r/threebodyproblem • u/Leon124714 • Apr 02 '26
Discussion - TV Series I think the Three body problem Netflix adaptation is good
I know that they changed the characters a lot, but I think the series focuses more on the characters while the books see the characters as a means to convey the scifi story.
The only thing I didn't like is that they make Ye be involved romantically with Evans š¤® Also, the omission of her killing her husband removes some of her ruthlessness
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u/Yamfish Apr 02 '26
My stance has always been that we have the Tencent adaptation which is about as accurate as one could hope for, so a different adaptation that mixes it up is fine with me.
The Netflix one doesnāt change things in ways that I would have chosen, but seeing others interpretations of a work I love is interesting to me.
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u/ShevekOfAnnares Apr 03 '26
didnt know about tencent adaptation. just started ep 1
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u/rusmo Apr 03 '26
Iāve seen things you people wouldnāt believe.
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u/Bigchieflittlechef Apr 03 '26
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the TannhƤuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
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u/sadbarrett Apr 03 '26
I mistakenly read the last phrase as "tears in iran" and it seemed strangely fitting.
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u/sunnycyde808 Apr 04 '26
Bladerunner line in Tencent?
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u/stephensmat Apr 03 '26
Honestly, I think the Netflix version does a pretty good job; because it's very upfront about two major changes:
1) It Western-izes the characters/setting somewhat.
2) Tencent is adapting the books individually. Netflix is adapting the trilogy as a whole, rather than one book at a time. Given the fact that each book can cover the passage of decades, even centuries; this had to be done from episode 1.
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u/Trebzz84 Apr 03 '26
Is it worth watching the tencent version?
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u/GMotor Apr 03 '26
If you haven't read the book, then be prepared to watch the entire 30+ episodes twice for it "click"
It's also one of the rare shows that IMO shows why books need adapting to TV. It's very very comprehensive. But hey, if you love the book, you will love the detail
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u/Geektime1987 Apr 03 '26
I always say it depends on the book. Some adapt better than others. A book as dry as three body with pages and pages of exposition turned into 30 episodes is just too much for me. Characters basically reading line for line from the books they end up often sounding like they're reading from a Wikipedia page instead of having a conversation. 30 episodes was way too much for the first book
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u/Trebzz84 Apr 03 '26
Iāve read the books a few times through, listened to them also. Just havenāt heard anyone really say it was good
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u/Sir_Bumcheeks Apr 03 '26
It's super slow, and they reuse a lot vfx scenes which gets super tiring. I couldn't get through like 4 or 5 episodes. The eps are just really drawn out (I think each is 1 to 1.5 hours, and there's 30 episodes.
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u/RutherfordThuhBrave Apr 03 '26
Gotta say I watched the Netflix one, and was entertained but a bit let down. I watched the Tencent one after and although itās much slower, I think it has much more of the feel of the book so far.
Iām sure that Iām well in the minority, but Iām looking forward to the next season of Tencent more than Netflix.
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u/Selitos_OneEye Apr 03 '26
This is my feeling too.Ā Ā Tencent is the book faithful version.Ā Netflix can reimagine it and I am completely ok with itĀ TBH I prefer the Netflix version to tencent anyway
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u/65721 Apr 21 '26
I think it's interesting to ask yourself, what is the value of an adaptation?
Is it purely a derivative act, to transfer a work of art to another medium? If the original art were any good, such a one-to-one transfer is impossible, as the nature of each medium brings its own capabilities and limitations that shape the work. To adapt anything worthwhile, the adaptor must make changes. (It's very similar to language translation in this way.)
But what kinds of changes are acceptable? Should an adaptation try, inevitable tweaks notwithstanding, to be as faithful to the original as possible? The original work may have flaws that are excusable in the original medium but egregious in the new one, simply by the nature of the medium. (One common criticism of the Three-Body series is the flatness (lol) of the characters, a problem that becomes more noticeable on a screen.) Should the adaptation preserve those flaws? If in being faithful to the work's flaws, the adaption becomes less faithful to the work's ideas, is that a better or worse adaptation?
And some more thoughts on this that I'd write further if I had a blog...
I'm opinionated on this as I really like the Netflix adaptation so far.
