Television Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" - Official Teaser Trailer #2 (Apple TV+, 24 September 2021)

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[legend]

Erm. I was excited but that doesn't seem like they're going for a very faithful adaptation so I don't really know what to think.

[erehwon]

Has anything of Asimov's received a good adaptation?  I would like for it to be good, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Guest]

That looks interesting and incredibly expensive 

[legend]

8 hours ago, erehwon said:

Has anything of Asimov's received a good adaptation?  I would like for it to be good, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Not that I know of  Which is a shame, because while Foundation *is* an incredibly hard series to adapt for TV, other Asimov work like the I, Robot novels would be much more straightforward and a good fit for a TV series.

 

 

Maybe this will still end up good, but I feel like I have no basis to judge anything from that trailer now and more often then not, adaptations that deviate a lot from the source do a much worse job. 

[Greatoneshere]

I believe David S. Goyer is involved right? Foundation is so good, but I never had hope once his name was attached. I'll remain cautious with this one.

[TwinIon]

I never had much hope for a faithful translation. The Foundation books just don't lend themselves well to that. Still, I have hope that it could be good. Apple sure is throwing money at everything right now, so hopefully it'll work out.

[Greatoneshere]

10 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

I never had much hope for a faithful translation. The Foundation books just don't lend themselves well to that. Still, I have hope that it could be good. Apple sure is throwing money at everything right now, so hopefully it'll work out.

 

It can definitely be done, but it is difficult and probably not by David S. Goyer.  

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[Greatoneshere]

Still a wait and see for me, but it has potential.

[CitizenVectron]

11 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

Still a wait and see for me, but it has potential.

 

I have a feeling that it will be well-made and acted...but it won't be anything like the book's story. It seems (and perhaps they are hiding more) that it's based entirely off the first chapter of the first book (the trial of Hari Seldon), with perhaps elements of the two prequel books. That's great...but it's not Foundation. However, I never expected them to have the guts to actually do it correctly, because they'd have to replace the main cast all the time as the story rockets into the future.

 

Maybe I am pessimistic, but I 100% expect them to contain the entire story (as in, the fall of Empire, rise of Terminus, re-establishment of some kind of new order) with the same main cast, over a period of several years (rather than 10,000). We aren't getting the Mule (except some cheeky nod), we aren't getting the Second Foundation, we aren't getting Hober Mallow, etc. 

 

I think that a book like Foundation (which, especially the first book, is basically a short story anthology) isn't possible to tell in a visual medium when producers are concerned about actors, etc. I will be the first to admin that Asimov wrote absolute shit characters (and couldn't write a woman to save his life), but his ideas were fascinating. So if you're going to make Foundation and then ignore his ideas...why even bother? It could be I, Robot all over again, just with much better acting and production.

 

To me, it's fascinating to build an entire culture around predestination and utter confidence that nothing can ever stop them, and then to have that reality come crashing down (and to doubt the infallibility of the genius that created the culture). And then, to have a second culture save you, but because you don't know what it is, you are paranoid and want to destroy your saviours. But to do that you need to cover thousands of years.

[TwinIon]

I think there's a good case to be made that making a super faithful adaptation of Foundation would make for a worse series than one that uses it more as a starting point.

[brucoe]

I love the Foundation stories and really hope they do something good with it. And I can see a successful same cast series working, especially if they did it like the season process of American Horror Story, where you keep switching the main cast with the new characters of each season. But I kind of doubt that's what they're going to do.

 

I do regret they're not sounding like they're going to be using a lot of the Mule. He was my favorite character within that universe.

[Greatoneshere]

9 hours ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

I have a feeling that it will be well-made and acted...but it won't be anything like the book's story. It seems (and perhaps they are hiding more) that it's based entirely off the first chapter of the first book (the trial of Hari Seldon), with perhaps elements of the two prequel books. That's great...but it's not Foundation. However, I never expected them to have the guts to actually do it correctly, because they'd have to replace the main cast all the time as the story rockets into the future.

 

 

I mean - David S. Goyer is involved. I'm super pessimistic and agree with your post. I'm definitely concerned but do feel it will be well made and acted, just not Foundation.

 

5 hours ago, TwinIon said:

I think there's a good case to be made that making a super faithful adaptation of Foundation would make for a worse series than one that uses it more as a starting point.

 

Hard pass - how do you mean? In the age of anthology shows with different/rotating casts every season means Foundation can be more easily adapted than ever. You could argue that Brad Pitt's Ad Astra (once upon a time Brad Pitt wanted to do Rendevous with Rama with David Fincher) is very Foundation-y at times in feel, and has an episodic structure.

 

Companies just don't have the balls to go all in on just adapting the work, as is, but well suited for a visual medium. It can be done, you just need to assemble the right creative team. Though if Denis Villeneuve's Dune isn't good, if someone like him can't do it, maybe it is impossible.