The Three Body Problem - Books and TV Adaptations (some spoiler warning)

[girasol]

Three versions on the go at once! Is that a problem?

nah, it feels three dimensional and immersive . It's also interesting to compare them.

 

[moochedit]

nah, it feels three dimensional and immersive

Are they spoilering each other? or is the story too different in each version?

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Price is classically trained, dear boy!

So were lots of actors known for their comedic roles

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Three versions on the go at once! Is that a problem?

Ah, the three variant problem.

 

[girasol]

Are they spoilering each other? or is the story too different in each version?

The story is very similar in all versions and yes, of course, there's spoilerings gallore, especially considering I'm nearly finished the Netflix version. But the Netflix version is kinda flimsy, whereas the other two have a lot more depth. There's a lot of philosophical, political and scientific content that I'm enjoying seeing from different angles.

The nano scientist in the Chinese version is a lot more interesting than the woman in the Netflix version (and yes, she's too good looking, as the actress herself said). In the book I'm only at the start, so it's all about Wenjie at this point and the cultural revolution & its environmental impact.

Also the whole universe winking and the countdown are explored a lot more, and in quite a different, more interesting way in the Chinese version. They even talk about FTL comms ATOMIC SUPLEX (although I think that's covered in Netflix version... I'm now getting confused )

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Tbf having watched a bit more of it. I know what the OP means about the "soapy" bits now. Still liking the show overall though.

Overall it is far better / more interesting than most shows. For me it just falls a bit short. . . Though I am aware that my tastes are probably in the minority. I would probably prefer a documentary discussing the ways in which an advanced civilization would approach us/contact/invade us and what steps we might hyperthetically take. . . Sort of what the book (I assume) presents as a story. I imagine it may be a little like Rendezvous With Rama, less story more science discovery speculation. Greg Bear's Eon too.

 

[SpookyFrank]

It's about as good as a conversion of the novels into an accessible TV could be. But that doesn't mean they should have done it. Book two will be much harder to film, book three you'd think impossible.

I'm assuming that...

Spoiler

One of the present cast of characters will get given the Luo Ji role in series 2.

 

[fen_boy]

It's about as good as a conversion of the novels into an accessible TV could be. But that doesn't mean they should have done it. Book two will be much harder to film, book three you'd think impossible.

I'm assuming that...

Spoiler

One of the present cast of characters will get given the Luo Ji role in series 2.

Spoiler

Saul already is Luo Ji

 

[SpookyFrank]

Spoiler

Saul already is Luo Ji

Well I'll give myself a pat on the back for that one then. We're only three episodes in.

 

[T & P]

Colour me uncultured, but I wasn’t aware of the very existence of this franchise until last week, when the Netflix adaptation dropped.

As it is often the case for many other films or series adapted by Netflix or other streaming platforms if I am honest, which friends, work colleagues, or any other real life acquittances have equally never heard of before. I guess I should be grateful to U75 and other online platforms for stuff I would have never been made aware of if didn’t partake in message boards such as this.

Anyways, with no books or Chinese TV version to compare it with, I rather enjoyed it. Sometimes I think one is best off if you don’t have any previous knowledge of the original book story when you first discover a TV adaptation, frankly.

 

[belboid]

The 'BBCness' of it, or of how the earth is shown anyway, is clearly deliberate and in contrast to the Netflixyness of the Game World (and other worlds yet to be seen?). It's a perfectly reasonable and decent way of doing things. And the earth is more BBCy than Netflixy, so that makes perfect sense. Why should government buildings looks super modernist and futuristic? They dont in reality.

Anyway, I've done the Netflix, which was very enjoyable even tho it did skip over various bits of science and philosophy that could have raised it from interesting to brilliant. The Chinese version (seen 6 of the 30) does go into much more detail about the science, and just more detail in general, but boy is it slow. And often poorly acted. And its taken me there six episodes to stop trying to work out who relates to who in the Netflix one. Some are really obvious, some are not - even wiki was confused (tho they seem to have decided now)

• Saamer Usmani as Prithviraj "Raj" Varma, likely based on the character of Zhang Beihai[1]

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Colour me uncultured, but I wasn’t aware of the very existence of this franchise until last week, when the Netflix adaptation dropped.