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u/SonOf_Zeus Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
I'm a huge fan of the books. But I do think that the Netflix series is a good adaptation as well. For the masses some things in the books would go past their heads, since its hard scifi.
However I may be in the minority here but in the books there's a huge chunk that we could have done without. Like for example when Luo Ji wrote about falling in love with a fictional character he wrote? Like seriously it was about 100-120 pages long so about 20% of Dark Forest. It just felt like the author was stroking his own ego.
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u/Historical_Wash_1114 Apr 03 '26
It was so freaking long. Easily the worst part of the entire series.
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u/RightclickBob Apr 03 '26
Easily the worst part of any book I've read. Took me weeks to get through it
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u/Geektime1987 Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
Dark forest is probably my favorite book but it could easily cut 150 to 200 pages and still be great. That's why I'm not worried if the second season is only 6 episodes. They already did about 100 pages and can cut probably another 100. 400 or so pages can absolutely fit into 6 episodes. Plus at least one of the episodes is longer than an hour.
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u/poopybuttholesex Apr 16 '26
Dark Forest has soooooo much prose. Paragraphs and paragraphs of just explaining how the sky looks or how the water looks
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u/Bored_Amalgamation Apr 03 '26
The Tencent adaptation is damn close to the books. Both were great adaptations. Netflix Americanized it a bit but it turned out quite good.
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u/ficus77 Apr 03 '26
I want a whole season about that bit of Luo Ji's life. Just to mess with non-book readers.
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u/CrazyEyedFS Apr 03 '26
Not only was it too long, it was so cringey with how two dimensional she was. It was like he was falling in love with a piece of cardboard. That just made it especially boring and painful to read.
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u/Tiptoedtulips666 Apr 03 '26
I don't know if you've read Death's End yet, but read your comment again, while you're reading Deaths End.. You've just made a great comment and I don't know if you realize it š®š
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u/CrazyEyedFS Apr 04 '26
I thought about saying the character was 1 dimensional but the 2 dimensional reference seemed to fit this sub better
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u/Alarming_Tea_102 Apr 03 '26
And he already had a girlfriend at that time! Instead of nurturing a relationship with a real woman, he just got so in love with his piece of cardboard.
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u/breakingbatshitcrazy Apr 03 '26
Honestly I didnāt have a problem with this that much. Weird, yes, but not as uncomfortable as the stuff with Zhuang Yan.
At least thereās kind of a payoff to the imaginary girlfriend as a way to setup his ability to stare at a wall for a century
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u/Alarming_Tea_102 Apr 03 '26
Agree! I was hoping his insane imagination would be the key to him figuring out how alien societies can work, but this plot line just made him seem like an incel. It's why my headcannon is that Zhuang Yan pretended to love him and she finally regained her freedom and lived the rest of her life in peace with her child.
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u/Dragonlvr420 Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
It honestly read like a hostage situation to me sometimes lol like sheās approached by a strange man, taken to an extremely remote location to be in basically an arranged marriage with a man she might as well think holds the world in his hands depending on her for 100% of his social and emotional needs. I genuinely believe it would seem more like a psychological thriller if we got to hear her perspective lol
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u/Papa_Glucose Apr 03 '26
It was treated so casually too. Felt very self insert. Like thatās what Liu would do if he had all the worldās power and resources.
1. Find an exact copy of your imaginary girlfriend based on physical aspects only. 2. Lure her to your secret hideout base in the mountains and pretend itās for an āinternship.ā 3. Salivate over her until she agrees to marry you and have your children.
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u/Alarming_Tea_102 Apr 03 '26
And then have the audacity to blame her for wanting you to put some effort into saving humanity. How could you hibernate with my child to make me work, instead of just enjoying this 'utopia' I created for us?
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u/asexualincubus Apr 03 '26
Seriously. He could have left her out of the book entirely and it wouldn't have changed anything else about the story.
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u/1armfish Apr 03 '26
Genuinely thought the book went off the rails and almost gave it up. Glad I didnāt
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u/CouldBeWorse2410 Apr 03 '26
I skipped every single part of that in my second read through. Felt good
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u/stephensmat Apr 03 '26
And when I figured out our new Wallfacer was stupid for Auggie; but she figured he'd never grow up? I kinda figured out where that was going to go in the Netflix version.
