S02.E07: The Seventh Man

[catray]

Quote

Preparations for the Earth/Mars peace conference lead to tightening tension on Erringwright.

[johntfs]

Did anyone else notice the sound de-synching from the action in the latter parts of the episode?  It was bad Chinese movies there for a little bit.

[Emily Thrace]

The OPA meeting was several different shades of fucked up. Way too many of those people are out for themselves and that loudest voices are the ones who actually know the least. I kept hoping Naomi would speak out since she seems to be the only Belter we've seen with both brains and common sense.

I liked Naomi explaining to Holden why he wasn't necessarily helping but I'm glad she has realized Dawes is bad news in the end. You don't want a street thug/sociopath as your leader no matter where he is from. As an Aboriginal I get the issues with outsiders but based on what I've seen the Belters need them. The Belt still can't function on its own so they need to figure out how to work with Earth and Mars. Independence is great but not if it means you starve.

I liked Millers little buddy showing up again but he should know Miller wouldn't like his new friend.

[johntfs]

38 minutes ago, Emily Thrace said:

I kept hoping Naomi would speak out since she seems to be the only Belter we've seen with both brains and common sense.

I figure that she didn't because she had brains and common sense.  Those fools are gonna do what they're gonna do.  No sense in her putting herself on their shit list until necessary.

I will say that I'm both hopeful and fearful that Bobbie will interact with Chrisjen.  Hopeful because the truth might come out, fearful because Chrisjen is terrifying.

Edited March 9, 2017 by johntfs

[thuganomics85]

I see that the Mars military is made up of every well-known Canadian-based actor.  Right after they take out Hugh Dillion's captain and all of Bobbie's squad made up of recognizable faces, they now bring in some kind of interrogator played by Clea Bennett and his badass voice, AND we've got Captain Peter Outerbridge!  Who apparently served with Bobbie's dad, and is trying to be "someone she can talk to."  Don't trust him, Bobbie!  Never trust Peter Outerbridge!

Overall, a pretty good episode for the Bobbie character and I'm looking forward to seeing her on Earth (and maybe interacting with Chrijen?!)  I find Frankie Adams to be every winning in this role.  Never her of her before, but I'm a fan now.  And not just because of her sexy accent and looks, I swear!

I was wondering if/when Anderson Dawes was going to slime his way back into the proceedings!  He is such a sneaky bastard, but I love Jared Harris in this role!  The way he always has an answer; even if its mainly bullshit; and his ability to read a room and handle each person differently; is creepy, but impressive.  I especially liked how he went out of his way to always praise Fred and Holden (usually in over-the-top fashion), before he then attacked him.  The guy is a politician through and through.  And now he has Fred's scientist.  I can only imagine what insanity he will bring!

That said, as untrustworthy as he is, I kind of find his speech to Diego about how they based how old is someone from Earth and its rotation, while had they based it off, say, Jupiter, Diego would only be one.  It does make me wonder how things like that would be handled if we ever got to this point in the actual future.  It would be completely different childhoods for people growing up in Mars or the Belt.

Chrisjen probably has the right idea about a Summit being the best shot to fix things without going to war, but I'm sure something is going to derail it.

Was Holden attending to kill the crazed scientist?!  I guess he really is that different from Miller!  He really should have known that speaking up against Anderson probably wouldn't make much of a difference, since he's not a Belter.  It's kind of sad that Naomi has to explain these simple concepts to him.

What is going on with Amos, I wonder?  He seemed to be effected by the horrified reaction from the kid, so does he want to change?

Really getting into this season.  All the political drama, combined with whatever the hell is actually going on with this "Seventh Man" and whatnot has got me intrigued.

[sjohnson]

.

Edited March 9, 2017 by sjohnson

[shrewd.buddha]

We were enjoying the Expanse but after the past couple of episodes it seems to have devolved into mostly talk and little action. 

