My problem with "The Three Body Problem"...

While straggling through the wilderness of Netflix shows the other day I came across "The Three Body Problem". I know of story, mostly of the Chinese novel by the same name. It's on my reading list, I just haven't gotten to it yet. My list is pretty big, so I prioritize which ones I will read first. This one was high on my list, and that hasn't changed. I suspect there is more in the book than there was in the show.

Normally I don't like to watch the show before I read the book, but in this case, I didn't see any good options- There's not much on Netflix I haven't seen, at least from a critical stand point. So when I see something new, I typically like to give it a spin. A lot of my friends recommended the book, so I knew something about it. It went on the old reading list when it was first translated. I decided to watch the show which made it to my plate first. 

"The Three Body Problem" is an award winning Science Fiction book by a Chinese author with some street cred- Liu Cixin. Despite his other works, he is most known for this series. Originally this was in Chinese, it was brought in, translated, and loved. There are some super fans of this one. In fact, it won some awards- including the shiny and prestigious "Hugo Award". But I haven't read the book yet, we are going to speak about the show. 

First off, this was a decent show, but it has one huge plot hole, and a couple of smaller ones that really bothered me. So, before I get started, let me state that there will be some spoilers- it's unavoidable. Also, let me establish why this book is called "The Three Body Problem". In physics there is a problem that no one has been able to solve yet. That of predicting the motion of three bodies of mass and how they move in accordance with the laws of physics- like the "Pi", the numbers don't repeat and there is no pattern to predict. So three bodies in motion will always have a different pattern of travel because of the mass and velocity imbalance. At least that's as basic as I can get it. 

So, the plot... 

The short version is this: "Aliens! O.M.G. we aren't alone in the universe! Oh look, they are far more advanced than us and want to come and take our shit. Especially our planet because they are stuck on a world that has no stability due to its three suns being in constant gravitational flux and the dreaded "three body problem", but it's okay, it's going to take them 400+ years to get here, prepare for the longest invasion ever! Stuff happens, more stuff happens, and then the end..." 

Here's the longer story... 

It starts off with a Chinese woman watching her father get murdered in the 60's for his belief system. This happens during a struggle session. The event changes her in ways that become apparent as the story progresses. After being sent to a labor camp, she is then recruited by the military because she has a scientific background. She is sent to work on a project that is seeking to make contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. Eventually it happens, and although one of the aliens tells her never to contact them again, she does anyway because she doesn't believe in mankind anymore.  

In the mean time, that is present day, because the story skips around a little, scientists are being murdered, or killing themselves, and no one seems to know why. The main characters in the future are a group of these scientists and tech kiddies. They discover a mysterious V.R. game that's actually a recruitment tool used by some true believers, whose founder was there when the Chinese girl originally contacted the aliens. The V.R. game is also used to vet out the people who will embrace the alien overlords versus those who won't. Their main objective is to kill science so that we won't progress during the 400 + years it takes for the aliens to arrive. Incidentally, the Aliens are known as "Trisolarians, because they have three suns. Anyhow, their objective is to supplant science with fear so humans will turn to religion and go back to being idiots with big hearts instead of a bunch of brainiacs who can outsmart the Trisolarian menace. 

The Netflix show is only the first of three books, and I am not so sure it's the complete first book, I haven't read it yet. The entire volume is known as "The Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy". The books in the trilogy are: "The Three Body Problem", "The Dark Forest", and "Death's End". I am not sure if they will do the whole series, Netflix has a tendency to cut these sorts of things short if they don't make a splash and get those subscriptions rolling in. 

So, the good, the bad, and the ugly...

First, as always, the writing. The writing in this show is good, it's an American adaptation so some of the story will inevitably be lost in translation, literally. The cultural gap alone is enough to make some of it seem foreign and make no sense to us westerners. However, the writing is not the problem in this show, it is actually very good and conveys the thoughts in a concise and direct manner. It does a really good job of it too, considering how complicated this story really is. The author really tried to make this as realistic and scientific as he could, and some of that made it into the Netflix show. Some of it didn't. The problem is that there is so much information that some of it had to be cut just to progress the show. 

So, was it the acting that was bad? Not at all, the acting too, is good. There aren't too many actors in this show that I recognize, but all of the ones in the show are talented and do the job that is required of them. There are some moments in this show that really make you feel something for the characters, especially during the flashbacks to the 60's in China. They do a good job of capturing the emotions of disdain, hatred, sadness and fear. In fact, just like with "Monarch: A Legacy of Monsters" I found myself more interested in the drama of the past then the modern aspect of the story. Part of that interest was the acting, it was really good. 

Was it the special effects or action? No. The show was well paced and had a number of great scenes in it where the effects were great and the action happening was good too. There isn't a whole lot of action in this show, but there is enough to keep you interested. The shots are well filmed and the special effects are pretty good, not great, but solid enough to add to the show rather than taking away from it. This includes the cinematography. Shots were well thought out, the use of tone and color and shadow provide a good atmosphere which is used in the right places. The scenes inside the mysterious V.R. Video game are especially good, and add to the sense of mystery as we uncover who the Trisolarians are.

Here's my problem, warning, it's going to have some spoilers. My problem is this: Sophons! Fucking Sophons. What a stupid plot device. To be honest, it kind of ruined the plot for me. For those of you who haven't seen the show, here's what a Sophon is: It's a quantum-entangled, all powerful super computer sent to earth to halt the progress of science. Not so bad in and of itself, however it's how they are created in the show that bothers me. In the show they are created by opening up or unlocking the higher dimensions inside four protons and turning the "guts" of the protons into quantum, planet-sized super computers. Then folding the protons back up so they are a normal sized proton again. Then firing them through space at Earth because light-speed and relativity is a bitch. A proton, unlike something with mass, can be accelerated to almost the speed of light. In other words the Sophon is how the aliens keep an eye on us and guide us into our very dark future while they make the 400+ year trip to Earth. 

Wait, what?! 

What kind of Fuckery is this? Is this in the book? Did I miss something? You mean to tell me, that these Astro-douches can unpack a proton, essentially unfold the universe and fold it back up again, but they need to take Earth from us to survive. They possess that kind of technological wonder, but they can't just bugger off to any corner of the universe and make due with whatever matter is out there. It's a really cool idea, but a civilization with that kind of power would have already solved "the three body problem". And, if they couldn't solve it, they could easily build space arcs and bugger off. Or, better yet, use that same tech to protect their own planet from their own three suns. Sophons kill the mood just like a cluster of herpes do. I can't buy the motive, with that kind of power there would be no need to warn us, no need to even come, other than curiosity. With that kind of power, they would have no desperation. There are other issues I have with certain scenes in the show (like the boat-nano-fiber conundrum- so pointless) but this one, this bit of "whatthefuckery" is the one that just made it hard to suspend disbelief. 

If, and it's a big ask for me, I can set this down and just watch the show for what it is, I can say it's alright. It's hard because this show could have been great. I just can't give it a perfect rating. If I had to, I would give it 7.5 mother ships out of 10. Yes, an 75% for trying, I just wish they would have found something better than Sophons to move the story forward. This kind of thing gives me swear turrets. 

I hope you all found this useful.

Cheers!