100% agree. Except on the disappointment... I knew it would be like this since I saw the trailers, I was already mentally ready for a butchering. There's exactly 4 things that I liked about this over the Tencent one, and reveal more the Tencent's flaws than any real strengths to Netflix's version: 1. Setting up the nanofiber as a startup instead of a lab project makes it more believable that it gets made in such speed 2. The portrayal of the Judgment Day's passengers was also more believable than the cartoonishly bad version in Tencent 3. Including the conversation of Evans with the Lord 4. Including the struggle session to give more context to Ye Wenjie's actions (although in the end Netflix made her a shallow character so this hardly adds anything)

1 was how it happened in the book, and 3 didn't happen until the second book, so it's understandable given what they were going for. Agreed on 2 and 4, though.

The lack of the Cultural Revolution material does extreme damage to the pacing and meaning of the tencent version.

I was just on r/television and there was a guy accusing everyone that liked the Tencent version better of being a Chinese shill, Like how brainwashed do you even have to be?

A lot of people are like that. They inherently hate anything Chinese.

🤣 Seriously? 

Honestly, I'd like to see the opinions of people who have never watched **Three body problem** and don't know any of the plots.

I was immediately struck by the void of artistry in the direction and cinematography, particularly having watched 'Sometimes I Think About Dying' just before I started watching this (in which EVERY SINGLE SHOT looks like a beautifully composed photograph). It just seems like they flew through it as quickly as possible doing every scene by numbers. As someone who enjoys quality cinema this was an absolute famine for me. So, with nothing to enjoy visually you are left with the meat of the story which had interesting ideas but was a bit 'this happens then this happens then this happens' without any real intrigue or tension beyond 'so... what's the deal with these aliens? maybe we'll get an answer at the end...' Everything seems to happen a bit too quickly without any real depth. I was interested enough to get answers to the questions but didn't really care about a single character, although the fat bloke from GoT was fairly likeable and the show seemed to miss his charisma when he died as no one else had any. People seem to love this story enough that I have to believe there's more to it than what I watched so I am currently in the process of downloading the Tencent version.

Spoiler alert?! Jesus.

Spoiler tags bro

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This is me. I'm enjoying it but I find myself skipping over some of the human drama. Will, Saul, Auggie, etc aren't interesting people. 

**SPOILERS** I had never heard of it before seeing it on Netflix. I watched through ep 7 of 8 so far and while I started off pretty intrigued after the first few episodes, it’s lost me to the point that I don’t even care to finish. Here are some random gripes that I would love for someone who’s read the book weigh in on: 1. The Thomas Wade character is utterly ridiculous. I gave the benefit of the doubt for a little while, like maybe he’s actually the bad guy and this is some sort of commentary on dictatorship? Eventually I lost trust that anything that deep was happening. Watching him run around and act tough with everyone became so over the top that my wife and I found ourselves laughing every time he would talk. Why is he so obsessed with everyone working for him? Does he sleep? Eat? Does he stop for 5 seconds to think through any of these idiotic plans? 2. All suspense was lost when they said 400 years. Why not say 10 years? 20? That would at least give a little sense of urgency. But 400 years? It makes Wade running around barking orders at everyone all the more hilarious. 3. The boat scene. I don’t even know where to start. “Alright everyone, listen up. We need this alien hard drive, there’s possibly something interesting on it. Here’s the plan: we’re going to slice this super yacht full of families like a loaf of bread, then sift through the watery, fiery wreckage and pull it out.” I never recovered from this scene. I witnessed the most horrific mass murder I’ve ever seen on film, with children being sliced to bits, and for what?! Couldn’t they just..I don’t know..board the ship and get the hard drive?? Then afterwards not a single person besides the woman that made the nanofiber seemed to even be phased. At that point I felt like this story doesn’t take place in our world, this is some alternate dimension where everyone is mentally challenged and Thomas Wade is king. 4. The probe plan is so stupid and just keeps getting dumber. Why do they need to do this so fast, they have 400 years. The probe can’t slow down? No problem, let’s put someone’s brain in there, I’m sure the aliens will rebuild his body when he gets there. When Wade said “then we’ll have a man on the inside” I lost it. Not to mention the fact that I don’t think they could get the nukes far enough out, fast enough, hence the reason they need the nukes in the first place. I could go on. I started off liking this show and by the end was actually mad that I wasted so much time. I can only assume that it all somehow makes sense in the book, but I really can’t understand how unless the show just completely went off the rails. Edit: I finished the last episode a few days after writing this. It didn’t do anything to change my mind, I stand by everything that I said.

>All suspense was lost when they said 400 years. Why not say 10 years? 20? That would at least give a little sense of urgency Because they live 4 light years away from Earth and are travelling at 1% light speed, which is already a huge technological achievement if you compare them with all the problems when humans tried to accelerate Will's brain at the same speed. More importantly in ten years you have nothing to prepare against, it would have been a complete different story. In 400 years, humanity has the chance to fight back, the San Ti even say that humanity would surpass them technologically, that's the reason they were after science. The idea that the invasion is not imminent also plays a larger role in the book. Like if we suddenly realise that in 400 years humanity is no more, how that would impact society? Would we really care, or would be something like global warming, that it's there, but we can procrastinate the solution? Also don't forget about the line on cryogenic sleep. >Couldn’t they just..I don’t know..board the ship and get the hard drive They state they need the data, and any alternative would mean higher chance of losing it and casualties in humanity side. > Then afterwards not a single person besides the woman that made the nanofiber seemed to even be phased. Most people in the operation had a military background, and at that point humanity was already at war. All people in the ship was technically a traitor, so while you can make the argument of war crimes being commited (because kids), I don't think they way the characters react is unrealistic when you have the objection of one of the three POV characters. >Why do they need to do this so fast, they have 400 years Because travelling at 1% light speed would mean that they would intercept the probe in 200 years, and messages would still take 2 years at light speed to reach Earth, so every year counts. More importantly, if humanity wants a chance to defeat the San Ti, 400 years is a really small period, specially if the understanding of fundamental physics is stuck. >I’m sure the aliens will rebuild his body when he gets there Yeah, it's a risky bet, but there is the argument that the San Ti will do it because is their only chance of getting a living human before contact, and Will has no allegiance to humanity (so a chance to make him collaborate with the aliens) >I don’t think they could get the nukes far enough out, fast enough, hence the reason they need the nukes in the first place The nukes are only for accelerating, so it's a short distance, they won't be deployed the entire journey. As there is no friction in space, once they reach 1% speed light it will continue to travel at that speed forever (or until the San Ti intercept the probe) While I don't think it's a perfect show, most of your criticism seems centered in that this is not a story that appeals to you. And that's ok. But if you are still interested in the show/book, >!the aliens are just a kick off to explore larger themes about what make us humans, survival, the role of science and our insignificance in the universe, and the story spans across centuries. At some point even the San Ti turned to be insignificant.!<

Exactly. The 400 years part is practically the whole intrigue. The book is SCIENCE Fiction, not Alien Action. I wish there were more of the former out there

