Almost 5 years after the end of Game of Thrones, the two producers DB Weiss and David Benioff are back with the next series adaptation of an acclaimed novel saga. Since March 21, 2024, you can immerse yourself in an epic sci-fi story with 3 Body Problem on Netflix, in which the fate of all humanity is at stake and people from different nations are caught up in a huge mystery.
To highlight the global approach, there is in the original version several languages listen. Don’t want to read subtitles? Then of course you can also watch the series in one completely dubbed version in German look. However, this has some disadvantages and repeats a mistake that sci-fi fans already know from the Netflix series 1899.
3 Body Problem: This is the big difference between the original and the dubbed version
Before you embark on the eight-episode mystery journey, you should check out Netflix the correct language option decide. The following is available to choose from:
For a series with countless scientific terms, it is of course easier to choose an understandable dubbed version in your own language. However, an important part of the series is lost in the German version and there are even irritating errors.
Netflix
3 Body Problem features an entire storyline in Mandarin
At the beginning, the story of 3 Body Problem is divided into two basic plot parts: one in the present and one in 1960s China. In the original version, the difference between the two stories is also highlighted through language. While the mysteries of the Oxford Five are consistently discussed in English in Great Britain, all the characters in the Chinese flashbacks speak Mandarin.
In the German dubbed version, all characters speak only German. This not only means that the global approach to the story is lost. This also means that some scenes no longer make any real sense.
An example: In a scene in episode 3, the villain Tatiana (Marlo Kelly) reveals herself to her counterpart as an ally by briefly switching to the Chinese language Mandarin during the conversation. But that hardly makes any sense, if in the series all Chinese people can be heard speaking their national language in German. Mandarin thus becomes a secret language that is only used in very rare cases.
Watch the Netflix series 3 Body Problem completely in German: Is that bad?
Film and series fans know the dubbing dilemma from a wide variety of multilingual histories. In Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, for example, the language barrier between Germans and Americans disappears, while in the Netflix series 1899 an entire set of themes was erased through a uniform German dubbing.
It’s not quite as drastic in 3 Body Problem. The Chinese plot block is only limited to the first two of a total of eight episodes. The next foreign language sequence is not seen again until the finale, in which characters converse in Spanish in Mexico.
Netflix
Auggie is no longer allowed to speak Spanish in the German version
The linguistic standardization in the German version still leaves a bad aftertaste considering that a Chinese world bestseller is being filmed here and the series adaptation has already been largely prepared for a Western audience.
The story of astrophysicist Ye Wenjie (Zine Tseng) in China during the Cultural Revolution is one of the few elements that remained completely untouched from the Chinese novel. The fact that the characters are no longer spoken in Mandarin in the dubbed version weakens both the global approach of the narrative and the cultural authenticity of 3 Body Problem.
Of course, the choice of language version is ultimately up to each individual. But perhaps the big difference is between the two language versions a good reason to watch 3 Body Problem twice. Because there are so many mysteries, twists and revelations in the sci-fi series that there will still be numerous hidden clues to discover during the next binge of the season.
Podcast: Is Netflix’s sci-fi series 3 Body Problem worth watching?
Have the Game of Thrones makers achieved their next big success with 3 Body Problem? In the podcast we discussed Netflix’s sci-fi series extensively and without spoilers:
At this point you will find external content that complements the article. You can display it and hide it again with one click.
3 Body Problem is the adaptation of one of the most exciting science fiction works of recent years: The Trisolaris trilogy by Chinese author Cixin Liu. In the podcast we clarify whether the series can delight sci-fi fans and whether the drastic changes to the original were really necessary.