Isaac Asimov's Foundation series closer to TV production

[lpetrich]

Lee Pace, Jared Harris to Star in Apple’s Asimov Series ‘Foundation’ – Variety

Lee Pace and Jared Harris have been cast in the lead roles of the upcoming Apple series “Foundation,” Variety has learned.

The series is based on the Isaac Asimov novel series of the same name. It chronicles the saga of The Foundation, a band of exiles who discover that the only way to save the Galactic Empire from destruction is to defy it.

Harris will star as Hari Seldon, a mathematical genius who predicts the demise of the empire. Pace will star as Brother Day, the current Emperor of the Galaxy.

But from  Galactic Empire (Isaac Asimov), the Emperor at the time of the trial of Hari Seldon is Daluben IV.

The plot in the Trilogy is different. Hari Seldon finds that the Empire is doomed to fall in a few centuries, and it will likely have some 30,000 of strife before a successor empire can emerge. But HS's followers set up the Encyclopedia Galactica Foundation on Terminus, a distant world. Instead of trying to save the Galactic Empire, the Foundation gradually builds a second empire from the breakaway worlds as the Empire disintegrates.

So it ought to have a tagline like "The Galactic Empire is doomed to fall. But can a small band of adventurers create the beginning of a new empire?"

Among the people working on that series will be Robyn Asimov, Isaac Asimov's daughter.

 

[ZiprHead]

Hmm, I read Foundation, oh, must be forty years ago. Frankly I remember very little about it.

But it's nice to see classic sci-fi get a new lease on life. [mumble]Not I Robot movie{/mumble]

 

[Patooka]

Hmm, I read Foundation, oh, must be forty years ago. Frankly I remember very little about it.

But it's nice to see classic sci-fi get a new lease on life. [mumble]Not I Robot movie{/mumble]

Not sure how they can pull this off, unless they have a revolving cast like The Walking Dead. It would kinda be like making a TV show based on the Battletech franchise. Some things don't translate into other forms of media.

 

[James Brown]

I've read the first Foundation book. It's mostly just people talking. I'm sure that will work well on television.

The ideas were groundbreaking for their day. As I recall, Asimov was the first to conceive of a galaxy-wide empire, but the world at large has seen that since Star Wars back in 1977.

 

[Ford]

Hmm...

The series is based on the Isaac Asimov novel series of the same name. It chronicles the saga of The Foundation, a band of exiles who discover that the only way to save the Galactic Empire from destruction is to defy it.

It's been a very long time since I read the novels, but I don't recall this being the point.

 

[Patooka]

I've read the first Foundation book.

Which one? Foundation, Prelude to Foundation or Caves of Steel?

 

[James Brown]

I've read the first Foundation book.

Which one? Foundation, Prelude to Foundation or Caves of Steel?

Foundation. The chronologically-published first one, as far as I know. I never read another.

 

[lpetrich]

 Foundation series

The Foundation series is a science fiction book series written by American author Isaac Asimov. First collected in 1951, for thirty years the series was a trilogy: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation. It won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966.[1][2] Asimov began adding new volumes in 1981, with two sequels: Foundation's Edge, Foundation and Earth, and two prequels: Prelude to Foundation, Forward the Foundation. The additions made reference to events in Asimov's Robot and Empire series, indicating that they were also set in the same fictional universe.

The premise of the stories is that, in the waning days of a future Galactic Empire, the mathematician Hari Seldon spends his life developing a theory of psychohistory, a new and effective mathematical sociology. Using statistical laws of mass action, it can predict the future of large populations. Seldon foresees the imminent fall of the Empire, which encompasses the entire Milky Way, and a dark age lasting 30,000 years before a second empire arises. Although the inertia of the Empire's fall is too great to stop, Seldon devises a plan by which "the onrushing mass of events must be deflected just a little" to eventually limit this interregnum to just one thousand years. To implement his plan, Seldon creates the Foundations – two groups of scientists and engineers settled at opposite ends of the galaxy – to preserve the spirit of science and civilization, and thus become the cornerstones of the new galactic empire.

