When “Foundation” Gets the Blockbuster Treatment, Asimov’s Vision Gets Lost
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Re: When “Foundation” Gets the Blockbuster Treatment, Asimov’s Vision Gets Lost
#2The writing and directing are at times very sloppy. To the point that you lose the illusion that you are in a movie and you can clearly see the actors acting. Cannot exactly pinpoint why though.
Re: When “Foundation” Gets the Blockbuster Treatment, Asimov’s Vision Gets Lost
#3This sums up my feelings about the show pretty well. Loved the books, hated the show. It gets rid of everything that was interesting about the books - the high level narrative about civilization and power projection mechanisms and replaces it with generic Hollywood sci-fi tropes, with cringy romance subplots thrown in. The second episode was so bad I stopped watching.
Re: When “Foundation” Gets the Blockbuster Treatment, Asimov’s Vision Gets Lost
#4This sums up my feelings about the show pretty well. Loved the books, hated the show. It gets rid of everything that was interesting about the books - the high level narrative about civilization and power projection mechanisms and replaces it with generic Hollywood sci-fi tropes, with cringy romance subplots thrown in. The second episode was so bad I stopped watching.
Same here. That "twist" for the second episode was too damn much to keep watching them utterly destroy everything that Asimov wrote.
Re: When “Foundation” Gets the Blockbuster Treatment, Asimov’s Vision Gets Lost
#5They lost me in the trailer. Foundation is a story across centuries about elderly and ossified leadership structures, not attractive young people in spandex. It is about one faction rebelling against another, not kids trying to get out from under their parents. And I really don't mind changing the genders of characters but please don't do so just to create eye candy.
Dune did this too. I think making Kynes female was interesting, although it certainly changes the male/female dynamics that are the core of the story. But making the character young and attractive is just pandering to male gaze.
Re: When “Foundation” Gets the Blockbuster Treatment, Asimov’s Vision Gets Lost
#6This is also what happens when you re-write the core story to match a Political Correctness agenda. The producers should’ve taken a note from Denis Villeneuve’s treatment of Dune, the source book should be the Bible and you don’t mess with it.
Re: When “Foundation” Gets the Blockbuster Treatment, Asimov’s Vision Gets Lost
#7I've read the books and watched the show as far as it's aired. I agree, but I almost think it's good that Asimov's vision is getting smoothed out a bit. After "second foundation" in the book series, the books go in a very different, unscientific "woo" direction. The end of the entire series is bizarre and controversial. I'm not all that convinced I want the original ending to be preserved - it wasn't that good anyway.
The powerful bit about foundation was always the ability to predict larger events better than smaller ones, as well as criticism of empire and overdependence on interconnectedness. In that, the TV show preserves the themes very well.
Re: When “Foundation” Gets the Blockbuster Treatment, Asimov’s Vision Gets Lost
#8The army combat sequences are inconceivably stupid. Dozens of soldiers firing sci-fi machine guns at unprotected opponents at close range and everyone magically avoids injury. It makes one wonder if Apple applied some sort of violence limiting clause to the production with absurd results.
Re: When “Foundation” Gets the Blockbuster Treatment, Asimov’s Vision Gets Lost
#9This is also what happens when you re-write the core story to match a Political Correctness agenda. The producers should’ve taken a note from Denis Villeneuve’s treatment of Dune, the source book should be the Bible and you don’t mess with it.
Foundation, as written, does not lend itself to any medium other than text. Dune had already been adapted to films, TV shows, and games multiple times before Villeneuve's film. Yet, despite its popularity, Foundation had never been adapted into another medium before the current TV show. I agree that the Apple TV series does not capture the essence of the books, but no series or film possibly can. Best we can hope is a loose adaptation, which is what we have gotten now.
Re: When “Foundation” Gets the Blockbuster Treatment, Asimov’s Vision Gets Lost
#10I've read the books and watched the show as far as it's aired. I agree, but I almost think it's good that Asimov's vision is getting smoothed out a bit. After "second foundation" in the book series, the books go in a very different, unscientific "woo" direction. The end of the entire series is bizarre and controversial. I'm not all that convinced I want the original ending to be preserved - it wasn't that good anyway…
> The powerful bit about foundation was always the ability to predict larger events better than smaller ones, as well as criticism of empire and overdependence on interconnectedness. In that, the TV show preserves the themes very well.
I can't see how you'd think this, with respect to the show. Seldon literally tells another character that that character's decision (on that day, apparently) will shape the fate of the galaxy. It loses the plot about psychohistory being about prediction of populations and turns it into predictions about individuals (and that's just the most overt example). Maybe they'll find a way to redeem it by the end of the first season, but so far several characters are presented as Chosen Ones, selected by Seldon to get through a specific crisis (or crises).