AvPGalaxy Forums

Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have announced their next TV series.

Once again, they're adapting an acclaimed series of novels — only this time in the realm of sci-fi.

The duo are teaming with writer-producer Alexander Woo (True Blood) to tackle Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem trilogy, which depicts humanity's first contact with an alien civilization. The saga's debut book was published to considerable acclaim in China in 2008, while an English translation by Ken Liu became the first Asian novel ever to win a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2014. The New Yorker dubbed Liu "China's Arthur C. Clarke," referring to the 2001: A Space Odyssey screenwriter.

"Liu Cixin's trilogy is the most ambitious science-fiction series we've read, taking readers on a journey from the 1960s until the end of time, from life on our pale blue dot to the distant fringes of the universe," Benioff and Weiss said in a statement. "We look forward to spending the next years of our lives bringing this to life for audiences around the world."

Added Woo: "It's a privilege to be adapting one of the great masterpieces of Chinese science-fiction. The Three-Body Problem trilogy combines so many things I love: rich, multi-layered characters and true existential stakes — all told as an elegant and deeply human allegory."

The title refers to a problem in physics of computing the trajectory of three bodies interacting with one another (in the novel, a nearby solar system where three stars make life hell for those who live on an Earth-type planet).

Liu Cixin and Ken Liu will serve as consulting producers on the project. The author released a statement that seems to anticipate criticism about Benioff and Weiss adapting an English-language adaptation of a Chinese novel. "I have the greatest respect for and faith in the creative team adapting The Three-Body Problem for television audiences," Liu said. "I set out to tell a story that transcends time and the confines of nations, cultures, and races; one that compels us to consider the fate of humankind as a whole. It is a great honor as an author to see this unique sci-fi concept travel and gain fandom across the globe and I am excited for new and existing fans all over the world to discover the story on Netflix."

Among the many executive producers on the project are some familiar names: Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson, Game of Thrones veteran Bernadette Caulfield, actor Brad Pitt via his Plan B Entertainment production company, and actress Rosamund Pike via her Primitive Streak production company.

Netflix VP of original series Peter Friedlander issued an impassioned statement about the project. "The first time I read The Three-Body Problem trilogy (Remembrance of Earth's Past), it changed what science fiction meant to me forever," he wrote. "Although it may seem like a familiar premise — the story of humanity's first contact with an alien civilization — Chinese author Liu Cixin's ability to interweave science with fiction made his vision of the future and extra-terrestrial contact feel more realistic than any other science fiction I've read. At the same time, I was also drawn in by the story of all of humanity vulnerable to the same external threat and how this both unifies and divides humans ... We have been granted the rights from The Three-Body Universe and Yoozoo Group to produce the English-language series adaptation and have assembled a talented and thoughtful creative team to do so. Every person involved not only shares a passion and high esteem for the books, but also the creative vision and ambition to help bring this remarkable story to life for audiences around the world ... To quote The Three-Body Problem, 'In my line of work, it's all about putting together many apparently unconnected things. When you piece them together the right way, you get the truth.' We all share the same goal: to pay homage to this incredible story and take members on the adventure of a lifetime."

The cost of the series is sure to be substantial. In 2018, the Financial Times reported that Amazon Studios was making a heavy play for the rights to the novels, looking into potentially making a deal worth $1 billion — a figure that would even dwarf the company's initial investment in its upcoming The Lord of the Rings series. That the project ended up at Netflix despite such numbers floating around is really saying something (though one source described the $1 billion figure as overblown).

Previously, Netflix made a lucrative exclusive overall deal with the Emmy-winning Benioff and Weiss coming off their Thrones success. The deal ended the duo's relationship with Disney where they had been working on a prospective new Star Wars film. Since shifting to Netflix, they directed the Leslie Jones comedy special Time Machine, and are also producing Netflix's upcoming half-hour dramedy The Chair starring Sandra Oh.

https://ew.com/tv/netflix-game-of-thrones-three-body-problem/

Not totally sold on the trailer, but I'm curious enough about this conceptually (I haven't read the novels) that I'll be keeping an eye on it and following the development to see if I end up wanting to give it a go in January.

