Space the Final Frontier

When asked for a writing tip, Stephen King said make readers care about the people in your story.

Yes! Related, we watched the first episode of The Expanse the other day. There will not be a viewing of the any further eps. NONE of the characters were in any way relatable or knowable—more like cardboard cutouts. Stick figures. Best I could tell, it wasn’t the skills (or lack thereof) of the actors. It was how they and the scenes were written. It was entirely unclear as to who was good and who was an evil, conniving monster.

Who WERE these people? How about a wee bit of context, hmmmmm? Also, WHY was there only one woman on the crew and why was she the only Black person? Does space lack people of color? Did they kill two quotas with one stone by making the sole woman Black?

WHAT’S my motivation for giving a damn about any of them? Can I have some damned exposition?

A hardened detective begins an off-the-book investigation of a missing heiress in the series premiere of this futuristic thriller; at the same time, the captain of the ice-freighter Canterbury inquires into a distress call from a mysterious derelict ship. (source)

There was a hardened detective? A missing heiress? Maybe their scenes were performed in an alternate dimension’s version of the show? Could I have fallen asleep mid ep? All I saw was a half dozen bland folk in a small, ratty, banjaxed spaceship who were running out of air. They’re finally rescued (sort of) but the rescuers are, possibly, bad guys. Tune in next week to find out!

Eh, no thanks.

The show is based on a book series by James S. A. Corey (pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). I guess, in order to understand the story line, I should have read the books first? I wonder if the written form has better character and story development.

Jessica Rabbit comes to mind. I’m not bad, I’m just drawn this way.

Related, I read that we’re on the cusp of an alien invasion. Are these the same aliens that Braintrust Boebert was quizzing about during a House Oversight Committee meeting?

Are these the same as the ones she says live in the ocean? Are they heading home? Will they take me with them? Is this the long awaited and hoped for (by me and a fuckton of other sane Americans) rescue mission?

JPL-Caltech

I’ve read that there will be battles in the sky between UFOs and the military and that the aliens will even attack their fellow aliens. Why would they do this last bit? Are there two different alien races fighting over who gets to take us home? If Vulcans are involved, I hope they win. It’d be a real treat to live in a society based in logic and facts. I’m figuring there are no MAGAts on Vulcan.

Oh wait, the invasion was supposed to happen yesterday and, dammit, I missed it! Did the air battles only happen in, say, D.C. or maybe Berlin? I didn’t see anything unusual here in Boston. Was anyone taken onboard/beamed up? Did they take TFG (That Fucking Guy) and his minions? I suspect not. It’d be hard to get the stench out of the upholstery.