 

[Ruth Harris]

Not sure this will translate well into video

I own and have read all of the Foundation series. I have been a big fan of Asimov since I started reading his works in grade school.

But I don't know that I want to see what they do to his stories to make them suitable for TV. Too many times they take a wonderful novel and turn it into slop to gear it towards the "target" (read "young") viewer. In particular, this series of books is more grounded in dialogue than action. It just doesn't seem to me that this would make compelling video for the younger set, given that they are accustomed to non stop action.

Ruth

 

[lpetrich]

What's necessary for visual media is to consider what works well in it, and to try to translate what's described in the text into something visually interesting.

Like this, a bit of a spoiler:

Show

Ultrawave Relay (or Hyperwave Relay) by Isaac Asimov from Foundation
In this wonderful passage, Theo Aporat, High Priest, curses an entire space ship.

"In the name of the Galactic Spirit and of his prophet, Hari Seldon, and of his interpreters, the holy men of the Foundation, I curse this ship. Let the televisors of this ship, which are its eyes, become blind. Let its grapples, which are its arms, be paralyzed. Let the nuclear blasts, which are its fists, lose their function. Let the motors, which are its heart, cease to beat. Let the communications, which are its voice, become dumb. Let its ventilations, which are its breath, fade. Let its lights, which are its soul, shrivel into nothing. In the name of the Galactic Spirit, I so curse this ship."

And with his last word, at the stroke of midnight, a hand, light-years distant in the Argolid Temple, opened an ultrawave relay, which at the instantaneous speed of the ultrawave, opened another on the flagship Wienis.

And the ship died!

For it is the chief characteristic of the religion of science that it works, and that such curses as that of Aporat's are really deadly.


This ship is part of an invasion fleet that Prince Wienis of Anacreon sent to Terminus to conquer the Foundation - it would be visually interesting to show these ships, I'm sure.
 Foundation (Asimov novel)

Meanwhile, one of Hardin's modifications to the battlecruiser shows itself; an ultrawave relay, a remote kill-switch to the ship's systems. The priest-attendant of the ship, Theo Aporat, presents the relay's activation as a divine curse, and the crew, convinced of the Foundation's god's power, mutinies against its commander, Admiral Prince Lefkin, Wienis's son. Lefkin confronts the mutineers and, captured, is forced to broadcast a message to Anacreon demanding Wienis's arrest and threatening a bombardment of the royal palace if that and other demands are not met.

This mutiny ought to be visually interesting.

 

[steve_bank]

I expect it will become modern trash talk sci fi.


It will be hard to develop all the charterers.

It will also feed the conspiracy theorist. A shadowy group of scientists working behind the scene to alter history.

 

[lpetrich]

I got an update from WWDC 2020 Special Event Keynote — Apple - YouTube

Starting at 1:05:10, Cindy Lin explains that Apple is working on its own TV network: Apple TV+ - Apple Apple TV app - Apple It is available "on your favorite Apple devices, on all major streaming boxes, and many smart TV's." Already reaching 1 billion screens.

Then at 1:05:40 she introduced Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, describing it as having been published 70 years ago. The first of the novels was published back in 1951, but the first short story that went into it was published in 1942. "Many consider it the best science-fiction series of all time." Then on 1:06:07, a preview blurb. Some spectacular scenery and architecture and high-tech action, and a middle-aged man stating that "It's almost a certainty that they'll arrest me tomorrow." and "You're familiar with my work. Psychohistory." Seems like Hari Seldon. Another character says "Only we can shorten the darkness".

"From the co-writer of The Dark Knight and Batman Begins." Date: 2021


I've thought of a revision of my proposed tagline:
"The Galactic Empire is doomed to fall. But can a small band of adventurers create an outpost that saves civilization?"

