I thought it was rather shallow - it draws from the books of course and the ideas in there are amazing. But when it actually comes to making the audience think about concepts and the philosophical elements, it fails completely. I also didn't love the shock factor of Operation Guzheng - do we really need to see all that gore to have the point made? And some of the dialogue was really bleh. I didn't think a single scientist seemed like a scientist on the show either - that's probably because they are never seen discussing ideas or concepts or actually doing any work. Like you said - it's all about them talking about their emotions etc. That would be fine if it wasn't their only focus- but unfortunately it is
@@MM-qt2pc such a good point, the fact that they changed it so that there were children on the boat to make it more shocking and more of a moral dilemma was also pretty lame and cliched.
@@MintVolcano yeah exactly - the 'moral dilemma' is so in-your-face that it actually lessens the overall impact of what it should have/could have been. it doesn't add to the story either
I'm currently obsessed with these books and I adore the Netflix series. It's sneaky good. I really like how the show pulls in characters and story hints and events from the later books; they are taking advantage of knowing the roapmap for the entire series and laying the ground work now. IMO, that is a very smart way to do an adaptation and very much reminds me of The Expanse series where the authors/writers did the same thing. The friend group thing doesn't bother me in the least. First of all, Cheng Xin, Yun Tianming and Wen Ha from Book 3 were literally a friend group from college, and Luo Ji was a friend of Yang Dong, Ye Wenjie's daughter. What the show did is not really a huge departure from that. But most importantly, in S2 and S3, we won't have to waste time introducing the audience to new characters and trying to give them a reason to care. Spitting main character duties also gives them a chance for dialogue, so exposition and info dumps aren't the only way we learn everything. Poor Wang Miao carried the world on his shoulders and was promptly forgotten by history. Finally, book readers need to understand that the audience for a big-budget TV show is MUCH wider than that of a niche Sci-Fi book series. The show had to simplify the science talk and introduce real emotional, character interactions to keep the attention of the massive audience required to justify the its insane budget. Fortunately, the show was renewed for future seasons, though it seems like it was a close call. Had the show allowed the story to come to a complete halt to talk about turkeys and shooters and pool tables, I doubt that it would have survived. Anyway, just my two cents. Thanks for the video.
I've only have read/listened to the 2nd / 3rd book, after watching the show. I find the show is kind of like an extroverted person and the books are introverted persons. They have completely different ideas on how to have fun. E.g. how the show pictured the VR headset and the whole experience around it is an awesome way to depict how advanced the Trisolaris aliens are. On the other hand I rarely see people in comments exchange ideas about the sci-fi parts of the books series. Oftentimes it's about "omg I hate Auggie she is such a b*#$$" and then I'm like - Is THAT really the most thought provoking part to you?
"Is THAT really the most thought provoking part to you?" The problem is that there is nothing even remotely thought provoking in the show due to what shallow shlock it is. Take the VR HMDs that you singled out. They make no sense at all. The Trisolarans just gave humanity a way around the science block. The characters pretending to be scientists show next to no curiosity as to how the HMDs work. They don't even put the HMD under a microscope. They also have every reason to suspect that this brain hacking machine killed their friend and yet they decide to let it hack their brains. The most inciteful thing that these "scientists" can say about the HMDs is that they are "beyond next-gen", talking like a RUclips console-warrior hypeman.
Exactly my thoughts. The book trilogy introduced me to SF. Haven't stopped reading SF ever since. The chinese show is really good I thought. The Netflix show is garbage. But that was what I expected...
Thanks for articulating so well the same problems I have with the Netflix version. Have you watched the Chinese version from Tencent? Would be interested to hear what you think of it as a comparison. The Chinese detective is excellent in that. Would also love for you to review the books.
@@MintVolcano I've watched about half of it. (Watch it prior to conversation practice with friends to tune my ear). I really like it. My husband's watched the whole thing and says it's more faithful to the book, though it definitely tones down unsavoury aspects of Chinese history.
