of that stuff too and sadly it never got to do it. The way they leave it works and is open-ended enough that they could potentially return to it later. But those final three books are unbelievably good and would have made the first six seasons seem like child's play. All I'll say regarding the characters is that the major characters in the show are mostly all based on major characters from the books. Some combine multiple characters in brilliant ways. The show introduces and uses some of them a bit differently. A lot of the politics of the system come through characters watching news feeds or their inner monologues. The show directly shows viewers those events by cleverly using major players in the books who aren't necessarily POV characters through the entire series.
I really need to get around and read those final books. Well listen to the audiobooks. I listened to the ones up to the end of the show but then my work did a crackdown on earbuds at work and I just never got back to it.
@@krobb1290 Oh damn. Yeah, definitely get through the last three books. If you've enjoyed the first six, you'll likely love the final trilogy. I found them highly satisfying.
The only other podcast I watch is with Ty Frank (The Expanse writer) and Wes Chathm (The Expanse actor). Their scifi and genera movie knowledge is incredible and so entertaining.
I'm so very excited for Alana to get into The Expance TV show. I'm also excited for Austin to get into the remaining books. ohhh there is going to be so much more Expance talk in future episodes.
Thomas Jane miller got me hooked in the expanse! Then again thomas Jane is a underrated actor great in the most great in stander great as the punisher and he’s got a new series on Amazon called troppo
As someone currently watching the Expanse right now, this episode felt perfectly curated to me 😅 It's my boyfriend's favorite tv series and book series. We're at the end of the third season, absolutely fantastic stuff. Got my friend Josie hooked months ago and she's already finished the show and is on Book 6, that's how good it is!
So glad The Expanse got some love here. Both the show and the books are amazing. The show is arguably the best piece of on-screen Sci-Fi ever produced.
Loved the Expanse. It's funny to say that it is much more hard sci-fi, which it really is in many ways, and yet have to throw the disclaimer in about the ring and everything involved with it ;). Soooo many great characters that really make the show. When it moved to Amazon, Christian got to drop some epic F bombs 😁 BSG reboot was great. Kind of funny that some of the stuff that I found silly in the original series when I was a young teen, I also found a bit off in the reboot. Still, really well done overall - Save the Pegasus!! I would actually also recommend Caprica. BSG did some neat stuff with monotheism vs polytheism in unexpected ways. Caprica has a really thought provoking thread on VR, reincarnation (or lack thereof), and how those impact human nature. The philosophical stuff at that level was totally unexpected and very, very interesting.
I love BSG, but have never heard of this Caprica series - I’m in the UK and assuming it never got shown here? Crazy to find out there is more BSG I’ve never seen lol
Caprica was largely mediocre for me with just a few standout moments, but at the end of the first season, when it was canceled, we got a preview of what the second season would have been that was genuinely exciting. I think with more time it would have hit its stride.
Expanse is one of my absolute favourite shows ever. Love the conspiracies and dealings between the factions, the ragtag crew of the rocinante which is basically an RPG-crew, etc. fantastic show. got hooked straight on the first season and it just kept getting better.
The Expanse & Shogun are the same tier of TV shows: both Ss. BSG only made it to A tier... mostly due to the ending, for me. Also, The Expanse has the best space battles ever executed on screen - both technically and visually...
I love how austin is trying to cover up how jacked he is by saying he’s just “recording sounds with the dumbbells”. Take that jacket off austin, you’re not fooling anyone 💪🏻
Talking about Battlestar Galactica made me think of a movie I saw back in the 70's with Bruce Dern called Silent Running. The people who made Battlestar because of lack of budget used scenes from the movie in the TV show, even having to list Bruce Dern as a cameo because he was in one of the scenes they wanted to use. If you want to see where George Lucas got the idea for R2D2 from watch Silent Running. Dern plays the botanist and ecologist tasked with taking care of geodesic domes in space containing the remnants of forests that no longer exist on earth which are intended to be used to reforest the planet. He ends up alone accompanied by "service robots" which are essentially R2D2's design and are played by actors who are bilateral amputees in 20 lb suits that use their arms as legs. It was directed by Douglas Turnbull who was involved with the special effects on 2001 and also did the design and creation of the effects and sets for Silent Running using things that were meant for 2001 but were dropped because the budget wouldn't support them.
Initially commented about Battlestar but it was mentioned lol. The way you guys explained The Expanse reminded me of that unity/survival in space kinda vibe. Speaking of which you guys should get Katee Sackoff (Starbuck) to come on or go on her pod. cause she had Troy Baker on a few months back, and it sounds like you guys have other mutuals considering Alanah knows Mary Mcdonnell just think it'd be a neat crossover.
