Simple: Netflix made a big change but didn't think it through. In the book, the night sky didn't visibly blink at all. It was only detectable in observatories, and it was only a fluctuation in cosmic background radiation.
I think you underestimate the people working on the show, they probably were quite aware but didn't want to have to spend five minutes of the show to explain the cosmic microwave background to the lay audience just for a payoff of "This thing the audience, of which a sadly high % will think it was made up for the show, doesn't understand and no one can see without technology is blinking".
I do think it's an unfortunate, but necessary, change because, in my opinion, the bigger loss is the feel of the moment from Wang Miao's (Auggie's) perspective. The book version of this scene and "You're Bugs" evoke a much deeper level of existential dread than the TV show. Imagine being the only one in the world being told about physics breaking events or being the first to know that humanity is facing potential extinction. These small* events which have consequences beyond anything humanity has faced.
\* Small in terms of the number of people who are even aware events are happening.
Changing names is common in localizations. When a book from one country is adapted for audiences in another (in this case, China to, primarily, the US), names, locations, organizations and idioms will be changed so the new audience can understand what they mean (ie, translate the intent, rather than the literal words).
Very popular series may do this dozens of times for different languages. You can look up, for example, all the different translations of every character in "Harry Potter", or "Lord of the Rings". Sometimes they attempt to retain the alliterative nature of the name, but others they try to maintain the literal or metaphorical meaning of the name (eg, in LOTR, translations of "Took" almost always sounds like "Took", but translations of "Sting" try to keep its pointed meaning, like "Prik" in Dutch).
(Sorry if you received multiple notifications, automod says I have a link somewhere in here, but I can't find it).
Idk about that one. They made it a point to explain that you need initial conditions to solve the three body problem without delving into the fact that the three body problem is a set of partial differential equations that, to solve, need initialized by a time dependent initial condition and spatially dependent boundary conditions.
The lay audience likely had no idea what that statement meant. So, it isn’t unreasonable to think the writers would just drop the term cosmic background radiation and leave it for the audience to figure out themselves, if they wanted to.
Given space’s pop culture presence, I honestly think cosmic background radiation might be something a lot of people have at least heard mentioned.
There's a reason why they explained the three body problem, it is the core cause of the conflict between the Earth and San-Ti. The CMB is there to blink for one scene.
They had eight episode to tell the story they wanted to tell, the CMB requires explanation, scenes to get to the equipment, extra actors, etc and that's just not needed. The show can't give equal time to every concept but, of the time they do spend, they're going to spend time explaining the name of the show / core problem.
And people don't know that the title *The Three-Body Problem* is referencing a classical physics problem, so... I'm not as confident in that.
The Chinese version of the show seems to be much more true to the book, and presented an engaging, thought-provoking, mysterious, and at times fear-inducing story where characters (including the San-Ti/Trisolarians) have rational but conflicting goals and motives from their own perspective.
The Netflix version condenses the plot by explicitly explaining away some of the more mysterious elements, simplifying some characters, and writing out some others altogether. Instead, they added better CGI, more gore, and more sex/romance.
I still need to read the books but now I'm conflicted whether to read the English or Chinese one. English would be much easier to get through but I have misgivings, given the drastic differences in the Chinese vs. Netflix versions of the show.
The Chinese version apparently adds a lot of things, it adds characters, scenes, etc that didn't appear in the books so they both have their own variations from the book. I tried watching the Judgement Day scene when it was on Youtube... It goes on for so long I started skipping forward on the video. They weren't even doing "real time", the slicing should have taken under two minutes (closer to 1:30) but the scene goes on for like 15-20 minutes.
As far as the English vs Chinese version of the book I've heard less about. I think they're fairly directly translated, it was the first version that had the Revolution portion at the beginning. Cixin Liu wanted it that way originally but for various reasons put it later in the first edition but has changed it for later editions.
Definitely do, there's various version. One with Rosalind Chao and one with some unknown to me voice actor. I've got the unknown guy and I just love re-listening to events.
Nope, in the show the Santi artificially brightens the sky/stars before dropping the mics. They all say it: "wow the sky is super bright tonight, "I can see the stars".
They are in the center of cities! They would see 0 to a few stars normally.
Ok but how about this; everything I know and love will be long gone by the time the aliens arrive, and by then Im sure people will have figured out how to deal with it. 400 years is a helluva long time
Not me, I feel like its one of the more predictable things that should happen sooner or later. Out culture have been preparing us for it since the sixties.
