The Expanse: The Complete Series [Blu-Ray]

I just finished streaming the series and I immediately bought the box set. I can’t risk not having access to this show! What if the internet is out?! (Also, I have to watch the bonus stuff. Worth the money on that alone, if I’m being honest.) It hurts my heart a little that Alex isn’t on the front cover (although it looks like there’s a spot for him– was it a last-minute edit?) but… he knows what he did. I will treasure this box set til the end of my days.

This series is fantastic – easily the best science fiction of the last decades. This DVD box, on the other hand, is a disappointment. First, every single DVD box arrived in pieces. Second, the picture quality is abominable, very low resolution. Despite being an avid fan of the series, (or perhaps because I am an avid fan), I cannot recommend buying this DVD box.

Mijn blu ray speler (en waarschijnlijk de meeste in Europa) ondersteunen geen regio A blu rays. En wat blijkt nu dat seizoen 4 van de box regio A is terwijl de overige seizoenen netjes kunnen worden afgespeeld in mijn blu ray speler. Foutje bedankt van Amazon om deze versie op blu-ray niet aan te passen voor de europese markt. Hierbij alsnog het verzoek aan Amazon (die de rechten heeft voor de laatste seizoenen van The Expanse) om een regiovrij versie op te leveren en deze naar alle europese klanten die de box hebben gekocht te sturen zodat we de regio A versie kunnen terugsturen.

all except season 4 works for europe. S4 is zone A/1 US. and there is no info about what zone they are for.

A lot of interesting choices went into this set. It stinks of a low-effort, bare minimum cash grab, with one very notable exception. It’s also hard to ignore that this set is the only (so far) release of seasons five and six, the rest of which got standalone releases. Ultimately it’s just very nice to own this series (one of the best of all time, in my opinion) on disc, particularly in the era of TV and movies getting wiped from existence as tax write-offs.

The six seasons are packaged in individual Blu-ray cases. (Yes, that means seasons five and six have their own, separate, very sellable cases; we’ll see if that ever happens.) (EDIT: Shortly after the release date of this set, thankfully, Amazon did exactly this, putting seasons five and six up individually exactly as they appear in this set.) For the first four seasons, it’s clearly the same discs they had from their individual season releases – I popped in the first disc of season one and it still has trailers for Mr. Robot and old Syfy shows, and the menu is still unintelligible icons instead of words, and the old bonus features are intact.

However, the graphic design on the discs themselves and their Blu-ray jackets has been updated from their original releases – it’s all the same background images and poster art used, but the show’s logo has been updated everywhere it appears to be the one Amazon used, and it’s even retroactively color-matched on each case to be the color that the old logo was for the season. Slogans and promo text on the front covers (“We’ve gone too far” ; “Divided by hate” etc) have been removed, and fonts used on the back covers and disc labels have been made the same as well, lending a strong visual consistency. Even the spines match now. All six Blu-ray cases go together very harmoniously. That was a detail that someone very clearly cared to get right, and I loved it as soon as I saw it.

Another side note – if you, like me, were confused and disappointed that the cover art for the set only includes Holden, Naomi, and Amos in what’s very much a large ensemble show, you may be glad to know that the cover art actually wraps around to the spine of the set, which includes Alex, Avasarala, Bobbie, and Camina. At least there’s that?

Finally, the most important bit – the new discs. Seasons five and six. Ultimately, this is where the set falls flat. There’s no new bonus features here (or anywhere else in the set); the seasons five and six discs are episodes only, not even the season six minisodes, with plain silent menus that exactly match their Blu-ray jackets. A funny thing about that – season six uses Amazon’s season six poster, very logically, but season five uses… Amazon’s season four poster. There’s a perfectly snazzy season five poster they could have used, but instead, Murtry (the villain exclusive to season four) is now on the jacket, discs, and Blu-ray menu of season five. Clarissa and Marco appear… on the back of the case. It’s a weird oversight. Season four uses what the standalone release used, that alternate season four poster of the Rocinante crew’s first landing on Ilus.

Dubs and subs are strangely snubbed here too. Season 6 on Prime includes 18 audio tracks and 33 subtitle tracks, a treasure trove of translation; this release includes one of each, English and English. And as we all know, there isn’t a 4K version of this set, a disappointing decision when the whole show was shot in 4K, but ultimately unsurprising. If you actually think about what TV shows have been released in 4K, I think it’s just Game of Thrones and Westworld, because TV on 4K discs isn’t cost effective to manufacture. Honestly, while The Expanse is stunning at full resolution, standard Blu-ray still provides a massive enough boost to bitrate to compensate. No more fuzz in big chaotic fight scenes.

