Foundation on Apple TV

[Av Demeisen]

Interesting information and somewhat spoilerific stuff. So watch it with a thought after you have finished the finale.

I like spoilers for shows I am not all that invested in.

 

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I like spoilers for shows I am not all that invested in.

weird

 

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TVLINE | With the show already renewed for Season 2, where do you think they go from here?
I know where it goes from here because we’ve already started work on Season 2, so I don’t want to spoil it too much! But I will say that these two characters are complete strangers and we will get to dive into how they navigate this new relationship, as well as the world around them bringing new challenges.

Spoiler

TVLINE | What do you think was going through Salvor’s mind when she realized that Gaal had found her?
I definitely think she feels relief and a sense of awe when seeing Gaal. It’s been a long time coming, finally finding the missing piece in her life. The fact that Gaal is even in front of her is astounding. What are the chances that she would land in the exact right place? That Salvor would be discovered and woken up by the very person she is in search of? Though when it comes to Salvor, we cannot forget that she’s an abnormally lucky woman. Salvor is thanking her lucky stars, for sure!

TVLINE | She left everything she knew behind to find Gaal, so how do you think that will affect her moving forward?
I think it might help them connect. They both have traveled years into the future, and for all they know, everything they knew has been left behind. They, potentially, only have each other left. It’s a profound emotion to contemplate, but it is something that requires time to process. Whether or not they have the luxury of time is another question entirely.

TVLINE | Knowing that she’s a century into the future, do you think she’d want to return to Terminus and see what happened to her people?
Being the Warden of Terminus is in Salvor’s blood. Her father, Abbas, was warden-turned-mayor. I think that Salvor always has Terminus and the people of the Foundation on her mind. As demonstrated in Season 1, she’ll go to any lengths to protect these people so I don’t think that will stop just because she’s far away. I do think she would want to discover the fate of the world she once knew and loved. I think we all would.

Foundation Finale: Leah Harvey Breaks Down That 'Satisfying' Surprise Ending, Shares Their Season 2 Wish List

Warning: This post contains spoilers from Foundation’s Season 1 finale. Salvor took a leap of faith in Foundation’s Season 1 finale and found herself face-to-face with exactly who’d been searching …

tvline.com

 

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When showrunner David S. Goyer took on the monumental task of adapting Isaac Asimov's hugely influential Foundation series of science fiction novels for Apple TV+, he knew it would not be a straightforward matter. As I've written previously, the author himself admitted that he wrote strictly for the printed page, and he always refused invitations to adapt his work for film or TV.

But Asimov was more than happy to let others adapt his work to a new medium, and he was wise enough to expect that there would—and should—be significant departures from the print version. In doing so, Goyer had to strike a balance between respecting Asimov's sweeping visionary ideas without lapsing into slavish reverence and over-pontification. To my mind, he did it beautifully, producing more of a remix than a straight adaptation that is compelling and powerful in its own right.

Another challenge was figuring out how to incorporate science and technology that was reasonably accurate. An astrobiologist and planetary scientist at Jet Propulsion Lab, Kevin Hand had worked with Goyer years before on Krypton, and the two had stayed in touch. So when Goyer needed a scientist with expertise in space, interstellar travel, and planetary dynamics, among other topics, naturally he turned to Hand.

Ars sat down with Goyer and Hand to learn more about the journey to bring this classic work to television.

How Foundation preserved Asimov’s big ideas while bringing the story to vivid life

Ars chats with showrunner David S. Goyer and science adviser Kevin Hand.

arstechnica.com

As great as the original Asimov books are, from a character standpoint, they're relatively weak. David and his team had to figure out how to maintain character consistency, as well as consistency of scenes associate with those characters.

Interesting

 

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To quote Blade Runner, Demerzel is, in some ways, More human than human. The character must be one of the most difficult of Birn's career? "What better for an actor than an endless number of questions to play with," Birn laughs. "I don't remember seeing a character like Demerzel before. Android is a mother, partner, advisor, teacher and hospice nurse for the fairies. Every time a new clone baby is born, Demerzel knows he sees this death, too. Android has its programming that is forced to follow, but he has lived for millennia. Experiences and encounters force-leave traces on the machine, whatever changes in him, be it soul, spirit or something else.