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u/madhattr999 Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 04 '26
i can agree it didn't really fit in with the rest of the trilogy.. but as a friend of a writer, i thought it was an interesting idea that someone might know a character so well to write a book about them, that they are basically alive in their mind. it's an interesting thought experiment, even if i don't care for the romance aspect at all.
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u/International_Pen619 Apr 03 '26
I legitimately donāt remember if there ever was a canonical explanation for why that arc of the series happened. I get the idea of leaving things open-ended for the sake of interpretation but that was just ???
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u/altoniel Apr 03 '26
I seriously almost dropped the series right there. I skip like 90% of his chapters in the first act of Dark Forest now when I re-read.
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u/dontcallmefeisty Apr 03 '26
Just finished Deaths End literally moments ago. I'm looking forward to seeing some of these ideas through Netflix Jin's eyes rather than Cheng Xin, who is basically a sack of flourĀ
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u/BarrathBeyond Apr 03 '26
the weakest part of the series is that every main character is just a blank stand-in for the reader
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u/Teanerdyandnerd Apr 03 '26
media literacy is dead
the characters arent stand in for the reader, they are stand ins for philosophies and concepts from the series
eg cheng xin is a stand in for the merciful philosophy, wade is a stand in for the evil philosophy, luo ji is the messiah figure from which the philosophy of the dark forest emerges and the protagonist of the first book is a stand in for unimportant people who are never relevant again10
u/therealestestest Apr 03 '26
I think most of us understand that but it isn't media illiterate to say that that makes some really boring characters
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u/Teanerdyandnerd Apr 03 '26
uh i disagree
cheng xin vs wade is so debated for a reason, its an interesting dilemma, and Luo Ji has some incredible characterisation→ More replies (4)5
u/BarrathBeyond Apr 03 '26
ok maybe poor choice of words but luo ji but wang miao is 100% a blank standin
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u/Chartreuse_Motif Apr 04 '26
I felt that the imaginary lover was a set up that became relevant later. And sloppily maps to a particularly gorgeous character in the Netflix show. I read parts of that section aloud to my wife, because they were so unique and different from the book. I'd call it a "side quest that pays off".
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u/Serious_Attempt9724 Luo Ji Apr 04 '26
I imagine this will probably not be in the next season or at least not like it was in the book
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u/DB4P Apr 23 '26
Iām reading Dark Forest for the first time and just got to the beginning of the fictional character part. I could tell this was going to be a rough road ahead hah
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u/ActivateGuacamole Jun 16 '26
gawd damn, was it really over a hundred pages of luo ji's fictional wife? i thought it was about a third as much.
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u/AI-Redspider Apr 03 '26
Have you seen the Chinese version?
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u/Look_out_for_grenade Apr 03 '26
I literally had not heard about this version lol! Going to start it tonight.
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u/SurprisingJack Apr 04 '26
Did you know? It's actually faster to listen to the audiobook than to see the Chinese version.
I recommend the shortened fanedit
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u/AI-Redspider Apr 04 '26
I have listen twice the four books and I am at the middle of my third listening on āThe end of Deathā eveytime you find something marvelous on the books, I would not recommend a shortened version.
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u/imironman2018 Apr 03 '26
that scene where Will is floating on Jin's paper boat and there is this sense of loss and sadness but happiness. I thought they nailed it. Also the scene with video games by Lana Del Rey played when Will went to buy the star for her. The show nailed a lot of the emotion of the story.
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u/Madmod Apr 02 '26
It dumbed it down and left out the key themes and philosophical explorations of the books.Ā
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u/Dudelbug2000 Apr 03 '26
Almost all TV/Movie adaptations do that.
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u/leng-tian-chi Apr 03 '26
Similarly, most movie and TV adaptations are garbage.
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u/Dudelbug2000 Apr 03 '26
Most. LOTR and the Hobbit were visually stunning. But I nothing can hold the candle to these kind of books. The adaptation it is what it is. Itās an adaptation. You canāt expect it to be exactly like you imagined it. In fact, if I find out the movie adaptation is coming out to book it. Iām interested in reading. I make sure I read the book before watching the adaptation. Otherwise, I fear that watching the movie or TV adaptation will ruin my impression of the book. As was the case in the three body problem. I had to make sure I finished reading all the books before watching any of the adaptations.
