The Expanse (TV Series) Dulcinea (2015) User Reviews

Welcome back to space!

[Rat_27 · 8/10 · 15 December 2015]

It's been a long time coming, but I think SciFi (I am still not a fan of the new name, so they are still SciFi to me. Blinders man, blinders.) has finally replaced BSG.

This feels like a slower paced space opera, so I won't be expecting a lot of dogfighting, but will be expecting shooting and explosions at some point. Showing the characters in zero-g obviously slows down the pace, but I think it's very well done. Without going into detail, there is a significant amount of emphasis put into one of the ships turning around in space, and going the other direction. As science-fiction shows evolve, we are starting to realize (and therefore be shown) that there are complications and extreme forces involved in turning a massive object 180 degrees and generating thrust in a new direction. I truly appreciated the attention to detail that they paid to this maneuver, as opposed to just hitting the brakes, and flipping a u-ey (that's one of those words in the English language that you just can't spell right ...).

Of the currently displayed plot-points, VERY little has been shown to establish much of any of them. The detective has shown what kind of a man he is, and he minds me of a Blade Runner. However, he seems to be operating in the Mars that we were shown in the first Total Recall. They made mention, very early on, how precious air and water were in the Belt, so it will be interesting to see how they continue to play on that throughout the series.

The politicians are just that, and I don't care for them in real life, and they usually suck just as bad in media. They are all snakes, and very well portrayed here. There is one player that hasn't really come to the table yet, and I am VERY interested to see them. They are spoken of in a very ominous tone, in fact, barely a whisper. I want to see why they are so feared.

It's not Firefly. It's not Star Trek. It's not Farscape. It's not Babylon 5. It's definitely not Space: Above and Beyond. But I am also hesitant to call it Game of Thrones in space. Yes, it's a drama, but I think it will be defining itself. This was a great pilot episode. It started a lot of threads that are sure to intertwine along the way. I see one review that complains how horrible it was, but they also report to have only watched it for 20 minutes. I don't know how you can say that something is so bad, yet fail to watch the entire show. So, I am completely disagreeing with that person. I think this show has a lot of potential, and we will know more tonight, as Ep2 airs later today.

Would you like to know more?

Awesome adaptation of the book! Can't wait to see the series develop.

[b_c_lewis · 9/10 · 15 December 2015]

I just watched the first episode and loved it. Having read all the books I found it to be a nearly perfect adaptation. If that holds true for the rest of the series, it's going to be an excellent show.

I especially liked the realistic depiction of space flight and the opening scenario that will eventually set the plot for the rest of the series. No spoilers here, but trust me that the writers did a great job with this and you might go back and re-watch it with a different perspective later on. If it holds to the story line of the books, it could be pretty late in the season before we know whats really going on...so I can't wait to see how it develops on screen!

If you haven't read the books, then I encourage you to hang in there as this picks up steam and develops into an intricate and engaging story. Excellent characters, plot, and from what I've seen, excellent screen adaptation, too. If you're a fan of the book series like I am, then you don't need any convincing...just enjoy the show!

Looking forward to the next episode!

Withholding Judgment

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 11 January 2020]

I have to admit I am trying to piece together a coherent series of events. Pilots usually are heavy on exposition. I am, in good faith, hoping that things will be more focused and we will not have thrown at us 16 plot events in a 45 minute span. I plan on watching and then returning to the pilot to see the foundations laid down. I thought the CGI was just fine. I know big budgets can make this more spectacular, but one has to begin somewhere. I thought there was reserve and subtlety in this first episode. There are even a couple characters who would be deemed heavies who may have some positives working for them.

Message in a bottle to myself: Enjoy from the start, this is first-class SciFi!

[big_brother_1984 · 16 December 2020]

When watching the series for the first time, for quite some time I didn't pay a lot of attenton because my impression was that this has to be just another mass-pleasing mashup of cgi, drama and horror.

I'd like to send a message in a bottle back in time to tell myself: It isn't, and The Expanse is one of the very best scifi and truely orginal series. There are no story lines I'd rather skip through, and the world building and "real space" setting is simply stunning.

The final proof that this has to be excellent is SyFy dropping it prematurely, just what happened to Firefly. Fortunately, Amazon picked up the series with good continuation and still close to the books - it's a lot more than live action Mass Effect.

So if you happen to start watching this and just want a quick imdb check reading some s01e1 review: Enjoy, you can only see it for the first time once!

Surprised by the low rating

[vasank-58392 · 9/10 · 7 September 2021]

This is a pretty good pilot episode for the series. Wonder why it's rated so low.

One of the best science fiction shows ever done in history.

