There's nothing wrong with "Foundation" as a SF series. But the showrunner's (David S. Goyer) big mistake was trying to adapt Asimov's Foundation trilogy. He just doesn't understand it.
In the series podcast Goyer explains how he came to this project. Basically Asimov's Foundation trilogy was Goyer's father's favorite books. Goyer and his father didn't have much contact while Goyer was growing up, but when his father was on his deathbed many years later he asked Goyer to adapt the Foundation trilogy if he ever got the chance. So I understand why this is a sentimental project for Goyer.
Asimov when he was alive always said that anybody who did a visual version of any of his works should always have some leeway in changing the details. But Goyer has completely subverted the core principles of the trilogy and the larger Foundation/I, Robot mashup.
It's not that Goyer changed the sex of several characters. It's not that he did things like show a terrorist attack on Trantor and other relatively minor events like the murder of Seldon that are not in the books. It's not even that Goyer apparently has changed the location of the Second Foundation. No, it's much deeper than that.
In the first place, psychohistory is a statistical mathematical theory. The idea was that nobody could predict exact details of the future, but with psychohistory Seldon was able to see that no matter what happened the Empire would fall. The statistics of what could possibly happen always led to the fall. He was also able to see how the establishment of the Foundations would shorten the fall with a high probability of success. The statistics guaranteed that. Thus even though in the books Seldon dies early on, what he predicted still happened without any effort on his part once he established the Foundations.
Asimov the scientist was well-aware of the meaning of statistics, but Goyer is not. He apparently assumes that Seldon's plan will not happen without active participation of Seldon's AI manipulating every detail. What we are apparently going to see is an epic struggle over much if not all of the 1000 years between the Cleon clones and the Seldon AI. And this is completely against the spirit of the trilogy. What Goyer seems to be doing at this point is not even as interesting. We've seen this particular story of a struggle between two adversaries many times before.
Then there's the matter of Demerzel, who we know to be R. Daneel Olivaw, a robot that has managed to survive for millennia even before the Empire was established. Asimov created his robot series by establishing his Three Laws of Robotics. Most of his robot stories were about the consequences of the three laws and how it drove robots to do unusual things. The greatest of these stories was how R. Daneel Olivaw was driven by the First Law which dictated that he protect humans at all costs to actually create and guide the Empire and to protect the human race across the galactic civilization. It was interesting because in doing so R. Daneel Olivaw had to accept allowing -- even causing -- some humans to die for the greater good. But in Goyer's version Demerzel apparently is a robot captured at the end of the robot wars and reprogrammed to serve the Cleon clones. The Three Laws don't even enter into it. Once again, a complete subversion of Asimov's Foundation/I, Robot series.
If you can stop trying to believe that Goyer has any understanding of Asimov's Foundation and instead focus on "Foundation" as just another SF series, it actually is entertaining and well-done. The characters can be subtle, the acting is generally terrific, and the CGI is impressive. But Apple and Goyer have perpetrated a massive hoax on us.
In the series podcast Goyer explains how he came to this project. Basically Asimov's Foundation trilogy was Goyer's father's favorite books. Goyer and his father didn't have much contact while Goyer was growing up, but when his father was on his deathbed many years later he asked Goyer to adapt the Foundation trilogy if he ever got the chance. So I understand why this is a sentimental project for Goyer.
Asimov when he was alive always said that anybody who did a visual version of any of his works should always have some leeway in changing the details. But Goyer has completely subverted the core principles of the trilogy and the larger Foundation/I, Robot mashup.
It's not that Goyer changed the sex of several characters. It's not that he did things like show a terrorist attack on Trantor and other relatively minor events like the murder of Seldon that are not in the books. It's not even that Goyer apparently has changed the location of the Second Foundation. No, it's much deeper than that.
In the first place, psychohistory is a statistical mathematical theory. The idea was that nobody could predict exact details of the future, but with psychohistory Seldon was able to see that no matter what happened the Empire would fall. The statistics of what could possibly happen always led to the fall. He was also able to see how the establishment of the Foundations would shorten the fall with a high probability of success. The statistics guaranteed that. Thus even though in the books Seldon dies early on, what he predicted still happened without any effort on his part once he established the Foundations.
Asimov the scientist was well-aware of the meaning of statistics, but Goyer is not. He apparently assumes that Seldon's plan will not happen without active participation of Seldon's AI manipulating every detail. What we are apparently going to see is an epic struggle over much if not all of the 1000 years between the Cleon clones and the Seldon AI. And this is completely against the spirit of the trilogy. What Goyer seems to be doing at this point is not even as interesting. We've seen this particular story of a struggle between two adversaries many times before.
Then there's the matter of Demerzel, who we know to be R. Daneel Olivaw, a robot that has managed to survive for millennia even before the Empire was established. Asimov created his robot series by establishing his Three Laws of Robotics. Most of his robot stories were about the consequences of the three laws and how it drove robots to do unusual things. The greatest of these stories was how R. Daneel Olivaw was driven by the First Law which dictated that he protect humans at all costs to actually create and guide the Empire and to protect the human race across the galactic civilization. It was interesting because in doing so R. Daneel Olivaw had to accept allowing -- even causing -- some humans to die for the greater good. But in Goyer's version Demerzel apparently is a robot captured at the end of the robot wars and reprogrammed to serve the Cleon clones. The Three Laws don't even enter into it. Once again, a complete subversion of Asimov's Foundation/I, Robot series.
If you can stop trying to believe that Goyer has any understanding of Asimov's Foundation and instead focus on "Foundation" as just another SF series, it actually is entertaining and well-done. The characters can be subtle, the acting is generally terrific, and the CGI is impressive. But Apple and Goyer have perpetrated a massive hoax on us.