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Foundation (Isaac Asimov) - Official Trailer




The fate of an entire galaxy rests on the beliefs of Dr. Hari Seldon (Jared Harris). Will his conviction save humanity or doom it?

Based on the award-winning novels by Isaac Asimov, Foundation chronicles a band of exiles on their monumental journey to save humanity and rebuild civilization amid the fall of the Galactic Empire.

Foundation stars SAG Award winner and Emmy Award nominee Jared Harris as Dr. Hari Seldon; Emmy Award nominee Lee Pace as Brother Day; Lou Llobell as Gaal Dornick; Leah Harvey as Salvor Hardin; Laura Birn as Demerzel; Terrence Mann as Brother Dusk; Cassian Bilton as Brother Dawn; and Alfred Enoch as Raych.

Led by showrunner and executive producer David S. Goyer, Foundation is produced for Apple by Skydance Television with Robyn Asimov, Josh Friedman, Cameron Welsh, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross also serving as executive producers.

“Apple asked me if I could pitch it in one sentence,” Goyer told The Hollywood Reporter in a deep-dive career retrospective interview covering his past hits and future projects. “They sort of asked it laughingly. I said: ‘It’s a 1,000-year chess game between Hari Seldon and the Empire, and all the characters in between are the pawns, but some of the pawns over the course of this saga end up becoming kings and queens.'”

So, a bit like Game of Thrones in space — but over a much, much longer time span.

In adapting the seemingly unadaptable, Goyer determined there were a trio of problems others had faced along the way.

“There are three tricky aspects to Foundation that I think have tripped up all the other adaptations,” he said. “The first is that the story is supposed to span 1,000 years with all these massive time jumps — that’s hard to tell. It’s certainly hard to capsulize in a two- or three-hour film. The second aspect is, the books are kind of anthological. You’ll have a couple of short stories in the first book with main character Salvor Hardin, then you’ll jump forward a hundred years and there’ll be a different character.”

He continued, “The third thing is that they’re not particularly emotional; they’re books about ideas, about concepts. So a lot of the action happens off-screen. In the books, the Empire, which is on 10,000 worlds, literally falls off-screen — like, it happens in between chapters. Obviously, that wasn’t going to work for a television show. So without giving too much away, I figured out a way to have some of the characters extend their lifespans. About six characters will continue from season to season, from century to century. That way it becomes half anthological, half continuing story.”

Goyer has pitched the project as a potential 80-hour story spread across eight seasons. “No one knows if it will work, but I can say there’s definitely never been a show like it on TV before,” he said.

 

Alx

Member
It doesn't really feel like a Foundation story tbh, the original short stories/novels were all about long-term planning of civilizations, and the later ones about political intrigue. All those explosions, fights and dramatic music don't match that.
It could still be interesting though, I was actually ok with "I, Robot" (the Will Smith movie) as a standalone opus, considering it had very few in common with the original story.
 

Amiga

Member
It doesn't really feel like a Foundation story tbh, the original short stories/novels were all about long-term planning of civilizations, and the later ones about political intrigue. All those explosions, fights and dramatic music don't match that.
It could still be interesting though, I was actually ok with "I, Robot" (the Will Smith movie) as a standalone opus, considering it had very few in common with the original story.

this is why it wasn't adapted for a long time. a lot of great books don't lend themselves well to screen adaptations without significant alterations.
 

Hari Seldon

Member
Dune is the lotr of Sc-fi. IMO

To me Dune is not even a sci-fi book. Dune is sci-fi like Star Wars is sci-fi, i.e. space fantasy. However I might be too hard on it. I was not a big fan of the book when I read it. I'm much more a fan of the golden age Asimov / Clarke stuff.

But foundation is hard sci-fi. Asimov was the grand master of taking a plausible idea and taking it to its logical conclusion, which is the basis for all of the absolute best sci-fi. Foundation gets more and more relevant with each passing year with the advances of machine learning and AI predictive behavior, and he wrote this in the 1940s lol.
 

Bryank75

Banned
The wife is in this, used to drop her to the shooting locations super early in the morning.

She did two different roles, one tiny and then as an extra on the council of something or other and she becomes a prisoner later then....

Surprised how good it looks. Hopefully her bits made it in! And by bits, I mean what she filmed...
 
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Cattlyst

Member
Took some balls for them to attempt to film something as epic as Foundation. It's one of the greatest sci-fi novels of all time, so the chances of it being distastrous or completely unlike the book(s) are pretty big. Foundation seems like one of those properties that was never meant to be turned into a movie or a series simply because the scope is so big, bt I'll ait until either the reviews or I can watch it before casting any further judgement. Who knows...it might actually be decent - the cast certainly looks good.
 

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
The reviews are dropping and they are all positive. The first episode is out, but I won't get to watch until tomorrow. Anyone see it yet?

I'll be watching tonight or tomorrow. I'm going in absolutely blind. :messenger_rocket:
 

Hari Seldon

Member
The one thing that I have seen people say is that this show is the most visually stunning show on TV period. That Apple money being put to good use I see.
 

Mossybrew

Member
Looks promising, may have to finally sub to apple tv and catch up on their other shows too soon. I read these novels in high school but I don't remember jack shit about them.
 

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
Looks promising, may have to finally sub to apple tv and catch up on their other shows too soon. I read these novels in high school but I don't remember jack shit about them.
I’m patiently waiting for the Velvet Underground doc. The 9/11 was mostly good until the end when it was all woe is me, everyone criticized the war. The Billie Eilish doc was also fantastic.
 

kittoo

Cretinously credulous
Echoing Cyberpunkd Cyberpunkd observation. It'd a gorgeous series. Watched first episode 4k HDR and oh boy, amazing. The story was also very interesting and the scope seems massive.
Didn't think there was much math at all but yeah I kinda hope it's not a situation where Hari is always right and knows everything.

Still, off to a really good start. I am hooked.
 

Shai-Tan

Banned
I didn't like the book series, probably because I went into it annoyed at how implausible psychohistory is but if I suspend disbelief and take it as playing the role prophecy plays in every other fantasy novel it's easier to stomach the Decline and Fall of the Roman empire part of it. I haven't gotten far enough into this TV series to judge it beyond how impressive it looks visually
 
Huge fan of the series, watch first episode. This isn't Foundation. It might be an ok show though.

I think adapting foundation as it was written by Asimov would be impossible, remember the novellas takes place in the course of a 150 years with characters that have very little do with eachother.

The expanse novels also has a major timejump that seems to have eluded the tv adaption so far, so it's understandable why they would take the approach they have.
 
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dorkimoe

Gold Member
People who read the books should just avoid these shows. IMDB just full of reviews from book snobs. I havent read the books, wont ever read the books so this is the only way i am going to get into this universe.
 
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