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

26 episodes: well, they [Netflix] just skipped that one out entirely. It did answer my doubt about whether the throw away line I needed to ask book wankers about, was deliberately vague or not.

Book wankers: how much of the opening scene in the Netflix version is in the book? I'm not surprised that it shows rather more brutal violence than the Chinese version does and I know that Liu would have liked to have started the book with those events, but did the book manage to be that shocking? There is quite a difference between the two versions and I cant help wonder if the western version made it even more bloody?

(I am aware that such things really did happen during the cultural revolution)

In the Netflix dad is viciously beaten to death by, basically, children, in front of a crowd. In the Chinese version dad is never seen or heard from again, although it is said that 'its okay, he's rehabilitated now'

ffs: their version of Mike Evans looks like Oddbod from Carry on Screaming
 
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nano woman was defo too young. and how does she only have access to start or shut down the research. anyone could have said: sod this. this tech is too important. we just gonna restart it when she has left the building.
 
belboid said:
26 episodes: well, they [Netflix] just skipped that one out entirely. It did answer my doubt about whether the throw away line I needed to ask book wankers about, was deliberately vague or not.

Book wankers: how much of the opening scene in the Netflix version is in the book? I'm not surprised that it shows rather more brutal violence than the Chinese version does and I know that Liu would have liked to have started the book with those events, but did the book manage to be that shocking? There is quite a difference between the two versions and I cant help wonder if the western version made it even more bloody?

(I am aware that such things really did happen during the cultural revolution)

In the Netflix dad is viciously beaten to death by, basically, children, in front of a crowd. In the Chinese version dad is never seen or heard from again, although it is said that 'its okay, he's rehabilitated now'

ffs: their version of Mike Evans looks like Oddbod from Carry on Screaming
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Not read it but i read that the english language version of the book has the scene at the beginning as author wanted it (same as netflix) while the origanal chinese language version has it in the middle of the book. Don't know how much detail either book version goes into though. But obviously a book published in China would need to get past the censors.
 
moochedit said:
Not read it but i read that the english language version of the book has the scene at the beginning as author wanted it (same as netflix) while the origanal chinese language version has it in the middle of the book. Don't know how much detail either book version goes into though. But obviously a book published in China would need to get past the censors.
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Yes that's what I heard. The book was not expected to be a success, had it been more high profile it would not have made it past even burried in the middle.
I also have not read the book, but assume he would have still toned down his original intent just incase.
 
I've read the first book and have enjoyed the first two episodes, though as a physics graduate, gsv keeps bitching about the science :D
 
belboid said:
25 episodes in and they still haven't got to halfway through the Netflix version.
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belboid said:
26 episodes: well, they [Netflix] just skipped that one out entirely. It did answer my doubt about whether the throw away line I needed to ask book wankers about, was deliberately vague or not.

Book wankers: how much of the opening scene in the Netflix version is in the book? I'm not surprised that it shows rather more brutal violence than the Chinese version does and I know that Liu would have liked to have started the book with those events, but did the book manage to be that shocking? There is quite a difference between the two versions and I cant help wonder if the western version made it even more bloody?

(I am aware that such things really did happen during the cultural revolution)

In the Netflix dad is viciously beaten to death by, basically, children, in front of a crowd. In the Chinese version dad is never seen or heard from again, although it is said that 'its okay, he's rehabilitated now'

ffs: their version of Mike Evans looks like Oddbod from Carry on Screaming
Click to expand...
Where did you get episodes > 20 on YouTube?
 
The book doesn't exactly start with Ye Wenjie's father (Ye Zhetai) being interrogated in public and being killed, but that is indeed later on, in the first chapter. It's pretty graphic. I'm on chapter 18.
 
girasol said:
The book doesn't exactly start with Ye Wenjie's father (Ye Zhetai) being interrogated in public and being killed, but that is indeed later on, in the first chapter. It's pretty graphic. I'm on chapter 18.
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As I understand it, in the Chinese version it happens much later on. It was moved up to the first chapter for the English versions.
 
moochedit said:
Not read it but i read that the english language version of the book has the scene at the beginning as author wanted it (same as netflix) while the origanal chinese language version has it in the middle of the book. Don't know how much detail either book version goes into though. But obviously a book published in China would need to get past the censors.
Click to expand...
It's been over two years since I read the book.
I'm impressed people are remembering so much detail.
I've only just about remember how it ends.
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
As I understand it, in the Chinese version it happens much later on. It was moved up to the first chapter for the English versions.
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It was hidden somewhere in the middle right? Didn't the author put it there to avoid censorship but actually wanted it at the start? I probably read that here 😊
 
belboid said:
26 episodes: well, they [Netflix] just skipped that one out entirely. It did answer my doubt about whether the throw away line I needed to ask book wankers about, was deliberately vague or not.

Book wankers: how much of the opening scene in the Netflix version is in the book? I'm not surprised that it shows rather more brutal violence than the Chinese version does and I know that Liu would have liked to have started the book with those events, but did the book manage to be that shocking? There is quite a difference between the two versions and I cant help wonder if the western version made it even more bloody?

(I am aware that such things really did happen during the cultural revolution)

In the Netflix dad is viciously beaten to death by, basically, children, in front of a crowd. In the Chinese version dad is never seen or heard from again, although it is said that 'its okay, he's rehabilitated now'

ffs: their version of Mike Evans looks like Oddbod from Carry on Screaming
Click to expand...

