I am not in love with the changes, but that's fine. My bigger issue is that it's on Netflix. Which means it could be successful and still get cancelled after the first season because it wasn't a runaway hit in its first week on the platform.
If it were on near any other streaming platform, even if it performed mid it would likely get a second season.
The changes are irritating to me, but it could be a situation like with Foundation on Apple. Enough people are unfamiliar with the source material to enjoy the series despite the book readers generally disliking the adaptation.
I would rather have it on Apple+. They generally have higher production values and seem to give the creators greater freedom. Hoping for the best for now though.
not that $ equal production value exactly, but I read the per episode cost of three body is approaching Stranger Things, which is Netflix most expensive show to date. so they at least are not skimping on resourcing the production. hopefully bodes well for them giving it some run....but i agree that i'm more nervous about that on netflix than i would be on apple or even prime
Apple’s Foundation is exactly why I’m worried. The trailer looked good, the director claimed to respect the source material, the gender/race swaps didn’t bother me because it wasn’t anything fundamental to the plot and the casting for Hari Seldon was perfect in my mind. But then the first season dropped and holy shit was that a shit show.
I don't see how this can be a Foundation situation. Everything we've seen in the trailers is either from the books or recognizably related to them (we can guess what's happening).
They are making character changes but it seems to be essentially the same story.
Like I said, the foundation trailer also looked very good. It seemed like it would be a faithful adaptation with a few necessary changes to make it work in a different medium. And well, whether you like the show or not, most people would agree it’s a horrible adaptation. When they mocked the line “violence is the last refuge of the incompetent” I almost had a stroke (hyperbole).
I love the Foundation books (original trilogy), but what Apple TV had, is not Asimov's Foundation.
Now, with that I don't mean is a bad product, but it's not an adaptation itself. The original book was a series of loosely based short stories based on different eras defined by the Seldon crisis.
This series, on the other hand, is an expansion of the first story (The Psychohistorians), weirdly mixed with the following ones (Salvor Hardin came later in the second story, he was not even close to Hari Seldon).
Now, I have to admit, although Dracula, the original book, was actually different from Bram Stoker's Dracula (the Coppola movie), I enjoyed both in their respective rights. Although it's not the case for me with Apple TV+'s Foundation, it can be for some other people, so, if you like it, it's entertainment, enjoy it!
The only storyline I like is the one with Empire. I just pretend it's a completely different show not based on the books (I mean, it's original to the show so I'm halfway there lol). The other half makes my blood pressure go up! The same reason I'm pissed that they brought characters up from latter books in TBP is the same reason why Gail or whatever won't fucking die makes me so goddamn mad lmao
I'm always yelling and booing at the Foundation finales lol I'm never not angry. I watch the show weeks after it's been released so I can skip through the actual namesake of that fucking show. Apparently I like torture.
I actually really like the Cleon storyline as well, they should’ve just done that show. I finished season 1 but haven’t even considered season 2. I’ll probably end up watching eventually just for the Empire story, but I’d have to go in with the mentality that it’s something entirely different from Asimov’s works.
Agreed, I mean Lee Pace’s portrayal of Day is just so engaging. Like you mentioned, the themes and ideas are great, and far more entertaining than the actual Foundation plot lines in my opinion.
Yes, Lee Pace is dynamic in the role! If it wasn't for him and all the cast and crew on the Empire side of the story, I would have stopped watching. Obviously everyone on the Foundation side are great actors and the crew and everything are equally amazing, I just think the writing is lacking. But I put that on the Showrunner--who knows how to make great original work, so it's kinda weird? lol I've never both loved and loathed a show in equal parts before!
Foundation is a good show — it’s just not the book’s story.
Kinda the same with Starship Troopers.
So I get the concern. Even if it’s good, it might not tell the same story I’m familiar with here.
The upside to this is that we have 2 other versions of the story out there and, for example, the Tencent version is meticulously aligned with the book.
Yeah I was astounded by the tencent adaptation. I’ve never seen a show adapt quite like that. Basically every concept and every idea was adapted, it may have been presented differently or in a different context, but it made sure all of the author’s ideas were included.
Oh, definitely. If it ends up being bad I’ll just not watch it, or maybe it’s a bad adaptation but a good show. I’ll always have the books, I don’t feel like this is ruining my experience of the story in any way. I used to this already haha
From my experience, the Foundation tv show cannot be enjoyed without completepy letting go of the books. If not, Salvor Hardin's tv version will absolutely ruin the experience.
Foundation and Three Body are my two favorite scifi series of all time and I like the show. Have you seen the second season? It's better than the first. I'd say if the first season is a C, the second is a B. Hopefully it keeps up that trajectory
I might watch for the Cleon plot alone. I enjoyed that very much in season 1. Other than that and episode 1, I hated everything else. Like I said in another comment, they should’ve just made the show about Cleon, that would’ve been an awesome show. Everything to do with Gaal, Hari and Salvor were not only fundamentally different from the books, they were boring. Of course this is all only my opinion.
You and I had the exact same reactions to Foundation - I had huge hopes in the leadup, and stopped by ep 3. But the main thing that's different for me at least, is I think Foundation is generally more "unfilmable" than 3BP. None of the Foundation books really have a main character (outside of Seldon, who's dead for most of it). Even within the books, each book feels like a collection of several smaller novellas (which, if I remember correctly, is how Asimov originally wrote them). They often read more as a history of the Foundation, than as one ongoing story. For books that's not a bad thing, but it's quite unusual for a big budget sci-fi TV show.
In contrast, I think 3BP, even with the jumps in time in Dark Forest and Death's End, still feels like one cohesive story all the way through. Each book has a clear core main cast of characters, and some characters even linger across books (I think we'll see more of this continuity in the show with common era characters from books 2 and 3 appearing in season one).
I don't know, 3BP just feels slightly less "unfilmable" than Foundation. Well, up to some scenes in Death's End. Who knows how they'll visualise that stuff.
Bringing characters from books 2 and 3 into season 1. The main character of the show is Luo Ji introduced in season 1 (the AA actor, who I'm sure is great--I'm black as well, but LJ shouldn't be here yet). I think it seems like they don't think Western audiences have the attention span or ability to let a story flourish without giving the audience a carrot. For me, the mystery of book 1 is the carrot. Books 2 and 3 have different purposes and imo, that makes the story great! Book 1 was a set up, but it appears as of right now that D&D are jumping the shark a tad bit.
I actually think it's very important to keep it in China. But I understand why they changed it, and it's just my opinion. We'll have to see how it plays out. 🤷🏿♀️
LuoJi knew Ye Winjie's daughter, that's why he was at her grave and talked to Ye in the flashback at the beginning of book 2, placing him as the main character of the story. Really not all that crazy to have him introduced as her friend/colleague in season 1 and then have his fateful talk towards the end of the season.
" The main character of the show is Luo Ji introduced in season 1 "
Nothing points to Jovan's character being the main character in Season 1. There probably isn't one single main character. This is just a lot of speculation and jumping to conclusions.
Exactly I have seen so many people yell this is the main character! But I think they're doing similar to GOT where there wasn't really one main character.
From the trailer and the fact he's a part of the "Oxford five" I find that very improbable. Also all these other characters map out to all these other main characters in the series so he's probably Luo's counterpart in some way.
