The Expanse: The Best Space Battle Ever? (Detailed Breakdown) 

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"...held together by sheer middle-finger energy..." In my younger days we called that "the last great act of defiance."

"Held together by sheer middle finger energy." Truly the best description for the Donnager Class! I only hope we get to see this ship again fight in future seasons!

2 more things to note that i absolutely love: When any of the PDC turrets fire, you can actually see either a little RCS thruster or directed exhaust of the projectile shooting out the rear of the PDC to compensate for the projectiles inertia. Because of course without this, every PDC would be like a tiny thruster pushing the ship around. Second thing, the helmets in the expanse have lights on the inside. A tradition that for the longest time has infuriated realism nerds like SpaceDock and me. But in the Expanse, the lights are oriented so they don’t shine in the eyes of the people wearing the suit. This way there’s little to no reflection created on the inside vizor by the helmet lights!! Never thought I’d find a show I love more then Star Trek, but the Expanse has done it! Rest in peace, Alex.

I loved how they showed off just how well built the Donnager is, every deck was comprimised, every compartment had likely been holed and she'd lost one of her main guns. Even despite all that she kept firing all her remaining weapons right up until the whole ship was torn apart. A beautiful display of what those ships are capable of.

“Let’s make sure history never forgets the name Sagarmatha!” ~Captain of the Sagarmatha, probably

Sheer Middle-Finger Energy...gonna use that.

After watching Season 5 the first time, I immediately rewatched it. Those stealth coated micrometeoroids are shown in an earlier episode (I can’t remember which). One of the short “Marco Inaros on the bridge looking at holographic displays before a major scene” shows an arcing trajectory, about 90° to the ecliptic, that ends at the Ring. He’s preparing his forces to time their arrival with the meteoroids.

Also, when the Dewalt fires its torpedo salvo, the torpedoes just eject radially off of the ship without dropping back. The Dewalt’s drive was out and it was just drifting, so the torps just fly off the side and maintain the same speed as the ship. All the other torps eject and drop back behind the ship before the drives kick in, because at the time of firing, all the other ships are still under thrust and accelerating away from the torps after they're dropped.

gotta love that Donnager class!

Rest in peace MCRN Sagarmatha. Always sad when a Donnager dies.

Gotta appreciate Drummer’s ability to take a look at the state of battle graphic and immediately recognize the best use for the torpedoes- swarm the PDCs to allow the Roci to sneak in for the kill.

_"A lesser show would have forgotten about that."_ General Chang: "Cry havoc and let slip the documentation of warfare-transforming inventions!"

I love the consistency in martian ship designs, the heavy frigate was exactly what I had envisioned a ship of it's size might look like with a decent amount of creativity.

My favorite detail from the Ring battle - you can see when the Montenegro gets hit by micrometeorites, there's a brief moment when the capacitor is ruptured and you see electrical current arcing through the debris being flung away from the railgun. You can see it at 7:00 in this video.