The militant Belt-er guy, the U.N. fancy-pants woman and the new Mars Marine commander guy are sucking up too much of the available oxygen - - to the point that I am not paying much attention to what they are saying because it is so embellished with BS tales of "when I was a little girl", "when I was growing up on Earth", "I will always remember that time", etc. 
I know talk is cheap - literally - but I'm not really psyched about watching a sci-fi show that is padding out episodes with useless dialogue. 

Childish politics is on full display in the here and now. Setting it two hundred years into the future doesn't make it any more interesting. 

Edited March 9, 2017 by shrewd.buddha

[Eulipian 5k]

8 hours ago, johntfs said:

Did anyone else notice the sound de-synching from the action in the latter parts of the episode?  It was bad Chinese movies there for a little bit.

I did, thought it was my TV. But I did like that you could hear the din of voices thru the walls as Jared Harris et al were talking.

It seemed all of Bobby Draper's dialogue was a repeat of earlier: description of the raid, and the usual "they want a war, lets give them a d@mn war!". I thought they would devote more time to that part of the story, or give us a clearer view of who /where the Seventh Man was. Was that supposed to be the alien we saw a glimpse of last week?

Btw, I could listen to Drummer read the phone book , love that/those accent(s).

[Auntie Anxiety]

10 hours ago, johntfs said:

1 hour ago, Eulipian 5k said:

  10 hours ago, johntfs said:

Did anyone else notice the sound de-synching from the action in the latter parts of the episode?  It was bad Chinese movies there for a little bit.

 

I didn't understand half of what was going on in the episode since I always run the closed captioning and it lagged behind so much that it rendered it useless. Toward the end, it caught up for a minute or two but then the sound glitch occurred and I got terribly frustrated. 

I'm completely unspoiled and thought the episode when Miller ends up finding his lost love on Eros was the finale. I would have been okay with that.

[Danny Franks]

So finally a bit more for Bobbie to do. I like the idea they were hinting at, that she'd be suspected of following through on all her rhetoric, and starting the war with Earth herself. Soldiers on the ground, facing each other across the line. No one has more immediate power than them, and that scares the shit out of the people at the top.

I liked them showing how shaken she was by her first real action, and I think Frankie Adams showed there is more to her than the gruff, gung-ho soldier. And I enjoyed the two new Martian characters, who were interrogating her. Very different approaches, very different performances. But they both emphasised Mars as a militaristic, regimented society.

I figure this will be the first time Bobbie will have actually met Earthers. Might be harder to talk so casually about wiping them out after that.

And now we know why Fred wasn't blabbering about the stolen nukes as soon as he got them. Fred seems to be genuine in his push for OPA legitimacy, rather than trying to grab more power himself. Is he right, that peace will ensure progress for all humanity, or is Dawes right, that they have to take what they want, and that it will be easier if Earth and Mars are at war?

I think the show is doing a good job of clearly differentiating the factions, their wants and goals, and their ways of looking at the world. The Belters are becoming a very distinct group, who think in similar ways, despite their very different attitudes to relations with the inner planets. Naomi, Drummer, Dawes, all have views that may be incompatible with Holden and Alex, maybe even ultimately with Fred Johnson.

"Belters will never unify under Fred Johnson's flag." I'm not sure they'll ever unify at all. Belter communities may be fairly harmonious, but they're also self-contained. Eros and Ceres and Tycho, they're all their own little islands, out in the black. But of course Diogo was the one person who Dawes was able to manipulate.

Drummer is so inscrutable. I wasn't at all sure whether they were setting her up to betray Fred and join Dawes. Cara Gee has such a presence, and is fast becoming a favourite for me (and a lot of other people, it seems). Really hope she wasn't involved in him getting away.

I actually said, "Diogo, you little shit" about five seconds before Alex called him that exact thing. Heh.

[raven]

I would have liked a bit more of what happened to Bobbie & her squad on Ganymede.  The show is setting up Bobbie to be important (going to Earth to talk to the UN) she's been portrayed as gung-ho; will she follow orders and tell the story the Martian army wants her to tell?  She doesn't seem like someone who would do that but I think we would have benefited with more time with her recollections of the creature.

