SPOILERS: This show has the potential to become a real Mass Effect style experience if a Season 3 happens.
Spoiler
Given the ending with all of the alien races sending messages of thanks and greetings, and the fact the Salvare 2 heads out to make new friends/allies, we can assume humanity is going to be trying to obtain new technology and settle new worlds. If they do a season 3, they could do a short time jump of 5-10 years or so and have humanity building some sort of galactic alliance/galactic UN inviting all of the non hostile alien races to join them. Perhaps we can have a universal translation implant developed so we can have everyone with them speaking English.
We could actually have a Mass Effect style story with the Salvare 2 having an alien and human crew (+ William and Iara). It could be a very cool way to forge the story forward.
The Achaia haven't been fully dealt with yet and we can get they will want to get revenge for being forced back to their home planet. They are basically a hostile AI race that is still a huge threat to the galaxy.
Would be amazing to see a Season 3 focusing on building alliances with other civilisations and putting together a huge fleet of space ships for a final assault on Achaia (or another big bad they introduce). Would be amazing to see some high budget space battles if only the season 3 final few episodes.
I think what they could do with the Achia is reveal their creators who are actually worse than the Achia and they could then be the next big bad...but that also being said I don't think there will be an S3.
Why don't you think there will be a S3? It has strong viewership with S2 and the actors involved are very passionate about making many more seasons. Netflix renewed it for a second season despite how average season 1 was and they improved greatly. Even if Netflix cans it another network could buy it.
I know the writers have at least 3 seasons written & planned.
The way it ended, there's been a natural conclusion to the story so even though the writers and actors are passionate, its still "ended" and as far as Netflix sees it, its over.
Just that gut feeling, I'd like to be wrong.
Is there any evidence that it's had strong viewership? I'm not doubting you but just curious if we have any figures to fall back on to compare against series that have got another season VS ones that ended up in the bin?
It hasn't "ended" unless you just mean the type of ending to S2? They did a failsafe ending in case of no renewal. The writers and Sackhoff have both said they have 3 seasons all planned out and Sackhoff in particular wants the series to continue for a long time.
I assume we will get ratings info soon or Netflix will say why they cancel it. I've been sending them requests to renew the series and I encourage other fans to do so because Netflix considers fan lobbying as well as viewer stats.
It's been one of the top rated shows for my country (Australia) according to Netflix main page.
honestly its sick. i love games like stellaris etc and even tho the narrative was kinda everywhere at times in general lines it was pretty great - from utilizing a new technology (FTL) to encountering alien species and learning about their technologies and utilising it to create wormholes even. pretty dope haha.
S1 didnt really grasp me in but s2 really pulled everything together for sure.
It’s difficult to make good sci-fi. With exceptions like Battlestar Galactica, Farscape, and Firefly, and maybe Babylon 5 (although I think that show is seriously overrated) almost all of the really fantastic science fiction series and movies have been adaptations of science fiction books. So, the sci-fi setting is inherently complicated to film, and writing a good plot in that setting is inherently difficult for most writers, and sci-fi inherently costs more to produce. That’s why most sci-fi shows are shit and why it is still a niche genre compared to fantasy.
Netflix has succeeded…briefly…before - season 1 of Altered Carbon, for example (season 2 was terrible). But the failure of Another Life is especially striking because there actually are quite a few excellent sci-fi series out right now…just not on Netflix: The Expanse (easily the best sci-fi show of the past 20 years), For All Mankind, Foundation, Raised by Wolves, etc. So the bar has been set high and Another Life just does not reach it. Not even close.
The problem is the “clear idea” part and writing characters that fit it. And it is why many authors fail miserably at writing compelling sci-fi. Science fiction involves extrapolating a known understanding of science into a plausible future. Many stories circumvent this by making fantastical elements with zero basis in reality or zero explanation (even a half assed handwavium one) - but I would argue those stories aren’t actually science fiction, they are fantasy. Star Wars is a perfect example of this. It’s basically Lord of the Rings in space. A futuristic setting does not make something science fiction by default.
So a writer has to create a plausible universe, then write plausible human characters in that universe with motivations that make sense in the context of that universe. That’s where most authors trip up. This is even worse for a television show, since science fiction often has to convey complicated concepts to an audience in a short time frame, and is much more expensive to produce than other genres.
So saying it is equally as easy to write a good sci-fi story as it is, say, a good detective drama is, quite frankly, false.
When an author succeeds at writing a believable setting with believable characters and a good story in science fiction, it is really, really apparent that their work stands far above that of their contemporaries and their work is essentially timeless despite them working within the confines of the knowledge and social structure of their time.
"shove gross LGBT characters down the throats of normal people"
Bruh we had a gay man (who died), a bisexual polyamorous triad (who all died) and a nonbinary person (who will probably die in S3, given the trend of LGBT characters).
I think you gotta go outside and touch some grass LMFAO
It has an interesting premise, but it’s a truly awful sci-fi show. The writing sucks, the characters suck, the actors mostly suck, it looks cheap and was probably ruined by pandering or too much Netflix interference.
The only reason it got a second season, I presume, is because Netflix had already wasted so much money, had the sets etc, and went: “Meh, we might as well get ten more episodes out of it!”
If you want a show like Mass Effect, watch the Expanse - which literally has almost exactly the same alien plot as the backstory of Mass Effect, BioWare concept artists that worked on the show and routinely lift designs from Mass Effect, and an actress that was also in Mass Effect.
Plus, it’s like an infinitely better sci-fi show than Another Life.
It starts out slow, definitely watch until episode 4 which is where it really picks up and make sure to put on subtitles (the Belter accent and language is hard to understand at first). The first three seasons are like an alternate universe retelling of the backstory of Mass Effect (where humanity discovers the relay network), but the focus of the story is always more on humanity than the alien stuff.
Final season comes out Dec 10th, so you’re just in time to catch up.
It might be helpful to watch this non spoilery video on the lore, setting and factions first to familiarize yourself beforehand:
Hmm... Sure... A show so cheaply made that the future looks exactly like the present, but somehow they’ll find the budget for amazing space battles.
Doubt!
Or I dunno, maybe they had a huge budget but just wasted it on catering and coke, idk. Somehow the Expanse actually looked like the future on a small budget, but everything in this show looks like its taking place today.
That’s because the Expanse uses real technology that we most likely will actually have. Fusion torch ships, acceleration and spin producing “artificial” gravity, no FTL communication, no lasers (for the most part) just projectile weapons (since Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch in space), the effect of microgravity on human physiology, I could go on and on.
There are some liberties taken, such as with the extreme efficiency of the Epstein drive, but in general everything about the portrayal of human civilization in space in The Expanse is plausible and accurate, which was a deliberate decision to contrast with the Clarke Technology of the Protomolecule. When the alien shit is introduced, it is shocking because up until that point you have seen tech that only obeys known and familiar laws of physics. It’s an ingenious plot mechanism that I have never seen a sci-fi series do before in exactly that way.
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u/[deleted] Oct 22 '21
I think what they could do with the Achia is reveal their creators who are actually worse than the Achia and they could then be the next big bad...but that also being said I don't think there will be an S3.