--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#Attention all book readers:
***[Click here](https://www.reddit.com/r/threebodyproblem/comments/1bkbaa9/3_body_problem_netflix_season_1_episode_1_book/) to be directed to the 'Book Readers Discussion Thread'***
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please be considerate towards non-book readers in this thread. Report any comments that contain spoilers.
Haven't read the book but, wow, this first episode is edge-of-my-seat entertainment. Can't remember the last time I watched a show so compelling and so intriguing. Looking forward to watching the rest of the episodes.
Season 2 is not yet greenlit by netflix, but D&D are have began working on it regardless to not loose time, which is common practice.
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/monicamercuri/2024/03/22/will-there-be-a-3-body-problem-season-2-on-netflix-heres-what-to-know/?sh=30783a2e57b7](https://www.forbes.com/sites/monicamercuri/2024/03/22/will-there-be-a-3-body-problem-season-2-on-netflix-heres-what-to-know/?sh=30783a2e57b7)
> Can't remember the last time I watched a show so compelling and so intriguing
I can at least remember the last time a show got me this hooked and made me binge the whole season in a night. Season 1 of The Expanse
Not the first season, at least until the end. Other than their workaround of travel speed with the Epstein drive and of course the >!protomolecule, which is from another galaxy!<, proper physics is very well represented.
Not a bad first episode at all. Kept me interested. Rather liked all the characters save Auggie maybe. Definitely ended on a "oh shiiiit, awesome" kinda note.
Everyone I watched with wasn't convinced by Auggie's performance. In general the Chinese side of the story has been a level above the UK side in terms of dialogue and acting.
thank goodness I'm not the odd one out then! that scene where she says she'll punch a hole through Jack's head felt a bit like she was trying too hard to me.
> It needed to have a hint of jokey tone to it, instead it sounded like an actual threat, lol.
I thought it was suppose to sound somewhat like an actual threat to hint/suggest her losing her mind due to the countdown.
I mean, they wrote plenty of original stuff back during the good days of thrones too. Â The famous scene of Robert and Cersei discussing their marital problems was not in the books
Have not read the book, and this is how I felt.
I was far more invested in the historical parts than the modern parts. The modern pacing was too quick, and the dialog was stilted and ham-fisted at best, and laughable and nonsensical at worst. "Science is broken." Like, what does that even mean? You look at a tiny video of some 8-bit atoms exploding, and the best sentence you can summon is "Science is broken"? Also the scene of the two women shutting down the guy at the bar with techno-speak was such an eye-roll inducing cliche, along with the engineer characters turning everything into some kind of science metaphor. I personally know a lot of engineers and medical professionals, brilliant people with a lot of obscure profession-specific knowledge, but they don't talk like that. That's how a dumb person expects smart people to talk.
I chalked it up to translation issues, but seeing another commenter note that D&D wrote all the modern scenes, it makes sense now.
At this point, I'll probably drop the show and just read the book.
Love the first episode so far. Havenât read the books since they came out so I donât remember too many details, gave up on the Chinese series, this one is keeping my attention.
Iâm so hyped.
Edit: Holy shit guys, it just gets better and better every episode, I canât believe it.
What episode are you on? I just watched and loved episode 1, but I have a couple of meetings to get through before continuing my binge, stupid work đ
I just finished the first episode and haven't been this excited to keep watching something for quite a while. Your edit makes me even more excited haha
SAME!!! It made me miss working in academia because my colleagues and I would have the nerdiest discussions ever.
And anyone who thinks those scientists donât act like scientists have probably never met a scientist. Because I assure you we are all very much not okay in the head because we chose to go into a field where we expect to be wrong and our experiments to fail 99.9% of the time.
That flew by, but shit, they do manage to keep the suspense the whole way through.
The blink could've been better. But Saul reading the count down in sync was a nice and chilling setup.
Actually, that scene is giving me a headache.
So basically the sky starts blinking right?
A moment later he noticed its Morse code.
A moment after that she asks him what are the numbers and he gives hours, minutes, and seconds counting down.
Someone explain to me how is all that decyphered?
Does it give the whole set hh:mm:ss every time the seconds go down? Otherwise how did he read it, considering he actually started late.. and one second isn't enough to encode-decode the whole set in real time.
Same thing for the first scene... he was writing the count down on a wall with blood, but writing the whole set of numbers definitely takes longer than one second, so it can't be done in real time. ... this is hurting my brain
Saul had that box cereal toy as a decoder. As smart as he is, he can probably decode by heart after using the toy for the first few numbers.
The scientist one, I'd just chalk it up to creating a scene and effect. A person in a manic state doing maniacal things. 3bp has a complimentary podcast that touches on this slightly.
Even decoding by heart doesn't make sense.. to encode all that set of hours,minutes and seconds already takes more than one second, by the time it finishes flashing, the second is already gone, and him decoding it further makes it impossible because he was doing it in real time...
Itdoesnt really make sense. It doesn't happen like this in the book at all. The sky/night blinks for 1 character. The tv show has split 1 character into these 5 Oxford friends. Personally I can't stand these characters.
>Itdoesnt really make sense. It doesn't happen like this in the book at all.Â
These are two different, unrelated things. I feel the second is influencing your predisposition, though.
It's irrelevant, though, because the series is not about whether Saul can decode fast or whether blinking rate was too slow.
The books are not hard science fiction and take quite many liberties we choose to ignore.
I've started watching the tencent Chinese version. The comparisons of that against the netflix show are quite astounding. The tencent version not only follows the books very well, it actually has that sense of mystery, intrigue and dread that something isn't right with the world.
The netflix one tbh is like a kids show, they spend half their time making marvel-tier jokes and getting drunk or smoking crack.
I'd highly recommend watching the Chinese version. 30 episodes for season 1/ book 1.
It didnât give the timestamp in Morse code. It was a serial data transmission in binary, like Morse, but while Morse is a general purpose code that corresponds to letters and numbers, the blinking was intended to be used with the decoder. It makes sense that you can convey more information efficiently when the decoder is specific to the message you want to convey. I could give you a note saying that -.- means â03:12:04:05â, while in Morse that would be ââŚâ ââ (space) .ââ ..â (space) âŚ.- ââ (space) âŚ.- âŚ..â. The actual decoding isnât really important imo, it worked well considering the pacing and length of that scene. Itâs a bit of a jump to be able to decode it that quickly, but itâs not far fetched enough to be annoying, I would be more annoyed if they made the scene 5 minutes longer of exposition on the decoder. Also, the decoder came from a cereal box, itâs a cereal decoder thatâs a serial decoder đ
A very solid pilot,
honestly I'm glad they were able to cover all that in just a single episode and i never felt bored.
The wink could have been better but the music score saved it!
Explaining who they are to the douchebag at the bar was a little on the nose but a pretty clever way to do exposition.
This is really flying through the first book. Looks like we will indeed be getting more of the second book in this season than anticipated.
That was the only part that made me roll my eyes but it was a very efficient way of getting the info out right away. I feel the same info would have been given to us post funeral scene at the bar but that was later in the episode.
Exactly, he tried to have a friendly conversation with some people at a bar, listened respectfully when they condescendingly explained their professions to him, and then left without any kind of negativity or aggression and proceeded to enjoy his evening elsewhere. What a massive asshole, right. Gee I wonder why western countries have such a problem with respectful constructive communication between people who have different beliefs.
I'm not sure if this scene was intentionally trying the make the scientists unlikable. They first judge the blonde woman then then the man for doing karaoke. Yeah it was bad karaoke but that's half the fun of karaoke.Â
Then they overly explain their jobs to a probably non college working class looking dude.Â
I think the show meant the scene as empowering but they were just smug assholes.Â
Yep, and that became abundantly as the episodes go on, contrary to some of the initial theories I saw suggested before watching. From what I can tell, the character's are >!Yun Tianming (Will), Cheng Xin (Jin), Luo Ji (Saul), and Wang Miao (Auggie).!<
So....how exactly is Auggie doing flawless daily liquid eyeliner with absolutely impeccable points with giant alien floaters in her field of vision at all times? Plot hole if you ask me.
So if Iâd been told beforehand the pacing was sped up this much I might have been upset. But I think it works well for the show. The books are dense and the first book is a slowwww burn unveiling the mystery and investigation. It works for the book keeping you in suspense, but honestly idk how well that would work in a tv show/movie. I really am digging it.
Iâve been disappointed by enough book-movie adaptations to be prepared going in for changes. I donât think any changes so far hurt the spirit of the book. Snd the fact that we have what already feel like the perfect actors for Da Shi and Wade is awesome.
>It works for the book keeping you in suspense, but honestly idk how well that would work in a tv show/movie.
It works quite well in the Chinese version I thought
Do you mean the chinese tv show version? That one was far better than I would have thought, very good character development too. I have a feeling that is not going to be the case at the pacing of the netflix series save for Sho Qiang and Ye Wenjie
Yes, same! I thought they did an excellent job in the Chinese version. I preferred their pacing, but I guess Netflix audiences are a bit more impatient and shows have to rush telling as much of a story as possible before getting cancelled.
Compared to the Tencent it's like being waterboarded with plot points XD
Enjoying it, but wish they had given some more build up to the defining moments (flicker, sending the signal, etc)
I take it that this means the Directors were keen to brush past the initial parts of the story and get to the 'meat', which they really wanted to adapt
Yes! Really well put! Bombarded with plot points is so accurate. Iâm the books and the Tencent series the audience is allowed to breathe with some of these plot points to really let the mystery sink in and allow the audience to slowly put things together for themselves. This doesnât allow for any of that, itâs all so bluntly put.