Admiral Mehmet Harman had always considered himself a student of history. He’d never expected to be living in it. In the days since the apocalyptic strike on Earth, the scenes of whole cities ripped apart like paper, of tsunamis that filled half the sky, choking ash clouds and fields strewn with body bags, he’d felt as if he’d been living in a waking dream. ‘How had it come to this?’ he’d wondered aloud in the officer’s mess of the MCRN *Sagarmatha*. The other officers had stared at him as if he’d asked a stupid question, and then they’d all gone back to silently eating. Marco Inaros was the reason, and no-one wanted to look any further. But Mehmet couldn’t stop himself from asking *why*. At least he wasn’t on the *Tripoli* or *Montenegro*, the two Truman-class battleships escorting them. Mehmet happened to know that the *Montenegro’s* captain had grown up in Senegal. He’d tried to imagine what the UNN officer must have felt watching Dakar and the rest of the west African shared interest zone be reduced to dust, knowing that millennia of history and his entire family was gone forever. ‘Did we do wrong?’ It was a question that had come to Mehmet’s mind in the few hours of bunk time he managed to snatch between endless drills and tactical simulations. Their escort fleet had been withdrawn to protect the inner planets, leaving the *Donnager*\-class and the two *Truman*\-class escorts alone to guard the Ringspace. ‘Where did we go wrong?’ Mehmet knew his history. He understood that the system Earth and Mars built was not perfect. Humanity’s first forays into space had been driven by hope and desperation in equal measure - the climate shifts of the early twenty-first century, the economic stagnation that had gripped the UN, the yet more devastating crisis of fusion waste heat which crippled Earth’s already battered ecosystem - all had left the human race in a precarious position. Then had come Solomon Epstein and his drive, and with it Martian independence. No, it hadn’t been perfect. But the horrors of the past had faded - the crippling hunger and poverty that billions of Earthers lived under for centuries had all but disappeared, war between nations became a distant memory and Mars prospered. For most people, by the numbers, the System had become a safe and just place to live. It could have been so much worse. Mehmet had always believed in the dream of Mars, even as he understood that there would be losers and winners from its progress. In his heart he’d been glad that the OPA had achieved its independence. Their time had come, and the sooner humanity could put old hatreds aside, the better. He’d found himself replaying Marco Inaros’s broadcast, trying to imagine what had driven the man but in the end, he knew what his answer was. Inaros had to die, and anyone who stood with him deserved death as well. Mehmet had joined in the jubilation that spread among the UNN ships after news of the attack on Pallas station. He’d watched the videos of the Belters aboard that rock celebrating Marco’s crimes, celebrating the worst act of mass murder in history. Those on Pallas had made their choice. A deeper part of him felt discomfort at that thought, doubt that the attack on Pallas was just, but he’d quashed it. This was war. The Earthers hadn’t even tried to hide their glee. Mehmet had always believed in the dream of Mars, but every day that felt increasingly hollow. What did Mars stand for if there were a thousand new worlds and more to settle? He knew the corruption ran deeper than anyone in the Navy would admit and did his best to ignore the fact that he knew, to pretend that Mars still meant something, that they were unified and that the world they’d built was worth fighting for. It was - he had to believe it was. ***** The battle for the ring began without warning. Mehmet was seated on the bridge of the *Sagarmatha,* watching the vector lines of the approaching Free Navy fleet, the further-out cluster of MCRN reinforcements, when the collision radar screamed out a violent alert. There was no time to react before the impact came. Shudders ran the length of the massive Donnager-class battleship, and internal camera views showed streaks of hyperaccelerated dust penetrating their armoured skin, piercing corridors and equipment and the bodies of the crew. In the CIC, Mehmet and his officers were mercifully saved, their air seal remaining intact and insulating them from the damage to the rest of the ship. Gravity vanished in a moment, and Mehmet felt the sensation of freefall rise in his chest, a sensation uncomfortably like anxiety. “Drive offline, torpedo tubes are jammed,” the first officer reported. Mehmet shook his head, trying to clear his vision, and glanced at the terminal display. “Stealth coated,” he concluded. “We