I didn't mind the quick UN visit - it confirmed that Avasarala doesn't want war, though they assume Mars is the one who attacked Ganymede and that she's the only one who seems to want peace. The Belter inter-conflict went on too long.  I am curious as to what Dawes will do with the scientist - does he think the scientist can communicate with the protomolecule, and if so, to what purpose?  Dawes strikes me as someone more apt to use force than to negotiate.  It was interesting that he agreed that the missiles should be returned but I guess that would be his good faith effort while he was doing something sneaky behind the scenes.  I do think we should have clarification on what the Belters are negotiating for (more money? etc).  It is easy to group together when you have a common enemy but what is the common goal?

So was Holden going to shoot the scientist?  I'm going with he was going to remove him and hide him somewhere else; we know Holden will kill but I don't think he's at Miller level yet.

Quote

johntfs

13 hours ago

Did anyone else notice the sound de-synching from the action in the latter parts of the episode?

Yeah, this happened in the last 5 minutes or so, very annoying.  I thought it was some kind of screw up with my local station.

[SimoneS]

This episode is why I cannot get into this show. It has so many people and lots of politics with a minimum of scifi. I was looking forward to them following up on the aliens and learning more, instead there is a new villain and more politics. This is not how to win scifi fans.

[Danny Franks]

39 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

This episode is why I cannot get into this show. It has so many people and lots of politics with a minimum of scifi. I was looking forward to them following up on the aliens and learning more, instead there is a new villain and more politics. This is not how to win scifi fans.

Anderson Dawes isn't a new villain. He was in season one. The show is about politics, far more than it's about aliens.

[refugee]

It seems like the Mars commanding officers want to cover up any talk about the 7th man THAT DOESN'T REQUIRE A SPACE SUIT...

...so are they behind the 7th man or are they also dupes of  Jules-Pierre Mao?

Great series...tip of the hat to the SYFI channel.

[marinw]

13 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

I see that the Mars military is made up of every well-known Canadian-based actor.

Now I want Donald Sutherland to show up as the ruler of Mars or something.

Enjoyable episode, and some good insight into how people get radicalized. Dawes is bad news.

I was glad Alex got to do stuff. he is one of my favortie characters.

[johntfs]

2 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

The show is about politics, far more than it's about aliens.

Watching this show for aliens is like watching Game of Thrones for the White Walkers.

[mjc570]

I admit that I really like the books that this show is based on - I think they are well-written with compelling characters and story lines that are easy to follow and put in context.  I think the show has done a great job with the source material - I like the political interactions, the fact that each side (except Mars, maybe because they are more militaristic) has factions that at least for now seem more concerned with consolidating their positions that moving against the other sides.  This seems totally realistic.

I like that they brought Dawes back - I noticed that he seemed to have a scar around his neck - was that a tattoo that had been removed?  I wonder if there is any significance to the type of neck tattoos the various belters have.  I've read the books, but don't remember if this was explained or not. 

I don't know what the budget is, but I am amazed at how realistic everything looks. 

It's kind of odd but I remember that when I read about her, I was amazed at what an absolutely awesome person Bobbi was.  I can't remember what that was based on, but I haven't been impressed with her here.  She not only doesn't seem awesome, she seems kind of flat and one-note.  Of course, she is supposed to be a buttoned up super military type, but still.  I don't know if it is the writing or the acting, but I keep waiting to really like her better.

[Eulipian 5k]

Book readers have said the tattoos are to mimic/cover-up the scars that the old belters got from the early helmets. Dawes is old school so he wears the scar.

Have to give a shout out to Larry David for inventing the "Extreme Vetting" pill the Martian Interrogator was taking.

[mjc570]

4 hours ago, Eulipian 5k said:

Book readers have said the tattoos are to mimic/cover-up the scars that the old belters got from the early helmets. Dawes is old school so he wears the scar.

Have to give a shout out to Larry David for inventing the "Extreme Vetting" pill the Martian Interrogator was taking.

