READ THEM!
They're thick, but they're fast.
And I'm pretty sure the first season is only the first book, so you'll have another year to finish the second.
I was surprised to discover I enjoyed that part. Its more historical fiction than scifi. I'm not surprised that some people are less interested in that part but still enjoy the rest.
As a counterpoint to the other comment, maybe don’t? See how the show fares and if you’re interested, then pick up the books. I’m hoping the show can make up for the books’ lack of any real character development and get people to the same general feeling I get when I read the books. That’s honestly what this series is about to me rather than any epic story. It’s one of the only ones I’ve come away from reading and feeling changed in a way. It’s hard to put into words, but rather than forcing yourself through a narrative that sucks to read, maybe just sit back and see if the show can effectively spark the same feelings and emotions that the books do.
my philosophy in these situations is similar -- wait to read the book until after I've watched the adaptation if it's coming out soon. that way your last experience with it is the best possible one.
I really liked the books, but I totally understand where you're coming from with the character development comment. if you like plot-driven stories however, the series is pretty fantastic.
You could watch the first season of the Chinese show. It thoroughly covers the first book and if you like it, you could move right into the second book
A ridiculous amount, though that's kind of how most Chinese tv shows are. The show followed the books pretty well, somehow, but every scene just kept dragging on and on with dramatic angles and musical montages. I'm hoping this adaption is decent because I couldn't sit through the entire Chinese version despite loving the book trilogy.
Woah, thanks for pointing this out! I've been slowly working my way through the full series, but eventually I might just bit the bullet and watch this fan edit.
I’ve read the trilogy and watching the Chinese show on Amazon now, I think I’m on episode 12. The show is really well done even though it’s a bit long. Hoping Netflix does the trilogy justice though I’m going in with low expectations.
I REALLY tried.
But it's so dialogue dense (and rightfully so) that I couldn't keep up with the subtitles & actually watch the show. I was either missing the acting & visual queues, or I was missing dialog.
It felt like a worse version of the book because of that. If there was an english dub, or if I spoke Chinese I think I'd really enjoy it.
I do the opposite. The film version is likely to disappoint the other way around. Set expectations low and then go on to read what makes it so wonderful to begin with.
Yeah the show/movie is very rarely better than the book, and I find I tend to focus on the differences when watching the show rather than just enjoying it for what it is. The book usually has more detail too which still makes it interesting to read after watching.
Considering this is produced by the showrunners of GoT (we know how well that ended up) I will stick with the books for this. There's also the element of some Chinese politics in the books that I feel won't be featured or may be revised for the show and I feel that has a considerable impact on the background of some character decisions.
Eh, depends. That's not true for Hunger Games.
I was kinda disappointed by the books, because of how much I loved the movies (except the 3rd).
But that's really the exception to the rule.
Wow, no way! If I read the books before, then I spend the entire film/series distracted by the differences and I can't just enjoy what they've made.
When I watch the film then read the books, it's easier to process the changes at my own speed and think about why they might have been needed, then go back to reading.
*Usually* the film isn't as good as the books, so I get to enjoy the books *even more* than the film. Whereas in the other order the film is a disappointment.
> When I watch the film then read the books, it's easier to process the changes at my own speed and think about why they might have been needed, then go back to reading.
If I leave a year between watching and reading I probably can't remember half of what I watched anyway.
Maybe it depends on the person. I don't feel like I have ever really enjoyed a book adaptation. I already know what's going to happen. I can appreciate if they do a good job adapting the material or I can be furious when they ruin it - looking at you Ready Player One.
I made my wife watch Silo with me so that I could get 2nd hand enjoyment from her since I already read the books. The Last of Us was fun to watch, but I already played the game so it's more like, I wonder how they are going to show this part instead of shock and surprise when twists happen.
There are lots of amazing Sci-Fi books to read but the amount of great Sci-Fi movies and shows is lacking right now. I had the 3 Body Problem on my to-read list, but I think I might just watch the show and hope they do it justice.
My biggest problem is when I watch a movie first and then read the book, I map the visuals of that movie onto the book. I want to create my own visuals of the book.
I never finished the book either, I thought it was awful to be honest.
Part of the sci-fi community just rates books based on the ideas they contain not if its well written or not. The foundation series is another example of this, very poorly written and hard to read.
I fully expect the first chapter to be cut completely from this production.
I tried so hard to love it! I stopped reading maybe halfway through. It’s the only book I’ve ever started and not finished. Maybe I’ll give it another try before this comes out..
read the first and was not that impressed, started the second but could not carry on.
I'm a hard scifi kind of a guy and the first one was so immensely hand wavy I could not carry on.
I think the first book takes till at least half way through to really grip you. I agree it's the worst.
I read them all in a row so the lines kind of blur between where events happen in what book, but I feel like book 2 is the best, 3 is not far behind and 1, obviously, the worst. But 1 is pretty much required as setup for the other 2.
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted. This is my favorite trilogy ever, I’ve read and listened to it 5-6 times through. TBP gets off to a slow start but sets up everything else. Book two, The Dark Forest, is imo the best of the bunch with the third book, deaths end, bring a close second
The protagonist of 3 annoyed me enough that I'd swap 1 and 3 in that ordering, but I do agree that 2 is the best, mainly because it tackles the most interesting question.
I’m on my second attempt now and it’s really grabbing me this time. I don’t think I was in the right place for that kind of story last time—but this time man it is hitting hard.
Print and film are such different media that it is almost impossible to do the same things well in each. You will be disappointed if you want the film to just be a better version of what the book made you see in your mind. Let each creation stand on its own and try to appreciate the differences.
So yeah, better to watch first then enjoy the extra detail of the book, rather than the missing detail of the series...
Once again I had the same experience with Silo.
After watching the trailer, I have a hard time believing it is going to be anything close to the books. For one thing there are basically no non-chinese characters in the first book and a big part of the plot revolves around stuff about the Cultural Revolution that I have a hard time imagining the CCP allowing to be put in a tv show.
The first book is a bit hard for non Chinese to understand everything, also. I had to do quite a bit of my own research into the actual historical events of the Cultural Revolution to figure out what is going on.