Haastattelu | Laura Birn nousi Foundation-scifi-sarjan fanisuosikiksi - "En muista nähneeni tällaista hahmoa aiemmin" - Muropaketti.com

Laura Birn esittää yhtä päähenkilöistä Isaac Asimovin Säätiö-tieteisklassikoihin perustuvassa tv-sarjassa. Foundationista suunnitellaan kahdeksan vuoden mittaista kokonaisuutta. Toisen kauden ku…

muropaketti.com

Birn doesn't naturally read what's written about her on online forums and social media platforms, and didn't know Demerzel was a fan favorite. Birn's character, and especially her acting work, is praised on the series' Reddit pages, for example. Despite the changes made to the character, Demerzel seems to be digging everyone. Both those who like the series and perhaps only those who watch it out of a sense of duty are convinced by the superfans of the books. For non-Finnish viewers, Birn seems to have stopped in the public eye almost out of nowhere. "Fun and wonderful to hear. I don't follow what's written about me, I want to protect myself from the unpredictability of the Internet."

Most of the people don't hear Finnish slang in Demerzel's speech if you don't know how to look for it. Naturally, our monotonic pronunciation is probably a great starting point for developing a speech style for a robot? "Finnish is not the most melodic language in the world. I built Demerzel's own voice, but of course it's possible that my Finnishness can be heard from that background."

 

[Vince W]

Finally got around to watching episode 4. I'm still not that impressed overall. It seems we're spending too much time on the Emperor and not enough on Terminus. That and this series has developed a serious case of wokeness with the usual trappings and needless digs. Four episodes in and I still don't care about any of the characters. And now there's magic.

I'll probably finish out the series because I want to like it but I doubt I will in the end.

 

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Just give it time, they adapted the story for the modern audience. At the end it turns out to be a pretty good one.

 

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In the first episode of the Foundation series on Apple TV, we see a terrorist try to destroy the space elevator used by the Galactic Empire. This seems like a great chance to talk about the physics of space elevators and to consider what would happen if one exploded. (Hint: It wouldn't be good.)

What happens if a space elevator breaks

You don’t want to be under one if the cable snaps.

arstechnica.com

So, what's going on? Notice that the lower part of the cable just falls to Earth and probably causes some severe destruction. In this model, it wraps about a third of the way around the equator, even though its full length would almost make it all the way around the Earth, which has a circumference of 40,000 kilometers.

But some of the parts of the cable might not even hit the surface. If the pieces start high enough, their velocity will increase as they get closer to the surface. It's possible that the pieces will speed up enough to put them in a non-circular orbit around the Earth. If you are living on the equator, that's a good thing. Better to have that debris in space than falling on your head, right?

Of course, if the cable is still intact, then each piece would be pulling on other nearby pieces. This would cause more of the cable to crash into Earth. But at some point, the forces in the cable would become so strong that it would just break apart. You would still end up with space debris.

So not only is building a space elevator very difficult, but you really don’t want the cable to snap and fall. Maybe it’s a good thing that we are still in the rocket phase of space exploration.

 

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. Here are the actors, characters, and quick bios, all courtesy of Apple TV+:

• Dimitri Leonidas as Hober Mallow: “A master trader with a sarcastic personality and questionable morals, who is summoned against his will to serve a higher, selfless cause.”
• Ben Daniels as Bel Roise: “The last great general of the Superliminal Fleet and would-be conqueror of the Foundation. Bel is noble to a fault, but his fealty to the Galactic Empire is waning.”
• Mikael Persbrandt as the Warlord of Kalgan: “A monster of a man, coiled with muscle and possessing powerful psychic abilities, and fueled by hate in his quest to take over the galaxy.”
• Kulvinder Ghir as Poly Verisof: “High Cleric of the Church of the Galactic Spirit. Whip-smart and sardonic, he’s also a terrible drunk—intelligent enough to see the path he’s on, but too cynical to change.”
• Isabella Laughland as Brother Constant: “A cheerfully confident cleric whose job is to evangelize the Church of the Galactic Spirit across the Outer Reach. Constant is a true believer, whose courage and passion make her hard not to love.”
• Holt McCallany as Warden Jaegger Fount: “The current Warden of Terminus and guardian of its citizens against external threats.”
• Sandra Yi Sencindiver as Enjoiner Rue: “The beautiful, politically savvy consigliere to Queen Sareth. A former courtesan to Cleon the 16th, Rue parlayed her status to become a royal counselor.”
• Ella-Rae Smith as Queen Sareth: Used to being underestimated, Sareth employs it to her advantage, charming her way into the Imperial Palace with biting wit, all while on a secret quest for revenge.
• Rachel House as Tellem Bond: “Mysterious leader of the Mentallics.”
• Rounding out the casting is Nimrat Kaur as Yanna Seldon, who didn’t receive a bio.

