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[Dead]

Wrong Nolan.

The right Nolan really

 

[Karsticles]

Psychohistory predicted this!!

Wow, this is amazing news. Foundation is to Science Fiction what Lord of the Rings is to Fantasy, in my opinion.

Nah, that's Dune.

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

They will add a lot of sex scenes.

Spoiler

I haven't read the books so I don't really know

Foundation barely has any action scenes. Most of them are just something like "and then there was a big space battle" and none of it is shown so that they can get back to two dudes talking. It will be interesting to see how they handle it because the best parts of foundation are definitely the ones that are just two dudes talking.

 

[ZedIndyLil]

Has the potential to be a pretty good adaptation. Game of Thrones has shown that audiences can handle sprawling narratives with large separated casts.

It's been a while since I read it, though, are there parts that are amenable to HBO Tits?

 

[Haly]

It's been a while since I read it, though, are there parts that are amenable to HBO Tits?

Only in the last book.

 

[noah111]

Next up, Rendezvous with Rama?

Spoiler

Nolan pls

 

[ZedIndyLil]

Only in the last book.

That's right, I had pushed that book out of my mind Beyond the other issues with the books after the trilogy, I just wasn't a fan of Asimov trying to tie all of his worlds together.

 

[B.K.]

Next up, Rendezvous with Rama?

Maybe Syfy will do it after 3001: The Final Odyssey and Childhood's End.

 

[Enduin]

I guess I'm interested. I seriously have no idea how you'd make this into a show. The material just doesn't really lend itself to that at all, but if they somehow pull it off that would be fucking amazing.

 

[Squire]

I'm not familiar with Foundation.

Is the twist that

Spoiler

Seldom actually founds the very empire he hopes to combat

?

 

[TheXbox]

Awesome fucking news.

Now do Dune.

 

[Haly]

I'm not familiar with Foundation.

Is the twist that

Spoiler

Seldom actually founds the very empire he hopes to combat

?

The twist is

Spoiler

Seldon failed to account for the possibility of newtypes psychics.

The hardest part is going to be getting audiences to care about sociology.

 

[TheXbox]

Whatever gets us closer to the pipe dream of a Speaker for the Dead miniseries.

10/10 post as long as you're not implying they should do the subsequent books.

 

[Lord Fagan]

I've been itching for this shit for years. I want a mini-series composed of episodes conforming largely to the original periodical stories as they were released, but allowing flexibility for maximum dramatic effect. I'm thinking equal parts Modern Marvels style documentary of the history of the far flung future intercut with highbrow, hardball conversations concerning the fate of the fucking galaxy and its quadrillions of lives hanging in the balance. Let them cherrypick Prelude to Foundation and Foundation's Edge to fill out certain better parts of those segments of Asimov's universe, without losing focus on the core narrative of mass-scale societal breakdown.

It's time to start debating casting. This project is going to attract some classy, name talent, given the source material and the network.

Somebody defy me that Christopher Walken wouldn't do old Hari Seldon justice. DEFY ME!!!

 

[iosefe]

SPOILERS for all Asimov books.

Spoiler

Imagine if they did the whole stretch from Caves of Steel to Foundation and Earth.

Edit!:

Spoiler

And that is topped off by an End of Eternity mini-series.

!

A guy can dream.

this is my dream. i've been reading the guantlet of books, currently at prelude to foundation.

 

[wildfire]

This is going to be amazing. Truly monumental.

 

[tokkun]

I'm not familiar with Foundation.

Is the twist that

Spoiler

Seldom actually founds the very empire he hopes to combat

?

Foundation has several big twists, each stupider than the last.

 

[Vinci]

I quite like his writing style, granted I kind of grew up on it.

Very to the point with little extra fluff. It's probably because of him I can't stand Stephen King's page long descriptions.

Oddly enough I don't like either's writing.

Cautiously interested in this. Really enjoy Jonathan's writing and always liked the idea of Foundation.

If this works, they could do Culture next.

 

[Passive Assassin]

The twist is

Spoiler

Seldon failed to account for the possibility of newtypes psychics.

The hardest part is going to be getting audiences to care about sociology.

amuro rays fucking up the game!

 

[Chichikov]

Foundation is one of the most poorly written books I have ever read, like, bafflingly poor, it's mostly people talking about shit that happened "off stage".
It's like Asimov couldn't figure out how to write anything that isn't dialog in the past tense.
I guess it can save budget on a TV series.

It has a neat mid 20th century optimistic theme to it though (social sciences will save the world!).

