To be honest, the set of books "The Three-Body Problem" is difficult to read at once without perseverance and time, I just put it down and read it one after another, read and shelved, sometimes forgot the front and turned it back to read, and every time I read it, I have a sense of constant newness. So I can only be considered half of the "original party" at best.
When I saw that "The Three-Body Problem" was adapted into a TV series, I could finally chase the drama in one breath, it was really nervous and enjoyable to watch, and now the drama is halfway through, so I have become half a "drama chasing party".
It's not bad to think about it this way, so I can talk about "The Three-Body Problem" half from the perspective of the original book and half from the perspective of the play, not blindly worshiping the text, nor biasing the image, but both. In other words, the wall grass is poured on both sides, and whichever side handles it well I will stand on.
Where is the focus of the film and television of "The Three-Body Problem"? I think this is the focus of the majority of book fans and the original party, is it to be tightly fitted with the original work? Or will the adapted image complement the original novel to make it more complete?
I think the organic integration of the above two points is the key to the success of the "Three-Body Problem" drama: first of all, let the group who have read the book recognize the reasonableness of your adaptation and expansion, and the theme idea and character logic cannot be violated. Secondly, let the group who has not read the book be able to enter the plot without threshold like reading, which can allow them to understand the essence of the book. The result is a story of ups and downs.
Did the TV series "The Three-Body Problem" do it? Let's look at the three aspects of "turning words into images", "turning words into lines" and "turning words into big living people".
01 Turn words into images
Compared with the random adaptation that cannot understand the essence of the original work, the first and wisest point of the "Three-Body Problem" drama is that it is basically a "direct book" style presentation, and the basic literary dramas such as scenes and lines are almost directly copied from the original work, eliminating the "East Shi Xie". This opening made the original party first breathe a sigh of relief, and the experience of watching the drama was comparable to "writing homework according to the answers".
Of course, in addition to the lines, appearance order, plot, etc. can be "cut the book", but it is actually unrealistic to turn all the text into an image intact, after all, this is a film and television drama. Therefore, judging by whether the play is good, the standard is actually very simple, that is, do you want to watch the next plot after watching this plot? Do you want to watch the next episode after watching the first episode? This point "Three-Body Problem" drama is undoubtedly doing quite well.
When the original party cheered this portrait, that sentence is right, what a "Red Bank base", the play did not make the audience who had never read the original "Three-Body Problem" like fools, but immediately entered the plot and suspense: a large number of scientists committed suicide.
You think, a group of top scientists engaged in scientific research are not stupid brains, so why do this group of top smart people want to commit suicide? Aren't you curious, do you want to continue reading? I want anyway.
What does suspense mean one after another, followed by "physics does not exist"? Physics without scientists to commit suicide? I want to see it even more. How did that beautiful woman named Shen Yufei know the prophet before the results of the "particle collision" experiment came out? Do you want to know?
And Wang Miao, what is so great about the "nano flying blade" he studied that makes Shen Yufei and the organization behind her fearful, and wants to force him to terminate the experiment through "countdown in front of you" and "the whole universe flashes for you"?
How do "Countdown to Your Eyes" and "The Universe Twinkles for You" do it? It can be said that the "Three-Body Problem" drama uses every brain hole of the original work step by step, making the plot full of strong sci-fi suspense and restoring a wonderful three-body universe. After reading these, do you want to watch the plot later?
And suspense is not yet the trick of the "Three-Body Problem" drama, the trick is "solving suspense". Generally speaking, non-original parties see these either to turn books or to Baidu. The "Three-Body Problem" drama is successful in using images to present the scientific concepts in the book that require thousands or even tens of thousands of words to explain clearly.
For example, the "particle collision" experiment that caused Yang Dong to collapse, its experimental results mean that "physics does not exist", what is the terrible result? How to "act" for ordinary audiences to understand, and then feel its horror?
In the play, Yang Dong's fiancé, Ding Yi, who is also a scientist, used the "billiard ball impact" experiment as a metaphor for the "particle collision" experiment, explaining to Wang Miao, that is, to the audience.
The white ball hits the black ball very close to the mouth of the bag, and the result of the five collisions is the same, and the black ball falls into the bag. Because the pool table is used as a reference, all parameters are basically unchanged, and the black ball must enter.
Then Ding Yi said that do you dare to think that the first time the black ball fell into the bag, the second time the black ball deflected, the third black ball flew directly into the sky, the fourth black ball flew in the air like a sparrow, and the fifth time the black ball flew out of the solar system close to the speed of light?
It is intuitive and clear, and immediately allows the audience without any physical background to understand this experiment that requires a long story to understand if it is a text. What is even more chilling is that this kind of result without physical laws can be "unknown prophets".
This is one of the reasons for the collapse of Ding Yi's fiancée Yang Dong, who found that the data obtained in the collision experiment had been "predicted" by Shen Yufei before the completion of the experiment.
