One of Netflix’s most underrated sci-fi shows is an ambitious critical hit from 2024 that too many viewers missed out on the first time around. Sci-fi TV is enjoying a lot of success right now. Even though there are no new Star Trek shows on the horizon, the Star Wars franchise remains as busy as ever on the small screen.
Meanwhile, everything from the upcoming spinoff Blade Runner: 2099 to The Expanse author S.A Corey’s new show The Captive’s War promises to bring ambitious, immersive sci-fi to the small screen in the near future. However, Netflix’s underrated 2024 series 3 Body Problem proves that not every ambitious sci-fi show reaches its audience immediately.
3 Body Problem Is One of Netflix’s Most Ambitious Sci-Fi Shows Yet
Based on the novel series Remembrance of Earth’s Past by Liu Cixin, 3 Body Problem is named after a famous real-life problem in Newtonian physics. The show sees a group of characters from across the world contend with first contact between humanity and an alien species, an unprecedented event that has knock-on implications for all humankind.
While 3 Body Problem wasn’t an immediate cult hit like Netflix’s earlier sci-fi show Black Mirror, the adaptation was undoubtedly one of the streaming service’s most ambitious efforts in the genre. Produced by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss, 3 Body Problem follows a group of scientific researchers from different disciplines who make up ‘The Oxford Five.’
While the show’s story initially saw ‘The Oxford Five’ attempting to contend with mysterious deaths and their initially unclear causes, gradually, the astrophysicist Dr. Ye Wenjie came to play a pivotal role in the show’s unfolding plot. Full of complicated scientific ideas, 3 Body Problem made an admirable stab at adapting Liu Cixin’s novels without dumbing down their story.
3 Body Problem’s Ambition Is Admirable Despite The Show’s Issues
Of course, the Netflix sci-fi series isn’t flawless and, by the end of 3 Body Problem season 1, viewers could be left with more questions than answers. The show’s sprawling narrative means that some supporting characters are inevitably left underdeveloped, while its fascination with its own core conceit means that, sometimes, 3 Body Problem focuses on the science over the fiction in “science fiction.”
That said, these are relatively minor complaints about a show that otherwise manages the admirable feat of treating humanity’s potential first encounter with aliens as more than a mere conflict. Like Dennis Villeneuve’s Arrival before it, 3 Body Problem genuinely contends with what humankind’s interactions with extraterrestrial life could look like, and the Netflix show deserves to be commended for this lofty ambition.
- Release Date
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March 21, 2024
- Directors
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Minkie Spiro, Derek Tsang
- Writers
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David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Alexander Woo