As it is often the case for many other films or series adapted by Netflix or other streaming platforms if I am honest, which friends, work colleagues, or any other real life acquittances have equally never heard of before. I guess I should be grateful to U75 and other online platforms for stuff I would have never been made aware of if didn’t partake in message boards such as this.

Anyways, with no books or Chinese TV version to compare it with, I rather enjoyed it. Sometimes I think one is best off if you don’t have any previous knowledge of the original book story when you first discover a TV adaptation, frankly.

Definitely best to come at things without knowing about the hype (I had no idea, like you had never heard of it until last week). Hype can only disappoint.

 

[belboid]

I hadn't heard of either series till a week or two ago, but the books have been getting severely hyped for the last year. In retrospect, clearly building us up to the release of the series.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

My expectations were so low that I was just happy it didn't turn out to be a load of old nonsense after a promising start, like that Stephen Graham time travel thing, which was a massive let down.

 

[petee]

if i had three bodies i would consider that to be a problem.

 

[belboid]

ohh, the English language songs in the Chinese version are truly some of the worst songs I've ever heard.

 

[Fez909]

Just finished Netflix version. Hasn't heard of the books or Chinese adaptation, so had no idea what to expect or indeed expectation that it might be good.

It surprised me and hooked me straight away. Funny coming here to see it described as BBCish as that's literally the first thing I thought.

I watched a couple of the recap sessions just now, with the show runners*. I hope they don't fuck this up like they did with GOT. I suppose having the story already in place helps, but if they move beyond that then I think they'll ruin it again.

*Is this a new term? I'd never heard of before these two were working on GoT, now it seems to be a thing. Aren't they just producers?

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

My expectations were so low that I was just happy it didn't turn out to be a load of old nonsense after a promising start, like that Stephen Graham time travel thing, which was a massive let down.

What was that Steven Graham time travel thing?

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Chinese version (seen 6 of the 30) does go into much more detail about the science, and just more detail in general, but boy is it slow. And often poorly acted. And its taken me there six episodes to stop trying to work out who relates to who in the Netflix one. Some are really obvious, some are not - even wiki was confused (tho they seem to have

I've just started the Chinese version again (I had a go about six months ago but couldn't get into it).
It certainly helps having seen the Netflix version, it really doesn't do a great job of drawing the audience in and seems to rely a little on the audience knowing what's in store. . . Or maybe they just don't care. I can already see why I previously gave up on it. . . And yes, some of the acting is dreadful.
On the subject of dreadful acting, I really hated that rich guys acting from the Netflix one. So am dram. I was quite surprised to find he was quite highly thought of and acted in game of thrones. I assumed he was in for nepotism or something.

 

[girasol]

Oh no! Dare I subscribe to this? Popped up on my podcast feed

 

[girasol]

ohh, the English language songs in the Chinese version are truly some of the worst songs I've ever heard.

I quite like this one. It's grown on me, plays at the end of every episode.


Here's Re-Tros live

(that's going in my running playlist now!)

 

[littlebabyjesus]

What was that Steven Graham time travel thing?

It was called Bodies. Came out last year.

 

[T & P]

Just finished Netflix version. Hasn't heard of the books or Chinese adaptation, so had no idea what to expect or indeed expectation that it might be good.

It surprised me and hooked me straight away. Funny coming here to see it described as BBCish as that's literally the first thing I thought.

I watched a couple of the recap sessions just now, with the show runners*. I hope they don't fuck this up like they did with GOT. I suppose having the story already in place helps, but if they move beyond that then I think they'll ruin it again.

*Is this a new term? I'd never heard of before these two were working on GoT, now it seems to be a thing. Aren't they just producers?