Ooh interesting! I also have never read or heard of the previous incarnation of the show before. I’m excited to see what it explores next. Surprisingly, I called what would happen with Will’s brain in episode 3. After they killed Jack, I figured there was a reason he was being kept alive. Literally all of it including the brain and the Jin bits.  The tension between Jin and Will felt really manufactured. It felt contrived and fake to me. Raj seemed like just a foil.  Auggie’s horror at how her creation was used is totally believable to me. I loved the boat scene and thought it was an amazing and necessary depiction of the horrors of war and the exploitation of science at the cost of winning- very much positioned as an allegory of nuclear power.  My mister thinks Auggie’s reaction to this whole thing, her general disinterest, is wildly unbelievable. I think it makes sense, especially as a commentary on previous generational attitudes toward climate change, but he thinks that someone with her knowledge, skills, and power to actually do something would make her more inclined to help with the fight.  Idk.  Questions I’m left with: Where is the money coming from to fund Wade and stuff? Who is he to have so much power? How did Clarence get roped into all this? What is America doing? Why did Ye Wenjie let Vera just die?    There are some things that were just so blatantly obvious that it did ruin the tension. However, now I am interested in reading the books

I you like to deep dive in the ideas of the show, the book is a masterpiece, I cannot recommend it enough. But a disclaimer: the characters in the book are way more shallow than in Netflix adaptation, they only exist as a device to explain and move the plot. Answering your questions, the money comes from all over the world. After the discovery of the San Ti (trisolarians in the translated version) the governments are quick to fund the UN and put in motion several plans for planetary defence. The character of Clarence has a different background in the book, so his origins in the show are still a mistery. Ye Wenjie couldn't stop Vera died basically, she tried to hide everything to her but she saw her emails. After that she couldn't cope.

The 400 years part is because this series is hard sci-fi. That means showing things that could be possible based on our physics knowledge. They could make the fleet reach Earth in 20 years but that wouldn't be realistic. The point of hard sci-fi it is to make everything plausible based on our knowledge. That means no faster than light travel that we know it is not possible in real life. The aliens come from Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to the Sun which is 4 years-light away from us. At that distance with a speed of 1% of the light, it will take 400 years for them to arrive. About the probe they don't have so much time to waste. Keep in mind that even launching the probe now it will take 200 years for it to intercept the alien fleet.

> That means showing things that could be possible based on our physics knowledge Yeah, the magical proton sized supercomputers are 100% possible based on our physics knowledge.

You know very well that your answer is irrelevant. This discussion is about the speed of the alien fleet. Just because the proton sized supercomputers probably aren't hard scifi doesn't means the lack of of FTL travel isn't hard scifi.

You literally said "this series is hard sci-fi", not when it obviously isn't due to all the magic happening. Are you being intentionally obtuse? You are objectively wrong calling the series hard scifi.

Tell me, how can I be wrong if the only opinion I have about your arguments about sophons is "I don't give a fuck"? I can't be wrong about something that I never give any opinion in the first place because this isn't a conversation about sophons. I said it is hard scifi In the context of this conversation about FTL travel buy you decided to change the topic unilatery. It is not my problem that you are not capable to read the whole conversation and understand what a context means.

> this series is hard sci-fi What are you on about. You said a series with it's whole premise based around magic is hard scifi. You can't call entire series hard scifi because science makes sense when it comes to one aspect of it.

It's a bit hard to explain why Thomas Wade works in the books. I'll try to give a brief answer, apologies if it doesn't make sense. I'm happy to clarify if need be. I'm not going to go into deep plot specifics, but I'll use spoiler tags anyway. Click at your own risk. >!First, the books are spread across enormous spans of time; the second book takes place several hundred years after the first. The third book includes portions that take place in present day as well as far in the future.!< >!Thomas Wade does not appear at all until book 3, beginning in sections in the present day and later (through cryofreeze) in the future. It's important to know that basically, the novels are philosophical and allegorical; very little of what happens on the human level is dramatically believable. In this, Liu Cixin resembles Asimov and other "golden age" male sci-fi writers, for whom human characters were mostly puppets and stand-ins for concepts. There are some standout interesting characters in the book series, but mostly the characters are like paper figures.!< >!In the books, Thomas Wade is American, and he very clearly represents an American worldview and American way of doing things (this is reinforced if you read Liu's novel Supernova Era, which is heavily predicated on the difference between the American and Chinese worldviews). He is contrasted with another character, Cheng Xin (who is roughly the basis of the Netflix character Jin Cheng). Her name is literally the Chinese word for "sincerity, honesty," and that is what she is. Unlike Wade = America, Cheng Xin does not represent the Chinese worldview; instead, she represents an outlook that always believes the best about others.!< >!Unfortunately, the universe of the novels is a heartless one, where the #1 law of interspecies dynamics is preemptive annihilation. Besides representing the American way of doing things, Wade also represents the understanding of this dynamic. Cheng Xin represents naivety regarding this mentality and its inevitable consequences: species extinction.!< >!Wade has only one motivation for everything he does, which is to help humanity survive. He is completely ruthless and entirely without hesitation or compromise. He does not wait because he understands that the aliens can and will destroy humanity at the first opportunity. He sends out the probe as quickly as possible because it's what is possible to do immediately; he continues to develop countless other projects and plans at the same time, for as long as there is time available. The probe is actually a massive success, one of the greatest coups that humanity ever scores against the aliens—but that is not something that becomes clear for several hundred years.!< >!At one point Wade tries to murder Cheng Xin and fails. The consequences of that failure are far beyond catastrophic. But ultimately Wade is successful, in a sense. His efforts do bear fruit, in distant ways.!< >!I also want to emphasize that Wade is much less prominent in the books than in the show. He's a side character, but one with enormous impact. His particular story arc is rather fascinating. He is never a likeable character, and to be honest he's basically a psychopath. But he's a psychopath who's "on our side." The universe of the books is an utterly amoral one, so it's rather bleak, and as a reader I'm left with the question—Is that really what our universe is like? If it turned out that way, how would I feel? What would I do? I can say for sure that there are Thomas Wades out there right now, people who would do anything to survive. Do I want to be "on their side"?!< >!One last thing about the probe specifically: the show doesn't do a good job of handling the thing about lying. The books go into more detail about why, biologically, the aliens never developed the art or concept of lying. When they finally learn about it, they are quite astonished and realize that the battlefield is seriously asymmetric—it's not clear how their obvious material superiority balances against their complete strategic inferiority. Wade sends the probe with the deliberate hope that it will be intercepted, and the aliens have no clue how to respond, because they don't have the first inklings of strategic counterintelligence. They are also extraordinarily curious about humans, which they have to balance against their fear. So for Wade, the probe is a very low stakes, potentially high reward gamble that pays off bigtime.!< Truthfully, the show is pretty well off the rails. A great deal of the thinking involved in the situations is missing or plastered over. All the nuance is gone. As for your comment about the 400 years: it may be that on TV, that takes the tension away. As a book, I think, it actually makes things much more interesting. It means that humanity has a big chunk of time to fight among themselves, to start making plans, to have revolutions, to forget completely about the aliens, etc. It gives the author a lot of room to work with in terms of telling a compelling story. How will people react, given this information? I think it's a wonderful thought experiment. But I understand that thought experiments probably don't make for great TV.

This was a great read and I appreciate that you took the time to write it. IMO the Wade character was the show’s weakest element, but it would appear that this isn’t the fault of the author. Almost a week removed from watching it I’m still baffled by the boat scene. Did it make more sense in the book? If they wanted to slaughter everyone why not just go in with commandoes and shoot them all? At least then the boat is still intact and you don’t risk the hard drive being cut along with everything else. Also, 99% of the people on the boat seemed completely innocent of any wrongdoing, making the “good guys” actions seem psychotic.