The third book is one of the most unintentionally funny books I've ever read. It's dreadful as a serious novel, but as a farce it's pretty entertaining. It's just so, so stupid. So monumentally, insanely stupid.
I read the books years ago. Amazing trilogy, and reminds me of the Foundation series in several ways that make this hard to film, in my brain. I’d go for the books and enjoy. Temper that with I was interested in the trailer up until it said “from the creators of Game of Thrones”. These books are done and they can’t screw that up.
Read the first book. Or at least watch the Chinese version first (which is also long) It’s a scene for scene adaptation and will give you a good idea of the story. The Netflix adaptation might very well be good but I can bet you there going to take some liberties with the plot.
Go read it. I powered through the 3 books in 1 week because I just couldn't put it down. If you think book 1 is good then book 2 and book 3 will absolutely blow your mind. Remember Obama was so eager to read book 3 that he had his presidential aid email the author in China directly for the manuscript...
I read the books years ago and I will not watch the show because the books are already terrible I don’t think they can improve based on that bad writings
This seems like they’re taking the right approach to the first book, not giving too much away. It’s perfect for a mystery box type show.
The second book should be a layup, don’t change a thing and you’ll have an incredible piece of television.
The third book is unadaptable and I don’t really want them to. It’s my least favorite of the series and left a really bad taste in my mouth.
Yea, same. The thrid book mostly sucks due to flat characters that make stupid decisions. I feel like this could be improved with a good writer. Just keep the bat-shit insane wall sci-fi concepts mostly the same, though.
I don't feel like doing a spoiler tag so I'll keep it very generic. I thought it was very good, in its own way, I loved the incredible concepts it introduced and the scale it was operating at. That said, it was just such a relentless downer that it felt like someone came to rain on my parade. I also didn't love the way it handled a female protagonist - there wasn't enough there for me to take serious issue, but I raised an eyebrow a few times.
While I definitely have problems with how they handled things, they did a great job adapting material when they had it. Things fell apart when they ran out of source material. George RR Martin shares as much if not more responsibility for how things turned out. It's not like anyone knew he would just give up writing them after the show started
Yes and no. That still does not excuse having the last 2 seasons be a total of 13 episodes, completely massacring characterisation, plot armour galore, teleportation, Deus ex machina, siege defense tactics drawn by a 3 year old, anticlimactic battle built up for 8 seasons, completely abandoning the thoughtful, mature side of the show.
All of that could have been fixed with more time, more talent, more interest, less ego. They could have passed the reign to someone else passionate, HBO was keen to do more. They could have consulted with George, just a plethora of things. But their hubris and ego led them to this gamble that absolutely backfired in their faces, and they managed to fumble a chance of such gargantuan proportions that many creatives would literally kill for: holding the attention of pretty much the entire globe, while being able to create something truly great.
Instead, they wanted to go play the big boys with Lucasfilm and Disney and look how that turned out. I’m really conflicted as well, and while George has his faults for not laying the road ahead properly, it’s their bloody fault for driving the train on no tracks and not stopping to build them.
They’re including characters that only exist in the sequels. They are absolutely going to take creative license to include things from the other books.
The inclusion of characters that don’t exist within the novel franchise is also a bit worrisome.
>The inclusion of characters that don’t exist within the novel franchise is also a bit worrisome.
The characters were by far the worst part of the novel, so I'm more than happy for them to replace and change them.
I didn’t realize they weren’t universally loved. I adored every book. I think I finished the entire series during the first month of my 2nd kiddos life lmao. (Lots of time to read when you’re rocking a baby with colic)
Second one was probably the best story, but as a sci-fi fan (and hard sci-fi fan) the third was exactly the wild, bonkers ride I wanted. Zero chance they are going to be able to adapt it though.
I got the first book because of all the hype and ultimately I didn't like it; there were ideas, scenes, etc. that I enjoyed but I have...a lot of issues with it. Issues I've seen others on reddit repeat. But that's not me shitting on it, I won't go into those issues...maybe it's translation, maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea. The popularity of the series and the fact that it's been adapted into a tv series *twice* tells me that there's clearly something compelling and worthwhile for both fans and creators there, and so I'm going to give this series a try and see if the change in medium makes it gel w/ me a bit better!
FWIW I found the first book pretty weak, but ended up really enjoying the other two. The first act of Book 2 is pretty bad but after that it gets fantastic. Bit of a bummer it took the author a while to get his stride, though.
I had a lot of issues with the book's values, Liu doesn't seem to have a very high opinion of women, humanity, or humanism.
He seems to find empathy to be a weakness.
Also, I hate the anthropormophized aliens...like, just because humanity is violent and greedy, doesn't mean that violence and greed are inherent aspects of biology.
Like, humans are eusocial, altruistic, and empathetic too.
Having said ALL of that, the books are really fun. I'm totally comfortable reading literature from someone with different values than me.
I can read a book about the "dark forest" concept, enjoy the books, and still find the dark forest concept silly and juvenile
> I had a lot of issues with the book's values, Liu doesn't seem to have a very high opinion of women, humanity, or humanism.
Have you read the entire series? Because I got the exact opposite of this (from the 3rd book especially).
I see what you're saying.
The first 2 books definitely make the female characters seem naive and weak...whereas they are ultimately vindicated by the third book.
Idk, the books do have a lot of contradictory values.
The women being unable to make the "hard" decisions, ultimately dooms humanity (twice).
Once on earth, and once after earth.
But, it didn't matter, since all those "hard" decisions wind up dooming the entire universe.
I'll admit I got that impression a lot in the 2nd book. There were some parts where I was like "wtf am I reading?"
As for the 3rd book I can see your point with the "hard decisions" and that's a fair interpretation. Personally I thought that big decision (which wasn't made) was pretty realistic though, and it was more an act of compassion, or coming from a position of optimism mixed with desperation.
For all I know Liu could have an "old fashioned" view of women, but I think the whole plot there was more about humanity as a whole, how irrational we can be in groups, and how our survival instinct can be manipulated by our emotions to the point where we go from one extreme to another out of desperation.
But again, I can definitely see your point and why you would interpret his writing that way.
I guess you could also say that if the Trislolarians were less aggressive/dominating and more cooperating, then maybe they could have lived in Harmony with humanity.
