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Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series Finally Being Developed for TV


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My all time favourite sci-fi series may finally get filmed. News may be a few months old but if it happens I'll be one happy bunny.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/deadline.com/2017/06/foundation-isaac-asimov-skydance-television-series-deal-david-goyer-josh-friedman-science-fiction-star-wars-1202120701/amp/

 

HBO are apparently the latest to try and film this sprawling tale. I hope that someone succeeds as this needs to make it to the small screen. A film wouldn't cut it as there is far too much material to shoehorn into 90 something minutes.

 

As far as I know only a BBC radio series has been done of this epic. If done properly this would eclipse even Star Wars.

 

Preem Palvar

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Great. Finally someone has realised what an amazing story it is. I reread the first four books earlier in the year as I remember being spellbound by the story in my yoof. The writing style has dated a bit, but I still enjoyed it enormously. I often wonder why they keep remaking the same films and TV dramas, when there is a vast amount of good original stuff that keeps getting overlooked.

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Couldn't agree more. I have read the original trilogy several times (and the others more than once) and I'm always blown away by the imagery.

 

Ok so its inspired by Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, but heck, it's a darn good read.

 

Trevor

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My all time favourite Sci fi book is 'Inherit the Stars' by James P. Hogan. I've often thought it would make a stunning film, but apparently not by anyone in the film industry.

Apparently Morgan Freeman wants to make 'Rendezvous with Rama', but it has been stuck in what he refers to as 'development hell' for years and may now, never happen.

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Only read Rendevous With Rama once many years ago, (must find the book again). My recollection is that there is a lot of build up to a conclusion that frankly I can't remember!

 

Trevor

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22 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

My recollection is that there is a lot of build up to a conclusion that frankly I can't remember!

I know exactly what you mean -apparently there are two more 'episodes' that are partly/mostly the work of Gentry Lee. I think they may lean heavily on some of Gene Wolfe's Book of The Long Sun for their scenaria.

 

A desperate example of hope over experience, I still look forward to seeing what can be done with the Empire stories -of COURSE Seldon predicted it, like he predicted everything! :wonder:

 

Edit: Duh, got the wrong Sun there. Sorry.

Edited by AngstROM
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Foundation would be great, also the RAMA series. I have all the books of both. Rendezvous with Rama is crying out to be done, The Ringworld trilogy would be fantastic as well. They need to hurry up though. My clock is ticking!

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There is also the 'spacer series'. They would also be good for filming.

 

Just thinking of adaptations already done.....Bicentennial Man (meh) and I Robot (not quite so meh).

 

Judt hope that whatever they do, they do it properly.

 

Trevor

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It's good to see that HBO may be doing this. It is a very big undertaking; it could be spectacular.

 

In a different vein of Sci Fi, I feel some of Clifford D. Simak's novels would transfer well onto the small screen.

 

Way Station, All Flesh Is Grass and The Visitors would be good contenders (IMHO).

 

There's something about his yarns that resonate with series like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits (one show covered one of his stories) and more recently Black Mirror.

 

I agree with Ringworld too; fantastic material for 21st Century TV.

 

I too, wish they would stop re-hashing stuff and mine the many rich old seams of sci-fi.

 

Best regards

TonyT

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Yes - 'Foundation' - is really worthy of a television series - I've read numerous times, and have often wondered why it hasn't been made into a series yet! :hmmm:

Here's hoping! 

 

Another story I would like to see made into a movie is 'The Fountains of Paradise' by Arthur C. Clarke. That would be something! :popcorn:

 

Cheers :bye:

Hans j

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IMO 'Foundation' would only be feasible as an epic TV series along the lines of 'Game of Thrones'. It is far too big and complex to be stuffed into a movie, 

 

Another book series, a rather obscure one, which would really benefit from this sort of treatment is James Blish's 'Cities in Flight'. It is a far ranging set of four books which starts off in near future Earth with the discovery of a technology which allows pretty much anything become a spacecraft using a travel field. The tech, which becomes known as a "Spin Dizzy" due to the fields nature, is first applied to built vehicles but eventually is used to fly a small city. Earth's cities begin to migrate outwards, each providing unique services to planets and colonies. You watch Scranton PA prepare to take off and follow a character to a different city- New York, NY. It is a truly an epic tale which concludes with the actual end of the Universe and the formation of the next one.

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I quite forgot about Cities in Flight. I think large doses of cgi would be needed, but yes that would be cool.

 

Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy is another rich seam for mining. I read the Red Mars, Green Mars and finally Blue Mars books when released and they too would require the epic tv treatment.

