Asimov's "Foundation" coming to TV

[Voronwë the Faithful]

He got old and crotchety.

[Inanna]

Al, that cloning thing sounds like a steal from Ann Leckie’s ancillary series.

I guess the concept has been out there for a while. And the motivations are a little different in the Ancillary series.

[Alatar]

There's also a story element in the first two episodes that I believe was taken from Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, but it all works well together.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That seems so strange to me. Why not use what Asimov wrote, rather than adding in what other people wrote? There is such rich material to mine there.

[Alatar]

There's very little character work in Foundation. Its mostly ideas and concepts. This just fills in the gaps in my opinion.

I would be curious to hear what you think when you actually see it. I suspect you will be pleasantly surprised.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I hope I do get to see it eventually, though I don't have any plans to get Apple TV, so I'll have to wait until it is available in some other venue.

[Frelga]

That seems so strange to me. Why not use what Asimov wrote, rather than adding in what other people wrote? There is such rich material to mine there.

I wonder if it's because Kim Stanley Robinson wrote a plausible space colony where Asimov mostly had a space!Suburb, and you can't put that on screen in 2021. At least I hope they didn't.

It probably says something that the one area where Asimov's imagination rarely failed was in writing robots who can pass for humans but are still reliably machines.

In fact, I wish they have made The Caves of Steel instead of the Foundation.

[Inanna]

What’s Caves of Steel, precious?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Caves of Steel is the first of a series of four novels featuring a human police officer, Elijah Bailey, and his humaniform robot partner, Daneel Olivaw, which are preludes to the events of the Foundation series.

[Frelga]

Or more precisely, that Asimov later tied back to the Foundation, by implying that the human-passing robot character was secretly manipulating Earth history.

It's noir as SF, and more fun to read than the Foundation IMO. It's a typical Asimov future where everything changed while staying exactly the same.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

True. I don't know that I would necessarily say that the Caves of Steel and the other robot novels are more fun to read than the Foundation novels but I could see why you would say that. I do agree that they would make better fodder for adaptation to the small (or big) screen.

[Alatar]

Ok so I have bad new for Foundation fans. Latest episode has a major mis-step. I don't mind world building and added details. But the central tenet of Foundation is that Psychohistory can only predict large populations, not individuals. This is why

Hidden text.

the Mule can't be predicted

. However in the latest episode, they imply the exact opposite, that Hari Selden created the Foundation so that a specific individual will be there to stop the first crisis. Its just wrong. I'll keep watching, but I'm disappointed.

[Jude]

I haven't looked at your spoiler, but do you think whatever it is would bother someone who hasn't read the books?

[Alatar]

Well it will be a spoiler for future episodes in the TV series.

[Alatar]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/11 ... ivid-life/

[narya]

I'm finally getting around to watching the series on Apple TV+ and reading the book. I'll be finishing the first season of the series tonight. Lots of head scratching moments with both hubby and I try to figure out what's going on, not having read the books. But it does have lush visuals and a delightfully diverse cast. And Lee Pace. And very strong female characters. The book, on the other hand, not so much. The writing is stilted, and unpleasant to read. I feel like I'm being talked down to. I started reading it today and am 90 minutes into the audiobook. So far, not a single woman character. The only clue that there are women at all in this empire is that the Foundation colony is settled with 20,000 men, and their wives and children. I'm having a hard time slogging thru it, but I will persist. I may not continue with the rest of the books in the series.