If this series were not based on a book, I would have nothing negative to say about it. However as it is based on Asimov's Foundation novel I am regretfully very disappointed. The incongruities in the story line differ so drastically from the book as to make it nearly unrecognizable from the novel it draws its name from. I feel this is a slap in the face to one of the greatest science fiction authors of all time. Asimov would never have signed off on this mockery!
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I love the books, and I also love the show. I love all of Asimov's books and I'm not afraid to knock him off his pedestal. His first Foundation book especially is little more than a skeleton. There is a 50 year gap between "The Psychohistorians" and "The Encyclopedists". What do y'all think happened in 50 years?? A hell of a lot. That's why it took 4 episodes to portray it on the show. Then another 30 or so years till the next chapter, "The Mayors". Oh, and the conflict with Anacreon? The 'Encyclopedists" chapter ends with Terminus quivering in terror of Anacreon and waiting to watch Seldon's Time Vault message. THEN there is a gap of How many years?? The next scene we see, is Mayor Salvor Hardin talking with a bunch of politicians about things that have already happened: Hardin engineered a coup, gave nuclear tech to the kingdoms of the Periphery, and established a religion & priesthood to keep all of this tech under control of the "Holy Foundation".
Excuse me, but what kind of novel skips over the most dramatic action so it can 'recap' it later? No kind. Only a serialized collection of pulp stories that probly appeared over months in the early 50s, which is what the first book Foundation really is. What I'm saying is, thank you Apple TV and Goyer for making this into a Real Story with characters, action, drama etc. If this series were a faithful rendition of the book, critics would be howling to the sky.