IIRC the 'struggle session' depicted in the book was not an execution, but a weekly ritual. I found the book version more harrowing than the TV version because it gave you an idea of the industrial scale of these kind of rituals, and the numbers of people subjected to them. Also fun details like the pointy hat and the sign around the neck being weighted with metal, and the victims being held in stress positions for long periods of time. So basically torture, with an audience of thousands.
 
I finished the Chinese series today. Which gets all the way up to the end of episode 5 of the Netflix. Sadly, the last few episodes are really let down by the fact that the western actors they have chosen and the words written for the poor sods are diabolical. As we get to meetings of the World Combat Leaders, they speak a lot of English, with some distinctly odd phraseology. It's quite off-putting and couldn't but make me think about how bad a lot of the foreign languages spoken in English language TV is probably weird (at least) to native speakers. The characters were also really dumb and stiff. Is that really how they see us?!
 
Watching the Netflix version here. I've read the first two books (although a few years ago so can't remember a great deal of detail about them), Mr K has read all three.

Just watched episode 5 today; there is definitely a sense of diminishing returns for me, mainly due to the scientist friends who are one-dimensional, dull and really quite irritating. I'm surprised more hasn't been made of why the aliens are blocking scientific progress on Earth, although perhaps they'll come back around to that 🤔

Wenjie's backstory and the game scenes have been the best bits. I'm glad Sam Tarly is dead, he was so annoying.
 
Just finished it tonight. Cunningham and Wong were the standouts, imho. Some of the science chums acting felt a bit flat apart from John Bradley. Although not sure what his actual role was in the grand scheme of things.

High points were the Chinese scenes in the 60s/70s and the boat slicing (shocking).

The scene where the alien tech revealed itself around the globe felt a bit Torchwood... not so awe inspiring.

Overall though , good stuff. Would like to see the live action Chinese version and animated. And (once am done with Dune and the Culture books) get round to reading the book, which has been languishing on the shelf for ages...
 
Ah, seems I can get the remaining 10 episodes (20-30) on youtube for free/legitimately :)
From here, it offers the next episode on the right
 
May Kasahara said:
. I'm surprised more hasn't been made of why the alies are blocking scientific progress on Earth, although perhaps they'll come back around to that 🤔
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It's because at the rate humans scientific knowledge was growing by the time the aliens arrive in 400 years we might have overtaken them and be able to beat them. So they need to slow humans down. (We are currently behind them but growing at a faster rate than it took them).
 
moochedit said:
It's because at the rate humans scientific knowledge was growing by the time the aliens arrive in 400 years we might have overtaken them and be able to beat them. So they need to slow humans down. (We are currently behind them but growing at a faster rate than it took them).
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Yes, I know that :D I have read the book. My point was that this seems rather glossed over in the series so far, although perhaps it is clarified in the later episodes I haven't watched.
 
May Kasahara said:
Yes, I know that :D I have read the book. My point was that this seems rather glossed over in the series so far, although perhaps it is clarified in the later episodes I haven't watched.
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The aliens pretty much give a direct explanation of the reason for the sophons and how they work.
 
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May Kasahara said:
Yes, I know that :D I have read the book. My point was that this seems rather glossed over in the series so far, although perhaps it is clarified in the later episodes I haven't watched.
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I didn't realise you hadn't seen them all yet. Yes it does clarify that.
 
Netflix version completely glosses over the "environmental destruction caused by (scientific) progress" thread, which is really one of the main, if not the main one, threads in the book. I wonder why they skipped it? Maybe they felt it'd be too preachy/clichéd? But it really rips out the essence of the story IMO.
 
Spoiler free comparison between Chinese and Netflix version.


This is good - at least the 11mins I've watched so far. Will watch the rest once I finished Books 2 & 3. It's not spoiler free!
 
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I got to the end of the Chinese series, and I think anyone that completes it should get some sort of badge, or medal :D It's pretty long and the slowness of it did get to me at times, at other times I enjoyed it.

Episodes 29 and 30 are not "slow" though - a lot happens there and it's worth watching it if you have seen the Netflix version.
It has the boat slicing and more thorough explanation of the Sophons. I was interested in seeing how they'd do the special effects for the boat slicing. Yeah, you can see it's computer generated but it's still spectacular. You also get to see their interpretation of what trisolarians look like, which is, erm, their hands are odd :D
 
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girasol said:
I got to the end of the Chinese series, and I think anyone that completes it should get some sort of badge, or medal :D It's pretty long and the slowness of it did get to me at times, at other times I enjoyed it.

Episodes 29 and 30 are not "slow" though - a lot happens there and it's worth watching it if you have seen the Netflix version.
It has the boat slicing and more thorough explanation of the Sophons. I was interested in seeing how they'd do the special effects for the boat slicing. Yeah, you can see it's computer generated but it's still spectacular. You also get to see their interpretation of what trisolarians look like, which is, erm, their hands are odd :D
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Ooh that does sound interesting.
I only watched the first two and found it really tough not to let them just compleatly wash over me. Is it possible to skip a large number of episodes and cut to the chase?
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
Ooh that does sound interesting.
I only watched the first two and found it really tough not to let them just compleatly wash over me. Is it possible to skip a large number of episodes and cut to the chase?
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If you know the story, yeah! And if you don't, well, nothing terrible will happen if you watch it :D
 
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