this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
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Science Fiction

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Lemmy World Rules

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Three Body Problem (Netflix) (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by Izzy to c/sciencefiction
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https://youtu.be/5lj99Uz1d50

The Three Body Problem trailer for the new Netflix adaptation is out. I must say I am very skeptical of this one. This being one of my favorite books I have my doubts that they will do it justice. I'm sure it will be visually interesting and everything, but that's not really the point. Especially not for book 1.

I recently watched both the Tencent live adaptation as well as the animated adaptation of The Dark Forest and sometimes I feel like these books were better left on paper. The live show wasn't bad or anything it just has a different feel to it on screen that's hard to understand.

Warning: please refrain from posting book spoilers in this thread. General discussion is fine.

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[–] BenDoubleU 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

[–] OverfedRaccoon 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I guess the possible saving grace here would be that the books are finished. They did a good job adapting what was already there for GOT - that's to say, made very entertaining and engaging TV.

[–] overzeetop 4 points 1 year ago

After what Netflix did with the Witcher series I’m skeptical. The Witcher was a good, if not great, series of books and short stories, but nowhere near as rich as the GoT material. I found 3BP a middling/good sci-fi story, but to western-ify character development I think they’re going to have to spice it up - and that can only end in tears.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm also quite worried for this, but surely saying they did "pretty well" is a massive understatement. The good seasons are some of the best TV I've seen, and since the show even now is #13 on IMDb, I think it's fair to say they did an incredible job with the show when they had the source material to guide them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Was going to post this :)

[–] StirTheSea 9 points 1 year ago

I, like a few other people apparently, liked the ideas in the book but was really turned off by the clunky dialogue. Not sure if it was a translation thing, a culture thing or a stylistic choice.

As a result I'll probably check it out because I didn't love the book so much I'd be worried they'll commit sacrilege with the TV show :)

[–] sanae 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

it'll be a spectacle, one way or another lol

0 confidence they'll do it justice

[–] Donjuanme 3 points 1 year ago

I'm willing to be surprised by something good. But I'm not holding my breath.

[–] Geek_King 6 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I listened to the first two books in the series on audio. The first book was very interesting and it kept me hooked. The second book was.... different feeling, it just didn't feel as good as the first book. The 3rd book, Death's End, man, it was such a slog even in audio book format that I stopped listening to it a little past half way through in favor of another book.

Like was mention, I wonder if it's an issue with something being lost in translation, but the first book was so good that doesn't seem to be an accurate explanation.

[–] Donjuanme 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sounds like the enders game series. I wonder why so many things fall off at number 3, and why we can't be sated with one good story.

[–] Geek_King 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I loved the first Ender's Game, and then I read the follow up book from Bean's perspective. But outside of those, I didn't even attempt all the sequels.

[–] Donjuanme 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Enders shadow (the bean story) is the only one worth a minute of your time. Speaker of the dead had some interesting ideas regarding star travel, but quickly became overly simplified.

That simplification was expanded on (by making more parts of nature simpler and simpler) in the hive queen and the hegemon, and then made incredibly spiritual in xenophobia (might have that name wrong, never finished the book).

As contrarian as forums on the internet are, I've yet to see anyone argue the enders game series is worth finishing.

[–] Geek_King 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel we can also add the Dune series to the same list. I think the first book is the strongest, I couldn't get into the 2nd, but I'm told the first 3 were good then it goes rapidly downhill from there.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The Dune series actually picked up again down the line. Chapterhouse and Heretics really made sense of the whole arc, but I’m not sure I would have slogged through the middle books if I hadn’t been such an avid reader looking for new content as it came out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The third book was so bad. I loved the first and actually enjoyed the second (it was the first time i heard about "the dark forest" theory), but the third just annoyed me.

From the moment the MC failed her task because of her motherly instincts or some bs like that to the last 100+ pages that were just the author masturbating over his ideas of how ultra high-tech-civilizations could develop, there was nothing that made sense or was really compelling about it.

You missed nothing stopping midway through book 3.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, the author is really good at coming up with fun ideas but also comes up with a lot of meh ideas that he is equally enamored with, and as the series progressed the editors seem to have grown increasingly ineffective at cutting out the meh ideas which made large swaths of the books a bit of a slog. When I read the third book I skimmed through a lot of the slog so I'd forgotten how much of it there was, but when I tried listening to the audiobook I had to give up because there was so much slog and it a lot harder to skim through in that format.

If I had to speculate on the reason for this, I'd say it was because the author and/or the series became so popular that the editors were to afraid to really push back in the later books; I've gotten the impression that this is actually a pretty common phenomenon in the publishing world.

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[–] Higlerfay 5 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I am not at all confident that anyone, least of all these two chuckleheads, are capable of adapting this series faithfully. IMO this is a story best kept to the page, at least for now.

I'm expecting original Dune (1984) levels bad.

[–] ki77erb 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I love Dune! Both the 1984 version and the new one.

[–] Higlerfay 3 points 1 year ago

I personally couldn't get past the camp, but I will give you this - it's a real vibe.

[–] pfaca 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Well what they adapted from the books was good, the problem came when there was no more books.

