Foundation trailer

Fretwired · September 2020

Apple is coming .. with Foundation .. God knows how you turn this work into a TV series, but it looks good.

Jalapeno · September 2020

As in Asimov ? [Just seen that it is] Wonder if it will have the really bad S&M sex ?

Cirrus · September 2020

I WANTS IT

Fretwired · September 2020

Jalapeno said:

As in Asimov ? [Just seen that it is] Wonder if it will have the really bad S&M sex ?

Yes, Asimov ... the production company is sticking closely to the books and have spent an eye-watering amount of Apple's money. Whether people will understand it is another matter.

AustrianJohn · September 2020

I'm amazed that the Foundation series hasn't already been used as the basis for a TV series or film. Looking forward to this very much, and hopefully many follow-on episodes covering the other books in the series.

Fretwired · September 2020

AustrianJohn said:

I'm amazed that the Foundation series hasn't already been used as the basis for a TV series or film. Looking forward to this very much, and hopefully many follow-on episodes covering the other books in the series.

Apparently people have been trying for 50 years. Star Wars was heavily influenced by Foundation. I guess Apple hopes it will be the new Game of Thrones.

Philly_Q · September 2020

Much like Dune, I read the books decades ago but can't remember much - if anything - about them. My dad was a big Asimov fan at one point, I still have all his books stored away in a box somewhere. But I don't have Apple TV so I won't be seeing this.

fields5069 · September 2020

Hmm. Are they going to go in the order they were published I wonder. I didn't read extensively around the foundation series, but you could expand this as much as you want. Where to start?

AustrianJohn · September 2020

fields5069 said:

Hmm. Are they going to go in the order they were published I wonder. I didn't read extensively around the foundation series, but you could expand this as much as you want. Where to start?

Probably best to start with the original three books then go back and fill in the pre-story.

Or if you want to do it all in order I'd suggest that you could start with the Caves of Steel (the first book in which R Daneel Olivaw appears). But there's an argument that other Robot books or the earlier Empire books are also part of the landscape.

PolarityMan · September 2020

I imagine that they would need to start with Foundation in order to have Hari Seldon and psychohistory explained as a concept, that would then let them flash back through the alter novels after his death rather than have his concepts / work explained by other characters etc.

fields5069 · September 2020

It makes more sense to start with Foundation, yes agreed. I should go back and read these. I was mightily impressed when I was a teen but it would be interesting to see what I think of the style now.

PolarityMan · September 2020

A bit like Dune, hugely influential though. The whole death of knowledge thing is pretty much a trope now.

Steffo · September 2020

I love the Foundation series. If this is anywhere near as good I am sold!

WezV · September 2021

It's out on Apple TV now

I watched the first 10 minutes and it's both promising and infuriating already. Quite happy with Gender swaps since Asmiov was poor at writing women. Not so sure about the addition of alien life, but if does enrich the environments.

They have definitely pushed the Sci Fi Game of Thrones angle with the intro theme.

I suspect Bicentennial Man will remain the only faithful interpretation of Asimov's work.

Grangousier · September 2021

I thought the trailer looked amazing, but (similar to The Eternals) they let themselves down by trying to explain what it was about - if you can't do it in a sentence, best to show people a bunch of things they might find intriguing and hope their curiosity brings them in.

Also, I wondered whether anyone wanted an SF epic featuring Jeremy Corbyn, but that might just be me.

Will watch it, though.

Axe_meister · October 2021

Has anybody seen this yet? Is it worth paying for a month of AppleTV.
An looking forward to the wheel of time and the last season of the expanse.

octatonic · October 2021

Axe_meister said:

Has anybody seen this yet? Is it worth paying for a month of AppleTV.
An looking forward to the wheel of time and the last season of the expanse.

So far is is OK but not brilliant.
I'm a bit disappointed but Foundation was always going to be difficult to do well.

Grumpyrocker · October 2021

I'm enjoying it. I was a fan of the books but I don't think they'd make great TV. So I like the changes they've made. Visually stunning. And I think Lee Pace is fantastic as Day.

Chuffola · October 2021

Agree visually superb but my God it’s slow. I’m 4 episodes in and not sure I’ll go back to it.

Grumpyrocker · October 2021

The official podcast is very good. Some interesting insight into the story and character development.

TheBigDipper · October 2021

I haven't read (or remembered) the original three books since I was a kid. My vague recollection is that it was a bit old-fashioned and plodding compared to the sci-fi I preferred. I enjoyed the robot-oriented books as the entertainments they were written to be, but remember Foundation as being a bit wordy without any ideas that grabbed my imagination.

