# The two Three-Body Problems problem **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [February 11, 2024, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443 "2024-02-11T22:01:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/1 "2024-02-11T22:01:34Z")
I hated the book _Three Body Problem_ enough that I skipped the rest of the books in the series and I haven’t decided yet if I’ll watch either series, but this is an interesting issue. There are going to be simultaneous duelling interpretations of the novels on two different streamers. > **[Peacock to Stream Adaptation of ‘Three-Body Problem’ Ahead of Rival Netflix...](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/peacock-three-body-problem-netflix-1235821117/)** > > The other 'Three-Body Problem' adaptation is coming to Peacock before Netflix's big-budget version from the 'Game of Thrones' creators. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/2 "2024-02-11T22:37:14Z")
I don’t understand the issue. The version Peacock just release is the same one that’s already been out on Prime for a while. Good for them I guess, but it doesn’t seem likely to drive anyone _away_ from the Netflix version. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/3 "2024-02-11T23:09:30Z")
How did both end up with the rights? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/4 "2024-02-11T23:12:44Z")
Netflix got permission to make an English-language version. Probably with some exclusivity deal. Peacock and Prime just got distribution rights for the Tencent version (in Chinese), and presumably didn’t demand exclusivity. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/5 "2024-02-11T23:24:43Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Netflix got permission to make an English-language version. Probably with some exclusivity deal. Peacock and Prime just got distribution rights for the Tencent version (in Chinese), and presumably didn’t demand exclusivity. I was about to make a confident prediction about the outcome with two competing streams both trying to attract viewers. If there are three, we will need to borrow a supercomputer. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/6 "2024-02-12T00:48:37Z")
A friend of mine is watching the Chinese one, but I’m waiting for the Netflix one to see how they did. It is really weird, agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/7 "2024-02-12T01:18:47Z")
What didn’t you like about the first book in the trilogy\*? I thoroughly enjoyed it, and am in the middle of _The Dark Forest_, which I am also enjoying. \*Odd thing: the name of the trilogy is _Remembrance of Earth’s Past_, which is not the name of any of the books in the series. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/8 "2024-02-12T02:02:19Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > What didn’t you like about the first book in the trilogy\*? I mention some reasons in this thread, when the book was years fresher in my mind. > [@Am I the only one who despises "The Three Body Problem"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-despises-the-three-body-problem/941027/11): > > Absolutely not. I thought is was poorly written garbage, worked to finish the first book, and never attempted the rest. The science was stupid and the character actions were stupid. The only part about it I liked was the aside on the mob-mentality of the cultural revolution. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/9 "2024-02-12T13:04:58Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Odd thing: the name of the trilogy is _Remembrance of Earth’s Past_, which is not the name of any of the books in the series. I feel like this has to be along the lines of sounding like Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past”, but it’s not clear to me if that would be an act of the novelist, or of the translator. Either way, my sense is that it’s more common to have a series where the name doesn’t reflect a single book title, rather than the other way around… Lord of the Rings etc. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/10 "2024-02-12T14:47:33Z")
While we’re ranting, I don’t recommend watching _The Wandering Earth_. As one of the most successful Chinese films of all time, and somehow labelled as “hard” science fiction, I’m sure many here might be tempted before/after seeing the three-body problem. But, in fact, the science is _painfully_ stupid, none of the humor lands (by Western tastes), and 90% of the runtime is “tearfully wasting time” (if you liked the scene in _Armageddon_ where Liv Tyler is delaying pressing a button on which _billions_ of lives rest, to do a **very** slow tearful farewell with her father…well, you’re in luck, because this film is absolutely filled with scenes like this). ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/11 "2024-02-12T17:38:32Z")
I tried the first few episodes of the Chinese version last year and it wasn’t for me, so I’m waiting for the Netflix version. Even with a long book, 30 episodes is a lot. I like slow-burn series, but this was beyond slow. One of the things I liked about the book was the difference in style and themes in Chinese sci fi versus my usual more Western-based novels. But I just couldn’t appreciate the show and what I understand is typical of Chinese television. This bit from a NYT review hit the mark for me: > There’s no getting around the science, though, and the series hasn’t come up with a more interesting way of dramatizing it than having characters repeat the same speeches they make in the book. Onscreen, with a cast that mostly doesn’t rise above adequate, that’s not very exciting… > > On a more fundamental level, many American viewers not accustomed to Asian series will be bemused by the stilted, nonidiomatic quality of much of the crowdsourced subtitling. And they will notice that while there are some lovely images of nighttime Beijing and the surrounding country, the overall production quality — the staging, the performances, the use of music — is beneath that of the usual prestige series. > > …“Three-Body” displays the propensity, common in Chinese TV drama, for telling a story as if reading a book to a child. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2024, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/12 "2024-03-12T04:05:55Z")