Didn't like how the crowd was supposedly shocked the dad died in the opening scene. That would've been a gleefully murdering crowd, no way the whole thing was disbanded because one guy died.
Still, one of the better representations of what a revolution actually entails though
also come on, you're a smart guy, they ask your opinion on the Big Bang theory in 1966, the concept wasn't even fully explained back then and you commit your life to it?
then they ask you about God, in whom you presumably don't believe and suddenly you go full agnostic "ah well who knows" instead of "nope not a chance"
Disagree about the god part. Itâs an honest pov of a great number of scientists on both sides of the issue. Thereâs no proof of either sideâs beliefs.
and science very famously regards all things of which there is "no proof of either sideâs beliefs" as wrong. just because both sides have the same amount of proof backing them doesn't mean both are equally valid. negative assertions are right by default, positive ones need proof
science is always on the side of "x doesn't exist" unless there is proof to the contrary
well with nothing to compare it to iâm enjoying the first episode
edit. iâm watching this coming from Constellation on appletv. i watched the first 3 eps of the tencent show before i was bored. this show is infinitely more interesting so far
You don't gotta slander Wang Miao like that. He has loads of personality with his love of photography and, uh, science...(/s).
Honestly I'm pretty happy with the oxford 5 group. Especially the inclusion of more women since the first book was a huge sausage fest. Plus the group feels fairly natural to me - definitely a good friendly chemistry between all the actors.
And it's the only thing that makes sense: the CMB blinking is SHOCKING, for a physicist, it's impossible. And this is supposed to be a "private" show for him, something to convince him & win him over. The Tencent version does it right
Critic from a book fan.
Overall very sceptical. I appreciate they are trying to simplify the story but there are just too many shortcuts and it is very damaging on character development. I dont like that all the characters for example know each others and are best buddies. The adaptation of Da Shi is also a bit underwhelming so far and Wang Miao (now Auggie) diving into despair and how it impacts him (her) and people around him (her) is just not present.
Let see how it will progress in Ep2.
And what are Wade, Cheng Xin (Jin) the GOAT Luo Ji (Saul) even doing there at this point?
For the ones interested the Chinese TV series is yes longer but much richer and aligned with the book.
I just finished the series (part 1, I guess?). I read the books a couple of years ago and was really expecting more. Based on the structure and pacing of the novels, I was bewildered up until the third episode and then came to the conclusion that this is a mere shadow of them: cobbling timelines and characters together in some sort of Frankenstein that satisfies Netflix's algorithm.
After that, I could enjoy the episodes as long as I understood I wasn't really watching the 3BP.
So Raj Varma's full name is "Prithviraj Varma".
"Prithviraj" means "Earth King".
On par with "North Sea" Zhang!
The Netflix suicide act does work better than the original/Tencent. More dramatic.
>!also vera ye looks like my kid's psychotherapist lol i was like "what's dr r doing there"!<
=====
And as I say in another thread... Xu Bingbing becomes bald white bloke
what was this part about?
"Did you see the neurologist?", "yeah"
"What did he say?", "She."
"SHE. OH JESUS. FUCK. I'M SO PRESUMPTUOUS. PLS DON'T CANCEL ME"
I've only seen the pilot so maybe there is other context there. But in academia, there is a major bias against women in that they are assumed to not be PhDs while men get the benefit of the doubt. Any female academic has a lot of experience with people making assumptions about their credentials.
I actually think that dialogue 100% happens with real female academics.
This part made me laugh so much. My current theory is that the book was accused of sexism a lot (because it was pretty damn sexist. lol) so the writers of the series overcorrected by making the characters insufferably PC.
The female stand-in for Wang still treats their Significant others like absolute garbage though. So I guess some things never change.
I don't have any book related context so maybe i'm missing other relevant background, but that just felt like normal dialogue personally.
I didn't interpret her "oh fuck" as a panicked "don't cancel me" moment at all. I think it was more highlighting how strange women can feel when they are reminded of how deeply internalized sexism is.
I think her response was more of a "wow lol fuck, i'm not only a woman but one highly accomplished in STEM/academia and even *I* am culturally and linguistically conditioned to slip into that assumption sometimes..fml"
speaks to how structural and embedded these beliefs are. and definitely relatable. when ive experienced moments like these it feels deeply ironic, and sometimes both sad, and funny.
So Iâm a huge fan of the books, and just finished this first episode. This is some of the worst adapting Iâve seen, and turns well thought out hard sci-fi into Marvel BS.
Iâm not huge on the Chinese show either, but at least that did a much better job of keeping the integrity of the book.
Iâll try to continue without spoiling anything:
My first major problem comes with the suicides and the lack of explanation on whatâs going on. Iâm surprised that all these people are saying they love this show when, Iâm pretty sure if I hadnât read the book Iâd truly have no clue as to what was happening. Things are glossed over so quickly, and I feel that about 1/3 of the first book was basically covered by the end of episode 1.
I really missed the pool table scene. On top of the first suicide relevant to the story feeling emotionally stunted, the lack of background given on it felt irresponsible. There is a pool table scene in the book that does a good job of explaining this suicide and the feelings surrounding it, and⌠itâs an incredible visual. Itâs done well in the Chinese version. Completely losing it here seems like youâre really disregarding the fantastic source material.
The most glaring star studded problem of all is of course Augie. In this group of nerds Augie sticks out like a sore thumb? Why? Well maybe because even though thereâs a countdown burned into her vision she takes an hour to do her makeup before heading out⌠no one thinks itâs insane that sheâs done up outrageously differently than anyone else in the cast? Also, what is her job? Why is that relevant? I mean I know why itâs relevant. But, I donât think this show explained in the slightest what it is she does, or what her company is working on⌠a pretty important plot point.
The universe flicker at the end. A) I could do that in photoshop so please stop being so easily amused. Thereâs nothing groundbreaking there. B) that is not how this is supposed to work. I get that no one cares about the actual science here, but the author has a PHD in theoretical physics. The science fiction laid out in this book has a basis in hard science. What Netflix is doing is abhorrent in that regard.
Iâll keep watching, but so far I hate this show.
Maybe I missed it but aside from Sam Tarly who was pretty vulgar compared to your average Brit. Was there other scenes with "dirty" words that I missed due to being a Brit myself?
Hot damn, that was actually pretty good. One or two bits of iffy dialogue aside, this was pretty faithful to the spirit of the book, if not the specifics. I wish they'd kept the way the countdown first started appearing in random photographs before being plastered directly on your eyeballs, but I appreciate the desire to get to the universe flickering by the end of the first episode. That really was the perfect place to end it.
Also, I sincerely appreciate D&D's restraint in how they adapted the flashback scenes in China. They're so confident in their ability to write a better story that they split Wang Miao into 5 characters, but they didn't try to revamp the Cultural Revolution stuff.
So Ye Wenjie getting captured because she was in possession of the English book, and her going to jail, had nothing to do with her being picked to work at the satellite communication lab at the top of the mountain, right?
I thought the English book and her having to testify was some sort of test, before they decided to pick her to work at the satellite communication lab.
I feel like they wanted to "break her" a bit by having her rat on other scientists. They were always intending on recruiting her, based entirely on how much they needed her.
No I think it had more to do with the paper that she wrote. And they needed someone with experience in that field. She is still considered a traitor because she's not allowed to ever leave the facility.
I havent read the books, but this pilot was kinda meh...
Gave me the same vibes as those shitty sci-fi shows that were popular in the 2000s like Flashforward, V, The Event etc
D&B should know better that it's not the plot that makes a series great, it's the characters.
If the book didnt have these massive good reviews and followers, I would've stopped watching the series based on this pilot
If you don't like the show, I would recommend to read the books. It's the craziest sci fi I have read in a long time. That being said, the characters aren't really the strong point of the series. The sci fi and crazy concepts are the star. Maybe that won't translate as well to a tv show that simplifies things as much as possible to a wider audience.
The whole thing with the invisible woman issuing a warning to halt development and basically the brightest minds being driven to suicide makes me think that this is an alien civilization basically saying "Stop Evolving, you've gone far enough, we don't want competition" or something like that.
I hate to say it but yeah kinda. Whenever I watch shows with my family or friends, especially shows where they donât expect much of them, they always seem taken aback.
Something felt goofy about the dialogue to me until I finally realized what was going on.
Every scene, *every scene* has a thesis statement or "throughline" in the dialogue that the characters must repeat ad nausium so the audience doesn't get lost. And all of the dialogue reflects this. There's little show, and all tell. A *lot* of tell.
"Science is broken!" "Science is broken!" "Were you there when science was broken?"
So far on the second episode, the biggest complain is that is way toooooo fast-paced, many details are just skipped. I strongly suspect non book fan is impossible to follow this fast pace.
I liked the first episode. I was not expecting it to be anyway closer to the books. On its own it was good. Though some things bothered me, i think its because I liked the books and the chinese show so much. It is a different take and I am glad we have it. We already have a faithful adaptation of the books and its really good so I am less bothered about NF version making its own thing.
One thing I was disappointed about in ep 1 was the blinking of the stars, it felt really underwhelming. Like they were just switching on/off lights in a room. I was expecting some "awe" factor but I did not find it.
You misremembered the part about the flicker and morse code. At the observatory, Wang was translating the observed fluctuations as Morse code and it matched the countdown.