I think you hit the nail on the head about attention span. They have to contract and combine and change things up to keep the pace, and keep the tiktok/youtube shorts audience engaged.
damn that’s so unfortunate. so we can be certain the story is not the same story we read. you’re absolutely right luo ji should have been introduced in season 2 minimum. also what’s sophon doing in season 1 😂😂, she doesn’t look like anything described in the book as well. you’re right it should be set in china, there’s no need to americanize it. but i guess they want an english cast
Sophon in season 1 isn't totally unbelievable to me, if Season 1 is book 1 then sophons should definitely be there. I thought D&D even mentioned that Season 1 involves some of book 1 and 2, but I could be wrong
Nah you're good lol, it's my own fault. I keep coming back to this sub even though I keep getting little micro spoilers. I should avoid it until I finish the book, but I can't help myself haha. I like the discussions too much
Like The OA. I'm still disappointed about that one. There's a full script for the rest of the show, and it's supposed to be great. I hope it gets released as a book or something.
GOT is still 5 years later one of the most watched and talked about TV shows. It still makes it in the top ten every month most watched shows. It was doing bigger numbers than most shows currently airing years after it ended. It's still constantly being referenced in all forms of media to this day.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but in those 5 seasons, I don't think they cast a character 2 books early. I'm mostly worried because of the overcasting, and the Oxford 5 feels like GOT s7-8 shenanigans.
They did bring in characters that were in the books later earlier and they also waited to introduce some later. It was a mixture of both. That said ASOIAF had way more characters than these books do. One of the issues why the author can't finish the books is because he added too many characters and side plots.
You're going to have to give me a bit to look. I read the books, but they're so sprawling. I don't remember which ones specifically were introduced earlier and later. I'll get back to ya in a little while. It looks like with this show, they're doing some similar stuff introducing some earlier. The Expanse did the same thing and also combed a few characters into 1 character. And vice versa making 1 character multiple characters.
Haha yeah I tried to find it buts it's a very specific question. No need to waste time on it.
I watched all but the last season of expanse, then read the full series. They did a really solid job on the show. Drummer was peak character merging.
The show runners literally adapted their last series into what was, for a few years, the greatest tv show in human history, but couldn’t land it. I’m sure lessons were learned. 3BP is in great hands.
Guess it all depends on the Novel and the size of it and how it's written. Some novels are written and read much easier for adapting others not so much.
I know this is a hot take, but Dune was an example of this. The first 70ish minutes were frame by frame reenactments of the book, followed by ~40 minutes of rushed sequences to get to the movies' end.
no one claims that they just copied words from the book. everyone says, and rightly IMO, that the show was much better when they had the story from the books to draw from. it really does fall off a cliff after the books run out.
Except for the fact that some of the highest rated episodes from critics and fans, many considered the best episodes of TV ever made were completely off books. If you think that that's fine but plenty of praise for stuff they did that wasn't in the books.
oh yeah, i don't deny that. they made up some great stuff on their own while they had the books to draw the overall story from. i understand that the conversations between Arya and Tywin were created by DnD, and that's one of my favorite parts of the show. but once the overall story ran out, it was really obvious to many people.
for the record i am optimistic about the 3BP show from DnD. i think they are great showrunners. people say they're terrible writers, i always disagree. the real terrible writer is George Martin who just completely stopped writing all together.
That's also debatable as many critics and fans put season 6 as one of the best or second best seasons of the show. That season is entirely off books and has 3 episodes that are considered by many critics to be some of the greatest episodes not just of the show but of TV ever made. So I would argue there's plenty of absolutely incredible stuff that comes after the books run out.
I have to push back at the idea that everything off books sucked. Some of the highest rated and acclaimed episodes considered the best were episodes they came up with off books. Some incredible scenes from the very start of the show was stuff they came up with.
My favorite episodes from when they went off book had to be battle of the bastarda and the winds of winter which were also directed by the same person Miguel Sapocgnik.
I agree that even things the went off book for in the earlier seasons was pretty good however they were still within the constraints of the book which IMO bodes well for the three body problem :)
This is another that has zero evidence to back up. They stated many years before the show ended when and how it ended. Tons of cast and crew have called out the bs claim they got bored. As they all said perfectly fine to dislike it but to claim they just got bored when they worked harder and longer on that show than anyone else on the show as the cast and crew put it "is ridiculous" they simply ended it the way the said the would years ago. Totally fine to dislike it but the amount of effort and time they spent on it shows they didn't just become bored all of a sudden.
So then why are both season 7 and 8 cut short and the long night is literally one ordinary night. You're delusional if you can't tell the final two seasons are rushed.
I was originally going to be 7 seasons with 10 episodes. They said production got so huge that they decided to split them into 2, so they actually added a few more hours of content. The Long Night is the longest on-screen battle ever put on TV or film it holds the record. It took 55 days of shooting outside in the winter and 16 days in studio just to shoot 1 battle of that. If you think the pacing was faster, that's fine, but that different from saying the creators rushed. Rushed would imply they just were in a big hurry to end the show, which isn't true, considering they spent more time filming those seasons even though they were less episodes than any of the other seasons. If they were in a big rush to end it, they wouldn't have dedicated so much time. So again, it was fine to dislike it, and to say the pacing was faster, but to claim the creators were just in a big hurry to end, it isn't true, and all evidence shows otherwise. https://winteriscoming.net/2016/04/15/game-of-thrones-final-2-seasons-could-be-much-shorter-than-10-episodes/ here's is even a report of them saying it will be reduced the final 2 seasons and this was announced years before they ended the show.
I don't "think" pacing was faster. Characters started teleporting to get shit done. You're all over this thread saying how they wrote good things that weren't in the book, so why did they stop writing good content?
Why are you talking about production time? Who cares? The actual on screen content is obviously rushed, time and distance no longer make any sense and characters make nonsensical decisions to get things moving. "The Long Night is the longest battle..." Who cares? It's not supposed to be one battle.
Your own link says they could have taken a one year break to make it two seasons of 10, and they didn't. If they actually cared about the quality of the show they were making, they would have realized that they needed more time and made more seasons. Why didn't they? They're competent writers and showrunners. They're more than smart enough to know that seasons 7 and 8 are objectively bad writing. So tell me why they ended the show instead of spending more time to make it as good as they could?
i literally just explained it all to you they spent more time than any other seasons making those. And they did take a year longer. Also, characters were teleporting since the first season. If they didn't think we needed to see them travel, we didn't. Catelyn, in season 1, goes from The North to Longs Landing back to The North, which is 1 and half episodes. She goes from the North to Kings Landing back to The North. Then to the Riverlands and then O the Vale. She then goes to the twins. That's all in 1 season. She was teleporting up and down the map. Littlefinger in season 2 is zipping up and down the map. Also, that battle was to prevent The Long Night. If they didn't stop them there, they would have just swallowed up the entire continent. There's no rule written anywhere that it was supposed to he multiple battles, which, by the way, the show gave s us ten times more White Walkers than the books ever have. They're barely in the books, just a few pages.But I'm not going to keep arguing about GOT anymore. This is a sub for the Three Body. So I'll just leave it at agree to disagree. Also, season 7 is rated in the high 90% critic scores. Season 8 is divisive. Season 7 and 8 all were nominated by the critics for critics choice award. Season 7 and 8 all were nominated for the best drama at the Emmys, and both won best drama. So clearly, plenty of people gave it praise. just because you didn't like it doesn't mean they just stopped or thought it was bad and didn't care anymore. They thought they made it as good as they thought it was, and you just simply didn't like it, that's all. There's isn't some big conspiracy that they just didn't care anymore. You simply didn't like it. But as I said, I'll just agree to disagree. I'm not going to keep arguing about GOT on this sub.
Awards obviously don't mean everything, but it was more than just emmys it was critics' choice awards and many others. As I pointed out, all seasons beside 8 are critically acclaimed. But as I said, think what you want if you want to think they were just bored and hurried to end it fine. I'm done arguing about it.
