It’s a slightly click-baity title, but as we’re still generating more content for our magazines, this one included, why not?
My Sci-fi unpopular opinion is that 2001: A Space Odyssey is nothing but pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. I’ve tried watching it multiple times and each time I have absolutely no patience for the pointless little scenes which contain little to no depth or meaningful plot, all coalescing towards that 15 minute “journey” through space and series of hallucinations or whatever that are supposed to be deep, shake you to your foundations, and make you re-think the whole human condition.
But it doesn’t. Because it’s just pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. Planet of the Apes was released in the same year and is, on every level, a better Sci-fi movie. It offers mystery, a consistent and engaging plot, relatable characters you actually care about, and asks a lot more questions about the world and our place in it.
I think this might be a truly unpopular opinion, but I could not get into the expanse at all. Just never got invested in the characters enough to stick with it. I’ve retried watching it 4 times due to everyone recommending it, kind of given up now!
Also the latest star wars films killed any interest I had in star wars.
well, I love The Expanse, but I applaud you for posting an actual unpopular opinion!
Avasarala would be proud.
The books are great. Show does a good job moving the intrigue and conflicts to a screen but man if Avasarala and Amos aren’t the absolute best portrayal of those characters.
Avasarala has a heart of gold and a fist of iron in equal measures.
This means she’ll do horrible things (even at her own expense) for what she believes is right and she doesn’t put up with any kind of nonsense.
And yet she plays the political game so we’ll all while pretending she’s above it.
And the Shohreh Aghdashloo knocks the character out of the park. Every move and word both foul and sweet personifies the character in the book that it’s impossible to convey how absolutely masterful the performance is.
And Wes Chatham as Amos is a close second. A man whose moral code is simple because he’s broken, knows it, and so he defaults to “who is the most likely good person I can use as a guide.” Chatham portrays the violence is necessary like doing the laundry.
Turns it on, does the job, goes back as if nothing happened. Oh, I should do this instead? You got it boss.
Or how he conveys in the simple things how Amos feels there is a moral right but having grown up as he did it’s hard to know what that is and who has the authority to enforce it it just chefs kiss
What? Stop beating this guy? Ok. Sorry fella, but you a drink?
I loved every moment she was on screen, totally captivating. Great costume design, script writing and acting all together.
All I can do is apologise, I really tried, so I’m going to chalk it up to a me problem. Desperate for a good Sci fi series as well, that’s the most annoying part!
Well, have you tried Another Life? Dark?
Battlestar Galactica?
Battlestar is one of my fav Sci fi series, loved dark, another life was ok
Oh, oh, I have an unpopular one right here.
Battlestar Galactica’s ending is worse than Game of Thrones, by quite some margin, and it absolutely ruins everything that came before.
I dunno that I’d rank it worse than GoT myself but I did really hate that ending.
Honestly between Lost, BSG, and GoT I’m kinda burned on endings generally. I can’t really think of a show that isn’t a super short limited series that I’m like, that ending was great!
Does The Good Place count? 4 seasons isn’t that long I guess, but idk 4 years is quite a bit of time. And god damn did they stick the landing.
The series ending is one thing I think Expanse did do better than Lost, BSG, or GoT—even though it wasn’t the end of the book series.
I honestly never watched the last season of the show, because I liked the book ending so much, and I knew the show was going in a different direction. But I haven’t heard bad things about it like for these other shows, so I assume they did a good job?
It’s so tricky isn’t it, so I watched bsg and lost way past their initial airing and the hype and I found I didn’t love either of the endings but I didn’t mind them either. And overall I still loved the series and the characters.
I think in terms of long series endings maybe breaking bad?
Yeah, part of the problem for fans was that part of the slogan for BSG was “…and they have a plan”. So when it became clear that no one had a “plan” for the plot arc, including the showrunners …it was quite a disappointment.
Spicy one right here. Hits me right in the artificial heart.
Honestly bsg’s ending wasn’t amazing, it didn’t end anywhere near as strongly as it started. But I didn’t hate it and I was invested enough in the characters that I wanted to see what happened to them all. I also found the overall series, world building, characters etc. far out weighed the ending itself for me.
I often find endings to series, like got, are lacklustre. Finding a beautifully crafted series from beginning to end is so rare.