But I agree, not a lot of confidence. Worst that can happen, I'll be surprised for the best.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Well, GOT was a Western novel being adapted for TV to suit a Western audience. I fear what they will do with 3BP, given it's very Chinese centric mindset. Even the English translation of the novel had to move a few chapters around to make sense to us.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’m willing to be surprised by something good, even if it’s not faithful to the books.

Books vs television are such different media, and the high production costs of science fiction seem to drive towards adaptation for a mass audience.

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[–] Transcendant 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I was excited for this until I saw who was making it! I'm going to give it a shot, but like you I'm not confident it will work as a TV show. Maybe if they did book 1 + book 2 as the first season.

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[–] infectoid 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Anyone watched to Chinese version?

I’ve started to and it seems good so far.

[–] Izzy 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yea, it is nearly word for word a 1:1 copy of the book. I think the parts in the 3 body game are the most fun.

However, they did leave out some of the violent parts of the cultural revolution. I suspect the CCP didn't want that on TV. They also have some rules about showing the deaths of "innocent" people so they changed some people from the books from normal people into murderers and rapists which is a bit weird.

[–] Catuskoti 4 points 1 year ago

I did, and I enjoyed it immensely. The actors were impressive, especially the one portraying Shi Qiang and Ye Wenjie.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Wherev can you watch the Chinese version?

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[–] pfaca 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I'm in the 3/4 episode. Seems good. But its easy to get lost in the plot.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Loved the books. Please don't F this up Netflix.

[–] fedev 2 points 1 year ago

Netflix disappoints me so frequently! Now before watching a show I have to wait for 2 seasons to see if it gets cancelled. Then only watch.

[–] Donjuanme 4 points 1 year ago

I've found Netflix is that worst company at revealing too much plot/the twist in their trailers. I'm incredibly happy that they're making this, but I'll wait to actually watch it rather than watching their trailer.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As someone that's always looking for more science fiction content, I'm looking forward to this. The game of thrones guys did a good job when they had someone else's written content so this might actually be pretty good.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm very weary. The books where very China centric, understandable being written by a Chineese author, and fear a white washing.

Also, even though I loved the books, there was something... odd about them. I'm not sure if it was something lost in translation, or just that some of it felt. IDK over simplified, childish? I think it's a combination of all of them, and I really wonder what they'll have to do to make a TV Show from that source material to have mass appeal here in the west.

[–] Spectator 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Agree about the odd quality. It feels like a plot driven rather than character driven book - the characters are there because the plot demands it. I never ended up liking any of the characters. They all felt robotic, cold, in their way of thinking and in the dialogue, or it felt like someone writing a historical account and putting words in their mouths that’s roughly what they said but not actually what they said. Maybe this is a result of the translation, but the translator I believe was also Chinese, and the non dialogue portions had pretty good prose.

[–] Donjuanme 3 points 1 year ago

That is a very common feeling when Americans consume Chinese media. It was first brought to my attention in an Asian studies course in 2006. In "the east" there is much less focus on the individuals that participate in the story, there are no heroes, no fated people, it's society that drives the story.

I've since started looking at Western media with a bit more scrutiny, and sometimes the Deus ex machina surrounding the lead characters is laughable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I had a really hard time with the first book and eventually gave up--quite a rare thing with me. I felt like the translation wasn't working for me, but that's a hard thing to judge without actually finishing the book.

[–] CountZero 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Anyone who hasn't read the book want to give their thoughts on this trailer? I mean, what the hell do you think it could possibly be about? The weird sci-fi and fantasy images make sense to me because I read the books, but I'm curious what anyone would think without any background knowledge.

[–] paholg 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Uh, aliens and space magic maybe?

[–] Izzy 2 points 1 year ago

The fact that aliens and space magic already come to mind kind of ruins it in my opinion. The book follows the timeline that it does for a reason.

[–] ki77erb 1 points 1 year ago

I've been excited for this because of my love for Sci-fi. I did not read the books but I did read the synopsis on Wikipedia so I know the premise. That being said, had I not done that, I would have no idea what this is about based on the trailer. I love the visuals though!

[–] Reygle 3 points 1 year ago

I feel like the Youtube channel Quinn's Ideas has probably done this story more justice than Netflix ever could, but I'm at least glad to see a great story get a little attention rather than just another "reboot" of some terrible comic book story or another pathetic cash grab of a movie.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I greatly enjoyed the books (although I didn’t find them as “life-changing” as some 3BP fans I’ve seen online) and as faithful as the Tencent version was, I definitely found it a slog. There are reasons why you need to make some changes when going from one medium to another.

That being said, I feel like the Netflix version will go to the opposite extreme.

[–] ActuallyASeal 2 points 1 year ago

This could be interesting. I found the books to be very much a mixed bag of ideas. I loved he entire concept of the dark forest but I felt it was stained a bit by sexism.

I could see any adaptation being hit or miss depending on what parts are chosen to be emphasize or cut.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Before looking at the trailer, I was expecting a complete white wash without any of the Chinese history. But after seeing that, I have some hope that it is faithful. We shall see.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I just want to see how bad the CGI is when the bullet tears apart all the ships. On a scale of ST:ToS to Battlestar Galactica I bet it's in the ReBoot level of CGI.

Oh damn I just necro'd the hell out of this lol oops

[–] Izzy 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't think there is much concept of necro posting here. At least not while the activity level is as it is. Better than making a bunch of identical posts.

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