Season two airs July 14th on Apple Plus. I am so in.
_________________________ OH, Bonnie McMurray!
June 30, 2023, 02:18 PM
Dwill104
Just got Apple TV and binge watched Season 1. I don’t think I read the book, or if I did it was probably just the first one, and that was long ago, so I’m not hung up on whether or not it follows the book.
July 01, 2023, 12:20 AM
gw3971
Loving foundation!
July 01, 2023, 08:52 PM
lyman
it does, and does not , follow the book,
I re read it a couple years ago (probably my 3rd time) to refresh my memory,
however the series is similar, but not the same,
I think the TV version is good, a bit confusing if you try to compare it to the book, but good nonetheless
Hope to catch this series someday. I’ve been a fan of the first three books for almost fifty years and have read them (my original set) four or five times.
***
"Aut viam inveniam aut faciam (I will either find a way or make one)." -- Hannibal Barca
September 06, 2023, 05:49 AM
Veeper
quote:
Originally posted by StarTraveler: Hope to catch this series someday. I’ve been a fan of the first three books for almost fifty years and have read them (my original set) four or five times.
Does the book series also have women outsmarting men in almost everything?
“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.”—H.L. Mencken
September 06, 2023, 07:21 AM
BMR
I liked Season 1 well enough. Gave up on Season 2 after about Episode 4 or 5. Just too convoluted and boring for me to keep watching.
September 06, 2023, 08:46 AM
Broadside
quote:
Originally posted by lyman: I will say, it is an interesting and decent series,
faithful to the book(s), no,
but decent nontheless,
I read many of Azimov's Foundation series books and a number of his Robot series as well. But I think I missed the first three in the Foundation series.
The challenge the writers had, in my opinion, is taking a story that takes place over thousands of years and adapting it to T.V.
In a T.V. series you typically want to keep some continuity in your characters so that the audience can follow the story line. That is difficult to do when you have multiple lifetimes between your events.
October 27, 2023, 03:42 PM
Veeper
I just finished Season 2. So much potential felt ruined by the writers that were either lazy or just couldn't help themselves.
SPOILERS
A few examples:
- The switcheroo gimmick was dumb and only put in there to setup the final swaperooski. It was dumb, and the writers are dumb for having done it. If it was a part of the books, I can only hope it was done better there. It was even worse because they tucked it neatly into an even larger impending death event, which was all but rendered moot because the guy who SHOULD have died to the big setup/payoff was simply spaced by McGuffenTrick-GayGuy Diddlefinger.
- The gay general and his muse were not emotionally compelling AT ALL. I'm not sorry, and I'll tell anyone that will listen: Your gay relationships cast a very narrow net if you want to catch your audience emotionally. Men, especially, will not feel any heart-tugging for a couple of dudes crying and snuggling. The writers are dumb for doing this, because the relationship, as it was probably written in the books(?), would have been much more compelling and impactful on me the viewer if they had been humans in a relationship that I could feel an emotional attachment to. Additionally, the scope of Empire's menace would be far greater, in my mind, if I could relate to the relationships he was destroying. Since I cannot, it did not. Stupid idiotic writers created, again, something that will not find longevity, because they felt the need to push their personal message.
- The warden holding her own against a (clearly) trained fighter, and gaining the upperhand because of plot armor is stupid and the writers are stupid for expecting me to believe this was a thing, but this isn't nearly as bad as my last beef...
- My brain tuned out on multiple occasions because they kept using large amounts of words to camouflage their idiotic writing surrounding some of the things that were happening. "We were able to conceal the thing because we were thinking ahead and backwards and all around topsie-turvey boopy-doop prime number distraction. Get it?" "We're all going to die because the warp coords are locked into the thing and we have no button to stop it because reasons and hahaha we got you good you dick."
Finally.
The worst part of the season. The line from the script that should keep it's creator from working for no less than five years:
Idiot smuggler moron that managed to somehow cheat death 1000 times miraculously thanks to plot armor and McGuffindevice says to Empire, "We played you."
Ugh. Why? THAT'S your line?
I wish the writer's strike a long and happy life.
“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.”—H.L. Mencken
October 27, 2023, 05:15 PM
Dwill104
quote:
Originally posted by BMR: I liked Season 1 well enough. Gave up on Season 2 after about Episode 4 or 5. Just too convoluted and boring for me to keep watching.
Same here. Forgot it was still on.
October 28, 2023, 10:59 PM
BB61
Hard pass. It's like The Wheel of Time and The Rings of Power - poorly written garbage that falsely claim to be the film adaptations of three of the most significant SF&F series ever written. Yet they are adaptations in name only; unlike Dune and LOTR which are decent adaptations and not surprisingly did well.
Hollywood writers all too often think they can take a popular book and make it better. They never do. Read the books if you want a good story.
