An update that fundamentally lacks the essential element that allowed the original to exist at all.
What's missing? (Spoiler: It's intelligence)
It's a dumb action show with philosophical pretentions, that sometimes manages compelling scenes, with extremely expensive visuals that show off truly excellent CGI (because it doesn't 'look like' CGI), and has some great cinematography and production design (but also some pretty weak/generic/nonsensical production design, mainly in the abysmally stupid Hardin/Terminus bits.)
What about the actual source material?
Asimov grew considerably as a writer throughout his career, addressing his weaknesses of having rather dry dialogue and matter-of-fact storytelling, and, more specifically, kind of flat characters, and weak female characters. Foundation itself saw a considerable upgrade in its depth and focus on women and girls as main characters, as it went on, but it is still dry by comparison to his later works such as Nemesis, which is still one of my favorite books (the main characters of Nemesis are a plain, probably autistic teenage girl and her mother. So, yes, there are a number of different ways a Foundation adaptation could have gone, stylistically. Although, there's really only one option nowadays with the current trend of dark, overly self-serious, and frankly suffocating mid-brow pretension in "serious" "science fiction", the formula could have definitely benefitted from a transfusion of dramatic lifeblood.
The problem is that they forgot (actually, never understood) the core ethics and dynamics of the story, and the story told therein ends up as a confused mess of incoherent melodrama that completely and utterly slanders and wastes its core concepts. They also frontload and spoil two of the biggest reveals of the book series within the first few episodes, for absolutely no narrative reason, and absolutely zero payoff. They also utterly assassinate every single aspect of arguably the most important character to the centuries-spanning plot as a whole. So do yourself a favor and read the books before getting more than five episodes or so in.
Yeah, Lee Pace is a dead sexy beast as a charasmatically domineering and ever-young Cleon. Lou Lloubell is also a great actress and Gaal and Hari compelling characters until they make her and Hari into idiotic telenovela characters because modern Hollywood (non)writers don't understand how to write stories about the conflict of empirical and religious values without making it into incoherent emotional nonsense, likely due to working out their own personal issues without actually having read or understood, or likely even been exposed to decades-old knowledge and exegesis on the subject.
And it was predictable. Friedman showed he had a surface-level attention to and understating of SF concepts with his Sarah Connor series. I liked that at the time, but even as a twenty-something I could tell he didn't understand basic computer science, and didn't bother to consult with anyone to write it properly. One look at Goyer's filmography and it's clear that he doesn't do anything but dark, pulpy action fantasy. We got children without sea legs and hacks sailing this boat.
I see a lot of complaints here, but I don't really get why. So far the acting has been great, the visual effects really impressive and modern, and the scenario far from being bad. It feels like a dense and interesting universe to get into. As someone who didn't read the source material (I have read some of Asimov's books but not foundation in particular), I am not bothered by the differences.
I agree on the fact that the scenario could be better, but as I said it is good enough to me and is balanced by the universe and its mood that I find fascinating and quite unique. I like the fact that there is not one main story, but ~4 that are connected and alternate regularly (like in a lot of books I read).
Even though I didn't see them enough to make my mind yet, the characters feel well written and interesting.
To conclude, if you get easily bored (The pace is quite slow, for me it is a strength but I understand it is not for everyone) or are an Asimov purist, this show might not be for you. However if you are into sci fi and are looking for something unique, it would be a shame to miss this.
I am waiting for the end of the season to mark the show, but at episode 6, it is a solid 8 or 9.
After S1E7 I’m still undecided on how I feel about this show.
There’s no doubt to the brilliant production and high budget. The vast majority of the actors are of high calibre too, which is why I can’t understand the actress who plays the main female part in the first few episodes. Her acting is very weak in comparison to everyone else and it actually makes it very difficult to watch; I’m getting to annoyed with her acting rather than concentrating on the show.
My other main gripe is the pace. Is so slow, too often. Why are there so many long pauses of no one speaking or doing anything of any interest or importance? I find myself constantly rewinding as I’ve actually dozed off, it really does get that mind numbingly boring.
However, the saving grace is when there is talking, action etc, it is worth watching. If all the boring parts were removed, there would probably be only 4 episodes and not 8.
Will I continue to watch? Yes, but only when I’ve exhausted everything else I want to catch up on. Or this is how I’ve naturally progressed without thought. Which is a great shame as it’s got huge potential.
I had no idea until 30 minutes ago it was a well known book series, I’m ashamed to say I don’t read. In my defence I’m dyslexic and by the time I’ve read something, not only have I taken ten times longer than I should, it doesn’t make sense. I and many others are reliant on shows and movies and Im jealous of what reader’s experience as they immerse themselves. It’s therefore far more important for TV & Film to get things right and do justice to well written novels.
I digress…there’s a lot of positives for this show and I will continue to watch as I feel I’d be disappointed if it was cancelled. I hope they are listening to reviews and will tweak the show. Outstanding shows such as GTO went from incredible to diabolical, Foundation could go from a rocky start fo phenomenal. We shall see.
