Forget the version you've seen before and savor what Netflix's version of Three Bodies is trying to bring us.
Whether you're a reader or a fan, the storyline of “Three Bodies” has long been familiar. But I would argue that the more cleanly the previous installments are forgotten, the more you can appreciate the uniqueness of Netflix's version.
This season's genre style is obvious, suspenseful and thrilling. The tone of the entire show is felt within the opening five minutes.
The full credits exclusive to the first episode, the graphics blew me away, and the idea of making an abstract depiction of the scale of the world in which the entire story is set is great.
I'd have to say the one thing that struck me the most was the show's excellent ability to tell a story. Just watching it as a strange work of art, the immersion is so great that it's as if you're those characters yourself. Several times I was so nervous that I swallowed when I saw the end of the episode. In the 2023 version of the show, on the other hand, there is very little sense of immersion, as if the audience is just a bystander watching the show.
As for the special effects and props, it's hard to beat the sophistication of the other versions. But one should never just come to see the special effects, because that would miss out on other aspects of the experience and ingenuity. Special effects serve the plot, and the plot serves the core of the work.
A final word about adaptations. There are often many versions of adaptations of popular IPs. I believe that watching an adaptation independently is the proper way to appreciate it. Try to minimize the influence of any preconceived notions on your understanding of the new work, and do your best to feel the message of the work in front of you. What is a good adaptation? If an adaptation sticks to the original work, the imagination is bound and the soul of the work is missing. A good adaptation is one that expresses your own thoughts. The Netflix show did a good job with this one.
It seems to reflect different realms. One is just putting the text of the story on the screen, i.e., the level of “looking at the mountain is the mountain”. Of course, it's not easy to get this level right. Second, against the original story, to analyze, deliberately elevate the theme, is “see the mountain is not the mountain”. Third, excellent literature has its own rich connotation. According to the original story basis, to build a new world, at the same time permeated with the connotation of the complexity of the problem, heuristic thinking, then to “look at the mountain is still the mountain”.
Coincidentally, there is also a scene in the play that touches on the above.