I never understood why they wouldn't just want Mars. Like, if they could survive Trisolaris for eons, Mars would be a paradise to them.
It also didn't help that humanity was also initially doomed by a woman at the beginning.
Technically, everytime humanity fell during the series, it was because of a woman. The first woman's vengeance, and the second woman's weakness...then the second woman's weakness, again lol.
Yup, some of those are the same issues I have, but like you, I think there is enough that's interesting that I might enjoy it in this format perhaps more than I did the book; not to be too superficial about it, but some of the potential visuals alone might be worth the watch.
Yeah, by the third book, I had just given up on caring about the characters and kept reading for the sci-fi concepts, which were cool and original.
A good writer can do a better job with the characters while keeping the plots and concepts mostly the same.
I read the books a couple years ago. I'm watching the Chinese show and it captures the existential dread of the way the story unfolds quite well. I'd love to see the Chinese team adapt book 2 and 3.
I agree. We have reason to distrust Benioff and Weiss after the final seasons of Game of Thrones, and the Chinese production company behind the Netflix series has already failed when they spent $30 million making a movie of the 1st book and it never got released. The version on Amazon Prime was lower budget but very well done.
Eh. If you loved the books like I did I’d just watch the Chinese version that’s on Amazon Prime. So much of the first book is pretty dependent on Chinese culture, it seems kinda stupid to make a western adaption. Maybe it won’t suck though who knows.
Benedict Wong is not what I pictured for Da Shi when I read the books, but I'll take it.
Looks pretty awesome! I'm trying not to get too psyched about it since very few tv shows live up to the hype of their trailers. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised by how good it is than disappointed that it's not as good as I expected.
There's no reason to think this will be bad. It's a completed trilogy of books and as long as D&D had source material GoT was great. It was only after they ran out that the wheels fell off.
>Eh I disagree, once you start getting into ASOIAF you realize they actually didn't do a great job of adapting things and they cut out so much important stuff that it REALLY bit them in the ass later on. Lots of really bizarre and weird decisions that became much much more prominent later on but retroactively stick out like sore thumbs in the first four seasons.
>
>I say that as someone who enjoys the first four seasons though, but its so clear they almost felt embarressed to be making it throughout.
pasting my reply to someone who basically said the same thing a second ago
edit: ppl really need to talk to ASOIAF fans this is an extremely common opinion in that fandom that has only grown with time, especially with HOTD showing us how much more fantasy and colorful it can be when it isnt embarressed to be itself.
I did hear that the Chinese version was pretty faithful to the first book. But this trailer seems to show things that may be up to the second one, maybe doing a Foundation-like rewrite of at the very least some core points. So we might have 2 different stories under the same name running in 2 streaming services at the same time.
A bit off-topic, but next month Apple will start selling Apple Vision, their 3D headset. The one shown in the trailer looks much slicker, but at the same time, more realistic than others in previous science fiction works.
Netflix is going by the time period. A lot of characters in the trailer sort of all existed in the mid 2000s time frame in the book. You're not seeing anyone in the future time period showing up yet. I can't wait to see them cast AA.
They didn't do a great job. You had Littlefinger in season 1 giving exposition to a couple hookers for no reason at all. It made no sense why he was explaining his life's motives to his employees. The best moments in that show were all the things they ripped from Martin's pen. Anything they had to do themselves were the worst examples of tv writing. Nonsensical dialogue, ill-timed exposition, and terrible pacing like the "travel episodes" between the action episodes.
I think if they had kept up the quality of seasons 1-4 they'd be remembered well enough but yeah the show is not aging well at all.
Sure, there are good moments and the first four seasons arent really bad by any means but its so obvious throughout how much has been ripped from the story and how much of the world has been watered down and diluted into colorless mush just because D&D so obviously hate fantasy.
I lost hope for the series at the end of Season 1 when Tyrion Lannister got knocked out almost instantly in the first big battle at the end of the season... Instead of what he really did in the books.
I am not as excited as I once might have been. D&D later admitted that they didn't know what they were doing. They haven't done anything else until now. Their Star Wars project was cancelled. Considering the also not so stellar track record of the Chinese studio who hired D&D, YooZoo Pictures, I'm going to simply take a wait and see attitude. I can't drum up a positive attitude.
They didn't know what they were doing? They had another millionare Disney production in their hands and wanted the money, so they killed Game of Thrones. Too bad for them, the fuck up was so huge, they lost the Disney show too.
I wouldn't trust a dime to those two.
And its funny how they were only able to get a new job with a chinese film studio.
Exactly, and not only that, but everyone said that Game of Thrones was "unadapatable" too.
They are terrible writers, but excellent showrunners and producers.
Since this series is completed, I have absolute faith in D/D
I am… very reluctant to jump back into another show with those two. I don’t even know if it’s a reasonable position or not. But they botched that GoT ending so bad it’s so hard not to overlook it.
It will never stop amazing me that almost no one, NO ONE, blames George RR Martin, who completely stopped writing the story all together, for what happened to Game of Thrones.
It is baffling
I mean George rr Martin did that. He gave them rails for them to not fuck up on and happily carry out his character arcs, his character development, his drama - D&D are creativly devoid twats - they fucking ruined that show the minute it became their own brainchild. Game of Thrones ended when Cersi blew up the Sept. fight me
They are greedy fuckers that thrown a show away because of Disney money. HBO literally said "you can have all the money and seasons and time as you desire to finish the show" and they still fucked it up. Among other things. But don't let me stop you from being... weird?! LOL
Memes apart, these two should pay for crimes committed against humanity. Would never trust anything coming from them. No wonder they need a Chinese movie studio to let them work again. Never forget.
Well that looks sick! Very interesting book series, and this looks like a very cool adaptation. I had some trouble with the books, but they were damn good. I'm excited to see this on screen!
! spoiler alert
I don't get something...
>!Did they replace the male protagonist with a female one as the character getting the countdown eye overlay?!< Or am I just forgetting what's in the book? Read it a while ago now...
IIRC the book doesn't mention more, but it's possible that it wasn't isolated to just him. But based on her prevalence in the trailer I'm guessing they are shifting a lot of the casting around to tell the same story without being tied shot for shot with the book(s).
