Netflix 3 Body Problem Causes Another Western Adaptation Dilemma

Netflix 3 Body Problem is up & about and it seems like every time a Western production is involved in adapting any creative works from Eastern media, tends to some degree land in steep boiling waters. Not too steep for this one I suppose but where do we put our expectations on something this ambitious? On the contrary, it has created such a buzz that the title finds itself as one of the most successful shows of the year so far.

The series has become popular similar to titles like – Avatar, One Piece, A Shop for Killers, Gyeonseong Creature and some other titles. Netflix 3 Body Problem is an adaptation of the biggest pieces of literal in modern China. The first book for the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, to say when you have 3 showrunners, including the two DBs of Game of Thrones, you’ve got very big expectations there.

Netflix’s adaptation has made several changes from the source, including the characters, their background stories, and some liberties with the main storyline. By large, it follows the core themes and premises of the original materials. As someone who hasn’t gotten around to reading the books, I’d say it stands well. For fans, there are opinions out there.

Just What Is Netflix 3 Body Problem About?

In the modern age, we’ve accepted that out there in the galaxies, there exist beings we don’t know of, nor can understand about. Here in Netflix 3 Body Problem, all it took was an anti-commie Chinese during the 60s revolution to set in stone a motion that may have caused the ultimate doom for our world.

After witnessing the death of her father by the revolutionaries, Ye Wenjie has lost her faith in humanity. After years of serving the communist party to some degree, she managed to contact an outside force, with a warning that if they came, they might take over. Thus, she did, leading to over 40 years of secrecy, the creation of a cult, and an impending invasion.

Netflix 3 Body Problem is a thriller series where the world’s qualified intellectuals, (in the book, they’re all Chinese) must solve the crisis revolving around the alien race’s inability to exist in their home solar system. Which has 3 celestial suns revolving around it, and with many complications around the effects it has on their home planet, the aliens (San-Ti or Trisolaris) had to flee. So, they’re coming to Earth as their replacement.

Various factions with separate agendas are on the move from those wanting to embrace their new leaders and maybe its inevitable destruction, those wanting to solve the 3 Body Problem, and those doing what they can to survive in the next 4 centuries before arrival. That is essentially the plot of Netflix 3 Body Problem.

Not Entirely Its Own Spin

The Netflix 3 Body Problem follows the book through every bit within the first few minutes, but soon after, it takes place in Cambridge, Oxford’s particle accelerator facilities. In the present time, where both Ye Wenjie and her daughter, Vera reside. A group of former physics students, led by Vera, comes across various obstacles and discoveries. Starting with the suicide of Vera, after realizing what was about to come, including her mother’s old secrets.

The domino effect has come into being, the UK’s top-secret government groups investigating, and taking action by slaughtering the cult. Netflix 3 Body Problem is a more visceral, surreal, and adrenaline-pumping adaptation, with a lot of Western takes on specific concepts of the book. I think it respected the core aspects of what the book was trying to do while letting it take place in a more updated timeline.

And considering the social awareness that modern audiences these days have, they’ve thought it would be nice to play around with those aspects to give their show more rigor. But the matter of fact is, the important parts of the show were the characters, and how it depicts the source material. Including the fundamental queries, and questions, delving into prospects of humanity themselves, of which the book carries so much depth.

But there are certain creative liberties they took, by inserting various aspects of the latter two books into the first season, which largely follows book 1 of the trilogy. Also, it’s more character-focused too, the opposite of the book which treated its characters merely as plot devices. Plus, the Westernized version of the Chinese characters of the book. Netflix 3 Body Problem is a high-concept series, which mends the new parts of the show pretty well.

The Best Sci-Fi Series Out There

Netflix 3 Body Problem deserves the recognition that this is one of the best-adapted shows out there. If Netflix had this same energy, and talent doing the same for Avatar, that article I wrote would be an entirely different piece. Credit where it’s due to Benioff, Weiss, and Woo.

The story of Netflix 3 Body Problem tackles this hyper-intense intellectual race against a powerful force, that plays a 6D chess game with the earth’s best, around the meantime, creating good drama, and spectacle without it coming cheesy, contrived, and unoriginal. They spared no expense on the CGI, which is important for the high-concept elements of its source material.

Yet, I must admit, somewhere after episode 5 of Netflix 3 Body Problem, right after the big reveal, the pacing kind of slowed down afterwards, and in the last 2 episodes it felt like it didn’t really create the necessary impact it’s supposed to from the story. It kind of ends in a bad cliffhanger.

Should You Watch Netflix 3 Body Problem?!!

There is much promise and more potential seen in Netflix 3 Body Problem. Obviously, they’re not done with Book 1’s story yet, meaning the trilogy set will be stretched to maybe 5 or 6 more seasons. Actually, come to think of it, 7 sounds like a bad number, just end it on 6 and we’re good. Maybe the joke would be easier to swallow if remembering things was harder.

But yeah, go give Netflix 3 Body Problem a watch. I think it’s high time Netflix comes back to Sci-Fi shows like they did with Travelers, The OA, Dark, Sense8 and so on. I must be very old to remember this stuff before they started to dilute the quality by just greenlighting shows no one asked for. 3 Body Problem is off to a good start. Just hoping the D.B. curse doesn’t happen again. Maybe less so because the storyline is fully completed.