[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for 3 Body Problem, Season 1 Episode 5, “Judgment Day.”]
The Netflix adaptation of 3 Body problem It covers a few different genres in its first season, but without a doubt its most horrifying moments come in Episode 5, “Judgment Day.” It is then that the Panama takes action against the enormous ship of the same title, effectively eliminating the group plotting against humanity on behalf of the San-Ti alien race on their way to Earth.
Such an action may be familiar to anyone. Who saw the 2002 movie? Ghost shipexcept dialed up to 11: The audience watches, in explicit detail, what happens when an oil tanker and its occupants encounter a web made of invisible “nanofibers,” which is capable of cutting through any known substance, including human flesh.
The sequence comes directly from the first book, as executive producer Alexander Woo notes in a recent roundtable interview: “It's described in vivid detail; that's the most memorable thing for most people who read the book. The challenge here was that we needed to at least meet, if not exceed, people's imaginations when they read the book. To give them everything that that sequence implies.”
And because of that, Woo continues, “The logistical aspect probably required more hours of blood and sweat per frame than any other sequence on the show. Dozens and dozens of meetings and preparation and every department involved.”
Executive producer DB Weiss explains that there were two major challenges in executing the sequence. “One of them was making sure you knew what was going on, analyzing it, so you didn't need anything explained to you at the time. Because explaining that nanofibers cut things, while nanofibers cut things, is going to put an end to the sequence rumor, to say the least.”
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