I can see lots of people taking great dislike of the series but I am getting quite a bit of enjoyment from this. The "Halt & Catch Fire" Emperor actor is a brilliant actor and choice. At least that is In my lowly esteem. Other than that, I'm hooked to the extent I am happy to keep watching this one. I mean I look forward to it and I have a lot of cool things to watch at the moment (Loving Wu Tang tv series for e.g.). I would say if you are into sci fi give it a go. Ignore the negative and just enjoy it as a bit of a popcorn flick. If you are an Asimov fanboy perhaps not for you. To be honest I have never got on with the books - Found them incredibly hard work to get into to. I'm more of a cyber punk kind of guy (think Snow Crash). Still - This is welcome tv and I am enjoying it for what it's worth. A solid 7 for a non Asmiov fanboy who wants a bit of non cheesy sci fi at a time when there isn't a whole lot to choose from that I haven't already seen. If this series ends strong I might up my 7 to an 8/9. My 2 cents.
First season complete.
My recommendations: IF...
...you are a fan of space opera literature in general - give this a chance, but don't expect anything beyond light TV-style entertainment.
...you are a fan of Asimov's Foundation novels - hard pass. The core ideas of the novels have not been carried over to this story.
...you are a fan of recent "sci-fi" such as Star Trek: Discovery - you will likely enjoy this.
The first season has two main (separate) storylines - I'll call them "Empire" and "Foundation".
The "Empire" storyline was great - well thought-out, written, cast, acted and visualized. We get to see an empire in apparent decline and the perspectives of conservatism, change, and middle-ground as actual characters. Top marks if this were the sole focus of the series. You can watch these sections separately and skip the rest. In fact, I think I recommend doing that. Put together a fan supercut, someone?
The "Foundation" storyline was a dud. The story is melodramatic and does not present interesting ideas or characters. I do like Leah Harvey's portrayal of Salvor Hardin, but there's not much more to be praised here. Jared Harris delivers of course, but only in a limited role. Fairly juvenile writing.
Sidenote: I have read the books long ago, and the fact that the series departs from the novelizations is not a bad thing, the details of Asimov's story are not particularly memorable. The really interesting part of Asimov's Foundation are the core ideas: that societal shifts and developments can be modelled, predicted and in some measure controlled - but only if the actors themselves are unaware of the true "plan", and only if external factors can be predicted and avoided / accounted for.
Not much of that has been conveyed in this TV adaptation, other than as a general setup and a recurring deus ex machina when the writers needed something to fall back on.
Just finished 2nd season and yeah I know it doesn't follow exactly the book. Haven't read them and I don't care about the fact that a book and adaptation are difference. I don't understand this obsession for the book and show to be the same. What matters is the outcome and it is really good for this show though, I do have some remarks mostly from the last 4 episodes where the show goes superb and with a lot of buts that leave a bit of bitter taste.
* certain logical leaps are made that either they were cut in post production or they didn't know how to connect the dots
* The backstories are great. It's actually super.
* There is a focus on actions scenes which are short and don't offer much. THe placement though, the standoffs and the suprises are delivered superbly. An example of bad scene is the one with the fighters and an example of awesomeness is the jump to the palace
What I like about the second season especially but it was there in the first one is that the show feels slow but super dense while it really manages to advance with each episode. Also, the way the "suprise" is injected is incredible. It keeps your interest. It makes you feel that you watched a full season per episode. The music, the actors, the directorship, the clothes are all incredible.
I'm a bit afraid about the continueity of the actors though, especially for Dawn, Day and Demerzel, who must not grow to look older based on their characters.
The blueness of Day is just awesome. My favorite colour. It's a very difficult colour in clothes and it's just superb and it looks great in the rest of the scenes. Day just stands out, both because of his blue attire and because he has the necessary presence.
Btw A+ is by far the best service at this moment. And this is very hard for me to say good things about the company. If you haven't read the books, then it's strongly recommended. If you have read the books I don't know. It depends on your expectations when a book is adapted to the screen.
Sorry for going a bit defensive with the spoiler tags. It's not all spoilers.
Review by WinsomeHaxBlockedParent2022-08-06T21:04:43Z
This was supposedly based on the Foundation novels by Isaac Asimov. Those novels were a retelling of "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon - with an SF setting.
However, this adaption has little or nothing in common with those novels.
You can basically split the series into two main threads. It's almost as if these two threads are written by different people - they differ so much in quality.
The Empire story actually works. The creators of the show added an new section about a genetic dynasty of clones ... it actually works. The segments about the empire and its decline are quite watchable. Machinations of power etc. The Emperors are well-acted, compelling even.
The Foundation story is awful. I mean really badly written and shockingly badly acted. It's also laced with woke drivel. I don't know how better to express how bad these parts are written and acted than to say... I actually ended up laughing at some of the lines and how they were delivered. It ditches the idea of psychohistory (or rather it pays it lip service) and in its place is a kind of silly story about uploaded consciousness and coin tosses.
But the main takeaway is this: the series has virtually nothing in common with the books. It's completely and utterly missing the grandeur and shocks of the original Foundation novels. This is mega-budgeted nonsense.
The entire industry of film and TV seems to have plumbed the dregs to fill up the acres of space needed for content these days. It's embarrassing.