 

[lpetrich]

Foundation on Apple TV+ - has the trailer that was shown in that 2020 Apple WWDC keynote video

 Foundation series -  Foundation (TV series)

The Foundation Trilogy - BBC Radio 4 FM - 17 September 1977 - BBC Genome - a radio adaptation

 

[lpetrich]

It's finally here: Foundation | Apple TV+

Based on the award-winning novels by Isaac Asimov, Foundation chronicles a band of exiles on their monumental journey to save humanity and rebuild civilization amid the fall of the Galactic Empire.

Foundation (TV Series 2021– ) - IMDb

Among the executive producers is Robyn Asimov, daughter of Isaac Asimov, born in 1955. Robyn Asimov - Biography - IMDb - "Robyn Asimov is a producer, known for Foundation (2021), About Science Fiction and Robots (2004) and Three Laws Safe: Conversations About Science Fictions and Robots (2005)."

Foundation - Rotten Tomatoes (review-aggregator site) - the series has gotten mixed reviews so far. Here are some:

Not just an adaptation of a long-revered work of science fiction, but a thoughtful, provocative, consistently compelling series worthy of the investment in time and effort to reach the final moments of its ten-hour running time. -- Matt Robinson, That Shelf

Season one comes off as a 10-episode pilot for later seasons - one just good enough for us to want to stick with the show. But the sluggish storytelling suggests there were good reasons Asimov's books did not make it to screen before. -- Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle

We'd love to see the parts that show the story's humanity and hope, but the first episode was just too boring to draw us in -- Joel Keller, Decider

As with some of Apple's other high budget series, the desire to look massive overtakes a lean narrative... This is probably the priciest slow burner show ever made. -- Alci Rengifo, Entertainment Voice

 

[lpetrich]

Rebecca Watson's reviews of Classic SF on Twitter:
"FOUNDATION: boring trash from a dude who obviously molested the few women he met"

Nearly all the characters in the Trilogy are male. For the series, Gaal Dornick got a sex change and likely other characters also.

Isaac Asimov did not write very many female characters in his earlier SF stories because he didn't feel very sure about how to write them.

In a follow-up tweet, she wrote "Foundation was hilariously bad. The sole female character was a bitch who liked jewelry"

That may have been true of the first Foundation book, though I don't recall *any* female characters from them. The later Foundation books have better-developed female characters, however.

 

[Ruth Harris]

And they have already blown it, in my opinion

Not only did they change R. Daneel Olivaw (as Eto Demerzel) to a female character, they revealed that the character was a robot. It was one of the primary storylines in the book series to keep this a secret. That is it for me.

Ruth

 

[Elixir]

The ideas were groundbreaking for their day.

I read the trilogy in 1961 (7th grade) and it transformed me. That year, everything he, Bradbury, Heinlein, Clarke and several other sci-fi authors had written, took the place of school for me, and probably put me on an unalterable path that led me to drop out of school. Never read the rest of the Foundation books.
After reading this thread I am singularly un-motivated to see the film, though the visuals will be no doubt be spectacular...

 

[Patooka]

Not only did they change R. Daneel Olivaw (as Eto Demerzel) to a female character, they revealed that the character was a robot. It was one of the primary storylines in the book series to keep this a secret. That is it for me.

Ruth

Disagree. Firstly changing a robot's gender is about as non-issue as you can get. That's like people who were offended Starbuck had tits in the "new" BSG. Secondly, the show has pointed out that only the Cleon clones know Demerzel is a robot. And finally, Daneel was never an integral part of the Foundation story. He wasn't even introduced until 35 years after Foundation was published. You could easily read the original trilogy and not read anything about robots. In fact, Asimov copped some criticism at the time injecting Daneel into the Foundation series as a crass attempt to promote his robot stories and Galactic Empire series.

I'm not saying this series is without flaws - I'm saying you have some pretty esoteric conditions for dealbreakers.