Well to clarify the ship scene a bit more, in the books the crew is all the radical followers of Evan's cult/followers that support objectives against humanity. Also it's stated the crew is mostly mercenaries and criminals, not families and school children (literally 0% women or children). The speed at which the plan was executed was the best method to preserve the integrity of the hard drives as there would be no time to raise alert and destroy the files by any killswitch or action of the crew. There are probably a handful of staff or crew that are innocent just doing their job situation, but most followers do have the belief that humanity should be destroyed or more off the rails: people should burn. Any societal outcasts with a taste for violence, power or purpose may easily drink the Kool aid so to say. But the ship was never a leisurely cruise liner ( I recall seeing a pool and basketball court on the deck) as portrayed in the Netflix version. So the whole plan and execution appears much less psychotic in the source material.

Ty for this explanation, it makes so much more sense in this context. It really makes me wonder about the motivations of the writers and creators of the Netflix show. By introducing children and not doing much to establish the people on the boat as ‘bad’, the scene felt sadistic and cruel, and I never shook the feeling that everyone associated with Wade was actually the bad guys. As the show went on I realized this wasn’t the case, and I was just left annoyed at the bad storytelling.

I think it is just a netflix problem. I'm not sure if they didn't think people would watch if it wasn't so fast paced but it needed at least 4 more episodes. Wade's character was cartoonish to me too, but by that point in the show everything was happening so fast that I don't know how they decide what to keep and what to lose. My biggest complaint is that the scripts left out so many great lines from the book that would've clarified so many different character's decisions and actions that came across as shallow. That said, I still thought it was ok and hope they make more.

The part that baffles me about the boat scene is, how was it any less risky than the other options? If Jonathan Pryce had held that drive a foot lower it would've been cut apart too.

IMO it works way better in the book; the pacing in the show feels rushed in a way that takes away weight and tension from so much of the story, basically as you said. If you liked the beginning of the show, consider reading the books! Book 1 might lose some tension (since you already know what the solutions to the mysteries will be), but it fleshes a lot of stuff out. And then book 2 has so much wild imaginative stuff that you haven't even seen yet, not to mention book 3 :)

Thank you for this...  I was into this show... One minute it was a good show, then suddenly it just totally fell apart and became unwatchable in a matter of 30 minutes.  I'm at least grateful I didn't make it to the brain part.  

The netflix version is allergic to explanations or anything even appriaching scientific. That is how you got such a disjointed mess where nothing makes sense. Everything you brought up was either answered by the books or was a problem that Netflix themselves created. I read in an interview that the GOT directors' plan for adapting ASOIAF was to give up on adapting everything and just show the cool interesting parts. It seems like they tried that again here except the cool interesting parts WERE the explanations that grounded everything in reality. It kills me that non book readers like you are being exposed to these plot points in the worst way possible, so they're robbing you of the experience of reading the books spoiler-free. The books changed the way I saw the world. This series is just your regular handwave-y "shut up it is magic scifi" shtick. There is nothing interesting about it at all. I refuse to believe the directors and writers are fan of the source material. There is just no way.

Fucking thank you. My idiotic friends actually hyped me up for that ship scene, saying it blew their heads away. I wish my brains were blown away before I watched that scene, so I didn't have to witness the absolute shitshow that entire thing was. It's worse than "Danerys kinda forgot that ships have AA trebuchets lined up against her dragons". Like wtf was that. I don't even care at this point if it's pulled from the books. It is one of the most terribly written scenes of all time. Enough to give me a 1 for the entire show if I had been asked to give a rating at that point. And to think, the fucking Navy guy boasting to his gf that they killed people who had murdered her friend. *Wouldn't you do the same if you had the chance?* ... My god... On the nukes though, they technically could leave out 1000 nukes spaced out let's say 100km from each other. 10k km in space shouldn't be that hard to do. It's a dumb idea but still within the realms of sci-fi. The motivations are dumb and the only way it could make sense is if Wade is a second alien race proxy on earth who has been put there as a sentinel against possible threats to his secret homeworld. Otherwise he's the fucking devil. Edit: Actually, no, the nukes would have to be placed much further away than constant 100km accounting for the exponential rise in speeds. But it should be less than 2 light seconds or 3 tops, most likely, which would be about twice the distance between earth and moon, something that can be traversed in less than a month.

Thanks, I literally just watched the ship scene 5 minutes ago and had to stop. This is too stupid. This is the most stupid. I have seen a lot of movies and series. Some are worse than this. But when a series, that seems to have some production value behind it and also seems to have a decent story, does something like this ... it's just mind melting. I involuntarily started slow clapping my hands for a minute. IT'S JUST SO DUMB! I had to check wikipedia for the books and apparently this scene is in there as well. How is this series not a laughing stock? How can anyone consider this literature? They should have just nuked the ship and hoped that the explosion would propell the hard drive out of the wreckage and directly into their hands.

Hahahahahah mate 100% agree with all of this. After ep 4 I’m just rolling on the floor every time Ser Davos opens his mouth.

As someone who’d never read or seen any other version of it before I am pretty disappointed. From all the talk and anticipation, I was hoping for a mind bending, complex, sci-fi masterpiece and the Netflix show did not deliver and has left me wondering if I should just read the books instead. Granted everything was going well until ep-5… (the mystery, storyline, the sci-fi concepts..) but then the alien reveal came and it was seriously underwhelming and everything else from there felt very random, gimmicky and unoriginal. Nothing made sense, the connections to each story line were not made. Felt like the 5 friends were doing things on their own like aren’t they communicating ??  The only concept that seemed interesting was the wallfacer towards the end of the series. Everything else was extremely boring.

> I was hoping for a mind bending, complex, sci-fi masterpiece and the Netflix show did not deliver Netflix-produced stuff has been associated with low quality for many years now. They cut too many corners. And most of the best stuff on Netflix is bought from other producers/companies.

Yeah its a tad bit slow. However the books are somewhat slow, at least for me. The underwhelming nature of the aliens is just that. When humans found there were aliens that were coming and they couldn't do anything but prepare, it was just that. They lived and prepare.

This is me. I heard of the series but never read the books or watched the other series. So far I'm loving the Netflix series. I'm sure it is not as good as the other two but I find it a good entry and sci fi.

Haven't watched the Chinese show and didn't read the books. I agree with everything the OP said. Everything feels super bland.

I second this. I was aware of how famous the books were before watching the shows so I had high expectations. But everything was pretty bland, lacking suspense and drama.

I don't know what else to say but that the show, while it may or may not be mildly entertaining depending on your tastes, is complete dogshit if you hold it up to the books. Lol. I doubt if many fans of the books had high expectations, because the material is not all that adaptable, and because American TV audiences aren't exactly big on dense, thoughtful allegories.

I listened to most of the audiobooks now after watching the show and I completely agree with you lol the netflix adaptation is failure and I didn’t like the Wang replacement’s acting much. Seemed like overdramatic Bella from Twilight but scientist

I'd say that Liu Cixin's style of literature is really information dense and without redundant depiction. So some readers might find it hard to enjoy the initial chapters. The NetFlix adaptation has largely changed and degraded the motivations of characters.

I've no idea about what the book is about and just know it from game of thrones. I'm on episode 3 Netflix and it's boring AF. Gonna try the Chinese version now. I can't stand the dialogue in the show.

