HBO to make Foundation

I've said before that I wouldn't watch an adaptation of the Foundation stuff because I wouldn't want it messing up what was already in my head but I have to say that, if there was any way to do it right, a miniseries (or at least, obviously, a designed, bounded series) with Jonathan Nolan would be the way. (Compare the notion mentioned in the article of a feature film directed by Emmerich - destined for disaster.) I hope they just do the stories collected in the original trilogy, though, at least at first.
 
Reportedly Jonah Nolan, writer of Interstellar(and creator of Person of Interest, among other credits) , will produce the Foundation trilogy for HBO. Seems he's a big fan, in a previous interview with Indiewire, when asked about his favorite and under-rated sci-fi book, he said
“Well, I love the ‘Foundation’ novels by Isaac Asimov. They’re certainly not well-known, but that’s a set of books I think everyone would benefit from reading. That’s a set of books where the influence they have is just massive. They have many imitators and many have been inspired by them, but go back and read those, and there are some ideas in those that’ll set your hair on fire.”

There were some adjectives he used which I have removed or they would probably have gotten me banned. I really enjoy Person of Interest, and think he will be a good fit to bring this great trilogy to life.
 
I agree that this constellation (HBO miniseries and Jonathan Nolan) is probably the best possible outcome of the longtime plan to adapt Foundation. I hope it will come through. By the way, here is the thread about the earlier efforts (Roland Emmerich – I still shudder at that thought).
 
I think the idea of adapting it as a tv series is much better than attempting a movie.

But I don't think they should worry about recreating all the original stories too closely. Maybe they can use some of the better ones but generally the premise creates a fertile ground from which many new stories could blossom.
J-Sun said:
(or at least, obviously, a designed, bounded series)
Click to expand...
I'm not sure why the series needs to be bounded. After all, the original stories never really completed, did they?
 
Fried Egg said:
I think the idea of adapting it as a tv series is much better than attempting a movie.

But I don't think they should worry about recreating all the original stories too closely. Maybe they can use some of the better ones but generally the premise creates a fertile ground from which many new stories could blossom.

I'm not sure why the series needs to be bounded. After all, the original stories never really completed, did they?
Click to expand...

Well, we're coming at this from different angles. I meant that the material is finite, especially if it's just restricted to the original trilogy. I'd like them to be faithful - why else bother? I mean, they could actually portray Bel Riose and his space combat which Asimov didn't (IIRC - seems like that was "offscreen" or "offpage") but it's actually in the story waiting for the visual dramatization. I wouldn't want them just making stuff up. But if you're talking about an "inspired by" approach then, no, it wouldn't necessarily be bounded.

One of the reasons I think Nolan would be great for this is that PoI will occasionally break bad with Amy Acker doing her "as directed by John Woo" double-barreled gunplay (which I love, BTW) but PoI is very dramatically talky and plays with interpersonal dynamics against a larger social backdrop just like Asimov's work, so I think it could be very faithful (but visually impressive - Trantor could be awesome on screen without it mucking up the plotting or sensibility) and work great.
 
J-Sun said:
I'd like them to be faithful - why else bother?
Click to expand...
Because they can be faithful to the premise and spirit of the original without worrying about following the original stories too closely. Certainly I don't think there is enough original material to even fill out a TV series and I don't think there's any harm in adding new crises as the open ended nature of the original trilogy would be quite conducive to this approach I feel.
 
I remmber reading foundation as a young man. Like DUNE I can see the story being hard to dramatise. But of course if they did a season of robot stories the evolution of Asimov's robots and the three laws, like Ringworld and its shared universe, both could be the subject of some fairly amusing stories if done correctly. The Elijah Bailey stories are also ripe for conversion. If I was able to suggest such a series, I would start with an alternative 20th century, where robots have become common place. The anti robot sentiment could build, over the series the years would roll by, the first colonists would leave Earth and Earth itself would begin to break down. Season 2 would be the off world stories years progressing till Elijah Bailey's time. Climax of that seson would be Robots and Empire. Season three more or less Pebble in the sky and that trilogy. Season 4 would deal with the Foundation and the events of the first three books. Season 5 would be the sequels Foundation's edge and Foundation and Earth. The preqels might even be in there too, but I dont know how good they are! The problem with his work is that he was more of a scientist than a Writer, but there is a solid base of writing and story to work to in my opnion.
 
The original proper 3 books made out of the short stories not any harder than Star Trek to make. IMO the later ones are nothing like as good.
 
I'm really glad this got picked up by HBO. AMC would have been ok too. Can you imagine if this had been picked up by SyFy? It would have been cancelled by episode 8.
 
Syfy does some series well, I like Haven and Defiance, and Warehouse 13 was also good. Lots of bad series though, I can't deny that.
 
I just hope they get one thing right, psychohistory. Leaping robots and gratuitous sex would be an affront. At least I don't see any way they could inject zombies, werewolves, or vampires, but you never know...
 
It's been in and out development hell for decades. Hopefully, it gets done this time.:)
 
I'm a bit nervous about this. I'd be surprised if the good doctor's work was faithfully captured. The various short stories that make up the original trilogy are most notable for their cleverness in plot and idea. Not something TV has a great history with.
 
I'm a huge fan of HBO they have a great talent reel both in acting and writing ability. If any Entertainment outlet can do it justice, it would be them! HBO is also known for gritty and edgier things. Like True Detective, Boardwalk Empire. They also do well in politics with VEEP and The Newsroom. As well in tech comedy a new genre only previously held by Chuck, Silicon Valley. A lot of my favs are on this channel and I am sure that HBO will get it done right.
 
Cli-Fi said:
I'm a huge fan of HBO they have a great talent reel both in acting and writing ability. If any Entertainment outlet can do it justice, it would be them! HBO is also known for gritty and edgier things. Like True Detective, Boardwalk Empire. They also do well in politics with VEEP and The Newsroom. As well in tech comedy a new genre only previously held by Chuck, Silicon Valley. A lot of my favs are on this channel and I am sure that HBO will get it done right.
Click to expand...


Foundation won't be easy to adapt. But I agree, HBO is the best possible place for that project. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
Bick Foundation series re-read Isaac Asimov 11
C Forward the Foundation 1990s edition Isaac Asimov 8
Bick Foundation series publication history Isaac Asimov 6
psikeyhackr Empire's Corps by Nuttall vs Foundation Series by Asimov Book Discussion 1
Mike J Nagle Asimov's Robots/Empire/Foundation Series Reading Order Flowchart Isaac Asimov 9

Similar threads


Back
Top