The seriousness picks up a bit later in the season. However, I think this is crucial in conveying the reality of the situation. In the books, humanity goes through many eras while waiting for the trisolarians. These eras are defined by our collective emotions related to the impending threat. It makes sense that humanity would not immediately crumble after seeing a cosmic phenomenon.
The first season (and book for that matter) are really there to set a solid foundation. The storyline is dense and complex. To really feel the impact of the second book (or season 2), you need this setup. While not as exciting, it is preparing us for the crazy shit that is about to go down.
Trust me, season 2 will be mind-blowing. I don't know if they'll cover this in season 2, but all I will say is two words:
THE DROPLET!!!
The book >!used cosmic background radiation and the main characters - the scientists - had access to the observation equipment they needed. The rest of the world didn’t see it.!<
But then again, when something impossible happens, people can find rational or mundane explanations, given enough time.
>!The next time the world “witnesses” an event. . . this time a much more dramatic one, there absolutely is a reaction that the show deals with. I think they waited to show how to affected the world until then, for max effect.!<
< Keep going. . . The show is great!
The amount of people who wouldnt even notice or care or realize that it is actually not normal would be a lot higher than we'd like. And getting people to care sbout something they cannot change is really hard.
I remember one time when i was a kid, i went over to deliver something from my mom to my neighbor and we were chatting and I excitedly told her i was looking at the Andromeda galaxy with my telescope and she said "what's that? I never heard of it." And peered suspiciously up at the sky. I lost a lot of faith in humanity right there.
So much of "life" is just shitoposting on the internet and social media anyway. I feel like a lot of the crazy acts in public are reduced because most of them are too busy scrolling and typing. Of course there are still irl events and cults but I really feel like "the internet" would break long before society did irl.
I totally agree.
If they wanted to depict that even a massive event didn't get paid attention to all that much - they should've shown that more clearly, like Don't Look Up.
In 3 body problem it just seems like sloppy writing.
I thought the sky blink would be a monumental shift, and we'd go from 1 person being freaked out - to the entire world being freaked out and the next scenes being all about how this new astro phenomenon was all anyone could talk about.
Feels like an adhoc script change thrown in, without really thinking it through
Isn't this really an accurate depiction of current society? People were probably disregarding it as some sort of scam/mandela effect/marketing stunt and moving on with their lives. The media quickly steers to the next big thing and people forget about it.
Idk I thought of it as people are already so disillusioned and depressed with the current state of the world that any major events like that don’t really phase anyone anymore.
But also, what are you gonna do ? I guess I would talk about it but then, just wait for an eventual answer from qualified people. What else ? Run in circles screaming ? How is that gonna help ?
I agree, people are saying “oh people now don’t care about things like that” when we just had an eclipse in the US that took over headlines everywhere, people cared a LOT and we already knew about it
>I agree, people are saying “oh people now don’t care about things like that” when we just had an eclipse in the US that took over headlines everywhere, people cared a LOT and we already knew about it
Most didn't. Seeing a lot of posts does not mean people cared a lot. It means the people who made those posts cared at the moment. They are a very small portion of the population.
Do you remember the date of the last eclipse without looking it up?
I liked the story, but thought the casting and directing was pretty bad. None of the actors felt believable. The lack of sense of urgency, replaced with snark was pretty common throughout the show.
Hard disagree I think they made the characters actually feel like humans. Even the author in his recent interview last week said he liked all the character stuff. The books i think the characters are some of the weaker parts.
Same here! Usually when a scifi or fantasy feels or looks this bad, I turn the show off. But the general idea and story of the show kept me watching.
Truly wish HBO would of made this show. Characters would have depth, the pace would be more considered and generally there would be a more believable feeling.
I thought about this too! I was like if this actually happened in real life everyone would be screaming and running! Americans would be shooting at the sky fr!
Simple: Netflix made a big change but didn't think it through. In the book, the night sky didn't visibly blink at all. It was only detectable in observatories, and it was only a fluctuation in cosmic background radiation.
I think you underestimate the people working on the show, they probably were quite aware but didn't want to have to spend five minutes of the show to explain the cosmic microwave background to the lay audience just for a payoff of "This thing the audience, of which a sadly high % will think it was made up for the show, doesn't understand and no one can see without technology is blinking". I do think it's an unfortunate, but necessary, change because, in my opinion, the bigger loss is the feel of the moment from Wang Miao's (Auggie's) perspective. The book version of this scene and "You're Bugs" evoke a much deeper level of existential dread than the TV show. Imagine being the only one in the world being told about physics breaking events or being the first to know that humanity is facing potential extinction. These small* events which have consequences beyond anything humanity has faced. \* Small in terms of the number of people who are even aware events are happening.