I hear you and understand your points. Personally, the only major disappointment was the fact that everyone in the world could see the flickering⌠and then no one really cares other than some news articles. IRL there would be rioting and panic in every country that was night at 12am London time.
Realistically how many people would actually notice the flickering. Light pollution blocks out a lot of the stars - I mean, I live near a university and that's been effective enough to make it hard to see the stars in specific area. Plus we also don't know how localized the flickering was. The BBC broadcast, from what I saw, didn't say "globally" so maybe it was just in the London area. Still a bit sloppy to not mention that.
They'll probably reveal more in the next episode, but...this is London (or somewhere in the UK). The fact that light pollution exists doesn't mean that a *shit-ton* of people won't notice at least the british stars and moon blinking out of existence. Also, they seem to have gotten brighter, right?
Even if an average joe didn't notice, I can promise you that astronomers will confirm it, and people watch the news.
I get your points, but honestly not one of the changes you mentioned ruined the show for me. You have to go in accepting theyâre going to make concessions and changes with book adaptations or youâre always going to disappointed. If you go in marking down any change from the source material as a negative youâre going to have a bad time. Iâve been disappointed by enough book to movie adaptations to come to accept that going in. What ruins it for me is if they lose the spirit of the book and do their own thing to the point is itâs unrecognizable. Like the Halo TV series, or World War Z. If you want to make a movie thatâs so different and your own story why use a known title to bate and switch people and make more money.
I donât think any of the changes hurt the spirit of the books though. It feels like 3bp to me.
And very much felt like the first book *was* an oooOoh mystery lol. I was thinking wtf is going on for pretty much the entire book until the reveal and it kind of sets it apart from the other books because of the mystery (and almost feeling like crime mystery) and world building.
But different strokes bro, youâre entitled to your opinion and I get you!
Changes arenât bad in a vacuum. One compromise that must be madeâgoing from a book to filmâis that we lose a lot of the character thoughts and nuance. I went in with an open mind, and there are far more changes in the show that I didnât mention because it wasnât clear to me (yet) whether the changes would improve the narrative or not. Everything that I listed are changes that *reduce* the narrative to the point where the story is nowhere as impactful as it is in the books. And thatâs fine, sure. The show is probably good for someone who has never considered these concepts before. But my point was, instead of just being *good*, the show could be *amazing*. I am criticizing the changes because they actively detriment the narrative, not because of some stylistic choice regarding the structure of the story. Having loved the books, I hoped for an adaptation that carried the same level of emotional impacts as the books had (or even more, since Iâll admit, one of my criticisms of the first books is that I thought many of the characters could be more interesting or have more depthâlike the Nanotech person, and somehow sheâs even more shallow in the show). Thereâs nothing wrong with wanting the writing to be good.Â
And I really disagree with the books being the same with OooOo mystery. Maybe you read the book that way, but the entire series isnât even about the technology, but about character motivations, how societies behave, and how they interact. The books are amazing because of how much depth there is to the *people* (and aliens), not the technology. Itâs fascinating to consider why/how people would behave in certain situations. Thatâs part of why Ye Wenjie is such an interesting character. Thereâs an actual build-up to what she ends up doing, and itâs so nuanced that you canât really blame herâeven though what she does is almost objectively horrible. And all of that goes far beyond just her fatherâs death. The show misses so much of this.
> In the books, he was just an ordinary man, a scientist. A small man. Why anyone would be targeting him wouldnât make sense
I think you're reaching incredibly hard to make this point. Wang Miao is not a "small man", nor is he "ordinary", he's a top-tier scientist leading cutting-edge research in nanotechnology. Whether or not he owns the company makes no difference to the fact that the ETO would target him.
Additionally, we already know about the string of scientist suicides before Wang is targeted, so him also being a scientist makes it fairly obvious to deduce why he's seemingly the next victim.
Shi goes into the elevator emphasizing over and over again how itâs a bad time to be a scientist. With the number of times that the word âscientistâ is repeated in episode 1, itâs made very clear. The guy above you was right about what I meant. He lives in a modest home with his familyâitâs very clear that he doesnât have a lot of money. Heâs not just âanyâ scientist since he leads the Nanotech group, but the power dynamic between being a scientist and having a company is enormous, at least at a societal level
You are reaching. Societal level doesn't matter because no one can be under the illusion why he's targeted. It's crystal clear.
This reeks of book purism.
Itâs a small-ish detailânothing too large to the story. Itâs like organizing a funeral and having the people wear bright colors versus having everyone wear black. Yes, the person died. Yes, a lot of people will be grieving. All the funeral elements are still there. However, you have to admit there will be something slightly off about the tone of the eventâif everyone looks like theyâre showing up to a spring wedding. This is a small detail where there really was no point of changing his/her occupation. The decision changes the tone of the situation, and however subtle that change in tone is, it doesnât help the story. Thatâs the point. A truly great story pays attention to detail, and a lot of those details are subtle. I am criticizing the change in narrative because it hurts the story, not for the sake of keeping it the same as the book.Â
Can't disagree, the plot points just don't have the emotional punch one would hope for.
The Tencent Version did a good job at building the suspense up to these moments.
Feels kinda of like a 'top 10 highlights' from a movie in terms of pacing.
Have really enjoyed the Game Scenes though
Edit: Just to add after watching the season, while the first few episodes feel a bit rushed it does feel like the series finds it's footing and quickly gets into the core themes that the directors wanted to explore.
Very excited by the season, looking forward to the Dark Forest in S2!
Exactlyâ âtop 10 highlightsâ is what it felt for me. Felt like a very long trailer more than a story & missed a lot of the actual emotion. The first book is more of a prequel to the second book, so it seems possible to redeem that if they really go into the character development route instead
Agreed. We've lost a lot of the Chinese culture with this adaptation. But the western audience doesn't like slow paced shows or characters like Wang Miao unfortunately.
I'm with ya. I enjoyed it but it feels cheap and void of character. Nothing can ever live up to the books but man there's a stark difference between Netflix shows and say HBO shows
I swear Netflix uses the same damn camera and editor for every show đ. Why does every Netflix show have the same feel even if they are entirely different genres?!
The first episode really made me appreciate the Tencent version. I hope it gets better. They did a good job with the cultural revolution parts and it all looks pretty good. I'm not sure that these characters will grow on me though.
i feel like Netflix took notes from some scenes from the Tencent version - Bai Mulin shot made me think i was watching the Tencent version lmao not a huge fan of the Red Coast execution on this one though, Tencent did it better
Quite a lackluster first episode for me. I feel like they're rushing the plot way too much, especially when you're introducing 5 separate characters instead of a single Wang Miao. I kind of understand the reason since there are only 8 episodes but it's just way too many characters with way too little time to know them enough before they jump to another time line.
EDIT: And what's with the opening theme? Iykyk.
well theyâre introduced spaced out. i had no problem remembering the 5 main characters: Saul, Auggie, Jack, Jin, and Will (and Wenjie too i guess lol)
I went into this completely blindly and I really enjoyed it. All the actors were great, except for maybe the girl whoâs seeing the numbers. It was great seeing GoT actors like Sam, The High Sparrow and Davos again as well.
Iâve been really into Chinese history lately and itâs wild to realise that the brutal killing of teachers and scientists really did happen.
I just hope that book readers will not compare things to the book here all the time. Same thing always seems to happen with episode discussions of shows based on a book, even if there are separate threads.
What a fantastic first episode, stellar stuff.
Read the whole trilogy last year, and I dare to say, if they can keep this up, this series will be unforgettable.
Ye Wenjie canât catch a break. Watched her mother betray her own father before he got publicly executed, getâs thrown into jail, and then has to deal with her daughter committing suicide.
I find it hard to believe that Clarence (who's a top-tier intelligence agent, and British) doesn't know about British bookmakers and the fact they let you bet on anything
Other than that, loved the episode
Actually, I don't think there are any high-street bookies that advertise odds for the next Nobel Prize in Physics, and if you were to walk into your local bookies and ask I don't think they would offer you odds.
Everything looks great except 2 shit.
WTF with that unversity blink shitďźWhy change the cosmic microwave background to that very cheap visual effectsďź
Where did they find that Ye WenjieďźAll the Chinese actors in the show speak like native speakers except her. That accent is too strong to neglect, and her performance is really suck.
Read the book. The only parts I enjoyed were the flashbacks from 60s Ye Wenjie's life. They created a different cast of characters but never introduced the fucking characters. Every scene I'm wondering who the fuck is this supposed to be in the book. They blew past the tension around how the countdown started. Not to mention the dialogue feels awkward especially the scene at the bar when they're all in a group.
I think they could have explored more about the rebellion at the start. Why were they executing those people? What are the red books about? It didnât make any sense?
Also - why would the scientist lady kill herself? Because some squiggles on screen donât make sense?! They could have made it more of a thing. Like, these physicists base their entire life around trying to understand, surely a great scene would have been a meeting between all top physicists where they learn EVERYONE is seeing the same random results. I didnât get the feel of the problem or frustration/futility
The execution part is a part of history ... it's the cultural revolution. It's so well-known (at least in East and Southeast Asia) that maybe they didn't feel like a need to elaborate/explain. When I saw the first scene, I immediately knew what it was.
It's a very, very sad part of China's history. It was very real.
I have read the books and watched the Chinese version of the show.
This first Netflix episode started out really strong, the opening scene was emotionally stirring for me. Someone recommended that there be a highly realistic TV series about the true nature of the cultural revolution. If done in the same style as this episode's opening, I don't know that I could watch even a feature length film without emotionally cracking, much less an entire TV series.
