#the three body problem

[wangmiao]

Yu Hewei as Shi Qiang in Tencent's THREE-BODY | 三体 (2023) Episode 1.30 (Kun's 77/∞ Three-Body gifsets)

[punchitmrsulu]

Finally, a Paul Atreides/Eren Jaeger/Anakin Skywalker-type character and it's a WOMAN!!!

[child-of-hurin]

I'm on episode 4 and unsure how I feel about Netflix's Three Body Problem overall, but I'm pleasantly surprised by a number of things:

If they were never going for an all-Chinese cast, I so far appreciate the attempts at giving it a worldly feel. I like that we hear a lot of different languages and I appreciate that key nationalities --Ye Wenjie and Mike Evans more obviously, but also Sophon's chosen Japanese appearance -- were kept, and I appreciate the diverse cast too, immensely. I feel like it's safe to hope for more even more in-universe diversity. Wondering if we'll see Manuel Rey Diaz lol.

It feels at the same time an obvious solution and a bold move to have the protagonists of each book be friends in this one -- I think it takes away from the insane scope of the series, but OTOH it does facilitate it for the viewer, and allows for more character exploration, which we know is something Western audiences tended to feel was lacking in the original trilogy. I was worried the show would not be able to develop so many characters at once, but by ep 4 I feel the opposite! The cast feels strong too, I'm pleasantly surprised by the quality of the acting. But I had very low expectations.

I was worried an adaptation would water down the discussion of fascism that is ever so present in the book (albeit discreet to the point that many readers say it's not a political book!) but I was pleasantly surprised on that front too... The (purposefully) half-committed discussions about god and violence have hit some mark for me so far, though I'm not entirely sure what mark it was. But it's there!

I wish they had been more bold visually, but I can't complain of the quality of the effects!

If you have any opinions about these topics, I'd be curious to hear about them!

[floofhips]

Trisolaran biology :] from the "remembrance of earth's past" trilogy by cixin liu

[dilirebas]

To be clear, I thought the Tencent adaptation of the Three Body Problem was pretty bad.

But the Netflix adaptation? It simply doesn’t need to exist. Taking a Chinese story about Chinese people living in the aftermath of a particular moment in Chinese history, but turning it into a story about white people? What’s the point of that?

If you want to tell a white story so badly, there are already so many interesting sci fi novels about white people that you can adapt. No need to whiten up this one.

[prans-micellar-water]

I must not get angry at the netflix three body problem adaptation. Hating a new adaptation just because it’s different is the little death that brings total destruction. I will face the casting choices. I will permit the anglicization to pass over me and through me. And when I have watched the final episode I will turn my inner eye upon the tumblr 3 body problem tag to revel in the reactions of the other. Where the loathing has gone only a ‘meh it was fine’ will remain.

[torpublishinggroup]

there's a show or something for this book coming out soon? anyway, this cover goes hard and the story goes harder. it's art for the STEM crowd, the gamers, the history buffs, and the speculative mystery enjoyers

[brocktonbay]

Cosmic Insignificance, Microscopic Persistence: Worm and Other Perspectives

Worm, J.C. McCrae // "Spiral of Ants," Lemon Demon // Mosaic I, M.C. Escher // Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer // "A Whale's Afterlife," Jeffrey Marlow // Haywain Triptych, Hieronymus Bosch // Worm, J.C. McCrae // Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel // Cemetery of Splendour (2015) // "The Universe Under a Microscope," Arjun V. Raman & Nitin S. Baliga // A Bug's Life (1998) // The Three-Body Problem, Liu Cixin // Solaris (1972) // Worm, J.C. McCrae

[jinian-ginias]

Merry Christmas

[hadeantaiga]

Scifi book recs

If you like stories where the aliens are truly "alien" and inhuman, I have some recs for you:

Embassytown by China Miéville - The aliens in this book can't lie, because their language is instinct, not learned. They can acquire metaphors, but only if someone or something acts out the metaphor first. They also speak with a two mouth two voice system that cannot be replicated by computers; the only way humans can speak to them is if two humans speak simultaneously. The story's main character is a woman who was used to make a metaphor.

The Commonwealth Saga by Peter Hamilton- There's a lot going on in this trilogy: humans have discovered how to become effectively immortal, as well as how to teleport through space with portals. Astronomers discover a Dyson Sphere being suddenly erected many lightyears away and wonder in fear what alien society could construct something like that. Turns out, the aliens are a form of semi-sentient, hive-minded fungus.

The Algebraist by Ian Banks - Gas giants have aliens in them. Not the ones in the Sol system - Jupiter is apparently not very good for living - but other solar systems have them! These gas giant aliens are... really hard to describe physically (wheels? with spokes?) and on top of that they live so much more slowly than humans that humans have to equip special gear to slow themselves down to communicate 1:1 with the aliens. There's another alien species in this book that I won't mention because it's a major plot spoiler, but it is also weird and wild.

The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin - The aliens in this trilogy... I can't actually even describe one of the wildest things about them without ruining a major part of the plot, but it has to do with the fact that they communicate telepathically. I can say that they've needed to adapt the ability to be completely dehydrated during times of trouble (kinda like tardigrades) because their planet orbits in a binary star system. This series involves a lot of philosophy and is fascinating for that alone, and the weird as hell aliens add to it.

Honorable mention:

The Expanse by James S.A. Corey (a pen name for the two authors) - This is an honorable mention because you don't really really learn what the aliens are until like, the very last book. Their influence and what they did is seen throughout the series, but the humans are dealing with the broken remnants of an ancient civilization... it's like the equivalent of ants finding a time capsule that only contains a hammer and a car key and trying to understand humanity's architecture and how they achieved space travel via those two items.

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[wangmiao]

@asiandramanet creator bingo - free choice

First 4 episodes of Three-Body (2023) | 三体 in 8 colors to celebrate the one year anniversary of the first airing day (2023/01/15) of episode 1 to 4 (Kun's 72/∞ Three-Body gifsets)

[justthekai]

The books i’ve read this year! It’s 5358 pages and aprox 1,382,000 words

[diamantdog]

me: talking about the chinese adaptation of the three-body problem as a better alternative to the anglicized netflix's version.

someone: the cdrama version is also bad because it treats its viewers as dumb!

me, who is dumb and grateful for the way they explain the science:

[ineffablecpp]

Someone save me bc I'm a grown-up who has a notebook with the first page looking like this.

[buniyaad]

the trisolaran listener and ye wenjie both being branded as traitors to their respectful race for opposite reasons, one for warning another civilization of impending invasion while the other invites invasion into her house…… the parallels! the drama!! each haunting the other’s narrative despite only communicating once!!! liu cixin, they deserve to meet 😭😭😭