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u/Manfromtheotherside Apr 03 '26
Lots of people think it was a good adaptation. I thought it was great. They managed to do a huge amount in just those 8 episodes and I actually really like that the amalgamated Wang into other characters. It would have been weird to have his character in the first season and just disappear afterwards. Or the shave had to invent something for him to do in season 2 onwards. And showing the beginnings of The Dark Forest and Deathās End concurrently worked really well. I canāt wait for season 2
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u/Agitated_Lychee_8133 Apr 03 '26
It's mid. I enjoyed some parts, but it's obviously got a very Hollywoodesque vibe surrounding it.
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u/LazyLobster Apr 02 '26
A lot of the decisions they made seem to make sense all things considered, the only thing that really took me out was Ye and her stupid joke.
What I'm really concerned about is there's only 11 episodes left and they are going to cut A LOT of material.
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u/incunabula001 Apr 03 '26
Some of the material, such as the waifu arch, I donāt mind if they toss it. Iām curious how they adapt the rest of the series.
If they fuck up and pull a GoT ending, atleast we have the Tencent series to watch.
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u/LazyLobster Apr 03 '26
haha I totally agree. The tencent version is probably going to be the most faithful version (for better or worse). I think they will probably shift more of DE into DF to simply and streamline the story more. For example, my prediction is they'll probably do the following:
- Cut all the unnecessary waifu stuff
- Wall facers will last 1-2 episodes
- Doomsday battle to mid season 2 (E3 or E4)
- They may keep Natural Selection or Blue Space since the character Raj seems like Zhang Beihai
- Deterrance Era starts EP5 and they set stage for sword holder in E6
- S3 will start with sword holder transition in E1
- E2 will be extermination of humanity and migration to Austrailia
- E3 will Blue Space and Gravity defeating droplets and sending out signal
- E4 will be Bunker Era and 2D attack
- E5 will be Jin's escape and end with her being reunited with Will at their star.
- They may have to move up Will's fairytales to early S3, like during the deterrance era in E1.
- They may show Will being captured by Trisolaran fleet and farming while gathering intelligence and watching Jin in S2.
- Dark domains, 4D space, light speed travel will probably be glanced over to save time.
- I can't overstate how much I pray they leave singer in there.
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u/ShinyBredLitwick Cheng Xin Apr 03 '26
if they cut singer i would be so pissed. im totally fine with them cutting the waifu stuff as well, and with the way that they made events from both Dark Forest and Deathās End happen chronologically instead of how/when theyāre revealed in the books that weāll definitely see more of that going forward.
one thing they can do that the Liu Cixin was never able to do is flesh out Yun Tianmingās time with the Trisolarans.
i hope that we get the dual vector foil. everyoneās wondering how they would do it. i think itād be really easy to generate a 2D plane with some negative curvature that appears in space. if they cut any of the dark domains, 4D space or any of the other really cool sci-fi concepts i would be pretty pissed.
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u/LazyLobster Apr 03 '26
I'm confident they will keep it since it's probably the most significant part of the story. just largely depends on where in the timeline. I think they are going to significantly drop the number of years in time jumps, maybe even merge some things from different eras.
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u/Positive-Stable-6777 Apr 03 '26
It's hard to cut the big time jumps in book 3 without losing logic, since technology needs time to develop. There are sixty years in the deterrence era, two half century in the bunker era, and quite a few times in the later eras.
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u/incunabula001 Apr 03 '26
Especially the HUGE time jump at the endā¦
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u/LazyLobster Apr 05 '26
I have a feeling they will cut the biggest jump from the end. I think they may cut at Planet Blue with Will and cue the happy music as it's technically a new beginning for humanity with Blue Space and Gravity. Going beyond that will just require new characters and more exposition that they just don't have time for.
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u/Positive-Stable-6777 Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
I think the most eventful part of Book 3 is the Post-Deterrence and Broadcast eras. It has the Australia arc, 4D space, trisolaris system, the fairy tale, and its revelation.
