3 Body Problem: The Stars Our Destination Books Included
March 29, 2024 11:18 PM - Season 1, Episode 6 - Subscribe
With the world in a state of panic following a momentous declaration, Wade gathers the world's greatest minds to prepare a defense plan.
I don't think it was that Raj recognized Wade by name, I think it was just that his ID gave his name and said that he was the Grand High Chief of the Super Secret Black Palace Intelligence Agency and Raj recognized that authority.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 6:54 PM on March 30 [1 favorite]
posted by ActingTheGoat at 6:54 PM on March 30 [1 favorite]
Either that or Wade has some of Dr Who's psychic paper.
posted by miss-lapin at 8:51 PM on March 30 [2 favorites]
posted by miss-lapin at 8:51 PM on March 30 [2 favorites]
I’m surprised this series has engendered so little discussion on the purple! I held off checking Fanfare until I finished the series. Disclaimer: I’ve read the first book and I’m only a few chapters into the second book.
I’ve enjoyed the series a lot. And i fully understand that changes must be made when translating a story from one medium to another. But I have to say I preferred the story before it was translated.
I fully understand converting the main character, a middle-aged Chinese scientist, into five hot young prodigies of diverse ethnicities. And i fully understand that everything that happens in the book had to go through the “100 times more spectacular” machine in order to be made as a Netflix series. For instance, the whole world has to see the stars blink, rather than a few observatories seeing the universe’s background radiation blink.
But the thing that makes me sad about this adaptation is how Benioff and Weiss are clearly just rushing through the story of the first book in order to get to what they think is the good stuff: humanity fighting back. The pacing of the first 5 episodes is crazy fast—by the end of episode 2 they’re doing things that happened at the midpoint of the book. And the fact that Panama, the creation of the Sophons, and “You’re bugs!” all happened in one episode is a crime. I wonder how invested viewers who haven’t read the books could be, considering how fast things go.
But the most telling thing is that after 5 episodes of breakneck pace, the last three episodes slow way down. No spoilers, but this is clearly when the show starts telling the story the showrunners really want to tell.
That said!
I do like the five hot young replacements for the book’s protagonist, and how they all have different motivations and attitudes. I enjoyed the drama and the pathos and the quips.
The Panama scene was masterful and appropriately horrifying. Perfect, no notes. I wish they hadn’t foreshadowed it with the nanofiber test on the artificial diamond, but I guess they made up for it by being coy about what was happening until it did.
Conversely, the human abacus scene was much better in my mind’s eye.
I was very sad that they boiled the creation of the Sophons down to two seconds—I loved that sequence in the book.
Benedict Wong is the perfect choice to play Da Shi, but I miss the even more abrasive Da Shi from the books, who knew he didn’t know anything yet knew more than the eggheads surrounding him.
Not clear about Tatiana. Does she have super strength or what? When she killed Jack I was annoyed that the aliens had somehow created or planted a superhuman agent, but that idea never came up again. She stabbed Jack to death with his own phone, did she not??
Anyway! I have further complaints and compliments but this is long enough already.
posted by ejs at 9:12 PM on March 30 [6 favorites]
I’ve enjoyed the series a lot. And i fully understand that changes must be made when translating a story from one medium to another. But I have to say I preferred the story before it was translated.
I fully understand converting the main character, a middle-aged Chinese scientist, into five hot young prodigies of diverse ethnicities. And i fully understand that everything that happens in the book had to go through the “100 times more spectacular” machine in order to be made as a Netflix series. For instance, the whole world has to see the stars blink, rather than a few observatories seeing the universe’s background radiation blink.
But the thing that makes me sad about this adaptation is how Benioff and Weiss are clearly just rushing through the story of the first book in order to get to what they think is the good stuff: humanity fighting back. The pacing of the first 5 episodes is crazy fast—by the end of episode 2 they’re doing things that happened at the midpoint of the book. And the fact that Panama, the creation of the Sophons, and “You’re bugs!” all happened in one episode is a crime. I wonder how invested viewers who haven’t read the books could be, considering how fast things go.
But the most telling thing is that after 5 episodes of breakneck pace, the last three episodes slow way down. No spoilers, but this is clearly when the show starts telling the story the showrunners really want to tell.
That said!
I do like the five hot young replacements for the book’s protagonist, and how they all have different motivations and attitudes. I enjoyed the drama and the pathos and the quips.
The Panama scene was masterful and appropriately horrifying. Perfect, no notes. I wish they hadn’t foreshadowed it with the nanofiber test on the artificial diamond, but I guess they made up for it by being coy about what was happening until it did.
Conversely, the human abacus scene was much better in my mind’s eye.
I was very sad that they boiled the creation of the Sophons down to two seconds—I loved that sequence in the book.
Benedict Wong is the perfect choice to play Da Shi, but I miss the even more abrasive Da Shi from the books, who knew he didn’t know anything yet knew more than the eggheads surrounding him.
Not clear about Tatiana. Does she have super strength or what? When she killed Jack I was annoyed that the aliens had somehow created or planted a superhuman agent, but that idea never came up again. She stabbed Jack to death with his own phone, did she not??
Anyway! I have further complaints and compliments but this is long enough already.
posted by ejs at 9:12 PM on March 30 [6 favorites]
The episode title just makes me wish we had an adaptation of The Stars My Destination.
Although probably I should be careful what I wish for.
posted by Nerd of the North at 5:29 PM on March 31 [2 favorites]
Although probably I should be careful what I wish for.
posted by Nerd of the North at 5:29 PM on March 31 [2 favorites]
Disclaimer: I’ve read the first book and I’m only a few chapters into the second book.
how Benioff and Weiss are clearly just rushing through the story of the first book in order to get to what they think is the good stuff: humanity fighting back
I suspect they’re rushing through the book because at best they’re going to get 3 seasons to adapt the series.
And not because where the book series is going.
posted by andrewdoull at 5:43 PM on March 31 [3 favorites]
how Benioff and Weiss are clearly just rushing through the story of the first book in order to get to what they think is the good stuff: humanity fighting back
I suspect they’re rushing through the book because at best they’re going to get 3 seasons to adapt the series.
And not because where the book series is going.
posted by andrewdoull at 5:43 PM on March 31 [3 favorites]
But the thing that makes me sad about this adaptation is how Benioff and Weiss are clearly just rushing through the story of the first book in order to get to what they think is the good stuff: humanity fighting back.
Ha! I haven't read the books. But my impression of the show so far is that it's quite slow paced.
posted by davidwitteveen at 8:36 PM on March 31 [1 favorite]
Ha! I haven't read the books. But my impression of the show so far is that it's quite slow paced.
posted by davidwitteveen at 8:36 PM on March 31 [1 favorite]
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posted by cocoagirl at 11:24 AM on March 30