I guess that depends a lot on your perspective on narrative and the world in general
[SPOILERS], I guess, I don’t see a content warning tool in this editor, but someone let me know if I’m missing something and I’ll edit this.
I happen to be an atheist. Non-beligerent, definitely not an “internet atheist” type, but I just don’t believe in a supreme power, so it’s always jarring when a narrative thing ends on a note where they assume that of course in this years-long debate between mysticism and reason the figure matching the Christian deity is the right answer.
It’s not even annoyance at there being religious people or anything like that. It’s just in my world when somebody raises “well, it could be God intervening in our lives”, that is obviously the wrong answer unless you’re in a show where Christian mythos is explicitly established as a fantasy trope (say, Supernatural or Buffy or whatever). If you just spring that stuff on me in the finale you’re already losing me, even before you use it as a plot device to deus ex machina all the garbage and loose ends you couldn’t figure out during the show’s run.
So yeah, I’ll take “we’ll make the omniscient hemiplegic kid kid and the cool dragon lady a nazi because the outline says so and we have better stuff to do than wrap this up” over “God hates robots and that’s why all this happened, I dunno”.
I am an atheist as well and I liked the ending. It isn’t supernatural, it just matches old cylon legends.
I’m currently rewatching and what actually bothers me is how the tomb of Athena works and all the plot holes and poor episodes. For example there is an episode where is a lack of metal just after they disable hundreds of cylon raiders. Also, the heavy raider taken back from Caprica is never used again.
My name is Adama and I approve of this message
So say we all!
So say we all
So say we all.
My cliche unpopular opinion is that Battlestar Galactica is a more interesting and well thought out story/universe than Star Wars.
I just started Silo last night, really enjoying it so far.
I’ll have to check it out, looks like it has an amazing cast
That means you’ve missed out on Andor, which I think is better than any live action Star Wars (including, perhaps controversially, Empire Strikes Back)!
It’s mature, deep, detailed, grounded, and very political. The characters and world are built up phenomenally, and it’s much more contemplative in its pacing, and it definitely treats its audience as intelligent rather than beating them around the head with obvious exposition. It feels more like an HBO show than your standard Star Wars affair, frankly. And it works as a standalone, too - it’s not just yet more Skywalker family drama.
I’ve always loved anything Star Wars that didn’t really involve Jedi. The universe is incredibly diverse and interesting, and cutting out the light side vs dark side trope most star wars content is centered on lets writers make really interesting characters and situations. Like in Mandandolrian the scene with Bill Burr confronting the Imperial officer that spearheaded the Burning Khan massacre was just fantastic, regardless of it being star wars.
Bill Burr crushed that entire episode. He showed acting chops he’s rarely had the chance to flex before, honestly. The guy is so self-deprecating in his humor, almost aggressively so, that it’s easy to miss his talent. Heck, I did, and for a damned long time.
You ads selling that to me! I don’t have Disney + so that might be an issue. I loved rogue one, but that was the last star wars thing I enjoyed.
Oh my sibling in Xenu, Andor is mandatory viewing if you have any love for Star Wars at all, but ESPECIALLY if you love Rogue One. It is absolutely incredible.
Well this has very much sold it to me!
“Andor” refers to Cassian Andor, the team leader in Rogue One. It’s his origin story, basically
Thank you! I’ve not kept up with star wars stuff at all so I had no idea. Seems like I’ll have to watch it now!
You know how OP said 2001 was pretentious nonsense? That’s how I felt about Andor. It was actively bad, and I struggle to see all the praise it gets as anything other than Morbius level trolling! It was badly written, badly plotted, was trying to be about three things at once and didn’t do any of them well, and was about six episodes too long. It’s what really turned me off Starwars!
Talk about trolling. Jaysus. Is there a way to tag users here yet, or do we wait for Sync? 😶
I take it you liked Andor then? Why?
I don’t feed trolls, especially when they can’t be bothered to put any effort into their nonsense.
I’m not trolling. I honestly thought it was utterly awful on pretty much every level people seem to praise it for and cannot understand why anyone liked it! The first three episodes should have been one, the next three should have been two (and I would have started with them and had the first arc as a flashback), iirc literally nothing happened in the 7th episode except for the last two minuites when he was arrested for arbitrary and stupid reasons, then next two episodes were just messy, and then I gave up because I had been told “oh it all comes together at this point” too many times and it was just making me angry.
