SyFy Monday: The Expanse and Childhood's End

Get ready for an impressive night of adventure on Monday (December 14) as SyFy premieres both The Expanse and Childhood's End. I already discussed Childhood's End in an earlier posting, and this trailer gives you a good idea of what is to come in the three-night miniseries, so I will focus my remarks here on The Expanse. Here is the basic story: 

Hundreds of years in the future, humans have colonized the solar system. The U.N. controls Earth. Mars is an independent military power. The planets rely on the resources of the Asteroid Belt, where air and water are more precious than gold. For decades, tensions have been rising between these three places. Earth, Mars and the Belt are now on the brink of war. And all it will take is a single spark. 

It is within this future that The Expanse begins. The series follows the case of a missing young woman that brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship’s captain together in a race across the solar system that will expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.

Sounds pretty dramatic, doesn't it? I watched the pilot episode and had to rewatch it to ground myself in both the dialogue and underlying story. You are dropped into the middle of an expansive plot (sorry) and you need to catch up fast, unlike other shows like Dark Matter where you start knowing as much as the characters.

This is not Star Trek. The spacecraft are slow, the environment is gritty, and the story is grounded on Ceres in the asteroid belt. Is this why we want to stretch our wings and expand throughout the solar system - slave colonies on asteroids, close-quarters insanity, and sub-premium limb replacements? Space travel seems as slow and hazardous as submarine travel. And corporate shirking of its duty to the greater good seems rampant. 

Even given these point, I like it because it has an authentic feel and compelling storyline. And the pilot episode ends with a bang. I recommend you take a look for yourselves.