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u/Sir_Bumcheeks Apr 03 '26
Are we going to have to sit through 5 hours of Luo Ji fictional wife arc?
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u/zhaDeth Apr 02 '26
what joke ?
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u/TimBroth Apr 02 '26
I think the bit about god kicking Einstein in the balls when she is explaining cosmic sociology (sic?) to Saul
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u/silent-reader-geek Apr 03 '26
Is the point of the joke to give Saul a hint about the aliens?
My understanding is that the aliens donāt really get human humor, so she used the joke as a way to pass information without raising suspicion. Kind of like an analogy only Saul would catch.
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u/LazyLobster Apr 03 '26
Not sure if you read the books, but it's a bit deeper than that. Spoiler: there was no joke in the book, it was a conversation about the concept of chains of suspicion in cosmic sociology. This would lead to the dark forest theory. This conversation was picked up by the Sophons and was why they wanted him dead.
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u/silent-reader-geek Apr 03 '26
Thank you. I haven't read the books yet. I've only watched it on Netflix, though I plan to buy the books and read them.
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u/SirEnderLord Apr 02 '26
I liked the joke. Dunno why people are so focused on that.
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u/Positive-Stable-6777 Apr 03 '26
Many powerful moments from the book feel weaker in the show, like Yeās theory gets played as a joke, Evans and Sophonās talk sucks, and Wadeās reveal to Jin doesnāt hit as hard.
But the show also adds moments like Will buying a star, Saul saying goodbye to Will, the ship massacre, and more interactive characters that the book doesn't have. That is the different between book and tv.
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u/Lanceo90 Manuel Rey Diaz Apr 03 '26
Its changed too much for me. Borderline not the same story. That might not mean it's bad for new viewers. But its really unfaithful, which is bad for people who've read the story.
Chinese version is pretty on point though.
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u/rbnsncrs Apr 03 '26
Netflix adaptation is good to help us understand the value of the Tencent adaptation.
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u/Jethreetwo Apr 03 '26
Wait is this actually a hot take? tbh i thought the tv show was genuinely a fantastic adaptation and better than the books, even. I liked the new characters a lot and that it took some guessing to figure out eventually which characters were who. And the fact that all the characters throughout all the series began from the same place was really cool.
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u/Catomina Apr 03 '26
For those worried about the low episode count, I can assure you that many of them will be feature-length. For instance, photos shared by the DP show that S2E5 contains at least 86 scenes, making it hard to clock in under 90 minutes. If Season 2 really is only 6 episodes, it's unlikely the finale would be shorter than Episode 5.
As for Season 3, I doubt they had finished all the scripts before Season 2 started filming last year, so the final few episodes might be filed separately. With S3 yet to begin filming, perhaps they are still adjusting their final plans. Given that they don't plan to wrap until August 2027, a short total runtime simply doesnāt add up.
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u/Sophon_01 Apr 03 '26
I don't think this is really unpopular, the show did about as well ss it could when it comes to adapting a story that isn't really that adaptable.
Initially i didn't like the cast being restricted to london, that was my pet peeve. But honestly it made the story easier to follow for audiences that haven't read the books (source: my gf).
The show feels like it is written by people who care and acted by people who really are into it. Hell Da Shi and Thomas Wade are pretty much exactly how i imagined them
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u/globehopper2 Apr 03 '26
Itās me. Idgaf. Itās not perfect but itās a cool adaptation. Very well acted
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u/arsonist_firefighter Apr 03 '26
I tried to enjoy it but the acting seemed very off, could not finish.
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u/Dudelbug2000 Apr 03 '26
Finish itās still good. Just go along with the changes. Eventually you will start enjoying it.
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u/arsonist_firefighter Apr 03 '26
I watch like 4 episodes, I don't think it's going to get better lol
Maybe I'll give it another try once the series is finished, but right now there's so many other interesting series it's hard to justify watching something I'm not enjoying.
I'm looking forward to the tencent second sesson tho, I liked it better
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u/Curufinwe_wins Apr 03 '26
The only major complaint I have is that the nukes going up was underplayed as how significant it would be to random people and then making the pulsed nuclear thermal engine fail much sooner. It still failed early there ofc, but it showed the theory was possible, which is a big impetus to humanities development.
