David Benioff, D. B. Weiss and Alexander Woo
Netflix
ADAPTATION is the backbone of the modern TV industry. It is also one of the toughest jobs in the business. Done right, it can lift a lacklustre novel or dated comic book to new heights. Done wrong, it is the lowest form of dreck, unable to hide its rough edges behind an original concept.
What to do, then, when tasked with adapting one of the most acclaimed sci-fi novels of the past 20 years? And where to start when you are notorious for the failed finale of your previous book-to-TV adaptation? That is the dilemma faced by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the pairing behind Game of Thrones, who, alongside screenwriter Alexander Woo, have adapted Cixin Liu鈥檚 novel The Three-Body Problem for Netflix.
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The result is the eight-part TV version, slightly retitled as 3 Body Problem, an era-spanning epic that combines hard sci-fi with a noir-thriller aesthetic and historical drama. In the late 1960s, Ye Wenjie (Zine Tseng) is forced to watch her father, a physicist, as he is publicly executed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, in which Mao Zedong and his supporters terrorised their political enemies. A physics prodigy herself, Wenjie is drawn into murky research and a battle with Communist officials.
Her narrative is intertwined with a mystery set in modern-day London. In 2024, astrophysicist Jin Cheng (Jess Hong) and four friends are brought together by the death of their former university tutor. 快猫短视频s are dying in mysterious circumstances, while anomalies detected by the most accurate particle accelerators are baffling the world鈥檚 physics community. Then there is the VR headset offering startling realism that Jin begins to use, inviting her to solve a centuries-old question in orbital mechanics: the three-body problem 鈥� or how three objects bound gravitationally can form a stable orbit around each other.
There is plenty to like about 3 Body Problem. It presents thorny physics in a tangible, entertaining way, particularly in its VR-enabled flights of fancy to ancient China and Tudor England. It also gives Benedict Wong, a brilliant comic actor, meaty material for a change. His Clarence Shi, an unorthodox detective at a shadowy intelligence organisation investigating the deaths in the world of science, is sure to be a fan favourite.
That said, there are missteps. Like many series with a vast roster of characters and a long arc, you may be drawn to one perspective or timeline over another. Of the five contemporary friends, certain figures are weaker than others. Millionaire snack entrepreneur Jack Rooney (John Bradley), for example, can be an irritating presence, and I struggled to buy him as the crude-but-lovable scamp of the group.
Which brings me back to adaptation. 3 Body Problem takes several diversions from its source. Some are welcome: Liu鈥檚 novel is a brilliant, influential work, but it is also riddled with sexism, which the Netflix series largely excises.
Others are more mixed. Rather than being firmly tied to China鈥檚 history over the past 60 years, the epic has been translated to an international stage. While this makes a certain sense, you lose much of the novel鈥檚 rich context.
It is easy to criticise Benioff and Weiss. You will notice I do in my biography. Memories of how Game of Thrones went off the boil after it outpaced the books it was based on are still raw. But they and Woo have, on the whole, done a good job with a hard brief, casting a bold eye over revered material.
Bethan also recommends鈥�
Alexander Woo
Amazon Prime Video (UK); Hulu (US)
This horror series shines a light on a bleak moment in history as Japanese citizens in the US were forced into internment camps.
Cixin Liu (Tor Books)
Not a recommendation, but a reminder that this collection of Liu鈥檚 fiction and essays is due out in April.
Bethan Ackerley is a subeditor at 快猫短视频. She loves sci-fi, sitcoms and anything spooky. She is still upset about the ending of Game of聽Thrones. Follow her on聽
Twitter @鈥宨nkerley