I’ve never read any of the Song of Ice and Fire books GoT is based on, but it is worth pointing out that whereas the final season was undoubtedly a major letdown compared with with the previous ones, it was also the only one not based in the book series.

That’s not in itself a get out of jail card, as it is certainly not beyond the scope of film and television scriptwriters to produce a quality spinoff of a book series. They undoubtedly fucked up the final season. But that was still a rare ball drop in the HBO universe. The only one I can think of, in fact. Pretty much everything else they have done that I have seen has been brilliant.

 

[Fez909]

I’ve never read any of the Song of Ice and Fire books GoT is based on, but it is worth pointing out that whereas the final season was undoubtedly a major letdown compared with with the previous ones, it was also the only one not based in the book series.

That’s not in itself a get out of jail card, as it is certainly not beyond the scope of film and television scriptwriters to produce a quality spinoff of a book series. They undoubtedly fucked up the final season. But that was still a rare ball drop in the HBO universe. The only one I can think of, in fact. Pretty much everything else they have done that I have seen has been brilliant.

I think I agree, that's why I said having the story already written helps.

So far I'm a fan, despite agreeing with some of the criticism. It's still top quality telly.

 

[Epona]

Given the crap they do renew, this is surely worth a second series. Maybe it will win some awards. That would do it.

Yeah but so much good shit has been left unfinished.

 

[girasol]

On episode 7 Wang Miao joins the, well, it's an extra-terrestrial cult really, innit? and is given a piece of paper with the website: 三体官方网站 (which is the Game's website, but obviously I went to have a look to see it IRL)
Lots to explore in there... There's an animated series 我的三体 第四季. (Holy hell at the Lego faces )

I honestly don't think the acting is any ropier than some of the acting on the Netflix version. The cop is irritating and cocky, but I think that's what he's meant to be like anyway and he's gradually becoming more layered as a character... Some of the locations & sets are a nice visual treat. I've never been to China, so it's fascinating for that too.

I think the pace is adequate - it gives me time to absorb what's going on, what's been said and to imagine what the heck is going to happen at the end of this countdown? Also because the subtitles can sometimes disappear quite quickly it seems to give it a sense of it being faster than it would be if I understood Chinese. Anyway, I might get bored of it at some point but for some reason I'm not there yet.

Spoiler

From episode 7, Chinese version: I also thought it was odd how they had those incredible headsets for the game materialised, given the advanced technology, they couldn't have been manufactured on Earth - how did they happen to exist?

In the Chinese version Dr. Wang uses a viably made on earth VR suit, that has to be purchased from the police's budget and costs A LOT of money. It's not something that magically appears to different people. The game itself looks like a game, rather than reality, it's CGI.

I found the playlist for the Chinese series, but looks like the last 10 episodes are for members only... Hopefully it'll be on Netflix UK soon. If anyone else finds the last 10 episodes, please share here.

 

[moochedit]

I hadn't heard of either series till a week or two ago, but the books have been getting severely hyped for the last year. In retrospect, clearly building us up to the release of the series.

I was aware the GOT producers were doing a scifi book adaption for Netflix but that was about it. Definately helps not knowing the story in advance or having ideas about what characters should look like or sound like etc.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

It was called Bodies. Came out last year.

Yeah, that was really poor. Shame, because it had a good cast and some great sets during the victorian era bit. It got so silly it was unwatchable at times. I did watch it to the end. I wouldn't suggest anyone else bother.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

The last three episodes of 3 Body Problem were very slow. I almost feel asleep numerous times. I can't say I cared much for saving humanity by the end of it. My partner was listening from another room and came in and asked me if I was watching a crappy american soap opera because that's what it sounded like to her.

 

[moochedit]

Spoiler: Spoiler

It was supposed to be sad but i didn't really care when the fibre snapped and the frozen brain in a jar went flying off into space as i found the character annoying . You could also see it coming a mile off when the first 2 or 3 bombs were working to plan. Of course i don't know the book story so i guess it's possible the aliens are still able to retreive it somehow as we know they know about it.