1y ago

'Foundation' Is Fixing The Trickiest Thing About the Asimov Books

www.inverse.com 'Foundation' Is Fixing The Trickiest Thing About the Asimov Books

In Season 2 of 'Foundation' the Apple TV+ sci-fi epic is addressing the biggest challenge of the Isaac Asimov books. Here's how the new characters in the show make the books even better.

The title comes from the article, but I agree with some of these changes. It's making for an engaging show that also feels modern.

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I’ve only really heard negative opinions about this show but the budget and special effects actually look beautiful. What’s the consensus here on the show? I actually have never actually read the books as reference.
- Its like… actively bad.
  The only parts I have actually found engaging enough to watch are the parts centered around the emperor. Unfortunately, everything to do with Hari Seldon and Salvor Hardin so far is at best kinda inconsequential, and at worst so cringingly over-acted and poorly written that I genuinely cannot understand how it got past focus groups.
  Not to mention, there is SO. MUCH. Expository narration… I guess the writers didn’t get the memo about “show, don’t tell”.
- Not very good. It's a mess to follow.
- It's a horrible show. Don't waste your money on it.
- The consensus on here is that the show is horrible and should be obliterated with extreme prejudice. Especially amongst fans of the novels.
  (Braces for pitchforks)
  I read and finished the first Foundation novel and didn't really like it. I love classic science fiction novels in general. And I'm not saying it's a bad novel or series, just that Foundation certainly didn't grab me.
  The show isn't perfect by any means. But as someone who didn't get into the novels, I think it's a pretty decent watch overall. It's a difficult story to tell, partly because of the big time jumps and abstract ideas, and partly because Asimov was light on character development compared to some other writers (especially more recent ones). But they've done a pretty good job adapting it IMO.
  
  The big time jumps do make it a difficult story. The names of the people on the page are always changing and you don’t get true character development or drama.
  The show doesn’t execute this well, it tries to avoid it. It bends over backward to invent multiple ways for the characters to defeat death. Cryo sleep. Digital consciousness. Synthetic bodies. Clones. Has there been any outright time travel yet? If not I’m sure there will be.
  
  That's a good point. The continuation of key characters over death-defying time periods and then their inevitable interactions does feel pretty contrived.
- Read the books, actually just finished rereading them. Enjoy the show very much, but it's definitely a different story.
- I could not make it past the first season. It's all looks and no content. They drag out unnecessary bits, mess up the narrative of the original material to make it more "tv friendly".
  I'd put it on the same shelf as Amazon's "The Expanse". If you like that, maybe foundation is also your cup of tea. Personally I'm not into either.
  
  I love the Expanse, but I hate Foundation. Has nothing to do with the books. If they want to make something different, they should call it something different.
  
  I liked The Expanse and still hate Foundarion.
- I wanted to like it. I’m open to changes in adaptation because I honestly didn’t always enjoy reading the novels. And I am not one of those people to complain about “wokeness” in the slightest.
  I just hated the show. Even on its own for what it is trying to be, it’s a mess. I guess there are some good special effects? There are also a lot of average and bad ones. It’s the lack of any self-propelling plot that kills it for me. Every step forward in the story is totally forced and uninteresting. No one should subscribe to Apple TV to get this show.
- I never read the book/books(?), thought the first season was cool. Seems like everyone who read the book hates it.
  I thought it was interesting, visually appealing, and I pretty much binged the whole first season.
  
  It doesn't have even the vaguest resemblance to the books. They could have created their own show, but instead somehow are selling it as Foundation.
  
  There’s an interesting story about a guy who wrote a Hollywood script for a movie where a murder has been committed and the suspects are robots. He got told to convert it to an adaptation of I Robot, so he jammed in a few bits about the 3 laws. Then they brought in Will Smith and that changed the flavor entirely into a Will Smith cop movie. And that’s how the most recent I Robot movie got made. It literally was another story.
- I think the show is worth watching for sure. The effects are top notch and when they are telling The Empire side of the storyline it can be pretty entertaining.
- Show is ok if you don't know anything about the books. The usual action sci-fi stuff with good special effects.
  
  Would you recommend reading the book first before going into the show?
  
  That will only harm your enjoyment of the show, because they share so little.
  
  I'm not the person you wrote to but I recommend reading the books and not watching the show at all.
- I grew up on the books and I’m loving this show. First season is more about set up but season two slaps hard so far. I legit can’t wait for each new episode, whereas first season was more of a passive curiosity about where they went with it.
  Imho, don’t even pay attention to the hate. Most of it is from book readers and if you haven’t read them it literally does not matter.
- It really is beautiful. I'd call it the most cinematic show on the air right now. It takes paying attention to follow, but the story has been satisfying so far. The acting is excellent. I recommend it, but you have to invest yourself in keeping track of what's going on.
- I haven't read the books but the show is good scifi imo. The actors are solid and the story is really intriguing.
- I never read the books, but I greatly enjoy the show. I think a lot of the people who don’t like it are being boring

65 comments