This means that the experimental results can be manipulated "artificially", and the laws summarized by physics are all nullified, that is, "physics does not exist", which makes Wang Miao in the play and everyone who watches the play shocked.
The later plot uses "throwing a cigarette box" to present the "advance", "artificial", and "predictable" results more intuitively. Wang Miao threw Shi Qiang's cigarette box three times, the scattered smoke is random, who can mark it in advance, that is, predict the exact location of the scattered?
It can be said that the use of images and "plays" in the drama "Three-Body Problem" instantly allows us to understand why scientists collapse and commit suicide and complex scientific theories. If you copy the description of scientific theories in the book exactly, the audience will easily be confused. Moreover, this kind of suspense creation with a sense of horror continues after Wang Miao's "countdown to the eyes" begins, which can be said to grasp the essence of the original book more accurately.
Due to the countdown on his retina, which caused great trouble to life and scientific research, and later, as Shen Yufei predicted, he unbelievably observed that the entire universe was flashing for him, and this unimaginable discovery completely broke Wang Miao's inner defenses and made him have huge doubts about his scientific beliefs.
When the whole universe flickers for you, do you still believe in science?
The scene of Wang Miao's collapse is described in the book as follows:
Wang Miao got up to leave, and a burst of sacred music from the church kept him. Today is not Sunday, it may be a rehearsal by the choir for Easter, often the "Illumination of the Holy Spirit" often sung during this holiday mass. In the solemnity and depth of vocal music, Wang Miao once again felt that the universe had become smaller, turning into an empty church, the dome hidden in the red light of Beijing's radiation, and he was a small ant in the crack of the magnificent church floor. He felt that his trembling heart was being touched by an invisible giant hand, and for a while he returned to his fragile and helpless childhood, and something that was hard held in the depths of his consciousness softened like wax and collapsed. He covered his face with his hands and cried.
Almost all of the books are environmental descriptions and psychological descriptions, and if the drama is also presented like this, it can't be filmed, and even if it is filmed, it will be a mess. Specifically, you can see how this paragraph is presented in the play, and I will not repeat it here.
In short, you will find that the suspense laying of the first four episodes is very successful, all for the big plot point of the fifth episode "The whole universe will flash for you".
02 Turn words into lines
The restoration of the classic scenes and lines in the "Three-Body Problem" drama and the original work is basically 100%, especially when Wang Miao and Dashi meet for the first time, it is almost exactly the same as in the book, and you can feel the caution of the creative team.
Let's list a wonderful line play for everyone to feel the special charm of turning words into lines.
Wang Miao, who was forced to collapse by the "miracle" of "countdown in front of his eyes" and "cosmic flickering", was pulled by Shi Qiang to the morning shop, ordered the second pot head and burst belly, because of extreme fear, Wang Miao approached madness and asked Shi Qiang what was the end of the countdown, Shi Qiang said: "What can it be?" Earth destruction? Extinction of humanity? Physics no longer exists? It's a big deal to return to the farming society, it's a big deal to drill wood for fire, plow the fields and hunt, the ancestors can live and we can live. ”
This dialogue is in the original work, and when the audiovisual language is reasonably added in the play, at this time, the background of the conversation between the two came the "click" sound of the cook cutting the pier next to him, and the human fireworks at this moment, coupled with Shi Qiang's grounded words, I was deeply touched.
Shi Qiang's words to Wang Miao's relief were very rough: "There will be ghosts at home, leather pants and cotton pants, there must be a reason, either the cotton pants are too thin or the leather pants are hairless."
said that Shen Yufei and their group were "!" ”
Shi Qiang, a rough man, couldn't say anything particularly delicate and beautiful, and when Wang Miao talked to him about profound cosmic and philosophical problems, he said all kinds of afterwords and complained: "I worry too much, the house has to be provided, and the children have not yet found a job." ”
You can also smash your mouth while eating and shout to the waiter, "The sesame sauce is a little salty."
On the surface, it seems that he has no heart and no lungs, but in fact, what stands up is the logical thinking of Shi Qiang's character (policeman), and the biggest difference between him and Wang Miao's scientists is that he "loves life itself more than the meaning of life."
This is Dostoevsky's famous phrase "Love concrete people, not abstract people; Love life itself more than the meaning of life. ”
And Wang Miao includes those scientists who committed suicide, they actually love abstract people in addition to concrete people and life, such as those great physicists, and love the meaning of life, the meaning of life, and the meaning of the universe. This scene also explains the deep reasons why those scientists committed suicide because "physics does not exist".