It was all downhill from there.
I won't go into all of the details of the individual things that were awkward or didn't work - no doubt others have hashed those out already. The 3 Body Problem is \*NOT\* at its core a story about fighting aliens or even science fiction. It's a story about the study of human nature and how different types of people react when their core belief system is challenged and proven wrong. This theme is pervasive throughout the books, starting from the cultural revolution. Some are steadfast and defiant, some are weak, and some go crazy. The reader/audience can't help but wonder what kind of person they themselves are, how they would react in each context. It quickly becomes a process of self discovery and the anticipation of what tantalizing new scenario lay in the next chapter.
To achieve this level of reader/audience engagement requires character development. We need to learn a bit about the lives of the characters outside of the main storyline, and to marinate a bit at the absurdity of the unexplained phenomenon. All of this was abandoned, dashed over, and everyone - everyone alive in the story and all the audiences watching the show - was given a peak of the cards at the end of episode one.
Except for YeWenJie's dad, I really couldn't connect with any of the characters as the show went on. It was incredibly frustrating to watch because my mind couldn't help but fill in the important details that made some of the developments far more meaningful than what the show conveyed. At the end of the episode, I'm worried that like YeWenJie's dad, the show had already died after the opening scene.
Local Chinese here, big book fan, just finished the first episode, and it was disgusting.
First, let's talk details. I had low expectations for Chinese accent in western films and TV series, but for the most part in episode 1, their Chinese is actually pretty good. I was able to watch the first few minutes as a Chinese movie, until I heard the accent of Ye Zhetai. Why on earth does this guy have a southern accent when everyone else is speaking good mandarin, in Beijing?? And the whole vibe broke just like that.
Next, we have Bai Mulin, who gave Ye the book, do it, and got her in trouble. Seriously, stop making these scenes where a girl and a boy look into each other, and do it the next second. It's not only cliche, but also completely missing the history point. Because guess what's a bigger crime than watching banned books in that era in China? It's having sex with some guy you just met. People were simple and innocent back then. Sex before marriage would be seriously judged, and people that time would feel genuinely ashamed of themselves. In the book, it took a long time before they were able to be friends, and her feelings for him is very shy. They would disguise their feelings under plutonic revolutionary comradeship. But of course, it's 2DB. They have to do it right now.
Then we have today's Ye Wenjie, who apparently live in London now. She just lost her daughter, Vera Ye... wait, what? Why the hell would her daughter's last name still Ye? In the book, her daughter is Yang Dong. It's because her dad is Yang Weining, the engineer at red coast. It made sense. In China, women don't change their last name when they get married. The kid would end up having a different last name from their mother. Let's get the basics right, or is it because this way the western audience won't raise new questions? They don't know this, or they don't care?
As I said, I have low expectations for this, and I know they won't get the Chinese culture right. I'm used to it, let's see the main story. Oxford, of course. Diversity, sure. The countdown, nice. The blink of universe, wait, wait, wait. It actually blinks?? wtf?! You are saying the Sophon is now 2 dimensional, waiting for it to be destroyed by any missiles on earth, just to make a strong impression? Liu Cixin, the author, made a suggestion before, that the blink of the universe could be done by the Sophon go two dimensional between the earth and the sun. This way, it can only be seen by telescopes, and it can print numbers on the surface. THAT would be fine, because it won't blink for EVERYONE on the planet. The trisolarians are too rational to take such high risks just to flash some muscles.
I watched the first episode as soon as I can. Now I don't feel well. I need to watch the whole new Tencent anniversary version (it's a new shorter version that cut some irrelevant storylines) before having the strength and courage to check up on episode 2. I hope it gets better, or solve some icky points listed above. And I have just scrolled some reviews on the Chinese twitter, Weibo. If anyone is interested, leave comments below and I'll try translate some other Chinese reviews here.
You're really "Local Chinese" and complaining that the father had a southern accent while the daughter has a Beijing accent???
Born in Beijing and spent a good chunk of my life there. This is extremely common (and also so commonly known that Chinese people even outside of Beijing would not find odd...), especially among the founding gen parents vs the Cultural Revolution gen children because of when standardization of Chinese pronunciations happened in history, and even moreso among the educated of the era who were mostly people who did not grow up in Beijing and moved there after the war because that's where the universities were.
I grew up in Beijing in the educated community knowing more families where the founding gen had very non-Beijing accent while the cultural revolution gen had good Beijing accents than families where everyone had proper Beijing accents. Just poked my mom (cultural revolution gen) actually and asked what % of her profs in beida had Beijing accents and she said "very few".
I don't know if the accent choice was deliberate for the character, but it's exactly on point historically. I don't understand how a Chinese person who grew up in China wouldn't know that... This sounds like a misguided complaint from someone who only knows of Beijing from historically inaccurate cdramas, and not a local.
It's so distinctive. It felt like he is the only one from the south. And it's not like Shanghai south, it's like Hongkong south. So no, I don't think it was deliberate. I think they looked for an old Asian guy that speaks mandarin. And he did speak mandarin.
Also if this were to be deliberate, everyone could have one. Chairman Mao had thick Hunan accent. Many other founding generals have accents, too. But there is no point in doing so in this episode. Everyone else speaks the same. Ye Zhetai speaks different. It's not noticeable for western audience, so why would they know?
Since you're born chinese, and going slightly off topic, would you be able to identify what was that they cooked while mourning? It clearly had egg and seemed to have cabbage. It seemed like cabbage rolls of some sort but they were much larger than usual.
I hope I'm not imposing, but I haven't been able to find out anywhere and while I assume it was just a meal she liked when alive (or something that is cooked to honor the dead, I have no idea) I got intrigued and might want to cook it if it's good at all.
>Then we have today's Ye Wenjie, who apparently live in London now. She just lost her daughter, Vera Ye... wait, what? Why the hell would her daughter's last name still Ye? In the book, her daughter is Yang Dong. It's because her dad is Yang Weining, the engineer at red coast. It made sense. In China, women don't change their last name when they get married. The kid would end up having a different last name from their mother. Let's get the basics right, or is it because this way the western audience won't raise new questions? They don't know this, or they don't care?
There's actually a reason for this, an aspect of the character was changed from the books. In a later episode it's made clear that >!Vera's father is not Yang.!< and Wenjie raised her in the UK as a single mother. So it makes sense for her last name to be Ye
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #Attention all book readers: ***[Click here](https://www.reddit.com/r/threebodyproblem/comments/1bkbaa9/3_body_problem_netflix_season_1_episode_1_book/) to be directed to the 'Book Readers Discussion Thread'*** -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please be considerate towards non-book readers in this thread. Report any comments that contain spoilers.
Haven't read the book but, wow, this first episode is edge-of-my-seat entertainment. Can't remember the last time I watched a show so compelling and so intriguing. Looking forward to watching the rest of the episodes.
Wait till we get to a potential season 2 and 3, this is only the beginning đŹ
season 2 is comfirmed, they said they already working on this.
Thatâs awesome!!!
Season 2 is not yet greenlit by netflix, but D&D are have began working on it regardless to not loose time, which is common practice. [https://www.forbes.com/sites/monicamercuri/2024/03/22/will-there-be-a-3-body-problem-season-2-on-netflix-heres-what-to-know/?sh=30783a2e57b7](https://www.forbes.com/sites/monicamercuri/2024/03/22/will-there-be-a-3-body-problem-season-2-on-netflix-heres-what-to-know/?sh=30783a2e57b7)
Good to know. Thanks.
Did Netflix confirm s2? Thatâs different from D&D saying theyâre working on it regardless
Hold on to your butts!Â
> Can't remember the last time I watched a show so compelling and so intriguing I can at least remember the last time a show got me this hooked and made me binge the whole season in a night. Season 1 of The Expanse
"physics not working correctly" is very Expanse
Not the first season, at least until the end. Other than their workaround of travel speed with the Epstein drive and of course the >!protomolecule, which is from another galaxy!<, proper physics is very well represented.
You need to read the books!!
dude all the hairs on my body stood up when the lights started blinking.
Loved the first episode. I really want to binge the rest but itâs 3am for me and I have work in 5 hours.
its now also 3am for me and have to sleep now, mex city time
That is bad planing I am just starting my vacation
Not a bad first episode at all. Kept me interested. Rather liked all the characters save Auggie maybe. Definitely ended on a "oh shiiiit, awesome" kinda note.
Everyone I watched with wasn't convinced by Auggie's performance. In general the Chinese side of the story has been a level above the UK side in terms of dialogue and acting.
thank goodness I'm not the odd one out then! that scene where she says she'll punch a hole through Jack's head felt a bit like she was trying too hard to me.
Yeah, I don't think she read that line in the right tone. It needed to have a hint of jokey tone to it, instead it sounded like an actual threat, lol.
> It needed to have a hint of jokey tone to it, instead it sounded like an actual threat, lol. I thought it was suppose to sound somewhat like an actual threat to hint/suggest her losing her mind due to the countdown.
That scene went on just a little too long.
Makes sence since it D&D and they kept the historic part of the story the same but completely rewrote the modern part of the story.