__________________________
October 29, 2023, 07:53 AM
AllenInAR
I like it, so far. The Second Foundation kids had me confused for a bit but all in all, I am entertained.
_______________________________
The artist formerly known as AllenInWV
October 30, 2023, 11:01 AM
Dwill104
quote:
Originally posted by BB61: Hard pass. It's like The Wheel of Time and The Rings of Power - poorly written garbage that falsely claim to be the film adaptations of three of the most significant SF&F series ever written. Yet they are adaptations in name only; unlike Dune and LOTR which are decent adaptations and not surprisingly did well.
Hollywood writers all too often think they can take a popular book and make it better. They never do. Read the books if you want a good story.
I think some of it has to do with how the books are structured. Books like the Foundation series aren’t as easily adapted to a TV series. There’s a lot of talk and exposition, not much action, and a bunch of time jumping, on the order of centuries, so characters are long dead. Not exciting TV.
August 31, 2025, 05:15 PM
konata88
*** Old Thread Revival
Just started watching Foundation. I've read a lot of asimov when I was young; I don't think I've ever read anything Foundation related. It sure does seem like a foundational basis for Star Wars.
Anyway, as I was watching the show, it sure seemed like a lot of: 1) women characters, 2) colored characters, 3) men in positions of evil power, 4) women holding key prominence on the protagonists.
I then read some overviews on the the original writings and it seems there is some gender and/or race conversions in the TV version. I find this irksome, not just for this show. It just seems women good, colored women better. Men bad, white men evil. This, while population in general seems mostly white (in public scenes).
And wouldn't more homogeneity be more expressed after thousands of years of interracial breeding? Why does the population and the key characters seem so diverse still? Seems like diversity after 10,000 years would be somewhat breeded out.
Perhaps it's not intended but there seems to be at least subliminal DEI stuff in the casting that's not consistent w/ the original story. This for me is distracting and taking away from the enjoyment of the fiction that is asimov.
Maybe I'll just ready the books....
"Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." L.Tolstoy "A government is just a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." Shepherd Book
August 31, 2025, 09:19 PM
lyman
quote:
Originally posted by konata88: *** Old Thread Revival
Just started watching Foundation. I've read a lot of asimov when I was young; I don't think I've ever read anything Foundation related. It sure does seem like a foundational basis for Star Wars.
Anyway, as I was watching the show, it sure seemed like a lot of: 1) women characters, 2) colored characters, 3) men in positions of evil power, 4) women holding key prominence on the protagonists.
I then read some overviews on the the original writings and it seems there is some gender and/or race conversions in the TV version. I find this irksome, not just for this show. It just seems women good, colored women better. Men bad, white men evil. This, while population in general seems mostly white (in public scenes).
And wouldn't more homogeneity be more expressed after thousands of years of interracial breeding? Why does the population and the key characters seem so diverse still? Seems like diversity after 10,000 years would be somewhat breeded out.
Perhaps it's not intended but there seems to be at least subliminal DEI stuff in the casting that's not consistent w/ the original story. This for me is distracting and taking away from the enjoyment of the fiction that is asimov.
Maybe I'll just ready the books....
well, read the books, all 3, they are relatively short and an easy read,
Asimov's style is just a bit dated in the books, keep in mind Nuclear was new,
I read them in high school, and again years later, and again before the series was out,
enjoyed it every time
and then there is the show,
it's kinda like Starship Troopers, the book is awesome, the movie is good, and they are similar but not,
foundation is that way lots of diversity in characters, good, bad, woke or not,
and lots, and lots of diversion from the books,
the outline or sorts is still there, but the actual story is quite a bit different
Finished S1. Reception for S2 sounds positive and better than for S1 but is contrary to comments above. S1 was okay for me if I ignore the DEI stuff. And some really annoying aspects like the seeming absence of anything resembling security in these advanced civilizations.
But the base philosophy and social metaphors and suggestions are interesting.
S2? Skip to S3? Just stop now?
"Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." L.Tolstoy "A government is just a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." Shepherd Book
September 01, 2025, 08:40 PM
lyman
quote:
Originally posted by konata88: Finished S1. Reception for S2 sounds positive and better than for S1 but is contrary to comments above. S1 was okay for me if I ignore the DEI stuff. And some really annoying aspects like the seeming absence of anything resembling security in these advanced civilizations.
But the base philosophy and social metaphors and suggestions are interesting.
S2? Skip to S3? Just stop now?
its linear story, skipping a season may leave a bit out to get what is happening,
Got it. In for a penny, in for a pound I guess. Thx.
ETA: I got to S2E3 and have to stop. I was fast forwarding more than watching. I'll still probably try to find the books in the library but I think I'm finished w/ the video.This message has been edited. Last edited by: konata88,
"Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." L.Tolstoy "A government is just a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." Shepherd Book