didn’t see the rocks till the last second." The first officer nodded. The comm system rebooted, showing the *Tripoli* and *Montenegro* \- sturdily built UNN vessels, still intact, drives also crippled. The Free Navy had launched a massive wave of torpedoes. “Launch torpedoes, PDCs to automatic,” he ordered, but the weapons officers had already taken the initiative. Even with stolen Martian technology, even with their drive crippled, the Free Navy should not have chosen to tangle with a *Donnager*\-class battleship. The *Sagarmatha* bared its teeth and struck back. The hull rang and shuddered as torpedoes left their tubes, the heavy boom of their two foehammer railguns distinguishable from the subsonic thrum of PDCs. They were flinging everything at the Free Navy, aiming to finish the battle quickly. The *Pella*, Inaros’s ship, was at the centre of the attacking cluster. That was their target. “Splash one,” the weapons officer announced, as a Free Navy ship - a light destroyer of MCRN design, blew apart under a high-yield nuclear detonation. Beside them, the UNN ships opened up with torpedoes. Mehmet suppressed a smile. A damaged Donnager-class, engine-less, would be the one to end the life of the greatest mass murderer in human history. He could be glad of that. Enemy torpedoes streaked inwards from all directions, and their PDCs fired, arcs shifting to compensate for damaged sections. They couldn’t manoeuvre, but they could still react with blinding speed. Railgun one overheated, and Mehmet diverted power to their second gun, placing slug after slug in the direction of the *Pella*, even knowing they were beyond close-quarters range. Keep them occupied, overwhelm them any way you can. “Incoming - ringspace,” the first officer announced. Mehmet glanced at the display, and sure enough the Belters on Medina had decided to join the fight. The weapons breached the bizarre non-space behind the ring and fanned out behind the defending fleet, accelerating at the physical limit of their drives. “Will they accept guidance commands?” Mehmet wondered. “Perhaps we can coordinate them to attack the ships-” Alerts shrieked as the *Sagarmatha’s* tactical computer switched the torpedoes IFF from allied to hostile. They weren’t accelerating past them to attack the Free Navy fleet. They were aligned on the *Sagarmatha*. A pit opened in Mehmet’s stomach as he saw his end approach, but professionalism took over. Duty came first, even if the battle was lost, even if it was all hopeless. “Defensive fire only for the guns,” he ordered. Get all our torps out before we’re gone.” Mehmet wondered at the calm of his own voice, but the officers obeyed, hands barely shaking. They had seconds now, maybe only one or two. PDCs swivelled about, destroying one, then two, then five of the Medina station torpedoes as they approached from behind. The blue markers drew closer, and when the end came, Mehmet’s last thought was of the future that his world had been denied. ***** The stealthed projectiles had ripped right through the CIC of the UNN *Tripoli*, shredding the bodies of Captain Vats’s second officer and comms officer. They’d reverted to redundant command pathways and were still fighting, but rail gun power was out, and they were down to PDCs only. Vats watched in mounting horror as the torpedo swarm from Medina obliterated the *Sagarmatha*. He'd never trusted the skinnies, and in the end they had sided with Inaros - freely made the choice to align themselves with the greatest crime in all of history. “Keep firing,” Vats shouted, through the chaos of the *Tripoli*’s bridge. The ship groaned alarmingly, structural warnings appearing on his terminal display. Officers barked out panicked orders, but still the PDCs fired. They wouldn't go down without a fight. He knew they wouldn’t survive, not without the Donnager-class to defend them in close quarters, but if they could whittle down the Free Navy fleet enough, maybe they would give the Martian reinforcements less to worry about. The *Tripoli*’s rail guns were stilled, lacking the reserve power the Martians could bring to bear, but her torpedoes continued to fly at the approaching fleet. If anything more came from Medina they were done for. The Martian reinforcements had launched, weapons streaming inward to add their strength to the battle. Not in time to save *Tripoli*, of course, but perhaps enough to make a difference, maybe enough to kill Inaros. Vats watched the torpedo swarm draw closer, vectors aligning on the *Tripoli*. They’d been betrayed twice over. *No, this is too much.* He simply stared, dumbstruck, as the swarm arrowed towards his ship, overwhelming their PDCs with ease. He felt the *Tripoli* shudder beneath him as a massive impact struck them and screamed as he died.