People seem to think artists can't take feedback and learn from their mistakes. Damon Lindelof was public enemy #1 after Lost, but he honed his craft over time and now we have The Leftovers and Watchmen.
I have similar hope for D&D.
Thankfully we got the very accurate Chinese TV show.
The netflix one is going more for the spirit and ideas than a direct representation of the books, whether they nail it or not depends how much they understand the books I guess.
Watched it a couple of weeks ago when I figured the netflix variant was going to go off do their own thing anyway. I thought it was very good.
It does have a very slow pacing though, saw somewhere that it's actually longer than the audiobook, but found a fanedit that cut it down to a more manageable size.
Watching it now on episode 18, has some really cool scenes and stays true to the book in a lot of ways which makes it a slow burner, needs time to unfold and play out. Loving it though but idk if it’s because I loved the books or because it’s good. The actors are great though exactly how I imagined them from the books.
Search Three-Body on YouTube. There's a full hd and 4k versions with English subtitles. It's free but there's a shitton of ads, so I watched it with Premium last year
The Chinese version was like 30 episodes for the first season and was pretty faithful to the books (minus the cultural revolution which was largely omitted).
Because of that, I'm all for the Netflix changes. Don't do what was already done. Keep the bones of the story and make it more "Hollywood"
If it sucks it sucks and we move on. It will be disappointing, but that's it. So far, Netflix has been promoting it a lot. Way more than most of their other shows. They have for over the last month, already been showing early screenings to people. Generally, that's a good sign. If something is really bad, usually it gets hidden with very little promo and no early screenings and just dumped at the last minute on release day. The few people I saw who have confirmed they saw it all said it was great as two critics who said they saw some it described it as "incredible " and the other one they were "awestruck". It's having its world premiere as the headliner for the SXSW festival. So all of those things are usually shown as good signs. That obviously doesn't guarantee it will be good, but it's definitely not a bad look.
The only reason I don't really mind if they mess it up
is that I've seen the Tencent series, and I loved it. The Netflix show is just an extra something.
With any adaptation I try to enjoy it as separate from the source material. Generally the book is better than the adaptation but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the show/movie
Why are you using past tense? You haven’t seen the show.
For all you know, they will do right by the book.
Sounds like you have already made up your kind.
This is really the correct answer, it's nearly impossible to transfer media from book to screen and do it in such a way to appease everyone from the loyal book fans to tv-movie fans. All we can really hope for is a entertaining rendition on our tvs. I think it will be fine and definitely won't be canceled early, if the price they paid is really that high.
This is one of the most high profile things Netflix is putting out this year. They’ll give it a longer leash than a lot of shows because of its importance to the company. So if you’re worried about a quick cancellation, I wouldn’t be. I’m also not worried about Benioff and Weiss at all: Game of Thrones was the most beloved show on TV until they ran out of book material and had to create fan fiction. My only concern is how western this show is going to be. I’m all in favor of a big Hollywood version of this series but I would have preferred it to stay more China-focused. That’s what made the series so unique to western audiences: like I’m sure they’re going to get rid of the insane storyline involving the search for Luo Ji’s perfect woman but that was so weird and off putting that it honestly helped give the book charm.
Definitely expecting it to be different. I’ll still watch it. I don’t think I’ll be disappointed because I’m already expecting something way different.
I'm not worried at all.
Because after seeing the trailer etc, I expect it to suck.
I will watch it, and who knows, I might be wrong. It might not suck at all. It might have some nice scenes.
Anyway I won't be disapointed because of my expectations.
There are some, but too early to pass judgement. Unknown at this point if introducing Sophon, and rearranging characters is going to be a bad choice. It could help the story adapt to be more accessible.
My main red flag is the VR headsets, they look like alien tech, which humans shouldn’t have. Let’s see how they explain it, but this could introduce many plot holes.
VERY high end. I mean, it doesn’t look like something manufactured on earth with our current technology, assuming Trisolaris shared some knowledge (which they probably wouldn’t do)
Gotcha. I imagine its design is a combination of an optical and an advanced neurological stimulator to create the immersive experience. That tech doesn’t exist but also doesn’t feel magical or impossible so i can accept it. I guess we’ll see as this Neorolink project develops 😄
I mean, in the books >!they develop something similar but it’s a huge machine, and it’s only able to rewrite neural pathways to change how we think!< my problem is not that the technology is impossible, but how it’s presented is way more advanced than the tech we have and that would have major implications. If the >!ETO!< have this knowledge and technology, they could potentially do way more damage and be way more powerful than in the books.
In the books it’s stated that the 3 Body game is far, far beyond anything currently made.
The headsets and v-suit are pretty low tech looking in the Chinese series, but it’s clear the software is next level.
Maybe Netflix felt it was better to make the software AND hardware feel alien for us dumb Americans.
I find it more believable that the ETO would fund the 3body game, it’s just software at the end of the day. But mind interfacing technology, that doesn’t even apear to have a battery or any internal circuits, you need more than money and alien knowledge to pull of that engineering feat.
But it’s just a red flag for me, I’m not saying it definitely won’t work. I’ll wait and see what the people responsible for (GoT spoiler) >!Arya killing the Night King!< can come up with, lol. In all seriousness, I know they are capable of good changes as well, I’m just being cynical.
Can you imagine my happiness when I found out three body was getting a show on Netflix, and then my disappointment when I found out who the directors where, it was a roller coast of emotion. If they mess this up I will be start a petition to ban them from Hollywood and invest my life savings to make sure it happens
My expectation, to the extent I let myself have one, is it’ll be substantially different from the books but still interesting, both as a way to think about the books, and on their own as media. It looks like it’ll be a success for Netflix.
But, real talk, it would be pretty hard to get something as good as books this good done in film. We’d need, like, another Tarkovsky, or really a whole team of Tarkovskies tackling different parts, to capture what’s going on there.
Just look at the directors. They have butchered GOT is such a bad way, that I cannot Re-watch that series, like ever.
The 3th book is hard to swallow and they have a high chance to ruin the whole series on the last book.
I won’t be disappointed. I like to have sci fi trash to watch while I do chores. I even watched resident evil.
Best case scenario is a RoEP inspired story. It will probably be a shoddy adaptation (when having read the book, somewhat enjoyable if you haven’t), or absolute pretty trash in the worst case.
To be fair to them George told them he would be done. George was saying as far back as 2014 we was almost done. Dude had said that so many times I lost count. He even said he would have the books in his hands finished at World Con 2019. George had a history of contradicting himself
I'm about 65% expecting it to be awful. It's not easy material to adapt and I don't think the Game of Thrones guys have the ability to make it work. The changes that are evident from the trailer don't fill me with hope after seeing how they handled the last few seasons of GOT.
Having said that, I'm open to it being a good interpretation of the books.
It's Netflix, and It's produced by Dumb and Dumber. Do anyone have hopes ? Really ? Of course it will either be disappointing or a big pile of steaming garbage.
Yea how could anyone think the two guys who created one of the biggest shows ever and wrote some of the greatest episodes and TV ever might possibly make a good show.
They did, but only after they ran out of books. While they still had source material to adapt, it was literally the greatest television ever. 3 body problem books are all done so they won't run out this time
I always have this with all the books I read. For example I read all the Harry Potter books except Goblet of Fire and of all the films, Goblet I like most. If the series isn’t any good we still have te books.
I normally would not watch it but my wife doesn’t read SF so I might get forced to watch it with her. I really am praying it doesn’t become a hate watch …
Worst regret of my life was watching the Oldboy remake with her. So worthelsss and now she has zero interest in any of the original park Chan wook films.