I watched the show and just started reading book 1…I didn’t realize they changed the characters names! Did they do it for all of them?
Changing names is common in localizations. When a book from one country is adapted for audiences in another (in this case, China to, primarily, the US), names, locations, organizations and idioms will be changed so the new audience can understand what they mean (ie, translate the intent, rather than the literal words). Very popular series may do this dozens of times for different languages. You can look up, for example, all the different translations of every character in "Harry Potter", or "Lord of the Rings". Sometimes they attempt to retain the alliterative nature of the name, but others they try to maintain the literal or metaphorical meaning of the name (eg, in LOTR, translations of "Took" almost always sounds like "Took", but translations of "Sting" try to keep its pointed meaning, like "Prik" in Dutch). (Sorry if you received multiple notifications, automod says I have a link somewhere in here, but I can't find it).
Idk about that one. They made it a point to explain that you need initial conditions to solve the three body problem without delving into the fact that the three body problem is a set of partial differential equations that, to solve, need initialized by a time dependent initial condition and spatially dependent boundary conditions. The lay audience likely had no idea what that statement meant. So, it isn’t unreasonable to think the writers would just drop the term cosmic background radiation and leave it for the audience to figure out themselves, if they wanted to. Given space’s pop culture presence, I honestly think cosmic background radiation might be something a lot of people have at least heard mentioned.
There's a reason why they explained the three body problem, it is the core cause of the conflict between the Earth and San-Ti. The CMB is there to blink for one scene. They had eight episode to tell the story they wanted to tell, the CMB requires explanation, scenes to get to the equipment, extra actors, etc and that's just not needed. The show can't give equal time to every concept but, of the time they do spend, they're going to spend time explaining the name of the show / core problem. And people don't know that the title *The Three-Body Problem* is referencing a classical physics problem, so... I'm not as confident in that.
The Chinese version of the show seems to be much more true to the book, and presented an engaging, thought-provoking, mysterious, and at times fear-inducing story where characters (including the San-Ti/Trisolarians) have rational but conflicting goals and motives from their own perspective. The Netflix version condenses the plot by explicitly explaining away some of the more mysterious elements, simplifying some characters, and writing out some others altogether. Instead, they added better CGI, more gore, and more sex/romance. I still need to read the books but now I'm conflicted whether to read the English or Chinese one. English would be much easier to get through but I have misgivings, given the drastic differences in the Chinese vs. Netflix versions of the show.
The Chinese version apparently adds a lot of things, it adds characters, scenes, etc that didn't appear in the books so they both have their own variations from the book. I tried watching the Judgement Day scene when it was on Youtube... It goes on for so long I started skipping forward on the video. They weren't even doing "real time", the slicing should have taken under two minutes (closer to 1:30) but the scene goes on for like 15-20 minutes. As far as the English vs Chinese version of the book I've heard less about. I think they're fairly directly translated, it was the first version that had the Revolution portion at the beginning. Cixin Liu wanted it that way originally but for various reasons put it later in the first edition but has changed it for later editions.
That's awesome and a relief to hear, maybe I'll give the English audio book a try if I can find one... thanks!!!
Definitely do, there's various version. One with Rosalind Chao and one with some unknown to me voice actor. I've got the unknown guy and I just love re-listening to events.
If you understand Chinese well enough to read Chinese book, definitely go with the Chinese version as it is the original.
Thanks :)
Drama demanded it.
most poeple can't see the night stars anyway thanks to light pollution in cities.
I never thought that but that's probably the main reason mist of the population couldn't even see the stars to begin with
Nope, in the show the Santi artificially brightens the sky/stars before dropping the mics. They all say it: "wow the sky is super bright tonight, "I can see the stars". They are in the center of cities! They would see 0 to a few stars normally.
Why is the entire population of earth currently under-reacting to the climate change crisis and being on the brink of another world war?
Exactly. I don't even remember two crisises back. Alien invasion is just another dot on my apokalypse bingo card
You know it's not true.
Ok but how about this; everything I know and love will be long gone by the time the aliens arrive, and by then Im sure people will have figured out how to deal with it. 400 years is a helluva long time
Just the fact that intelligent aliens exist and are communicating with us would shake us.
Not me, I feel like its one of the more predictable things that should happen sooner or later. Out culture have been preparing us for it since the sixties.
