On November 20, Station B held the 2021-2022 National Animation Works Conference. Speaking of which, this is the 5th year that "Little Broken Station" has held an animation conference.
The most anticipated work in this national animation conference, I dare to say, must be "The Three-Body Problem".
I think the importance of "The Three-Body Problem" to China's science fiction industry does not need to be repeated. Even if every reader disagrees with the statement that "The Three-Body Problem is China's best science fiction"; But it must be admitted that the status of Chinese science fiction on the world stage and in the hearts of mainstream readers is determined by "The Three-Body Problem".
At the press conference of station B, the animation of "The Three-Body Problem" used a short two-minute trailer to restore the description of the novel's highly abstract painting with sophisticated and rigorous visual effects as much as possible. You can see the magnificent "three-body game" fantasy scene, the steel industry style rendered urban scene, or the space force fleet facing the three-body threat in the boundless space; The space elevator that crosses the heavens and the earth, the particle collider that locks the technology of the three-body people, and the sword casting plough at the entrance of the United Nations headquarters.
From the reproduction of various large scenes to the depiction of small details, it can be seen that the animation of "The Three-Body Problem" is very carefully polished and restored, giving the audience a sense of substitution in the future three-body world.
So although the "Three-Body Problem" animation started from the project in 2019 for three years, after a trailer, fans still forgave this "pigeon behavior" - not only because of the tolerance of three-body fans (laughs) and the visible quality of the film, but also because of the film and television adaptation of "The Three-Body Problem", it has always been difficult.
The TV series was strongly opposed from the beginning, and the film project was repeatedly aborted.
The movie "The Three-Body Problem", directed by Zhang Fanfan and starring Feng Shaofeng and Zhang Jingchu, was originally scheduled to be released in 2016, but there has been no trace so far.
So, how difficult is it to make "The Three-Body Problem" into a movie?
Simply put, "The Three-Body Problem" tells a story that spans hundreds of years, and the love and hatred between humans and the three-body people. There is not only imagination, but also full of power and aesthetics, human exploration of the unknown world, and the interweaving and survival of the two civilizations; "The Three-Body Problem" starts from the aspects of spirituality, humanity, morality, and faith, and rationally interprets humanism, moralism, and the law of survival from a scientific perspective.
Aside from the epic story framework and the various high-end theories involved in "The Three-Body Problem", the grand interstellar war scenes alone are difficult for the Chinese film industry to control.
Liu Cixin himself publicly stated that the current ability and experience of Chinese filmmakers are still a little less able to make "The Three-Body Problem"; Even the well-known director Cameron believes that in order to shoot the depth expressed in the original "Three-Body Problem", it is normal to shoot at least according to the size of six movies, which takes a long time. (It is said that Nolan and even Ang Lee were exposed to the adaptation of "The Three-Body Problem" back then, and the standard answer is that this movie cannot be made.) ）
Back then, Ka Shen directly talked to Da Liu, which once left endless reverie for "The Three-Body Problem" fans
But it is such a work with a grand and complex background, and the first to make the "film and television" of "The Three-Body Problem" recognized by people is this fan-made "cubeman" work.
On station B, the rating has a staggering 9.9 and more than 50,000 reviews.
At first glance, it seems like nothing, isn't it a high-rated drama, but the animation was originally built in the game "Minecraft" - this difficulty is like putting together a scene character with Lego parts in reality, and then writing a script and drawing a storyboard to shoot it.
And under the scrutiny of a group of three-body fans, it has received high praise, not only because of the difficulty of production at the beginning - in "My Three-Body Problem", although the characters and scene settings take a minimalist route, the plot is completely faithful to the original book, and many famous scenes in the book are restored.
For example, the guzheng plans to cut the giant wheel:
The most classic water drop probe to destroy the human fleet, space 2000 rings:
The animation is accompanied by Beethoven's "Symphony of Destiny" here, which really has a tragic and epic sense
The "water droplet" easily took out the entire human space fleet, and each spacecraft was sturdy and pierced, and the hull collapsed and shattered.
In the original book, the "water drop" is described as follows: "The detector is in the shape of a perfect water drop, with a round head, a pointed tail, and an extremely smooth total reflection mirror surface, and the Milky Way reflects a smooth light pattern on its surface, making this drop of mercury look simple and beautiful."