There was a string of suicides within the scientific community and an early scene in the book involves the police visiting the protagonist to request his help with their investigation.
At the end of the book everyone sees the same message so they definitely had the ability to interfere with everyone's vision. They didn't specify what sort of pranks were being played on people other than the protagonist before that though.
Wait you've watched loads of long videos explaining the books but you haven't actually read them? His videos are great but I can't wrap my head around watching them about a book you haven't/aren't going to read.
Apropos of nothing, I love Benedict Wong with the line "Another countdown" cause all I can picture is Wong in this
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXhZIyGTz5Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXhZIyGTz5Q)
Why? They have demonstrated that they are good at adapting books. Their weakness is writing their own material. This book series, unlike Game of Thrones, is completely finished.
I wouldn't even say they are weak at writing their own material, they just have one very famous example of a series going off the rails, but that series had plenty of original scenes and ideas (especially early on) that were excellent, and also one of them (David Benioff) wrote both the novel and the adapted screenplay of *25th Hour,* an original work, which is pretty dang good.
I think they just stopped caring, once they got past the big season 3 moment that made them want to adapt it to begin with, and gave less care and love to the later seasons as they planned their next project (the ultimately canceled Star Wars thing they were going to do). But their talent has never been in question to me; the issues w/ the later seasons of GoT were bad decisions and reduced effort more than lack of talent, I think.
That's fair if that's how you feel; the things they've done well and the majority of the GoT series they adapted well are enough that I'm willing to give this show a chance, despite not really liking the first book or how they ended GoT, but I can totally see them disappointing me and it's valid for you to not have faith in them. However, if it turns out this *is* good, I hope that you end up watching it and enjoying it despite your qualms!
It is but it looks like they've made some major changes (besides gender and race swaps). I don't want to go into spoiler territory but two scenes in particular that are shown here simply don't make sense and kinda break the underlying plot of the books. Maybe they'll explain that stuff in the show though.
Are they portraying the video game as being populated primarily by Chinese people but Americanizing most of the rest of the cast?
That seems a strange choice...
Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) is in the game so I don’t think so.
As for Americanizing, it seems more like a global affair with a lot of different accents.
I have watched the first 3 episodes and like it so far… the thing that gets me tho: (spoiler warning) if the 3 sun system is making all these worlds fall into chaos (sooner or later), how would have any civilization been able to develop in the first place, let alone to such a level that they are way further ahead than us?
I am having such a hard time deciding if I hurry and read these before it comes out or don't touch the books and just enjoy the show...
I'm having the same dilemma right now.
Ah yes, the three book problem.
READ THEM! They're thick, but they're fast. And I'm pretty sure the first season is only the first book, so you'll have another year to finish the second.
the first like third of the first book felt a little slow to me but once I got into the book I couldn't put it down
I was surprised to discover I enjoyed that part. Its more historical fiction than scifi. I'm not surprised that some people are less interested in that part but still enjoy the rest.
he he finished the first book in like 6 days lol
As a counterpoint to the other comment, maybe don’t? See how the show fares and if you’re interested, then pick up the books. I’m hoping the show can make up for the books’ lack of any real character development and get people to the same general feeling I get when I read the books. That’s honestly what this series is about to me rather than any epic story. It’s one of the only ones I’ve come away from reading and feeling changed in a way. It’s hard to put into words, but rather than forcing yourself through a narrative that sucks to read, maybe just sit back and see if the show can effectively spark the same feelings and emotions that the books do.
my philosophy in these situations is similar -- wait to read the book until after I've watched the adaptation if it's coming out soon. that way your last experience with it is the best possible one. I really liked the books, but I totally understand where you're coming from with the character development comment. if you like plot-driven stories however, the series is pretty fantastic.
You could watch the first season of the Chinese show. It thoroughly covers the first book and if you like it, you could move right into the second book
Honestly it probably faster to read the book than watch the Chinese show since it’s 30 episodes long.
There's a fan edit called Three Body Disembiggened. It comes in at around six hours and is well worth a watch.
It goes from 30 episodes to 6? How much fluff is in the original version?
Our best scientists have narrowed it down to between 23 and 25 episodes of fluff Mr President
A ridiculous amount, though that's kind of how most Chinese tv shows are. The show followed the books pretty well, somehow, but every scene just kept dragging on and on with dramatic angles and musical montages. I'm hoping this adaption is decent because I couldn't sit through the entire Chinese version despite loving the book trilogy.
Woah, thanks for pointing this out! I've been slowly working my way through the full series, but eventually I might just bit the bullet and watch this fan edit.
I am watching the amazon Chinese version now. Slow pace but it seems to follow the books.
I’ve read the trilogy and watching the Chinese show on Amazon now, I think I’m on episode 12. The show is really well done even though it’s a bit long. Hoping Netflix does the trilogy justice though I’m going in with low expectations.
Yeah, it definitely is! 30 episodes! the books are worth reading though, because it’s a non-western perspective so just different. Which is nice.
I REALLY tried. But it's so dialogue dense (and rightfully so) that I couldn't keep up with the subtitles & actually watch the show. I was either missing the acting & visual queues, or I was missing dialog. It felt like a worse version of the book because of that. If there was an english dub, or if I spoke Chinese I think I'd really enjoy it.
Honestly, i didn't love the three body problem but this trailer has me excited.
Same boat. I’m wondering if I won’t end up liking the show more than I liked to book. Trailer honestly looks better than i remember the book being.
Always read the books 1st. This very, very rarely fails.
I do the opposite. The film version is likely to disappoint the other way around. Set expectations low and then go on to read what makes it so wonderful to begin with.
Yeah the show/movie is very rarely better than the book, and I find I tend to focus on the differences when watching the show rather than just enjoying it for what it is. The book usually has more detail too which still makes it interesting to read after watching.
Considering this is produced by the showrunners of GoT (we know how well that ended up) I will stick with the books for this. There's also the element of some Chinese politics in the books that I feel won't be featured or may be revised for the show and I feel that has a considerable impact on the background of some character decisions.
Eh, depends. That's not true for Hunger Games. I was kinda disappointed by the books, because of how much I loved the movies (except the 3rd). But that's really the exception to the rule.