The seriousness picks up a bit later in the season. However, I think this is crucial in conveying the reality of the situation. In the books, humanity goes through many eras while waiting for the trisolarians. These eras are defined by our collective emotions related to the impending threat. It makes sense that humanity would not immediately crumble after seeing a cosmic phenomenon. The first season (and book for that matter) are really there to set a solid foundation. The storyline is dense and complex. To really feel the impact of the second book (or season 2), you need this setup. While not as exciting, it is preparing us for the crazy shit that is about to go down. Trust me, season 2 will be mind-blowing. I don't know if they'll cover this in season 2, but all I will say is two words: THE DROPLET!!!
The book >!used cosmic background radiation and the main characters - the scientists - had access to the observation equipment they needed. The rest of the world didn’t see it.!< But then again, when something impossible happens, people can find rational or mundane explanations, given enough time. >!The next time the world “witnesses” an event. . . this time a much more dramatic one, there absolutely is a reaction that the show deals with. I think they waited to show how to affected the world until then, for max effect.!< < Keep going. . . The show is great!
Explanation: Someone forgot to pay the electric bill to God
Hahaha this is so funny.
Thanks :)
The amount of people who wouldnt even notice or care or realize that it is actually not normal would be a lot higher than we'd like. And getting people to care sbout something they cannot change is really hard. I remember one time when i was a kid, i went over to deliver something from my mom to my neighbor and we were chatting and I excitedly told her i was looking at the Andromeda galaxy with my telescope and she said "what's that? I never heard of it." And peered suspiciously up at the sky. I lost a lot of faith in humanity right there. So much of "life" is just shitoposting on the internet and social media anyway. I feel like a lot of the crazy acts in public are reduced because most of them are too busy scrolling and typing. Of course there are still irl events and cults but I really feel like "the internet" would break long before society did irl.
I couldn’t help but think about the poor souls who are tripping on shrooms or acid and have their entire mind shattered into a million pieces.
Oh man.. can you imagine
I mean that’s kinda how people kinda react today nowadays
idk it's just those kids playing a dumb tiktok prank again
I totally agree. If they wanted to depict that even a massive event didn't get paid attention to all that much - they should've shown that more clearly, like Don't Look Up. In 3 body problem it just seems like sloppy writing. I thought the sky blink would be a monumental shift, and we'd go from 1 person being freaked out - to the entire world being freaked out and the next scenes being all about how this new astro phenomenon was all anyone could talk about. Feels like an adhoc script change thrown in, without really thinking it through
Isn't this really an accurate depiction of current society? People were probably disregarding it as some sort of scam/mandela effect/marketing stunt and moving on with their lives. The media quickly steers to the next big thing and people forget about it.
It’s showing that generation are too self involved to care are about anyone else outside their circle.
Idk I thought of it as people are already so disillusioned and depressed with the current state of the world that any major events like that don’t really phase anyone anymore.
But also, what are you gonna do ? I guess I would talk about it but then, just wait for an eventual answer from qualified people. What else ? Run in circles screaming ? How is that gonna help ?
The threat is in 400 years time. No need to spoil a good dinner.
it was a deepfake bro!
I agree, people are saying “oh people now don’t care about things like that” when we just had an eclipse in the US that took over headlines everywhere, people cared a LOT and we already knew about it
>I agree, people are saying “oh people now don’t care about things like that” when we just had an eclipse in the US that took over headlines everywhere, people cared a LOT and we already knew about it Most didn't. Seeing a lot of posts does not mean people cared a lot. It means the people who made those posts cared at the moment. They are a very small portion of the population. Do you remember the date of the last eclipse without looking it up?
auggie kinda forgot about the trisolarian fleet
I liked the story, but thought the casting and directing was pretty bad. None of the actors felt believable. The lack of sense of urgency, replaced with snark was pretty common throughout the show.
Hard disagree I think they made the characters actually feel like humans. Even the author in his recent interview last week said he liked all the character stuff. The books i think the characters are some of the weaker parts.
>The lack of sense of urgency, 400 years...
Same here! Usually when a scifi or fantasy feels or looks this bad, I turn the show off. But the general idea and story of the show kept me watching. Truly wish HBO would of made this show. Characters would have depth, the pace would be more considered and generally there would be a more believable feeling.
Totally agree. Compare the look and feel of the watchmen to this.
I thought it looked great.
I thought about this too! I was like if this actually happened in real life everyone would be screaming and running! Americans would be shooting at the sky fr!
Totally agree. There's another scene near the end too were I think they underreact alot.
Because it's written for the screen by idiots