Thanks for the explanation. 

[btp]

On 3/9/2017 at 1:08 PM, Danny Franks said:

Drummer is so inscrutable. I wasn't at all sure whether they were setting her up to betray Fred and join Dawes. Cara Gee has such a presence, and is fast becoming a favourite for me (and a lot of other people, it seems).

I loved Cara Gee's expressions when Dawes was "wooing" her, telling her how she obviously is the one really running the station, and asking her to have drinks with him. You could tell she both enjoyed the attention and was a bit repulsed by it at the same time, but whether she would ultimately help him or not is anyone's guess. Complex, multi-layered, and, as you said, inscrutable. Love that. Dawes is pretty slick too, but she sees right through him.

And, if TPTB are to be believed, we've got some extra awesome stuff coming from Cara/Drummer next week. Way back in August of 2016 (presumably when these episodes were being filmed), James S.A. Corey tweeted:

Quote

I can't spoil, but in episode 8 of the 2nd season of #TheExpanse , @CaraGeeeee has one of my favorite moments on any TV show ever.

(I believe it's Ty Franck that controls the JSAC twitter account; Daniel Abraham has his own. I think.)

5 hours ago, Eulipian 5k said:

Book readers have said the tattoos are to mimic/cover-up the scars that the old belters got from the early helmets. Dawes is old school so he wears the scar.

I don't remember if this is in the books, but it's definitely in the show. In the first season episode where Dawes has Miller kidnapped and interrogates him, he explains how the old vac suits used to have cheap electrical contacts where the helmet attached to the suit, and that they would short and arc and literally cook the skin in the area. Dawes earned the scars from years of rock hopping, presumably before the rise of his political career. I believe the tatoos are meant primarily to mimic the scars rather than to cover them up. It's a show of solidarity.

Edited March 10, 2017 by btp

[jhlipton]

On 3/9/2017 at 5:05 AM, thuganomics85 said:

I kind of find his speech to Diego about how they based how old is someone from Earth and its rotation, while had they based it off, say, Jupiter, Diego would only be one.  It does make me wonder how things like that would be handled if we ever got to this point in the actual future.  It would be completely different childhoods for people growing up in Mars or the Belt.

The International Space Station uses Earth Time:

Quote

The answer is that is it GMT +0 (Greenwich Mean Time) or UTC +0 (Universal Time) which would be the same time that it is in Iceland. Why is it that this was the selected time for the ISS? The time was originally set to be GMT -5 to match the time zone in Houston, Texas since this is where the main command center for the ISS is located. But the controllers in Moscow also need to be at the console while the astronauts and cosmonauts are working from about 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. The two countries agreed to GMT +0 as a way to accommodate the controllers in both parts of the world. Once again, international cooperation at it’s best.

It seems likely that the Belt would use Earth Time as well, since there's no rotation time.  A Mars day is 1d 0h 40m, which is close enough to an Earth Day. A Mars Year is 687 days, so a Martian calendar would differ from an Earth one.  They might try and cram a Mars Year into 2 Earth Years and fudge the 40-odd days as Martian Leap-Days or something.  (A related question that came up was "Where is Mecca from Space?"

 

On 3/9/2017 at 9:58 AM, shrewd.buddha said:

Childish politics is on full display in the here and now. Setting it two hundred years into the future doesn't make it any more interesting.

YMMV.  I like the politics, and the differing factions are what drew me to the show. 

On 3/9/2017 at 10:58 AM, Eulipian 5k said:

It seemed all of Bobby Draper's dialogue was a repeat of earlier: description of the raid, and the usual "they want a war, lets give them a d@mn war!".

It seemed like she was trying to get clear in her own head what really happened, and also telling her superiors what they wanted to hear.

On 3/9/2017 at 0:33 PM, Auntie Anxiety said:

I didn't understand half of what was going on in the episode since I always run the closed captioning and it lagged behind so much that it rendered it useless.

My Closed-Captioning worked just fine while people were talking, but in moments without dialog, it repeated the past few lines.

