The Expanse: The Complete Series [Blu-Ray]

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 THOUGHTSIf 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.

I started watching The Expanse years ago after hearing some positive comments from a friend.For a show I had heard relatively little about, both my wife and I were blown away and immediately sucked in. For a series that originated on the SyFy network, it is of surprising good quality. The characters and the sets are amazing. The physics demonstrated provides many moments to ponder. The human experience related to space travel feels well thought out and leaves plenty to think about. The story is complex. This is a series that requires you to pay attention to understand and appreciate all the nuance.I watched seasons 1 - 3 quickly. At the time the other seasons did not exist yet.So, I quickly read all the books in the series but had to patiently wait for the last book and the remaining seasons.The let down after finishing the books was like none I had ever experienced. The ending landed and it left plenty to contemplate. All great things must end and that genuinely hurt in this case.The television adaption is overall remarkably true to the spirit of the story.I have since bought the Blu-rays to relive some of that magic. I have enjoyed on my 65 inch OLED. Totally worth it.Maybe one day they will adapt books 7-9? That would be amazing.Highly recommend!

For those who want to know how this Complete series is packaged, I'm here to let you know that it's just each season packaged in a separate Amaray case like the individual releases for S1 - S4 have been as my pictures here show. So if you haven't bought any of the previous four seasons available, then this is a good deal (for now anyway at $70 for the Complete set) while the individual Seasons 5 & 6 are currently $35 each × 2 = $70, so pick your poison. All six seasons for $70 or the just the last two seasons for the same price.Now then, as for the series itself, I think it's one of the finest Sci-Fi series ever made. Shame it's as short as it is as roughly 10 episodes per season with S6 only have 6 episodes, but whatcha gonna do? But with that said, what you get for a rather short show is some of the most realistic futuristic space fairing entertainment ever made. I have owned S1 - S4 ever since they were released, but I never watched anything past S2 because when it was unceremoniously canceled by SyFy, and then picked up by Amazon Prime, for S4 - S6, I knew future disc releases would be in question. I was shocked that S4 was released back when it was, but then S5 and S6 never came out...until now. Kinda makes you wonder why all of a sudden, but I'm not complaining. I can now do a proper marathon of the show without worrying about if future seasons will get a release. And yes, while it's been available for streaming, I hate relying on streaming for my entertainment for 3 reasons. 1) Image quality. Which depends on the quality of your internet connection and the sites own servers. 2) Sound quality. streaming sound will NEVER sound as good as the sound from the hard copy. And if you've got a HDMI compatible Surround Receiver, there's nothing like a proper uncompressed Hi-Def Sound codec. With The Expanse you get a nice bass heavy (when appropriate) sound field with the DTS HD - Master Audio soundtrack. And 3) Availability overall. Because as you know, you can never really count on a streaming service to always carry the programming you like. So it's always nice to have a hard copy.

Best sci-fi series ever created. These disks all worked perfectly. I was worried after buying the same Hame of Thrones series which came with 2 bad disks the first time and another 2 in the replacement set. This set is required now that Amazon's rights to stream ended.