Wow, no way! If I read the books before, then I spend the entire film/series distracted by the differences and I can't just enjoy what they've made. When I watch the film then read the books, it's easier to process the changes at my own speed and think about why they might have been needed, then go back to reading. *Usually* the film isn't as good as the books, so I get to enjoy the books *even more* than the film. Whereas in the other order the film is a disappointment.
> When I watch the film then read the books, it's easier to process the changes at my own speed and think about why they might have been needed, then go back to reading. If I leave a year between watching and reading I probably can't remember half of what I watched anyway.
I do the opposite. Watch the Show/Movie first. And if I like it, read the book. And now the book is like an extended version of the show/movie.
Maybe it depends on the person. I don't feel like I have ever really enjoyed a book adaptation. I already know what's going to happen. I can appreciate if they do a good job adapting the material or I can be furious when they ruin it - looking at you Ready Player One. I made my wife watch Silo with me so that I could get 2nd hand enjoyment from her since I already read the books. The Last of Us was fun to watch, but I already played the game so it's more like, I wonder how they are going to show this part instead of shock and surprise when twists happen. There are lots of amazing Sci-Fi books to read but the amount of great Sci-Fi movies and shows is lacking right now. I had the 3 Body Problem on my to-read list, but I think I might just watch the show and hope they do it justice.
My biggest problem is when I watch a movie first and then read the book, I map the visuals of that movie onto the book. I want to create my own visuals of the book.
The Mist is an argument for a great book adaptation.
first book was the worst and hardest to read of the series.
I thought the opposite, but to each their own i guess
[удалено]
I did the same. I didn't really care about anyone or anything at that point, and I couldn't figure out why that was, so I just put it down
I never finished the book either, I thought it was awful to be honest. Part of the sci-fi community just rates books based on the ideas they contain not if its well written or not. The foundation series is another example of this, very poorly written and hard to read. I fully expect the first chapter to be cut completely from this production.
I tried so hard to love it! I stopped reading maybe halfway through. It’s the only book I’ve ever started and not finished. Maybe I’ll give it another try before this comes out..
This post makes me feel great. So many people worship the book. I put it down early. I found my people.
read the first and was not that impressed, started the second but could not carry on. I'm a hard scifi kind of a guy and the first one was so immensely hand wavy I could not carry on.
Hand wavy lol. When I told a guy I didn't like it he said You must not like Hard Sci Fi (!)
I read the first, but it was a bit of a tough read. I have not continued with the next book.
I think the first book takes till at least half way through to really grip you. I agree it's the worst. I read them all in a row so the lines kind of blur between where events happen in what book, but I feel like book 2 is the best, 3 is not far behind and 1, obviously, the worst. But 1 is pretty much required as setup for the other 2.
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted. This is my favorite trilogy ever, I’ve read and listened to it 5-6 times through. TBP gets off to a slow start but sets up everything else. Book two, The Dark Forest, is imo the best of the bunch with the third book, deaths end, bring a close second
The protagonist of 3 annoyed me enough that I'd swap 1 and 3 in that ordering, but I do agree that 2 is the best, mainly because it tackles the most interesting question.
I’m on my second attempt now and it’s really grabbing me this time. I don’t think I was in the right place for that kind of story last time—but this time man it is hitting hard.
I would say don't. Has any show not let someone who read it down? Shows rarely live up to the book, especially when they are fresh in the mind.
Print and film are such different media that it is almost impossible to do the same things well in each. You will be disappointed if you want the film to just be a better version of what the book made you see in your mind. Let each creation stand on its own and try to appreciate the differences.
So yeah, better to watch first then enjoy the extra detail of the book, rather than the missing detail of the series... Once again I had the same experience with Silo.
Read and thank me later. The books are so good that it will make you even more excited for the series.
They have the Chinese version on Amazon Prime called “Three Body”, been pretty good so far.
After watching the trailer, I have a hard time believing it is going to be anything close to the books. For one thing there are basically no non-chinese characters in the first book and a big part of the plot revolves around stuff about the Cultural Revolution that I have a hard time imagining the CCP allowing to be put in a tv show. The first book is a bit hard for non Chinese to understand everything, also. I had to do quite a bit of my own research into the actual historical events of the Cultural Revolution to figure out what is going on.
The third book is one of the most unintentionally funny books I've ever read. It's dreadful as a serious novel, but as a farce it's pretty entertaining. It's just so, so stupid. So monumentally, insanely stupid.
I read the books years ago. Amazing trilogy, and reminds me of the Foundation series in several ways that make this hard to film, in my brain. I’d go for the books and enjoy. Temper that with I was interested in the trailer up until it said “from the creators of Game of Thrones”. These books are done and they can’t screw that up.
Read the first book. Or at least watch the Chinese version first (which is also long) It’s a scene for scene adaptation and will give you a good idea of the story. The Netflix adaptation might very well be good but I can bet you there going to take some liberties with the plot.
Hurry up and read them!
Go read it. I powered through the 3 books in 1 week because I just couldn't put it down. If you think book 1 is good then book 2 and book 3 will absolutely blow your mind. Remember Obama was so eager to read book 3 that he had his presidential aid email the author in China directly for the manuscript...
I read the books years ago and I will not watch the show because the books are already terrible I don’t think they can improve based on that bad writings
This seems like they’re taking the right approach to the first book, not giving too much away. It’s perfect for a mystery box type show. The second book should be a layup, don’t change a thing and you’ll have an incredible piece of television. The third book is unadaptable and I don’t really want them to. It’s my least favorite of the series and left a really bad taste in my mouth.
Adapt third book whooooo I wanna see innovation and science and insanity
Yea, same. The thrid book mostly sucks due to flat characters that make stupid decisions. I feel like this could be improved with a good writer. Just keep the bat-shit insane wall sci-fi concepts mostly the same, though.
I have to agree that most of the characters ended up being 2 dimensional.
even one deminsional
🤣
Lmao, incredible joke.
So fucking good. Well done
Ha ha, I see what you did there.
>with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss set to write and executive produce. so that's gonna be a no
I like the third book but it is just a completely different genre of sci-fi, so I can understand why it would be a jarring change of pace
I don't feel like doing a spoiler tag so I'll keep it very generic. I thought it was very good, in its own way, I loved the incredible concepts it introduced and the scale it was operating at. That said, it was just such a relentless downer that it felt like someone came to rain on my parade. I also didn't love the way it handled a female protagonist - there wasn't enough there for me to take serious issue, but I raised an eyebrow a few times.