On 3/9/2017 at 6:12 PM, refugee said:

It seems like the Mars commanding officers want to cover up any talk about the 3rd 7th man THAT DOESN'T REQUIRE A SPACE SUIT...

Cue the zither music!

Edited March 11, 2017 by jhlipton

[Emily Thrace]

On 09/03/2017 at 4:05 AM, thuganomics85 said:

I see that the Mars military is made up of every well-known Canadian-based actor.  Right after they take out Hugh Dillion's captain and all of Bobbie's squad made up of recognizable faces, they now bring in some kind of interrogator played by Clea Bennett and his badass voice, AND we've got Captain Peter Outerbridge!  Who apparently served with Bobbie's dad, and is trying to be "someone she can talk to."  Don't trust him, Bobbie!  Never trust Peter Outerbridge!

Overall, a pretty good episode for the Bobbie character and I'm looking forward to seeing her on Earth (and maybe interacting with Chrijen?!)  I find Frankie Adams to be every winning in this role.  Never her of her before, but I'm a fan now.  And not just because of her sexy accent and looks, I swear!

I was wondering if/when Anderson Dawes was going to slime his way back into the proceedings!  He is such a sneaky bastard, but I love Jared Harris in this role!  The way he always has an answer; even if its mainly bullshit; and his ability to read a room and handle each person differently; is creepy, but impressive.  I especially liked how he went out of his way to always praise Fred and Holden (usually in over-the-top fashion), before he then attacked him.  The guy is a politician through and through.  And now he has Fred's scientist.  I can only imagine what insanity he will bring!

That said, as untrustworthy as he is, I kind of find his speech to Diego about how they based how old is someone from Earth and its rotation, while had they based it off, say, Jupiter, Diego would only be one.  It does make me wonder how things like that would be handled if we ever got to this point in the actual future.  It would be completely different childhoods for people growing up in Mars or the Belt.

Yeah I actually watched Hugh Dillion die twice on Wednesday. First on X Company then again in the previouslys for this show.

I think we would keep earth time for the most part at least initially. I seem to remember reading that NASA or someone did a study and tried to get people to adjust to shorter and longer days and it actually messed with peoples heads even if they weren't aware of it. Our bodies are designed to run on a 24 hour clock so changing that messes with sleep patterns and eating patterns. Years are a bit different but since they are arbitrary in nature it make more sense to just pick one standard and stick with it. That's how we invented time keeping in the first place. 

[marinw]

Measureing time in Science Fiction films and TV bugs me. It sort of works on the Expance, as they are only a few centeries out from all living on Earth. It bugs me when people on other planets or Star Systems use our minutes and hours. One property that actually got this right was the original Battlestar Galactica with thier centons and microns. The reboot used minutes and hours, which made no sence. Star Trek uses "Star Dates" so there is that.

But yes to  system-wide standard time. I imagine that would become political and some people (on Earth)would cling to useing Earth Time out of politics and laziness. Sort of like how the US still doesn't officially use metric.

Edited March 11, 2017 by marinw

[xaxat]

For the first three months Curiosity rover's mission control worked on Mars time. 

They were glad when they switched back to Earth time.

[Netfoot]

You can set up your own calendar -- it's been done before.  But if you mess with time...

Well, science and engineering use the MKS system, wherein S is seconds.  So, if you alter the clock to accommodate (say) a 10 hour day with 100 minutes per hour and 100 seconds per minute, you'll have to redefine a lot of constants and formulas and such like.   Prolly not a good idea!

[jhlipton]

14 hours ago, Emily Thrace said:

I think we would keep earth time for the most part at least initially.

Think of when Dawes asked Diago how old he was and told him he'd be 1 year old on Jupiter.  This is why all the places that are "seeded" from Earth would keep Earth years -- so when someone says "I'm [X] years old", you don't have to find out from where.  Just like Leap-Babies age like everyone else, in spite of having a quarter of the birthdays (like poor Frederick!).