Foundation Adds 10 Characters for Season 2, Most Entirely New

The Apple TV+ series has faced a hard time adapting Asimov's infamously unadaptable sci-fi saga already—so it's no surprise that its second season is going even further into becoming its own thing by adding a host of characters who aren't from the books.

gizmodo.com

 

[LordOfWizards]

We got free Apple TV+ from T-mobile, and guess what they have? The Foundation series - Issac Asimov. And it's a series. So far I'm enjoying it, and it follows the book pretty well. Almost too well because of all the ceremony and such kind of slows it down. Anyone found this yet?

 

[Elckerlyc]

We got free Apple TV+ from T-mobile, and guess what they have? The Foundation series - Issac Asimov. And it's a series. So far I'm enjoying it, and it follows the book pretty well. Almost too well because of all the ceremony and such kind of slows it down. Anyone found this yet?

Sure did...
Foundation

 

[BAYLOR]

We got free Apple TV+ from T-mobile, and guess what they have? The Foundation series - Issac Asimov. And it's a series. So far I'm enjoying it, and it follows the book pretty well. Almost too well because of all the ceremony and such kind of slows it down. Anyone found this yet?

What I like is we have Foundation series and Dune as feature film both at the same time.

Now if only we can get someone to do Rendezvous with Rama.

 

[LordOfWizards]

Well, It's here now. I'm enjoying it so far. It is a bit slow due to ceremony (and too many love scenes! )

I would say more but I don't want to be known as the spoiler.

 

[Vince W]

We got free Apple TV+ from T-mobile, and guess what they have? The Foundation series - Issac Asimov. And it's a series. So far I'm enjoying it, and it follows the book pretty well. Almost too well because of all the ceremony and such kind of slows it down. Anyone found this yet?

Follows the books? I don’t think so. I found it to be pretty poor effort and I still haven’t finished the series. The Foundation, as Asimov wrote it, was far more capable than the Apple version and relied less on magic.

 

[Elckerlyc]

Well, It's here now. I'm enjoying it so far. It is a bit slow due to ceremony (and too many love scenes! )

I would say more but I don't want to be known as the spoiler.

Well, of course you're totally free to ignore my pointer to the other thread about this series. But rest assured, there isn't much left to spoil.

 

[Vince W]

What I like is we have Foundation series and Dune as feature film both at the same time.

Now if only we can get someone to do Rendezvous with Rama.

I found both Foundation and Dune to be disappointing. I would love to see Rendezvous With Rama adapted, but at this point I would beg, on blended knee, Ron Howard to do it.

 

[BAYLOR]

I found both Foundation and Dune to be disappointing. I would love to see Rendezvous With Rama adapted, but at this point I would beg, on blended knee, Ron Howard to do it.

Yes he would be a good choice. My second choice is Christopher Nolan and Third Alex Proyas.

 

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[Parson]

I may have to look at season one a bit to refresh my memory. So much of this trailer seems only half familiar.

 

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More than a century after the season one finale, tension mounts throughout the galaxy in Foundation season two. As the Cleons unravel, a vengeful queen plots to destroy Empire from within. Hari, Gaal, and Salvor discover a colony of Mentalics with psionic abilities that threaten to alter psychohistory itself. The Foundation has entered its religious phase, promulgating the Church of Seldon throughout the Outer Reach and inciting the Second Crisis: war with Empire. The monumental adaptation of Foundation chronicles the stories of four crucial individuals transcending space and time as they overcome deadly crises, shifting loyalties and complicated relationships that will ultimately determine the fate of humanity.

The uprising against the Empire begins in first teaser for Foundation S2

"Rejoice his shame remains unknown that he had almost sat a throne."

arstechnica.com

The second season of Foundation debuts on Apple TV+ on July 14, 2023.

So the fall of the Empire begins... I am excited.