The Expanse need to get more appreciation People need to watch this show

Poor Donnager class. Every time we see one it just takes such a beating.

This battle actually helped me get back into writing. Seeing everyone in love with the scene inspired me to write my own space battle, as a practice.

Fun Fact: "Sagarmatha" is the nepalese word for Mount Everest, meaning "Goddess of the Sky". You may even notice at the beginning of the shot she's featured in shows her perpendicular to the "surface" -- outer edge -- of the Ring Gate below her. Could be coincidence. Could be good framing for the shot. Could be "hidden" attention to detail :)

The shot of the Sagarmatha riddled with holes yet still fighting ferociously broke my heart

My jaw was on the floor with that season finale.

When I first started The Expanse, I wasn't sure about the hard science element, but it only took a few episodes for me to understand, appreciate and then ultimately fall in love with it. Combat is far more guttural and responsive than in other universes and makes it just that little more compelling.

The moment right before the battle starts is really great - excellent character building: They had a plan: push right through the middle to buy as much time as possible. Holden talked to Bull about it just moments before. How they don't fight to win. Then, from one second to the next, the plan changed. Holden recognizes the opportunity and tells Bull to turn around and engage. Any lesser pilot would have asked questions or complained. But Bull just did as he was told, without a comment. Not even a second of screen time, but that's all we need to understand what an outstanding soldier Bull is!

There were so much details in the battle sequence I just kept re-watching it. It even made me understand the decisions made by Holden. First, Holden knew they could not win, so just wanted to buy time for Alex to save Naomi and escape. The moment Holden saw Tynan disable Dewalt, situation changed from 1 vs 5 to 2 vs 3. By realising there was a chance to win, he ordered Bull to turn around and fight. The question now, which ship should Holden target first? Out of the remaing 3, which were friends or foes? Then he saw Tynan target Koto, which immediate confirm his target as Koto. After taking out Koto, as Mowteng was not targeting him and Dewalt was disabled, this left with Serrio Mal as the obvious target. The decisions made by Holden was so on point, very impressive. Imagine if he chooses to run away, or target Mowteng first, the outcome of the battle will be very different.

I had to watch that Roci vs Free Navy space battle a couple times to understand what I was watching. Which ship was which and what ship they were firing on. I did end up getting it but I was definitely a bit confused about what was going on when i first watched it. Even before I understood it I thought it looked cool as hell and once I rewatched it I appreciated it even more.

Is the Expanse the best sci-fi TV show of all time? Hmmm.. Yes, yes it fucking is.

Haven't felt this awestruck by a TV space battle since the Babylon 5 episode "Severed Dreams" back in 1996.

I literally climbed off the couch and sat directly in front of the TV line a small child for this episode. What a great finale.

One of the best parts of the expanse has always been it's hard take on space combat.

The writer’s took notes from all previous syfy movies and shows. Kudos to the show.

Wow! What a great breakdown of the battles. You really picked out every detail we put in there...like every detail! Love that the fans enjoy those things and appreciate the support and enthusiasm. It's what drives us to keep trying to making these sequences better. Love these videos.

This is one of the Best Sci-Fi series I've ever seen. Great attention to detail. I was blown away. I hope there is another season.

I can honestly say that no other show has been able to keep me on the edge of my seat with every episode like the Expanse has. You can tell that the cast and crew really have a love for this and it shows.

Honestly, seeing the Sagarmatha still putting up a fight even after getting absolutely mauled by stealth meteors was a bit surprising and just goes to show how insanely tough the Donnagers are.

What i like about the expanse is how they treat space, its not just a setting and is sidelined for character development or drama, its dead center of the story, how it affects characters and how it stir the story.

I don’t like it when a donnager ship gets destroyed 😢

I agree . The physics detail in 'The Expanse' sets new standards.

7:25 “Middle Finger Energy” should be a bumper sticker. @spacedock get on that with merch people

It was an amazing sequence, but I think the Thoth Station battle is still my favorite. That shot of the cabin filling with red bullet/debris streaks is just so iconic.

HELL YEAH. I named my dog after Holden. All your commentary was super on point. This video made me fall in love with the show all over again!

The only issue I had is that I would have like the fight last a little longer.

God, when the Tripoli went down I felt it. I really love the Truman class

"You always must have a knife in the darkness."

7:20 "sheer middle finger energy" is a new favourite expression of mine.

..."All us Space Nerds to lose our minds over"... Boy you got that right! I have watched this episode multiple times now on Amazon, and stopped and backed up and freeze-framed and marveled at the sheer awesomeness of this space battle sequence!! I just can't express how awesome this is.. OMG.. It just doesn't get much better than this!!

The biggest change this season is how they've finally figured out how to shoot space battles. Seasons 1-3 they were constantly moving the camera and ships, which meant the viewer had no frame of reference in the infinite black of space so it looked like everything was moving. This season, and a bit of last, they have stopped moving the camera so much, and are instead keeping the frame of reference viable, so it's much easier to understand the relative motion of everything.

