Main Menu

Foundation on Apple TV

Started by von Boom, 25 September, 2021, 06:05:28 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

von Boom

I've watched the first episode.

The good:
Cast is very good and it is well acted.
It is gorgeous to look at. Apple clearly expects everyone to have a 4K+ television.

The bad:
If you're expecting a faithful adaptation, forget it.
Very little of Asimov's story or style is included. Where Asimov got straight to the heart of the story this is ponderously slow-building. At some points it's downright boring.

The ugly:
I couldn't help but think of Game of Thrones while watching this. Not because of the story but rather there seems to be an underlying current of casual cruelty that feels completely out of place. It shows in the actions of the Emperor and by the inclusion of all too real acts of violence for the sake of modernising the story to capture the average viewer unfamiliar with the story, Asimov, or scifi.

If it was just the good and the bad I would say this could end up being very watchable in the end. However, the ugly, if it continues, may be too much for me to stomach and I'll end up abandoning this after the second or maybe third episode.

broodblik

Quote from: von Boom on 25 September, 2021, 06:05:28 PM
The bad:
If you're expecting a faithful adaptation, forget it.
Very little of Asimov's story or style is included. Where Asimov got straight to the heart of the story this is ponderously slow-building. At some points it's downright boring.

The ugly:
I couldn't help but think of Game of Thrones while watching this. Not because of the story but rather there seems to be an underlying current of casual cruelty that feels completely out of place. It shows in the actions of the Emperor and by the inclusion of all too real acts of violence for the sake of modernising the story to capture the average viewer unfamiliar with the story, Asimov, or scifi.

If it was just the good and the bad I would say this could end up being very watchable in the end. However, the ugly, if it continues, may be too much for me to stomach and I'll end up abandoning this after the second or maybe third episode.

My question to Hollywood why make a series based upon a great story and then you do your own thing? Foundation was never about brutality ,violence or cruelness it is about hope.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Tiplodocus

Given that most of FOUNDATION is just two or three people in a room talking, I would expect them to take plenty of liberties.

It's funny rereading it at the moment, I don't get a lot of "hope". It all feels a bit off with the manipulation of events even if it is for a "greater good".
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

von Boom

Asimov's Foundation is based on Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and Apple is highlighting that with Game of Thrones style drama. This will undoubtedly appeal to a great many people but I was not a fan of GoT and never got through the first series. This may keep me from becoming a fan of this series which is unfortunate as Apple has clearly put a lot of effort into it.

broodblik

I enjoyed the opening episode but I have decided from the word go not to see this as Asimov's Foundation but about the fall of empire or something like that.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

GordonR

Slightly amazed that anyone thinks a series of rather creaky books that are basically hundreds of pages of White Science Guys Talking, and written by a White Science Guy not exactly known for his dialogue or characterisation, ISN'T going to get a serious adaptation makeover.

Jim_Campbell

Yeah. Bored the shit out of me. Bailed after 30 minutes... I'll give it another go tomorrow, but, really...? Not very impressed.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: GordonR on 26 September, 2021, 07:53:24 PM
Slightly amazed that anyone thinks a series of rather creaky books that are basically hundreds of pages of White Science Guys Talking, and written by a White Science Guy not exactly known for his dialogue or characterisation, ISN'T going to get a serious adaptation makeover.

THIS. I know I've actually read the Foundation books, but... jeez! I never liked Asimov's novels — he couldn't sustain a long-form narrative because he couldn't write a character worth a damn. His short stories were great, but the big books...? Garbage, the lot of 'em.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

The Legendary Shark

Quote from: broodblik on 26 September, 2021, 07:17:05 PM
I enjoyed the opening episode but I have decided from the word go not to see this as Asimov's Foundation but about the fall of empire or something like that.

^This. Always this.^

It's so long since I struggled through the books (high school) that I remember virtually nothing about them, so I came at this tellyadapt fresh, more or less, and I enjoyed it. The characters engage me, the story interests me and the visuals please me. Very much looking forward to the rest of it.

[move]~~~^~~~~~~~[/move]




broodblik

This is the reason why I like his writing style since it is more simplistic which suites me when I started reading ,my first language is not English. Yes, his characters where not "strong" characters but it is all but the concept with his stories.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

O Lucky Stevie!

Quote from: Tiplodocus on 25 September, 2021, 09:05:45 PM
Given that most of FOUNDATION is just two or three people in a room talking, I would expect them to take plenty of liberties.

Yes, Minister, & it's successor Yes, Prime Minister, were pretty much three people talking in the same room every episode & that was some of the finest television ever. Just saying.
"We'll send all these nasty words to Aunt Jane. Don't you think that would be fun?"

GordonR

Quote from: O Lucky Stevie! on 27 September, 2021, 08:49:11 AM
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 25 September, 2021, 09:05:45 PM
Given that most of FOUNDATION is just two or three people in a room talking, I would expect them to take plenty of liberties.

Yes, Minister, & it's successor Yes, Prime Minister, were pretty much three people talking in the same room every episode & that was some of the finest television ever. Just saying.

That's a decades-old sitcom. Not a giant-budget modern SF drama series.  Sitcoms are three people in a room talking. Unless it's Steptoe & Son, in which case it's two people in a room talking.

You're comparing two two completely different things.

The Legendary Shark


Also, plays. Also, one of the best episodes of Babylon 5, Intersections in real Time, is just two people in a room talking. Also, Pulp Fiction is full of scenes of people talking. I don't think that comparing a TV show to a TV show is comparing two different things. The question is, 'is the talking compelling?' My answer to that question regarding the first episode of Foundation is 'yes.'

[move]~~~^~~~~~~~[/move]




Definitely Not Mister Pops

If a big budget sci-fi wants to do three people in a room talking, at least one of those people damn well better have bits of rubber glued to their face.
You may quote me on that.

Tiplodocus

Ah, so Star Wars would have been acceptable if it had been filmed as Leia and Luke sat telling General Dodonna about everything that happened? 
Be excellent to each other. And party on!