[gregorium-adrian · 10/10 · 18 February 2017]

I can honestly say that this show, each episode done so far has risen above any of my expectations I ever had. Great adaptation from the book.

In a world where people are inept to re-enact a decent SF show, and where people only watch shows with topics for the masses(basically all popular shows now are only about politics, sex, murder) we get something for those who seek something more

• THE EXPANSE - :

-Excellent and realistic prediction of the future(politically, militarily, culturally);

-Excellent CGI for a show;

-Very attentive to scientific details(and thus, even more realistic);

-The show doesn't invent boring creatures from other dimensions, or tries to invent some over-optimistic or over-pessimistic future technologically: it is just a realistic-optimistic extension of the good/bad things which are happening today in society, in the case that we don't blow up each other;

-Very enjoyable to watch, you don't get bored one second. It keeps you connected at all times and honestly I hope we get a "Battlestar Galactica or Star Trek style", which means at least 5 seasons of this beauty!

I am so grateful that after boring shows such as House of Cards, Narcos, House, GOT, Suits, Breaking Bad, we finally have something about space.

Out in Ceres...

[tenshi_ippikiookami · 6/10 · 13 January 2017]

"Dulcinea", the first episode of "The Expanse", does a good job in introducing the characters and story-lines of the show, while keeping things simple.

Humanity has left Earth, conquered Mars and also 'colonized' Ceres, which has been left hollow as humanity has been using its water. The episode centers on introducing the characters. First we have Julie, who we get to know in a little bit a dire situation. Second, Thomas Jane's Joe Miller, who gets the job of finding her, as she has gone missing. There is also Jim, who works at the Canterbury, a ship getting water in space. And last, but not least Chrisjen, who lives on Earth and is trying to find some information about Mars, a war between the two planets seemingly on the horizon.

The episode centers basically in introducing how life is on the Ceres station, on the effects it has had on humans there, and on getting the viewer acquainted with Jim and Joe (yes, two white men), and their different personalities, stories, etc. There is a lot of exposition, but we get to see it through the eyes of newbie Dimitri (in the case of the station at Ceres), so they have an excuse to explain things to the viewer.

They do an acceptable job. The pace is good (even with the constant changes between locations), the effects not bad, and the atmosphere of the show is quite good. The mysteries seem interesting, and the acting, with Jane at his most sleazy, charming, accompanies. "Dulcinea" is a good introduction.

Makes sense

[narcis-48838 · 10/10 · 16 April 2021]

After few seasons it's easy to realize that there is a reason why this 1st ep of entire series is named Dulcinea..

Simpler and Shinier than the Book

[croetoan · 6/10 · 22 February 2020]

This review is for not only the first episode, Dulcinea, but for the entirety of season one. Also, I'm judging the episode and series as a reader of the books. The books were always ripe for television adaptation. They were gritty, fitting in with today's trend toward darker and dirtier television entertainment. They were thrillers, with a limited cast of characters easily distinguished from one another and steadfastly exhibiting their stereotypes. They have an overarching diabolical protagonist against which the heroes can vie. And ultimately they are simple, easy to follow, and episodic; perfect for television. What made the books better than average was the attention to some of the mechanics of and limitations within space - treating what is taken-for-granted in so many space operas as problems and details for the story. And the characters, while straightforward, were all flawed, easily relatable people.

Each episode and season one do a good job of splitting up the material entertaining bits. The CGI looks good. The camera work is acceptable, and the sets are nice. There are some nice technological details scattered throughout the show that remind you that this is the future, and the mechanics of everything seem to work out right. The Expanse is a disappointment with regard to its ambitions, however. It never aspired to be better than the books. Those were never great, but the show does not deal with the physics of space flight as well nor does it accurately give us the characters from the book. My biggest complaint is with the casting. Everyone cast for the show is just a little too handsome, too fit, too clean for the characters from the book. The grit and flaws were the best part of the book series, and it is a shame that the producers decided to readjust the appearance and personalities and turn them into younger and prettier stars. With the exceptions of Naomi and Avasarala, none of the main characters quite fit their book appearances or personalities. The biggest change is for Holden, who is treated with much more sympathy and far less cynicism than than he earned in the books. They've done strange things to Amos as well, presumably in anticipation for some of the events in the later books. But the Amos here is not the Amos in Leviathan Wakes. Alex and Miller are recognizable, but conformity with the book was obviously not a priority. And as a book reader, that ultimately is a burr throughout. The book was good enough. Stick with it and only depart from it when you can improve on the story. Most of the departures however, are to make the plot or scene a little simpler, to create a little more drama, to make things more readily understood. Most of the effort that went into deviating from the book went into making this a dumber version of the book. The directing, the cinematography, the editing - everything else about it proceeded by playing it safe. Nothing especially artistic or creative is added to the story. It all is told competently, but it is a shame for the result to be so bland.

