# Rendezvous with the Future (未来漫游指南)
*Rendezvous with the Future* (未来漫游指南) is a three-episode Chinese-British science documentary series, produced by [BBC Studios](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-studios) and commissioned and streamed by the Chinese platform Bilibili, in which the science fiction writer [Liu Cixin](https://www.edgepedia.org/liu-cixin) explores the real science behind the ideas in his own fiction, especially *The Three-Body Problem* (三体).[1](https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ss39863) • [2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/rendezvous-with-the-future) It was Liu Cixin's first international co-production documentary, and it premiered exclusively on Bilibili on 16 November 2022, with new episodes released weekly on Wednesdays at 20:00.[3](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20221111/8660e32729d144d8ae9c802fc834b68f/c.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | 3 episodes, about 50 minutes each (49 minutes per JustWatch); science and astronomy documentary[1](https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ss39863) • [2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/rendezvous-with-the-future) |
| Episodes | "First Contact" (第一次接触), "Voyage to the Stars" (星际航行), "Becoming a Supercivilisation" (成为超级文明)[2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/rendezvous-with-the-future) • [4](https://www.sohu.com/a/613993955_121119376) |
| Premiere | 16 November 2022, Bilibili, weekly Wednesdays at 20:00[3](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20221111/8660e32729d144d8ae9c802fc834b68f/c.html) |
| Presenter | Liu Cixin, winner of the 73rd Hugo Award, in his first international co-production documentary[4](https://www.sohu.com/a/613993955_121119376) • [3](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20221111/8660e32729d144d8ae9c802fc834b68f/c.html) |
| Key crew | Series producer/director David Briggs; executive producer Steve Crabtree (BBC *Horizon*); science-fiction consultant Future Affairs Administration[5](https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ep700416) |
| Audience | 22.75 million Bilibili views by December 2022; over 50 million by mid-2023; a combined audience of more than 92 million per BBC Studios[4](https://www.sohu.com/a/613993955_121119376) • [6](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_5672312705_152189f81019012hv0.html) • [7](https://globalcontent.bbcstudios.com/our-production-brands/unscripted/) |
| Ratings | 9.7 on Bilibili; 8.8 on Douban at completion, later listed at 8.1[4](https://www.sohu.com/a/613993955_121119376) • [6](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_5672312705_152189f81019012hv0.html) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and structure
The series examines whether the imaginative technologies in Liu Cixin's fiction, including *The Three-Body Problem*, *The Village Teacher* (乡村教师), and *Taking Care of God* (赡养上帝), are emerging in real research laboratories.[3](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20221111/8660e32729d144d8ae9c802fc834b68f/c.html) • [4](https://www.sohu.com/a/613993955_121119376) Its stated premise is that the boldest ideas of science fiction are already quietly taking shape in research and practice, and that what readers glimpse in fiction may be the future.[1](https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ss39863) Each episode opens with Liu Cixin linking a science-fiction theme to a scientific one, framing science fiction as a way of laying out possible futures, including strange and hard-to-imagine ones.[8](https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/907547.html)
The three episodes correspond to three stages in the development of human civilization as the series frames them: whether civilization survives, whether it expands to the stars, and whether it can become a supercivilization.[4](https://www.sohu.com/a/613993955_121119376)
- **First Contact** (第一次接触) asks whether humanity should communicate with extraterrestrial intelligence, the question that opens *The Three-Body Problem*, and covers electromagnetic waves, gravitational waves, and radio telescopes.[4](https://www.sohu.com/a/613993955_121119376)
- **Voyage to the Stars** (星际航行) considers how interstellar travel might be achieved, covering space elevators, the closed ecosystem [Biosphere 2](https://www.edgepedia.org/biosphere-2), controlled-fusion rockets, and artificial hibernation.[4](https://www.sohu.com/a/613993955_121119376)
