Foundation: Asimov's Vision vs. Apple TV+

Does the Apple TV+ Foundation adaptation hold true to Isaac Asimov’s vision?

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#appletv #foundation #scifi

0:00 - Intro
1:29 - Adaptation changes
2:40 - Modern TV viewers: The Struggle is Real
3:57 - Deviations… or alterations?
5:98 - Timeline: condense or not condense
8:40 - Grandiose scale: dumbing down?
10:42 - The Essence of Foundation
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DELPHINE DESCENDS
After her family is killed and her homeworld occupied, young Kathreen Martin is sent to the distant world of Furoris for re-education. She will live the rest of her life as a serf – to be bought and sold as a commodity of the Imperial Network.

When her only chance of escape is ruined, a chance mistaken identity offers her a new life as the orphaned daughter of a First-Citizen Senator and heiress to a vast fortune.

She vows to claw her way into power to sit among the worlds’ elite. Then, with her own hands, she will reap bloody vengeance on them all.

But to beat them, she must play their game. And she must play it better than them all.

BLACK MILK
Prometheus has the chance to bring his wife back from the dead, but doing so will mean the destruction of Earth.

Spanning time, planets and dimensions, Black Milk draws to a climactic point in a post-apocalyptic future, where humanity, stranded with no planet to call home, fights to survive against a post-human digital entity that pursues them through the depths of space.

Five lives separated by aeons are inextricably linked by Prometheus’s actions:

Ystil.3 is an AI unit sent back in time from the distant future to investigate Prometheus’s discovery...

The mysterious Lydia has devoted her life to finding a planet that the last remaining humans can call home…

Tom Jones (he’s a HUGE fan!) is an AI trapped inside a digital subspace, lost and desperate to find his way back to his beloved in real-time…
Dr Norma Stanwyck is a neuroscientist from 24th Century Earth whose personal choices ripple throughout time...

Prometheus must learn the necessity of death or the entire universe will be swallowed by his grief.
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[BertLaverman]

Yes, hmmmm… Call it “inspired by” and you get closer. Using the main characters from the book but substantially changing their personality, using the planets, but changing their nature so you can have exciting chases by violent and ravenous beasts, introducing backgrounds/history plots so you can have more grand-scale space battles… No, it does IMHO not qualify as a “faithful adaptation” in any way, shape, or form. What it does deliver is a grand epic star wars scale drama. But don’t watch it because you love the books.

[btbutler]

The whole premise of the first Foundation book was that no individual could have an impact on the Seldon Plan but progress would be due to political, social, economic, religious and technological forces. This is why I think the characterisation of Salvor Hardin as a warrior who resolves the first crisis through killing the Hunter was a major blunder as it just completely missed the point of the story.

[stephenzeoli]

As entertainment, Apple TVs Foundation series succeeds. But as an adaptation of Asimov's work it is an utter failure. Imagine Melville's Moby Dick as the story of Ahab, where Ahab is a privateer who loses his leg to a cannonball, and Ishmael is a survivor of the Alamo searching for his lost sister.

[Old_Man_Foll]

Whenever I see a remake/reboot or an adaptation (and I'm familiar with the original work), I go through the same scenario: "Oh, they decided to change factor 'X', that's interesting. Let's see, does it make the story more compelling? Does the change convey the theme better? Does it make the characters more captivating?" Nine times out of ten, the answer is NO!! The changes improve nothing! Not that I'm resistant to all changes universally. The genetic dynasty, for example, was an excellent addition to this Foundation series... but most changes are just changes for the sake of change, and to inflate the ego of the writer or show-runner.

[rehurekj]

I read whole foundation trilogy just like all the subsequent ones( and the one preceding it) but im sorry, I couldn't really see the book foundation in the tv foundation, sure the names were there but nothing else, even those stories and whole backdrop of the empire were different.
im not saying its bad series and bad sci-fi, like the genetic dynasty is certainly original take and concept I really enjoy exploring but its definitely not Asimovs foundation nor really the Asimovs foundations wider universe.
as I see it they just deliberately took the name( and nothing else) so their series got instant recognition but it'd be much more honest if they marketed it as inspired by Asimov work rather than adaptation of it.

[StevieFQ]

As someone who hasn't read the books, yet, this is how I would describe the first season storylines:
Empire was great, and it was easily the most exciting and interesting part of the whole season.
Math prodigy was uneaven. She flips from smart to uninteresting to outright dumb depending on what the showrunners want.
Colony was easily the worst part. Boring, lacking in orignality or even purpose. This I find unfortunate since friends who read the books told me they found the colony storylines among the more enjoyable.

[nifftbatuff]

The show is the anthitesis of the Foundation by Asimov.