I like the consistency of how effective the Martian PDCs are. The Roci has been shown to have really effective PDC coverage and we see here both the Koto and Serrio Mal take out all of the torpedos thrown at them, it’s the railgun that they can’t deal with.

These two battles were fucking AMAZING and incredible to watch when they dropped. The mutineer fight had so much going on it was almost hard to track. Brutal, efficient, short. The gate fight... made me so sad, but it was such a great, short battle.

I've been waiting for someone to do a detailed breakdown of this and so glad that it's Spacedock

Ok. Spacedock you talked me into it. I'm about to binge watch The Expanse. Every single episode !!! And I'm expecting Greatness !!!

This show is so effing fantastic. In my opinion, it has the best space battles ever put to screen. Another moment I absolutely loved was when Holden used the Roci's torpedos to defend the razorback essentially acting as shields for it. That was absolutely genius. This show has continued to impress.

If Force Recon is still on, I’d love to see a breakdown of Drummer’s fleet and the new Martian ships!

You really did these scenes justice. After going through them frame by frame myself, I've still learned some new things now

I jumped up in my seat, yelled "Yeah!", and fist-pumped! I'm a pretty reserved guy, but the sequence was just so readable and immersive. Honestly can't think of any other time I've been so thrillled watching this level of CGI action.

Spoiler warning I also like how cleanly they took out Alex. It was a possibility the story allowed for and previously explained. The aftermath felt organic.

I'm going to have to go back and watch the Expanse again just for the great battles and acting. I'm hoping that the success of this show will FINALLY teach the big movie studios how to do proper space battles.

As a 5 decade hard core Science Fiction addict I can definitely say the Expanse is absolutely the top SciFi television series ever. The accuracy to detail including the physics that 99 percent of shows get wrong is astounding. Several book authors have refused to allow follow on books in series to be made because producers screwed the pooch with their adaptations. Tho one the author an rest assured justice was done by everyone on the development and production teams right down to cast choices and costume designs. Bobbi has to be the hotest Marine ever.

"The donnager class is capable of being held together by shear middle finger energy". Best analogy ever 😂 Also when Drummer fires on the Koto and it starts shooting down the torpedos, the music gave me Mad Max Fury Road vibes.

Completely agree. This season was pretty fucking great. Also, the music in that final space battle was minimal at first, slowly building and frankly masterful. Definitely added to it.

God I love that full-fucking-throttle opening to this battle that displays all the ships. One of my favorite scenes in the series.

"Held together through sheer middle finger energy." That is how you describe a Donnager! in fact i'm going to get that on a T-shirt! or you guys should put it on one for your merch. So sad S6 is going to be the last series, will it cover babylon Ashes to Tiamats Wrath and what about the 9th book? I hope S6 will be more episodes or longer ones if its covering the last 3 released books. Also will Bull replace Alex's role in the series?

I'm just a tiny bit disappointed the Sagarmatha Donnager didn't pull a 40k move and went full ramming speed when it was severely damaged to catch the free navy in the reactor blast.

Re-watching this again because it's so good.

"Sheer middle finger energy" best quote ever

I don't even watch the Expanse but this is brilliant writing and "realistic" Science Fiction to its core.

Most sci fi franchises: "Don't care so much about realism and continuity, it's all just make believe anyways." The Expanse: "Hold my beer while I show this kid how it's done..."

I remember finding this show during it's second season, and watching it with all of my fingers crossed - toes included - hoping it won't get cancelled due to lack of viewers, as I only met one guy that's a fan, and I'm pretty sure he started watching at my recommendation. But it's people like you here that kept it going, with your endless (well deserved) praises. Well done, much love.

I only just discovered this channel, and I am absolutely blown away. Why can't there be more amazing quality content like this on the internet? I will 100% be buying access to The Sojourn, if its anywhere near as high quality as the channel I will not be disappointed.

The Expanse ships really remind me of Homeworld's ships, in a good way. Maybe with some Nexus - The Jupiter Incident thrown in for flavor.

We need separate vids for Drummers fleet, the Pella, and the Serrio Mal... This season was a shiplovers dream!!! I was aslo trying to find a size comparison between the donnager class and the truman class

Not mentioned in this video but the acting was superb (Drummers shock when she realised the missiles weren't going to make it) and the music completely makes the scene.