Ultimately, it’s a good price for 15 Blu-ray discs, never mind of such a masterpiece as this series, and you get what it says on the tin, so I say worth it. But your mileage will vary – it’s functional, not fun. Except for the work of that one graphic designer who made everything match. That person rules.

Please note that while I am giving this a 5-star rating, it is almost entirely on the back of the sheer quality of the show itself, as opposed to this physical release. I’ll start by just saying that I recommend everyone reading this to check out the show. Whether that be through this release or through Amazon Prime Streaming. This is a show absolutely worth your time. Whether you are typically a fan of science-fiction or not, The Expanse is simply one of the best written/ acted/ directed shows in recent memory and in any genre. I could not recommend it more.

Now with that out of the way, onto this release itelf:

Unfortunately, but perhaps unsurpsingly, this Blu-Ray set does not befit this fantastic series. This Blu-Ray set is merely a repackaging of the already released Season 1-4 individual Blu-Rays. This set combined those releases and tacked on a barebones Season 5 & 6 release and pretty much called it a day. It comes packaged in a cardboard slip cover that holds the individual blu-ray cases. Please see attached picture.

AUDIO/VIDEO:

The Expansse has always been one of the best looking and sounding shows on television, and that is still case with this release. In fact, the video and audio is the biggest thing this Blu-Ray set can hold its hat on.

While the episodes are not 4K, the episodes all look fantastic here. I compared one episode per season to its counterpart available on Prime Streaming, and I was surprised to find that these episodes actually looked a little bit better and sharper. There were a couple times on Amazon Streaming where the resolution would give out (regardless of your internet connection) due to amount of content on screen, and I noticed that has been fixed on this release. The colors pop and everything looks great.

The audio was an even bigger improvent. The audio here is crisp, and it sounded particularly great on my surround sound setup. I’m not sure if the difference would be as noticeable on a sound bar or a TV’s base audio setup, but I definitely did notice it on my set up. The dialogue was clear and easy to make out even during the action scenes. The space scenes in particular sounded fantastic and all the little details, such as mag-boots, are very well defined.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Unfortunately, as a fan of physical edition sets, the look of the physical set and the special features are generally the most important thing for me. It’s what seperates a physical copy from Streaming. And unfortunately, that is exactly where this set leaves a lot to be desired.

Neither Season 5 nor Season 6 come with any special features at all (besides english subtitles). This means that even the One-Ship mini-episodes, which released along with Season 6, are nowhere to be found. The menus are incredibly bare-bones and don’t even have the Expanse music like the other seasons do. As an extra kick in the teeth, the Season 5 case, discs and menu all have Season 4 artwork on them instead of artwork from Season 5. I try not to use the word ‘lazy’ too often, but frankly it’s the only word that fits here. Considering the Season 5 and Season 6 releases are the only new thing with this set, I would have liked to have seen them put more effort into this.

Because the discs for Season 1-4 are still the original releases, I won’t go too much into them. The amount of special features range from strong to mediocre depending on the Season, but the special features themselves are all great. Season 2 is easily the strongest here with multiple episode commentaries and other behind the scenes features. The cast and crew clearly care a lot about this show and it’s always great to hear them talk about their experience with it. I really wish we got more of this for every season.

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you are someone that prefers a physical release to the modern trend of streaming, and have put off the show until a physical release was avaiable, then this set is for you. Like I’ve said, the show is well worth it and there’s no better time to check it out. Also if you are like me, and just want to support the series in any way that you can in the hopes that it returns one day to finish adapting the final three books, then I do think you get just enough to justify what you pay for. I picked up the set for $70, and I do think it is worth that amount (I did not own any of the original Season 1-4 Blu Ray sets).

However it is hard to recommend this set to anyone else, when the episodes are already avaiable on Prime Streaming, where they look and sound great. As I said, I do think you do get slighly better picture here and better audio here, but it’s not really enough to justify the additional purchase on it’s own. The show was already one of the best looking and sounding shows available on TV. Some additional special-features (even if just the One-Ship mini episodes) and a nicer looking box-set would have really gone a long way here.

It’s really unfortunate that with the modern trend of Streaming, that physical releases have become more and more bare-bones. The Expanse is the latest victim of that trend. Ultimately, I don’t think this release is worth it for anyone that can already access the episodes through Amazon Prime. But for anyone else, the show itself more than justifies the purchase. The show is that good.