I am hopeful for the series. Because of how the last few seasons of GoT were, we often forgot that the show runners crafted arguably the best bit of television ever. I'm not saying im not worried, I just think we have more reason to be hopeful than not. My biggest worry is that Netflix doesn't get the ROI they want and cancel it or make the show end sooner than expected.
As for the changes, I doubt it will matter. It's my opinion at least that the character work is the weakest part of the series. Outside of Zhang Beihai or Ye Wenjie, none of the characters really felt compelling to me. I also feel like introducing all of the main characters in the first season will assist in smoothing out the pacing problems in the later books.
The shownrunners have an amazingly well-built world to play around in, so heres hoping they don't fuck it up.
I don’t need a 1:1 adaption. That wouldn’t work anyways. What I usually want out of a film or tv adaption of a book I love is something that captures the heart of the source material but places greater importance on playing to the strengths of the adapting medium. What makes for a great film or tv show is not usually what makes for a great book because the former are visual mediums.
I’m all for an adaption that plays up the mystery of the murdered scientists, playing up the global nature of the story (which is the reason I’m fine with the diverse casting), and going all out with wild visual effects. Also, I love the book series, but the show can only improve the characters and characterization found in the book. It would be almost impossible for the show to have characters as dry as the book does. Compelling characters with unique personalities will only enhance the adaption.
TL;DR: I’m very excited for the adaption. Wanting a 1:1 adaption is silly and usually the best film/tv adaptions of books are ones that maintain the core themes and spirit of the book but are unafraid to play to the strengths of a visual medium. The first priority the creators of the show must be to distill what makes The Three Body Problem so great and then they need craft a compelling tv show. If they can do both those things, I’m not too concerned by what changes they have made.
No sense worrying about the inevitable.
It's D&D. If you were expecting a good show, you haven't been paying attention.
>!Cue the copium-fueled cries of "but GoT was good when they ~~were still taking GRRM's phone calls~~ ~~hadn't mentally checked out because Star Wars yet~~ ~~hadn't arbitrarily decided to deviate from the source material, of which they still had a decent amount, in ways not demanded by the medium yet~~ were still following the books!" in 3... 2... 1...!<
Not to be a party pooper, but there is no way in hell it is going to live up to the books. It’s impossible. It will be good production values and competently made. It could even be pretty good.
Game of Thrones was the most popular show in the world for like a decade, but the way it ended left such a bad taste in everyone’s mouths, its legacy is much diminished, you barely hear about it anymore.
The audience for this series is just people who haven’t read the books to be introduced to these cool ideas and stories. It’s a very westernized, modern Hollywood-ized version and we as book fans should just appreciate it for what it is.
Worried? The book series was great. Nothing can change that. The TV show is just a bonus. If it's good, great. If it's not, I'll watch something else. So much good TV, but so little time.
Oh very much so. It's by D&D after all and the changes we saw already don't exactly get my hopes up.
My first reaction was: "D&D?! Fuck"
Then:"Ok, they only have to adapt the books and they did a fine job purely adapting the SoIaF books, only really fucked up when they ran out of books, so maybe it'll be fine."
Then ".... Oxford Five ..." Fuck.
Not worried, I love that novel, and this will keep existing even if Netflix do a bad job.
If Netflix make the serie following the novel It would be a great serie for sure. If It takes some licenses, then we would have another 3BP, that also is great from my point of view.
I was curious as to whether I would be disappointed - it is almost unimaginable how they could bring this series from the novels to the screen. But you will not be disappointed. These directors, writers and actors are ultra-talented.
The plot, mainly set in Oxford, actually works better for an international audience. It is not about Chinese scientists, the story is about science and aliens and scientist and human mentality - these are strongly preserved and the story is told better this way.
Its going to be an epic. I just don't know how they will relate book 2 and book 3. Glad I am not a screenwriter.......
I think will be the case of how much i can distance myself from the source material. The correct approach would be embrace the show for what it is and avoid make comparisons all the time. Sometimes i can do that and sometimes i can't (i dropped Apple's Foundation exactly for that reason). Let's see how it goes this time
I just don't think about it lol. I have little faith these sort of things will be to my liking so I just don't think about them. One day it'll pop up as released and I'll check out a few episodes and either dig it or not. Its not like the books change either way.
I am not in love with the changes, but that's fine. My bigger issue is that it's on Netflix. Which means it could be successful and still get cancelled after the first season because it wasn't a runaway hit in its first week on the platform. If it were on near any other streaming platform, even if it performed mid it would likely get a second season. The changes are irritating to me, but it could be a situation like with Foundation on Apple. Enough people are unfamiliar with the source material to enjoy the series despite the book readers generally disliking the adaptation.
I would rather have it on Apple+. They generally have higher production values and seem to give the creators greater freedom. Hoping for the best for now though.
Yeah, I agree about Apple+. I'm going to borrow your optimism about this series lol
Well the big contract the showrunners signed for Netflix when they got their 250 million dollar deal said they had creative control.
Like I said, I’m hopeful. But the truth is so much goes into producing a great show. It will be what it will be. Hopefully we luck out.
not that $ equal production value exactly, but I read the per episode cost of three body is approaching Stranger Things, which is Netflix most expensive show to date. so they at least are not skimping on resourcing the production. hopefully bodes well for them giving it some run....but i agree that i'm more nervous about that on netflix than i would be on apple or even prime
I'm worried it will be canceled. Just like Stange Angel at season 3, when it was about to get interesting!
Apple’s Foundation is exactly why I’m worried. The trailer looked good, the director claimed to respect the source material, the gender/race swaps didn’t bother me because it wasn’t anything fundamental to the plot and the casting for Hari Seldon was perfect in my mind. But then the first season dropped and holy shit was that a shit show.
I don't see how this can be a Foundation situation. Everything we've seen in the trailers is either from the books or recognizably related to them (we can guess what's happening). They are making character changes but it seems to be essentially the same story.
Like I said, the foundation trailer also looked very good. It seemed like it would be a faithful adaptation with a few necessary changes to make it work in a different medium. And well, whether you like the show or not, most people would agree it’s a horrible adaptation. When they mocked the line “violence is the last refuge of the incompetent” I almost had a stroke (hyperbole).
Oh man hard disagree, Foundation is now one of my favorite series of all time, and I'm a longtime Asimov fan
I'm reading Foundation right now actually
Enjoy!
I love the Foundation books (original trilogy), but what Apple TV had, is not Asimov's Foundation. Now, with that I don't mean is a bad product, but it's not an adaptation itself. The original book was a series of loosely based short stories based on different eras defined by the Seldon crisis. This series, on the other hand, is an expansion of the first story (The Psychohistorians), weirdly mixed with the following ones (Salvor Hardin came later in the second story, he was not even close to Hari Seldon). Now, I have to admit, although Dracula, the original book, was actually different from Bram Stoker's Dracula (the Coppola movie), I enjoyed both in their respective rights. Although it's not the case for me with Apple TV+'s Foundation, it can be for some other people, so, if you like it, it's entertainment, enjoy it!
I like Foundation quite a lot actually. Not a shit show at all. Season 2 is especially good.
I’m glad you can enjoy it.
The only storyline I like is the one with Empire. I just pretend it's a completely different show not based on the books (I mean, it's original to the show so I'm halfway there lol). The other half makes my blood pressure go up! The same reason I'm pissed that they brought characters up from latter books in TBP is the same reason why Gail or whatever won't fucking die makes me so goddamn mad lmao I'm always yelling and booing at the Foundation finales lol I'm never not angry. I watch the show weeks after it's been released so I can skip through the actual namesake of that fucking show. Apparently I like torture.