Recently watched 2001 and agree with Alanah's sentiment. The one thing I really didn't understand about that movie, were those long interludes where the screen would just be black and play music.
Animal Well is unironically a goty consideration for me, I made a whole YT video about it but tl;dr the sheer depth of the puzzles in the game is insane. It's the kind of game where you walk into one room, do the puzzle thinking that's it, and then six hour laters you're back in said room to solve part of a DIFFERENT puzzle, only to find a SECOND PUZZLE IN THAT ROOM SEPARATE FROM THE ONE YOU CAME BACK TO IT FOR. It's made coming back to the game after breaks really fun because there is literally always more to solve (in my playthrough at least because 100%ing that thing is a job)
The Expanse is one of my favorite newer sci-fi shows, and by far the best Hard Sci-Fi. So good that even the later "magical" stuff follows rules and figuring out those rules are major plot points. The first season of Altered Carbon is also very good, sci-fi detective Noir. Babylon 5 remains my favorite sci-fi show though, that I keep doing rewatches every few years.
The Expanse would have to be the closest fiction story to science. Something that our future would most likely look like based on our human history. Loved it, I was frustrated when it ended.
The Expanse is spectacular, my favorite show of all time. So, here is the main reason the show was cancelled off of SyFy, money. It was not wholly owned by SyFy, but it was made in partnership and part of that deal meant SyFy did not own worldwide streaming rights and at a pivotal moment in media companies switching from TV to streaming. SyFy did not want to keep spending what they were spending to only make money from their broadcasting of the show, and someone else owning streaming rights.
Should be noted, that the authors of the Expanse, James SA Corey, (who were also heavily involved in the writing of the show), helped George RR Martin with writing a lot of the world building and lore building of Game of Thrones.
I still remember taking home the DVD miniseries (the pilot before the pilot) of Battlestar Galactica and having my mind absolutely blown. Similar to Lost, I have huge problems with where that show wound up in later seasons and its finale, but the smaller stories, iconic characters, and unforgettable moments along the way are all worth it. The Expanse is incredible. It is very much Game of Thrones in a hard sci-fi setting, but it also benefits from feeling like a believable extrapolation of human history into the future. (Reminder to self: Watch For All Mankind.) I'm greatly looking forward to diving into the books after developing a little more distance from the series (this is hard because I periodically rewatch a handful of episodes to get my fix). Also, I think part of what led to The Expanse's cancelation before Amazon picked it up was SyFy's overall decline as a network.
Looking forward to hearing what Alanah thinks of the Expanse! Wish Troy was here to voice his opinion. Been missing his viewpoint. Speaking of pilots, I rewatched Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. recently and the first episode contrasts to every episode after. It feels shot like it was exclusively handheld and felt like an episode of the Office. The second episode and after feels like they utilize more expensive cameras and set ups.
"The Expanse" is imo not just the best sci-fi tv-series of all time, it's most likely the greatest book to live-action adaptation ever made imo! The only other ones on this level are the Lord of The Rings trilogy and the two recent Dune films. And one major reason i suspect is the fact that the source authors are/were in the writer's room for the show, (which is considered an industry no-no, but they pulled it off in this case and the show was better for it). This is also why they were able to introduce characters and storylines that show up way earlier than they do in the books and did so seamlessly. The show also significantly improved a number of characters from the book, which i almost never see in adaptations.
I have to disagree with Battlestar not holding up. I watched it again about a year ago after watching Apocalypse Now. So my perspective was offset. So when I rewatched Battlestar, I tried to see it from the Cylons perspective. I found the show was still very interesting that you can watch it from the antagonist viewpoint and it felt like the story was written from that point of view. Also keeping my eyes open for Starbuck clues.
you can tell austin didnt always work in space. i didnt love the later seasons of the expanse as much. once we went through the ring some aspects seemed to dumb down considerably. but its really hard to keep up that kind fo quality in writing and world building and just overall consistency that they had going early on.
Thanks for the podcast! Expanse, in my opinion, is great for the first two season and then steadily falls. One of the reasons actually being that the villains become cartoon villains after that and it all becomes a bit too tropey.