[jorge]

I really dont mind the liberties related to story structure, they really needed an anchor in form of protagonist to tell the story in a TV format. I really didnt like the execution. The Terminus battle was plain stupidity, the decison making from the characters was painfully ilogical most of the time, i couldnt emphatize with them or their struggles because most of the time were of their own making .. Great channel ! keep it up and greetings from Chile !

[ilFanEditore]

My problem with the show is that, even by considering it as an "inspired by" kind of series, I found the Foundation storyline boring and, most of all, the actress playing Salvor to be modest at best. She has one single facial expression, and I found her just completely unlikable.
Still, I overall enjoyed it and found the Gaal Dornick and the Trantor stuff intriguing.

[KeytarArgonian]

I don’t understand why these streamers can’t simply have the short stories be episodic, a-La black mirror, and then eventually for later series evolve into a series-per-novella as arcs are solidified into a more drawn-out structure that call back to those earlier episodes via mentions or Easter eggs. That would be a talking point, an interesting usp for a show. It would have worked for The Witcher, it would have worked here.

[John-tcgp]

Cleon clone dynasty is a genius change

[richardking]

I’m rather surprised that people still debate book transfers to screen as though it’s a simple process of plug’n’play. Novels and tv series/films are entirely separate mediums that work in entirely different ways; both are artistic endeavours, and that is what they have in common, not much else. I listened to the first Foundation book not long before the series was shown. I’m only just catching up with it now. I never expect books and their screen versions to be the same because they so very rarely are. Offhand I can only think of two adaptations that are vaguely like their original stories. Perhaps other folk know of some. Largely speaking there is little crossover. The list of authors who ere unhappy about their creation’s leap to a screen is long, where an opinion is known.
I’d suggest sitting back and enjoying the tv series for what it is. The only place it’s like you recall it is in your own head. Chances are, if they’d been utterly true to the novel it would’ve been a rubbish interpretation. The modern idea of SF is an all-action fight fest with little room for ideas, ignoring the idea of a novum altogether.

[TheHoveHeretic]

Whilst Asimov's original vision is captivating, his literary style makes little concession to the modern world. Some aspects seem quaint, others almost prudish .... none of which detracts from my own enjoyment of the superb scope of a grand narrative.

Is the Apple Plus series an adaptation, or a "based on a concept"?. TBH, damned if I know, but I've been pleasantly surprised by a highly entertaining series and I'll join others who find the tool of the Cleonic dynasty a positive for the sake of adaptation. I'm more than content to wait and watch how the TV series pans out. Any ideas who'll take the dog wrangler credit for any future scene on Aurora?

Do the umpteen variations found in the retelling of Adams' H2G2 detract from the overall experience? Folk with OCD may see things differently from chaos embracing me!!

[Sehlat]

I agree. The Foundation Trilogy books are too dialogue heavy. A truely close adaptation would result in a talking heads series. The Apple TV+ Version has to be more audiovisually oriented.
IMHO the same is true of the Starship Troopers film compared to the novel.

[RiccardoPasquini]

The Riose storyline, "second crysis principles" and the second foundation are so diverging from the books that i cannot stand by the adaptation even it is a good technical work

[secularisrael]

Changing the source material is fine when you keep the same themes and vision. The dynastic trilogy for example was a great idea, allowing the use of the same characters and actors across the millenia. Introducing forward time-travel could also be acceptable for the same reasons. However, butchering Asimov's "vilence of the last refuge of the incompetent" for its exact opposite in order to create space action, eradicating the whole point of socio-economical forces as what shapes history, undermining the three laws of robotics in Demresel's actions... these are all horrid, horrid failures to adapt the series. Even the planets and scale are wrong, and the role of religion comes out of nowhere. This utterly fails and as adaptation of Asimov's series.

As a sci-fi series, it is mediocre. It offers good spectacle, some politics, and mediocre characters and fight scenes.

Oh, how I wish the entertainment industry stops giving peope that have no respect to the source material and what makes it great "adapt" it (I'm looking at you, Witcher).

[pdexBigTeacher]

I could not separate it from the books. As sci-fi entertainment it was fine, but don't call it Asimov's 'Foundation.'

[davidcave]

They're missing the themes of the story over time. That is, it starts out that the future is predictable. And it shows HOW it is predictable. It's not until the arrival of The Mule that the future goes awry and is then set back on course with the Second Foundation. To men, I prefer that it should have been developed as an anthology for the first book and can be converted into a continuing series once The Mule comes into play. It would match the feel and scope of the books, especially tracking the decline of technology over time and its eventual rediscovery and new technologies developed.

[Caemhin]

It’s a fantastic series but has undermined the very concept of psychohistory. i will still continue to watch it but not as a series capturing the essence of Asimov’s ideas.

[ArjunKapurTheMonk]

I love your presentation of the subject. Warm Regards.