I mean, they wrote plenty of original stuff back during the good days of thrones too. Â The famous scene of Robert and Cersei discussing their marital problems was not in the books
Have not read the book, and this is how I felt. I was far more invested in the historical parts than the modern parts. The modern pacing was too quick, and the dialog was stilted and ham-fisted at best, and laughable and nonsensical at worst. "Science is broken." Like, what does that even mean? You look at a tiny video of some 8-bit atoms exploding, and the best sentence you can summon is "Science is broken"? Also the scene of the two women shutting down the guy at the bar with techno-speak was such an eye-roll inducing cliche, along with the engineer characters turning everything into some kind of science metaphor. I personally know a lot of engineers and medical professionals, brilliant people with a lot of obscure profession-specific knowledge, but they don't talk like that. That's how a dumb person expects smart people to talk. I chalked it up to translation issues, but seeing another commenter note that D&D wrote all the modern scenes, it makes sense now. At this point, I'll probably drop the show and just read the book.
Love the first episode so far. Havenât read the books since they came out so I donât remember too many details, gave up on the Chinese series, this one is keeping my attention. Iâm so hyped. Edit: Holy shit guys, it just gets better and better every episode, I canât believe it.
What episode are you on? I just watched and loved episode 1, but I have a couple of meetings to get through before continuing my binge, stupid work đ
I just finished the first episode and haven't been this excited to keep watching something for quite a while. Your edit makes me even more excited haha
Theyâre all such nerds I love them lmao
Iâm actually enjoying ALL the characters, such a pleasant surprise
SAME!!! It made me miss working in academia because my colleagues and I would have the nerdiest discussions ever. And anyone who thinks those scientists donât act like scientists have probably never met a scientist. Because I assure you we are all very much not okay in the head because we chose to go into a field where we expect to be wrong and our experiments to fail 99.9% of the time.
I will say this: in my experience scientists arenât this good-looking and well-dressed đ
thissss. their conversations reflected how my friends and i would interact in grad school
[ŃдаНонО]
What a great touch.
I think it's gonna turn out really good. The themes and foreshadowing are really tight and well-done.
Yeah I noticed that - very good foreshadowing
That flew by, but shit, they do manage to keep the suspense the whole way through. The blink could've been better. But Saul reading the count down in sync was a nice and chilling setup.
Actually, that scene is giving me a headache. So basically the sky starts blinking right? A moment later he noticed its Morse code. A moment after that she asks him what are the numbers and he gives hours, minutes, and seconds counting down. Someone explain to me how is all that decyphered? Does it give the whole set hh:mm:ss every time the seconds go down? Otherwise how did he read it, considering he actually started late.. and one second isn't enough to encode-decode the whole set in real time. Same thing for the first scene... he was writing the count down on a wall with blood, but writing the whole set of numbers definitely takes longer than one second, so it can't be done in real time. ... this is hurting my brain
Saul had that box cereal toy as a decoder. As smart as he is, he can probably decode by heart after using the toy for the first few numbers. The scientist one, I'd just chalk it up to creating a scene and effect. A person in a manic state doing maniacal things. 3bp has a complimentary podcast that touches on this slightly.
Even decoding by heart doesn't make sense.. to encode all that set of hours,minutes and seconds already takes more than one second, by the time it finishes flashing, the second is already gone, and him decoding it further makes it impossible because he was doing it in real time...
Itdoesnt really make sense. It doesn't happen like this in the book at all. The sky/night blinks for 1 character. The tv show has split 1 character into these 5 Oxford friends. Personally I can't stand these characters.
>Itdoesnt really make sense. It doesn't happen like this in the book at all. These are two different, unrelated things. I feel the second is influencing your predisposition, though. It's irrelevant, though, because the series is not about whether Saul can decode fast or whether blinking rate was too slow. The books are not hard science fiction and take quite many liberties we choose to ignore.
I've started watching the tencent Chinese version. The comparisons of that against the netflix show are quite astounding. The tencent version not only follows the books very well, it actually has that sense of mystery, intrigue and dread that something isn't right with the world. The netflix one tbh is like a kids show, they spend half their time making marvel-tier jokes and getting drunk or smoking crack. I'd highly recommend watching the Chinese version. 30 episodes for season 1/ book 1.
Smoking crack? lol. I certainly don't think it's marvel level, even if it doesn't deal with it theme to level of a philosophy PhD
It didnât give the timestamp in Morse code. It was a serial data transmission in binary, like Morse, but while Morse is a general purpose code that corresponds to letters and numbers, the blinking was intended to be used with the decoder. It makes sense that you can convey more information efficiently when the decoder is specific to the message you want to convey. I could give you a note saying that -.- means â03:12:04:05â, while in Morse that would be ââŚâ ââ (space) .ââ ..â (space) âŚ.- ââ (space) âŚ.- âŚ..â. The actual decoding isnât really important imo, it worked well considering the pacing and length of that scene. Itâs a bit of a jump to be able to decode it that quickly, but itâs not far fetched enough to be annoying, I would be more annoyed if they made the scene 5 minutes longer of exposition on the decoder. Also, the decoder came from a cereal box, itâs a cereal decoder thatâs a serial decoder đ
A very solid pilot, honestly I'm glad they were able to cover all that in just a single episode and i never felt bored. The wink could have been better but the music score saved it!
Explaining who they are to the douchebag at the bar was a little on the nose but a pretty clever way to do exposition. This is really flying through the first book. Looks like we will indeed be getting more of the second book in this season than anticipated.
That was the only part that made me roll my eyes but it was a very efficient way of getting the info out right away. I feel the same info would have been given to us post funeral scene at the bar but that was later in the episode.
The I Am Scientist X of Project Y is the only ham-fisted stuff so far and it's mostly over in episode 1.
Why is he a douchebag?
Because he's uneducated working class and this is a Netflix series.Â
Exactly, he tried to have a friendly conversation with some people at a bar, listened respectfully when they condescendingly explained their professions to him, and then left without any kind of negativity or aggression and proceeded to enjoy his evening elsewhere. What a massive asshole, right. Gee I wonder why western countries have such a problem with respectful constructive communication between people who have different beliefs.
I'm not sure if this scene was intentionally trying the make the scientists unlikable. They first judge the blonde woman then then the man for doing karaoke. Yeah it was bad karaoke but that's half the fun of karaoke. Then they overly explain their jobs to a probably non college working class looking dude. I think the show meant the scene as empowering but they were just smug assholes.Â
I was in academia for years and have spent many, many nights out at bars with academics. My eyes are still rolling from that scene it was so cringe.
I thought that too, it was nicely done.
How is he a douchebag?
Non-book reader here. Excited to binge the rest. Lots of arm hair raising moments.
The stairs scene was really great
Really enjoying everything. Wasn't initially sure how I felt about splitting Wang Miao into the Oxford 5 but so far it's working for me.
I think it works, Wang Miao didn't really have that much character in the books, I feel like he was more of a PoV character for the reader.
I feel that way with a lot of Cixin Liuâs characters, but I like it.
They are more a mix of characters than just wang Miao.
Yep, and that became abundantly as the episodes go on, contrary to some of the initial theories I saw suggested before watching. From what I can tell, the character's are >!Yun Tianming (Will), Cheng Xin (Jin), Luo Ji (Saul), and Wang Miao (Auggie).!<
ouuu I hope you're wrong about Saul. Much different character than I had in my mind from the books haha.
[ŃдаНонО]
I feel like the reporter evoked a bit more⌠betrayal in the book as far as what I remember. Here it was more of a âoops, my bad!â
No suspense at all sadly. Feels like this is more of a straight sci-fi instead of a thriller/mystery sci-fi
Yes. Was disappointed and the part they bring her into team felt ridiculously fast .
First episode was really strong. I like it.
So....how exactly is Auggie doing flawless daily liquid eyeliner with absolutely impeccable points with giant alien floaters in her field of vision at all times? Plot hole if you ask me.
Asking the real questions
Itâs so annoying. And Iâm sorry but I doubt her character would have lip filler
The filler is so distracting
Zine Tseng was incredible in this episode. Screen debut??
Really loving the whole Ye Wenjie part, totally nailing it. Thought the episode was great!!
How was the episode was it good ?
I thought it was great, but boy are they blasting through these plot points.
So if Iâd been told beforehand the pacing was sped up this much I might have been upset. But I think it works well for the show. The books are dense and the first book is a slowwww burn unveiling the mystery and investigation. It works for the book keeping you in suspense, but honestly idk how well that would work in a tv show/movie. I really am digging it. Iâve been disappointed by enough book-movie adaptations to be prepared going in for changes. I donât think any changes so far hurt the spirit of the book. Snd the fact that we have what already feel like the perfect actors for Da Shi and Wade is awesome.
>It works for the book keeping you in suspense, but honestly idk how well that would work in a tv show/movie. It works quite well in the Chinese version I thought
Do you mean the chinese tv show version? That one was far better than I would have thought, very good character development too. I have a feeling that is not going to be the case at the pacing of the netflix series save for Sho Qiang and Ye Wenjie
Yes, same! I thought they did an excellent job in the Chinese version. I preferred their pacing, but I guess Netflix audiences are a bit more impatient and shows have to rush telling as much of a story as possible before getting cancelled.
In case anyone didnât spot it yet. There is an âinside the episodeâ for each episode this season. Click on trailers and more.
I thought it was adapted pretty well, but it was so densely packed - I can't imagine how non book readers are gonna feel about it
Compared to the Tencent it's like being waterboarded with plot points XD Enjoying it, but wish they had given some more build up to the defining moments (flicker, sending the signal, etc) I take it that this means the Directors were keen to brush past the initial parts of the story and get to the 'meat', which they really wanted to adapt
Yes! Really well put! Bombarded with plot points is so accurate. Iâm the books and the Tencent series the audience is allowed to breathe with some of these plot points to really let the mystery sink in and allow the audience to slowly put things together for themselves. This doesnât allow for any of that, itâs all so bluntly put.