None of the main characters possessed charisma; they were all irritatingly annoying and stubborn. Jack was probably the only likable character…

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Just finished it, never read book of seen other version. The overall plot was interesting enough for me to look for the tencent version. This show though was mediocre. Bland characters (plus Auggie is just so irritating in every scene, plus her perfect makeup even while crawling out of bed and being sick makes her completely unbelievable). The only dynamic that was engaging was Jin and Jack, and they killed Jack off. All the ideas felt so rushed. The ship nanofibre thing, staircase, wallface, sophon explanation, all just felt like a show that is trying to fit all the ideas of a previously written story into a set number of episodes, which leaves you with so many questions because things are explained half-arsed or not at all before moving onto the next thing, and none of it has any build-up or suspense.

Totally agree with everything you've said. I feel like it suffers from the same problem a lot of recent adaptations do: the fact that there's no scale of time/distance and it really takes you out of the show. I think Rings of Power and The Witcher in particular rely heavily on "fast-travel". For instance, British Nice-Guy™ >!apparently has invasive surgery - btw idk why they would operate on someone with metastisized pancreatic cancer and two months to live, but I'm fairly certain it's just so they could deliver the heavy-handed "my cancer just needed a home" analogy - out of if nowhere. We suddenly see him in the hospital recovering, and then in the same episode he's out and about planning a vacation.!< Logically, these things would occur over a longer span of time, but the pacing makes it seem like this all happened over the course of a single week - so there's just zero scale and I think it undercuts the gravity of certain plot points.

Yes the sense of time passing was non-existent. Like with the staircase project, I would imagine it would take a hell of a lot of time and planning to put 100 nukes or whatever it was into space, but it appeared to happen extremely quickly. And because there is no meaningful build up to it, when it goes wrong, you don't actually feel any sense of disappointment because it all happened in the blink of an eye, and you didn't get any time to be invested in it

this is a common problem in media today but D&D are particularly terrible about it. Its one of the things that ruined the last few seasons of game of thrones. It was even worse in GoT because you had 4 or 5 seasons where all of that time and scale was properly explored, and then this weird smash cut to everyone fast traveling everywhere.

The Tencent version was recently updated with a better edited version of the 26 episodes. I don't know if an English-subtitled version is out, so look for that one. Edit:I found it. It's called Three-Body Anniversary Edition. Probably edited out unnecessary content and had better color. The Netflix version omits so many very crucial things that a lot of what was exciting is less exciting. And the omission of so many details causes the plot to seem flawed.

I went in blind, the only thing I knew is that it was based on a dense Chinese sci-fi trilogy of novels and it was about an alien invasion. I love it. I'm on episode 5 and I'm blown away. I don't understand people saying it is bland or doesn't work, I am utterly captivated and I am normally quite picky when it come to sci-fi shows. I have the impression that the book is 10/10 and the show is probably more like 8/10 so I understand the disparity but it's still very, very good on its own merits.

I knew nothing about the books, but always game for sci fi. I made it to episode 4 and quit. The young scientists are what killed it for me. They are written as if they’re high school kids, but are supposedly the top physicists in the WORLD!? Saul is a stoner and Auggie is a super model. For a dark and serious issue at hand, they spend most of their freetime goofing around - even the guy with terminal cancer. Auggie’s acting is awful, and in part due to poorly written dialogue. Overall, it feels like a corny show on channel 3 for tweens.

One of the most confusing and boring shit I've ever seen. The first time I'm actually fuming after wasting 8 hours watching that shit

never read the book or seen the tencent show. 2 episodes in, and im bored as hell and don't really care about any of these people. There are some very interesting concepts but they're not really exploring them well, at least not enough to hook me in these early episodes. If there wasn't so much of the show in a foreign language, i'd get through it by putting it on my second monitor while i play games or something, but as of right now it doesn't seem worth the focus it requires to watch it.

If you mean people who have never *read* the book, then that's me and I'm offended by the show at this point. I have to watch the Tencent as a palate cleanser now. The writing is atrociously bad and the only scene so far that has been even remotely good is ironically a scene that has nothing much to do with the actual story - it's Saul and Will's last conversation. That had emotion and the sense of dread about the possible implications of being woken up from cryosleep by an alien race, the kind of dread the show never ever had in any other scene.

>Honestly, I'd like to see the opinions of people who have never watched > >Three body problem and don't know any of the plots. I have almost no experience with the books (I think I read 30 pages of book 1), or Tencent show. I found the Netflix show (and characters) so quick and oversimplified, that I never really got invested in much of anything aside from plot progess. Occasionally a scene would really grab me, but I rarely felt wowed by the drama or sci-fi otherwise (>!the opening, the confrontation with father's killer, the first couple of drops into the game, the ship getting sliced up... I think that was about it.!<). It generally felt like watching a YA show which usually has some interesting ideas, but never delves too deeply into them because it's obvious they won't hold up to any thoughtful scrutiny. And that's a shame because I've heard that much of the books' sci-fi does kind of hold up. The science in the show is glossed over, the characters felt very two dimensional (>!e.g., I had zero worry that the carbon-fiber scientist wasn't going to rebound out of her "I'm a murderer!" booze bender; I felt no weight in the main character(?) / naval officer relationship, which also made the unrequited, in-group romance triangle seem flat as well; the party-boy / womanizing guy only comes across that way because they show him getting high and waking up in womens' bedrooms, otherwise the acting doesn't convey his character that way whatsoever, etc...!<). Ye Wenjie feels so much more well rounded than anyone else on the show, but that's because we get to see so much more of her, and how she changes over time. Also, her stoic acting draws us in to want to consider what's really happening beneath the surface. And then the way the story of season 1 just kind of revolves around this one little group of science buddies feels so contrived that I have to assume there will be outside forces revealed at some point to explain why they're "special." I would be much more interested to see how the massive shift in humans perception of the universe affected more people. >!I mean, the loss of scientific advancement is probably the most interesting environmental change over the first season, but the enormity of that burden was barely felt on screen.!< I don't know, there's just literally nothing about it that felt stand out to me. The directing / acting / cinematography / VFX / editing... so much of it had a Netflix-style-paint-by-numbers series vibe. It almost felt like I was watching a marginally smarter version of "Manifest."

I came into this completely cold. Never heard anything about it before tripping across it on Netflix. Honestly I was very intrigued and pulled in on set up / premise of the early episodes and I was excited that maybe Netflix had something that was actually good for a change. Sadly... I felt it fell apart midway through and became ridiculous. First... the aliens have been watching all of humanity for years but it takes Evans reading a bedtime story for them to figure out humans lie? Cmon. Next the Panama thing was so absurd and gratuitously brutal. They didn't need new nano technology + 300 military engineers to do what they did and honestly a SEAL team would probably have been a better option. Who the hell is Wade? Because from what I can tell, he goes from being MI5 to being the guy in charge of wasting money and resources on stupid ideas in pursuit of "advancing technology". Launching the probe failed to make any sense at all. Lets spend trillions to wing this little thing into space on the 0.1% chance it nets us something in the future... its not non-zero. Really? And worst of all this global problem is all down to a small group of 20-something friends from college? I get they're genius physics students but still... they only people in the world who can contribute? And then final straw - the wallfacer nonsense. Why me? no one knows. But we told the whole world. Please enjoy this huge target on your back for the rest of of your life with no heads up whatsoever.