I've read two novels and they're absolutely amazing. Hopefully Netflix won't butcher it as they did with The Witcher.

Judging from the teaser it's quite accurate with the first book.

Looks fantastic. Just wished they committed to spoken Mandarin.

Weird, I'm almost finished the first book, had no idea.  :laugh:

Quote from: ace3g on Nov 11, 2023, 02:15:43 AMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fje8el375T0

Interested by what I heard of the book, but that scene doesn't really look good to me. The blue/green screen isn't great. Will wait and see how this turns out. If it has good political intrigue and the existential cosmic horror is portrayed well here, I'll give it go.

I just finished the 30-episode Chinese version on Amazon Prime.  It was a slow burn, but I suspect it's a lot more faithful to the novel than the Netflix series will be.

I'm more concerned about 'the Netflix cancellation problem'. :laugh:

https://twitter.com/THR/status/1756048694829519224

I don't know...not sure if I want to invest time in a show only to have it cancelled...the Netflix problem.

As for changes to the source material...well...I can't say at this point, but it really depends on execution of course.

And as for the guys producing the Netflix version, D&D really drop the balls with the underwhelming Game of Thrones finale. So the track record isn't the best, but they do tend to do better with a solid source (published novel), than having to figure out things on their own based on only vague guidelines from George RR Martin.

I bet for literary snobs, this project was stillborn👀👉👈

@Local Trouble thoughts? :o

---

https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1770711246163075307

I'll give it a try tomorrow. Hoping it's on par with Game Of Thrones S1-4.

Is it better than recent Willow Disney show?

or the adaptation on Amazon?

:o👉👈

https://twitter.com/verge/status/1770807906390167678

---

Food for thought 👀👉👈 so you can have brain diarrhea ~

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

(https://i.ibb.co/Ss1phz2/Screenshot-20240321-205553-Chrome.jpg)

▶️Is there a real online game of Three Body game? (https://labs.sense-studios.com/threebody/index.html)

---

---

---

---

---

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EptoJ9V64d4

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsxBvcgGTQM

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjoICDmv4oM

Why hasn't anyone spoiled the true appearance of the aliens for me?  :'(👉👈 Do you really want me to go through a whole trilogy plus a piece of licensed fanfiction?

::)👉👈 :P

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrCxmDl2o84

I'm 3 episodes in, it's really good. Sometimes a bit convoluted. Visually excellent.

It gets more and more engaging. Also I might add without spoiling that elements of this show remind me of the manga Gantz, for those who read that. I won't say more.

aye ^

(https://s12.gifyu.com/images/SVHnB.gif)

Are you watching it Jonesy ?

Quote from: BigDaddyJohn on Mar 23, 2024, 10:45:20 PMAre you watching it Jonesy ?

Yup...and believe it or not...I saw this first season show twice! lol The first time I was high 🙈🙊. Enjoy it. I hope they don't cancel potential future seasons). :)

But since I have never read the books, I was curious about the aliens true form....also to know if this adaptation is good (they *people on internet* say that the Asian adaptation is the superior one, personally I enjoyed the Netflix show though).

Just finished episode 4. It's getting clearer now.

(https://i.ibb.co/Z1tBC9B/dehydrated-bodies-netflix-v0-pc0zew44evbc1-1.jpg)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLMtjDQJZNE
Love these sequences from the show 8)

Spoiler

(https://i.ibb.co/TRbdqS8/patryk-urbaniak-dehydration-004.jpg)

(https://i.ibb.co/0Mtj6X8/patryk-urbaniak-dehydration-007.jpg)

(https://i.ibb.co/8KSgxWw/patryk-urbaniak-dehydration-009.jpg)

(https://i.ibb.co/9YH5xdM/patryk-urbaniak-dehydration-010-1.jpg)

(https://i.ibb.co/0jVtbY0/patryk-urbaniak-dehydration-014.jpg)

(https://i.ibb.co/KmvN1dm/patryk-urbaniak-dehydration-020.jpg)

[close]

---

https://twitter.com/BryceWeiner/status/1771701804453044454

Just finished episode 5. This is becoming really great.

Spoiler

The boat scene was extraordinary. I was mesmerized yet horrified.

