Isaac Asimov's 'Foundation' to premiere on Apple TV+ September 24

AppleInsider

A new, two-minute-long trailer has landed on YouTube, giving sci-fi fans a peek into what the series has in store before it premieres on Apple TV+ later this year.

The series is based on the award-winning novels by Isaac Asimov, which follows a group of exiles on a journey to save humanity and rebuild civilization.

"Foundation" is written by Josh Friedman and David S. Goyer, who also serves as showrunner and executive producer. The series stars include Jared Harris, most recently seen in "Chernobyl," and Lee Pace from "Halt and Catch Fire."

In January of 2020, "Foundation" was hailed to be Ireland's largest production ever, employing over 500 people while being shot on-location in Southern Ireland.

In March of the same year, production on the show ground to a halt as countries began instating lockdowns to deal with the coronavirus.

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lkrupp

Asimov fans, of which I’m a lifetime member, are anxious about how these Foundation novels will translate to the screen. I read the three original Foundation novels when I was 16 years old (1966) and was completely blown away by the grand scale of them. Modern special effects will no doubt be amazing but the core concepts of the series will be the hardest to get across, the idea that human populations are predictable and malleable. Asimov used the term psychohistory which is a current area of study.

22july2013

I once wrote a letter to Asimov and I got a typewritten and signed postcard back from him. I asked him why he wrote science fiction if, as he wrote in one of his science books, "I live to learn." He answered me, in short, by saying that "you can learn from anything and everything."

williamlondon

lkrupp said:

Asimov fans, of which I’m a lifetime member, are anxious about how these Foundation novels will translate to the screen. I read the three original Foundation novels when I was 16 years old (1966) and was completely blown away by the grand scale of them. Modern special effects will no doubt be amazing but the core concepts of the series will be the hardest to get across, the idea that human populations are predictable and malleable. Asimov used the term psychohistory which is a current area of study.

Quite excited to see how they treat this series, I'd love to see it do very well with high production value as it deserves.

I'm doing a re-read of the books, but this time in chronological order, especially given I didn't read past the 4th book when I first read them in my teens. Will be interesting to see if chronological order provides a good "foundation" for the tv series. ;-)

So excited!

Japhey

I can already tell the Spatial Audio on this show is going to be next level. Can’t wait. 

viclauyyc

According to the trailer, other than the title and main characters, not much is resemble the book series. 

The_New_tonton

viclauyyc said:

According to the trailer, other than the title and main characters, not much is resemble the book series. 

Doubtful they could produce a show in 2021 without a single female character.

StrangeDays

viclauyyc said:

According to the trailer, other than the title and main characters, not much is resemble the book series. 

lol, a questionable way to make assumptions about a series you haven't seen, IMO. Almost every trailer for anything makes it look awesome. 

lkrupp said:

Asimov fans, of which I’m a lifetime member, are anxious about how these Foundation novels will translate to the screen. I read the three original Foundation novels when I was 16 years old (1966) and was completely blown away by the grand scale of them. Modern special effects will no doubt be amazing but the core concepts of the series will be the hardest to get across, the idea that human populations are predictable and malleable. Asimov used the term psychohistory which is a current area of study.

I'm not so sure -- as I recall from my last time reading them, they were heavy on dialogue and exposition, light on action or world events. Dialogue isn't incompatible with television. In fact it's one of the reasons Game of Thrones did so well in the early seasons -- much of the dialogue was Martin's. 

Doval

Apple TV+ does these beautifully crafted original programs and shows but yet many people still think old rehash stuff on Disney or crude , cheaply done stuff on Netflix is better ,

people have a right to chose but sometimes I worry about the survival of the species 

viclauyyc

The_New_tonton said:

viclauyyc said:

According to the trailer, other than the title and main characters, not much is resemble the book series. 

Doubtful they could produce a show in 2021 without a single female character.

There are a few main characters are female in the series. Like Hari Seldon’s wife, but she is actually a robot. But based on the timeline. If Seldon is the main character, that means the only female character is the wife. 

viclauyyc

StrangeDays said:

viclauyyc said:

According to the trailer, other than the title and main characters, not much is resemble the book series. 

lol, a questionable way to make assumptions about a series you haven't seen, IMO. Almost every trailer for anything makes it look awesome. 

lkrupp said:

Asimov fans, of which I’m a lifetime member, are anxious about how these Foundation novels will translate to the screen. I read the three original Foundation novels when I was 16 years old (1966) and was completely blown away by the grand scale of them. Modern special effects will no doubt be amazing but the core concepts of the series will be the hardest to get across, the idea that human populations are predictable and malleable. Asimov used the term psychohistory which is a current area of study.

I'm not so sure -- as I recall from my last time reading them, they were heavy on dialogue and exposition, light on action or world events. Dialogue isn't incompatible with television. In fact it's one of the reasons Game of Thrones did so well in the early seasons -- much of the dialogue was Martin's. 

Unless they mess up the timeline, there is no way Seldon is the main characters and have so much interstellar action.

beowulfschmidt

viclauyyc said:

According to the trailer, other than the title and main characters, not much is resemble the book series. 

If one supposes that they started with "Prelude to Foundation," rather than "Foundation" itself, the trailer makes much more sense.

But, as others have noted, the originals weren't overburdened with the kind of action many are now accustomed to seeing.  I have little hope that I'll see the "Foundation" of the books, but I still hope it will be at least representative.