And Shi Qiang's thinking is obviously a warrior's thinking, simple and straightforward and effective, straight to the point. And straightforwardness is always the most moving, the most simple language can hit people's hearts, and the thick smoke in Shi Qiang's words invisibly soothed Wang Miao's tight nerves and made him relax. Although Wang Miao still does not understand "what they want to destroy besides our science", he can already empathize with Shi Qiang's unyielding strength:
"The more they make you afraid of something, the more you can't get them to get what they want."
Just like the latter trisolarans said "you are bugs", the highly regarded elite scientists were all lost, and committed suicide after the collapse of confidence, but Shi Qiang never admitted defeat, he said to the elite scientists: "For so many years, bugs have never really been defeated." ”
In order to relieve Wang Miao's nervousness when he saw the ghost countdown, he also let himself blast and his friend designed an electronic countdown for himself, adjusted to the exact same time as Wang Miao, and hung it on his chest, obviously a rough person with such a delicate mind, so Wang Miao will really unload his guard and gradually trust him.
Later, Shi Qiang said: "You are a turkey scientist, then I am the bodyguard of a turkey scientist." No matter what the end of the countdown is, you will never be fighting alone, and I will bear half of your fears. ”
"I have to make you Copernicus!" (Because the two talked before, Copernicus was not persecuted by the church to die but died of illness, so Shi Qiang meant that Wang Miao could not be surprised)
03 Turn words into "big living people"
On the whole, the acting skills of Yu Hewei and Zhang Luyi are very online, and the supporting roles are not broken.
Especially Shen Yufei, who has fantasized many times when reading books and comics, isn't it fragrant to find Li Xiaoran to play it this time?
But I think the closest to the original and can achieve a special and amazing role is the elderly Ye Wenjie played by Chen Jin.
The old Ye Wenjie silently looked out the door, and just one look gave me goosebumps all over my body, which was a kind of exhaustion and calm that saw through life and death, lost all desires in the world, and also hid the insight into the empty eyes of higher civilization. The Ye Wenjie that appeared in my mind when reading the novel is such a bottomless appearance, it is exactly the same.
In fact, Ye Wenjie is the soul of the entire work, he is not a person with the distinctive character characteristics common in life, but a female intellectual who "integrates contradictions and complexity". The brilliance of this character is definitely related to the first look and feel of the entire work.
To be honest, it is stronger than Shi Qiang, who is rough and dramatic, and polite, from "nano instigation" to non-instigated intellectual Wang Miao is difficult to act. The description of Wang Miao's first visit to Ye Wenjie in the book is:
"Wang Miao saw a gray-haired, skinny woman about sixty years old, wearing glasses and carrying a large vegetable basket up the stairs with difficulty... She is the kind of old intellectual that Wang Miao often sees, and the wind and frost of the years have eliminated all the hardness and fiery in their temperament, leaving only the softness like water. ”
The elderly Ye Wenjie played by Chen Jin basically achieved a 1:1 restoration of the original, and there are many delicate performances, and the acting skills are very "layered", not the whole "poker face", the "indifferent face" face is paralyzed as cold as frost, but there are many subtle changes.
At the funeral of her daughter Yang Dong, she first lowered her eyebrows and slowed down, before slowly raising her eyelids and looking at you calmly. The performance here is excellent, everyone must go and experience it for themselves.
When alone, she sat on a pony and was an old intellectual who was moody. When she buys vegetables and cooks for the neighborhood children, she transforms into a kind grandmother, covered with a layer of warm color, and has a smile on her face.
When telling Wang Miao about her deceased daughter, she returned to her motherhood. Although she is still as calm and restrained as ever, this time, we can clearly see from her expressionless face the surging emotions that she tries to hide but leaks from her eyebrows.
And when the conversation turned to academic issues, as soon as she opened her mouth, she was the authoritative style of the industry boss, and when she hid the meaning in her words, the sense of suffocation of "proud of everything" came again.
So for the next scene of the elderly Ye Wenjie, I am very, very looking forward to it.
Of course, not all characters are good, everyone can't help but fast forward when you see whose play, naturally understand which character is shriveled and the lines are embarrassing.
Now the series has been updated to the climax - "The Three-Body Game".
The degree of restoration is also quite high, which fits well with the setting in the previous comics.
I remember reading the original "three-body game" is one of the most shocking plots for me, and the "three-body game" in the "three-body game" almost intact restores this game setting the background of the game in ancient times, allowing the sages and philosophers of the East and the West to gather together and interpret the style of science fiction with ancient classics.
In fact, the essence of science fiction in the first part of the original novel is also here, compared to the previous science fiction themes in the interstellar, spacecraft, artificial intelligence and other brain holes, "three-body planet" "proton" and "three-body game" sci-fi creativity brought by the "science fiction" is like an iceberg floating on the surface of the deep sea, what we see, understand is only the part it exposes, and how huge it is hidden at the bottom of the sea, every reader, the audience needs to experience and dig to feel its truly extraordinary charm.