My Three Body Series: From Zero to Hero
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https://www.deviantart.com/breath-art
What makes an awesome animation series? You may have many answers, but among them, My Three-body series could possibly provide the most legendary answers.
What is the Three-Body Problem Trilogy?
The Three-Body Problem Trilogy is one of the most famous contemporary Sci-fi series worldwide. The trilogy describes the interaction,confrontation, cooperation, and continuous struggles between Human Civilization on Earth and alien Three Body Civilization living in harsh conditions in the universe. Besides, it also focuses on the rise and falls of diverse eras and the mysteries of the vast universe.
The Three-Body Problem Trilogy was first serialized by Cixin Liu in 2006 in the Chinese science fiction magazine Sci-fi World. In 2010, the series was completed and published in three volumes. Later, it was translated into English by Ken Liu. Before 2015, it was only popular among science fiction fans. In 2015, Book One of the Three Body Trilogy won the Hugo Award. It was the first time for an Asian author to win the Hugo Award, and since then, the Three-Body Trilogy became one of the most popular books for Chinese readers in general. The trilogy is the most popular sci-fi in China and is one of the sci-fis which has international influence.
Based on the high commercial value of the TBP IP, in 2020, Netflix announced the preparation of a series adaptation of this series.
(Streaming Media Tycoon Netflix announced
adaptation of Three-Body Problem Trilogy)
However, the TBP trilogy includes a long timespan, a large number of characters, and a lot of grand scenes full of impact and imagination. Besides, as hard sci-fi, it involves a lot of professional knowledge in diverse academic fields. Therefore, it becomes hard for any team to produce satisfying visualization.
In 2020, when many fans of Three-Body books were expecting and worrying about the Netflix adaptation, simultaneously, an animation production group in China launched the third season of My Three-Body, the authorized animation adaptation of TBP, which showed an extremely satisfying result of sci-fi visualization. With only nine episodes, My Three-Body Season 3 became one of the best animations in Chinese animation history. Many faithful fans of the TBP IP commented on the series ‘crazily good’. Behind this legendary animation, is a more legendary animation production team, which made the series from zero to hero.
(Official Poster of My Three-body Season 3)
My Three Body (2014- ) is one of the most legendary animation series in China. From amateur fan production in 2014 to an officially authorized animation series with extremely high quality in 2020, within 6 years, this production group has achieved a miracle in the history of animation.
Till now, the series has three seasons. Season 1 (2014) faithfully restored the plot of the trilogy’s first book: Remembrance of Earth’s Past in the form of Minecraft game recording.
Season 2 (2016) and Season 3 (2020) focused on two main characters in the second book: Luo Ji and Zhang Beihai’s individual storylines. All the three seasons got high ratings on the most influential Chinese rating website—-Douban. Season 2 and season 3 even got 9.9/10 on Bilibili (the most influential animation website in China), which made Season 3 one of the best Chinese animations ever.
(My Three-body Series’ High Ratings on Douban)
(My Three-body Season 3’s rating on Bilibili)
Surprisingly, none of the core members of My Three-Body Production team were professional animators at the beginning. And the series started from an online chat group in 2014.
Back in 2014, the director of My Three-Body —– Li Kunyi was still an ordinary university student. Besides dedicating himself to studying, he spent his leisure time reading science fiction and playing Minecraft. After reading the Three-Body Problem Trilogy, as a fan of the series, he is determined to show this excellent work to more people in a way that fans can do.
Back then, he faced two difficulties. First of all, he did not major in Animation. Second, he does not have enough money to make qualified fan animations. Therefore, he decided to use Minecraft as an efficient platform for amateur fan animation. He invited some passionate TBP fans through social platforms and invited them to join in. the work. They created characters in Minecraft, arranged the action of characters according to the content of TBP Book 1, recorded the screen, and added dubbing and subtitles in the later stage. so that more people can be interested in understanding the Three-Body novel. At that time, there was no income for making fans’ animations. The production team, which none of the members majored in animation, completed My Three-body Season 1 with their enthusiasm, perseverance and the active audiences’ donation.
(My Three-body Season 1 is presented as a Minecraft Game Recording)
Fortunately, My Three-body Season 1 attracted the attention of Yoozoo Company, the copyright owner of the TBP IP. After discussing with the production team, the chairman of the company, Lin Qi, decided to provide the team with sufficient financial and technical support. Besides, Lin invited the director Li to join Yoozoo as a full-time staff to focus on the production of My Three-body Season 2.