[johntfs]

10 hours ago, marinw said:

One property that actually got this right was the original Battlestar Galactica with thier centons and microns. The reboot used minutes and hours, which made no sence.

I disagree completely.  The original got it wrong, the reboot got it right.  You need your audience to be invested in the action.  To do that they need to fully grasp the situation.  The title of the first regular episode of the reboot was "33."  If it was said that the fleet was jumping every 33 centons or gleepnors or blarkpoops and nobody had been able to sleep for over a 137 grackenfarts, it's kind of meaningless.  When it's 33 minutes and 137 hours it becomes instantly relatable in a "Holy Frak! No wonder these people look worn to the bone!" way.

If you want to "alien up" something do something clear but not central, like cutting the corners off of books.  Which is what they did.

[marinw]

1 hour ago, johntfs said:

"  If it was said that the fleet was jumping every 33 centons or gleepnors or blarkpoops and nobody had been able to sleep for over a 137 grackenfarts, it's kind of meaningless.  When it's 33 minutes and 137 hours it becomes instantly relatable in a "Holy Frak! No wonder these people look worn to the bone!" way.

I stand by my statement that another star system must have it's own way of measureing time. A viewer can figure out that a centon is like a minute by the context, although maybe not in the first episode.  But I do love the terms grackenfarts and blarkpoops.

[Clanstarling]

On 3/9/2017 at 1:22 PM, SimoneS said:

This episode is why I cannot get into this show. It has so many people and lots of politics with a minimum of scifi. I was looking forward to them following up on the aliens and learning more, instead there is a new villain and more politics. This is not how to win scifi fans.

Eh, won this scifi fan. To me the best science fiction is about people who live with advanced technology, and politics is a major part of how any society evolves. We are who we are because of geo-politics, and the same will be true when we move out into the stars.

I'm not counting out the aliens just because they weren't addressed in this episode, especially since Mars seems determined to keep them out of the Ganymede story.

On 3/10/2017 at 7:55 PM, jhlipton said:

It seemed like she was trying to get clear in her own head what really happened, and also telling her superiors what they wanted to hear.

What I found interesting was how they always repeated back to her what they wanted her to say, well before she was aware of it - and before she'd really worked out what she remembered. From the start, they were insistent it was 7 UN soldiers. Every time she strayed, they repeated the same phrase. That's how you convince weaker minded people to believe your narrative. Though not Bobbie, for all her hawkishness, she seems like she'll keep trying to figure out what she saw. I haven't cared for her before, but now I'm more interested in her.

[Danny Franks]

14 hours ago, marinw said:

I stand by my statement that another star system must have it's own way of measureing time. A viewer can figure out that a centon is like a minute by the context, although maybe not in the first episode.  But I do love the terms grackenfarts and blarkpoops.

They're already speaking English, so I don't think it really matters if they say 'seconds' and 'minutes'. Can it not just be assumed that it's being translated into our human language just like everything else must be?

For something like Farscape, it made sense because we had a human being exposed to alien cultures and languages, and slowly becoming assimilated into them. John had to learn to understand all that stuff, so the viewers learned alongside him. But for BSG, or another show that's set entirely elsewhere? I don't think it's necessary.

Edited March 12, 2017 by Danny Franks

[jhlipton]

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

Though not Bobbie, for all her hawkishness, she seems like she'll keep trying to figure out what she saw. I haven't cared for her before, but now I'm more interested in her.

I wonder if the alien spared her because she seemed the most likely to tell the truth?  Not sure how it would know that, but it definitely spared her.

[SmithW6079]

18 hours ago, marinw said:

I stand by my statement that another star system must have it's own way of measureing time. A viewer can figure out that a centon is like a minute by the context, although maybe not in the first episode.  But I do love the terms grackenfarts and blarkpoops.

 

4 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

They're already speaking English, so I don't think it really matters if they say 'seconds' and 'minutes'. Can it not just be assumed that it's being translated into our human language just like everything else must be?