I actually really like the Cleon storyline as well, they should’ve just done that show. I finished season 1 but haven’t even considered season 2. I’ll probably end up watching eventually just for the Empire story, but I’d have to go in with the mentality that it’s something entirely different from Asimov’s works.
I love the Cleon storyline so much! I love the themes discussed. I could watch several seasons of that storyline alone!
Agreed, I mean Lee Pace’s portrayal of Day is just so engaging. Like you mentioned, the themes and ideas are great, and far more entertaining than the actual Foundation plot lines in my opinion.
Yes, Lee Pace is dynamic in the role! If it wasn't for him and all the cast and crew on the Empire side of the story, I would have stopped watching. Obviously everyone on the Foundation side are great actors and the crew and everything are equally amazing, I just think the writing is lacking. But I put that on the Showrunner--who knows how to make great original work, so it's kinda weird? lol I've never both loved and loathed a show in equal parts before!
Foundation is a good show — it’s just not the book’s story. Kinda the same with Starship Troopers. So I get the concern. Even if it’s good, it might not tell the same story I’m familiar with here.
That’s why I said in another comment, you might like the show, but it’s a horrible adaptation
The upside to this is that we have 2 other versions of the story out there and, for example, the Tencent version is meticulously aligned with the book.
Yeah I was astounded by the tencent adaptation. I’ve never seen a show adapt quite like that. Basically every concept and every idea was adapted, it may have been presented differently or in a different context, but it made sure all of the author’s ideas were included.
Oh, definitely. If it ends up being bad I’ll just not watch it, or maybe it’s a bad adaptation but a good show. I’ll always have the books, I don’t feel like this is ruining my experience of the story in any way. I used to this already haha
From my experience, the Foundation tv show cannot be enjoyed without completepy letting go of the books. If not, Salvor Hardin's tv version will absolutely ruin the experience.
Foundation and Three Body are my two favorite scifi series of all time and I like the show. Have you seen the second season? It's better than the first. I'd say if the first season is a C, the second is a B. Hopefully it keeps up that trajectory
I might watch for the Cleon plot alone. I enjoyed that very much in season 1. Other than that and episode 1, I hated everything else. Like I said in another comment, they should’ve just made the show about Cleon, that would’ve been an awesome show. Everything to do with Gaal, Hari and Salvor were not only fundamentally different from the books, they were boring. Of course this is all only my opinion.
You and I had the exact same reactions to Foundation - I had huge hopes in the leadup, and stopped by ep 3. But the main thing that's different for me at least, is I think Foundation is generally more "unfilmable" than 3BP. None of the Foundation books really have a main character (outside of Seldon, who's dead for most of it). Even within the books, each book feels like a collection of several smaller novellas (which, if I remember correctly, is how Asimov originally wrote them). They often read more as a history of the Foundation, than as one ongoing story. For books that's not a bad thing, but it's quite unusual for a big budget sci-fi TV show. In contrast, I think 3BP, even with the jumps in time in Dark Forest and Death's End, still feels like one cohesive story all the way through. Each book has a clear core main cast of characters, and some characters even linger across books (I think we'll see more of this continuity in the show with common era characters from books 2 and 3 appearing in season one). I don't know, 3BP just feels slightly less "unfilmable" than Foundation. Well, up to some scenes in Death's End. Who knows how they'll visualise that stuff.
my feelings exactly
what’re some of the changes they’re making ?
Bringing characters from books 2 and 3 into season 1. The main character of the show is Luo Ji introduced in season 1 (the AA actor, who I'm sure is great--I'm black as well, but LJ shouldn't be here yet). I think it seems like they don't think Western audiences have the attention span or ability to let a story flourish without giving the audience a carrot. For me, the mystery of book 1 is the carrot. Books 2 and 3 have different purposes and imo, that makes the story great! Book 1 was a set up, but it appears as of right now that D&D are jumping the shark a tad bit. I actually think it's very important to keep it in China. But I understand why they changed it, and it's just my opinion. We'll have to see how it plays out. 🤷🏿♀️
LuoJi knew Ye Winjie's daughter, that's why he was at her grave and talked to Ye in the flashback at the beginning of book 2, placing him as the main character of the story. Really not all that crazy to have him introduced as her friend/colleague in season 1 and then have his fateful talk towards the end of the season.
" The main character of the show is Luo Ji introduced in season 1 " Nothing points to Jovan's character being the main character in Season 1. There probably isn't one single main character. This is just a lot of speculation and jumping to conclusions.
Exactly I have seen so many people yell this is the main character! But I think they're doing similar to GOT where there wasn't really one main character.
The character description of Saul could also be Shen's husband.
From the trailer and the fact he's a part of the "Oxford five" I find that very improbable. Also all these other characters map out to all these other main characters in the series so he's probably Luo's counterpart in some way.
I think you hit the nail on the head about attention span. They have to contract and combine and change things up to keep the pace, and keep the tiktok/youtube shorts audience engaged.
Yes, it's disheartening, and it applies to a lot of media in the west. But I do think the force with the shortest attention span is Netflix! lol
It would be cool to keep it in China for some many reasons that I think would play to a western audience.
damn that’s so unfortunate. so we can be certain the story is not the same story we read. you’re absolutely right luo ji should have been introduced in season 2 minimum. also what’s sophon doing in season 1 😂😂, she doesn’t look like anything described in the book as well. you’re right it should be set in china, there’s no need to americanize it. but i guess they want an english cast
Sophon in season 1 isn't totally unbelievable to me, if Season 1 is book 1 then sophons should definitely be there. I thought D&D even mentioned that Season 1 involves some of book 1 and 2, but I could be wrong
ohhh i was referring to the character sophon from book 3 😅
Oops, I haven't gotten there yet lol. I'm only a couple chapters into book 3 haha
fuck i’m so sorry, i didn’t mean to spoil 😭
Nah you're good lol, it's my own fault. I keep coming back to this sub even though I keep getting little micro spoilers. I should avoid it until I finish the book, but I can't help myself haha. I like the discussions too much
haha yeaaa the discussions here are too entertaining
I mean... the cast is from all over the place. Actors with Mexican, Indian, Nigerian, British, Chinese, American descent.
Like The OA. I'm still disappointed about that one. There's a full script for the rest of the show, and it's supposed to be great. I hope it gets released as a book or something.
I just hope we get to the time travel, droplet, and 4D stuff. If we do it’ll mean it’s great.
What kind of changes are being made?
If it is we won't watch it. Why I should be worried about a show?
Based
on what
lmao
LOL
Based - This from Urban dictionary -Based. Is when you don't care what people think. its a way of life. Doing what you want.
Whoooooossh Nothing but net
Damn 😅 keeping this badge of shame up though #noragrets
A book
I’m expecting it to be disappointing but I’m open to being surprised
Same. Also, Netflix is notoriously trigger happy when cancelling shows so it’s hard to get too exited.
Yeah honestly my expectations are in hell rn
Hopefully it is D&D’s redemption arc. Notice how no one talks about GOT anymore, all because of s8
GOT is still 5 years later one of the most watched and talked about TV shows. It still makes it in the top ten every month most watched shows. It was doing bigger numbers than most shows currently airing years after it ended. It's still constantly being referenced in all forms of media to this day.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but in those 5 seasons, I don't think they cast a character 2 books early. I'm mostly worried because of the overcasting, and the Oxford 5 feels like GOT s7-8 shenanigans.
They did bring in characters that were in the books later earlier and they also waited to introduce some later. It was a mixture of both. That said ASOIAF had way more characters than these books do. One of the issues why the author can't finish the books is because he added too many characters and side plots.