Shout out to BSG! 🤩 Still a great show despite the passage of time. While I still have my own hangups with it there's no denying what made it so damn good. [In Comic Book Guy voice] Austin, your mentions about the show are off. The "pilot" was a two part episode mini series made in 2003. The first episode of the regular series is "33" referencing the exact elapsed time between Cylon attacks on Galactica and the fleet. Edward James Olmos' character's last name is ADAMA, not Adamo. 😊 On that note, why wasn't a good BSG video game ever made?! ☹
I love this podcast, but the only negative thing I have to say about this podcast is that I wish it was more frequent instead of once a month I wish it was once a week or it would go back to that because I enjoyed seeing these guys every week or listening to them every weekbecause algorithm with TH-cam algorithm I don’t always see the updates for when it’s been uploaded. I enjoy these guys very much.
Animal Well is amazing (British "amazing", not American "amazing"). Can't wait for it to blow your gamedev minds. And for you to discuss it on the podcast, of course.
BSG was awesome when it was airing. Being on the bandwagon as the final five was being revealed was a great social experience. But without the ARG and the webisodes and the controversy, it doesn't hit the same.
its sad to see people are starting to forget "babylon5" and "space above and beyond" those where also very good series with some awsome first episodes en seasons
I think… I think Austin and Mike just sold me on The Expanse and no joke, this is the first time that I ever heard about the show, and I’m pretty knowledgeable about most shows and films. Weird blindspot, but it’s going to be fixed.
Shitty pilots: The Buffy series also has the original pilot available and it's crazy to see how much it's improved. (Alison Hannigan wasn't Willow yet)
I liked the Expanse, but the first 2 seasons were the best. The other seasons were just OK, and I really didn't care much for the final season. HOTD S2 sucked imo. I didn't like the time jumps in S1 either, as I agree, you don't develop any emotional attachment to characters because of it, but it was much more entertaining than S2.
If I had a nickel for every time someone brought up The Red Shoe Diaries with David Duchovny on a podcast this week, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. Nick brought it up on the Kinda Funny Podcast yesterday.
Weird austin and mike should mention thrones. Thata what I was thinking of just before you mentioned it when they were explaining how you have to brute force the beginning of the expanxe...tried the first frw episodes of thrones multiple times, and rewlly only cause people kept insisting I try..but could never get into it (and was glad when I heard about the end lol) so comparing the expanse to thrones for me personally is more of a detracting factor than a selling point...thst I've loved thr majority of shows and games (I.e the witness, shogun) just off any of your recommendations so maybe I'll see it I have time for it
so fucked up that you guys can do less of your main job (this podcast) because of your secondary job (the one that makes you money). but seriously, great episode, missed the podcast... really wanted to hear about the stop killing games project lol maybe next month
59:00 GTA: San Andreas is notorious in the speedrunning scene for having good first half-to-3/4 (depending on who you ask) and a terrible ending with extremely repetitive gameplay. Similarly, the polish in the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition is heavily skewed to the first halves of the games.
WOA WOA I utterly disagree with Mike on House of the Dragon season 1 vs 2. I found season 1 REALLY compelling and the second season to be much less interesting.
For those not in the know: "halo 2 meets halo 3" is a forced meme used in Animal Well's marketing, and Knack games are frequently referenced in Videogamedunkey's videos. Animal Well is extremely good, and everyone should play it, I agree.
I do think The Expanse kind of falls apart in the last couple seasons. I really didn't like the villain, and there was clearly some budget cuts so that didn't help matters (that, or me just hating the villain made the budget constraints more noticeable than before). Add in one of the big supporting actors getting cancelled that affected the show a lot because of his swift exit and... yeah. Seasons 2 through 4 though? Chef's kiss.
Idk why no one ever mentions this when people talk about the expanse - but it's last season is incredibly weak compared to the rest of the show. I've never seen a show that so obviously had it's budget pulled out from under it. There's a point beyond which even creative use of resources can save a show with a low budget I suppose... Or maybe they lost important people, or were given an unrealistic deadline? I'm not sure what happened behind the scenes, but it's a weak, disappointing ending to an otherwise incredible show
Game of Thrones is worse than Battlestar Galactica. Game of Thrones was overhyped and bad from season 5 and onwards, it became stupid. I go back to Battlestar often. I will never ever watch GoT again. Ever.
I will always appreciate the first 4 seasons of Game of Thrones. So much of good work, great performances, story arcs, action scenes, an excellent score... all of it deserves to be appreciated. And I don't think the drop off in the latter seasons ruins the first 4 seasons in any way.