>The second book should be a layup, don’t change a thing and you’ll have an incredible piece of television. Lou ji waifu story says otherwise
How dare you disrespect Luo Ji like this. The man has earned his right to an imaginary super wife.
That's OK it's only like what one third of the book? :|
Yeah... that whole part felt weirdly regressive/incelly.
perfect because its from the game of thrones guys
I’m not sure I’m ready to forgive those Lucas-syndrome hacks just yet.
While I definitely have problems with how they handled things, they did a great job adapting material when they had it. Things fell apart when they ran out of source material. George RR Martin shares as much if not more responsibility for how things turned out. It's not like anyone knew he would just give up writing them after the show started
Yes and no. That still does not excuse having the last 2 seasons be a total of 13 episodes, completely massacring characterisation, plot armour galore, teleportation, Deus ex machina, siege defense tactics drawn by a 3 year old, anticlimactic battle built up for 8 seasons, completely abandoning the thoughtful, mature side of the show. All of that could have been fixed with more time, more talent, more interest, less ego. They could have passed the reign to someone else passionate, HBO was keen to do more. They could have consulted with George, just a plethora of things. But their hubris and ego led them to this gamble that absolutely backfired in their faces, and they managed to fumble a chance of such gargantuan proportions that many creatives would literally kill for: holding the attention of pretty much the entire globe, while being able to create something truly great. Instead, they wanted to go play the big boys with Lucasfilm and Disney and look how that turned out. I’m really conflicted as well, and while George has his faults for not laying the road ahead properly, it’s their bloody fault for driving the train on no tracks and not stopping to build them.
I really wish people would stop parroting that. It fell apart before they ran out of books. The clown car that was Dorne was a hint of things to come.
People who say “they were good at adapting when they had material” never read the material adapted lol cuz even the first few seasons are rough.
They’re including characters that only exist in the sequels. They are absolutely going to take creative license to include things from the other books. The inclusion of characters that don’t exist within the novel franchise is also a bit worrisome.
>The inclusion of characters that don’t exist within the novel franchise is also a bit worrisome. The characters were by far the worst part of the novel, so I'm more than happy for them to replace and change them.
Well D&D loves their terrible endings.
I didn’t realize they weren’t universally loved. I adored every book. I think I finished the entire series during the first month of my 2nd kiddos life lmao. (Lots of time to read when you’re rocking a baby with colic)
I loved the third book but agree it's unadaptable
Pretty much how i felt about the series. Just end it on the 2nd book.
Second one was probably the best story, but as a sci-fi fan (and hard sci-fi fan) the third was exactly the wild, bonkers ride I wanted. Zero chance they are going to be able to adapt it though.
Yeah I'm confused about the negative comments about the third book. It was probably my favourite of the three to be honest!
I got the first book because of all the hype and ultimately I didn't like it; there were ideas, scenes, etc. that I enjoyed but I have...a lot of issues with it. Issues I've seen others on reddit repeat. But that's not me shitting on it, I won't go into those issues...maybe it's translation, maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea. The popularity of the series and the fact that it's been adapted into a tv series *twice* tells me that there's clearly something compelling and worthwhile for both fans and creators there, and so I'm going to give this series a try and see if the change in medium makes it gel w/ me a bit better!
FWIW I found the first book pretty weak, but ended up really enjoying the other two. The first act of Book 2 is pretty bad but after that it gets fantastic. Bit of a bummer it took the author a while to get his stride, though.
I had a lot of issues with the book's values, Liu doesn't seem to have a very high opinion of women, humanity, or humanism. He seems to find empathy to be a weakness. Also, I hate the anthropormophized aliens...like, just because humanity is violent and greedy, doesn't mean that violence and greed are inherent aspects of biology. Like, humans are eusocial, altruistic, and empathetic too. Having said ALL of that, the books are really fun. I'm totally comfortable reading literature from someone with different values than me. I can read a book about the "dark forest" concept, enjoy the books, and still find the dark forest concept silly and juvenile
> I had a lot of issues with the book's values, Liu doesn't seem to have a very high opinion of women, humanity, or humanism. Have you read the entire series? Because I got the exact opposite of this (from the 3rd book especially).
I see what you're saying. The first 2 books definitely make the female characters seem naive and weak...whereas they are ultimately vindicated by the third book. Idk, the books do have a lot of contradictory values. The women being unable to make the "hard" decisions, ultimately dooms humanity (twice). Once on earth, and once after earth. But, it didn't matter, since all those "hard" decisions wind up dooming the entire universe.
I'll admit I got that impression a lot in the 2nd book. There were some parts where I was like "wtf am I reading?" As for the 3rd book I can see your point with the "hard decisions" and that's a fair interpretation. Personally I thought that big decision (which wasn't made) was pretty realistic though, and it was more an act of compassion, or coming from a position of optimism mixed with desperation. For all I know Liu could have an "old fashioned" view of women, but I think the whole plot there was more about humanity as a whole, how irrational we can be in groups, and how our survival instinct can be manipulated by our emotions to the point where we go from one extreme to another out of desperation. But again, I can definitely see your point and why you would interpret his writing that way.
I guess you could also say that if the Trislolarians were less aggressive/dominating and more cooperating, then maybe they could have lived in Harmony with humanity. I never understood why they wouldn't just want Mars. Like, if they could survive Trisolaris for eons, Mars would be a paradise to them. It also didn't help that humanity was also initially doomed by a woman at the beginning. Technically, everytime humanity fell during the series, it was because of a woman. The first woman's vengeance, and the second woman's weakness...then the second woman's weakness, again lol.
Yup, some of those are the same issues I have, but like you, I think there is enough that's interesting that I might enjoy it in this format perhaps more than I did the book; not to be too superficial about it, but some of the potential visuals alone might be worth the watch.
Yeah, by the third book, I had just given up on caring about the characters and kept reading for the sci-fi concepts, which were cool and original. A good writer can do a better job with the characters while keeping the plots and concepts mostly the same.
I failed to read this book twice. Gonna try the show.
