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I like foundation, it gaves star trek vibes some episodes, more star wars lately
The foundation series is tough. It is simultaneously one of the absolutely least faithful and most disrespectful adaptations of science fiction literature of all time, and a really good show. I wish I could watch it without the lens of the books buuuut I can't.
I haven't read the books, but have heard recommendations for the show. I tried to watch it, but had to turn it off after the first three episodes. The visuals were great, but I found the writing and dialogue to be really bad. So many heavy handed references to that girl being smart. Counting prime numbers for fun while swimming or something up to an impossible number, etc. There were other things but that's what I remember for some reason.
Usually when I notice something like that it persists, so I stopped watching. Did the dialogue bother you and did it get better, or is this just a subjective a taste thing?
The series changes heavily once the foundation is set in motion, which is about episode 4ish? If Hari Seldon is still alive, you haven't gotten to the good part of the show yet (sorry for the spoiler but hes about to die soon based off what you're saying) The girl is not just smart, shes a mutant (they are like in the year 12,000, she isnt the first mutant) psychic who can see her own future. She is good at math so she is at haris level when it comes to psycohistory, which is telling the future using advanced math/ai or whatever the fk from the future.
Harry has a plan which involves dying to become a martyr which eventually should lead to the coming dark age he predicted only lasting 100 years instead of forever. Almost immediately sht fucks up and they deviate from the predicted timeline with it branching in another direction.
The writing gets good or at least very enterting and fast paced after hari seldon dies which is season 1 episode 2s ending I think.
It gets better over time, season 2 episode 4ish is where I got more into it. It's like a 7/10 season 1, 8/10 by the end of season 2, end of season 3 was a solid 8.5/10 for me, i like the direction it went. Season 1 is more regular scifi, 2 is more magical, and 3 is just star wars jedi sht. The series is like for all mankind with timeskips ocasionally. If you like empire, you get a different batch of the day, dawn, and dusk every season, which is probably my favorite part. (same actors playing different roles)
I mostly like that by season 3 you are 300+ years in the future from season 1 with some characters still around because of cryosleep, cloning, robots, etc.. I like seeing the world progress/fall over time.
It seemed like fairly standard tv stuff to me. Personally, if I'm watching a show that is grounded in the mundane eg the first season of true detective or breaking bad, i expect the dialogue to be very good and for the plot to be subtle and engaging in a complex way, but if I'm watching a SF show like a grandiose space opera then I have very different expectations. I am okay with some goofy dialogue, a lot of monologuing, more simple plot structure (since the setting is often complex in SF shows so it's often more of showing a familiar dynamic in a wildly unfamiliar context like star trek is all about), etc. All this ranting to say that since it's a galactic scale space opera i want crazy visuals, cool SF concepts, and an imagining of human mores and taboos set in a far flung future, I am willing to tolerate a lot more floppy plot and character interaction. My problem with this show in particular is just that it is a teeeeeeerrrible "adaptation" of someone else's work, but if they had just taken inspiration from Asimov and not used all the nouns and settings like they're trying to cajole the plot into show form, I would have been pretty happy with it. There's not a lot of original SF on TV and they clearly had enough ideas where they could have just walked their own path.
Do you like watching galactic empires progress/fall over time with timeskips and solid cgi? The show picks up as it goes because the characters don't know anything yet. The theme changes as empire falls and the clones get further from the original. The 2nd foundation is a pretty nice aditition too. Demerezel being the last ancient robot forced to serve emprie but also kill them and replace them if they don't act like empire is pretty fun. A lot of stiff isn't revealed early on tho.
And the cgi is so solid, could never be less than a 6/10 for me because of that.
It has all the good things for a space opera show, it's really refreshing outside of the Asimov context. I will quibble about the adaptation aspect but I definitely recommend the show to anyone looking for a good watch
Do you think people would have enjoyed the TV show as much though with all the cast changes that would have been required?
I haven't read the books, but my understanding is that was why, so they could have recurring characters and some continuity.
Edit: and once you do that... well all sorts of shit changes.
I think they just shouldn't have made it in fhe first place as it clearly wouldn't work as a show. Instead they just made everything up and used all the nouns. There are clearly some stories that can be adapted and some that cant and I hate the trend of just adapting things with big names attached to them to make money. Dune made for cool movies, Rendevous With Rama is begging to be adapted to the screen and I can't wait for it. Asimov is dialogue driven and concept heavy and just shouldn't be adapted.
(edit: stop adapting everything and just make up new stuff i.e. give me raised by wolves back you fucks!)
I like raised by wolves, but I prefer demerezel from foundation to the android there. More empathy for her.
She is for sure a great character! Lee pace is amazing, and I always love seeinf Jared Harris in anything (Fringe is my favorite show). Like I said, it's a GREAT show, just a bad adaptation.
Thats definitely a fair take.