I also loved the books, and to be frank, this looks like garbage to me. Zero interest in watching it. In particular, the way they combined characters across all 3 books into buddies and the way you describe that as creating some kind of rom-com dynamic just sounds utterly cringe to me. And I think you're spot on that it's insulting to the audience to think that there won't be engagement without this "hot friends hanging out" dynamic; particularly given the relative intellectual heft of the source material. At the risk of making this comment too long , I just have to share a very relevant excerpt from an excellent review of this series, that also places it in a broader context of the exchange between Western and Chinese media: "All five characters are childless and generally unattached from family concerns, which makes for a striking contrast with Wang Miao. The Tencent adaptation never lets you forget that he has a family to consider. The Oxford Five are individual, rational agents whose lives are almost entirely intellectual and economic. They are laid-back, science-loving, cool-ironic, global citizens imbued with liberal values and free from any dangerous radical or traditional dogmas. Auggie Salazar briefly falls into alcoholism, but it’s just a lifestyle choice-her health doesn’t suffer, and her hair still looks great. I suspect many American television executives and Oxbridge alumni alike would believe that the members of this jolly band of mates are living fairly ordinary lives." The entire review as a whole makes for excellent reading, in case anyone wants to check it out chajournal.blog/2024/04/29/3-body-problem/
Wang Miao was criticized for being a boring character and yet through watching this show you realize how important he is to the success of the books. Make Wang Miao a brooding beautiful scientist that cares about the humanity and the character suddenly becomes one dimensional and ring s false, make Wang Miao a boring guy that just loves his family and he feels so much more real.
I hope you can still enjoy the books after seeing the show, it’s one of my all time favorite book series. It might be different enough to still entertain you but you do know some major plot points that even carry into the third book
@@MintVolcano yes, the way you talked about the books made me realise they're much deeper, and more philosophical (qualities one expects from the science fiction genre) but I was worried if the Netflix series has spoiled the plot too much for me. Anyway, thanks for your recommendation. I'll definitely give the book series a shot.
What did you think of the "3 Body Problem" Netflix show?
I thought it was rather shallow - it draws from the books of course and the ideas in there are amazing. But when it actually comes to making the audience think about concepts and the philosophical elements, it fails completely. I also didn't love the shock factor of Operation Guzheng - do we really need to see all that gore to have the point made? And some of the dialogue was really bleh. I didn't think a single scientist seemed like a scientist on the show either - that's probably because they are never seen discussing ideas or concepts or actually doing any work. Like you said - it's all about them talking about their emotions etc. That would be fine if it wasn't their only focus- but unfortunately it is
@@MM-qt2pc such a good point, the fact that they changed it so that there were children on the boat to make it more shocking and more of a moral dilemma was also pretty lame and cliched.
@@MintVolcano yeah exactly - the 'moral dilemma' is so in-your-face that it actually lessens the overall impact of what it should have/could have been. it doesn't add to the story either
I'm currently obsessed with these books and I adore the Netflix series. It's sneaky good. I really like how the show pulls in characters and story hints and events from the later books; they are taking advantage of knowing the roapmap for the entire series and laying the ground work now. IMO, that is a very smart way to do an adaptation and very much reminds me of The Expanse series where the authors/writers did the same thing.
The friend group thing doesn't bother me in the least. First of all, Cheng Xin, Yun Tianming and Wen Ha from Book 3 were literally a friend group from college, and Luo Ji was a friend of Yang Dong, Ye Wenjie's daughter. What the show did is not really a huge departure from that. But most importantly, in S2 and S3, we won't have to waste time introducing the audience to new characters and trying to give them a reason to care. Spitting main character duties also gives them a chance for dialogue, so exposition and info dumps aren't the only way we learn everything. Poor Wang Miao carried the world on his shoulders and was promptly forgotten by history.
Finally, book readers need to understand that the audience for a big-budget TV show is MUCH wider than that of a niche Sci-Fi book series. The show had to simplify the science talk and introduce real emotional, character interactions to keep the attention of the massive audience required to justify the its insane budget. Fortunately, the show was renewed for future seasons, though it seems like it was a close call. Had the show allowed the story to come to a complete halt to talk about turkeys and shooters and pool tables, I doubt that it would have survived.
Anyway, just my two cents. Thanks for the video.
I've only have read/listened to the 2nd / 3rd book, after watching the show. I find the show is kind of like an extroverted person and the books are introverted persons. They have completely different ideas on how to have fun.