 

Trevor

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That's weird - I've currently got this series of books on my Kindle to re-read after reading them when I was a callow youth in the 80s.  If they do it well, it'll be awesome, but there won't be many reoccurring parts other than flashbacks to Hari's predictions, due to the scale of the things. I'll be interested to see what they come up with. :)

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1 hour ago, Richard Baker said:

IMO 'Foundation' would only be feasible as an epic TV series along the lines of 'Game of Thrones'. It is far too big and complex to be stuffed into a movie, 

 

Another book series, a rather obscure one, which would really benefit from this sort of treatment is James Blish's 'Cities in Flight'. It is a far ranging set of four books which starts off in near future Earth with the discovery of a technology which allows pretty much anything become a spacecraft using a travel field. The tech, which becomes known as a "Spin Dizzy" due to the fields nature, is first applied to built vehicles but eventually is used to fly a small city. Earth's cities begin to migrate outwards, each providing unique services to planets and colonies. You watch Scranton PA prepare to take off and follow a character to a different city- New York, NY. It is a truly an epic tale which concludes with the actual end of the Universe and the formation of the next one.

'Cities in Flight'. I remember reading that way back. Another that could done, a la Predator, is Philip K Dick's 'Come, hunt an Earthman'.

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4 hours ago, Mike said:

That's weird - I've currently got this series of books on my Kindle to re-read after reading them when I was a callow youth in the 80s.  If they do it well, it'll be awesome, but there won't be many reoccurring parts other than flashbacks to Hari's predictions, due to the scale of the things. I'll be interested to see what they come up with. :)

It's a great read and I genuinely feel that it would make great tv. I also think that if done properly it would kick Star Wars into the long grass.

 

Imagine Hari Seldon seeing the sky for the first time from the roof of Trantor, the secret room of the Second Foundation, Magnifoco's first appearance, or the Revered Jord Parma in full flight.

 

Sorry.....I feel the need for a lie down.

 

Trevor the Encycopedist

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On 10/08/2017 at 10:45 PM, Max Headroom said:

Just thinking of adaptations already done.....Bicentennial Man (meh) and I Robot (not quite so meh)

That's weird I'd have reversed the comments.

 

Foundation series would be awesome and a fair bit would be relatively simple to do.

 

May I throw in Greg Bear's Eon and Eternity? With Legacy as a prequel follow on?? Daniel Craig for Pavel Mirsky!!

 

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17 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

...the secret room of the Second Foundation...

Oh yeah -where was that again...?! :D

 

I imagine Magnifico will be a CG effort -not an easy catch, since we all probably have a very definite idea what he should look like. And maybe the most interesting character in the trilogy?

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Eon's worth a shot. I've always thought Reynold's Pushing Ice would make a great film. I suspect one issue with Foundation is Asimov's characters and dialogue were never his strong suit and on screen that will really show up. Robinson's Mars trilogy has the same issue.

 

But what about a Culture film/series? Though I've always thought Against a Dark Background is the most cinematic of Banks' sci-fi.

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Not only do I agree with the issues regarding the pace of Rendezvous with Rama, I would also argue that James White's 'All Judgement Fled' tackles the same storyline far more effectively and would translate to the screen more readily. 

 

For sheer sensawunda, James Blish's 'Cities in Flight' would be good.

 

Incidentally, I can vaguely recall BBC doing a one-off production of Asimov's 'The Naked Sun' back in the late 1960s for TV...  Its probably been wiped long since by now.

 

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Hmm, not sure Foundation would work even on TV - there is a long continuity but the characters keep changing so apart from Hari Seldon there is no "star vehicle" which they can hang the marketing off. That said, the same is true of Game of Thrones, although I think at the start it was centred around Sean Bean's character and only when it was established did it take on a life of its own, which is probably a good thing seeing as... opps better not put spoilers ;)

 

I hope they don't include the later Hari Seldon books, those were not very good.

 

As for Rendezvous with Rama, no thanks - the first one was good but the sequels were utter rubbish, even though I did read them :)

 

Talking about Ringworld, there is a huge opportunity for Known Space - the Man Kzin wars spring to mind as well as the ongoing adventures of Beowulf Shaeffer. Sadly its very unlikely to happen, similarly with any Iain M Banks Culture stuff, its just too much for TV execs to handle. They are basically ignorant philistines who produce  the occasional successful SF show mainly by accident while churning out more dross than you can shake a broom at. Success breeds success and no doubt there will be yet another Arrowverse series that will drag on indefinitely before anything original comes out - although I do like Supergirl :)

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46 minutes ago, Kallisti said:

As for Rendezvous with Rama, no thanks - the first one was good but the sequels were utter rubbish, even though I did read them

From what I've read, the books that followed 'Rendezvous with Rama' were almost entirely written by Gentry Lee, not Clarke. When I said that I thought it would be good film material, I was referring to only the first book, I haven't read any of the others, so I can't comment on them.

 

I should imagine that when they film the Foundation series, they will use the phrase 'based on', which will pretty much give them free reign to do anything they want to with the plot.

 

Although it would have to be about 95% CGI, Christopher Brookmyre's 'Bedlam' would make a good film – it was a fascinating book.

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2 hours ago, Kallisti said:

...its just too much for TV execs to handle. They are basically ignorant philistines who produce  the occasional successful SF show mainly by accident while churning out more dross than you can shake a broom at.

I could tell you how much I agree with that sentiment, but the universe ain't gonna last that long...!

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