And the large close-up given in the animation also reproduces the original almost perfectly:
So as mentioned earlier about the difficulty of adapting "The Three-Body Problem", it is a big investment and a big production to make such an effect, right? But in fact, the "My Three-Body Problem" series was originally self-made by fans.
In 2014, out of love for the original, netizen "iQue Bafang" began to update this "painting collapse" fan animation on station B. However, due to the cost and team size, the main plot of the first season was developed in the form of game screen recording + narration.
This rough painting style, it is said that Da Liu was dissuaded to quit after reading the first few paragraphs
The opening credits of the first season also have this warning in advance: the first contact with this style of art may make you feel uncomfortable, and those who are afraid of blindness should go to the top right
And the production staff even relied on the QQ group to find unknown voice actors, and even screenwriters who chatted online. In this way, everyone used their spare time to piece together a work.
In 2016, Yuzu, which owns the copyright of "The Three-Body Problem", found the iQue Bafang team and incorporated it. Since then, wild doujin has become an official work. After that, "My Three-Body Problem" had the opportunity to be produced using the 3D animation software of Zheng'er Bajing. But the original style was continued. So now the characters you see are still squares, and many scenes are still pixel mosaics, which are actually intentional by the team.
However, in addition to restoring the scenes in the original work in hardware, what is better done in "My Three-Body Problem" is that although the characters are portrayed in a minimalist style, the spirit of the important characters in the original work is still preserved.
For example, Luo Ji's good friend - Dashi.
In the first part of "The Three-Body Problem", as soon as Dashi appeared, he had a rough and horizontal energy, and the book was written like this:
"This man is five big and three thick, with a horizontal face, wearing a dirty leather jacket, full of smoke, and speaking in a rough voice."
We can also learn about the great history from the dialogue between the two major officers:
"He has a bad record, in a hostage-taking incident a few years ago, he acted without regard to the life and death of the hostages, resulting in the tragic death of a family of three at the hands of criminals; It is said that he also fought fiercely with the underworld, using one gang of underworld forces to clean up the other; Last year, he engaged in torture to extract a confession, which disabled a suspect, so he was suspended..."
Judging from the behavior of Dashi later, this paragraph should not all be true, but seventy or eighty percent should be able to match the number, so we can know that this is a ruthless character who does not play cards according to common sense;
The characters of Dashi in the animation are very vivid: the black on both sides of the cheeks is a sexy beard belonging to a middle-aged man, and he smokes uninhibitedly; Interrogating Luo Ji was also very angry and oppressive.
But the most prominent character, and my personal favorite, is this drag racing chase scene. Here tells the story of Luo Ji who refused to become a wall-facer, could not withstand the impact and ran away alone, and then was ambushed by killers and hunted down by Dashi.
Although this paragraph is the original plot of the animation, the hand-to-hand combat between Dashi and the killer, the danger of road chase, and the various psychological games that flash and move on the roofs of high-rise buildings when the killer escapes / Dashi arrests people (it can be seen that many classic action movies are tributed, and when I watch it, it almost immediately reminds me of Jackie Chan's "Plan A"), and Dashi's foul language that bursts from time to time "I call you the United States or the ugly country" all show the ruthlessness, courage, and cunning in the character image of Dashi.
In fact, the creators of "My Three-Body Problem" have reached a deep level of understanding the emotions of the characters in the original work and adapting them into animation.
For example, the classic dialogue between Luo Ji and the three-body civilization is always talked about by book fans. In the "A Good Book" program launched by Tencent, Luo Ji performed by drama actor Zhao Lixin is in a tired and a little crazy state, using his life as a bargaining chip to question the three-body civilization.
Stage plays require actors to impress the audience with more exaggerated performances
But Luo Ji in the book, at this time, drank a lot of wine, drenched in the rain overnight, and slept overnight in the "grave" earthen pit he dug, (in fact, he was beaten by disappointed humans); By the time I woke up the next day, I had a high fever and my body was particularly weak.
In "My Three-Body Problem", this "digging grave" scene gives a lot of shots. The cemetery that has long been unattended, the tombstones of Ye Wenjie and Yang Dong who are crooked upside down, and the heavy rain all night have rendered the atmosphere into a very sad situation
Put yourself in the shoes of Luo Ji at that time, he should be very tired and helpless. The original work of "The Three-Body Problem" does not describe Luo Ji's state of mind too much at this time, but a few sentences can also let readers feel Luo Ji's inner feelings.