I love this podcast, but the only negative thing I have to say about this podcast is that I wish it was more frequent instead of once a month I wish it was once a week or it would go back to that because I enjoyed seeing these guys every week or listening to them every weekbecause algorithm with TH-cam algorithm I don’t always see the updates for when it’s been uploaded. I enjoy these guys very much.
"For some reason" ?!?!? Maybe because talking about the Expanse is the key to everlasting happiness?!?!?
one of the greatest shows i ever watched. i'm shocked. shocked! that Alanah hasn't seen it yet. ;)
Austin: I can't be moved to tears by my own music
Mike: I regularly laugh at my own jokes
Has the same energy as Troy saying when he dies he'll greet Death like an old friend and Mike going "Nah, they'll have to take me kicking and screaming" 🤣
I love this podcast and I love the expanse, that's what we call a win win.
The Expanse is one of the best SciFi series out there, both show and books. If Austin or anyone is considering reading the books, I would seriously recommend listening to the Audiobooks done by Jefferson Mays. His performances in the audiobooks are some of the best voice work I have ever heard
He portrays perfectly such an array of voices and emotions, that he crushes effortlessly. Truly is a masterclass in how to narrate an audiobook, to the point I struggle to listen to other narrators since he raised the bar so high. Cannot sing the praises enough of those audiobooks, highly recommend.
☝ What this person said! 💯
EXPANSE!!!! 🎉 Watched the show, went and read the series of books, then happily continued in the show as it was picked up by Amazon. Love the content - both video and written!
Ok fine Ill rewatch The Expanse again!
Good move!
Oh man, Animal Well is incredible. Very strong Tunic and Outer Wilds vibes, while never feeling derivative of those in any way. Don’t think it quite surpasses those, but it’s great
The Expanse and Battlestar Galactica - TV Sci Fi pretty much perfected.
I love that they stopped Battlestar Galactica after 3 series 😜
The Expanse is the best Sci-FI show of all time. Never felt that connected to the main team of characters. And it's also a masterclass on how to have a thousand strong female characters without turning them into caricatures of modern feminism.
There are a few great competitors for it, but just very different, like Stargate SG-1, Atlantis and Universe, DS9, Babylon 5. The writing and realism is just on another level on Expanse. Space opera perfected.
Why is no one talking about how bad the last season was though? I've never seen a season that was so obviously, painfully cut short on it's budget. Just a really weak ending to an otherwise excellent show.. And I feel like I'm the only one who watched it sometimes with how discussion about the show glosses over it
@@aether388 Yeah the last season felt kinda rushed. I think that was mostly due to Amazon not wanting to fund it anymore and wanting them to wrap up it with as little budget as possible. I could be wrong about that but I think I remember reading something along those lines. Also they had to unceremoniously kill off one of the main characters because of the actor's sexual harassment
@aether3885 Probably because it was definitely not terrible, nor was it rushed. It was just short. Season 6 is not meant to be the literal end of the overall story, and it very clearly sets up the later books (there are 9). Amazon chose to end the show at S6, so they tied up all the loose ends they could with the characters, with the hope that it'll return one day.
Both S6 and Book 6 work as a pause, before the final book trilogy. A lot of the story is tied up very well, with the obvious nod to later events.
You're entitled to your opinion, but it is a rare and unpopular one. Personally, Season 6 is my second or third favorite season of the entire show. And the final episode is my favorite episode in the series.
@@aether388 You should watch Game of Thrones then because jesus christ that was a thousand times worse.
I love how the show introduced characters way earlier. I love the show and book in different ways. I do like how they do perspectives during the chapters. Especially when Holden and Miller are working together and you get their individual inner monologues for the same event. Having Holden describe what he's seeing at face value and having Miller describe it via an analytical lens so super cool.
Same! And they were able to do that so seamlessly because the book writers were actually in the tv show's writing room, (which you NEVER see when it comes to adaptations). They also did something that i've never seen another adaption of a book ever before, and that's actually improve on book characters in the show. Ashford and Drummer aren't remotely as interesting and as well fleshed-out in the books as they are in the tv-series! The Expanse is prolly the single best live-action adaptation I've literally ever watched, and having the authors involved in the writer's room I think had a lot to do with it.
@@8301TheJMan Honestly I think I prefer every show character over their book counterpart (and I say that as a huge fan of the books).
I think they added a lot of depth to everyone, both the principal characters and the secondary characters. Although I agree, this is most notable with characters like Ashford, Drummer, Errinwright and Cotyar.