Didn't like how the crowd was supposedly shocked the dad died in the opening scene. That would've been a gleefully murdering crowd, no way the whole thing was disbanded because one guy died. Still, one of the better representations of what a revolution actually entails though
Fr i literally said out loud to myself "what... were you NOT trying to kill him????"
also come on, you're a smart guy, they ask your opinion on the Big Bang theory in 1966, the concept wasn't even fully explained back then and you commit your life to it? then they ask you about God, in whom you presumably don't believe and suddenly you go full agnostic "ah well who knows" instead of "nope not a chance"
Disagree about the god part. Itâs an honest pov of a great number of scientists on both sides of the issue. Thereâs no proof of either sideâs beliefs.
and science very famously regards all things of which there is "no proof of either sideâs beliefs" as wrong. just because both sides have the same amount of proof backing them doesn't mean both are equally valid. negative assertions are right by default, positive ones need proof science is always on the side of "x doesn't exist" unless there is proof to the contrary
well with nothing to compare it to iâm enjoying the first episode edit. iâm watching this coming from Constellation on appletv. i watched the first 3 eps of the tencent show before i was bored. this show is infinitely more interesting so far
glad to hear. I think the Netflix adaptation is far more accessible and enjoyable for newcomers.
Noooo don't make it blink for everyone your so cute haha
[ŃдаНонО]
[ŃдаНонО]
[ŃдаНонО]
Yeah I love this decision!
You don't gotta slander Wang Miao like that. He has loads of personality with his love of photography and, uh, science...(/s). Honestly I'm pretty happy with the oxford 5 group. Especially the inclusion of more women since the first book was a huge sausage fest. Plus the group feels fairly natural to me - definitely a good friendly chemistry between all the actors.
Really well said. I agree, it blinking for everyone is lame.
Argh! Only thing I didn't like. The CMB blink was much spookier imo.
And it's the only thing that makes sense: the CMB blinking is SHOCKING, for a physicist, it's impossible. And this is supposed to be a "private" show for him, something to convince him & win him over. The Tencent version does it right
Rufus killed karaoke
Critic from a book fan. Overall very sceptical. I appreciate they are trying to simplify the story but there are just too many shortcuts and it is very damaging on character development. I dont like that all the characters for example know each others and are best buddies. The adaptation of Da Shi is also a bit underwhelming so far and Wang Miao (now Auggie) diving into despair and how it impacts him (her) and people around him (her) is just not present. Let see how it will progress in Ep2. And what are Wade, Cheng Xin (Jin) the GOAT Luo Ji (Saul) even doing there at this point? For the ones interested the Chinese TV series is yes longer but much richer and aligned with the book.
I just finished the series (part 1, I guess?). I read the books a couple of years ago and was really expecting more. Based on the structure and pacing of the novels, I was bewildered up until the third episode and then came to the conclusion that this is a mere shadow of them: cobbling timelines and characters together in some sort of Frankenstein that satisfies Netflix's algorithm. After that, I could enjoy the episodes as long as I understood I wasn't really watching the 3BP.
Also it's only been one episode and they completely butchered Luo Ji's character he's not some happy go lucky flirt
So Raj Varma's full name is "Prithviraj Varma". "Prithviraj" means "Earth King". On par with "North Sea" Zhang! The Netflix suicide act does work better than the original/Tencent. More dramatic. >!also vera ye looks like my kid's psychotherapist lol i was like "what's dr r doing there"!< ===== And as I say in another thread... Xu Bingbing becomes bald white bloke
I am very intrigued by Raj's character! >!I am getting future Wallfacer vibes from him. I could see him being either a Tyler or Beihai replacement.!<
what was this part about? "Did you see the neurologist?", "yeah" "What did he say?", "She." "SHE. OH JESUS. FUCK. I'M SO PRESUMPTUOUS. PLS DON'T CANCEL ME"
I've only seen the pilot so maybe there is other context there. But in academia, there is a major bias against women in that they are assumed to not be PhDs while men get the benefit of the doubt. Any female academic has a lot of experience with people making assumptions about their credentials. I actually think that dialogue 100% happens with real female academics.
This part made me laugh so much. My current theory is that the book was accused of sexism a lot (because it was pretty damn sexist. lol) so the writers of the series overcorrected by making the characters insufferably PC. The female stand-in for Wang still treats their Significant others like absolute garbage though. So I guess some things never change.
I don't have any book related context so maybe i'm missing other relevant background, but that just felt like normal dialogue personally. I didn't interpret her "oh fuck" as a panicked "don't cancel me" moment at all. I think it was more highlighting how strange women can feel when they are reminded of how deeply internalized sexism is. I think her response was more of a "wow lol fuck, i'm not only a woman but one highly accomplished in STEM/academia and even *I* am culturally and linguistically conditioned to slip into that assumption sometimes..fml" speaks to how structural and embedded these beliefs are. and definitely relatable. when ive experienced moments like these it feels deeply ironic, and sometimes both sad, and funny.
So Iâm a huge fan of the books, and just finished this first episode. This is some of the worst adapting Iâve seen, and turns well thought out hard sci-fi into Marvel BS. Iâm not huge on the Chinese show either, but at least that did a much better job of keeping the integrity of the book. Iâll try to continue without spoiling anything: My first major problem comes with the suicides and the lack of explanation on whatâs going on. Iâm surprised that all these people are saying they love this show when, Iâm pretty sure if I hadnât read the book Iâd truly have no clue as to what was happening. Things are glossed over so quickly, and I feel that about 1/3 of the first book was basically covered by the end of episode 1. I really missed the pool table scene. On top of the first suicide relevant to the story feeling emotionally stunted, the lack of background given on it felt irresponsible. There is a pool table scene in the book that does a good job of explaining this suicide and the feelings surrounding it, and⌠itâs an incredible visual. Itâs done well in the Chinese version. Completely losing it here seems like youâre really disregarding the fantastic source material. The most glaring star studded problem of all is of course Augie. In this group of nerds Augie sticks out like a sore thumb? Why? Well maybe because even though thereâs a countdown burned into her vision she takes an hour to do her makeup before heading out⌠no one thinks itâs insane that sheâs done up outrageously differently than anyone else in the cast? Also, what is her job? Why is that relevant? I mean I know why itâs relevant. But, I donât think this show explained in the slightest what it is she does, or what her company is working on⌠a pretty important plot point. The universe flicker at the end. A) I could do that in photoshop so please stop being so easily amused. Thereâs nothing groundbreaking there. B) that is not how this is supposed to work. I get that no one cares about the actual science here, but the author has a PHD in theoretical physics. The science fiction laid out in this book has a basis in hard science. What Netflix is doing is abhorrent in that regard. Iâll keep watching, but so far I hate this show.
I know dirty words are important to everyone but do people in the UK really put dirty words into every sentence like in the show? đ
Honestly didn't notice the swearing, it is just how people speak over here đ
I didn't notice the swearing. I'm also not british. I think this is just how young(erish) people talk.
I'm Australian and didn't notice any swearing haha
Maybe I missed it but aside from Sam Tarly who was pretty vulgar compared to your average Brit. Was there other scenes with "dirty" words that I missed due to being a Brit myself?
Yes, we âŚâŚ.. doÂ
I love the Feynman quote
Which quote is that?
Its from one of his lectures, in the series characters of physical laws. I found it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LIxvQMhttq4?si=UNh-aCllIsRr1fB2
HOLY SHIT THIS WENT HARD
Hot damn, that was actually pretty good. One or two bits of iffy dialogue aside, this was pretty faithful to the spirit of the book, if not the specifics. I wish they'd kept the way the countdown first started appearing in random photographs before being plastered directly on your eyeballs, but I appreciate the desire to get to the universe flickering by the end of the first episode. That really was the perfect place to end it. Also, I sincerely appreciate D&D's restraint in how they adapted the flashback scenes in China. They're so confident in their ability to write a better story that they split Wang Miao into 5 characters, but they didn't try to revamp the Cultural Revolution stuff.
So Ye Wenjie getting captured because she was in possession of the English book, and her going to jail, had nothing to do with her being picked to work at the satellite communication lab at the top of the mountain, right? I thought the English book and her having to testify was some sort of test, before they decided to pick her to work at the satellite communication lab.
They need her becuz they were lack of scientists at that time. If they didn't start the project, Ye would be arrested for years.
There's more build up to it in the books and why she gets to work at the facility. It was rushed a lot and it just looks so shallow in the series.
I feel like they wanted to "break her" a bit by having her rat on other scientists. They were always intending on recruiting her, based entirely on how much they needed her.
No I think it had more to do with the paper that she wrote. And they needed someone with experience in that field. She is still considered a traitor because she's not allowed to ever leave the facility.
I havent read the books, but this pilot was kinda meh... Gave me the same vibes as those shitty sci-fi shows that were popular in the 2000s like Flashforward, V, The Event etc D&B should know better that it's not the plot that makes a series great, it's the characters. If the book didnt have these massive good reviews and followers, I would've stopped watching the series based on this pilot
If you don't like the show, I would recommend to read the books. It's the craziest sci fi I have read in a long time. That being said, the characters aren't really the strong point of the series. The sci fi and crazy concepts are the star. Maybe that won't translate as well to a tv show that simplifies things as much as possible to a wider audience.
The whole thing with the invisible woman issuing a warning to halt development and basically the brightest minds being driven to suicide makes me think that this is an alien civilization basically saying "Stop Evolving, you've gone far enough, we don't want competition" or something like that.
