Netflix's new massive sci-fi show, 3 Body Problem, is finally here, but the reception is mixed so far
It was a bold and risky bet after all.
If you're into hard sci-fi and/or checking out Netflix's latest big shows, chances are you'll be watching 3 Body Problem starting today. After all, Netflix has blown $160 million (plus $200 on a deal with its creators) on the series, so it should at least feel grand, right?
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss' (Game of Thrones) long-anticipated adaptation of Liu Cixin's hit 2008 sci-fi novel has been in the works for a long time, roughly since around the time the pair were done with Thrones' highly divisive final season and left a massive Star Wars project at Lucasfilm. Is their new endeavor a return to form or a big-budget misfire? Opinions on the eight-episode first season are all over the place, it seems.
Before jumping into the pool of varied reactions, this is the official, non-spoiler synopsis shared by Netflix: "A young woman’s fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time to a group of brilliant scientists in the present day. As the laws of nature unravel before their eyes five former colleagues reunite to confront the greatest threat in humanity’s history."
On Rotten Tomatoes, the percentage of registered critics who gave their thumbs-up sits around 76% at the moment of writing, but not many actual ratings present the picture of a modern sci-fi masterpiece nor a remarkable show to binge through. As for the user reviews, which should keep coming in over the weekend, they're much lower right now, only hitting 38% positive. As always, the user reviews on RT and other movie/TV sites should be taken with a grain of salt due to past organized movements against certain filmmakers/actors and specific aspects of otherwise fine works. Looking at these, however, it's hard to discern ulterior motives in most of them.
Meanwhile, China's own adaptation of The Three-Body Problem was released last year and recently made it to the States, beating Netflix to the punch. Understandably, not many international viewers or critics have gotten the chance to watch it, but the ratings on sites like IMDb look quite positive. Despite all the money thrown by Netflix at its next big bet (though the marketing has been third-grade at most), it's funny the most successful streaming service around was undercut by Peacock at the last minute.
On social media, those who have already jumped into Netflix's behemoth are praising "the large diverse cast" and how it tackles 'big-brained' matters such as "quantum physics and unseen dimensions." Thankfully, those aren't rare elements that are hard to find in today's vast offer of sci-fi movies and TV shows, so we're more interested in seeing how the execution is coming across and how book readers compare it to the hugely ambitious book trilogy.
Some are already saying it's "quite different" from the source material, though that is to be expected, especially when adapting such a complex written work. All in all, it seems like folks on social media are having a better time with it, so maybe there's something weird going on with the Rotten Tomatoes ratings after all.
Regardless, we'll all have a better picture of audience reactions to 3 Body Problem after the weekend, and I reckon we'll also try to watch some of it ourselves in between long sessions of Dragon's Dogma 2.