Next PWL .. Alanah will be talking about how obsessed she now is in The Expanse after watching it all. XD
The Expanse benefited by having the book writers in the writing room, but not leading the writing room. Franck and Abraham were smart enough to know that they did not know everything when it came to adaptation.
Not onboard with Austin's new camera angle, can't see the wall tiles properly on the PWL set.
(yes, Austin's studio is the PWL set, don't question my head canon)
I'm still frustrated that the adaptation of The Expanse never got to adapt the final three books. It's like adapting The Lord of the Rings without including The Return of the King. Everything builds towards that final act.
The show sets up tons of that stuff too and sadly it never got to do it. The way they leave it works and is open-ended enough that they could potentially return to it later. But those final three books are unbelievably good and would have made the first six seasons seem like child's play.
All I'll say regarding the characters is that the major characters in the show are mostly all based on major characters from the books. Some combine multiple characters in brilliant ways. The show introduces and uses some of them a bit differently.
A lot of the politics of the system come through characters watching news feeds or their inner monologues. The show directly shows viewers those events by cleverly using major players in the books who aren't necessarily POV characters through the entire series.
I really need to get around and read those final books. Well listen to the audiobooks. I listened to the ones up to the end of the show but then my work did a crackdown on earbuds at work and I just never got back to it.
@@krobb1290 Oh damn. Yeah, definitely get through the last three books. If you've enjoyed the first six, you'll likely love the final trilogy. I found them highly satisfying.
The only other podcast I watch is with Ty Frank (The Expanse writer) and Wes Chathm (The Expanse actor). Their scifi and genera movie knowledge is incredible and so entertaining.
Oooo I didn't know about this... what's it called?
@@nummulite99 😃 www.youtube.com/@TYandThatGuy
@@nummulite99 😃 Ty & That Guy
I'm so very excited for Alana to get into The Expance TV show. I'm also excited for Austin to get into the remaining books. ohhh there is going to be so much more Expance talk in future episodes.
Thomas Jane miller got me hooked in the expanse! Then again thomas Jane is a underrated actor great in the most great in stander great as the punisher and he’s got a new series on Amazon called troppo
As someone currently watching the Expanse right now, this episode felt perfectly curated to me 😅 It's my boyfriend's favorite tv series and book series. We're at the end of the third season, absolutely fantastic stuff. Got my friend Josie hooked months ago and she's already finished the show and is on Book 6, that's how good it is!
god i love the expanse, think I'm gonna do a rewatch in my holiday break
So glad The Expanse got some love here. Both the show and the books are amazing. The show is arguably the best piece of on-screen Sci-Fi ever produced.
Loved the Expanse. It's funny to say that it is much more hard sci-fi, which it really is in many ways, and yet have to throw the disclaimer in about the ring and everything involved with it ;). Soooo many great characters that really make the show. When it moved to Amazon, Christian got to drop some epic F bombs 😁
BSG reboot was great. Kind of funny that some of the stuff that I found silly in the original series when I was a young teen, I also found a bit off in the reboot. Still, really well done overall - Save the Pegasus!! I would actually also recommend Caprica. BSG did some neat stuff with monotheism vs polytheism in unexpected ways. Caprica has a really thought provoking thread on VR, reincarnation (or lack thereof), and how those impact human nature. The philosophical stuff at that level was totally unexpected and very, very interesting.
I love BSG, but have never heard of this Caprica series - I’m in the UK and assuming it never got shown here? Crazy to find out there is more BSG I’ve never seen lol
Caprica was largely mediocre for me with just a few standout moments, but at the end of the first season, when it was canceled, we got a preview of what the second season would have been that was genuinely exciting. I think with more time it would have hit its stride.
Expanse is one of my absolute favourite shows ever. Love the conspiracies and dealings between the factions, the ragtag crew of the rocinante which is basically an RPG-crew, etc. fantastic show. got hooked straight on the first season and it just kept getting better.
The Expanse? one of the greatest sci fi shows I've seen being talked about by some great artist of the video game world? fuck yeah!
The Expanse & Shogun are the same tier of TV shows: both Ss.
BSG only made it to A tier... mostly due to the ending, for me.
Also, The Expanse has the best space battles ever executed on screen - both technically and visually...
I love how austin is trying to cover up how jacked he is by saying he’s just “recording sounds with the dumbbells”. Take that jacket off austin, you’re not fooling anyone 💪🏻
Please watch Babylon 5. It’s the best written sci-fi show ever made.
