Isaac Asimov's Foundation series on TV?

[lpetrich]

Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels: are they really filmable? | Books | The Guardian
noting
'Interstellar's' Jonah Nolan Developing 'Foundation' Series for HBO, WBTV (Exclusive) - TheWrap

It'll be about the original three novels: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation.

I don't know how well it would do as TV, because the novels are about a grand arc of history more than anything else. Those novels don't have a lot of space battles, let alone ground battles. The characters are often described as cardboard. But I think that it could be done as power-politics soap opera, like Dallas or Dynasty, though the characters would have to be fleshed out in appropriate ways.

 

[dystopian]

I hope they don't do the usual "math is magic" type of depiction. Even though psychohistory being wholly owned by Seldon for most of the series kind of makes it exactly that in the perception of everyone else. I just hope they don't attach the floaty kind of spiritualism that TV makers so often attach to science/math in order to make it more palatable to the masses.

 

[dx713]

It can be done, plenty of nice themes to explore, but can it be marketable?
The characters change quite often in the first stories, so you won't have a character-driven serie. The character-driven part will have to wait "second fundation".
So, what are the chance to attract an audience (outside of geek like me) on the strength of futuristic sights of Trantor and seeing how a math project develops soon enough for the network to fund the whole cycle?
Will we end with an aborted serie or, worse, something completely rewritten to get it more marketable?

 

[dystopian]

on the strength of futuristic sights of Trantor

People are just going to claim Trantor's ripped off from Coruscant. Unless they actually do the domes properly (which I think is actually a later retcon)... but I bet the executives will decide that won't allow for cool shots from orbit or something.

 

[NobleSavage]

I haven't read much Asimov, but one of my favorite short stories is: http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

 

[Shake]

I haven't read much Asimov, but one of my favorite short stories is: http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

Ohhhh, yes. I read this ages ago. A great story. Will be looking forward to see what happens with the Foundation thing. Come to think of it, I may have to reread that series.

 

[lpetrich]

Something that may raise hackles with some viewers is the series's treatment of religion. Early in the original novels ("Foundation" > "The Mayors"), the Foundation cloaks its technology in a religion that it uses to manipulate the inhabitants and the leaders of the nearby planetary systems. This includes installing a supposedly very holy "ultrawave relay" in a refurbished Imperial cruiser. Spoiler on its nature:

Show

It's a kill switch.

 

[lpetrich]

Some news. Apple has greenlit a TV show based on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series - The Verge The series had a rather odd origin.

Although he loved reading and writing historical fiction, the research required for writing real historical fiction was impractical, he wrote in his biography, I, Asimov. Instead, he decided to make up his own: a “historical novel of the future, a science fiction story that read like a historical novel.” After reading Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, he realized he could do something similar: tell the story of the rise and fall of a galactic civilization.

Which he did.

Apple’s slate of original TV shows will reportedly rollout as early as next March - The Verge -- Apple is doing what Amazon and Netflix have done.

The Foundation Trilogy has been adapted for broadcast media before, in a BBC radio version. But fitting the trilogy into movie format has been a daunting task.

Apple lands Isaac Asimov Foundation Series David Goyer & Josh Friedman | Deadline, ‘Foundation’: Apple Orders Series Based On Isaac Asimov Trilogy | Deadline -- a 10-episode order.

 

[Politesse]

Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels: are they really filmable? | Books | The Guardian
noting
'Interstellar's' Jonah Nolan Developing 'Foundation' Series for HBO, WBTV (Exclusive) - TheWrap

It'll be about the original three novels: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation.

I don't know how well it would do as TV, because the novels are about a grand arc of history more than anything else. Those novels don't have a lot of space battles, let alone ground battles. The characters are often described as cardboard. But I think that it could be done as power-politics soap opera, like Dallas or Dynasty, though the characters would have to be fleshed out in appropriate ways.

The show will have space battles. Lots of space battles.

If there's one thing past adaptations of Asimov have taught us, it is that TV producers think Asimov needs to play to genre better than he did.

 

[steve_bank]

Thought about that in the past. Hard to imagine actors to cast. I'd like to see it made.

Dune was not very good.

These days it would be made into a silly shoot em up special effects movie.

It would have to be multiple segments like Lord Of The Rings.

 

[Ford]

Thought about that in the past. Hard to imagine actors to cast. I'd like to see it made.

Dune was not very good.

These days it would be made into a silly shoot em up special effects movie.

It would have to be multiple segments like Lord Of The Rings.

Or a series.

The problem with Dune - well, one of them - was that it just didn't fit into one movie. Lord of the Rings showed that you can make 3 long movies to cover one story and if you do it right, people will be on board. And then The Hobbit showed that if you do it wrong...

So if it were done right, the first book could be the first season of the series. It isn't a perfect comparison, but I've been watching Sense8 on Netflix, and it has so far done a good job in doing what a Foundation series would have to do...juggling a complex web of story and characters that would be impossible to fit into a movie. It was co-created by J. Michael Straczynski, who did a similar thing with Babylon 5 in the 90s. A story arc that was so big it took multiple seasons to tell.

 

[Underseer]

I vaguely remember reading an essay when I was a teenager (long ago) that argued that the plot of Asimov's Foundation trilogy was shaped like a transistor.

 

[Shake]

Dune was not very good.

...

It would have to be multiple segments like Lord Of The Rings.

Hmm ... thought we were discussing Asimov. Oh well, Herbert also wrote sci-fi so close enough, I guess.

Anyway, I assume you're referring to David Lynch's treatment of Dune. Sci-Fi channel did a miniseries in 2000 and another in 2003 for Children of Dune, each clocking in at about 4.5 hours in length. IMO, still somewhat lacking, but definitely a better treatment than Lynch's.

Oh my! In doing a little digging for this post, I found there is set to be a reboot coming on my 50th birthday! We'll see how that goes.

 

[bilby]

I vaguely remember reading an essay when I was a teenager (long ago) that argued that the plot of Asimov's Foundation trilogy was shaped like a transistor.

Semiconductor, vacuum tube, or circuit diagram symbol?

 

[steve_bank]

I read it in the 70s. I recall the dialogue referencing tubes. Something about the loss and deterioration of technical knowledge to the point where people could not replace a tune as part of maintenance on a reactor.

I am thinking Trump could play The Mule, and the Clinton Foundation as the enemy of the mule.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Some news. Apple has greenlit a TV show based on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series - The Verge The series had a rather odd origin.

Although he loved reading and writing historical fiction, the research required for writing real historical fiction was impractical, he wrote in his biography, I, Asimov. Instead, he decided to make up his own: a “historical novel of the future, a science fiction story that read like a historical novel.” After reading Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, he realized he could do something similar: tell the story of the rise and fall of a galactic civilization.

Which he did.

Apple’s slate of original TV shows will reportedly rollout as early as next March - The Verge -- Apple is doing what Amazon and Netflix have done.

The Foundation Trilogy has been adapted for broadcast media before, in a BBC radio version. But fitting the trilogy into movie format has been a daunting task.

Apple lands Isaac Asimov Foundation Series David Goyer & Josh Friedman | Deadline, ‘Foundation’: Apple Orders Series Based On Isaac Asimov Trilogy | Deadline -- a 10-episode order.

Too bad I'm not interested in having multiple streaming services.