Domestic "Three-Body Problem", a surprise at the beginning of the year

Everyone knows that Liu Cixin's long science fiction novel "The Three-Body Problem" is a super IP, but no one does not tremble in the face of the filmization of "The Three-Body Problem".

So far, "The Three-Body Problem" has been filmed and television five times. In 2016, the movie version of "The Three-Body Problem" starring Feng Shaofeng, Zhang Jingchu, Wu Gang, Tang Yan, Du Chun, Zhang Han, etc. was completed, but after announcing the finalization, it suddenly decided to suspend the release. Seven years later, there is still no news.

The animated version of "The Three-Body Problem" was also synchronized in 2016. Perhaps after the movie version was frustrated, he knew that it was too difficult to adapt the entire novel, so he first told the story of the two characters Zhang Beihai and Luo Ji in the form of character biographies. The art style is very Lego, but the rating is unexpectedly good.

Foreign countries are also targeting this popular novel. Netflix has spent a lot of money on online drama shooting, written by "Game of Thrones", which gathers actors from 11 countries, but it has not yet been launched.

In December 2022, the domestic animated version of "The Three-Body Problem" was launched, which can be said to be full of bad reviews.

The first four filmizations were either premature deaths or bad reviews, and the only thing recognized was the adaptation of the local story line. In this case, the live-action drama "Three-Body Problem" produced by Goose Factory and CCTV said that it would be launched, which really made people sweat.

Why is "The Three-Body Problem" difficult to shoot? Simply put, one is technical ability, and the other is the creative environment.

Science fiction novels have no shortage of imaginative scenes, and the test of industrial level after film and television can be imagined, not only to burn money, but also to spend a lot of personnel effort, which is too costly for a drama.

Another difficulty in filmization comes from the content of the novel "The Three-Body Problem" itself.

There are a total of three novels, with many characters, briefly summarizing the main line, that is, Ye Wenjie, who lived in the ten-year catastrophe, witnessed her father, who was a physicist, being criticized for death, out of disappointment in human nature, she sent a signal to the trisolarans and led them to Earth, hoping to use the power of aliens to change this ugly world, and she also became the leader of the earth's three-body organization. In the hundreds of years since, the earth civilization and the three-body civilization have continued to communicate, fight, and experience ups and downs.

Again involving history, and there is imagination about the rise and fall of civilization, in a word, it is difficult to grasp! This is also the fundamental reason why the filmization of "The Three-Body Problem" is difficult to be optimistic about.

Unexpectedly, the domestic drama "Three-Body Problem" broadcast at the beginning of 2023 suddenly exploded, and book fans gave praise.

At present, this drama has only been online for a few episodes, but it has already made the audience feel its cleverness: since it does not shake its wit, it does not tremble, and it is also a success to restore the novel seriously.

It is really not an exaggeration to use "book picking" to describe this version of the "Three-Body Problem" series. Compared with the animated version that started in the same time period, you can feel the difference very clearly.

There are three novels "Three-Body Problem", and the animation "Three-Body Problem" uses subtitles to explain the previous plot at the beginning, and it proceeds to the end of the first part of the original novel, and then immediately cuts to the main line of the novel. This way of adjusting the rhythm requires adding your own understanding of the story and rearranging the narrative rhythm.

The drama version of "The Three-Body Problem" chose the "honest and honest" route, according to the narrative of the novel, advancing little by little from the beginning of the first part, using the lines from the book if you can, occasionally having their own play, but just a taste. In this way, the original fans are at least satisfied, and those who have not read the original can not fault it for the time being.

Visually, there is also no part that is too crotch-pulling at the moment. In the first few episodes, the male protagonist Wang Miao appeared in front of his eyes, observed the flickering of the universe, and the special effects were on the horizontal line. I'm looking forward to some more shocking scenes.

You can also feel the respect of the main creator on the framing. Many scientific experiment sites in the play are real, and the crew deliberately went to the collision center, nano center, astronomical observatory and other places to shoot in order to minimize the construction in the studio and increase the realism of the scene.

In addition, the controversy over the actors is much smaller than expected. According to the conventional route of domestic dramas, hot IP and traffic stars are the same match for ten thousand years, but "The Three-Body Problem" gave up this shortcut and treated this drama with the attitude of filming a regular drama.

Zhang Luyi plays Wang Miao, an important protagonist in the first part of the novel, whose spiritual world faces collapse after the scientific faith is shaken, but he is strong and starts again, and the overall state meets the expectations of the original fans.

The elderly Ye Wenjie, played by Chen Jin, seems to be cordial but absolutely cold, and it is also in line with the image made up by many book fans. She and the young Ye Wenjie, played by Wang Ziwen, also look like a good match.

Shen Yufei, a female scientist described in the novel with "cold from the inside to the outside", is played by Li Xiaoran, and she does have a sense of coldness.

Lin Yongjian is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people because of his comedy role, and playing a general makes the audience feel that he is playing, but after all, he is a person who has played Nie Rongzhen, and the temperament of the military leader is actually good.

The only controversial role is Shi Qiang, played by Yu Hewei, who is accused of lack of ruffianism, and Ding Yi, a scientist played by Wang Chuanjun, who is too much like a crazy artist. Of course, if the original work is used as a reference, it can only be said that it is a matter of opinion, and the text becomes an image that cannot meet everyone's imagination.

As long as the narrative, special effects, and actors are maintained at the current level, it is not difficult for the drama version of "The Three-Body Problem" to gain the reputation of book fans.

Of course, as a series, such a choice also brings some risks to itself. According to the story of the original work, it is cut by suspense, there are many physical concepts, but there are no big scenes such as interstellar shuttle and cosmic explosion imagined by ordinary audiences.

Even many readers who choose to read the book are inevitably dissuaded when reading the story of the first part. The story starts with the suicide of a large number of scientists, leads to the scientific boundary organization, and through the investigation of Wang Miao and Shi Qiang, prompts readers to think about the question: Why did these scientists commit suicide? Do the laws of physics as we know them really exist? Are there any higher civilizations beyond Earth?

Wang Miao in the story spends a lot of time playing a game called "The Three-Body Problem", where the characters are dehydrated when the chaotic era comes, and then resurrected after the extremely cold and hot era has passed.

A large number of descriptions are to pave the way for the main story line of the later story.

The current series closely follows the rhythm of the novel, starting with the suicide of a scientist and gradually leading to the later worldview. For audiences who haven't read the novel, or don't know anything about it, this is not a silky-looking drama.

Adapting "The Three-Body Problem", it seems to be an act of stretching out and shrinking your head and getting stabbed. It can only be said that in comparison, instead of being less popular, it is better to "respect the original", which not only ensures the passing line, but also allows the audience to see the sincerity.

In the past, the works with breakthroughs in domestic science fiction all paid attention to the "big scene", showing the progress of the overall industry. Maybe it's time to be different, this is an effective expansion of Chinese science fiction.

I hope that the first few episodes of the series "The Three-Body Problem" are a good start. I also hope that the whole drama is a meaningful start for domestic science fiction.