Sci-fi series '3 Body Problem'

Can't wait to see this!

I have a three person in one body problem.

This has been a long time in the making and I guarantee it is going to suck donkey balls.

I found the book really underwhelming. Given what a big deal it was being the first Chinese book to really hit big in the US, I was surprised it seemed so Western in its narrative.

Final trailer.

Looks more exciting than the first one, although the Z-list acting lineup doesn't inspire much confidence. We'll see.

Eiza Gonzalez is the kiss of death for any project.

It doesn't appear to have that much to do with the books, but I'm in.

Has anyone watched? Reviews by critics have been mixed.

I stopped fifteen minutes into the premiere and switched to a different show. Dialogue was so painfully cliched, it hurts my soul to go from watching Shogun to this. I will give it another chance when I clear my backlog, however.

The first book was great. After the giant turd sandwich they fed everyone during the final 3 seasons of Game of Thrones, I have zero confidence that anything Benioff & Weiss do will be any good. Their post-episode videos on HBO for GoT made it clear what mediocrities they really are: literal-minded and obvious.

I can’t get past my association with the GOT actors especially Sam Tarly. It’s like watching Jan Brady play a prostitute in ‘Dawn, Portrait of a Teennage Runaway’. It’s just not working. The story threads set in China are enjoyable because GOT isn’t casting a shadow,

Omg it's a DEI fest. I didn't realize London based physicists are all models and racially diverse mostly female hotties.

The historic scenes set in China are excellent and really match the book. I've only watched episode 1, and I'm not sure I'm going to continue. It's also weird seeing the Game of Thrones cast populating the thing

I've watched the first two episodes so far. I think it is pretty remarkable.

I agree, R10. I really liked the first book. I started the second, but I lost interest partway through. It had a different translator, and a librarian friend of mine said that can make a difference. I never bothered with the third book and just read the summary on Wikipedia.

In episode three it starts getting very interesting.

It’s getting a bit boring, the pace is too slow.

I didn't find it boring for one single moment.

I started watching and only love the Chinese actors. The rest is such a diverse cliché, it's painful. What R12 said.

I never watched GoT, so at least I didn't have that discrepancy to overcome. But I really liked this series, even though there were times the "hard science" (as opposed to "social science") parts slowed down the actual story. But to me, the smokin' hot Eiza Gonzalez and Marlo Kelly gave the series the eye candy it needed to keep me interested.

I'm trying to watch the Chinese series now. You can find it on Peacock (or in the other usual places). I haven't even managed to get through the first episode yet, and there are thirty of them! I'm too busy trying to weed out the parts of the story that are typical of modern Chinese culture from the parts that are simply intrinsic to the book (which I haven't read). That makes it a harder slog than the U.S. version.

Hopefully, more of you will give the Chinese version a try and we can discuss it here. DLers usually have great insights into aspects of movies/TV that go right by me, so I'm looking forward to hearing your opinions.

It was a big groaner when they just happened to need a dying physicist. It was so obvious that it was coming.

Episode 7 was so slow. Booooring and predictable . It is really not that great.

The Chinese version is even slower, if you can imagine. Especially since I know what's going to happen.

I wonder if I'll make it through the whole thing.

Interesting article from the NYT. No firewall.

[quote] The rest is such a diverse cliché, it's painful. Only white peoples deserve to be cast, ever. Anything else is phony.

I got sick of Eiza Gonzalez's plastic surgery by the end of S1.

The first comment in the NYT article compares the violence of the Cultural Revolution to DEI training, which is...a choice.

I binged the entire thing in one weekend. I thought it was fantastic. I loved that it didn't drag out answers to the mysteries and questions. I also loved that after the kick-ass episode 5 (with two full "HOLY FUCKING SHIT" moments in it... at the midpoint and at the end), that it slowed down for a somber reflective episode 6 and 7. And then finished on a really high point, making me want season 2 RIGHT NOW.

I thought it was really amazingly good.

Any word on if we'll get season 2? Why is Netflix dragging its feet with the renewal?!?

THIS is the most interesting thing about The Three Body Problem series.

I persevered because some DLers said it was good. It was fine, really picks up after the fifth episode. Most of the dialogue is pretty woeful and I found the human drama outside of the main alien plot beyond tedious. I liked the video game aspect the most and thought we'd get one level per episode, but nope.

Casting is pretty iffy, it was such a relief when that quippy fat dude got killed, can't stand that actor.

I've forgotten most of it 2 weeks after having watched.

I don't see it mentioned above, but the 30 episode Chinese version is available on Prime.

