The original three books that made up the Foundation trilogy, Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation, won the one off Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. They also produced two of my favourite Asimov quotes:“Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right” and “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent”.
Will Asimov’s Foundation saga be Lord of the Rings in space?
Written by John Howell Nov 23rd 2008
New Line founders Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne are developing an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's 1951 novel Foundation, the first in Asimov’s classic space opera saga. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Shaye said, “our idea is to renew the worldwide audience’s appetite for the story” but he added that it is a complex novel, "this is not a script you can knock out in six months." Shaye and Lynne plan to adapt the first book, but if the first Foundation movie is successful, aim to create an entire new Foundation movie trilogy just as New Line did with Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
Despite having edited or written more than 500 books, it's surprising how little of Isaac Asimov's work has made it to the big screen. Previous adaptations include the misguided Will Smith feature I, Robot, the lame Bicentennial Man with Robin Williams, two B-grade adaptations of Nightfall and the recently announced The End of Eternity. This is a disappointing collection considering the amount of great science fiction material Asimov created.
"Isaac Asimov had writer's block once," fellow science fiction writer Harlan Ellison said, referring to Asimov's impressive output. "It was the worst ten minutes of his life."
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Asimov
I can still remember my delight with the Foundation trilogy. Even now when I read the histories of the Byzantine Empire the trilogy (Foundation and Empire especially) comes to mind. But I could never figure out if the Mule was modeled on Timur or perhaps even Napoleon or some other historical figure.
I hope that someone would do Lois McMasters Bujold's Vorkosigan series on film.
Anyone ever tell you that
Anyone ever tell you that you suffer from attention surplus disorder? ;)
YES!! YES!! I have been
YES!! YES!!
I have been listening to the audio book versions of this series (currently alternating between Prelude and Second), and was thinking the other day it would be be great to see this on film.
The only drawback is that the films would surely lose their cerebral bent.
"Isaac Asimov had writer's
This reminds me of the I, Robot that didn't get made, the Ellison screenplay that was done with Asimov's blessing but never produced. Apparently Asimov thought of himself as an author intended for print, and did not regret the lack of film adaptations.
The article's comparison of a Foundation project with the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy is scary, as in apples and oranges. I know this is probably the producers just floating a concept for funders, but it's still too much pressure. In science fiction/fantasy literature we do tend to think in trilogies, and that's fair, but I'm not sure the argument extends to film. Lord of the Rings was an exception in that all three installments worked. Usually a series will peak with the second installment.
This may go off-topic but I am also reminded by keto's reference to audio that some adaptations are just fine in audio, yet may suffer in film. His Dark Materials is fabulous in the full-cast audio with the human imagination supplying all the video. It (Golden Compass) was a decent film but did not leave me with a hankering for the next one.
I don't trust them
to get it right. If it's released, I will remain oblivious, eyes clamped shut and hands over ears until someone I trust on these matters gives me the all clear. I've read those books enough times to have a personal relationship with the characters and I can't imagine the machine being a very good babysitter for my memories. I might give up my agnostic moniker long enough to pray to odin or jesus or somebody, maybe they can help.
If it's released, I will
For some of us, this will be like making a movie about The Bible. It's not going to be LOTR-like because the stories are so dissimilar but The Foundation Trilogy is the same sort of...root universe for science fiction nuts as LOTR is for fantasy nuts.
Which is to say I feel your pain.
I read the Foundation
I read the Foundation Trilogy when I was about 13 or 14 years old so I'm sure that I missed many of the points that Asimov made. That was a long time ago but I may go back and reread it again. My generation, as a whole, did not pick up on comic books and science fiction until they were in college but I had pretty much stopped reading either medium by that time. Maybe I need to revisit my early adolescence.
As to revisiting adolescence
It's been a real treat to watch the movies of my childhood with my six year old daughter. So far we've seen E.T., Star Wars, the Indiana Jones series, Errol Flynn's Robin Hood, Tyrone Power's Zorro, and Looney Tunes. Last night we saw The Empire Strikes Back but I had to comfort her near the end as she became very upset to discover that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father and could maim his own son. I promised her that it would all turn out for the better when we watch Return of the Jedi next week. Of course, the wife returned home just as the movie was ending and our daughter was losing it. LOL! BTW, I'm so excited about the upcoming Star Trek feature. I intend to watch the original TV series on DVD with my kid. She's known the Vulcan salute for a while but has never seen Spock and the crew.
...Errol Flynn's Robin Hood,
submariner -
When you refer to Errol Flynn's flicks in relationship to your childhood you mean that you first saw them on television right? You don't mean that you actually saw Robin Hood in the theatre in 1938 do you?
LOL
We saw the original Journey to the Center of the Earth earlier this summer, but you just made me realize that I have to put The Time Machine on my Netflix cue.
The Wayback Machine
I saw the original Journey to the Center of the Earth when I was a kid at the Fox Paramount Theatre on Market Street in San Francisco. It was the largest movie theatre on the west coast. It had about 2800 seats. I also saw Stanley Kubrick's great film 2001: A Space Odyssey there as well. I had to go back three different times in order to catch the last 15 minutes of the movie because I was so stoked I kept blitzing out.
Secrets of the universe
Talk about flashbacks. I saw it first in the theater as well and was really hoping that Kubrick and Clarke had somehow managed to get the secrets of the universe on film. Such was my faith in decent SF flicks at the time. :-)
So, how to get back to Asimov? Hm. 2001 the book followed the movie, much as Fantastic Voyage the Asimov book followed the movie. (I was hoping for 2001 the book to fill in more of the gaps but not until later did I appreciate the evolution from Clarke short story to movie and back to novel.)
Somehow I think this crowd will appreciate the following:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2008/12/science-fiction.html
I saw When Worlds Collide on TV as a kid, but didn't read the book until later. When watching the movie as an adult with my stepdad, he blurted out quite the exclamation at the scene of the lucky evacuees who won the world-wide lottery and got a seat on the departing rocket. Sure enough, coincidentally I'm sure, every one was white!