Apple Will Be Doing Asimov's Foundation

Not sure why HBO won't be doing it.

Why is it that every time I hear about Apple doing creative stuff it sounds similar to Scientology and LRH science fiction? I am being serious here. It was probably because LRH used a lot of other people's ideas in his science fiction works and he was roaming and active around that time. It could also be the interaction of themes of the time with everyone's creativity.

I am not calling it plagiarism as I enjoy many stories using basic ideas from other creators. It just seems a bit odd that every time I hear Apple doing something grand it always seems familiar like LRH and scientology,.

In what way does Foundation sound like LRH?

Foundation is going to be difficult to put into film. It's not an action book.

The BBC did a good radio adaptation of the series, so it wouldn't be too hard to do.

What's LRH?

L. Ron Hubbard

I see. I guess there's a post in here by someone I have on ignore, so I missed the context.

That would be the “Master Troll”, I too have that idiot on ignore.

I've undertaken a psychohistorical analysis and predict that the Foundation series will only be embraced by hard-core sci-fi nerds.

As Hari Seldon might say: this can't end well.

Yeah I don’t see how they can adapt this and stay anywhere close to the novels.

It would be Foundation in name only. Sort of like that awful adaptation of Asimov’s ‘I, Robot’.

Foundation spans multiple generations and had multiple ‘protagonists’ who don’t actually do anything except get swept up in events that were planned for long before they were born.

A series focusing on Hari Seldon’s life might be interesting. They could easily adapt Prelude and Forward as a series.

Or they could do a post Foundation series based on Edge and Earth, featuring Golan Trevize and Janov Pelorat.

But the central trilogy... I don’t know how that would make for interesting drama?

The Mule stuff is interesting but that comes way later in the story.

An anthology series maybe?

Wrong room.

You can find a link to the BBC radio's adaptation here: https://www.theverge.com/2012/12/7/3739574/asimov-foundation-bbc-radio-drama

Trailer. Looks good.

I've noticed that ever since Interstellar, a lot of people have been borrowing the look of the black hole in movies and TV shows.

It’s a pretty accurate representation of what a black hole - or more properly, the accretion disk - might actually look like, from what I’ve read.

Yeah, they had an actual scientist helping with the film. And judging by the images we now have of a black hole, he was pretty spot on.

The trailer looks fascinating, but it doesn't even remotely "feel" like Foundation to me. And that's ok. The actual Foundation series is essentially unfilmable. I figured some liberties would have to be taken somehow.

We even had a thread about it.

This. In fact, it has all the makings of a spectacularly boring screen experience. Plua, the first book alone happens over a centuries-long span with numerous, unrelated characters and stories.

I have a feeling that this will be more of a "Prelude to Foundation" kind of story. Maybe.

Kip Thorne. They wrote a book about the science of Interstellar, I have it. Kip Thorne was a colleague of Hawking.

New trailer.

Looks like they are just sticking to the barebones basic premise of Foundation (Historian accurately predicts the decline and fall of the Galactic Empire) and building something new around that core.

Maybe.

More here.

It sounds interesting, and I suggest reading the second article (which talks about the other projects he's worked on as well) and watching the trailer a few posts up after, as it explains some of the scenes he describes in the interview. Apple is also spending a shitload of money on the project. According to him, the total budget for the series is far higher than any of the films he's worked on (just any two episodes cost more than many of the films he's done).

New trailer. In watching it, all I can think is, "I'm gonna need a bigger TV."

This reviewer didn't like it at all.

Not surprising. I haven't checked it out yet (I will eventually) but Foundation is one of those stories that is extremely difficult to adapt to the screen.

The review confirms what I was expecting. In order to make the story adaptable to movie or TV, you end up changing it so much that it isn’t even really Foundation anymore.

They could just call it something else, it wouldn’t really make a difference. Call it ‘Game of Thrones In Space’.
That could actually be a good idea, but someone like David Goyer isn’t up to that task. You need a George RR Martin caliber writer.

I think they should’ve focused on the two prequel novels, Forward The Foundation and Prelude To Foundation. Those actually follow Seldon’s life from a young adult to an old man. You could keep the same cast of characters and pretty much the same location for the entire show.

The original Foundation book is by far the least adaptable book of the entire series. They should’ve started with almost any other book.