I've just finished watching through eight episodes of "3 Body Problem." The original novel by Liu Cixin is depicted on a grand scale and in a unique style. With a slow-paced introduction, the ensemble drama spins a timeless story with intersecting characters. Abstract and surrealistic images, like that of "a blink in space" and "a countdown reflected on the retina,” are very difficult to visualize.
Though this is an invasion from outer space, it is much more complicated than simply showing a large mother ship flying into a big city, attacking, and defending against an army, in a similar fashion to films like director Emmerich’s. However, the way this has been incorporated into a drama series with a worldwide perspective is brilliant. David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have done a marvelous job. By replacing the setting, era, and characters, extracting and adding elements, upping the tempo to make it suitable for a tv series, and rhythmically arranging cutbacks and cliffhangers, they have sublimated this work into an entertainment for everyone – those who have read the original work and those who have not – while retaining the essence of the original.
The show ends midway through the second book. I do not know if there will be a Season 2, but I am sure that more people will reread the original story after watching this, or they may be encouraged to read the rest of it. In any case, "The Three-Body Problem" is said to have been "read by all mankind.” Those who have not yet read it will be able to experience it through this drama. Especially for those who are tired of Hollywood blockbusters, this crazy, novel science fiction is sure to be a blast.