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I Don’t like Modern Sci-Fi, So Here’s What I’m Excited For
Modern TV gets it wrong more often than not, but I’m always optimistic something unique will slip through.
It would take a series of detailed and well-researched essays to explain what I don’t like about so many modern science fiction shows, but that’s not what this article is for. This article is about what might be good in the near future.
The Three-Body Problem
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and taking a workshop from Ken Liu (who translated The Three-Body Problem, Liu Cixin’s epic trilogy, into English), so this is one I’m particularly interested in. For one thing, this is in incredibly intelligent sci-fi series, drawing deeply from physics, sociology, and Chine history to weave its tale.
China had a tough few years with science fiction. It turns out that cracking down on dissidents and progressive youngsters also cracks up the sort of innovative ideas that society needs to function, go figure. But China has also had a long history of speculative works, drawing heavily from the earliest Western canon and turning it into something unique. The 1910s unfinished novel, Lunar Colony, springs to mind. Despite suppression, Chinese science fiction is a genre that’s refused to die, and it’s been steadily picking up steam both there and abroad.
At a time when rising political tensions between China and the United States make frequent news, it’s more important than ever to take a look at the actual work coming out of the somewhat cloistered country. Science fiction, through its speculative lens, makes it one of the best vehicles for that inspection.
The series broadly concerns the invasion of Earth by an advanced alien civilization. But, the threads of Chinese history and politics, the layers…