[close]

https://twitter.com/THR/status/1771982908053688367

https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1772255448269234501

https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1772252847272501580

This is the only review that matters 8)🙏

https://twitter.com/GamesRadar/status/1772290889475318000

Quote from: Immortan Jonesy on Mar 22, 2024, 01:56:52 AMhttps://twitter.com/verge/status/1770807906390167678

Talk about an avalanche of youtube links! Hahaha.

Quote from: Immortan Jonesy on Mar 26, 2024, 05:04:03 AMThis is the only review that matters 8)🙏

https://twitter.com/GamesRadar/status/1772290889475318000

Hahaha I didn't see that ! Oh, and just on the side...

Spoiler

Auggie is god damn breathtakingly beautiful.

[close]

I've watched the first few episodes of Netflix's 3 Body Problem. They kept some core ideas and plot the same as the novel but otherwise changed a lot of the characters and setting from the novel. Not sure what to make of that yet...have to keep watching.

The beginning of episode 1 depicting Cultural Revolution in 1960s China was in the book too, although they changed the order of that event occuring (in the book, that scene occured later, whereas in the adaptation it started at the beginning, which was fine with the author apparently)...for those who want to know a little bit more about that period in Chinese history, it was a time of pure madness (almost in the literal sense). Chairman Mao, obsessed with class struggle campaigns, plunged China into never-ending series of political turmoil, starvation and poverty. Anyone deemed to be in the "wrong class" (i.e. landlords, former KMT member (rival party to the CCP that fled to Taiwan), intellectuals etc, can be targeted), were persecuted. After the failure of his campaigns (sometimes with catastrophic results of mass starvation), other communist leaders quietly sidelined Mao to stop further damage he could cause to the country. This brought some temporay relief from the insanity.

However Mao, being the megalomanic that he was, did not accept being shunted aside. In a strategy to eliminate his enemies (real or imagined) in the Communist Party of China, he created youth groups called "Red Guards" in 1966, each holding a little red book (consisting of Mao quotes). These red guards were fanatical foot soldiers of Mao, targeting first Mao's rivals, then spreading to targeting anything perceived to be "old" and "counter-revolutionary". Countless and priceless Chinese national treasures, in architecture, arts like painting or sculptures, were set alight, smashed into pieces or simply wipe from existence.

Worse, Mao order the red guards to turn against their own parents, their teachers and anyone deemed to be an intellectual. Families were destroyed. Teachers, intellectuals, artists and philosophers were tortured in "struggle sessions", where they were forced to kneel and "recant" their supposed sins against Mao and the communist cause. In many cases they were killed. Then this devolved almost into civil war in 1968-69, when different red guard factions started to target one another, claiming themselves to be the only ones to be truly loyal to Mao and others were mere pretenders. Schools were shut. Any kind of normal workplace, like most factories or office, were shut. The PLA had to be sent into the cities to maintain control and these red guard youths were ordered into the countryside for hard labor.

This period of insanity did not truly end until 1976 with Mao's death. His eventual successor, Deng Xiaoping, renounced the Cultural Revolution, ended class struggles, rehabilitated many of the surviving persecuted victims of the red guards and set the country to open up with economic reforms that save the country (basically it was turning China capitalist, although the Chinese communist could not use that term officially, rather it was "socialism with Chinese characteristics". Instead of class background determining your life in Mao's days, Deng famously said "it doesn't matter whether a cat is white or black as long as it catches the mice". This meant class struggles was worthless, rather its pragmatic and merit-based pursuit of well-being that matters (again very capitalistic in idea).

All that said, there were a few scientists, deemed as vital to China's security, that escaped persecution by the Red Guards. In real history, these were scientists and engineers who worked on rockets and nuclear weapons, deemed as necessary to deter the Soviet Union (which despite being a fellow communist country, China turned hostile on, as Mao thought the Soviets foresake the communist cause of Stalin). In the fictional history of the 3 Body Problem, it included Ye Wenjie. Seeing the madness around her (and arguably herself was also a victim of the Cultural Revolution), its not surprising to see her concluding that humanity was hopeless...