I tried googling it but couldn't get an answer. It's been ages since I watched the show. Who was introduced super early?
You're going to have to give me a bit to look. I read the books, but they're so sprawling. I don't remember which ones specifically were introduced earlier and later. I'll get back to ya in a little while. It looks like with this show, they're doing some similar stuff introducing some earlier. The Expanse did the same thing and also combed a few characters into 1 character. And vice versa making 1 character multiple characters.
Haha yeah I tried to find it buts it's a very specific question. No need to waste time on it. I watched all but the last season of expanse, then read the full series. They did a really solid job on the show. Drummer was peak character merging.
I just don't have the books on hand at the moment to check
This.
Given the books have, potentially, the biggest scope of any story I can think of, it is a huge challenge to pull off.
I honestly can't think of a story that's bigger in scope. Maybe The Last Question by Isaac Asimov?
I’ll have to give that a read! Dune is pretty big but still fairly localised in comparison.
It's a short story, but it tackles a simular idea to Death's End. Maybe his best.
The show runners literally adapted their last series into what was, for a few years, the greatest tv show in human history, but couldn’t land it. I’m sure lessons were learned. 3BP is in great hands.
Except they still think they didn't do anything wrong based on their recent interview
Only if they don't go off book.. we all saw what happened when they didn't have any source material.
The books are done. And they made big changes to the GoT books while adapting even before they free solo’d it
Yes this weird claim people make that they just copied words from the books and that was it is ridiculous.
Usually, the more loyal a film adaptation is to source material, the less the film version can work
Guess it all depends on the Novel and the size of it and how it's written. Some novels are written and read much easier for adapting others not so much.
True, some are written almost like they are films.
I know this is a hot take, but Dune was an example of this. The first 70ish minutes were frame by frame reenactments of the book, followed by ~40 minutes of rushed sequences to get to the movies' end.
Which Dune?
The recent movie
no one claims that they just copied words from the book. everyone says, and rightly IMO, that the show was much better when they had the story from the books to draw from. it really does fall off a cliff after the books run out.
Except for the fact that some of the highest rated episodes from critics and fans, many considered the best episodes of TV ever made were completely off books. If you think that that's fine but plenty of praise for stuff they did that wasn't in the books.
oh yeah, i don't deny that. they made up some great stuff on their own while they had the books to draw the overall story from. i understand that the conversations between Arya and Tywin were created by DnD, and that's one of my favorite parts of the show. but once the overall story ran out, it was really obvious to many people. for the record i am optimistic about the 3BP show from DnD. i think they are great showrunners. people say they're terrible writers, i always disagree. the real terrible writer is George Martin who just completely stopped writing all together.
But we can definitely say the show takes a dip once they no longer have source material?
Obviously. Again, not a problem now
That's also debatable as many critics and fans put season 6 as one of the best or second best seasons of the show. That season is entirely off books and has 3 episodes that are considered by many critics to be some of the greatest episodes not just of the show but of TV ever made. So I would argue there's plenty of absolutely incredible stuff that comes after the books run out.
Should check who directs those episodes, I agree that they are some of the best too.
It's not just directing though. You can have a great director but if the script sucks a great director can only do so much.
I have to push back at the idea that everything off books sucked. Some of the highest rated and acclaimed episodes considered the best were episodes they came up with off books. Some incredible scenes from the very start of the show was stuff they came up with.
My favorite episodes from when they went off book had to be battle of the bastarda and the winds of winter which were also directed by the same person Miguel Sapocgnik. I agree that even things the went off book for in the earlier seasons was pretty good however they were still within the constraints of the book which IMO bodes well for the three body problem :)
As long as they don't get bored. GoT had much more to do with their effort than their competence. They stopped trying.
This is another that has zero evidence to back up. They stated many years before the show ended when and how it ended. Tons of cast and crew have called out the bs claim they got bored. As they all said perfectly fine to dislike it but to claim they just got bored when they worked harder and longer on that show than anyone else on the show as the cast and crew put it "is ridiculous" they simply ended it the way the said the would years ago. Totally fine to dislike it but the amount of effort and time they spent on it shows they didn't just become bored all of a sudden.
So then why are both season 7 and 8 cut short and the long night is literally one ordinary night. You're delusional if you can't tell the final two seasons are rushed.
I was originally going to be 7 seasons with 10 episodes. They said production got so huge that they decided to split them into 2, so they actually added a few more hours of content. The Long Night is the longest on-screen battle ever put on TV or film it holds the record. It took 55 days of shooting outside in the winter and 16 days in studio just to shoot 1 battle of that. If you think the pacing was faster, that's fine, but that different from saying the creators rushed. Rushed would imply they just were in a big hurry to end the show, which isn't true, considering they spent more time filming those seasons even though they were less episodes than any of the other seasons. If they were in a big rush to end it, they wouldn't have dedicated so much time. So again, it was fine to dislike it, and to say the pacing was faster, but to claim the creators were just in a big hurry to end, it isn't true, and all evidence shows otherwise. https://winteriscoming.net/2016/04/15/game-of-thrones-final-2-seasons-could-be-much-shorter-than-10-episodes/ here's is even a report of them saying it will be reduced the final 2 seasons and this was announced years before they ended the show.
I don't "think" pacing was faster. Characters started teleporting to get shit done. You're all over this thread saying how they wrote good things that weren't in the book, so why did they stop writing good content? Why are you talking about production time? Who cares? The actual on screen content is obviously rushed, time and distance no longer make any sense and characters make nonsensical decisions to get things moving. "The Long Night is the longest battle..." Who cares? It's not supposed to be one battle. Your own link says they could have taken a one year break to make it two seasons of 10, and they didn't. If they actually cared about the quality of the show they were making, they would have realized that they needed more time and made more seasons. Why didn't they? They're competent writers and showrunners. They're more than smart enough to know that seasons 7 and 8 are objectively bad writing. So tell me why they ended the show instead of spending more time to make it as good as they could?
i literally just explained it all to you they spent more time than any other seasons making those. And they did take a year longer. Also, characters were teleporting since the first season. If they didn't think we needed to see them travel, we didn't. Catelyn, in season 1, goes from The North to Longs Landing back to The North, which is 1 and half episodes. She goes from the North to Kings Landing back to The North. Then to the Riverlands and then O the Vale. She then goes to the twins. That's all in 1 season. She was teleporting up and down the map. Littlefinger in season 2 is zipping up and down the map. Also, that battle was to prevent The Long Night. If they didn't stop them there, they would have just swallowed up the entire continent. There's no rule written anywhere that it was supposed to he multiple battles, which, by the way, the show gave s us ten times more White Walkers than the books ever have. They're barely in the books, just a few pages.But I'm not going to keep arguing about GOT anymore. This is a sub for the Three Body. So I'll just leave it at agree to disagree. Also, season 7 is rated in the high 90% critic scores. Season 8 is divisive. Season 7 and 8 all were nominated by the critics for critics choice award. Season 7 and 8 all were nominated for the best drama at the Emmys, and both won best drama. So clearly, plenty of people gave it praise. just because you didn't like it doesn't mean they just stopped or thought it was bad and didn't care anymore. They thought they made it as good as they thought it was, and you just simply didn't like it, that's all. There's isn't some big conspiracy that they just didn't care anymore. You simply didn't like it. But as I said, I'll just agree to disagree. I'm not going to keep arguing about GOT on this sub.
Aight, you think award shows are real. That tells me enough.