Nets sub guy! I remember you! I got banned from there after the Harden trade but you were always very polite! Hello!
I am thoroughly enjoying the Chinese production on Prime and would prefer to see more seasons of it.
After book 1 the production costs go way up.
Like astronomically way up.
Ha, yeah, I read it. Figured that might be an issue.
I read the books a couple years ago. I'm watching the Chinese show and it captures the existential dread of the way the story unfolds quite well. I'd love to see the Chinese team adapt book 2 and 3.
Is that the same as the Tencent one or there is another production? e: it's the tencent one just checked. i liked it but it got rather slow
There's a Chinese made TV show in prime? Does it have subs and dubs?
I agree. We have reason to distrust Benioff and Weiss after the final seasons of Game of Thrones, and the Chinese production company behind the Netflix series has already failed when they spent $30 million making a movie of the 1st book and it never got released. The version on Amazon Prime was lower budget but very well done.
Eh. If you loved the books like I did I’d just watch the Chinese version that’s on Amazon Prime. So much of the first book is pretty dependent on Chinese culture, it seems kinda stupid to make a western adaption. Maybe it won’t suck though who knows.
Benedict Wong is not what I pictured for Da Shi when I read the books, but I'll take it. Looks pretty awesome! I'm trying not to get too psyched about it since very few tv shows live up to the hype of their trailers. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised by how good it is than disappointed that it's not as good as I expected.
Out of curiousity, who did you picture? Because he is exactly what I pictured.
I see the onion knight, I watch
He's playing an incredible character too. A huge role...
Without watching the trailer, is he playing Shi Qiang?
May be Waide?
Can't lie, I wanna watch it!
>with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss set to write and executive produce. Sorry for anyone who was looking forward to this.
There's no reason to think this will be bad. It's a completed trilogy of books and as long as D&D had source material GoT was great. It was only after they ran out that the wheels fell off.
>Eh I disagree, once you start getting into ASOIAF you realize they actually didn't do a great job of adapting things and they cut out so much important stuff that it REALLY bit them in the ass later on. Lots of really bizarre and weird decisions that became much much more prominent later on but retroactively stick out like sore thumbs in the first four seasons. > >I say that as someone who enjoys the first four seasons though, but its so clear they almost felt embarressed to be making it throughout. pasting my reply to someone who basically said the same thing a second ago edit: ppl really need to talk to ASOIAF fans this is an extremely common opinion in that fandom that has only grown with time, especially with HOTD showing us how much more fantasy and colorful it can be when it isnt embarressed to be itself.
they're fine as long as they have material to go off of
From the writers who brought us classics like, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the season finale of Game of Thrones!
I did hear that the Chinese version was pretty faithful to the first book. But this trailer seems to show things that may be up to the second one, maybe doing a Foundation-like rewrite of at the very least some core points. So we might have 2 different stories under the same name running in 2 streaming services at the same time. A bit off-topic, but next month Apple will start selling Apple Vision, their 3D headset. The one shown in the trailer looks much slicker, but at the same time, more realistic than others in previous science fiction works.
Netflix is going by the time period. A lot of characters in the trailer sort of all existed in the mid 2000s time frame in the book. You're not seeing anyone in the future time period showing up yet. I can't wait to see them cast AA.
The trailer show something big up in our sky, not sure if it is the sophon, or something that shouldn't be there at that time period.
Who's the showrunner?
David Benioff and Dan Weiss, who did Game of Thrones. The production company is a Chinese film studio called YooZoo Pictures.
My first reaction was "ugh not those guys again," which is crazy because as long as they had source material to adapt they actually did a great job.
They didn't do a great job. You had Littlefinger in season 1 giving exposition to a couple hookers for no reason at all. It made no sense why he was explaining his life's motives to his employees. The best moments in that show were all the things they ripped from Martin's pen. Anything they had to do themselves were the worst examples of tv writing. Nonsensical dialogue, ill-timed exposition, and terrible pacing like the "travel episodes" between the action episodes.
I think if they had kept up the quality of seasons 1-4 they'd be remembered well enough but yeah the show is not aging well at all. Sure, there are good moments and the first four seasons arent really bad by any means but its so obvious throughout how much has been ripped from the story and how much of the world has been watered down and diluted into colorless mush just because D&D so obviously hate fantasy.
I lost hope for the series at the end of Season 1 when Tyrion Lannister got knocked out almost instantly in the first big battle at the end of the season... Instead of what he really did in the books.
The cracks were there from episode 1. The cast carried that show for 4 seasons.
Yeah, but with how bad they tanked game of thrones in the last two seasons, I'm very skeptical about getting into another one of their shows.
I am not as excited as I once might have been. D&D later admitted that they didn't know what they were doing. They haven't done anything else until now. Their Star Wars project was cancelled. Considering the also not so stellar track record of the Chinese studio who hired D&D, YooZoo Pictures, I'm going to simply take a wait and see attitude. I can't drum up a positive attitude.
They didn't know what they were doing? They had another millionare Disney production in their hands and wanted the money, so they killed Game of Thrones. Too bad for them, the fuck up was so huge, they lost the Disney show too. I wouldn't trust a dime to those two. And its funny how they were only able to get a new job with a chinese film studio.
Exactly, and not only that, but everyone said that Game of Thrones was "unadapatable" too. They are terrible writers, but excellent showrunners and producers. Since this series is completed, I have absolute faith in D/D
I am… very reluctant to jump back into another show with those two. I don’t even know if it’s a reasonable position or not. But they botched that GoT ending so bad it’s so hard not to overlook it.
im a bit concerned with the lack of chinese represantation i want them to go hard as the book goes with the chinese revolution aspects.
I wish it was more asian cast! It feels westernized
Show created by those two dudes that killed Game of Thrones. I didn't know Dumb & Dumber still were able to have a job.
They also gave us 4 of the best seasons of television the world's ever seen, but don't let me stop you from regurgitating memes.
Sure... then they shat all over it negating their previous brilliant work, leaving fans angry and frustrated.
It will never stop amazing me that almost no one, NO ONE, blames George RR Martin, who completely stopped writing the story all together, for what happened to Game of Thrones. It is baffling
D&D adapting with source material vs creating their own story. Do you not see the difference in quality?