I mean okay accusing it of being Morbius levels of bad might have been a troll, it wasn’t as bad as Morbius (but few things are) but it was nowhere near good, let alone deserving of the praise lauded upon it!
If you are least made it past s1e4 CQB then you gave it a solid shot. That episode imo is where you either pick it up and like it or move on. The first 3 episodes can be a bit slow and introduce so many characters.
I heard this, and so I think I get to episode 4 or 5 drop it and then I leave it too long, try and watch it all again but I’ve seen the first 4 episodes too many times.
Maybe I’m due trying to watch it again!
Maybe on re watch just read the synopsis of episodes 1-3 if you’ve now seen the “boring” ones a few times now as a reminder, then start at 4.
I think I might try this, starting to feel the guilt of not liking it so time to try again!
Don’t feel guilty but as an example I love the BSG remake. But when I introduce somebody to it I suggest they watch 33 if they can’t get through the mini series.
Yes it presumes a lot but it gets you into what’s going on without hours of setup in the mininseries.
33 is an exceptional episode, I still feel uneasy watching it after all this time. Really great Sci fi.
I need another battlestar-equsr series in my life!
For me that’s where the expanse is so good.
Moral ambiguity, a man who wants to do right encounters so many things that make it hard to know what that is.
The importance of those closest to you.
Come on over to /m/bsg when you do! We’re planning on having a BSG rewatch discussion sometime soon!
Already joined! But a rewatched discussion would be fantastic!
Do you know where you can find the mini series to watch? I’ve been wanting to start into bsg finally but haven’t found those to start with.
No sure about outside the UK, but in the uk the full battlestar series including miniseries is on bbc I player. Worth taking a look to see if you can access!
I think peacock (nbc’s streaming service) has it.
Usually it’s included alongside the bluray editions. I’m not sure if it’s included on Peacock (the only streaming platform that has BSG). Also, it’s not really “miniseries”. It’s more like an extended episode zero that sets up all the characters going into main series. Honestly, IMO, it’s critical for maximum enjoyment of the early series.
I wrote up a watch guide for the series over on /m/bsg:
With out the “miniseries” you go in without any context as to what’s happened to humanity, no? Like, doesn’t the miniseries set up Roslin as president and explain her cancer? Without details like that I would just be confused going into “33”.
Absolutely. So I suggest the mini series first. But if they came back with “it was so slow… I couldn’t get through it” then I suggest 33 as a “taste” of things to come.
I imagine you’ve probably heard this a few times as well, but give the books a try instead, I read them first and now I can’t watch the show.
Oh, thanks I’d actually never heard this before. I will try the books!
How far do you usually get before giving up on it? Not saying you should force it more, just curious.
I’d heard it was a bit hard going until episode 5 so I always try and get to that point but I don’t think I’ve got past. At this point I’ve rewatched the first episodes too many times
Unpopular? Yes. Wrong? I don’t think so. I finished The Expanse and at the end I didn’t feel like it added anything to my life but I didn’t hate it either. There was definitely some standout moments but I would not rewatch it.
Interesting! I’ve only ever heard people sing it’s praises, so I’ve definitely felt in the wrong for not loving it. Someone else suggested the books so I might try reading them instead of going for the 6th rewatch
You’re valid. It took us a couple tries before we really got into The Expanse.
As for Star Wars, we stick with the Dave Filoni shows now. If I may suggest, try a Clone Wars rewatch with a viewing order that emphasizes the story arcs. That’s what brought me back to Star Wars, and I hated the sequels and the prequels.
Thank you, I appreciate the star wars watching suggestions! I’m more of a trekkie but there are elements of star wars I love, they just became less and less with the latest films!
I would say that while the show does a fantastic job of bringing the books to the screen, it misses the interpersonal intimacy that makes the book series so fantastic. The plots are cool, but at its core, The Expanse is really about its characters. If you like to read or listen to audio books, I HIGHLY recommend them. A big part of where the show fails, is it was impossible for them to tell the story and also deal with the internal dialogues of each character. In the books, every chapter is told from the point of view of a specific character, so you get to know their inner thoughts and feelings on an extremely personal level.
This is one of those series where I will tell someone that if they read the books and enjoyed them, they would enjoy the show - and vice-versa. That said, if you didn’t enjoy the show for the reasons you stated, and you’re willing to give it a go, I think you’ll probably enjoy the books.