Catchy?

[michalvaskorv · 7/10 · 15 October 2020]

I really like hardcore Sci-Fi, and I did read the books. I tried to watch this series for third time now, quitting for the third time around the third or fourth episode. May try to just skip season 1 altogether.

Putting it blunt: what you will see in the first episodes is a great collection of sci-fi and screenplay clichés, with a whisky-gigollo and a random guy in the center.

The series tries to be action-packed, and, for the most part, cool. But oh, it´s not enough. If you just want to sit on your couch, crunch chips, and casually watch some guys in space do space stuff, cool. If you´re a die-hard sci-fi fan and you´re hoping for something new, inventive and profound in any way, get your nerves ready, or better, read the book.

80% random cliché, 20% nice CGI

[nnr-188-986581 · 4/10 · 15 December 2015]

I was pretty excited about this title, but now... just shocked.

We are in the 22xx's, still, people talks, behaves, dresses like its nowadays. (Interesting, because human civilization is changing faster than ever). New York too.. in the pilot, it's like it's stopped to growing like.. right now in 21th century... or few years from now.

Sceneries are awful, for example the living spaces, spaceships instrument panels, things from day-to-day life, are so... so cheap. Ship interiors too dark.. dunno why, nowadays they are bright, so astronauts can see what they are doing, and to don't go total depressed after 24h in space.. Ships controls are more lame than a nice multimonitor PC RIG today... Zero innovation, that's really hurts...

Actors ain't acting, just being. Talking, moving, but they are lack of any real human chemistry, or dynamics between them... I'm not sure if it's just because the terribly bad script, directing, or simply bad casting.

Visually, lame, dark-blueish filters, too many shadows on interiors..

For me, this is just another low-budget-like scifi, no real ideas behind it, no soul, like Killjoys, unacceptable pile of trash from the channel that once gave us the SG and BSG franchise...

One nice thing though: CGI is pretty cool in space scenarios, I enjoyed that part of the pilot, and I can see the work on it.

I'm staying with it for a few more episodes, but I think it's gonne be a huge fail from SyFy again.

Too bad, because, if you don't have any ideas how to write a script for a good sci-fi, you just have to open some scientific journals, follow the development of today's high tech experiments in the fields of physics, robotics, AI, communication, space exploring, then just put all of that results and concepts a little further in time.

I hope one day SyFy is again will be able to do decent job in this genre, because this.. just hurts, guys.

Solid start of the series

[daniel-smits-03179 · 3 April 2021]

Gave this episode a 10/10 to compensate for the people rating this 2/10, 4/10, complaining the episode doesn't spoonfeed you all the answers right away. How can you complain about 1 episode not giving all the answers, when you can't even be bothered to finish the season? That's like stopping Murder on the Orient Express after 5 minutes, because they didn't start with saying who the murderer is. Have patience for gods sake, the show answers everything you could ask during the season.

The episode itself wasn't perfect, but a solid start to the series. It has a big twist moment at the end that I really didn't see coming and I respect the series for showing balls so early in its runtime.

Simply - no story - no writing - just a shifting scenes

[sjensenstrad · 2/10 · 1 December 2015]

I had hoped this would be a new sci-fi show to watch - and there is never enough sci-fi TV show.

But this was very little entertaining and there was no story to follow, it was just a mix of different characters shifting scene, I stopped watching after 25 minutes.... well I fell a sleep it was so boring and none engaging.

What was the writers thinking?????........... or did they think at all??

THe girl in the beginning that was interesting, but where did that story line go?

Have I wrote enough lines yet.....

CGI AND SEX

[mrjdarcher · 4/10 · 22 January 2021]

Just lots of CGI, sex, topless men, and that's about it so far, and a man who looses a arm.

What is the story? Why are they there? What are they doing? What is the point and purpose? Why are The UN torturing individuals?

Skips from out of space to a city somewhere and back. And just like that there is a rescue mission. Would have made more sense to focus just one one group of people in one episode.

Do you find this review confusing? The episode is just as confusing, unsure if i'll bother with episode 2, but the cliff hanger is asking me to continue. Like other reviews this could be fantastic.

15min in 1 star 30min in 2 star 40mins in 5 stars

Last 3 minutes 8/10.

Nothing here.

[bombersflyup · 2/10 · 19 December 2019]

The show's trying to cover many things, with many characters, with a slow incremental plot, with little worth investing in. It's like your time isn't valuable to them. Each episode should have memorable moments and character building and each with its own plot or close to it. I found it pretty dull. They killed off some of the more interesting characters first episode as well.