THE EXPANSE --it's premise, plot and socio-political implications

[Lord Ba'al]

Hmmm....this doesn't appeal to me much. Mostly because The Expanse is already a story and the roles and events are already written. It isn't like most other shows which can just make changes willy nilly and shift like a school of fish.

I would suspect that the tabletop game is made in such a way that the story can go in various directions. Initially The Expanse was actually supposed to be a MMORPG and then a tabletop game and only then they decided to write novels and finally they made the TV show. The first two things might have been reversed, not sure.

 

[Overmind One]

I would suspect that the tabletop game is made in such a way that the story can go in various directions. Initially The Expanse was actually supposed to be a MMORPG and then a tabletop game and only then they decided to write novels and finally they made the TV show. The first two things might have been reversed, not sure.

I would LOVE a game set in the Expanse universe, not necessarily on the Rocinante or being any of the familiar characters we have seen in the series. How about just "somebody" in the universe, where you can pick what faction you belong to, live with the people there and interact with them, perhaps take an assignment. Then you could get a ship, or transfer from ship to ship (or faction to faction), and perhaps even end up on the Roci or the Behemoth. Or, another ship. The protomolecule would be off limits to control.

 

[Tripler]

Hmmm....this doesn't appeal to me much. Mostly because The Expanse is already a story and the roles and events are already written. It isn't like most other shows which can just make changes willy nilly and shift like a school of fish.

Actually it was only to be a game but became a tv series instead so I can see them trying to still push it out there but like you , I am not interested unless I could be the Martian trying to take out the protomolocule in a first person shoot em up and I get to fly the Roci or a stealth ship ...
I can't see to many being interested .

 

[Overmind One]

Actually it was only to be a game but became a tv series instead so I can see them trying to still push it out there but like you , I am not interested unless I could be the Martian trying to take out the protomolocule in a first person shoot em up and I get to fly the Roci or a stealth ship ...
I can't see to many being interested .

That would be a FPS and not a role playing game though. It would be easy enough to do that with existing game engines.

 

[Tripler]

Yes . I want to fight along Bobby's side , kicking who ever's asses lol !!! WooHoo !!! FPS !!!

 

[Overmind One]

Yes . I want to fight along Bobby's side , kicking who ever's asses lol !!! WooHoo !!! FPS !!!

What if you were shooting on the Eros Station when it got infected by the protomolecule?

 

[PussyGalore]

What if you were shooting on the Eros Station when it got infected by the protomolecule?

His ass would get Julie Mao'd.

 

[YJ02]

First and last effen time I buy something from Amazonk . I first get an email saying my ordered is shipped . Then a few hours later I get an email from the seller informing me that they do not have season 1 and have refunded me what they hope will cover the cost of purchasing season 1 elsewhere but have shipped season 2 and 3 ffs ! I asked for the 3 season set. Not 2 season set bitch !!!
fukrs ... I cancelled the complete order even tho it has been shipped . No idea what happens now but amazon is never going to see my credit card ever again .

reminiscent of my A/C order...

 

[YJ02]

Yeah I can't really complain as the show is so well done. If the biggest issue is the language mishmash (as a way to denote class structure) I can easily live with that.

The original writer really did an amazing job in creating a believable futuristic world from top to bottom. It takes skill to create that many layers with countless characters all interacting in some way with each other, even if they are on different planets and don't meet face to face.

the language thing is really no different then the way things are now with regional accents, diff manners of speaking english in diff nations and then the regional accents and slang within those nations. BELTER seems to be entirely possible to have been derived from these mash ups of diff languages and slang

and didn't the original belters get their jobs based on a lottery? the same way Amos said he got his? Is it a lottery of inner city people? if so, they would defi bring their unique lingo's

-----------then in america alone, the regional dialects, the west coast east coast, south , mid west ,etc dialects then the closet to the belter stuff imo, would be the inner city slang and affectations

oh and military speak
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the inner city stuff though, when i worked at that "kiddie jail" after college, we had kids from west virginia rural areas, philly, harrisburg, DC and Baltimore and a few other areas..no one could really talk to one another unless they stuck to straight english

probably the most interesting part of that job for me was listening to all that wonderful jibber jabber and trying figure it out

"guh" as in "you guh?" is the one i always remember. its a slang based on a mispronunciation of the mid atlantic accent

any guess what it means?

 

[Joelist]

Actually the idea of Belter Creole adds to the realism. By now (regardless of their origin) Belters have become their own cultural group and language is part of that. Note that the Mars characters tend to have an accent to, which is based on where most of the colonists came from.

