The Three-Body Problem (Netflix)
- Thread starter Char Kais
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Watched 2 more eps last night. So far, quite good IMO.
Regarding the novels - I understand the second and third books had a different translator from the first and this has been blamed for a drop in quality. I'm not sure I believe this, but I'm not going to learn Mandarin to check. I watched the first episode and it's an entertaining enough yarn, so I'll probably watch the other seven over the next week. However, it doesn't feel binge-worthy yet.
My wife and I just finished watching this yesterday and we were both pretty disappointed and confused. I don’t get at all what all the hype is about. The premise is interesting enough and the first two or three episodes did a good job of introducing the extended cast of characters. But it goes downhill from there, with one seemingly nonsensical plot development following the next. Character motivations are all over the place for some characters, flip-flopping from one position to its polar opposite between episodes. Not sure if that’s the result of truncating a book into one short season, but it felt rather jarring and frustrating to watch.
The cast is largely pretty strong, with Eiza González, Benedict Wong and Alex Sharp being the standouts. The problem is that with some of them — like the characters played by Marla Kelly, Jonathan Pryce, Saamer Usmani — you never get a feeling of just who they are supposed to be in the story. Liam Cunningham’s character feels more like a bunch of tropes thrown together rather than a full-fledged character with a motivation you can understand. And even though it was awesome to see Rosalind Chao again, and in such a prominent role within the story, they unfortunately gave her precious little airtime.
Going into some mild spoilers, they spend half the season to build to a particular event that ends up meaning jack shit, and the characters didn’t even really seem to care. The antagonists seem way overpowered and you have to wonder why they set in motion this convoluted plot in the first place. They make a point of them not being able to read minds, yet we constantly see them entering peoples brains and manipulating what they are see and hear. Why would you need to be able to read minds or bring individual people to act on your behalf when you’re obviously capable of manipulating everyone everywhere all at once and could achieve your goals that way? It just didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
The show feels like it wants to say something super deep and you get the sense that the producers thought they were creating something profound, but it only ends up being confusing as fuck. Why in the world should I want to continue watching the show beyond this first season with this incredibly underwhelming ending? This show is probably the worst kind of way to advertise reading the book, haha.
The cast is largely pretty strong, with Eiza González, Benedict Wong and Alex Sharp being the standouts. The problem is that with some of them — like the characters played by Marla Kelly, Jonathan Pryce, Saamer Usmani — you never get a feeling of just who they are supposed to be in the story. Liam Cunningham’s character feels more like a bunch of tropes thrown together rather than a full-fledged character with a motivation you can understand. And even though it was awesome to see Rosalind Chao again, and in such a prominent role within the story, they unfortunately gave her precious little airtime.
Going into some mild spoilers, they spend half the season to build to a particular event that ends up meaning jack shit, and the characters didn’t even really seem to care. The antagonists seem way overpowered and you have to wonder why they set in motion this convoluted plot in the first place. They make a point of them not being able to read minds, yet we constantly see them entering peoples brains and manipulating what they are see and hear. Why would you need to be able to read minds or bring individual people to act on your behalf when you’re obviously capable of manipulating everyone everywhere all at once and could achieve your goals that way? It just didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
The show feels like it wants to say something super deep and you get the sense that the producers thought they were creating something profound, but it only ends up being confusing as fuck. Why in the world should I want to continue watching the show beyond this first season with this incredibly underwhelming ending? This show is probably the worst kind of way to advertise reading the book, haha.
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Just watched the first two episodes. I don't really understand the reactions of the Chinese web communities. I can understand the disappointment of seeing an "international" cast, but not on scenes set during the Cultural Revolution. I mean, the very first scene could fit perfectly into a documentary about the time.
I’m not sure that would help much, as I thought the characters were pretty much the most interesting thing about this. They didn’t manage to flesh out everyone to a degree that I would like, but I’m not sure I would like it more if the same kind of confusing story is told, only with less characters.
But yes, your overall point, that some of the confusion probably stems from turning a tome of a book into eight episodes of television, is certainly true. And I’d be interested to know if the Chinese version is closer to my liking.
