MikeOfAllPeople t1_j6cwnzm wrote on January 29, 2023 at 1:20 PM

I'm listening to the audio book now (I know the story though thanks to YouTube videos about the series) and all I can think is how terrible this would be to adapt for television, especially for a western audience. I haven't read a lot of stuff from Chinese authors, but I get the sense that the style is just so different there. Like, the conversations in the book are all very technical. Unlike modern prestige TV where hyper-realistic dialogue and character-driven stories are the norm.

I haven't watched the series yet, but from reviews I've seen, it seems adapting it into a watchable series is presenting a challenge.

WeDriftEternal t1_j6dbzld wrote on January 29, 2023 at 3:25 PM

The book seems really unadaptable into anything that isn’t boring and to make it more presentable to western audiences is gonna be hard as hell. It’s set in China and very culturally Chinese

Plus like 90% of the story is a group of people in a room talking about technical stuff. Then they move to a different room and do the same, then a third room, then back to the first room. Like literally, that’s the story.

Or to put it in comparison. It’s like if Fellowship of the Ring was 90% set in Rivendell just like talking about what they might do.

Roook36 t1_j6dpmae wrote on January 29, 2023 at 4:56 PM

I'm thinking Netflix is going to really alter a lot of things to make this into a bingeable series. The cast is obviously international. They've got Benedict Wong playing the lead, probably because he's one of the most well known actors of Chinese descent due to Marvel, but I feel he's seriously miscast as the lead as opposed to Detective Shi (who I think he'd be perfect as).

I'm curious to see how it will come out, and how it will compare to this, which is definitely a "by the book" adaptation, for better or worse.

TasteOfSnozberries t1_j6fh5uj wrote on January 29, 2023 at 11:33 PM

Holy crap. I thought he was playing the detective. He's literally who I pictured when reading the book.

Killing_Miko t1_j6dzs8j wrote on January 29, 2023 at 6:02 PM

Its cause the character writing is bad, they exist to just move the plot along

Which is why any good adaption would require extensive new writing

Takseen t1_j6fddq5 wrote on January 29, 2023 at 11:08 PM

I read the book and I'm enjoying the slow pace of the Tencent TV series.

I'm actually quite jealous really. Because they're doing a fairly small book over 30 episodes, each 30-50 minutes long, they really do get to include almost everything. Poor Wheel of Time with a larger book only got 8 episodes, and a drastically changed and shortened story as a result.

Traece t1_j6hfv9i wrote on January 30, 2023 at 10:14 AM

I haven't read the books, but I've been mostly enjoying the Tencent series. It definitely suffers a bit from its slower pacing, and can even feel a tad repetitive at times, but I respect what they're trying to do here. It's an interesting story, and there have been some good moments and emotional scenes that help break up some of the monotony.

I suspect that when I reach the end I'll say it probably should have been 20 episodes instead of 30 or something, but I also plan to watch all 30 regardless. Butchering it with an 8-episode series would've been much worse than going all-in on a full-sized adaptation. I definitely prefer too many episodes to too few.