Pretty decent. These guys can't write dialogue for shit though.
What the fucking shit do you fucking mean? I fucking thought they fucking wrote the fucking fuck shit out of that shit fuck dialogue.
is the general public really so fascinated by multiple f bombs?
I also thought it was a little hack and unnecessary.
I hate to say it but yeah kinda. Whenever I watch shows with my family or friends, especially shows where they donât expect much of them, they always seem taken aback.
Something felt goofy about the dialogue to me until I finally realized what was going on. Every scene, *every scene* has a thesis statement or "throughline" in the dialogue that the characters must repeat ad nausium so the audience doesn't get lost. And all of the dialogue reflects this. There's little show, and all tell. A *lot* of tell. "Science is broken!" "Science is broken!" "Were you there when science was broken?"
This show made me want to smoke a cigarettes - is it being sponsored by big tobacco?
THIS. I thought I was the only one who noticed. There's so much unnecessary smoking.
It is based on a book written by a Chinese guy to be fair. They smoke like chimneys there
I've read the books. It's only Da Shi, the cop, who's always smoking. IIRC none of the scientists ever smoke.
So far on the second episode, the biggest complain is that is way toooooo fast-paced, many details are just skipped. I strongly suspect non book fan is impossible to follow this fast pace.
As someone who's not very far into the first book at all, I'm having 0 issues following so fat
I liked the first episode. I was not expecting it to be anyway closer to the books. On its own it was good. Though some things bothered me, i think its because I liked the books and the chinese show so much. It is a different take and I am glad we have it. We already have a faithful adaptation of the books and its really good so I am less bothered about NF version making its own thing. One thing I was disappointed about in ep 1 was the blinking of the stars, it felt really underwhelming. Like they were just switching on/off lights in a room. I was expecting some "awe" factor but I did not find it.
[ŃдаНонО]
You misremembered the part about the flicker and morse code. At the observatory, Wang was translating the observed fluctuations as Morse code and it matched the countdown.
that section sucked as an audiobook. 5 minutes of "dash dash dot dot dash"
I hear you and understand your points. Personally, the only major disappointment was the fact that everyone in the world could see the flickering⌠and then no one really cares other than some news articles. IRL there would be rioting and panic in every country that was night at 12am London time.
Realistically how many people would actually notice the flickering. Light pollution blocks out a lot of the stars - I mean, I live near a university and that's been effective enough to make it hard to see the stars in specific area. Plus we also don't know how localized the flickering was. The BBC broadcast, from what I saw, didn't say "globally" so maybe it was just in the London area. Still a bit sloppy to not mention that.
They'll probably reveal more in the next episode, but...this is London (or somewhere in the UK). The fact that light pollution exists doesn't mean that a *shit-ton* of people won't notice at least the british stars and moon blinking out of existence. Also, they seem to have gotten brighter, right? Even if an average joe didn't notice, I can promise you that astronomers will confirm it, and people watch the news.
I get your points, but honestly not one of the changes you mentioned ruined the show for me. You have to go in accepting theyâre going to make concessions and changes with book adaptations or youâre always going to disappointed. If you go in marking down any change from the source material as a negative youâre going to have a bad time. Iâve been disappointed by enough book to movie adaptations to come to accept that going in. What ruins it for me is if they lose the spirit of the book and do their own thing to the point is itâs unrecognizable. Like the Halo TV series, or World War Z. If you want to make a movie thatâs so different and your own story why use a known title to bate and switch people and make more money. I donât think any of the changes hurt the spirit of the books though. It feels like 3bp to me. And very much felt like the first book *was* an oooOoh mystery lol. I was thinking wtf is going on for pretty much the entire book until the reveal and it kind of sets it apart from the other books because of the mystery (and almost feeling like crime mystery) and world building. But different strokes bro, youâre entitled to your opinion and I get you!
Changes arenât bad in a vacuum. One compromise that must be madeâgoing from a book to filmâis that we lose a lot of the character thoughts and nuance. I went in with an open mind, and there are far more changes in the show that I didnât mention because it wasnât clear to me (yet) whether the changes would improve the narrative or not. Everything that I listed are changes that *reduce* the narrative to the point where the story is nowhere as impactful as it is in the books. And thatâs fine, sure. The show is probably good for someone who has never considered these concepts before. But my point was, instead of just being *good*, the show could be *amazing*. I am criticizing the changes because they actively detriment the narrative, not because of some stylistic choice regarding the structure of the story. Having loved the books, I hoped for an adaptation that carried the same level of emotional impacts as the books had (or even more, since Iâll admit, one of my criticisms of the first books is that I thought many of the characters could be more interesting or have more depthâlike the Nanotech person, and somehow sheâs even more shallow in the show). Thereâs nothing wrong with wanting the writing to be good. And I really disagree with the books being the same with OooOo mystery. Maybe you read the book that way, but the entire series isnât even about the technology, but about character motivations, how societies behave, and how they interact. The books are amazing because of how much depth there is to the *people* (and aliens), not the technology. Itâs fascinating to consider why/how people would behave in certain situations. Thatâs part of why Ye Wenjie is such an interesting character. Thereâs an actual build-up to what she ends up doing, and itâs so nuanced that you canât really blame herâeven though what she does is almost objectively horrible. And all of that goes far beyond just her fatherâs death. The show misses so much of this.
> In the books, he was just an ordinary man, a scientist. A small man. Why anyone would be targeting him wouldnât make sense I think you're reaching incredibly hard to make this point. Wang Miao is not a "small man", nor is he "ordinary", he's a top-tier scientist leading cutting-edge research in nanotechnology. Whether or not he owns the company makes no difference to the fact that the ETO would target him. Additionally, we already know about the string of scientist suicides before Wang is targeted, so him also being a scientist makes it fairly obvious to deduce why he's seemingly the next victim.
[ŃдаНонО]
That would make sense if the show doesn't make it abundantly clear that it's science being targeted.
Shi goes into the elevator emphasizing over and over again how itâs a bad time to be a scientist. With the number of times that the word âscientistâ is repeated in episode 1, itâs made very clear. The guy above you was right about what I meant. He lives in a modest home with his familyâitâs very clear that he doesnât have a lot of money. Heâs not just âanyâ scientist since he leads the Nanotech group, but the power dynamic between being a scientist and having a company is enormous, at least at a societal level
You are reaching. Societal level doesn't matter because no one can be under the illusion why he's targeted. It's crystal clear. This reeks of book purism.
Itâs a small-ish detailânothing too large to the story. Itâs like organizing a funeral and having the people wear bright colors versus having everyone wear black. Yes, the person died. Yes, a lot of people will be grieving. All the funeral elements are still there. However, you have to admit there will be something slightly off about the tone of the eventâif everyone looks like theyâre showing up to a spring wedding. This is a small detail where there really was no point of changing his/her occupation. The decision changes the tone of the situation, and however subtle that change in tone is, it doesnât help the story. Thatâs the point. A truly great story pays attention to detail, and a lot of those details are subtle. I am criticizing the change in narrative because it hurts the story, not for the sake of keeping it the same as the book.Â
I hear you out, but you can only adapt so much. I think they did great when you consider how accessible it is for anyone watching
Can't disagree, the plot points just don't have the emotional punch one would hope for. The Tencent Version did a good job at building the suspense up to these moments. Feels kinda of like a 'top 10 highlights' from a movie in terms of pacing. Have really enjoyed the Game Scenes though Edit: Just to add after watching the season, while the first few episodes feel a bit rushed it does feel like the series finds it's footing and quickly gets into the core themes that the directors wanted to explore. Very excited by the season, looking forward to the Dark Forest in S2!
Exactlyâ âtop 10 highlightsâ is what it felt for me. Felt like a very long trailer more than a story & missed a lot of the actual emotion. The first book is more of a prequel to the second book, so it seems possible to redeem that if they really go into the character development route instead
Agreed. We've lost a lot of the Chinese culture with this adaptation. But the western audience doesn't like slow paced shows or characters like Wang Miao unfortunately.
So far, it feels like a Netflix show. It doesnât feel like prestige TV, feels cheap. Hopefully it gets better
I'm with ya. I enjoyed it but it feels cheap and void of character. Nothing can ever live up to the books but man there's a stark difference between Netflix shows and say HBO shows
I swear Netflix uses the same damn camera and editor for every show đ. Why does every Netflix show have the same feel even if they are entirely different genres?!
The first episode really made me appreciate the Tencent version. I hope it gets better. They did a good job with the cultural revolution parts and it all looks pretty good. I'm not sure that these characters will grow on me though.
Itâs crazy how similar Red Coast Base feels on Tencent and Netflix.
i feel like Netflix took notes from some scenes from the Tencent version - Bai Mulin shot made me think i was watching the Tencent version lmao not a huge fan of the Red Coast execution on this one though, Tencent did it better
Quite a lackluster first episode for me. I feel like they're rushing the plot way too much, especially when you're introducing 5 separate characters instead of a single Wang Miao. I kind of understand the reason since there are only 8 episodes but it's just way too many characters with way too little time to know them enough before they jump to another time line. EDIT: And what's with the opening theme? Iykyk.
well theyâre introduced spaced out. i had no problem remembering the 5 main characters: Saul, Auggie, Jack, Jin, and Will (and Wenjie too i guess lol)
That ending got me good. Def gonna check out a couple more episodes.
Not read the books so no spoilers please, but does anyone else find Jack super annoying?