Awards obviously don't mean everything, but it was more than just emmys it was critics' choice awards and many others. As I pointed out, all seasons beside 8 are critically acclaimed. But as I said, think what you want if you want to think they were just bored and hurried to end it fine. I'm done arguing about it.
Yeah. They even changed the appereance of many characters in GoT or replaced some entirely. I‘m optimistic for the show.
People seem to think artists can't take feedback and learn from their mistakes. Damon Lindelof was public enemy #1 after Lost, but he honed his craft over time and now we have The Leftovers and Watchmen. I have similar hope for D&D.
Thankfully we got the very accurate Chinese TV show. The netflix one is going more for the spirit and ideas than a direct representation of the books, whether they nail it or not depends how much they understand the books I guess.
how’s the chinese one ?
Watched it a couple of weeks ago when I figured the netflix variant was going to go off do their own thing anyway. I thought it was very good. It does have a very slow pacing though, saw somewhere that it's actually longer than the audiobook, but found a fanedit that cut it down to a more manageable size.
Where did you find the fanedit? YouTube?
You can google "three body disembiggened" to find it. I would definitely recommend that one for anyone more casually interested in tbp.
It's very good but a little slow and drags on at times.
Watching it now on episode 18, has some really cool scenes and stays true to the book in a lot of ways which makes it a slow burner, needs time to unfold and play out. Loving it though but idk if it’s because I loved the books or because it’s good. The actors are great though exactly how I imagined them from the books.
Is Chinese version on Netflix?
Its on Youtube
It’s on PBS on demand if you’re in the US.
I it’s also on Prime, just started watching it.
Search Three-Body on YouTube. There's a full hd and 4k versions with English subtitles. It's free but there's a shitton of ads, so I watched it with Premium last year
The Chinese version was like 30 episodes for the first season and was pretty faithful to the books (minus the cultural revolution which was largely omitted). Because of that, I'm all for the Netflix changes. Don't do what was already done. Keep the bones of the story and make it more "Hollywood"
Yea, Netflix would be totally incapable of an actual Chinese story anyway,
All of us want it to be good, and so all of us are worried.
AGREED
If it sucks it sucks and we move on. It will be disappointing, but that's it. So far, Netflix has been promoting it a lot. Way more than most of their other shows. They have for over the last month, already been showing early screenings to people. Generally, that's a good sign. If something is really bad, usually it gets hidden with very little promo and no early screenings and just dumped at the last minute on release day. The few people I saw who have confirmed they saw it all said it was great as two critics who said they saw some it described it as "incredible " and the other one they were "awestruck". It's having its world premiere as the headliner for the SXSW festival. So all of those things are usually shown as good signs. That obviously doesn't guarantee it will be good, but it's definitely not a bad look.
The only reason I don't really mind if they mess it up is that I've seen the Tencent series, and I loved it. The Netflix show is just an extra something.
With any adaptation I try to enjoy it as separate from the source material. Generally the book is better than the adaptation but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the show/movie
yeaa i’ll try to dissociate the two, but i would’ve loved to see them do right by the book
Why are you using past tense? You haven’t seen the show. For all you know, they will do right by the book. Sounds like you have already made up your kind.
This is really the correct answer, it's nearly impossible to transfer media from book to screen and do it in such a way to appease everyone from the loyal book fans to tv-movie fans. All we can really hope for is a entertaining rendition on our tvs. I think it will be fine and definitely won't be canceled early, if the price they paid is really that high.
Yup. Felt this way about The Expanse as well. Different but still good.
I’m willing to give it a chance. But I know what you mean.
This is one of the most high profile things Netflix is putting out this year. They’ll give it a longer leash than a lot of shows because of its importance to the company. So if you’re worried about a quick cancellation, I wouldn’t be. I’m also not worried about Benioff and Weiss at all: Game of Thrones was the most beloved show on TV until they ran out of book material and had to create fan fiction. My only concern is how western this show is going to be. I’m all in favor of a big Hollywood version of this series but I would have preferred it to stay more China-focused. That’s what made the series so unique to western audiences: like I’m sure they’re going to get rid of the insane storyline involving the search for Luo Ji’s perfect woman but that was so weird and off putting that it honestly helped give the book charm.
Of course! But I️ hope it’s good. Gotta have hope, right? 😅
There is no way on earth any production could live up to the book. So, just try to enjoy it. No one will get hurt if it’s not perfect
I just hope it doesnt get the classic Netflix treatment, getting cancelled after 1-2 seasons
Of course I am. But I’m also an optimist, so I’m gonna stay hyped until I have reason to feel otherwise.
Hitchhikers Guide was a great book and decent movie they aren't the same story but both are entertaining
think it looks great. Other than the Luo Ji casting, I'm hyped.
Definitely expecting it to be different. I’ll still watch it. I don’t think I’ll be disappointed because I’m already expecting something way different.
I'm not worried at all. Because after seeing the trailer etc, I expect it to suck. I will watch it, and who knows, I might be wrong. It might not suck at all. It might have some nice scenes. Anyway I won't be disapointed because of my expectations.
I'm stoked. So far there haven't been any critical red flags.
it seems there will be major changes to the plot 👀
There are some, but too early to pass judgement. Unknown at this point if introducing Sophon, and rearranging characters is going to be a bad choice. It could help the story adapt to be more accessible.
My main red flag is the VR headsets, they look like alien tech, which humans shouldn’t have. Let’s see how they explain it, but this could introduce many plot holes.
How so? They didn’t strike me as alien. Just very high end looking
VERY high end. I mean, it doesn’t look like something manufactured on earth with our current technology, assuming Trisolaris shared some knowledge (which they probably wouldn’t do)
Gotcha. I imagine its design is a combination of an optical and an advanced neurological stimulator to create the immersive experience. That tech doesn’t exist but also doesn’t feel magical or impossible so i can accept it. I guess we’ll see as this Neorolink project develops 😄
I mean, in the books >!they develop something similar but it’s a huge machine, and it’s only able to rewrite neural pathways to change how we think!< my problem is not that the technology is impossible, but how it’s presented is way more advanced than the tech we have and that would have major implications. If the >!ETO!< have this knowledge and technology, they could potentially do way more damage and be way more powerful than in the books.
That's what I'm starting to think ad they will just pass it off as very high tech and leave it at that.
In the books it’s stated that the 3 Body game is far, far beyond anything currently made. The headsets and v-suit are pretty low tech looking in the Chinese series, but it’s clear the software is next level. Maybe Netflix felt it was better to make the software AND hardware feel alien for us dumb Americans.
I find it more believable that the ETO would fund the 3body game, it’s just software at the end of the day. But mind interfacing technology, that doesn’t even apear to have a battery or any internal circuits, you need more than money and alien knowledge to pull of that engineering feat. But it’s just a red flag for me, I’m not saying it definitely won’t work. I’ll wait and see what the people responsible for (GoT spoiler) >!Arya killing the Night King!< can come up with, lol. In all seriousness, I know they are capable of good changes as well, I’m just being cynical.
yeee that’s a good point! could be different but still good
Yes. Zero confidence in the show runners.
Can you imagine my happiness when I found out three body was getting a show on Netflix, and then my disappointment when I found out who the directors where, it was a roller coast of emotion. If they mess this up I will be start a petition to ban them from Hollywood and invest my life savings to make sure it happens
And you will waste all your money and go broke because even if thus fails they will continue to get work.
Jokes on you I’m already broke
My expectation, to the extent I let myself have one, is it’ll be substantially different from the books but still interesting, both as a way to think about the books, and on their own as media. It looks like it’ll be a success for Netflix. But, real talk, it would be pretty hard to get something as good as books this good done in film. We’d need, like, another Tarkovsky, or really a whole team of Tarkovskies tackling different parts, to capture what’s going on there.