"I speak to the three-body world."
Luo Ji said, the voice was not high, he wanted to repeat it, but no, he knew that the other party could hear.
…
"I deeply apologize to both civilizations for the crimes committed, but will not repent because this is the only option."
"My Three-Body Problem" does treat this famous scene more appropriately. Luo Ji's tone ranges from apologetic to not humble or arrogant in formal negotiations, to a slight irritation when he says, "Wordlessness is the greatest contempt, and we have endured this contempt for two centuries", this series of emotional changes are more natural. At this time, Luo Ji was not radical or angry, he was thinking about the future of the two civilizations, at least, to hold the future of the earth civilization.
After being recognized by the copyright owner Youzu, with certain resource support, "Zhang Beihai Biography" is also a season in my three series that truly achieved "technology explosion".
The scene where Hines wakes up from hibernation and walks in a computer in the quantum field with his wife Keiko Yamasugi, whether it is the restoration of the original description by the production team, or the actual light, shadow, and picture performance, has reached a new peak in my three series.
In "The Legend of Zhang Beihai", part of the original plot was also designed to shape the character image of Zhang Beihai.
For example, this conversation between Zhang Beihai and Zhang Dad about protecting the family and defending the country gave fans a deeper understanding of the later behavior of Zhang Beihai in addition to the original work.
In another original plot inspired by the Hongmen Banquet of "Let the Bullets Fly", the obscure dialogue between the wall-faced Hines and Zhang Beihai in order to mislead Zhizi was also praised for the expressiveness of the characters' expressions:
Actor vs. Fierce acting
The two were thinking about what they were thinking about each other, but under the supervision of Tomoko, they could only pretend to be confused with each other, and finally Hines and Zhang Beihai, who had the same goal, reached a cooperation, showing a slight smile, and the tenacious trisolarans were deceived and "deceived" in the tacit smile of the two.
In the biography of "Zhang Beihai", there are also very vivid scenes reproduced: such as Ding Yi receiving water droplets as a representative of scientists, the last moment of the sentence "Silly child, run", and Zhang Beihai when he led the Free Choice out of the fleet "Free Choice, advance four";
Of course, there is also the father-son hospital dialogue that touched me the most:
"Beihai, I can only tell you, before that, think more."
Deep and sentimental, it restores the atmosphere of the book very well. These words were his father's final guidance to Zhang Beihai, adding to his insistence on his plan.
However, Zhang Beihai is firm in his thinking, but he is never a blind confidence that "faith prevails over everything"; He was always very rational, deducing the best strategy from the most basic principles, and then sticking to it consistently.
Just as the book explains the reason for all these actions of Zhang Beihai, it exudes that unwavering faith:
"I don't need a thought seal, I'm the master of my own beliefs. This belief is strong because it does not come from the wisdom of me alone. As early as the beginning of the three-body crisis, my father and I began to seriously think about the most basic problems of this war. Gradually, my father gathered a group of scholars with deep thoughts, including scientists, politicians, and military strategists, who called themselves the school of future history."
…
After experiencing the leap in picture quality from the first part to "Luo Ji Biography", it is difficult for me to have the original shock for the subsequent picture upgrade of "My Three-Body Problem". And the polishing of emotional details, as the focus of "Zhang Beihai Biography" this time, is obviously a more critical part of "My Three-Body Problem".
It is true that "My Three-Body Problem" has reached the ceiling of fan works in terms of script, sound effects, and picture special effects, but it does not mean that this is a truly "perfect" work. At the very least, its rough style of "cube man" dissuaded a large number of people.
But I think it's also a very supportive thing to let creative and persevering fans produce excellent fanfic works, which in turn stimulates and pushes the official to produce better works.
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, "The Three-Body Problem" is extremely difficult to film and television. Especially at this stage where the level of domestic science fiction has not yet reached maturity enough, I want to shoot "The Three-Body Problem" well and hang in the air.
As of 2022, Liu Cixin's other two science fiction novels, "The Wandering Earth" and "Crazy Aliens" (adapted from "Village Teacher") have completed film and television adaptations, and the most famous "Three-Body Problem" is still on the way, I hope that the formal animation of the three-body problem can make a good start.
Good work requires more patience and time. Calmly accumulating experience, I believe that sooner or later, the world of "The Three-Body Problem" will be completely presented in front of us.