TV Foundation, the Apple TV show - WHY ?!

[Koren Lesthe]

I tried. I tried ! I watched the pilot of Foundation, the TV show based on Isaac Asimov's books that I obviously already read (and loved).

I know, an adaptation isn't meant to be a 100% copycat of the original material, I was more than ok with the LotR movies (dear Tom Bombadil, you won't be missed).

But I already had a problerm with the main character stating that the encountered three of the biggest plot points of the books that are separated by decades / centuries, but eh, maybe there's an explanation. Then came the Lannister Empire of Trantor with Incest Clone and Pedo Clone. Oh and they are eviiiil, they kill an old man in cold blood because he dared to believe Seldon Cooper string theory.

I facepalmed myself so many times like... ok, we get it, the Empire is shitting his pants because of Seldon's theories and want to silence him. Ok. But the Empire was not a main character in the books. He wasn't even a secondary character. There wasn"t even any clone. Trantor, the planet itself, was a character. You learnt about its slow downfall, from time to time, and even then, it was a distant story. You learn so little about the Empire family because they were never the main piece of the cake.

I dropped Foundation right after the pilot, couldn't take it anymore of that Obvious Evil McBadGuy Lannister wanabe and his clones.

Maybe if I never read the books I would've liked it more ? Meh, not sure about this, I never liked Game of Thrones so...

 

[kvetcha]

Foundation is 50% good and 50% bad, and ironically the 50% good was made up whole-cloth for the show. It's honestly kinda worth watching for the Empire stuff, but boy is the directly-adapted material rough.

 

[WestEgg]

I watched a bit of this with a friend and thought what I saw was interesting, but didn’t stay with it. Might give the books a read though, since conceptually I like the whole grand scale of galactic political collapse and reformation angle.

 

[Boyfriend]

I dropped Foundation right after the pilot, couldn't take it anymore of that Obvious Evil McBadGuy Lannister wanabe and his clones.

you goofed, because he's the best part

it's really just inspired by asimov's work, which is for the best because for as prolific as asimov is... he didn't really write characters.

 

[Armoured_Bear]

As someone who has never read the novels, I find it really good.
It looks spectacular and the whole empire stuff is interesting, the Gayle actor isn‘t great but „Day“ is brilliant.

 

[Deleted member 1896]

If you're expecting a faithful adaptation, it's best to check those expectations at the door. As an independent work, season 1 is interesting but inconsistent. Season 2 is a noticable improvement, but more space opera than Sci Fi. But if you can enjoy it for what it is rather than what it isn't, you're in for a good time.

You will come to appreciate the idea of the genetic dynasty as well as other differences from the novels mentioned in your post, and a few others you haven't seen yet. They all serve the same purpose of sticking with main characters for longer, allowing them to develop and clash with each other, learning about their past etc. It's really difficult to make good television without these pillars. And by the time you reach the end of season 2 I think you'll agree that what the showrunners have done works for this format.