- **Becoming a Supercivilisation** (成为超级文明) presents Liu Cixin's three criteria for a supercivilization, the technology to remake itself, the energy to sustain itself, and a fundamental understanding of the laws of the universe, and responds with research on artificial intelligence, [Dyson sphere](https://www.edgepedia.org/dyson-sphere) concepts, dark matter, and the search for a theory of everything.[4](https://www.sohu.com/a/613993955_121119376)
In one widely circulated segment, Liu Cixin explains the "dark forest" hypothesis from *The Three-Body Problem*, a pessimistic conjecture about relations between cosmic civilizations, comparing civilizations on a football pitch: at vast distances the details of each civilization become invisible, so a civilization may destroy others to guarantee its own survival.[9](https://www.3dmgame.com/news/202211/3856598.html)
## Production
The project grew out of a cooperation agreement between BBC Studios and Bilibili reached at the 2019 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, which covered a documentary on the theme of *The Three-Body Problem*.[10](https://www.yicai.com/news/101797125.html) Bilibili fully commissioned BBC Studios to produce the series, and it was made by the BBC Studios Science Unit.[11](https://www.sohu.com/a/687291959_488163) • [1](https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ss39863) Steve Crabtree, a longtime producer of the BBC science series *Horizon*, which has run since 1964, served as executive producer, and David Briggs was series producer and director.[10](https://www.yicai.com/news/101797125.html) • [5](https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ep700416) The Future Affairs Administration, whose founder Ji Shaoting had previously worked with Liu Cixin, served as science-fiction consultant and took part in planning.[5](https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ep700416) • [10](https://www.yicai.com/news/101797125.html)
Persuading the reticent Liu Cixin to appear on camera took effort. Crabtree invited him by video during Britain's pandemic lockdown, and the production team considered alternatives such as an animated character or voice-only participation before Liu agreed; as filming progressed he became increasingly engaged, eventually supplying childhood photographs never published before.[10](https://www.yicai.com/news/101797125.html) Crabtree read every English translation of Liu's work to prepare, and the production team studied his speeches, newspaper articles, and interviews.[10](https://www.yicai.com/news/101797125.html) • [12](https://www.sohu.com/a/700035301_100024718)
The series was designed as an international work from the start. Scientists from China, the United States, and Europe appear, and the crew filmed at research facilities including the EISCAT radar transmitter in Europe and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).[8](https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/907547.html) Featured scientists include Di Li, chief scientist of FAST (the [Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope](https://www.edgepedia.org/five-hundred-meter-aperture-spherical-telescope), known as "China's Sky Eye"), who speaks English in the film to signal international reach, and [Jill Tarter](https://www.edgepedia.org/jill-tarter), the SETI astronomer who inspired the film *Contact*; [Frank Drake](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-drake), who died in September 2022, appears in what may be his final screen appearance.[11](https://www.sohu.com/a/687291959_488163) • [10](https://www.yicai.com/news/101797125.html) The production used high-end computer-generated imagery to visualize the cosmic settings of Liu's fiction.[3](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20221111/8660e32729d144d8ae9c802fc834b68f/c.html)
## Title and Clarke connection
The working title was *Future Odyssey* (未来奥德赛), a homage to [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.edgepedia.org/arthur-c-clarke)'s *2001: A Space Odyssey*; it was changed to *Rendezvous with the Future*, matching the format of Clarke's novel *Rendezvous with Rama* (与拉玛相会).[13](https://movie.douban.com/review/14773645/) "Rendezvous" comes from [Middle French](https://www.edgepedia.org/middle-french) and means not a chance encounter but an arranged meeting, and the title signals the series' central device: an imagined meeting across time between Liu Cixin and Clarke, the author he has called the influence behind everything he has written, saying that all his work is a clumsy imitation of Clarke.[13](https://movie.douban.com/review/14773645/) • [4](https://www.sohu.com/a/613993955_121119376) Clarke appears through archival footage, as does [Isaac Asimov](https://www.edgepedia.org/isaac-asimov).[2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/rendezvous-with-the-future) Crabtree, who as a child watched Clarke's 1970s and 1980s BBC series *Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World*, gave Liu a copy of a Clarke novel signed by the author, and the series adopts that program's structure of linked stories with commentary.[13](https://movie.douban.com/review/14773645/)