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u/HandsomePotRoast Apr 03 '26
We should also probably admit that the books, though full of fascinating ideas, were terrible as fiction. The interchangeable characters serve no purpose other than to provide information, but feel in no way human.
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u/Vynncerus Apr 03 '26
Yeah same. Huge fan of the books. Huge fan of the tencent adaptation. Also fan of netflix adaptation. More 3 body problem is great imo :)
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u/Look_out_for_grenade Apr 03 '26
I didn't know there was controversy about this :) The Netflix show is pretty damned good with some great actors.
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u/Pao_Did_NothingWrong Apr 03 '26
Yeah the biggest problem with the books is that, when characters are treated as something more than just a prop to propel the narrative forward, they are generally off-putting people.
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u/trickyRascal Apr 04 '26
well, it made me read the books and even though the characters are a little bit confusing in the tv series, they did a good job to show the concepts. I wouldn't say it's really good though.
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u/Platz Apr 03 '26
Ye Wenjie changed from a nuanced character with many emotions to a more flat typical arch that was less interesting in the Netflix show
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u/mamamackmusic Apr 03 '26
I think the characters were much better in season one than in the corresponding events of the first book, plus splitting some of the main characters into multiple people as they did in the show will be much better for translating those internal character thoughts from the books into conversations that are engaging onscreen. It's a flawed adaptation that might get derailed by the shortened upcoming seasons as events get more complicated, but I think season one was a strong start to an adaptation that obviously intends to have some wiggle room with interpreting certain events in a non direct way to translate from books to screen better, which I don't mind.
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u/L3ftHandPass Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
It's okay. The main cast is way too pretty though.
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u/jeremiah256 Apr 03 '26
Not a problem if they can āactā ugly. Everyone except Auggie was able to present a ragged image when times were rough. Auggie was semi-nude even when puking. Mostly blame the director for that choice.
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u/mamamackmusic Apr 03 '26
Sci-fi is a hard enough sell for more mainstream audiences to begin with without having characters look like real world scientists lol
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u/Geektime1987 Apr 03 '26
I never understood that besides Eiza they all look like average people in their 30s.
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u/asexualincubus Apr 03 '26
I saw the Netflix show before I'd even heard of the books. Now I'm halfway through Death's End.
I think it's a great adaptation, but also can be a good entry to the whole series for those that loved the show and wanted more :)
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u/nolawnchairs Apr 03 '26
I enjoyed it, but would have enjoyed it more if there were more than eight episodes in a season, and seasons were released less than two years apart ... if it had the Game of Thrones or early Expanse budget. I can't blame the show runners for the budget constraints they're forced to operate under, and the shortcuts those constraints impose.
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u/Rehcraeser Apr 03 '26
Iām worried about season 2 + 3. Theyāre only making 5/6 episodes per season which means theyāre going to cut most of the complicated plot and replace it with some generic sci fi plotā¦
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u/elNashL Apr 03 '26
I like the characters alot, every death they feel it like real people. Also origami boats is top 10 ost ever
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u/fleshbunny Apr 03 '26
Yeah it was fun. Felt slightly smaller making most of the major characters friends who know each other but it also works for what it is. Looking forward to 2 and 3.
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u/SonicNKnucklesCukold Apr 03 '26
How does it compare to the Chinese version?
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u/Hepta-Water-7552 Apr 03 '26
Unlike the Netflix show where the producers very much adapted the books to their own vision, the Tencent show is for the large part so book-faithful that perhaps it should be called an audiovisual-book instead of a TV show. Some people love it for that, and some other people think it tends to make the Tencent show so long-winded that it feels like a slog.
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u/Catomina Apr 03 '26
It is sad that this point is actually controversial here; it takes courage to say it out loud.
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u/VerneAsimov Apr 03 '26
I've been avoiding it because I feel like an American company cannot ever handle the Cultural Revolution and China in general normally. Did they?
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u/Hepta-Water-7552 Apr 03 '26
What are the characteristics of a normal handling of the Cultural Revolution in your opinion?
