The Three-Body Problem

Based on the first 8 episodes, this is a non-spoiler short review.

First off, I would recommend this to anyone interested in engaging sci fi.

Watching this show gave me the same feeling as watching the Game of Thrones premiere back in the day after having read the books. The feeling that there is nothing quite like this on TV elsewhere.

Unlike the gritty fantasy land of Westeros however, you are thrown into contemporary China, where a series of mysterious events is tearing apart the scientific community. As the mystery slowly unfolds (and I do mean slowly), your mind is put at work by a plethora of speculative science fiction concepts. It is an absolute treat.

Not only is Three Body a remarkable 1 for 1 adaptation, but stretches out and develops certain elements even further than the book. Sometimes to great effect when it comes to character development. Liu Cixin's books are often criticized for their wooden characters and this show adds a much needed dash of color to the cast. However, this also leads to it dragging on unnecessarily on certain plot threads, creating serious pacing issues in a few episodes.

I'm not very familiar with Chinese dramas and I understand there is ad money to be concerned about, but you know you have a problem when even the audiobook moves the story along at a faster pace than this show. Sequences that could be handled in 30 seconds take up to 5 minutes or more.

Sometimes not every single thing needs to be said out loud and I really wish all the fat could have been left in the editing room. I've heard this was originally planned as a 24, instead of 30 episode series and I feel even that would be stretching it.

Other jarring issues include awkward English speaking sections, as well as the omittance of names of other countries (instead of "America" or "Britain", we are bizarrely treated to "Country T" and "Country M"), I assume this has to do with censorship around contemporary politics.

The show can also suffer from the quirks of Asian drama such as poor editing and while it never falls on soap opera territory, it will sometimes come dangerously close to that line.

At 8 to 10 episodes, I'm sure the Netflix version will have a much tighter pace, though it will certainly not cover the book in the same detail. I believe making this a 20 or 15 episode series would have been the optimal choice for any version.

I read Cixin Liu's series a couple of times in 2019 and 2020 and was blown away. . .so excited this show finally came out after the release date kept on getting delayed.

It's good that this show came out of a Chinese production company and captures the "feel" of the Cixin Liu's books very well so far. . .binge worthy watching all the episodes on WeTV.

The cast, acting and character development have been superb so far and the story has not been "watered down", "messed with" or "dumbed down" for the average viewer who hasn't read Cixin Liu's books. I would hate to see Netflix dissecting the story to dumb it down for the lowest common denominator (who have a hard time perhaps understanding the concepts in the stories) . . .and it will be interesting nonetheless with more of the characters not being Chinese in the Netflix version (to see if they can keep the "feel" of the story being told from a Chinese protagonist point of view . . . Time will tell.

The only problem I have with it is that the English subtitles flash by too quickly which some viewers will find off-putting and hard to catch. . .If they could hold the English subtitles on the screen longer, I would have given this a solid 9 for rating.

Give it to the Chinese themselves to adapt the work of their most beloved sci fi author to the silver screen almost word for word that they need 30 frickin' episodes to tell the whole story. I myself appreciate greatly the effort they pulled that you can see the love the directors and writers put in this project, contrasted to what their western counterparts do when it comes to adaptation these days. Need to work a little bit on the cgi parts tho, hope this show kills it at least in China so they may get the movie budget if the studio greenlits the adaption of the next two books, which I really hope they do. This is quiet frankly a fine alternative to the self-insert, politically driven hollywood projects, and yes, I have no intention at all to follow the netflix version of the adaptation no matter how much they put their budget into it (well, maybe just the trailer).

The only good thing about the Netflix adaptation is that it led me to discover this series. I read the books not long ago and thought that there weren't any adaptations. Those three books became one of my favorite science fiction sagas ever. So I was eager to watch the netflix adaptation, but alas, it was a massive disappointment. Now, I stumbled on this adaptation and watched it, and this is how you do a adaptation. 30 episodes that respect the viewers intelligence, doesn't rush, takes its time building scenes and plot points. Has no unnecessary melodrama and unfunny "funny" moments. Doesn't waste the viewers time, but doesn't butcher anything from the source material either.

The characters are all good and believable. No academics that act more like teens and dress and look like models. No dumbed down science or boring exposition.

The only cons, which are small cons, yhat i hve is that sometimes the special effects look too fake, the camera angles sometimes look like low budget, and the soudn design sometimes is too digital, but all those things happen so sapringly that it's more like nitpicking.

This is one of the best adaptations i've ever seen, and it's because it respects the source material, just like the 4 first seasons of GOT, when the show was good, and it respects the viewers intelligence, not trying to preach or educate. Instead, leaving the viewer to form its own opinions amd conclusions. I recommend this show and the boooks to everyone that likes scifi. You can read the book first or watch the show first. It's not gonna make much of a difference, that how good of an adaptation it is.

I have not read the trilogy. I learned about this series from my research after watching the netflix adaptation. I found the netflix series entertaining and well produced but I could tell it was drawing from source material more complex than what was presented. Thus my research to find out more about Liu Cixin. I was planning to start reading the trilogy (and I will) but saw this Chinese production.

So, I am pretty nerdy and I love more expository, detailed sc-fi. The flashy stuff is fun but give me some complex ideas to chew on and I am in heaven (think Mindwalk, Jacobs Ladder, Stalker). The Chinese production, Three-Body, has that in spades, maybe even too much. For me this series really drew out the existential crisis of the impending arrival of an more advanced extraterrestrial civilization. The motives of the various chacters are well developed as are the philosophical and scientific concepts. I found the acting and screenwriting mostly well done. The production quality was ok, though uneven (especially the soundtrack). I personally found the insights into modern Chinese culture quite fascinating as well.

I did find the subtitles to be poorly executed, often flashing too briefly to read easily. One episode had the subtitles out sync which obviously made for a tough watch. The pacing is uneven but really improves in the final 10 episodes (out of 30).

Overall I have really enjoyed the series. There is enough intellectual stuff to keep me engaged and the production is pretty good but not perfect. I look forward to reading the trilogy and then watching the series again.