E.g. how the show pictured the VR headset and the whole experience around it is an awesome way to depict how advanced the Trisolaris aliens are.
On the other hand I rarely see people in comments exchange ideas about the sci-fi parts of the books series. Oftentimes it's about "omg I hate Auggie she is such a b*#$$" and then I'm like - Is THAT really the most thought provoking part to you?
So you didn’t read the first book “the three body problem?”
@@MintVolcano not yet - I wanted to see how the story resolves :D but after reading the fan-fiction/adaption or 4th book I will read the 1st as well.
@@serrrsch it’s very good I highly recommend it
"Is THAT really the most thought provoking part to you?" The problem is that there is nothing even remotely thought provoking in the show due to what shallow shlock it is. Take the VR HMDs that you singled out. They make no sense at all. The Trisolarans just gave humanity a way around the science block. The characters pretending to be scientists show next to no curiosity as to how the HMDs work. They don't even put the HMD under a microscope. They also have every reason to suspect that this brain hacking machine killed their friend and yet they decide to let it hack their brains. The most inciteful thing that these "scientists" can say about the HMDs is that they are "beyond next-gen", talking like a RUclips console-warrior hypeman.
Exactly my thoughts. The book trilogy introduced me to SF. Haven't stopped reading SF ever since. The chinese show is really good I thought. The Netflix show is garbage. But that was what I expected...
Thanks for articulating so well the same problems I have with the Netflix version. Have you watched the Chinese version from Tencent? Would be interested to hear what you think of it as a comparison. The Chinese detective is excellent in that. Would also love for you to review the books.
Alright one comment is enough I’ll get started on some book reviews! Have you watched the Chinese show?
@@MintVolcano I've watched about half of it. (Watch it prior to conversation practice with friends to tune my ear). I really like it. My husband's watched the whole thing and says it's more faithful to the book, though it definitely tones down unsavoury aspects of Chinese history.
@@jjgreen1333 interesting I’ll have to check it out and compare
@@MintVolcano Let us know what you think.
I second this. Loved the Tencent version but wasn't a fan of the Netflix version at all.
I also loved the books, and to be frank, this looks like garbage to me. Zero interest in watching it. In particular, the way they combined characters across all 3 books into buddies and the way you describe that as creating some kind of rom-com dynamic just sounds utterly cringe to me. And I think you're spot on that it's insulting to the audience to think that there won't be engagement without this "hot friends hanging out" dynamic; particularly given the relative intellectual heft of the source material. At the risk of making this comment too long , I just have to share a very relevant excerpt from an excellent review of this series, that also places it in a broader context of the exchange between Western and Chinese media:
"All five characters are childless and generally unattached from family concerns, which makes for a striking contrast with Wang Miao. The Tencent adaptation never lets you forget that he has a family to consider. The Oxford Five are individual, rational agents whose lives are almost entirely intellectual and economic. They are laid-back, science-loving, cool-ironic, global citizens imbued with liberal values and free from any dangerous radical or traditional dogmas. Auggie Salazar briefly falls into alcoholism, but it’s just a lifestyle choice-her health doesn’t suffer, and her hair still looks great. I suspect many American television executives and Oxbridge alumni alike would believe that the members of this jolly band of mates are living fairly ordinary lives."
The entire review as a whole makes for excellent reading, in case anyone wants to check it out chajournal.blog/2024/04/29/3-body-problem/
Wang Miao was criticized for being a boring character and yet through watching this show you realize how important he is to the success of the books. Make Wang Miao a brooding beautiful scientist that cares about the humanity and the character suddenly becomes one dimensional and ring s false, make Wang Miao a boring guy that just loves his family and he feels so much more real.
I made the mistake of first watching the show. I absolutely hated it. Would you recommend still reading the books?
I hope you can still enjoy the books after seeing the show, it’s one of my all time favorite book series. It might be different enough to still entertain you but you do know some major plot points that even carry into the third book
@@MintVolcano yes, the way you talked about the books made me realise they're much deeper, and more philosophical (qualities one expects from the science fiction genre) but I was worried if the Netflix series has spoiled the plot too much for me. Anyway, thanks for your recommendation. I'll definitely give the book series a shot.
Most boring show all year...just went straight to the end and that sucked jeeze