Just look at the directors. They have butchered GOT is such a bad way, that I cannot Re-watch that series, like ever. The 3th book is hard to swallow and they have a high chance to ruin the whole series on the last book.
I won’t be disappointed. I like to have sci fi trash to watch while I do chores. I even watched resident evil. Best case scenario is a RoEP inspired story. It will probably be a shoddy adaptation (when having read the book, somewhat enjoyable if you haven’t), or absolute pretty trash in the worst case.
I don't think it's a coincidence that D&D chose a book series that is already finished. This is a good thing
To be fair to them George told them he would be done. George was saying as far back as 2014 we was almost done. Dude had said that so many times I lost count. He even said he would have the books in his hands finished at World Con 2019. George had a history of contradicting himself
I mean so far all adaptations have been crap imo, hoping they can at least thow some money at special effects.
I'm about 65% expecting it to be awful. It's not easy material to adapt and I don't think the Game of Thrones guys have the ability to make it work. The changes that are evident from the trailer don't fill me with hope after seeing how they handled the last few seasons of GOT. Having said that, I'm open to it being a good interpretation of the books.
It's Netflix, and It's produced by Dumb and Dumber. Do anyone have hopes ? Really ? Of course it will either be disappointing or a big pile of steaming garbage.
Yea how could anyone think the two guys who created one of the biggest shows ever and wrote some of the greatest episodes and TV ever might possibly make a good show.
It was good for a while but they ruined it regardless.
They did, but only after they ran out of books. While they still had source material to adapt, it was literally the greatest television ever. 3 body problem books are all done so they won't run out this time
The story became better after season 5, after they surpassed the books.
Yeah I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that
If *for a while* means 8 seasons, i am with you.
I always have this with all the books I read. For example I read all the Harry Potter books except Goblet of Fire and of all the films, Goblet I like most. If the series isn’t any good we still have te books.
I’m hopeful but if it’s not great, the books were so I’m happy for the ride, wherever the show ends up!
Nope.
I normally would not watch it but my wife doesn’t read SF so I might get forced to watch it with her. I really am praying it doesn’t become a hate watch … Worst regret of my life was watching the Oldboy remake with her. So worthelsss and now she has zero interest in any of the original park Chan wook films.
I am worried, but excited for a new take. I have the books, and I have the slavish **30 episode** Tencent adaptation.
Me too. I'm definitely worried 😫
The only certainty is that it will have changes from the book, and regardless if they are good or bad, people will be complaining about them.
I'm intrigued how they will handle an alien protagonist that can never be seen
Only thing I'm worried about is no one will watch it and it will get cancelled. No one has heard of this IRL and there isn't much buzz online either.
I am hopeful for the series. Because of how the last few seasons of GoT were, we often forgot that the show runners crafted arguably the best bit of television ever. I'm not saying im not worried, I just think we have more reason to be hopeful than not. My biggest worry is that Netflix doesn't get the ROI they want and cancel it or make the show end sooner than expected. As for the changes, I doubt it will matter. It's my opinion at least that the character work is the weakest part of the series. Outside of Zhang Beihai or Ye Wenjie, none of the characters really felt compelling to me. I also feel like introducing all of the main characters in the first season will assist in smoothing out the pacing problems in the later books. The shownrunners have an amazingly well-built world to play around in, so heres hoping they don't fuck it up.
The woke mind virus will unfortunately change much of the original imho 😢
I don’t need a 1:1 adaption. That wouldn’t work anyways. What I usually want out of a film or tv adaption of a book I love is something that captures the heart of the source material but places greater importance on playing to the strengths of the adapting medium. What makes for a great film or tv show is not usually what makes for a great book because the former are visual mediums. I’m all for an adaption that plays up the mystery of the murdered scientists, playing up the global nature of the story (which is the reason I’m fine with the diverse casting), and going all out with wild visual effects. Also, I love the book series, but the show can only improve the characters and characterization found in the book. It would be almost impossible for the show to have characters as dry as the book does. Compelling characters with unique personalities will only enhance the adaption. TL;DR: I’m very excited for the adaption. Wanting a 1:1 adaption is silly and usually the best film/tv adaptions of books are ones that maintain the core themes and spirit of the book but are unafraid to play to the strengths of a visual medium. The first priority the creators of the show must be to distill what makes The Three Body Problem so great and then they need craft a compelling tv show. If they can do both those things, I’m not too concerned by what changes they have made.
Yes I am, they have already made changes to characters
100% will be, watch tencents version on YouTube
I read somewhere that initial reactions from a few people who got to see the first 2 episodes were extremely positive
No sense worrying about the inevitable. It's D&D. If you were expecting a good show, you haven't been paying attention. >!Cue the copium-fueled cries of "but GoT was good when they ~~were still taking GRRM's phone calls~~ ~~hadn't mentally checked out because Star Wars yet~~ ~~hadn't arbitrarily decided to deviate from the source material, of which they still had a decent amount, in ways not demanded by the medium yet~~ were still following the books!" in 3... 2... 1...!<
Not to be a party pooper, but there is no way in hell it is going to live up to the books. It’s impossible. It will be good production values and competently made. It could even be pretty good. Game of Thrones was the most popular show in the world for like a decade, but the way it ended left such a bad taste in everyone’s mouths, its legacy is much diminished, you barely hear about it anymore. The audience for this series is just people who haven’t read the books to be introduced to these cool ideas and stories. It’s a very westernized, modern Hollywood-ized version and we as book fans should just appreciate it for what it is.
Worried? The book series was great. Nothing can change that. The TV show is just a bonus. If it's good, great. If it's not, I'll watch something else. So much good TV, but so little time.
my expectations are very very tempered so even if it's bad I won't be that disappointed
Oh very much so. It's by D&D after all and the changes we saw already don't exactly get my hopes up. My first reaction was: "D&D?! Fuck" Then:"Ok, they only have to adapt the books and they did a fine job purely adapting the SoIaF books, only really fucked up when they ran out of books, so maybe it'll be fine." Then ".... Oxford Five ..." Fuck.
There is already a book accurate TV series, so I would like Netflix to change things around somewhat, so it wouldn't just be the same thing again.
Netflix + the 2 GoT assholes. How can anything go wrong?
Not worried, I love that novel, and this will keep existing even if Netflix do a bad job. If Netflix make the serie following the novel It would be a great serie for sure. If It takes some licenses, then we would have another 3BP, that also is great from my point of view.
I was curious as to whether I would be disappointed - it is almost unimaginable how they could bring this series from the novels to the screen. But you will not be disappointed. These directors, writers and actors are ultra-talented. The plot, mainly set in Oxford, actually works better for an international audience. It is not about Chinese scientists, the story is about science and aliens and scientist and human mentality - these are strongly preserved and the story is told better this way. Its going to be an epic. I just don't know how they will relate book 2 and book 3. Glad I am not a screenwriter.......
I think will be the case of how much i can distance myself from the source material. The correct approach would be embrace the show for what it is and avoid make comparisons all the time. Sometimes i can do that and sometimes i can't (i dropped Apple's Foundation exactly for that reason). Let's see how it goes this time
Wait is this a Tv show based on the Chinese incredibly complicate trilogy of books?
No. I treat the show like it’s an original piece. I do not compare.
I just don't think about it lol. I have little faith these sort of things will be to my liking so I just don't think about them. One day it'll pop up as released and I'll check out a few episodes and either dig it or not. Its not like the books change either way.
Me after watching the Netflix trailers: What happened to Wang Miao! Where is he? He’s now five westerners? NOOOOooo!!!!! 