 

[PussyGalore]

It makes sense that the Belters would develop their own dialect and colloquialisms and that Mars would also for that matter. But the pidgin english creole they use on the show is a bit over the top, especially since only some of the Belters speak that way. Det. Miller spoke like an American and Naomi speaks like she's from London, England (which is where the actress is from oddly enough). So why do only some Belters speak like they are creole? Are we to believe there's a posh British outpost somewhere in the Belt that Naomi was raised on? And Miller, who was born on Ceres and grew up there, somehow speaks with a different accent than all the other Cerians? That doesn't make sense.

Regarding Mars, why does Alex speak with a Texas accent while Roberta speaks with a heavy Kiwi accent? (Seriously, her accent is unmistakably New Zealand.) And the other Martians speak with a plethora of accents, Canadian, American, etc.

I know this sounds like nitpicking but really it's just a minor issue. I wouldn't care so much about these discrepancies in language if the writers didn't emphasize the Belter creole thing so strongly to begin with. If they're gonna be so preoccupied with creating a language for a segment of the characters in the story they really should pay attention to the issue of language in toto.

At any rate, none of this stuff comes close to making this a bad show. Based upon the competition I don't see The Expanse falling out of first place for good scifi viewing any time soon.

 

[Tripler]

The dialect is what makes this show great . Every character , no matter where there from is not judged by how they talk or there accent's. They are all judged weather they are a belter , a Martian , or an Earther and in Naomi's case , can flip back to Belter lingo real quick . . I have zero issue with all the different accent's . It is not what is important about this story and I cannot see accent's disappearing in a 200 year span anyway . Why would they . Accent's have been around for a very long time and just because they moved off world , they would still keep there heritage alive and well and I would think there accent's would stay with them over the years . I love all the language diversity . It's real diversity , not like the shit we see from other shows that boast diversity, hell I can't even call them a show or entertainment . I have no idea what the bleep they are , but The Expanse is absolute brilliance and they can throw in a few french accent's and whatever while there at it which they did in Season 2 before they blew the frenchy's up lol ...

 

[YJ02]

Regarding Mars, why does Alex speak with a Texas accent while Roberta speaks with a heavy Kiwi accent? (Seriously, her accent is unmistakably New Zealand.) And the other Martians speak with a plethora of accents, Canadian, American, etc.

their is an interview on YT where the guy who plays Alex states that martians are a mix of ppl who came mainly from texas, pakistan/india and australia.NZ

to me that sounds like doubling back to explain that the casting matches the need...what does the book say?

 

[PussyGalore]

their is an interview on YT where the guy who plays Alex states that martians are a mix of ppl who came mainly from texas, pakistan/india and australia.NZ

to me that sounds like doubling back to explain that the casting matches the need...what does the book say?

I don't know what the books say but I suspect we could find out more at our local libraries.

Seriously though, I'm not sure what the answer is here. Since the show is produced so well with a lot of attention to detail I find it odd that TPTB wouldn't know there was a discrepancy at work here. So maybe they intended it that way?

But if there were generations of people on Mars wouldn't their various accents and dialects have started to merge and change? After all, that's the implication with the Belters and their creole language; creole languages being known as hybrids of languages that are used to bridge foreign language barriers via a pidgin dialect. Are regions on Mars still so segregated that they have maintained their specific Earth accents? That seems odd to me at this point in the colonization of Mars.

 

[Tripler]

I still don't understand why you find the accents an issue with this show . They went to Mars and lived through a few generations . Fine . Or went to the Belt and went though a few generations . Obviously it would have been a family or even a group of families going there . So , they all stick together and speak there launguage with THERE ACCENT'S because there sticking together . It happens here on earth as the Italians, Portugese , French, Cockney Brits, Canadian, American,Japanese,Chinese,Korean all live in the same area together keeping there dialect alive . So she is cockney. Why would it not be plausible that in her family and in there heritage , they kept the cockney accent alive and well, with her family lineage . 100% they would keep there accents as would all the other languages . You don't see Mr Mau speaking with an American accent . He has an Asian accent because he is Asian and proably speaks Mandarin yet I am sure his linage is Asian launguages, not specifically English or American or a UN accent . Bobby speaks with a New Zealand accent because her heritage is from New Zealand and as I stated before , good chance they migrated as a family and I bet her dad never ever lost his accent because of his parents and there parents .
I have friends from different countries with different accent's and they have been here in Canada for more than 50+ years ! They still have there British accent's . So I don't see how a 200 plus year span would cause such a switchup on how they speak other than switching it up with Creol belter banter but there original dialect would stay alive and well even with learning belter as Naomi demonstrates in The Expanse . Remember also that Naomi joined the OPA and is an engineer trained outside of the belt , not trained by belters .