I think it's in a novel by Asimov ("Nightfall"?) that he addresses this and tells the reader to imagine the planet in the book has its own time units that translate to "hours," "minutes," etc.

[raven]

5 hours ago, jhlipton said:

Not sure how it would know that, but it definitely spared her.

I thought it was looking to see if she was alive and then the shuttle blew it up?  Or something blew it up.

[jhlipton]

23 minutes ago, raven said:

I thought it was looking to see if she was alive and then the shuttle blew it up?  Or something blew it up.

It seemed to looking at her for a while.  It killed 9 soldiers (6 UN and 3 Martian) and blew up the pod in one beat.  It had plenty of time to kill her.

[Neurochick]

8 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

Eh, won this scifi fan. To me the best science fiction is about people who live with advanced technology, and politics is a major part of how any society evolves. We are who we are because of geo-politics, and the same will be true when we move out into the stars.

Before I binged season one of this show, I watched a show on Nat.Geo called "Mars."  It was part drama, part documentary, and took place (I think) twenty years in the future, when humankind finally goes to Mars.  When I started watching The Expanse, I asked myself, what would happen if humans did go to Mars?  It's such a harsh environment, would people actually want to live their and start families?  What type of people would sign up to live there?  

I like this show's take on racism, or planetism.  It's not about skin color, it's about where you're born, Belter, Earther, Martian.  I'm watching this in 2017 and thinking, "guys, you ALL came from Earth."  But then I'm like, what would happen if generations of "Earthers" were born on different planets, how would those societies evolve?  Would they eventually create their own language?  I find this show so interesting and moving.

[johntfs]

On 3/11/2017 at 7:13 PM, marinw said:

I stand by my statement that another star system must have it's own way of measureing time. A viewer can figure out that a centon is like a minute by the context, although maybe not in the first episode.  But I do love the terms grackenfarts and blarkpoops.

People in another star system wouldn't be speaking English either, but nobody wants to read subtitles of a made-up language for the sake of authenticity.  Just assume that whatever magical translator they using that converts whatever they're really speaking into English also converts units of measurement into the nearest English/Western equivalent.

[Eulipian 5k]

I believe the  second has long been standardized to the decay of Cesium (the Atomic clock), so there is a definite universal (in all senses) "second". What can't be standardized is any another time unit, (day, month, year) based on orbits around stars or rotation of planets.

Even the Cesium clock can be questioned (by Dawes) however since that element may not exist on all planets. Just as gold isn't native to earth but came here while earth was being bombarded by asteroids/meteors in its earliest "days".  And no, the proto-molecule wasn't in that Fed-ex shipment.

[MissLucas]

Something that I would still like to see addressed more clearly is why the Martian authorities are so not eager to hear about a 7th Man. Do they already know about him but want it to keep a secret (if so - why?) or do they simply think Bobbie hallucinated him and don't want her to go around telling weird stories.

[Clanstarling]

1 hour ago, MissLucas said:

Something that I would still like to see addressed more clearly is why the Martian authorities are so not eager to hear about a 7th Man. Do they already know about him but want it to keep a secret (if so - why?) or do they simply think Bobbie hallucinated him and don't want her to go around telling weird stories.

I'm sure that's coming. I'm inclined to think the 7th man/thing is a result of a Martian weapons program.

[MissLucas]

Interesting - I had thought it/him was some sort of protogen-shenanigan since it/he had bluish eyes.

Spoiler

And since episode 9 has confirmed protogen activity on Ganymede.

[Clanstarling]

3 hours ago, MissLucas said:

Interesting - I had thought it/him was some sort of protogen-shenanigan since it/he had bluish eyes.

  Reveal hidden contents

And since episode 9 has confirmed protogen activity on Ganymede.

Oh, I don't think being part of the Martian weapons program excludes that possibility at all.

[johntfs]

20 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

Oh, I don't think being part of the Martian weapons program excludes that possibility at all.