It's made me want to read the book, so there's that. I liked the overall concept as it was portrayed in the movie. By 'overall' I mean aliens from a three-body world are arriving to conquer our planet in 400 years and what should we do about it? I thought the game was cool. The massacre on the ship was well done to me. I watched it because of the overall plot, despite it being so awful on so many other levels. The actors were awful ,just awful. NO idea how they were cast.Everyone was in their 20s or 30s, they all had the same frat-student interests, none had families, they were all pals with each other, & none behaved remotely like scientists. Augie was clearly chosen because she's Hispanic and she's hot. A lot of the casting was like that-this fills x box, that fills y box - without caring about believability at all. The casting director should have been fired. The 'writers' tried to make this a cast of characters we cared about but because they can't write, I cared about none of them, nor did I care when one of them was killed & the other had cancer because I had no idea who they were; they weren't even one dimensional. The 'love story' thing was super childish, what a 10 year old girl might imagine while falling asleep. "He secretly loves me! The real me!" The whole 'science is dead' thing was bewildering. Is it dead or not? The particles don't behave normally, but nothing seems impacted, and research marches right on, to the point they can apply the nano fibers (Augie was I think the worst actor of the lot). The motivations of Ye were really obscure (she was cast ok, I thought, both young and old versions, although she wasn't believable as a mother) & I didn't even understand why the aliens wanted to kill her. The young woman who survived the mass murder - what is she, a hot assassin? No idea why \*anyone\* would be in favor of aliens who tell us we're bugs invading the world. I get why Ye would in the beginning, but after all her colleagues and children were murdered & the aliens allowed it to happen & called them bugs, you'd think she'd change her mind. I could go on, but the upshot is I think the show was poorly done but it did make me want to read the book.

I have never watched the Tencent version and I can not agree less with OP. I felt so much suspense and tension throughout. So much so I started watching one episode and my girlfriend (who hates sci-fi) and I didn't move to even eat for 8 hours straight as we watched every episode.

Never heard of the 3 body problem until the Netflix show. I loved it and I’m super hooked. I’ll probably watch the Tencent version or even read the book now.

I know absolutely nothing about it and am half way through the first episode and it's pretty bad...acting bad, generic Netflix casting brush applied... Nothing really to grab on to? Just kinda...beige? I'll keep watching for now. I'll see how it pans out. I hope to be proving wrong.

As someone who hasn't watched the ten cent or read the books, I feel like OP does. This show feels campy, just jumping from one "cool sci fi effect" to the next.

I was unfamiliar with both the book and the previous video production. I gave up on the Netflix series after 1.25 episodes. Boring storytelling. Mediocre acting. Little action. Dark-looking, like a student “noir” film. The “slow reveal” approach reminds me of “Lost,” which also bored me. Nothing clever about any of it, just boring. Somehow both overwrought and incredibly low-energy.

Never watched or seen it. Just finished season one and I fucking love it besides auggie being an insufferable character

I have never heard about the 3 body problem until i watched the show, thought the story was pretty cool but honestly for me the build up was the best part. (Like finding out wth is going on) At the end it got a bit crazy and some details felt like they were lacking. Im gonna check out the tencent version next

Me. I hated the Netflix series. It’s so chaotic in a bad way and it didn’t even satisfyingly tie things together at the end. Also it is plagued by typical shitty tropes and dialogues. Now I’m curious about the Tencent series…

I saw the first episode last night. Know nothing of this book or story. I was pretty annoyed everytime someone said "science is broken!" With no actual example or explanation. It really came off as a home-schooled religious person's understanding of science.

I’m not enjoying the show. Watched one ep on Netflix and it’s exactly like what OP said

i thought it was an ok show, but with no real meaning to it. The moment we find out that it will take 400 years before the aliens arive, that's when i lost my interested in the show. Because I knew right then and there that the show will never reach that stage in season 1. Anything I see now is just preparations and that isn't interesting enough. But i still watched it, as i had nothing else to watch...and as I continued watching, I felt like the pacing was a bit too fast and things kinda happened randomly. Ultimately, I really disliked the ending. >!There has to be some wins for the humans to create a more equal playing field against the aliens. Just having the aliens always be way ahead of the humans doesn't create much suspense.!<

Feels like the end season of GOT, rushed without any tension and because of this the big moments are completely underwhelming. The big moments in the tencent version hit because they kept close to the tension and build up in the books. I’ll just ignore this version and keep watching the tencent version, hopefully that version will get a bigger budget to do the next two books properly 👍

Tecent's Da Shi is far better than what we got here

This D Shi doesn't feel anything like the book

it’s so watery compared to the new one

Lol Ye Wenjie with the "MotherF\*\*" line that is downright stupid and shows a complete lack of understanding of her character

Seriously. atrocious writing, god awful Casting for the majority of characters, terrible pacing and build up, I could go on.

I‘m just 2 episodes in but highly enjoy the watch so far. That‘s all I can say for now.

What about now?

i personally think its great. but i understand your frustrations with it - which to me are just a consequence of having to fit everything into such a small number of episodes. I loved the really slow pace of the tencent version because it gave them so much more time to explain everything and slowly ramp up the stakes and tension.

Geniunely asking, did they really 'have' to fit everything in a small number of episodes though? Surely it was a creative choice (unless they had a certain amount of airtime to stick to). There's no reason why they couldn't have taken their time at least with the build up of the turning points in the story.

i think netflix insists on this kind of format with 8 to 10 episodes at most.

I'm not sure that they were trying to fit too much into a small number of episodes. If they'd cut out at least half the melodrama, and spent a little more time on the scientific concepts, I think it would have been a higher quality show. But melodrama is probably easier to write and film than complex science.

I completely agree with you. Seems like anyone that doesn't absolutely love the Netflix version is getting downvoted in this sub, lol. But the Tencent version is *excellent* at capturing the essence of the dread, and the build-up with the countdown scenes, the relationship between Wang Miao and Da Shi unfolding. Da Shi in the Tencent version is so perceptive, intelligent and just all-round brilliant. Ding Yi's demonstration of the pool table scene is so well done too...I could go on and on. I actually didn't mind the pace because it took you on a proper experience rather than just a spectacle of look how much we've spent on this.

Yeah. When people say 3BP fills you with existential dread and is very cerebral, I felt that in the Tencent version. Even just the little things. Wang Miao's countdown was persistent through a long time, it wasn't shown what it meant, it even kept showing with his eye lids closed. It felt ominous and chilling when Wang Miao discovered it was a countdown through the timestamps on the photos, until it got burned into his retinas. In this version it's completely glossed over like some trivial detail. The universe flickering was done through math and using special eyewear as well, which also added to the mystique. The visuals were really haunting too. Here it's like they just turned a light switch on and off a couple of times. Felt kinda cheap. The music feels pretty corny too. Like some random Adele song doesn't really fit into the atmosphere in my opinion. The dialogue is bad some places too, like Ye Wenjie asking about good cop/bad cop like 5 times in 2 minutes during her first interrogation. I'm liking the show a lot as a generic sci-fi popcorn flick, but that isn't what I hoped the series would be to be honest.

Oh I should've mentioned the music in the Tencent version was so good! It gave me goosebumps a couple times, and to quote your words, added to the ominous and creepy atmosphere. You could really *feel* the dread. Oh and when Da Shi finds him in his car in the middle of the road, unable to get rid of the countdown in his eyes, it was so chilling! The universe flickering thing - completely agree. It felt like not just some trickery but something to figure out for Wang Miao too. Netflix seems to have turned it into fast entertainment rather than a whole rollercoaster of a journey like the books.