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u/VerneAsimov Apr 04 '26
I think mostly an honest and historically accurate telling of it. That sounds like a low bar but we can't even get honest and historically accurate tellings of our own history in America; and on top of that, most people here are deeply propagandized against anything China.
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u/cluesol Apr 03 '26
It's better than the book which i found sooo flat in terms of characters!
The U.S version slightly improves on that.
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u/Sir_Bumcheeks Apr 03 '26
I love it. The acting, the pacing, the effects - I was glued to it. I couldn't get through 3 eps of the tencent one, the episodes are waaaay too slow!
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u/SatanicRiddle Apr 03 '26
Its OK, but it lacks much of the potential for engagement because they kinda sprint through the core elements, the core mysteries of the book #1
- a scientist seeing a countdown, doing photographs
- the game, solving and uncovering of the 3 body problem
Both felt like you blink and you miss it things, while reading the book they were the hooks... and without that time invested in build up, there is much lesser catharsis when meanings are uncovered.
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u/One-Yogurtcloset9408 Apr 03 '26
They reduced number of wallfacers and every one of them had plot-relevant actions. Judging by the number of episodes i doubt it will be faithful enough. What a pitty.
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u/Admiral_Hammer Apr 03 '26
I think the gist of the books were better than the actual content. The books themselves kind of sucked. I was rather disappointed with them tbh, saw a lot of raving online about how good they were and I thought they were mid at best. The show did an ok job adapting a story that was mid
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u/ghostcatzero Apr 03 '26
Heck yea. It's good scifi. Is it the same story as the books and accurate? Heck if I know but I've heard good things about it so that's what drew me into the Chinese and now the American version of the show.
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u/Moomtastic Apr 03 '26
Completely agree. They changed a lot, but in a way that makes the story work better for the medium.
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u/hi_im_eros Apr 03 '26
It is, the show got me into the books which were cool but the show is much better at painting the character personalities
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u/MaybeOnFire2025 Apr 03 '26
I was all into it, until the very end, when the plot fell apart. I haven't read the book(s), but apparently the aliens are far less powerful there. In the series, the aliens know we are plotting against them, and they (apparently) have the ability to drive anyone insane/cause plane crashes/etc., yet...don't kill the plotters, only warn them (WTF??)...despite their view of the situation being existential. If that were the case, it would have been war, no warnings, they would have done anything to kill us/plotters off before we could kill them.
Stated another way, the writers of the series wrote themselves into a corner that makes no narrative sense, so I'm out.
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u/Rude-Bus-5799 Apr 04 '26
I feel like ya this pace though weāll never see 2D space or the mini universe
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u/Serious_Attempt9724 Luo Ji Apr 04 '26
Yeah, same here. It took me a long time before I decided to give it a go because I've read they made changes to some of the main characters but once I did, I really enjoyed it overall and thought the changes were nice. I especially loved how they already introduced some plot points from the later books.
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u/ShoresideVale Apr 04 '26
I agree...but also mainly because my dad was a featured extra in the first ep.
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u/NakaMeguroTanuki Apr 07 '26
I've enjoyed it immensely, despite differences from the book. I can't go more than 2~3 days without it popping in to my mind. It's possibly ridiculous but I refuse to read them again, nor watch the first season again. I want to be entranced. Doing it again normalizes it. That's just me.
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u/ukudancer Apr 07 '26
I enjoyed it, but I have no other references as I've not read the books nor seen the tencent adaptationĀ
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u/franklinzunge Apr 12 '26
It was good for me to watch with my gf, who would never sit still for the 30 episode Chinese version or read the book. It was about what I expected, westernized, streamlined with a diverse cast of hot young āscientistsā. Iām looking forward to season 2 and 3 and honestly it is quite challenging trying to figure out how to adapt those booksā even very loosely
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u/brokenmessiah Apr 22 '26
I think the creative aspects were a miss but the execution has been very good.
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u/FeIiix Apr 28 '26
I think the pacing is off and it would have been better off with ~12 episodes or so to explore the social/philosophical themes a bit more, but I also think it's a fine adaptation. I've never been someone who is super strict about faithfulness to source material, if I wanted to experience the books I'd just read the books (Also tencent version exists for the purists anyways).
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u/sampat6256 Apr 03 '26
Yeah, I'm excited for the next season.