I haven't seen Firefly yet. I liked The Expanse mostly, but SyFy has a knack for writing really unlikable people. The Magicians? Biggest collection of douchebags I've ever seen. 12 Monkeys? A bunch of backstabbing dickheads that couldn't think their way out of a paper bag. The Expanse? See previous.
Amos and Bobby are cool, and I liked the portrayal of space. Everything was grittier, with less magic. I expect the Expanse will end up being more likely than Trek when the future comes(unfortunately).
I mean, it was a TV show made in the early 00's for Fox, as a minimal budget trial run to see if sci-fi would even work for them. They didn't like it (after fucking the deployment), so canned it. There wasn't even 'space combat' in it, they drove a cargo ship. But it had good writing, memorable characters, more space opera than sci fi but it worked for the story (space western). We've had a lot worse come out of the depths of TV land.I have only minor gripes about Expanse, but Firefly made me sad and I gave up. The Western theme got old fast, and I like Westerns. A bit on the predictable side too, which irked me. The cast holds up it up though, I can see why people dig it, just not my thing. Recycled scenes/animations/backgrounds reek of a laziness that is the polar opposite of an Expanse space battle. I feel like you can be budget and not look lame if you care about certain details. Some shows don't care, but I do.
IMO if you're ok with low budget stuff check out Farscape. That show has some gems in the rough. Looking forward to seeing what to make of Amazon's Fallout venture, coming this spring.
I mean, it was a TV show made in the early 00's for Fox, as a minimal budget trial run to see if sci-fi would even work for them. They didn't like it (after fucking the deployment), so canned it. There wasn't even 'space combat' in it, they drove a cargo ship. But it had good writing, memorable characters, more space opera than sci fi but it worked for the story (space western). We've had a lot worse come out of the depths of TV land.
If you want something similar but less westerney, and a little darker (no pun intended), check out Dark Matter.