Quote from: Cougerboy on Mar 26, 2024, 05:32:52 AM

Quote from: Immortan Jonesy on Mar 22, 2024, 01:56:52 AMhttps://twitter.com/verge/status/1770807906390167678

Talk about an avalanche of youtube links! Hahaha.

the thread is my virtual home! Sorry @NA  :-X👉👈🙊🙈

(https://s9.gifyu.com/images/SVvkS.gif)

---

Quote from: BigDaddyJohn on Mar 26, 2024, 01:38:53 PM

Quote from: Immortan Jonesy on Mar 26, 2024, 05:04:03 AMThis is the only review that matters 8)🙏

https://twitter.com/GamesRadar/status/1772290889475318000

Hahaha I didn't see that ! Oh, and just on the side...

Spoiler

Auggie is god damn breathtakinlgy beautiful.

[close]

Spoiler

Aye! <3
 
(https://i.ibb.co/t46yrs2/teaser-the-countdown-has-begun-for-auggie-salazar-v0-MWZmdn-Y4b2p6e-Wtj-MVBBZ0-H-n-Gz-Xz5-NKVbl-O9x0.jpg)

[close]

The high priest has spoken :o🙏

(https://s9.gifyu.com/images/SVvZs.gif)

https://www.youtube.com/live/7P_eyH7EFBw

BTS Stuff🤓

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF08Sl6asKo

Just finished it. Really liked it, hope there'll be a season 2.

Just started it.  So far, so good.

Well, I just finished it and I have to admit it's far better than I expected.  It was somehow both more engaging and streamlined--yet covered more of the story--than the 30-episode Chinese version on Amazon Prime Video.

Benioff and Weiss just might redeem themselves with this, if they stick the landing.

The Netflix series changed a lot from the original book. For one thing the Wang Miao character was split into several characters (the Oxford scientists). The detective character played by Benedict Wong was also rather more cranky and moody in the book, whereas Wong portrayed him in more a mellow fashion. The book also goes much deeper into explaining the various scientific theories and technology used by the aliens, not just the titular "3 Body Problem". And the VR game in the book was somewhat more basic than the advanced version we saw in the adaptation.

But those differences aside, I...do enjoyed the Netflix adaptation...more than I expected. It was a bit slow and clunky at first but once the various storylines gel together, you are engrossed and want to keep watching.

Wong is so great in this, this actor really deserve more recognition.

Yes, his character was great.

Quote from: GizmodoThough the Times was unable to get a Netflix quote for its story, the paper did point to a recent Hollywood Reporter interview with 3 Body Problem co-creator David Benioff—whose Game of Thrones HBO series served as the basis for Yoozoo's strategy game Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming—in which he was asked about the case. "When you work in this business, you're expecting all sorts of issues to arise," he said. "Somebody poisoning the boss is not generally one of them." THR's piece goes on to note that before Netflix took it on, The Three-Body Problem was in the works at Amazon Studios in 2018, a deal that was scuttled in part because "[Lin] was so obnoxious," according to an anonymous insider that spoke to the trade. They also shared this chilling recollection: the Yoozoo team, which included Xu, "went out of the room [after the deal failed] and it was very dramatic. You could tell there was all this tension between them ... [when Lin was murdered in 2020], I wasn't surprised"

https://twitter.com/Gizmodo/status/1774871996125565434

Quote from: Immortan Jonesy on Apr 01, 2024, 07:50:28 PM

Quote from: GizmodoThough the Times was unable to get a Netflix quote for its story, the paper did point to a recent Hollywood Reporter interview with 3 Body Problem co-creator David Benioff—whose Game of Thrones HBO series served as the basis for Yoozoo's strategy game Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming—in which he was asked about the case. "When you work in this business, you're expecting all sorts of issues to arise," he said. "Somebody poisoning the boss is not generally one of them." THR's piece goes on to note that before Netflix took it on, The Three-Body Problem was in the works at Amazon Studios in 2018, a deal that was scuttled in part because "[Lin] was so obnoxious," according to an anonymous insider that spoke to the trade. They also shared this chilling recollection: the Yoozoo team, which included Xu, "went out of the room [after the deal failed] and it was very dramatic. You could tell there was all this tension between them ... [when Lin was murdered in 2020], I wasn't surprised"

https://twitter.com/Gizmodo/status/1774871996125565434

Yeah, its insane. The murderer Xu apparently fancies himself as another Walter White from Breaking Bad. That's just straight up crazy.