Talking about Battlestar Galactica made me think of a movie I saw back in the 70's with Bruce Dern called Silent Running. The people who made Battlestar because of lack of budget used scenes from the movie in the TV show, even having to list Bruce Dern as a cameo because he was in one of the scenes they wanted to use. If you want to see where George Lucas got the idea for R2D2 from watch Silent Running. Dern plays the botanist and ecologist tasked with taking care of geodesic domes in space containing the remnants of forests that no longer exist on earth which are intended to be used to reforest the planet. He ends up alone accompanied by "service robots" which are essentially R2D2's design and are played by actors who are bilateral amputees in 20 lb suits that use their arms as legs. It was directed by Douglas Turnbull who was involved with the special effects on 2001 and also did the design and creation of the effects and sets for Silent Running using things that were meant for 2001 but were dropped because the budget wouldn't support them.
Wait I keep forgetting how good this podcast is. Austin is such an inspiration.
Initially commented about Battlestar but it was mentioned lol. The way you guys explained The Expanse reminded me of that unity/survival in space kinda vibe. Speaking of which you guys should get Katee Sackoff (Starbuck) to come on or go on her pod. cause she had Troy Baker on a few months back, and it sounds like you guys have other mutuals considering Alanah knows Mary Mcdonnell just think it'd be a neat crossover.
Yep, we need those crossovers :)
Recently watched 2001 and agree with Alanah's sentiment.
The one thing I really didn't understand about that movie, were those long interludes where the screen would just be black and play music.
Petition to call weights that you don't have to bend over to lift smartbells
Animal Well is unironically a goty consideration for me, I made a whole YT video about it but tl;dr the sheer depth of the puzzles in the game is insane. It's the kind of game where you walk into one room, do the puzzle thinking that's it, and then six hour laters you're back in said room to solve part of a DIFFERENT puzzle, only to find a SECOND PUZZLE IN THAT ROOM SEPARATE FROM THE ONE YOU CAME BACK TO IT FOR. It's made coming back to the game after breaks really fun because there is literally always more to solve (in my playthrough at least because 100%ing that thing is a job)
The Expanse has some glaring flaws, but I still love it, and it’s definitely worth watching.
Wait the show didn't tell the whole story of the Expanse?! Now I need to figure how to get the books to see what I'm missing and how it ends.
The Expanse is one of my favorite newer sci-fi shows, and by far the best Hard Sci-Fi. So good that even the later "magical" stuff follows rules and figuring out those rules are major plot points.
The first season of Altered Carbon is also very good, sci-fi detective Noir.
Babylon 5 remains my favorite sci-fi show though, that I keep doing rewatches every few years.
But to bring the conversation back to video games again, has Play, Watch, Listen ever had an episode covering the Mass Effect series?
The Expanse would have to be the closest fiction story to science. Something that our future would most likely look like based on our human history. Loved it, I was frustrated when it ended.
The Expanse is spectacular, my favorite show of all time.
So, here is the main reason the show was cancelled off of SyFy, money. It was not wholly owned by SyFy, but it was made in partnership and part of that deal meant SyFy did not own worldwide streaming rights and at a pivotal moment in media companies switching from TV to streaming. SyFy did not want to keep spending what they were spending to only make money from their broadcasting of the show, and someone else owning streaming rights.
Before watching: Doors and Corners kid
Should be noted, that the authors of the Expanse, James SA Corey, (who were also heavily involved in the writing of the show), helped George RR Martin with writing a lot of the world building and lore building of Game of Thrones.
I still remember taking home the DVD miniseries (the pilot before the pilot) of Battlestar Galactica and having my mind absolutely blown. Similar to Lost, I have huge problems with where that show wound up in later seasons and its finale, but the smaller stories, iconic characters, and unforgettable moments along the way are all worth it.
The Expanse is incredible. It is very much Game of Thrones in a hard sci-fi setting, but it also benefits from feeling like a believable extrapolation of human history into the future. (Reminder to self: Watch For All Mankind.) I'm greatly looking forward to diving into the books after developing a little more distance from the series (this is hard because I periodically rewatch a handful of episodes to get my fix).
Also, I think part of what led to The Expanse's cancelation before Amazon picked it up was SyFy's overall decline as a network.
Austin coming in strong.
Alannah ending the episode turns into the narrator listing side effects in a pharmaceutical commercial 😂
Just so happened to check for a new episode for the first time in 2 weeks and i feel lucky now😅
The expanse conversation starts at 34:07
Wow, mike's "you can't tickle yourself" is amazing
Looking forward to hearing what Alanah thinks of the Expanse! Wish Troy was here to voice his opinion. Been missing his viewpoint.