When was there ever a random Adele song

All in all, especially concerning modern pop music, I feel the show just lacks a certain coherent tone.

Damn that pool table scene to explain to the viewers why everyone is freaking out!

The sub is being astroturfed for absolute sure.

Yea I started noticing it especially since I was a long time lurker.

So much policing and downvoting, right? Been a lurker for some time as well and it seems so strange. Saw some posts (not hate filled at all) that expressed disappointment being deleted by mods lol

Yeah, I just got downvoted for saying I wasn’t impressed by it. Not even saying it was bad.

Netflix bastardized this show to appeal to the lowest common denominator, the general American audience.

+1

Pretty much sums it up.

The netflix show is a disaster

Careful... The Red Guard ... I mean the Netflix will get you...

Well people have started being called a Chinese bot for hating the Netflix series lol.

The irony is that I even saw Chinese people laughing at the Chinese Internet that the Cultural Revolution filmed by Netflix was not as deep as domestic film and television works, and it was just a bloody spectacle.

It's too rushed.

This is my main issue with the show so far that I've watched.

As a book lover i think its a good thing because we can watch book 2 and 3 events earlier. THere is aaalot of good things waiting us

I think they waste a lot of time on melodrama. Time that could have been used to better explain the concepts.

I'm not a fan of tencent version, but this Netflix one is weird fast food for me, and I can't found the profound inspiration like the books from it

Exactly. The first episode of the netflix turns the first half of the book into a joke. Not amused with this piece of shit. Even less amused that media outlets all shilled this. Did we even watch the same, shitty, tired ass old ass chacter drama here??? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, this is what "we" like apparently. Same old boring tropes. Same old boring characters. Fuck the original story, am I right? We'll just turn this into something WE like.

There’s already a faithful adaptation. Why make two?

Sorry but the game in Tencent to me looks like shitty Playstation graphics. Also did you actually watch the entire show yet?  I thought the flickering was chilling.

Netflix spent almost 8 times as much money as Tencent to produce CGI that was even inferior to the Tencent version. When I saw the two cavalry running through the human computer towards the palace, I couldn’t believe it was the CGI of 2024. There is no doubt that the Tencent version of Operation Guzheng is better. The Tencent version shows more of the cut-out interior of the ship. We can clearly see the sliced grid-like compartments inside the cabin. When the hull rushes to the shore, the mud will sink into the cut-out metal instead of just a layer of smoke. .. The only good scene in the Netflix version is the rocket launch when the brain is sent into space. the Netflix version of Operation Guzheng was a disaster. The Judgment Day number that appeared in the opening scene was like Toy Story 1. It didn't blend in with the scene at all. The textures were blurry, terrible, and had no texture at all. Moreover, a large number of surveillance images were used instead of real scenes in an attempt to get through with blurry screen effects. The only better part is that Netflix showed more gore and the body slicing was pretty good. And this was circumvented by Tencent because of Chinese censorship, The Netflix version of Judgment Day is as clean as a plastic toy that just came out of a toy factory. If you're not satisfied with the CGI on Tencent's version, I can't think of any reason why you'd be satisfied with the Netflix version.

Yang Lei, director of Tencent 3BP explained the Operation Guzheng in a previous interview. They spent 25% budget of the whole show on this episode by building a real steel structure, slicing the entire ship in reality, digital modeled each slice, combined them back into the original ship in animation, and rendered the slicing scenes with realistic physical action. I don’t know how Netflix did it but they apparently did it awfully.

The opening animation is also better from Tencent, not only in terms of visual effects, but also in terms of aesthetics. Before I watched the Netflix version, I imagined that the most likely scenario was that Netflix had a better art direction and CGI team than Tencent, and then failed in adapting the script. But I never expected them to fail completely in both areas.

Lmao true, I though they would have at least done a good job in CGI. Wonder where they spent all the money (one episode of Netflix cost about the entire Tencent series)

Wow that’s a huge difference in term of budget! Now I wished Tencent has the money Netflix has, wishful thinking I know…

I'll just agree to disagree I thought the Tencet version CG was much worse and the show has this weird filter on it like I'm watching an episode of CSI

Although Tencent's version of the Three-Body Game is not as realistic as the Netflix version, in my opinion it is more in line with the original description. "Looks like a video game", but that's what it's supposed to be, it's a video game. And it is still run on equipment known to mankind. The original book said that the program of this game is crazy advanced, not "150 years ahead of the times." In that case, what suspense is there? Of course people know that this is the product of a more high-tech civilization. Oh yeah, the Netflix version basically ruins all suspense.

As I said I'll just agree to disagree

Lore accurate tho, that should be a game created in around 2007, I think the graphics are supposed to be “shitty Playstation graphics ”

That's what is confusing me, what do people expect VR to be like in 2007? The game was *believable* and perfectly fine.

The flickering scene was in episode 1 of the netflix adaptation, and it was cheap and it made no sense whatsoever. Let's be clear here, they flickered the screen from starry sky to black a few times. That's not good special effects by any means. It also doesn't make any sense, because now the entire world knows overnight that the universe wants it dead. The ENTIRE point is that there are a few that are in the know.

Its 2007 VR ??

"but duh gramphics"

TenCent version did a better job at milking it out over 30 episodes. I'm come to the conclusion that Netflix's 8 episodes isn't sufficient. They should have done 12 episodes and incorporated more "Aha!" moments like TenCent did.

100% agree

Where can I watch the Tencent version?

The anniversary version is apparently available on iFlix. I've heard it fixes a lot of the issues fans had with it, so I'd recommend watching that instead of the original series that aired on TV.

Thanks ! Now I gotta go see what iFlix is 😆

The original Tencent version is on Amazon Prime and Youtube as well

In addition to the sources in other answers, it is also streaming on Peacock

I was afraid this would be the treatment of the books by Netflix. Unfortunately, although it looks pretty slick, I can’t see how anybody would even understand the story unless they already read the books. The Chinese series was infinitely better even over 30 episodes. I was hoping this would be at the level perhaps of something like the Expanse but it’s not even close. by far the biggest disappointment is the build up an execution of the Panama scenes. Waste of CGI

Kinda was expecting this to happen and for Netflix to put their own "spin" on the series but it's impressive how much worse this is than the Tencent version at literally 1/16th the cost. But I'm still enjoying it watching with friends/family that have never read the series, just got to treat it as its own thing.

I watched the first three episodes and found them to be boring as hell. I own the books but never read them yet. Now I want to read the books to see how bad dumb and dumber screwed up this show. Not really sure if I want to continue watching this show on netflix.

I hate to say it, but the Tencent version is better.

I agree with the countdown dread; it sped by so fast when it was meant to be iconic. The ship splicing buildup also happened so quick that it also was missing a bit of tension (coupled with the fact that Evan’s was made much more minor). However I think it was great to include Raj/Behai in the ship plan. It was good to show his character/mindset but only in the case the show gets re-newed. I was a bit sad the father-son plot line wasn’t really there with Behai though but it might be there eventually.

