Asimov Foundation

[killdozzer]

Never saw it. Is it a book adaptation?

The story that would translate superbly to the screen, IMO, is The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag.

Yep. Heinlein. The zombies story. I thought it's a rather tough material to adapt and since I was mostly satisfied, I waved it in.

I think, very often, the problem is that the adaptation aims at people who haven't read the source material. This is not always easy.

 

[killdozzer]

Your list is incomplete. Imo, there is the rare instance of the movie being better than the book. I'm referring to the first Bladerunner movie. Originally Do androids dream of electric sheep I think being the print title.

My example being the 2001.

 

[JJB70]

If I had read"The Man in the High Castle" before watching the TV series I would have been horrified but because I watched it without having read the book I really enjoyed the first two seasons. The TV show has little in common with the book beyond the title and is fundamentally different. The series went off the rails when they killed off Tagomi, he gave the show a moral compass, and after he was killed the story became a bit silly too.

 

[killdozzer]

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/why-stanislaw-lem-hated-andrei-tarkovsky-solaris-adaptation/

One can never be sure this had nothing to do with Poland - Russia animosity.

 

[SIY]

Yep. Heinlein. The zombies story. I thought it's a rather tough material to adapt and since I was mostly satisfied, I waved it in.

I think, very often, the problem is that the adaptation aims at people who haven't read the source material. This is not always easy.

Was it All You Zombies, renamed?

 

[SIY]

My example being the 2001.

2001 was an outlier because the movie preceded the book.

 

[killdozzer]

2001 was an outlier because the movie preceded the book.

Not in my book. I don't think hard print is what matters. Clarke did have the idea before.

Was it All You Zombies, renamed?

Yes.

Predestination (2014) ⭐ 7.4 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

1h 37m | R

www.imdb.com

 

[SIY]

Not in my book. I don't think hard print is what matters. Clarke did have the idea before.

The Sentinel was a fine story, but not as fully developed as 2001.

 

[killdozzer]

The Sentinel was a fine story, but not as fully developed as 2001.

If you ever decide to see Predestination, let me know how you liked it. I'm curious.

 

[Ron Texas]

Now that the first 10 episodes of Foundation have aired, does it end somewhat like the first book of the Trilogy, or is it something else completely different?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Now that the first 10 episodes of Foundation have aired, does it end somewhat like the first book of the Trilogy, or is it something else completely different?

After half of episode 2 there isn't much from the print Foundation series. So the ending of this season is completely different.

 

[Ron Texas]

After half of episode 2 there isn't much from the print Foundation series. So the ending of this season is completely different.

I found a summary of book 1. It would be fair to say this was inspired by Asimov's work, but not based on it.

 

[JRS]

Here's a list of classic scifi that was not screwed up in transition from book to movies and TV:
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You missed one: The Lathe of Heaven U.LeGuinn. Possibly my favorite SciFi film (meaning science intact and not a space opera although in this film lucid dreaming was stretched!)
Some of Orson Scott Cards books were made passable as well. Have to look them up, but parts of the Ender series.

 

[SIY]

Some of Orson Scott Cards books were made passable as well. Have to look them up, but parts of the Ender series.

Delete your account.

Actually, I tried to slog my way through the Card series. Managed to finish Ender's Game, and wasn't impressed. Then got halfway though Xenocide , had enough of Portuguese pigs and Chinese OCD, and gave it away.

 

[JRS]

I've read a fair number of science fiction novels over the years, but I never got around to Foundation and I don't think I've read any of Asimov's other books.

I got hold of a copy of Foundation and I was surprised how short it was. Like a lot of sci-fi novels of the 50s and 60s, although set in the future, it's kind of dated at the same time. I enjoyed it, but it's far from the most thought provoking novel I've ever read. I have the rest of the series, so I may read them too.

I also recently re-read Dune, which I had originally read in my early teens. A couple of things occurred to me, while both these novels are set in the far future, with advanced technologies, faster than light travel and a human civilisation spread across multiple worlds throughout the galaxy, they both feature a feudal, aristocratic system of government, with emperors, barrons and dukes, which in the present we might consider a more antiquated system. Odd that both Frank Herbert and Isaac Asimov are both from the US, a nation that fought a war to free itself from aristocratic rule.

