3 Body Problem looks as grand as Game Of Thrones in final trailer
The new sci-fi epic from Game Of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss invades Netflix March 21
TV News 3 Body Problem
Say what you want about Game Of Thrones (we certainly have), but it’s hard to deny that the series was huge and literally epic in a way few television shows are today. Sure, we still have Television Events—the online response to Logan’s death on Succession was almost comparable to the Red Wedding, for example—but on GOT, at least in its early seasons, characters simply walking from one place to another felt weighty and important. While we don’t know if besmirched GOT creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will be able to replicate that level of quality in 3 Body Problem, their first project since leaving Westeros, it’s abundantly clear that they’re trying.
The final trailer for the sci-fi epic dropped today, and it resembles an era of prestige television that momentarily seemed permanently out of reach. The budget for the Netflix series is through the roof, the imagery is sincere and genuinely striking, and the cast is completely stacked. GOT alums John Bradley and Jonathan Pryce star, along with Benedict Wong, Rosalind Chao, Eiza González, Jovan Adepo, Saamer Usmani, Jess Hong, and Jason Forbes.
As far as plot details go, it’s still pretty hard to tell—but that’s the point. It’s also been a while since we’ve had a really good puzzle box show, especially one that stems from a mysterious sequence of numbers typed into an ancient computer a la Lost, and that’s exactly what 3 Body Problem is serving up. Adapted from Liu Cixin’s 2008 novel of the same name, the official summary of the series reads as follows:
A young woman’s fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time into the present day. When the laws of nature inexplicably unravel before their eyes, a close-knit group of brilliant scientists join forces with an unorthodox detective to confront the greatest threat in humanity’s history.
There’s obviously a lot more than that going on here. Aliens, for one. But we’re cautiously optimistic enough about Benioff and Weiss’ vision to let this one play out on its own and simply go along with the journey. If nothing else, we’re sure to get another killer score from Ramin Djawadi, which is worth the price of admission alone.
3 Body Problem premieres March 21 on Netflix.
39 Comments
I gotta reread these books before this comes out, it’s been quite a while and I don’t really remember the first book that well. Two weeks is enough to finish what I’m reading now and at least get through the first 2 books I think…
The crazy shit that goes on in the third book is gonna be really hard to show onscreen.
LOL, I say this every time, then I end up rereading whatever and deciding I really don’t need to see the show anytime soon, which always turns out to be never.
Usually I’m good, the only time I screwed myself was rereading The Peripheral and Agency while the TV series was still going on. Finished them both in the week between the second to last episode and the last episode, was so disappointed with the TV series that I couldn’t bring myself to watch the last episode.
They did a good job with Lowbeer but everything else was just so bad compared to the book, woof…
We didn’t even get to the fucking drop bears. Spareheader tigers was it.
The music and voice are very reminiscent of the “Raised by Wolves” intro.
That show was such a mess after the first few episodes but the intro song was so amazing
Will be interesting to see how it plays out. I recall liking the atmosphere, but I also recall the game or whatever being really hard to wrap my head around as far as what was supposed to be going on. Not in a mysterious way, but in a “what is the motivation for doing any of this?” way. might work in a visual medium, but on paper (and translated from another language) it was pretty rough going.Then there was a massive exposition dump at the end that I don’t recall sounding especially interesting.
I am actually excited for this but I am not excited for the weirdos who won’t get over the final season of Game of Thrones being bad being even more vocal.
As much as I am happy to watch any heady sci-fi show on TV, I hope the success of Dune leads some of these companies to take a dive into less modern earth grounded scifi(although this series gets away from that after the first book itself). Really I just want to see someone adapt Hyperion
Hyperion is a much, much better book than this crap.+1 Shrike
I’m still dreaming that someone will adapt “The Forever War”
I believe Bradley Cooper has been trying to produce Hyperion for decades
3BP is exactly the kind of thematically rich tour de force D&D are perfect for sinking their teeth into. I am especially happy that they are highly unlikely to sacrifice some of the more unpalatable and less flattering truths about human nature that the book espouses.
