![]() ![]() Plot changes can feel disconcerting, like a newly chipped tooth. Actors get cast for roles you always imagined as someone else. TV and movie adaptations run a certain risk with fans of a well-loved book-few Dune aficionados have much love for the Lynch movie or the SyFy show, for example. But having just reread the books, seeing the story come to life on the screen has given me a little "canon shock." Even so, working through this reaction has helped me think more about how the writers on the TV series have tweaked the story to work better in a visual medium. The books have recently been translated into a TV show on Syfy, and my colleague Annalee Newitz is spot on when she says it's the best thing in years. Corey-a pseudonym for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck-first appeared in 2011 with the critically acclaimed novel Leviathan Wakes, the first installment in an increasingly epic series called The Expanse, about war and solar system colonization. With so many entries into Star Wars, including canon books and games, a lot could be gained by following a similar character-focused structure to keep all aspects of the work and story alive in the TV shows.The current king of the space opera genre is James SA Corey. The show does an excellent job of using character interactions and smaller moments to build up the macrocosmic conflicts of the series. For the first few seasons, Chrisjen Avasarala worked to stop one such coup, thereby halting a similarly fascist, conservative takeover. In The Expanse, however, this slow regime coup could never come to fruition. It was a slow undermining of Jedi in the universe, which led to a swell in anti-Jedi, anti-Droid and pro-human ideology allowing Darth Sidious and Darth Vader to take over. ![]() ![]() The Empire was formed in Star Wars after the secret Sith conspiracy to overthrow the Galactic Republic. The two nations go in and out of armed conflict throughout the series' early seasons until a tenuous peace is reached, which all the characters then work hard to maintain. Run by the UN, Earth holds many of the resources and power in the world but is generally more democratic. On the other hand, Earth is very similar to the real thing. The dream of Mars is one of the primary motivators of its people, and they are incredibly loyal to one another, similar to those that believe in The Empire. Mars is a militant nation made up of people who left Earth generations ago to try and terraform the planet into somewhere livable. The OPA's infighting makes up one part of the complex political structure of The Expanse, but the other half lies within the ongoing war between Earth and Mars. These types of decisions are somewhat similar to ones made by Cassian Andor, except other characters in Andor don't challenge these choices, meaning the viewer sees them as justified - a necessary move for the greater good, which takes some of the potential nuance and emotion out of the story. Characters like Naomi Nagata and Camina Drummer consistently do what they believe is right to protect their own, committing war crimes to save themselves and their people. The class divide between the OPA and the Inner Planets also introduces a conversation about equality and diversity to the series that is separate from the good vs. This means there is more internal conflict between opposing groups in the series than in the franchise, resulting in a messier, more realistic world. One of the significant differences between how Star Wars and The Expanse handle their rebels is that, while different groups of rebels exist in Star Wars, they are not necessarily independent, organized factions as they are in The Expanse. ![]()
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