I’m actually enjoying the Chinese version so far. Reviews are starting to come out for the Netflix version, they seem decent enough. > **[3 Body Problem](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/3-body-problem/)** > > The decision by Ye Wenjie (Rosalind Chao/Zine Tseng) during the 1960s Chinese Cultural Revolution is connected to the deaths of scientists in the present in this adaptation of Cixin Liu's book trilogy by David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and Alexander Woo. ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/13 "2024-03-23T14:01:38Z")
I’m searching for a thread on Netflix 3 Body Problem, found this one, read your comment and after finishing, I literally looked at your name/avatar to see if it was written by me! I agree with everything you say about that movie - it stunk. MiM ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/14 "2024-03-23T14:58:06Z")
I just finished watching the Netflix series. Overall I enjoyed it. Though it did feel oddly rushed in places. I would’ve liked to see them dwell on certain areas even more, and expound on the science-y goodness that the books were rich in, but I get that that doesn’t exactly make good TV. However there were a few “whiteboard” scenes and other exposition that got the points across (and FWIW, I love a good “whiteboard” scene, unlike a lot of people, I find them fun when done well). I read the trilogy a bit ago and really liked them, though even those felt odd in terms of general storytelling and characterization. But I had chalked all that up to my western ears reading a Chinese-to-English translation. I was kind of, secretly, hoping the series would smooth that stuff out, but it still hit those weird notes for me. Anyhow, I recommend it to anyone who’s read the books, or just generally enjoys some really out-there, science fiction with some fresh ideas. I can’t wait to see the seasons that are assuredly lined up for the future… it’s gonna get epic… and bleak. As for the “Oxford Five” characters, here’s who I think their book surrogates are: _(spoilered since some characters are amalgams and/or characters from future books, and it can come as an interesting surprise while watching, as well as spoil their fates if you’ve read the books):_ Auggie Salazar = Wang Miao + AA Saul Durand = Green Glasses + Luo Ji Will Downing = Yun Tianming Jack Rooney = Hu Wen Jin Cheng = Cheng Xin ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/15 "2024-03-23T15:54:38Z")
Ah good to finally find someone else that I can complain about that movie to. Actually, I did write a longer rant at the initial time of seeing, the one here was just a quick reminder to people not to watch it 😄 ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/16 "2024-03-23T16:14:39Z")
I found the first book interesting. A bit weird here and there, but readable. I assumed the strange bits were due to the Chinese way of SF and, perhaps, the translator or the editing for the US version. The second book was OK, though it stretched the suspension of disbelief a bit too much. Somewhere around the last third at the latest I started losing the plot, or the plot got lost all by itself. The third book was thoroughly disappointing, and the denouement even more so. Reading it till the end after the first two volumes reminded me of the sunken cost fallacy. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/17 "2024-03-23T16:27:58Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > While we’re ranting, I don’t recommend watching _The Wandering Earth_. > As one of the most successful Chinese films of all time, and somehow labelled as “hard” science fiction, I’m sure many here might be tempted before/after seeing the three-body problem. I did briefly mention it in that other thread. (I have no more input on the movie because I knew to avoid it, and did.) > [@Am I the only one who despises "The Three Body Problem"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-despises-the-three-body-problem/941027/16): > > Also, take a look at a summary of (a movie based on) another piece of crap he pooped out: ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/18 "2024-03-31T04:10:14Z")
I finished watching the Netflix series without having read the books (I think I browsed a Wikipedia summary over a year ago). Overall I liked the cast and some of the ideas were interesting. Personally I find that having antagonists with poorly-defined nigh-omnipotent superpowers undercuts some of the tension they’re trying to build up, since there’s seemingly not much stopping the bad guys from winning other than “plot armor”. (I had the same criticism of the HBO Watchmen show as well.) ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/19 "2024-04-01T02:47:02Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > there’s seemingly not much stopping the bad guys from winning other than “plot armor”. Are you including the concept of the Wall Facers in that? Because that right there is the tension - what will they come up with before the aliens get here, and what will the aliens do to try and stop it? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443/20 "2024-04-01T04:22:22Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Are you including the concept of the Wall Facers in that? It seems like the sophons can go up to anyone (including the wallfacers, presumably) and drive them crazy or project illusions into their minds or blow up to the size of a planet or a million other things. Or maybe not, maybe they can just tell their minions to shoot people? It’s really not well-defined in the TV series, but maybe it’s spelled out more specifically in the books. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-two-three-body-problems-problem/997443.md?page=2)