The end-credit poster hides further genre references: the numbers "2001", honoring both Clarke's film and the year Liu Cixin began writing science fiction, and "42", the answer computed by the supercomputer in *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*.[3](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20221111/8660e32729d144d8ae9c802fc834b68f/c.html)
## Reception
The series found a large audience. It reached 5.1 million views within days of launch, 22.75 million by the time it completed its run in December 2022, and more than 50 million Bilibili views by mid-2023, when it was screened at the Shanghai TV Festival; BBC Studios later reported a combined audience of more than 92 million.[13](https://movie.douban.com/review/14773645/) • [4](https://www.sohu.com/a/613993955_121119376) • [6](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_5672312705_152189f81019012hv0.html) • [7](https://globalcontent.bbcstudios.com/our-production-brands/unscripted/) It held a 9.7 score on Bilibili and scored 8.8 on Douban at completion, later listed at 8.1.[4](https://www.sohu.com/a/613993955_121119376) • [6](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_5672312705_152189f81019012hv0.html) Steve Crabtree credited it with breaking out of the core science-documentary audience and sparking a wave of interest in science-fiction documentary on the platform.[14](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23581044?from=sohu) The series also received a British television award, according to a Chinese broadcasting-industry report.[15](https://www.cmmrmedia.com/UpLoadFile/Files/2022/1/29/%E3%80%8A%E8%9E%8D%E5%90%88%E4%B8%8E%E4%BC%A0%E6%92%AD%E3%80%8B2022%E5%B9%B41%E6%9C%88%E5%88%8A.pdf)
Some reviewers noted that the scientific concepts the series covers are basic, and the producers themselves acknowledged that three hours cannot exhaust a scientific field; their stated aim was that the program might set a viewer on the path to science, a theme the production framed with the keyword "childhood", echoing Clarke's recurring image of humanity as a newborn in the cosmos.[13](https://movie.douban.com/review/14773645/)
## References
1. [未来漫游指南 (series page), Bilibili](https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ss39863)
2. [Rendezvous with the Future, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/rendezvous-with-the-future)
3. [《未来漫游指南》刘慈欣首部国际合拍纪录片 诠释科幻魅力, Xinhua/Beijing Youth Daily, 11 November 2022](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20221111/8660e32729d144d8ae9c802fc834b68f/c.html)
4. [《未来漫游指南》：刘慈欣的科幻世界, Sohu, 5 December 2022](https://www.sohu.com/a/613993955_121119376)
5. [未来漫游指南 第1集 (credits), Bilibili](https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ep700416)
6. [上海电视节线下展播，邀你观看《未来漫游指南》！, Sina News, 7 June 2023](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_5672312705_152189f81019012hv0.html)
7. [Rendezvous with the Future, BBC Studios Global Content](https://globalcontent.bbcstudios.com/our-production-brands/unscripted/)
8. [BBC为刘慈欣制作纪录片，讲述《三体》背后的科学故事, Yicai via STCN, 3 July 2023](https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/907547.html)
9. [《三体》动画纪录片片段 刘慈欣亲解"黑暗森林理论", 3DM, November 2022](https://www.3dmgame.com/news/202211/3856598.html)
10. [BBC邀刘慈欣参与纪录片，讲述《三体》背后的科学故事, Yicai, 3 July 2023](https://www.yicai.com/news/101797125.html)
11. [北京论道 | bilibili张博: B站纪录片的国际化策略, Sohu, 2023](https://www.sohu.com/a/687291959_488163)
12. [BBC制片人史蒂夫·克拉布特里谈科学纪录片, Sohu, 2023](https://www.sohu.com/a/700035301_100024718)
13. [B站x刘慈欣xBBC：一部科学纪录片抵达的极致浪漫 (未来事务管理局 review), Douban, 19 November 2022](https://movie.douban.com/review/14773645/)
14. [白玉兰论坛｜纪录片急待突破边界，找新意和挖深度, The Paper, 2023](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23581044?from=sohu)
15. [《融合与传播》2022年1月刊, CMMR Media](https://www.cmmrmedia.com/UpLoadFile/Files/2022/1/29/%E3%80%8A%E8%9E%8D%E5%90%88%E4%B8%8E%E4%BC%A0%E6%92%AD%E3%80%8B2022%E5%B9%B41%E6%9C%88%E5%88%8A.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series › Nature, wildlife, and science documentary series*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license