He better be considering that the laws of Robotics still used to this date are largely based off his work.

Where exactly are the laws of robotics being used?

 

[SigmasonicX]

I wonder which order they will make them in. Maybe they will go the Arrow route, with two parallel lines. Cutting between Seldon's time line and the "Present".

SPOILERS for all Asimov books.

Spoiler

Imagine if they did the whole stretch from Caves of Steel to Foundation and Earth.

Edit!:

Spoiler

And that is topped off by an End of Eternity mini-series.

!

A guy can dream.

That... that just may work! You could even do side-adaptations of Asimov's other works in the Seldon time period! And inexplicably and pointlessly show people having sex!

 

[dmshaposv]

What if Jonah nolan gets chris to do the pilot episode

GAF on suicide watch? lololol

 

[SteveWinwood]

Where exactly are the laws of robotics being used?

you know

the ones used in other fiction

 

[noquarter]

This sounds good. Really enjoyed all the books in the Foundation series.

Curious if they will try to get the HBO nudity in the series somehow, dint recall there being too much room for that in the books, but haven't read them in over a decade ago could be wrong.

 

[Gilby]

Nah, that's Dune.

Exactly what I was about to post.

 

[Chichikov]

you know

the ones used in other fiction

Those other fiction writers chose poorly, the real 3 laws of robotics are -

1. Serve the Public Trust
2. Protect the Innocent
3. Uphold the Law

 

[massoluk]

The twist is

Spoiler

Seldon failed to account for the possibility of newtypes psychics.

The hardest part is going to be getting audiences to care about sociology.

That's hardly the twist of the original Foundation. The original twist was

Spoiler

Haha, you thought I'll save humanity with Encyclopedia, when I'm really setting up a new galactic government.

Of course then the twist change to

Spoiler

mindcontrolling mutant and back-up Foundation

 

[Haly]

That's hardly the twist of the original Foundation. The original twist was

Spoiler

Haha, you thought I'll save humanity with Encyclopedia, when I'm really setting up a new galactic government.

That was ostensibly the twist but only in-universe and only for the really clueless characters. I don't think the reader was ever lead to believe that Seldon's aim was

Spoiler

merely the Encyclopedia.

It's been a while since I read it though.

 

[Durask]

Well, there's a lot of talking so it would make a good HBO show.

With luck, it would do the same for science fiction that Game of Thrones did for fantasy.

 

[4Tran]

I doubt that this show would be very successful. Too much of the action is just a few people in a room talking to each other. While Foundation is very famous, it's not a very visually stimulating series. Doing the Robot series as a TV show would make a lot more sense as you'd at least have a small central cast rather than having completely new casts every few episodes. The only way to make it work would be to take enough liberties where you'd be better off coming up with something completely original.

Psychohistory predicted this!!

Wow, this is amazing news. Foundation is to Science Fiction what Lord of the Rings is to Fantasy, in my opinion.

Theses are amazing paintings. Especially when

Spoiler

you realize that all three are of the same place.

John Galt doesn't like where he sees America headed so he starts snatching up all the best business people and makes his own country with them.

Foundation is lifted directly from Gibson's Fall of the Roman Empire. It even has direct equivalents like Bel Riose = Belisarius.

The Foundation Trilogy actually predates Atlas Shrugged.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Thanks to this thread I've finally decided to get around to reading Asimov. I'm going to read the 15 books in release order.

Time to use inter-library loan.

 

[injurai]

Whatever gets us closer to the pipe dream of a Speaker for the Dead miniseries.

It can't be done.

 

[4Tran]

Thanks to this thread I've finally decided to get around to reading Asimov. I'm going to read the 15 books in release order.

Time to use inter-library loan.

Foundation isn't really so closely linked that you have to read them in release order. The recommended order is usually the Foundation Trilogy, then the four Robot novels, then you can read whatever else you want. Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth flesh out the linking elements of the series, with Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation as optional works. A lot of readers skip the Empire trilogy altogether because they're earlier works that don't have much to do with the main series.

Really though, I'd actually suggest that any interested reader check out Asimov's short fiction instead of some of his weaker novels. His writing is more suited to short formats and there are a lot of interesting ideas to be found in them. The Robot story collections would be the most obvious starting point.

 

[Space Monster]

If this works, they could do Culture next.

I would give my soul for an adaption of the Culture books.

I miss Iain ;_;

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Foundation isn't really so closely linked that you have to read them in release order. The recommended order is usually the Foundation Trilogy, then the four Robot novels, then you can read whatever else you want. Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth flesh out the linking elements of the series, with Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation as optional works. A lot of readers skip the Empire trilogy altogether because they're earlier works that don't have much to do with the main series.