About that …
In hindsight I don’t understand at all what the point of the VR aspect and the game/test was. Why does it have to be a wearable device, when we later learn they can enter your perception just as easily without it at seemingly any time they please? And what was the point of the whole exercise? To have humans figure out that the aliens are from a trisolar star sytem, that they can (de-)hydrate themselves, that they are looking for a new home … but why tell the humans about all that, if their plan is to “stamp them like bugs”?
And then also, why did Rosalind Chao’s character act so surprised when she learned what the aliens were going to do? Just what did she think they would do? The first message she got from them was basically “Don’t respond or we’ll come and invade you” — so how did any of that make sense?
And then also, why did Rosalind Chao’s character act so surprised when she learned what the aliens were going to do? Just what did she think they would do? The first message she got from them was basically “Don’t respond or we’ll come and invade you” — so how did any of that make sense?
Having read all three books I don't see how the series can continue as they become more and more unfilmable, without changing the story so much it becomes pointless.
Many great adaptations have only very loosely adapted their source material, like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and How to Train Your Dragon. It's not the job of an adaptation to slavishly copy the source; that's redundant, because you've already got the source. The goal is to create something new using the source as raw material. Especially in TV series, adaptations that go in their own original direction are far, far more common than ones that hew faithfully to the original story. "Adapt" means to change to fit new circumstances or needs, and a TV series has very different needs from a novel.
We watched episodes 5 & 6 last night. What happened in 5 was horrific and I totally understand Auggie being completed f'ked up by it. I agree with Starbrow about the spoiler stuff.
I'm halfway through the season and was enjoying it a lot...right up until the scene with Jonathan Pryce talking to the alien. So the aliens created the game, riight, to teach everyone about their world using metaphors relatable to humans. But...when talking to Pryce the alien is commpletely unfamiliar with the concept of lying and barely seems to understand what a story is? How does that fit at all? And haven't they been talking to Pryce for years at this point? Surely lies and stories would have come up in their conversatiions before now?
I haven't seen the show yet, but if it's the same as the book, it's not that the aliens can't comprehend making things up, it's that they can't comprehend hiding the truth from someone else. Their communication is essentially purely telepathic, so their inner thoughts are always exposed to each other. They can tell stories that their audience knows are imaginary, but they can't keep secrets or deceive others about their true thoughts or intentions.
What makes something a lie isn't that it's made up; it's that its untruth is concealed. It's the concealing the Trisolarans can't understand.
But how much sense does it make that this only comes up after talking to Jonathan Pryce’s character for what must have been decades? The show is murky as to the exact timeline of events (for some reason they abandon the flashbacks to 1960s China after episode three or so), but the way it’s portrayed makes you think that they have been conversing with the Trisolarans for years. How likely is it that the concept of lying just never came up during all those years?
I'm not quite done with it, but I tend to agree with your sentiments on this. There's just too much going on and things are getting glossed over. 10 episodes seems about right. I'm going to watch the Chinese version after this, but I have to say that 30 episodes seems excessive. LOL
I’m about half way through it. Feels like a lot is being cut out. Going to watch the other adaptation on Prime when I’m done. I don’t have time to read the books until later this year. And the books appear to divide people on Reddit with the biggest complaint being the lack of character depth.
Anyway, I’m enjoying it. But I’d prefer it at a slower pace.
Anyway, I’m enjoying it. But I’d prefer it at a slower pace.
The Chinese version covers the entire trilogy though so it still works out to about 10 episodes per novel. (EDIT: It seems I was mistaken about this.)
EDIT: I still need to watch this series, but some things are starting to leak out in headlines--including a detail that the climax of the book, which takes place close to the very end of the story, takes place in episode 5--so the story must be structured somewhat differently. This would make sense as I couldn't see the structure of the book working on screen when I read it.
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No, according to the Wikipedia episode summaries and a New York Times review I found, it only adapts the first novel. To date, there have been no adaptations of The Dark Forest or Death's End.
Really? Could have sworn I heard or read differently--TBH, I am happy about that news and will probably check out the other version sometime later in the year.
We finished the show last night. We enjoyed it. I felt sad for Will.
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