So I tried this, and quite like the way they've put it together. Pretty to watch and I'm not really comparing it to the books - coz I don't remember much of the detail. I'll be in much more trouble when I go to see the new Dune film (and I hated the old one).

FWIW, I had a free year of AppleTV+ when I changed my AppleTV box. I wouldn't pay for a proper subscription because there's not enough content I want to watch. However, I enjoyed series one of The Morning Show and I'm currently subscribed purely because I wanted to watch series two of Ted Lasso. Getting Foundation is a byproduct of that.

Headphones · October 2021

It's really beautiful to watch, but slower than most Sci Fi.

The pre launch blurb suggested it was designed to be watched in "binge" fasion, so was deliberatey written and shot slower and broader - and they've released it weekly...

I suspect it'd be great in binge fashion, but this may harm it's probability of reaching the end.

crunchman · October 2021

Is there any way to watch this without signing up to Apple's evil empire?

TimmyO · October 2021

From what I've read the whole season covers about half of the first book - which wasn't exactly long - so not surprised it has to go slow

Logie · October 2021

I was so looking forward to Foundation but as good as it looks it wasn't enough for me to keep my subscription up when my free period ended. I read a lot of sci fi as a young 'un but never really got into the Foundation series. As soon as the narrator started waffling, blowing my mind in the process, I just gave up. I think it'd be an awful lot better for a viewer who was familiar with the books ( and is no doubt really intended for them ). Looks incredible though.

PolarityMan · October 2021

TheBigDipper said:

I haven't read (or remembered) the original three books since I was a kid. My vague recollection is that it was a bit old-fashioned and plodding compared to the sci-fi I preferred. I enjoyed the robot-oriented books as the entertainments they were written to be, but remember Foundation as being a bit wordy without any ideas that grabbed my imagination.

So I tried this, and quite like the way they've put it together. Pretty to watch and I'm not really comparing it to the books - coz I don't remember much of the detail. I'll be in much more trouble when I go to see the new Dune film (and I hated the old one).

FWIW, I had a free year of AppleTV+ when I changed my AppleTV box. I wouldn't pay for a proper subscription because there's not enough content I want to watch. However, I enjoyed series one of The Morning Show and I'm currently subscribed purely because I wanted to watch series two of Ted Lasso. Getting Foundation is a byproduct of that.

It was a really weird kind of mix. The concept of psychohistory was great and kinda hard sci-fi tinged, especially when combined with the whole decaying / dystopian setting but then the mule was just pure pulp sci-fi.

I think it's kinda of its time in that respect as the different niche's in sci fi hadn't really been as firmly established. He also wrote a series of basically the lone ranger in space as well.

I think modern sci fi has really refined the genre and executes much better but the thing about some of that old stuff from the 50s / 60s was it was really insanely creative.

WezV · October 2021

It really does look great but I'm not rushing to watch more.

It's very much Game Of Thrones in space, but doesn't bring much new to the formula.

TimmyO · October 2021

Watched Ep1 today - I liked it - I actually thought there was quite a lot of "content" in it despite the 'slow' comments.

WezV · October 2021

I just picked it up again and watched episodes 3-6. Lots to annoy the Asimov purists, but it is turning into a pretty good TV show.

I'm really liking what they have done with Empire

Tannin · October 2021

fields5069 said:

It makes more sense to start with Foundation, yes agreed. I should go back and read these. I was mightily impressed when I was a teen but it would be interesting to see what I think of the style now.

Best not to. They have not stood up well. Asimov, despite his massive reputation for a while, was never much of a fiction writer. His works mostly read more like children's books: very simple and clear, lacking characterisation, imagination and flavour. This is an opportunity for a very rare thing indeed: a film of a famous book which is actually better than the original. In fact you can pretty much back that in.

His non-fiction, on the other hand, is superb. Asimov's straight-to-the-point style and his gift for simplicity and clarity made him one of the very very best science educators. His non-fiction is still worth reading today, though of course you have to make appropriate allowances for subjects which have changed a lot since they were written.

Shrews · October 2021

Prelude to Foundation is one of my favourite books and was a little disappointed when I went on to read the original trilogy. With Foundation especially I found I had to keep going back a chapter to re-read it, just to get my bearings on where I was. Whereas Prelude was all set in the same timespan and was a rip-roaring trip across the Galaxy, especially on Trantor.

I will one day catch up with this new series as I'm intrigued, but just wish they'd make a film of Prelude and then I'd be happy.

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