Speaking of pilots, I rewatched Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. recently and the first episode contrasts to every episode after. It feels shot like it was exclusively handheld and felt like an episode of the Office. The second episode and after feels like they utilize more expensive cameras and set ups.
Austin is the new Wilson from Home Improvement?
"The Expanse" is imo not just the best sci-fi tv-series of all time, it's most likely the greatest book to live-action adaptation ever made imo! The only other ones on this level are the Lord of The Rings trilogy and the two recent Dune films. And one major reason i suspect is the fact that the source authors are/were in the writer's room for the show, (which is considered an industry no-no, but they pulled it off in this case and the show was better for it). This is also why they were able to introduce characters and storylines that show up way earlier than they do in the books and did so seamlessly. The show also significantly improved a number of characters from the book, which i almost never see in adaptations.
Mike went full West Country at 47:17
As soon as I saw you guys were talking The Expanse I had to listen.
I have to disagree with Battlestar not holding up. I watched it again about a year ago after watching Apocalypse Now. So my perspective was offset. So when I rewatched Battlestar, I tried to see it from the Cylons perspective. I found the show was still very interesting that you can watch it from the antagonist viewpoint and it felt like the story was written from that point of view. Also keeping my eyes open for Starbuck clues.
you can tell austin didnt always work in space.
i didnt love the later seasons of the expanse as much. once we went through the ring some aspects seemed to dumb down considerably. but its really hard to keep up that kind fo quality in writing and world building and just overall consistency that they had going early on.
Hi Alanah, would you mind marking these new PWL episodes under the "podcast" category - it allows them to appear on YT music.
i want an ARPG in the expanse world
I think it started as an RPG setting so that makes sense
@@stephenfinney3101 Yep :)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expanse_(novel_series)#Inspiration_and_writing
43:50 "Almost to the end of the book and no mention of Avasarala" There's 10 novels in the series.
What a weird coincidence, I just finished re-watching The Expanse for like the fourth time a few days ago :D
Thanks for the podcast!
Expanse, in my opinion, is great for the first two season and then steadily falls. One of the reasons actually being that the villains become cartoon villains after that and it all becomes a bit too tropey.
Shout out to BSG! 🤩 Still a great show despite the passage of time. While I still have my own hangups with it there's no denying what made it so damn good. [In Comic Book Guy voice] Austin, your mentions about the show are off. The "pilot" was a two part episode mini series made in 2003. The first episode of the regular series is "33" referencing the exact elapsed time between Cylon attacks on Galactica and the fleet. Edward James Olmos' character's last name is ADAMA, not Adamo. 😊 On that note, why wasn't a good BSG video game ever made?! ☹
I love this podcast, but the only negative thing I have to say about this podcast is that I wish it was more frequent instead of once a month I wish it was once a week or it would go back to that because I enjoyed seeing these guys every week or listening to them every weekbecause algorithm with TH-cam algorithm I don’t always see the updates for when it’s been uploaded. I enjoy these guys very much.
I wish I could watch the expanse again for the first time
I desperately want them to finish the last trilogy! And I need a physical collectors edition so that I never lose the show!
Animal Well is amazing (British "amazing", not American "amazing"). Can't wait for it to blow your gamedev minds. And for you to discuss it on the podcast, of course.
BSG was awesome when it was airing. Being on the bandwagon as the final five was being revealed was a great social experience. But without the ARG and the webisodes and the controversy, it doesn't hit the same.
Don't worry guys my super virus is almost ready, you'll be back to a weekly schedule in no time.
its sad to see people are starting to forget "babylon5" and "space above and beyond" those where also very good series with some awsome first episodes en seasons
I think… I think Austin and Mike just sold me on The Expanse and no joke, this is the first time that I ever heard about the show, and I’m pretty knowledgeable about most shows and films. Weird blindspot, but it’s going to be fixed.
So it turns out the expanse was NOT cheap. All the zero G was extremely expensive sets and harnesses and that apparently didn't help
I just figured there was a new podcast
Shitty pilots: The Buffy series also has the original pilot available and it's crazy to see how much it's improved. (Alison Hannigan wasn't Willow yet)
the reason is because Austin.
I liked the Expanse, but the first 2 seasons were the best. The other seasons were just OK, and I really didn't care much for the final season.
HOTD S2 sucked imo. I didn't like the time jumps in S1 either, as I agree, you don't develop any emotional attachment to characters because of it, but it was much more entertaining than S2.
