Narrated animated shorts

Space stories, explained

Short, narrated animations that walk through two great science fiction sagas, The Expanse and Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey, one part at a time. Made for high schoolers, with captions on every short.

The Expanse

14 shorts · about 44 minutes · watch in order

  1. 013:45▶

    Start here

    The Epstein Drive

    The fusion engine that opens the solar system, and what fast ships would do to travel, society and politics.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 16 MBCaptions

  2. 023:22▶

    Season One

    Leviathan Wakes

    Holden's crew, Detective Miller and Avasarala.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 15 MBCaptions

  3. 033:23▶

    Season Two

    Caliban's War

    Miller and the crew, Bobbie, and Prax.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 14 MBCaptions

  4. 043:24▶

    Season Three

    Abaddon's Gate

    Avasarala and Bobbie, the Rocinante, and the Ring.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 15 MBCaptions

  5. 053:30▶

    Season Four

    Cibola Burn

    Holden, Basia and Elvi on the first new world.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 15 MBCaptions

  6. 062:15▶

    Flashback

    Before the Canterbury

    Fred Johnson and Amos Burton, from two novellas.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 12 MBCaptions

  7. 073:50▶

    Season Five

    Nemesis Games

    Holden, Naomi, Amos and Alex, scattered across the system.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 16 MBCaptions

  8. 083:39▶

    Season Six

    Babylon's Ashes

    The Rocinante, Marco and Filip, Michio Pa, and the Ring.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 15 MBCaptions

  9. 092:13▶

    Bridge

    Strange Dogs + The Vital Abyss

    Cara on Laconia, and Cortazar's story.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 10 MBCaptions

  10. 103:12▶

    Book Seven

    Persepolis Rising

    Medina, Drummer and the Rocinante.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 15 MBCaptions

  11. 111:45▶

    Bridge

    Auberon

    Laconia's governor and Erich.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 7 MBCaptions

  12. 123:52▶

    Book Eight

    Tiamat's Wrath

    Elvi, Holden and Teresa, Bobbie and Alex, and Naomi.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 17 MBCaptions

  13. 133:43▶

    Book Nine

    Leviathan Falls

    Tanaka, the Rocinante, Elvi and the Ring.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 18 MBCaptions

  14. 141:57▶

    Coda

    The Sins of Our Fathers

    Filip, and a thousand years later.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 8 MBCaptions

The Space Odyssey

3 shorts · about 13 minutes

  1. 018:31▶

    Part One · 1968

    2001: A Space Odyssey

    Four million years, three monoliths, one computer.

    📄 Essay: 2001, seen from 2026 →
    🔎 Deep dive and slides →

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 41 MBCaptions

  2. 027:48▶

    Part Two · 1984

    2010: The Year We Make Contact

    Why HAL did it, and how Jupiter became a star.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 38 MBCaptions

  3. 037:48▶

    Part Three

    2061 and 3001

    A diamond mountain, a man back from the dead, and the end of the monoliths.

    ▶ PlayMP4 · 36 MBCaptions

How to watch

Press Play to open a short in its own player. Sound starts when you click, and captions highlight each word as it is spoken. Each short is also an MP4 that plays anywhere.

Watch order

The Expanse list runs from the Epstein Drive through the TV seasons and books, with the novellas placed right after the parts that introduce their characters. From Season Four on, the shorts follow the books.

How they were made

Narration by the Kokoro neural voice, visuals drawn frame by frame on a fixed solar-system map so planets keep the same place and size in every scene.