Belated Review: "The Expanse" (TV series)

A ridiculously-horrible head cold, likely derived from a sinus infection coming from my hellish week of allergies had me laid up most of yesterday and all of today.

So what to do?

Well, I have a DVD set of the SyFy Channel's "The Expanse" series, so that takes care of that question.

I'll be honest with you: after the train wreck that was the last season and a half of "Battlestar Galactica" and the ridiculous downward spiral of SciFi Channel turned SyFy Channel (what a stupid name), I was loathe to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I read the first four books of the series by James S.A. Corey and loved it. I wasn't super-interested in letting the TV series poison what I enjoyed.

Then I watched the first episode on YouTube.

I ate my words a bit and eventually got the series on DVD to gorge on at my leisure.

When your head is pounding from sinuses, you pretty much don't want to move, and kind of want to die, there's nothing better than some space opera.

And I have to admit, the TV series delivers.

I'm pretty happy with the casting and the continuity tweaks, overall.

Steven Strait is a solid James Holden. I have to say that Thomas Jane does a pretty good job as Miller. Dominique Tipper is pretty much dead-on as how I envisioned Naomi Nagata. Cas Anvar is an excellent Alex and Wes Chatham is growing on me as Amos. Shohreh Aghdashloo is a little warm-and-fuzzy for how I picture Chrisjen Avasarala (who doesn't even appear in the books until "Caliban's War"), but I get there are certain realities of having profanity-using characters on television.

There were surprisingly-mild changes to the story of "Leviathan Wakes", but I can't say they damaged the overall story at all.

And I love the Rocinante. I just love it with an unhealthy passion.

I can't wait for season two. Assuming these goddamn allergies don't kill me first.