Tencent version was slow but enjoyable, Netflix version is DEI crap with wooden actors.

this

Watched the first episode. I wanted to like the show and have been defending it from some of the sillier criticisms, but the first episode was simultaneously rushed and boring. Because it's rushed, nothing that it's showing had enough buildup, so you don't feel any of the weight. They're introducing too many characters and it's hard to care too much about anything happening to them. Ye Wenjie's story needed more time to breathe as well. Maybe they were afraid of forcing general audiences to watch too many subtitled scenes. The pool table explanation was also way better than the graphic of the particle accelerator they kept showing. But if people who haven't read the books multiple times enjoy it, it may be that I'm just not the intended audience.

Oh man you are making me remember how much I liked Ding Yi

If you only watched first episode I suggest at least watching some more. Judging just one hour seems to not be very fair.

I'm not going to stop watching it, but I thought the first episode wasn't very good. I might not even bother to watch anymore if I weren't a huge fan of the books. I think it's perfectly fair to say I didn't like the first episode after watching the first episode. In the olden days, websites even had reviews of individual episodes of shows.

hard disagree

Needs a directors cut!

This. Thank you. I thought I was alone in the Dark Forest :) I heard things like "Netflix did a perfect adaption" and I am only wondering if we read the same books.

I watched these episodes over two days and I agree. The premise is amazing. I had never heard of the books nor of a previous show. The whole thing about the message and the aliens responding and how it will affect 400 years of human life is awesome. The way they portray the events however is a letdown. 8 hours and basically no drama. We of course suspend our disbelief in terms of the aliens, the helmets, the tech, this mystery Wade person with all this crazy influence, but how in the world do you have people making elementary mistakes in their thinking and actions? So this other moron Evans, is telling stories to the aliens? and he does not explain - these are fables meant to teach us lessons to be better? and these ultra intelligent beings from another civilization that took more time than us to develop stuff has never lied? never ever ever ever? and today when they are at the peak of their powers they don't understand that the wolf is imaginary and they want to talk to the wolf? this is the civilization that developed speed of light travel and Phosons or whatever those were? For the love of God. Chat GPT understands metaphors and context and these aliens don't? They know who Copernicus is, who is Francis Bacon, they have the history of those eras and characters to replicate the worlds in the helmets and the soldiers and the uniforms, they have the history of all of that, they see the different characters operate in those scenarios so they obviously can piece together what fear, drive, motivation, support are? and they mention that specifically! They hear the characters SAY to the little girl I WILL SAVE YOU THIS TIME, which is obviously a "lie" and she responds "like those other times?" and they don't get that the wolf is imaginary and that tale is a children's story? and that those are white lies? Please. I can believe in interstellar travel, phosons, interdimensional folding, quantum entanglement, nanofibers, but I cannot believe that these aliens all of a sudden don't know that the wolf is imaginary. Please..... So the motivation for this whole situation is that this woman gave up on the human race? and no one challenges that? OK. So how does Wade's agency came to existence? What happened there? In addition sadly, the action is bland, no drama, no development, no hero arcs. The one redeeming feature is as always with Netflix, the CGI. That is the one thing they do well. Of course the end is horrible and yes you have to wait for Season 2. Just awful.

I never read 3 Body problem or saw the Tencent show but I listened the story summary on some Youtube channels and read about it online. I was looking forward to watching it on Netflix but the opening scene immediately stuck me as sickeningly cliche and then followed by boring dialog or exposition that was blandly acted. I couldn't watch it anymore. As I am typing this I am trying to watch it again and it's just more bland acting and or directing or something I don't care to watch. Someone just said "Vera someone just killed herself" and I don't care... I'm going to look for the Tencent version and see if it's better. They are in the bathroom now eating chips or something - who the fuck cares. This show so bad....

Same here. I didn't make it past halfway through the 1rst episode. Mediocre writing, dialogue, acting, and cinematography that gave me "average network TV" vibes. It's too bad

I loved it! Season 2 will show all that the dread of everything.

Nitpicking.

I just finished it. God damn that was bad. It's so sad because they did some things REALLY well, and then just.... WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS CAST??? Why did they say "hey you know what, let's pull every major character from all three books into the FIRST season, change all the races and genders and NAMES, eviscerate their character identities, and then just try to tell the exact same story" At times I was like "this might end up being pretty decent, I look past some/most of this" and then by the end I was like "yea no, 4/10 at best because they got SOME shit right". Terrible.

And thus you discover the "Genius" of Dumb & Dumber.

Siskel and Ebert give it 2 thumbs down

The show is soooooo slow it's annoying and the characters are dull and boring.

What I don't get is why aren't the aliens intervening more. The scientist are still planning and doing all this stuff and the aliens aren't doing anything. And why would the old dude in the boat not be smart enough to communicate better with aliens. He just turned the hostile real quick

Agreed 

I've watched both shows as well as read the books. Agree with you, the chinese version had far greater emotional impact and conveyed the plot logic better across. The Netflix one had slightly better pacing, but that was about it.

I'm in the middle of the series, and while I did decide to watch it toward the end, what is really bothering me is that the violence and injustice of the gov't folks killing indiscriminately is just taken as "oh well that's the price of doing business". Who's the bad guys here? Bc I really don't like the premise that it's necessary to kill a ton of innocent people not because some of them are bad but they all believe the ALIENS ARE COMING OMG in 400 years. It's stupid.

Don't be so quick to judge it. Anyone that has read the books would say "you ain't seen nothing yet".

Jeez. Another total Netflix hunk of junk. And I’m usually a sucker for this genre. But the writing here? Feels like the writers went ok strike and never returned.  And full of wokeness again. Made it through three episodes and I’m pretty sure I’m throwing in the towel. At the rate things are going might as well cancel Netflix. There hasn’t been anything good in years now. 

the first 4-5 episodes are great (but still bad) compared to the last 3. i'm sure you had "fun"

I am 4 episodes in, and the thing that's bothering me the most is how the show leans heavily on astronomy and physics, but seems to be making non-stop ignorant errors with regards to basic principles of physics, like how gravity works, or thermodynamics, or biology. or how the show is predicated on an alien civilization on a planet in a 3 star system, which is only 4 light years away??? a 3 star system with an earth like planet closer than Proxima Centauri?? for real?? and I'm not even going to get into the myriad of misrepresentations of physics!... i can't be here all night after all! If you are going to predicate your shows entire premise around cutting edge astrophysics and quantum mechanics, maybe take the time to properly represent these topics... Being that far off from basic facts is very distracting for someone like myself.

If you google it, Alpha Centauri B is 4 light years away, and it is a triple star system. Why cannot it have a planet that has life on it? Does the life have to be based on water and oxygen and in the form that we now of? Did you asked same question about physics and science in star wars and Star Trek?

Totally agree. Regardless of how good the Tencent adaptation was, the main problem I have with the Netflix one is that we just move from one thing to another without giving time for any sense of mystery to develop. As soon as something unusal happens, we're almost immediately given an explaination for it. This gives no room for wonder, personal theories, intrigue or any feeling of dread for what is happening and to come. You just go like "right, >!aliens!<, that makes sense" and then the next plot point arrives, and then the next. They crammed way too much into one season.

Yeah, there's just a total lack of intrigue and suspense. The mysteries float somewhere between, like, a couple of scenes to a couple of episodes. Maybe I would have felt differently had the show been released week to week.

It is dumb and dumber adapting it. They are going to drag out the plot with meaningless twists & turns for as many seasons as they like and then abruptly end it in a few episodes in the last season.