Jules-Pierre Mao (and what an awesomely multicultural name that is) has Errenwright, the Undersecretary of the UN (AKA basically the second in command of Earth) in his pocket.  Is it really that hard to believe he'd also have one or more high-ranking Martians in his pocket, as well? Figure as a "man of the system" Mao would be eagerly collecting powerful figures from all over the system.  Including the Belt.

Edited March 25, 2017 by johntfs

[refugee]

On 3/25/2017 at 2:23 AM, johntfs said:

Jules-Pierre Mao (and what an awesomely multicultural name that is) has Errenwright, the Undersecretary of the UN (AKA basically the second in command of Earth) in his pocket.  Is it really that hard to believe he'd also have one or more high-ranking Martians in his pocket, as well? Figure as a "man of the system" Mao would be eagerly collecting powerful figures from all over the system.  Including the Belt.

Agree...that makes the most sense at this point in the story.

[Holmbo]

On 2017-03-11 at 1:20 PM, marinw said:

Measureing time in Science Fiction films and TV bugs me. It sort of works on the Expance, as they are only a few centeries out from all living on Earth. It bugs me when people on other planets or Star Systems use our minutes and hours. One property that actually got this right was the original Battlestar Galactica with thier centons and microns. The reboot used minutes and hours, which made no sence. Star Trek uses "Star Dates" so there is that.

But yes to  system-wide standard time. I imagine that would become political and some people (on Earth)would cling to useing Earth Time out of politics and laziness. Sort of like how the US still doesn't officially use metric.

I agree in a sense. I wouldn't expect people who've lived away from earth for generations to still measure their time in years.
But:

On 2017-03-12 at 0:43 AM, johntfs said:

I disagree completely.  The original got it wrong, the reboot got it right.  You need your audience to be invested in the action.  To do that they need to fully grasp the situation.  The title of the first regular episode of the reboot was "33."  If it was said that the fleet was jumping every 33 centons or gleepnors or blarkpoops and nobody had been able to sleep for over a 137 grackenfarts, it's kind of meaningless.  When it's 33 minutes and 137 hours it becomes instantly relatable in a "Holy Frak! No wonder these people look worn to the bone!" way.

If you want to "alien up" something do something clear but not central, like cutting the corners off of books.  Which is what they did.

I agree with this too. I read some books by Vernor Vinge where some space traders used seconds for everything. So kilosec, megasec etc. It felt very realistic, why stick to days, weeks or months on a space ship? But it was a bit difficult to figure out what it entailed when people stated they'd "be gone for two megasecs".

It makes sense that the expanse still keep the system considering how much movement there is between the planets and the asteroids. They need a shared time system to arrange skype meetings and such :D

[Clanstarling]

1 hour ago, Holmbo said:

I agree in a sense. I wouldn't expect people who've lived away from earth for generations to still measure their time in years.
But:

I agree with this too. I read some books by Vernor Vinge where some space traders used seconds for everything. So kilosec, megasec etc. It felt very realistic, why stick to days, weeks or months on a space ship? But it was a bit difficult to figure out what it entailed when people stated they'd "be gone for two megasecs".

It makes sense that the expanse still keep the system considering how much movement there is between the planets and the asteroids. They need a shared time system to arrange skype meetings and such :D

I agree with all of this, though I think maybe that while we are still in our solar system, Earth time would be for the solar system like Greenwich Mean Time is on the planet - the starting point of the time measurements. Earth Standard Time, if you will. And just as on the earth, some measurements would be different based on location (miles, kilometers, etc.), but scientific units would be universal. 

Edited September 17, 2017 by Clanstarling

[Netfoot]

Scientific formula are based upon known units (Meters, Kilograms, Seconds, etc) and other units defined in terms of those.  It would wreak havoc with much of science and engineering, were we to abandon these basic units.  As for days, weeks and months, we humans have been accustomed to these and may be slow to adopt different measurements.   But also, there may be statutory reasons.  For safety reasons, there may be a limit to how long someone can work before they must rest.  Inter-planetary truck drivers and airline pilots, for instance.  Also, the unions may have agreements in place.  So I think the units we are accustomed to will probably be retained.