D&D even contacted Vince Gilligan (the producer of Breaking Bad) to tell them of this bizarre twist. Seems like in this case, reality is (somewhat) stranger than fiction.

WTF

When there is a Lost reference, I'm here !

Quote from: BigDaddyJohn on Apr 05, 2024, 08:51:17 AMWhen there is a Lost reference, I'm here !

I loved that show!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ5NY2geSL4

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4clhcJHu8s

Quote from: Immortan Jonesy on Apr 05, 2024, 03:03:52 PM

Quote from: BigDaddyJohn on Apr 05, 2024, 08:51:17 AMWhen there is a Lost reference, I'm here !

I loved that show!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ5NY2geSL4

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4clhcJHu8s

It's my favorite show of all time, The X Files being the second.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqK2oDPzfx4
I really loved the Chinese version of this show!

I've never read the books, but despite the Tencent-produced Three-Body being 30 episodes long compared to Netflix's 3 Body Problem being only 8 episodes, I wanted to start with the adaption which was supposedly closest to the author's characters...even if it meant having to read 'subtitles' all the way through.

And I'm so glad that I did.  While there was a slower-burn pace at times to the Three-Body storyline, I found it's mystery and philosophical musings engrossing throughout, and really liked the main cast of actors and actresses involved.  In comparison, the casually sweary tone and condensed nature of Netflix's 3 Body Problem was much less appealing to me.

The awesome 'Judgment Day' tanker sequence was built-up to and executed far more satisfyingly in the Chinese version too, as far as I'm concerned, and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Despite certain limitations at times, I found the Three-Body show to be riveting viewing due to the fact that I didn't know what to expect from the storyline, and it can be seen here for free (without ads) for anyone that's interested - https://www.viki.com/tv/39255c-three-body (https://www.viki.com/tv/39255c-three-body)

It seems that the director recently re-edited the show down to 26 episodes for an 'Anniversary Edition' release, which removes certain added material that wasn't in the first book, and streamlines the pacing of the show overall.  Either way, Three-Body is the definitive adaption of the story for me if I ever decide to have a re-watch of it one day. 

As far as I know, Tencent has already given the go-ahead for the second season which will cover the 'The Dark Forest' book, and if the Netflix show ever gets a follow-up too, I'll certainly check it out as well.  Either way, I now intend to actually read the books as I can't wait that long to see what happens next! :laugh:

Lastly, here's a short, spoiler-free video which gives a quick rundown of the differences and similarities to the original books -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xRwH4jWuEE
 

But the chinese version doesn't have the beautiful Eiza Gonzalez in it...

Quote from: BigDaddyJohn on Apr 15, 2024, 02:30:53 PMBut the chinese version doesn't have the beautiful Eiza Gonzalez in it...

She acted well in the series. Although there is one negative I should point out, I find her beauty a little distracting. Not saying scientists can't be beautiful or glamourous, and certainly there are good looking scientists and engineers in real life, but Gonzalez just had that "Hollywood glamour" that took me out of the story line a little. As in it was a little hard to believe she could be that brilliant scientist she was supposed to be in the story.

Not Gonzalez's fault I suppose, she was born with Hollywood good looks, haha.

Her character makes up for it by being a hot mess for much of the season.

Just say it! You guys wanted the nerdy looking scientist ;D (jk! ;))

(https://i.ibb.co/xDbJXks/c538dcaff4a82fc978a5604742159af2-amy-farrah-fowler-halloween-removebg-preview.png)

https://twitter.com/Gizmodo/status/1781097147913679149

She definitely was interesting. And really pretty too. Damn this show has beautiful women.

The ai lady was smoking Hot too!


(https://i.ibb.co/k930yxS/3-body-problem-netflix.jpg)

Yes ! And Jin too ! All of them !

https://twitter.com/3body/status/1790823237359657202

I was afraid to see the opposite news.. That's great, I'll wait eagerly !

Yeah😅👍Netflix cancels everything that is not Stranger Things🥶😱😭👎

On the other hand, I fear season 2 will come out in a looong time.