Is the book series this show based on already done? I don’t like the showrunners track-record when it isn’t.
That could be a pretty great song. “I got 3 problems, but my body ain’t one…”
Well, the upside is the series is complete, so they won’t need to come up with a conclusion all on their own.
For those of us who have no attachment to the source material – i.e. all the normies out there Netflix is hoping to suck into this thing – I will say this show has a Dumb Title Problem. A show that’s difficult to explain, with a title that gives no information and sparks zero curiosity, AND it’s really damn expensive? Seems like a one season & done situation …
The actual Three Body Problem is a pretty famous problem in physics (basically it is easy to compute how two bodies, say the Earth and the Moon, move in relation to each other, but once you add a third body, say the Sun, it is far harder because that third body is influencing both of the others and you have to resort to approximations), so I’d say the title would spark the curiosity of anyone nerdy enough to enjoy hard SF as opposed to space opera.
The actual Three Body Problem is a pretty famous problem in physicsSo… still not popular among normies then
Unlike the clear and concise “Squid Game” or “BEEF”.
Point taken with respect to “Squid Game,” though the title prepares the audience for a “game” of sorts and that series delivers in that regard. As for “Beef,” however, an informal and fairly common definition of the word refers to holding a grudge against someone, and that series is all about that.
The title “Three Body Problem” sounds sci-fi. The real danger of having that title is that the uninitiated in the audience will think that something sci-fi is happening with a human body (one consciousness has three bodies, three identical bodies randomly appear, etc.), which is not helpful and actually misleading.
So this is a trailer for the whole series and not just the first book? Is it like Game of Thrones where the adaptation is named after the most popular first book?The comparisons to the majesty of GoT are a little funny, if only because this looks super expensive from the start, and GoT was expensive-y, but began with some of the smallest crowd scenes I can recall since syndicated sci-fi shows.
“Is it like Game of Thrones where the adaptation is named after the most popular first book?” Probably.
I’ll probably skip it. I read all three books, and I appreciate their innovation, but the problem is that I reject the central conceit of the first book that the whole thing is built on. I read through all of them because I knew it was one of the most important SF series in recent years, but I will admit, it was kind of a trudge at times. I don’t regret reading it, but I don’t anticipate that I will ever re-read it, like I commonly do with my favorite books.
I read the trilogy a few years ago, best scifi books I read in decades. Learned a lot about both quantum, cosmic and time physics. Great story. The series has two more books to cover. Dark Forest when we realize, like the rest of the intelligent universe, DO NOT LET IT BE KNOWN WHERE YOU ARE! And then book three when the Trisolarans beat our butt. What I liked best is that the Trisolarans knew what to try and destroy as they were on the way. Our accelerators and our nanosystems. Both of which could very well mean our science and tech would top theirs before they got here.
I also watched the Chinese 30 episodes which were great, and am reading 3 Body again now before the show. How one woman lost her hope for humanity and in 2 minutes destroyed the Earth. One women caught up in Mao’s Culture Revolution who finally got her payback.
too bad IT IS SO FUCKING STUPIDgood god toss this trash already.
I wonder if Netflix has the balls to cover the Cultural Revolution bits
I quite enjoyed the first novel, but the follow-ups left me cold. Some interesting ideas but for the most part the characters in the books just kinda mill around so Liu can have someone watching the events play out. Maybe D&D can add some motivation and agency to the characters if they go on to adapt the later novels?
Definitely going to watch, but this seems to be a significant departure from the book. We’ll see.
Why put a spoiler for Succession in an article for another show? Seriously?
Looks amazing. And since it will be released all at once, it will never in a million years reach anything like the phenomena as GOT. It will be watched and quickly forgotten after a couple weeks. Just another piece of CONTENT. To become a water cooler show, to be talked about at all… it has to be weekly. I do not understand why Netflix continues to do this. Their shows could be HUGE if they would let them.
true enough
having powered through the book last year, I’m in the weird space of not being at all interested in this while wanting it to be very successful because I’m invested in the genre getting more well-budgeted offerings of sophisticated, challenging material.