Foundation; or the Problems of an Ill-conceived Adaptation

Who is the Foundation TV show for?

This is not a diatribe about how the books are better. Rather, the TV show is so different to the books that “who is it for?” is a salient question.

The TV show is lavish, beautiful, amazingly well performed, mostly well scripted… and not Foundation. It takes some names from the books, and maybe ten percent of the book series’ core conceit, and goes its own way.

The problem is in the deviations. Who is this TV show for?

If you are a big fan of the books, it’s really not for you. In the first season, it will hint at things you waited four books to hear mention of. It will fundamentally redefine Psychohistory, to the point where it is almost reversed. It will take famously pacifist characters and make them gun-wielding action heroes. It has a space battle, where none exist in the books.

If it is meant to introduce people to the books, it does an appalling job of that. If you like the TV show so much you pursue the books, how could you not be disappointed when you discover everything is backwards?

It is really frustrating. There is so much to like about this TV show… but because of its name and how badly it handles the IP, I am hate-watching it.

Seriously though, Salvor Hardin was famous for saying “Violence is the last resort of the incompetent” – the moment you commit to violence, you are letting everyone know you are too stupid to think of a better response. And TV Salvor Hardin is a soldier who leads with their gun.