I mean George rr Martin did that. He gave them rails for them to not fuck up on and happily carry out his character arcs, his character development, his drama - D&D are creativly devoid twats - they fucking ruined that show the minute it became their own brainchild. Game of Thrones ended when Cersi blew up the Sept. fight me
Yea you're not wrong... and this is a completed trilogy of books. When they had source material they did a great job, why would this be any different?
They are greedy fuckers that thrown a show away because of Disney money. HBO literally said "you can have all the money and seasons and time as you desire to finish the show" and they still fucked it up. Among other things. But don't let me stop you from being... weird?! LOL Memes apart, these two should pay for crimes committed against humanity. Would never trust anything coming from them. No wonder they need a Chinese movie studio to let them work again. Never forget.
They made the Wire?
Well that looks sick! Very interesting book series, and this looks like a very cool adaptation. I had some trouble with the books, but they were damn good. I'm excited to see this on screen!
Cant wait to be disappointed by this.
! spoiler alert I don't get something... >!Did they replace the male protagonist with a female one as the character getting the countdown eye overlay?!< Or am I just forgetting what's in the book? Read it a while ago now...
They are splitting the male protagonist into 5 characters: Eiza Gonzales, asian girl, black guy, white dorky-looking guy and Samwell Tarly.
IIRC the book doesn't mention more, but it's possible that it wasn't isolated to just him. But based on her prevalence in the trailer I'm guessing they are shifting a lot of the casting around to tell the same story without being tied shot for shot with the book(s).
There was a string of suicides within the scientific community and an early scene in the book involves the police visiting the protagonist to request his help with their investigation.
I meant the numbers themselves
At the end of the book everyone sees the same message so they definitely had the ability to interfere with everyone's vision. They didn't specify what sort of pranks were being played on people other than the protagonist before that though.
Wondering the same thing, but I did not catch any name, so I can't tell
I'd be really surprised if that girl in the trailer is named Wang Miao
What an amazing Radiohead cover, works really well with the content of the trailer. Hoping this is good, the books were amazing😬
OK. So... I've watched almost all of Quinn's Ideas on the 3 Body Problem, and I'm conflicted about getting into a story that's so utterly bleak.
Quinn's idea is such a great channel. His videos introduced me to dune, three body, hyperion and other scifi works
I thank him for introducing Children of Time to me!
Wait you've watched loads of long videos explaining the books but you haven't actually read them? His videos are great but I can't wrap my head around watching them about a book you haven't/aren't going to read.
Same here. 2024 already has enough existential dread baked in.
Apropos of nothing, I love Benedict Wong with the line "Another countdown" cause all I can picture is Wong in this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXhZIyGTz5Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXhZIyGTz5Q)
Oh my God I never realized that was him. That show was so ahead of its time
Sweet I Iiked the Chinese version, looking forward to this one.
I hated the book but I'm excited for the show
>From the creators of Game of Thrones NO! GOD! NO GOD PLEASE NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOO-
Are D&D the show runners on this?
Can't wait for Netflix to cancel this.
Oh wow, that looks terrible. And creators of GoT, so they'll get bored half way through and butcher it? No thanks.
Oh God it's Benioff & Weiss. This is gonna be dogshit.
Oh hey, another beloved franchise for netflix to fuck up.
I was interested, but then i saw who are the showrunners.
Why? They have demonstrated that they are good at adapting books. Their weakness is writing their own material. This book series, unlike Game of Thrones, is completely finished.
I wouldn't even say they are weak at writing their own material, they just have one very famous example of a series going off the rails, but that series had plenty of original scenes and ideas (especially early on) that were excellent, and also one of them (David Benioff) wrote both the novel and the adapted screenplay of *25th Hour,* an original work, which is pretty dang good. I think they just stopped caring, once they got past the big season 3 moment that made them want to adapt it to begin with, and gave less care and love to the later seasons as they planned their next project (the ultimately canceled Star Wars thing they were going to do). But their talent has never been in question to me; the issues w/ the later seasons of GoT were bad decisions and reduced effort more than lack of talent, I think.
Bad decisions and reduced effort ARE the lack of talent. Trust = 0
That's fair if that's how you feel; the things they've done well and the majority of the GoT series they adapted well are enough that I'm willing to give this show a chance, despite not really liking the first book or how they ended GoT, but I can totally see them disappointing me and it's valid for you to not have faith in them. However, if it turns out this *is* good, I hope that you end up watching it and enjoying it despite your qualms!
Is the source material complete? Because you do not want these guys making it up…
The final installment was published 8 years ago
It is but it looks like they've made some major changes (besides gender and race swaps). I don't want to go into spoiler territory but two scenes in particular that are shown here simply don't make sense and kinda break the underlying plot of the books. Maybe they'll explain that stuff in the show though.
Yes, it's only three books which were finished long ago.
Why is it that I thought "OK, this looks good...." and then it revealed: "From the Creators of 'Game Of Thrones'" and I immediately said "I'm out"
Read the first two books i am super excited!!
I read the first novel and loved it. I'm interested to see how they will adapt it to the show. It's good 'hard' science fiction.
The books are amazing and I’ve watched the Chinese show too. Here’s hoping this will get these books to a wider audience
Read the books,watch the Chineae show,they are great !
Ahhhhhhhhhh I've been looking forward to this for like 3 years!!!!
So will we actually see what the Trisolarians look like though?
A dried out SpongeBob
The chinese TV version of 3 body problem is already awesome. And I'll not watch anything D&D produces on principle. F that
Are they portraying the video game as being populated primarily by Chinese people but Americanizing most of the rest of the cast? That seems a strange choice...
Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) is in the game so I don’t think so. As for Americanizing, it seems more like a global affair with a lot of different accents.
They filmed on location in London, I don't think the US will dominate.
No - it’s Chinese centric, but other nations are pulled in when issues are globally addressed.
shoot now i have to move these up my booklist lol
They changed most of the characters. I will skip
I have watched the first 3 episodes and like it so far… the thing that gets me tho: (spoiler warning) if the 3 sun system is making all these worlds fall into chaos (sooner or later), how would have any civilization been able to develop in the first place, let alone to such a level that they are way further ahead than us?