With regard to Dune, I was also struck by parallels between the story of Paul and the Fremen and T.E. Lawrence and the Arabs; I wonder if Frank Herbert ever read the Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

I've seen the first three episodes of the TV series and I agree, so far, it's only very losely based on the book. However, I did see one review which suggested that the book wouldn't translate very well to the screen unaltered and I'm inclined to agree. Beyond the first chapter or two, the book is essentially a collection of short stories. While everything relates back to Seldon and the Foundation the book keeps leaping forward in time and we are constantly introduced to new characters. I understand the decision to have some characters, in the TV version stick around so that they can become a constant throughout the series.

Interesting point about sci-fi and feudalism. IMO only Le Guinn was able to credibly take on politics as she handles other issues--even handedly and with penetrating insight. She's a fave as you can tell--The Dispossessed won beau coup awards and deservedly so.

 

[JRS]

Delete your account.

Actually, I tried to slog my way through the Card series. Managed to finish Ender's Game, and wasn't impressed. Then got halfway though Xenocide , had enough of Portuguese pigs and Chinese OCD, and gave it away.

Well maybe it was wishful thinking, and you have to understand that in relative terms it wasn't bad in terms of fidelity to the story IIRC. Never saw Xenocide, but won't bother now. Card is an interesting guy. I was surprised to discover he is LDS (speaking of Utah).

 

[SIY]

Well maybe it was wishful thinking, and you have to understand that in relative terms it wasn't bad in terms of fidelity to the story IIRC. Never saw Xenocide, but won't bother now. Card is an interesting guy. I was surprised to discover he is LDS (speaking of Utah).

Sorry for my non-clarity, I was talking about the books. So I wouldn't have bothered with the movies.

 

[JeffS7444]

I've fallen a few episodes behind, and just as well because with the end of Season 1 comes the inevitable wait for new episodes. But meanwhile, I've finally got a look at Foundation the novel, and am surprised at what a skinny little volume it is: Even if Asimov were alive and actively collaborating on the television series, I wonder if, like Neil Gaiman's American Gods, the screenplay would diverge significantly from the novel? A quick flip through the Foundation the novel (I've got a number of other things in my reading queue and I don't want to spoil any surprises) reveals that, like P.K. Dick, Asimov's writing style was relatively sparse, with much of the richness in terms of settings, characters, and their relations to one another, existing in the reader's imagination rather than being explicitly detailed by the author. And while it's possible to weave backstory into a novel as a narrative, that technique can be awkward in a motion picture.

In contrast, you've got writers like William Gibson, who are far more "visual", sometimes to the point of distraction.

And then there's the little matter of Foundation the novel being a product of the postwar era, whereas the screenplay needs to be relatable to an audience 70 years removed.

 

[Ron Texas]

I've fallen a few episodes behind, and just as well because with the end of Season 1 comes the inevitable wait for new episodes. But meanwhile, I've finally got a look at Foundation the novel, and am surprised at what a skinny little volume it is: Even if Asimov were alive and actively collaborating on the television series, I wonder if, like Neil Gaiman's American Gods, the screenplay would diverge significantly from the novel? A quick flip through the Foundation the novel (I've got a number of other things in my reading queue and I don't want to spoil any surprises) reveals that, like P.K. Dick, Asimov's writing style was relatively sparse, with much of the richness in terms of settings, characters, and their relations to one another, existing in the reader's imagination rather than being explicitly detailed by the author. And while it's possible to weave backstory into a novel as a narrative, that technique can be awkward in a motion picture.

In contrast, you've got writers like William Gibson, who are far more "visual", sometimes to the point of distraction.

And then there's the little matter of Foundation the novel being a product of the postwar era, whereas the screenplay needs to be relatable to an audience 70 years removed.

Foundation is based on a series of short stories which predate WWII in part.

 

[JRS]

Sorry for my non-clarity, I was talking about the books. So I wouldn't have bothered with the movies.

Thanks for the clarification. Different strokes and so forth.

Speaking of which: based on the rave reviews, I jumped into the Expanse last night, and thought to myself, this isn't very good fiction--stereotypical characters and banal, predictable dialogue, but the science is terrible. All kinds of errors, and so far nothing interesting to stretch the science into something provokative. The rebels are terrorist scum, the Earthlings elitist airheads, and so far nothing much about the Martians, who seem like any maturing colony--now needing to stretch it's legs, and on the verge of revolt for want of resources. I'll ride out the season--there are many more flaws to find in the science, and am curious as to what game those dastardly Martians are about.