Thank you for making this video. I didn’t realize I could enjoy watching it frame by frame so much. You guys are brilliant and I knew you were bound to do a commentary for this season. Best wishes from California.

The way this battle sequence is done is almost like watching Japanese mech animes like Gundam or Macross. They too like to squeeze in details that people often not pick out at first glance, but each time you revisit you find new details and realize how much love the team puts into it.

Gorgeous video. But I have a question. Where do you get these concept art from? Can I link to the source?

You made this video with so much details.. hands down to you brother

A detailed I never picked up before is the PDCs vent the round explosion out the back to compensate for the recoil, making them essentially recoilless Gatling guns

Anyone else thought the final railgun strafing run by the Roci was visually confusing? I could have used a sweeping change of perspective to show that it was the little Roci doing a railgun strafe.

It’s still really painful to see that Alex Kamal is gone... I’m gonna miss the Roci’s space cowboy. I was really hoping he just fell unconscious from the burn. If Cas Anvar reads this, you were amazing, cowboy.

Excellent recap. I had a little trouble following the first battle; I'm glad you recapped it.

Yep. I've been waiting for you guys to do this battle breakdown. You did not disappoint!

I do wonder, seeing how Drummer and her crew has experience salvaging ships, if we will see more of the Koto. If Drummer where to take control of it that be awesome, i loved the design and she definitely could use more ships

Holy crap! When I watched this battle on my own, I didn't think much of it. Wasn't bad by any means, but it didn't elicit the "whoa!" that I got watching the original Donnager battle or the Roci vs. Stealth ship. Watching this analysis revealed a ton of awesome detail that I missed. It makes the whole thing just way more impressive. Thank you very much for an awesome analysis!

OMG Daniel I literally thought this was one of the best even before I watched this but you’ve pointed out stuff I missed even after watching and rewatching numerous times. The battle really was a thing of beauty. So much detail. Thanks for the forensic analysis. It’s only made me feel ‘just wow’ even more 👌🏾🙏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

Excellent video! The whole Roci battle goes by so quickly that it's good to see it slowed down, blow by blow.

Sheer middle finger energy, lmao. And it probably would have survived if it hadn’t been for Mediena

I absolutely want to see the Heart of Tempest and the Gathering Storm

5:32 not only did they bother to animate the Roci's engines firing to account for the rail gun kickback in the close up shot of the Roci, they also show the exhaust trailing from the Roci in burst as it strafes around the enemy ship when the camera is positions close to the enemy ship.

Man I’m so sad I haven’t discovered your channel until now. As an enormous sci-fi and in particular The Expanse fan, lamenting the end of what I consider to be the best sci-fi show ever put to screen, I am here devouring more Expanse-related content so I don’t have to admit that it’s gone. Thanks for these breakdowns. It’s wonderful to see someone take the time to point out the details the casual observer may miss.

Callback to when Thoth was the most badass battle...

Such a shame only one season left 😭 this is the most underrated sci fi in years.

THANK YOU for this walkthrough! Everything went so fast that i couldn't track the details and nuances. I needed this break down!!!

No idea where am I, or how I even got here... but hearing "extremely realistic" in middle of describing a spaceship battle, really made my day!

I expect more Force Recon for these ships lol

Great breakdown, I love it. Star Trek really needs to take a look at the way The Expanse presents space combat.

You've captured the epicness of these battles perfectly!

You earned a new subscriber with this. An astonishingly good presentation. Can’t wait to explore your library.

A burning question I've had is whether the writers have actually plotted the positions of all the bodies in our solar system for the date of the story and taken relative distances between bodies into account when factoring travel times into the narrative. With so much attention to other details, I'd be surprised if the have not.

I'm sure I wasn't the only Spacedock fan to wince when a UNN battleship was referred to as a Nathan Hale class instead of a Leonidas class.. Force Recon you shall be missed

I've watched many sci fi shows in my life. Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, and many more. The Donnager class is one of my personal favourite ship designs of all time. Its simply gorgeous.