Wednesday, January 19, 2022

TV Viewing

      Tam and I finished up The Expanse on Sunday, and we're sorry it's over (for now.  The book series continues past the TV series and there may be a follow-on).  It was a trip worth taking and they managed to bring the story to a satisfying stopping-place,  This has set the bar for subsequent TV SF efforts, and set it high.  (There are a half-dozen bonus vignettes, though you'll need to watch on something other than a TV to see them.)  I panned the first episode of the series (and I still think it's a bit rocky) but the sets and acting were first-rate from the start and the physics and storytelling caught up rapidly.  (I still think the writers cheated on the Belter water shortage: the Solar System is lousy with the stuff.  But, hey, I'll give them that to make it work.)

      Closer to Earth, we started watching the TV-series version of The Right Stuff.  I read and enjoyed the Tom Wolfe book not long after it was published; the series is very close to the book, well-produced and the casting was remarkably good.  While the actors are a little better-looking than their real-life counterparts, their appearance and mannerisms are so close that we had no difficulty telling who was who.  --And then it ended abruptly.  I hadn't looked it up and assumed they'd shot the whole thing.  Nope.  National Geographic/Disney+ pulled the plug after one season.  The show is owned by Warner Brothers Television and they're said to be looking for a new home.  A companion documentary, The Real Right Stuff, is also worth watching.

2 comments:

Ed Skinner said...

I wear my MCRN baseball cap to the coffee shop. The waves of recognition are rare. Hope that improves 'cause, yes, it's a top-notch production. But it needs more proto-molecule, vacuum-tolerant, rad-hungry critters, if you ask me.

Robert said...

Ed: Well, there is the loose end of the "doggies" and little brother what's-his-name and the fate of Filip.
I'm hoping for more episodes.
MCRN ballcap? I'd be tempted but I'm too cheap and there would be ZERO recognition hereabouts. Sigh.