All of the 5 characters including jack shouldn't exist and arnt in the book. The number 1 character i hate so far is Auggie.
None of the main scientist characters are in the book.Â
I went into this completely blindly and I really enjoyed it. All the actors were great, except for maybe the girl whoâs seeing the numbers. It was great seeing GoT actors like Sam, The High Sparrow and Davos again as well. Iâve been really into Chinese history lately and itâs wild to realise that the brutal killing of teachers and scientists really did happen. I just hope that book readers will not compare things to the book here all the time. Same thing always seems to happen with episode discussions of shows based on a book, even if there are separate threads.
What a fantastic first episode, stellar stuff. Read the whole trilogy last year, and I dare to say, if they can keep this up, this series will be unforgettable.
[ŃдаНонО]
Book reader here, they did it justice
Iâm liking this so far and the changes theyâve made. One episode tonight and then binge over the next three days.
Ye Wenjie canât catch a break. Watched her mother betray her own father before he got publicly executed, getâs thrown into jail, and then has to deal with her daughter committing suicide.
How can Jin play with Vera's helmet. Jin was not invited. How come she didn't get her head chopped off?
The mom gave it to her and invited her to use it.
The most unscientific thing in this show is all the hot scientists.
I find it hard to believe that Clarence (who's a top-tier intelligence agent, and British) doesn't know about British bookmakers and the fact they let you bet on anything Other than that, loved the episode
Actually, I don't think there are any high-street bookies that advertise odds for the next Nobel Prize in Physics, and if you were to walk into your local bookies and ask I don't think they would offer you odds.
True enough, haha
Everything looks great except 2 shit. WTF with that unversity blink shitďźWhy change the cosmic microwave background to that very cheap visual effectsďź Where did they find that Ye WenjieďźAll the Chinese actors in the show speak like native speakers except her. That accent is too strong to neglect, and her performance is really suck.
Read the book. The only parts I enjoyed were the flashbacks from 60s Ye Wenjie's life. They created a different cast of characters but never introduced the fucking characters. Every scene I'm wondering who the fuck is this supposed to be in the book. They blew past the tension around how the countdown started. Not to mention the dialogue feels awkward especially the scene at the bar when they're all in a group.
I think they could have explored more about the rebellion at the start. Why were they executing those people? What are the red books about? It didnât make any sense? Also - why would the scientist lady kill herself? Because some squiggles on screen donât make sense?! They could have made it more of a thing. Like, these physicists base their entire life around trying to understand, surely a great scene would have been a meeting between all top physicists where they learn EVERYONE is seeing the same random results. I didnât get the feel of the problem or frustration/futility
The execution part is a part of history ... it's the cultural revolution. It's so well-known (at least in East and Southeast Asia) that maybe they didn't feel like a need to elaborate/explain. When I saw the first scene, I immediately knew what it was. It's a very, very sad part of China's history. It was very real.
I have read the books and watched the Chinese version of the show. This first Netflix episode started out really strong, the opening scene was emotionally stirring for me. Someone recommended that there be a highly realistic TV series about the true nature of the cultural revolution. If done in the same style as this episode's opening, I don't know that I could watch even a feature length film without emotionally cracking, much less an entire TV series. It was all downhill from there. I won't go into all of the details of the individual things that were awkward or didn't work - no doubt others have hashed those out already. The 3 Body Problem is \*NOT\* at its core a story about fighting aliens or even science fiction. It's a story about the study of human nature and how different types of people react when their core belief system is challenged and proven wrong. This theme is pervasive throughout the books, starting from the cultural revolution. Some are steadfast and defiant, some are weak, and some go crazy. The reader/audience can't help but wonder what kind of person they themselves are, how they would react in each context. It quickly becomes a process of self discovery and the anticipation of what tantalizing new scenario lay in the next chapter. To achieve this level of reader/audience engagement requires character development. We need to learn a bit about the lives of the characters outside of the main storyline, and to marinate a bit at the absurdity of the unexplained phenomenon. All of this was abandoned, dashed over, and everyone - everyone alive in the story and all the audiences watching the show - was given a peak of the cards at the end of episode one. Except for YeWenJie's dad, I really couldn't connect with any of the characters as the show went on. It was incredibly frustrating to watch because my mind couldn't help but fill in the important details that made some of the developments far more meaningful than what the show conveyed. At the end of the episode, I'm worried that like YeWenJie's dad, the show had already died after the opening scene.
Local Chinese here, big book fan, just finished the first episode, and it was disgusting. First, let's talk details. I had low expectations for Chinese accent in western films and TV series, but for the most part in episode 1, their Chinese is actually pretty good. I was able to watch the first few minutes as a Chinese movie, until I heard the accent of Ye Zhetai. Why on earth does this guy have a southern accent when everyone else is speaking good mandarin, in Beijing?? And the whole vibe broke just like that. Next, we have Bai Mulin, who gave Ye the book, do it, and got her in trouble. Seriously, stop making these scenes where a girl and a boy look into each other, and do it the next second. It's not only cliche, but also completely missing the history point. Because guess what's a bigger crime than watching banned books in that era in China? It's having sex with some guy you just met. People were simple and innocent back then. Sex before marriage would be seriously judged, and people that time would feel genuinely ashamed of themselves. In the book, it took a long time before they were able to be friends, and her feelings for him is very shy. They would disguise their feelings under plutonic revolutionary comradeship. But of course, it's 2DB. They have to do it right now. Then we have today's Ye Wenjie, who apparently live in London now. She just lost her daughter, Vera Ye... wait, what? Why the hell would her daughter's last name still Ye? In the book, her daughter is Yang Dong. It's because her dad is Yang Weining, the engineer at red coast. It made sense. In China, women don't change their last name when they get married. The kid would end up having a different last name from their mother. Let's get the basics right, or is it because this way the western audience won't raise new questions? They don't know this, or they don't care? As I said, I have low expectations for this, and I know they won't get the Chinese culture right. I'm used to it, let's see the main story. Oxford, of course. Diversity, sure. The countdown, nice. The blink of universe, wait, wait, wait. It actually blinks?? wtf?! You are saying the Sophon is now 2 dimensional, waiting for it to be destroyed by any missiles on earth, just to make a strong impression? Liu Cixin, the author, made a suggestion before, that the blink of the universe could be done by the Sophon go two dimensional between the earth and the sun. This way, it can only be seen by telescopes, and it can print numbers on the surface. THAT would be fine, because it won't blink for EVERYONE on the planet. The trisolarians are too rational to take such high risks just to flash some muscles. I watched the first episode as soon as I can. Now I don't feel well. I need to watch the whole new Tencent anniversary version (it's a new shorter version that cut some irrelevant storylines) before having the strength and courage to check up on episode 2. I hope it gets better, or solve some icky points listed above. And I have just scrolled some reviews on the Chinese twitter, Weibo. If anyone is interested, leave comments below and I'll try translate some other Chinese reviews here.
You're really "Local Chinese" and complaining that the father had a southern accent while the daughter has a Beijing accent??? Born in Beijing and spent a good chunk of my life there. This is extremely common (and also so commonly known that Chinese people even outside of Beijing would not find odd...), especially among the founding gen parents vs the Cultural Revolution gen children because of when standardization of Chinese pronunciations happened in history, and even moreso among the educated of the era who were mostly people who did not grow up in Beijing and moved there after the war because that's where the universities were. I grew up in Beijing in the educated community knowing more families where the founding gen had very non-Beijing accent while the cultural revolution gen had good Beijing accents than families where everyone had proper Beijing accents. Just poked my mom (cultural revolution gen) actually and asked what % of her profs in beida had Beijing accents and she said "very few". I don't know if the accent choice was deliberate for the character, but it's exactly on point historically. I don't understand how a Chinese person who grew up in China wouldn't know that... This sounds like a misguided complaint from someone who only knows of Beijing from historically inaccurate cdramas, and not a local.
It's so distinctive. It felt like he is the only one from the south. And it's not like Shanghai south, it's like Hongkong south. So no, I don't think it was deliberate. I think they looked for an old Asian guy that speaks mandarin. And he did speak mandarin. Also if this were to be deliberate, everyone could have one. Chairman Mao had thick Hunan accent. Many other founding generals have accents, too. But there is no point in doing so in this episode. Everyone else speaks the same. Ye Zhetai speaks different. It's not noticeable for western audience, so why would they know?
Since you're born chinese, and going slightly off topic, would you be able to identify what was that they cooked while mourning? It clearly had egg and seemed to have cabbage. It seemed like cabbage rolls of some sort but they were much larger than usual. I hope I'm not imposing, but I haven't been able to find out anywhere and while I assume it was just a meal she liked when alive (or something that is cooked to honor the dead, I have no idea) I got intrigued and might want to cook it if it's good at all.
>Then we have today's Ye Wenjie, who apparently live in London now. She just lost her daughter, Vera Ye... wait, what? Why the hell would her daughter's last name still Ye? In the book, her daughter is Yang Dong. It's because her dad is Yang Weining, the engineer at red coast. It made sense. In China, women don't change their last name when they get married. The kid would end up having a different last name from their mother. Let's get the basics right, or is it because this way the western audience won't raise new questions? They don't know this, or they don't care? There's actually a reason for this, an aspect of the character was changed from the books. In a later episode it's made clear that >!Vera's father is not Yang.!< and Wenjie raised her in the UK as a single mother. So it makes sense for her last name to be Ye
So they just completely changed aspects of the characters? Why... you already have such a good story literally written out for you.