Thanks to the participation of professional animators in Li’s team, Season 2 showed massive improvement in all aspects.
Its picture quality, dubbing and music have reached the level of commercial animation. Season 2 retained the character style of Minecraft, but the production team began to use professional animation software to produce all the contents.
In particular, since the beginning of the season, the production team has adopted the form of “biography” to narrate the story. Season 2 focuses on the story of Luo Ji, one of the protagonists in the Three-Body Problem: The Dark Forest. It takes place under the premise that the science and technology of the alien Three-Body Civilization far surpassed Human Civilization, and the Three-Body Civilization intended to colonize the Earth. So, Season 2 mainly tells the story of how an ordinary Professor called Luo Ji successfully deterred the upcoming invasion of Three-Body Civilization and established the strategic balance between Human Civilization and Three-Body Civilization.
The production team states that the story form of “biography” makes My Three-body’s single season’s length and cost controllable. Besides, it avoids the adaptation problems caused by the numerous characters and interlaced storylines in the original work.
(A Screenshot of My Three-body Season 2)
(Since Season 2, the Characters began to have vivid facial expressions)
My Three-Body Season 3 is better than the previous two seasons, it finally becomes one of the benchmarks for the adaptation of novels into animation. Season 3 focuses on Zhang Beihai, a Chinese military officer, who preserved the hope of human civilization when facing the overwhelming military advantages of the Three-Body Civilization. Thanks to the accumulation of animation technology in the first two seasons, the character design, scene design and subject design in Season 3 reached a higher level.
(Season 3’s draft of the characters showed great improvements in characters’ body proportion, hairstyle and clothing details)
(Season 3’s character design remained the essence of Minecraft Style but showed distinct personal characteristics successfully)
(The Space Elevator in Season 3)
(The Inner Design of the Interstellar Aviation Cruiser:
Natural Selection)
(The Characters and Scenes are Presented Harmoniously)
(The Characters and Scenes are Presented Harmoniously)
(The animation perfectly restores the Droplet, an absolutely smooth lethal weapon in the TBP Trilogy)
While faithfully restoring the original plot, in Season 3, the production team also made some original plots to enrich the images of all the main characters in the story line to the greatest extent.
(Season 3 Ep 1 creates a dialogue between the protagonist Beihai and his father about military duties. It appeared in Beihai’s memories, which complements the motivation of some of his behaviors now)
Additionally, thanks to the bilingual subtitles of the series since Season 2, many foreign audiences can also enjoy the work. The continuous improvement of this series enlarged the number of fanbase and readers of the Three-body Problem IP, increased intercultural communications, and diversified the possibilities of mainstream sci-fi animation adaptations.
(The bilingual subtitles enable some foreign dudiences to watch
My Three-body Season 2 and Season 3 without language barriers)
My Three-body series took six years to create new possibilities for science fiction adaptation of animation. Sci-fi lovers made it out of genuine passion, and it shows the beauty of Chinese Sci-fi to the world. Season 4 is expected to be launched in 2022, let us look forward to it together!
References:
Bilibili (2021). The Playlist of My Three-body Series.
https://search.bilibili.com/all?keyword=我的三体
Bilibili (2021). The Playlist of My Three-body Season 3.
https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ss28770/?from=search&seid=17554673665714368679
Bilibili (2021). The Playlist of My Three-body Season 3.
https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ss28770/?from=search&seid=17554673665714368679
Douban (2021). Ratings of My Three-body Series.
https://search.douban.com/movie/subject_search?search_text=我的三体&cat=1002
Friedlander, P. (2020, September 1). International Best-seller ‘The Three-Body Problem ’ to be adapted as Netflix Original Series. Netflix.
https://about.netflix.com/en/news/the-three-body-problem-netflix-original-series
Goodreads. (2021). The Ratings and Comments of The Three-Body Problem.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20518872-the-three-body-problem
The Hugo Awards. (2015). 2015 Hugo Awards Final Results. The Official Site of The Hugo Awards.
http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2015-hugo-awards
Three-Body Community. (2020, February 4). Interview with the character designer of “My Three-Body”: The simpler the design, the more difficult it could be. Bilibili.
https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv4569589?from=search
Three-Body Community. (2020, March 10). Deciphering “My Three-Body”, how were those equipment designed? Bilibili.
https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv5049306?from=search
Xuejiao, C.(2020, March 13). Viewers Give ‘Three-Body’ Animated Series Two Thumbs Up. Sixth Tone.
http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1005300/viewers-give-three-body-animated-series-two-thumbs-up