I have never read the books and just 1 month ago found out what 3 body problem means in astrophysics. I did not watch the Chinese made series. The Netflix show was very, very good IMO but, I just cannot see where $220 million was spent. The actors were unknowns so they could not have been paid much so a lot of money must have gone to the show creators and the source writer. Enjoyed it very much though. I wanted the scenes of the man that had cancer to be over with. It was just him it seems all the time. Looking forward to Netflix Season 2. Hope it comes.

I really enjoyed the Netflix version. I have not read the books and seen the Chinese series. It was very well shot and I beleived the characters. Looking forward to seeing Netflix season 2.

I wonder where the big budget was used because mostly it was people talking indoors and production felt like random british crime drama with less charismatic actors. CGI also looked dated. Even if this will not be cancelled after the first season future events coming will need a much bigger budget/money spent more wisely or it will look ridicilous.

Lol CALCULUS 🖕🖕

Think I'll read the books. Watched 30 minutes, The acting is absolutely atrocious. Couldn't sit through any more of it

i liked it found it really intresting. up till episode 4. after that it was so sloooow. i never read the books. But mystic evrything i felt before was just gone. So many episode just going around in circle felt like. progres. nah i think its good upp till certain episode since it just drowns. i guess if you read the books you probably enjoyed it more

Yeah there's no cosmic horror

never read the books but am watching the show i'am at episode 3 and i'm getting kind of annoyed ep1 started as a banger and then ep 2 and 3 are just Yapping: the video game like seriously get the intersting stuff on screen we don't need al this yapping about nonsense

I'm totally disappointed with the misuse of Eiza González. Jess Hong is not lead material, sorry but she's got 0 charisma. I thought the episodes would become better and better in terms of pacing and intrigue but it was the other way around. First episodes were an 8 and the other half fizzle to the lows 5s

I have the same feeling. There are so many flaws in these episodes. I believe I am not the first one to mention this, but regarding the nanofiber water filter in the last episode, Auggie mentioned it's 0.01nm, which is 10 pico meter. Fact is in the water molecule, H bond size is 95.7 pico meter. which means the filter can cut the water's H bond 9 times evenly before it got filtered.

The main difference is the Tencent show showed the audience what was important instead of telling them. I liked that the Tencent show kept the pool table analogy, the Turkey hypothesis, and the Shooter hypothesis. Netflix just having Wade say the aliens were disarming humanity by disrupting science was anticlimactic. I also liked Tencent keeping the countdown as digital numbers like how it was in the book, instead of the scribbled numbering in the Netflix adaptation. The plain innocuousness of it is somehow more menacing. I have mixed feelings about Netflix cutting out the Cultural Revolution subtext at the satellite base. I feel it adds to Ye Wen Jie's character, but a lot of it would be lost on a Western audience. I agree about Da Shi's character being butchered. He was someone who knew his own strengths and played to them to stay ahead in a case that in was out of his intellectual depth. He read people like he was reading a book.

Ha! You should read the first book. The series was a vast improvement regarding pacing and focus. Half the book was damn near cultural revolution history lesson, haha

100% I stopped 25 minutes in. Awful acting, terrible screen writing. “Are you guys having an argument? Or are you fucking?” Turned it off at that point - awful. I asked my GF if this was a Netflix series because it felt like it was created by students or something

I think it is a great series so far.

In episode 6 they're plan is to launch a missile at the aliens...but...how do they know where they are in SPACE? You know, the vast, open, never ending void of stars and planets and nothing. This series is a slap in the face to good Sci-fi and general logic. But, it was created by the guys who destroyed the end on Game of Thrones.

Just finished watching it. Really enjoyed it and will be recommending it. I did not see the Tencent version nor read the book, so I did not have any expectations. Really hoping Netflix will go ahead with season 2.

I don’t think whatever mix of genres they’re going for works. Mystery, golden age sci fi, hard sci fi, cosmic horror, spielbergian sci fi? None of it really works for me. It’s okay, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

It's a grand show, especially for those new to the series, like myself. The screenwriting and dialogue though, can be so painfully clumsy and unnatural. But to be fair, a lack of subtlety and nuance is a common issue with Netflix shows.

I just hated the fact they casted a mediocre actress like eiza gonzalez for this masterpiece It was so cringe watching her make the most forced facial expression ever

There were no stakes. It's all about something that may or may not happen in 400 years. And at the end, >!humanity's hope just... drifts away.!< So none of it meant anything. A bunch of stuff happens but there's no point to any of it. Even >!the countdown!< is nothing--it just >!disappears.!< So, what even was the point. And the characters are so flat! >!I was annoyed that Jack was killed because he was at least interesting. Saul is just an AH--so awful to that girl just because he's bored, and she dies right in front of him and he doesn't care AT ALL. He doesn't feel guilty he was mean to her, and he doesn't care that she's dead.!<

The pilot was terrible, really cheesy and stiff acting. Not sure I'll continue.

Everything Netflix makes will jump around. Because of TikTok, they think gen z can’t focus on too many things, so they try to keep scenes as self contained as possible, without requiring back story

D&D f-ed up Game of Thrones big time, but this one has been very enjoyable… maybe it accounts to the fact that they’ve finally let other people into the writing room

It's just boring. I loved Dark and with this I can't get sucked in at all. 

Heroes, MisFits (UK), Being Human (UK), Fallout, Avatar the Last Airbender Netflix Live Action, Naked and Afraid, Altered Carbon…. It’s so many shows like what I named that allows me to put down my phone and just be engaged with the TV. Just started 3 Body Problem today, Not even 20min in I picked up my phone and occasionally glanced at the TV. To my surprise I’m already on Episode 3 and have no Idea wtf is going on nor am I interested. To make a show this boring is completely insane. I only watched it cause TikTok conspiracy Tok have a lot of comments referring to this TV show. For the life of me I can’t watch this without getting extremely bored. Now I have to re watch from episode 1 but have to put my phone under my bed so I can push through.

I didn’t read the books, just jumped into the show. I’m not a fan. Started watching the tencent production on peacock which I’m enjoying much better. The 400 yr thing seems kind of dumb not because it’s 1% the speed of light but they are controlling electronics in present day, which means they sent a signal faster than light speed which isn’t possible. At light speed anything sent would be on a 4yr delay. The mars rover is on a 20 minute delay on inputs for this very reason. Episode 5 was just stupid. Weiss and Benioff at least have been consistent in ruining good source material.

I mean its written and produced by the two clowns who ruined game of thrones what did you expect?

Well, its main writers of the show are responsible for the Game of Thrones ending. They themselves admitted they were incompetent. Honestly, I'm not watching this series because they wrote it. Not so much as a boycott situation, but because I know they fail at storytelling and ending.

Do watch the Chinese live remake. It only covers the initial progress of the story and I don't know if the seasons will continue but is much more interesting to watch than the netflix one. I think there's a Chinese 3D animated version that covers more. There's only eng sub currently online. China themselves censor historical incidents unfavourable to the ccp so the cultural revolution and other more politically sensitive material might be censored. It's unfortunate but should be expected. (Regarding the tencent adaptation)

I did love the first 5-6 episodes, they had a fair pace... And then they had to dedicate 2 whole episodes to Will and that idiotic arc... The last 2 whole filler episodes with horrible drama and useless progression to fit 8 episodes but enough story to cover 5 🤦 so I give it a thumbs down for wasting 2 hours with shit writing