If I had a nickel for every time someone brought up The Red Shoe Diaries with David Duchovny on a podcast this week, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. Nick brought it up on the Kinda Funny Podcast yesterday.
FINALLY!!! Lord of the Flies!!! Classic!!! lol
I'll be "that weirdo" and mention the David Duchovny erotica series was Red Shoe Diaries and was actually a Showtime show, not HBO.
I'm just about to finish lord of the flies for the first time.
I'll get around to finishing The Expanse at some point 😅
Weird austin and mike should mention thrones. Thata what I was thinking of just before you mentioned it when they were explaining how you have to brute force the beginning of the expanxe...tried the first frw episodes of thrones multiple times, and rewlly only cause people kept insisting I try..but could never get into it (and was glad when I heard about the end lol) so comparing the expanse to thrones for me personally is more of a detracting factor than a selling point...thst I've loved thr majority of shows and games (I.e the witness, shogun) just off any of your recommendations so maybe I'll see it I have time for it
so fucked up that you guys can do less of your main job (this podcast) because of your secondary job (the one that makes you money). but seriously, great episode, missed the podcast... really wanted to hear about the stop killing games project lol maybe next month
59:00 GTA: San Andreas is notorious in the speedrunning scene for having good first half-to-3/4 (depending on who you ask) and a terrible ending with extremely repetitive gameplay. Similarly, the polish in the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition is heavily skewed to the first halves of the games.
Alanah I’m starting to think Mike and Austin are lumped in with the “fake gamers” you’re always posting about on IG 🙈😉
WOA WOA I utterly disagree with Mike on House of the Dragon season 1 vs 2. I found season 1 REALLY compelling and the second season to be much less interesting.
NIN rules!
I love stars wars but except for andor no other stars wars is near galactica o the expanse
Sees expanse, instant click.
22 minutes in, no mention of expanse. How dare you entertain me discussing things not the expanse.
we gotta start numbering the podcasts! also mike came in a bit hot in this one just fyi!
Yay pwl 😊
everyone should play animal well! it's like halo 2 meets halo 3 (i didn't play it tho i'll play it after knack 3 is released)
For those not in the know: "halo 2 meets halo 3" is a forced meme used in Animal Well's marketing, and Knack games are frequently referenced in Videogamedunkey's videos. Animal Well is extremely good, and everyone should play it, I agree.
I do think The Expanse kind of falls apart in the last couple seasons. I really didn't like the villain, and there was clearly some budget cuts so that didn't help matters (that, or me just hating the villain made the budget constraints more noticeable than before). Add in one of the big supporting actors getting cancelled that affected the show a lot because of his swift exit and... yeah. Seasons 2 through 4 though? Chef's kiss.
Dave Rubin is not the same person as Rick Rubin, Mike =)
Idk why no one ever mentions this when people talk about the expanse - but it's last season is incredibly weak compared to the rest of the show. I've never seen a show that so obviously had it's budget pulled out from under it. There's a point beyond which even creative use of resources can save a show with a low budget I suppose... Or maybe they lost important people, or were given an unrealistic deadline? I'm not sure what happened behind the scenes, but it's a weak, disappointing ending to an otherwise incredible show
Too bad Bezos wasn't that big a fan to actually finish the show
hey i played frostpunk this week too, weird coincidence! i fuckin hated it!
The Expanse is Mass Effect (once you get to the end of Season 2)
Mike looks weird with just a mustache and no beard.
Game of Thrones is worse than Battlestar Galactica. Game of Thrones was overhyped and bad from season 5 and onwards, it became stupid. I go back to Battlestar often. I will never ever watch GoT again. Ever.
Amen brother
I will always appreciate the first 4 seasons of Game of Thrones. So much of good work, great performances, story arcs, action scenes, an excellent score... all of it deserves to be appreciated. And I don't think the drop off in the latter seasons ruins the first 4 seasons in any way.
I LOVE YOU ALANAH 😍🥰❤❤❤
I love this podcast, but the only negative thing I have to say about this podcast is that I wish it was more frequent instead of once a month I wish it was once a week or it would go back to that because I enjoyed seeing these guys every week or listening to them every weekbecause algorithm with TH-cam algorithm I don’t always see the updates for when it’s been uploaded. I enjoy these guys very much.
Sadly we just don't have the time anymore!
@@PlayWatchListen you may not have the time guys, but you don’t know how much you guys are really appreciated more than you guys even realize.
Thank you ❤️