I talked about it at R19, R32. Perhaps you have me blocked...and in that case, I guess there's no point in posting this.

OTOH, I will say that I'm up to Episode 13 in the Chinese version, and if you're going to watch that version, do yourself a favor and watch it before you watch the US version. It drags out every little thing for so fucking long I don't know why I'm still watching it. Just stubborn, I guess.

The US version is much, much better.

Thanks, r33. I saw your post at r19, but that was for Peacock which is just about as niche as you can get, so I thought I would add that it's available on Prime.

I appreciate your advice about the dragging on, but credit your stubbornness.

Are the special effects special?

Sorry, R34, I didn't notice. Thanks for the update.

Special effects? Not as good as the US version. And it skips around chronologically in a way the US version doesn't. It's like the plot just doesn't [italic]flow[/italic].

But I'm hangin' in there. I guess I just want to see if there are things the US version left out -- but so far, no.

Wait, so the Chinese version one drags on and is boring? No thanks.

OK, I quit. I just read the Wikipedia of the book's plot and it's much more complex than either of these series. Fuck it.

I gave it the ol' college try, though.

Doesn't the Chinese series (30 episode) cover all three books?

Or is it 30 episodes for just the first book?

Still no word on whether we'll get book 2 and book 3 from Netflix.

Just wanted to mention that there is a Chinese version nobody talks about. It's on Prime.

Last episode was good.

I fast forward the Chinese version, even skipping episodes. And I can confirm the 30 episodes is just about book 1, just like the US version. So don't bother watching both.

Yikes, R41. Thanks.

I finally finished the Netflix version today. It was ok. Clearly there will be new episodes. I doubt the interest will be there in a few months.

Netflix has not yet announced that season 2 is green-lit.

I doubt there will be a second season since Netflix canceled its deal with the Game of Thrones dudes.

I haven’t seen anything about their 200 million dollar deal being “cancelled” with Netflix, R45. To cancel after one project that did fairly well would be a huge surprise. I seriously doubt either of them would agree to a contract that would allow Netflix to spuriously cancel without a huge payout for both of them, and that hasn’t been announced.

What IS unusual is that Netflix has taken so long to announce the renewal of Three Body Problem, but that’s most likely because they’re negotiating the cost of the future seasons down. They spent 200 million on season one, and Benioff and Weiss said they want four seasons, another 600 million commitment for Netflix, coming into nearly a billion dollars. The viewing numbers for TBP, while good, were not spectacular, and I think Netflix is nervous about committing to another 600 million. I’m fairly sure that’s the delay, I’d be very surprised if an outright cancellation of their contract had happened. There wouldn’t have had to be an egregious error of some sort for that to happen. These guys are big enough to get an ironclad contract out of Netflix that wouldn’t have allowed for any baubling from the execs over numbers and cost, like Ryan Murphy and Shonda Rhimes pulled off.

R46 They'll need double or triple the budget for the following seasons. The plot goes in a completely insane direction and eventually basically everything that happens will require extremely expensive and novel visual effects. This story isn't about people or characters, it's entirely about cosmic spectacle. If you think the writing is bad in the show you should read the books - the author should have just given the characters numbers they're so lacking in personality.

the people praising the chinese series are autistic nerds who consider it a crime when adaptations make minor changes. there's a famous internet loser named chris chan who assaulted a gamestop employee because sega changed the color of sonic the hedgehog's arms for a video game cover. it's exclusively coming from those kinds of people.

[quote] the author should have just given the characters numbers they're so lacking in personality.

The characters are inscrutable.

[quote] autistic nerds who consider it a crime when adaptations make minor changes.

Like The Witcher's Henry Cavill who left the series because they strayed from the source material.

Is it like the books???

Basically this show is just Friends in Space -- instead of the world's leading astrophysicists being brilliant (and unattractive), they're good looking people who all happen to be friends and spend most of their time neurotically worrying about which of them is sleeping with which, instead of, you know, like, the world coming to an end.

Incredibly silly show.

Why would there be three more seasons... there are a total of three books, why not just two more seasons?

$200 million for season one. You certainly don’t see that amount on the screen. $25m per episode. No big name actors. Where’d it go aside from the showrunner fees?

the stuff that happens in the later books is so out there that i can't even visualize it. i wonder if they'll make significant changes to the plot for that reason. it's so incredibly abstract.

Eiza Gonzalez was strangely underutilized as the show progressed. Whereas, her character in the Chinese version is the main character.

She’s a terrible actress R56.

The pacing is off but I liked it. It hasn't got me as hooked as Manifest or Fringe did though.