 

[PussyGalore]

I still don't understand why you find the accents an issue with this show . They went to Mars and lived through a few generations . Fine . Or went to the Belt and went though a few generations . Obviously it would have been a family or even a group of families going there . So , they all stick together and speak there launguage with THERE ACCENT'S because there sticking together . It happens here on earth as the Italians, Portugese , French, Cockney Brits, Canadian, American,Japanese,Chinese,Korean all live in the same area together keeping there dialect alive . So she is cockney. Why would it not be plausible that in her family and in there heritage , they kept the cockney accent alive and well, with her family lineage . 100% they would keep there accents as would all the other languages . You don't see Mr Mau speaking with an American accent . He has an Asian accent because he is Asian and proably speaks Mandarin yet I am sure his linage is Asian launguages, not specifically English or American or a UN accent . Bobby speaks with a New Zealand accent because her heritage is from New Zealand and as I stated before , good chance they migrated as a family and I bet her dad never ever lost his accent because of his parents and there parents .
I have friends from different countries with different accent's and they have been here in Canada for more than 50+ years ! They still have there British accent's . So I don't see how a 200 plus year span would cause such a switchup on how they speak other than switching it up with Creol belter banter but there original dialect would stay alive and well even with learning belter as Naomi demonstrates in The Expanse . Remember also that Naomi joined the OPA and is an engineer trained outside of the belt , not trained by belters .

 

[YJ02]

I don't know what the books say but I suspect we could find out more at our local libraries.

Seriously though, I'm not sure what the answer is here. Since the show is produced so well with a lot of attention to detail I find it odd that TPTB wouldn't know there was a discrepancy at work here. So maybe they intended it that way?

But if there were generations of people on Mars wouldn't their various accents and dialects have started to merge and change? After all, that's the implication with the Belters and their creole language; creole languages being known as hybrids of languages that are used to bridge foreign language barriers via a pidgin dialect. Are regions on Mars still so segregated that they have maintained their specific Earth accents? That seems odd to me at this point in the colonization of Mars.

idk if it was mentioned in the show, and perhaps cause i am mixing up my Martians (Babylon 5,etc) ,but is it possible that the Australian-NZ's lived in one dome and the Pakistani - Texans in another, same with the other dialects?

BUT i am sure this stuff was not the kind of minutia the TPTBs were considering. i think it is casting and nothing but

but, then why not have then coached to all speak the same?

 

[YJ02]

were the original Belters recruited from the lower classes on earth? that is, work "out there" or stay on earth and live in filth with a UI for a paycheck. like the ppl we saw Bobbi interact with when she 'broke camp' and beelined for the beach?

if so, the the Belter's would have originated from an obviously overcrowded and well ethnically and linguistic mix on earth, the belter creole could well have gotten its start on earth in the urban areas

it is not so unlike the Grounder language on THE 100 in its origination

 

[Overmind One]

I don't know what the books say but I suspect we could find out more at our local libraries.

Seriously though, I'm not sure what the answer is here. Since the show is produced so well with a lot of attention to detail I find it odd that TPTB wouldn't know there was a discrepancy at work here. So maybe they intended it that way?

But if there were generations of people on Mars wouldn't their various accents and dialects have started to merge and change? After all, that's the implication with the Belters and their creole language; creole languages being known as hybrids of languages that are used to bridge foreign language barriers via a pidgin dialect. Are regions on Mars still so segregated that they have maintained their specific Earth accents? That seems odd to me at this point in the colonization of Mars.

They do talk about this in the books. I think that you, being the erudite reader that you are, would find these books interesting. Start with Leviathan Wakes which corresponds to Season 1 of the show. There is a lot of foundation info for this series in that book.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

I need someone who knows about the books. Seems like @Overmind One's a good bet, but I think at least one other person here might have read them.

I have a Kobo account now for e-books and I've purchased Leviathan Wakes so far. There appear to be more than 8 books. I think a bunch of them are only side stories going more in depth into characters and such. I would like some confirmation in regard to which books are more important than others and which order I should buy them in. I'm not gonna buy all of them at once anyway. I did Google it of course but I'm not certain. Also the books aren't listed in chronological order on Kobo apparently.

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/search?Query=the+expanse

What are your thoughts?