See I'm a sucker for continuity and I like the idea of a wide history of something as long as it doesn't get too big. I'll be sure to read the short stories in I, Robot though.

 

[Dreamgazer]

Whatever gets us closer to the pipe dream of a Speaker for the Dead miniseries.

*Homer drool*

 

[fierrotlepou]

This is fucking amazing.

 

[Dougald]

Fantastic. I can see them making a lot of changes, but I am actually okay with that given how things are presented in the books (the first two being more like a collection of short stories).

Hoping for good things, it's the closest thing I'll come to being able to relive the experience of reading these for the first time. Elijah Baley miniseries next?

 

[[Fugo]]

My mind exploded. The Foundation trilogy is among the books that I read lots of times, and influenced me in many things I still like and enjoy.

To keep the original structure for a tv show is not an easy task, mostly because it's not really a novel but more of a set of events with totally separate characters over the span of 400 years, and it would require a complete recasting every few episodes, only "character" needing to stay on the whole run would be Seldon's hologram.

My bets on Peter Dinklage being cast as the Mule!

 

[crazygambit]

I've never read anything about Issac Isimov.. is he good??

Some of his earlier stuff is good. Particularly short stories like Bicentennial Man for example.

The foundation trilogy is OK, but the books that came after... total garbage. A lot of retconning too, which is always a treat.

Psychohistory predicted this!!

Wow, this is amazing news. Foundation is to Science Fiction what Lord of the Rings is to Fantasy, in my opinion.

You mean Dune. It's funny, I read both of them at around the same time and it's not close between them. Dune just blew my mind, while Foundation was entertaining at best.

 

[Mr Git]

Holy shit! Please be good! Foundation series was incredible.

 

[thelatestmodel]

I need to go back and finish the books. I stopped with the second one because frankly Hari was being a douche and getting on my nerves. First one was incredible though.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Will the overarching theme be the power of looooooove?

 

[Tim the Wiz]

Given the fact he managed to get a show about AIs fighting a war on network television, Jonathan Nolan could actually pull this off.

Someone slip him a box set of the Culture books next.

Ummm, robots series, prelude to foundation series, original foundation series.

I'm not saying that I don't enjoy reading his books even, rather that the plot and concepts carry me through what is otherwise unremarkable prose. Sort of like the opposite of William Gibson for me, at least in his last trilogy.


Which reminds me I need to dig into the peripheral.

Agreed. The reason direct adaptation of Gibson's work has fallen short--apart from cyberpunk in general seeming outdated due to how widespread its become influencing the cultural Zeitgeist since the publication of Neuromancer--is because so much of what makes his fiction special is in the prose. You don't have that issue with Asimov: the magic is in the plot and the world.

 

[Mariolee]

Whatever gets us closer to the pipe dream of a Speaker for the Dead miniseries.

I disliked Speaker for the Dead.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Hmm, what do you say the chances are that during Seldon's time period, there will be scenes of people discussing his plan and going, "The science isn't all in yet," "I'm not a scientist, but it seems like this is still up for debate," "We need to see both sides of this issue," and such?

 

[cyberheater]

I've never read anything about Issac Isimov.. is he good??

It's brilliant sci-fi. Well worth a read.

 

[gdt]

Why are people iffy about this? This is what Sci Fi fans have been waiting for! This is gonna be so sick. Please make this happen, I love the Foundation Universe so much. I mean all 15 books tied together.

Oh man, if HBO brings in the Robot series and ties them together....

I'll die.

 

[Forsaken82]

I've never read anything about Issac Isimov.. is he good??

He was a pioneer of REAL Science Fiction.

 

[[Fugo]]

Well having the whole Robots to Foundation and Earth saga would be sooo good

They HAVE to cast Michael Fassbender as R.Daneel, he's just like I've always imagined him to look like, and after Prometheus I'm even more sure he's perfect for the part.

I hope this is hugely successfull and gets the Robot series to be greenlit. That one should be easier, one book = one season should work (plus a special episode for the "Mirror Image" short story)

The Empire Saga I don't know... The Stars, Like Dust I feel is the weakest one, perhaps a miniseries would do. Both The Currents of Space and Pebble in the Sky would work better as standalone movies I think.

Then go into a 2-season Seldon saga (Prelude/Forward) and then another 2 seasons of the Trevize saga with the emdimg twist to end it in a bang.
I REALLY want to see how they'd portray the Solarians and how they'd cast Bander