Foundation (TV Series) The Sighted and the Seen (2023) User Reviews

Straying

[GabrielSymes · 8/10 · 20 August 2023]

I loved reading Asimov's Foundation. A wonderfully clever and complicated story. But one thing Asimov did was to tell a lot of the story himself, as the writer. I was always wondering how they would achieve an adaptation. A narrator seemed a silly proposition, but that was my only solution. What they have actually done as a solution is tell a different story. Or, as of this episode, jumble the entire Foundation up and pull out a different narrative.

I have mixed feelings. I really wanted a good adaptation of Foundation. What we have is some smart story telling that I am very much enjoying.

Certainly, some of the characters are the same. And some of the key features of Foundation come through. I totally get why book readers are upset. But I also think it is worth seeing this for what it is and giving it a chance. My intuition is that this jumbled Foundation could still well deliver over a number of seasons. Asimov's writing, especially in Foundation, Robot, and Galactic Empire, was told from an historical perspective. Each work inhabiting the same universe but at different times. He did, eventually, bring everything together into a whole in Foundation and Earth. It looks like the writers of the TV Foundation series are drawing in aspects of Galactic Edge and Robot into Foundation and retelling the story from a new historical perspective. We will have to wait and see.

The bottom line is that if you are an avid book reader, as I am, let's see where this goes. If you've never heard of Asimov before and like Sci-Fi, this is a great example of hard science fiction.

Interesting but continues to stray from the source material

[hanslicktenstein · 7/10 · 11 August 2023]

As of this episode I can confidently say that the show no longer can be considered to be based on the foundation series of novels, while characters have the same names as ones from the books, take on completely different roles to their counterparts and have no similarities to characters from the books.

While this episode was interesting and kept my attention as a fan of the books I have to express that there is a trend towards complete originality on the part of the show, every single character in this episode either does not exist in the books or is dead for generations, while some of the characters introduced in this episode may be based on characters introduced in the sequel books to the original foundation trilogy written in the 80s they are separated by centuries and are significantly different to the point that they may not even be based on said sequel book characters.

I read the trilogy 55 years ago and don't remember much

[generic230-1 · 7/10 · 28 August 2023]

So I can only judge this on its own merits & I think it's a compelling Sci Fi show. There are things that seem really false and forced at times like: Some weird lady making Hari fully alive and in the flesh. I know why they did it, because they needed him to keep tying the stories together but this was almost absurdly funny.

The stories are rich and textured with terrific performances. Special effects and cinematography make it enthralling.

But, if you wanted an adaptation closer to the novels, this isn't the show for you. It is for people like me who just want a great Sci fi series and have no connection to the books.

The fine art of adaptation, or how to enrage NTBers

[ShippersAreEvil · 9/10 · 11 August 2023]

Well, this one will sort out those who have read to the end of Asimov's story, rather then just the original trilogy long, long ago.

Really didn't see that coming, but a properly bold move to Chekhov Gun *you know where* (and if you don't don't sweat it).

Meanwhile we have some properly spiteful palace intrigue (and I fear that power play will not end well for Poly and Constant). The implications of Sareth discovering Demerzel's true nature (which, to be fair, was properly Chekhov gunned in the last episode) are truly fascinating, and I suspect this will be at the root of covering one of Asimov's biggest retcons. And that's as far as I can go without spoiling.

Fascinating and ambitious storytelling, so obviously the NotTheBookers will despise it.

Best Show made in decades

[moviesfilmsreviewsinc · 10/10 · 17 September 2023]

Hari wakes up from sleep and finds Raych on the ship, who he believes is dreaming. Raych disappears after a bump. Hari is still adjusting to his body and learns that the Foundation has spread throughout the Outer Reach. Psychohistory is being sold as magic, and Hari is considered the prophet. The group arrives on Ignis but crashes land. Salvor leaves Hari and Gaal on the ship to search for the person watching them. On Trantor, Sareth cannot access recordings from Day's bed chamber, and Rue is concerned about her offering herself. Brother Day, expecting to get intimate with Sareth, realizes Sareth's intentions and confronts him about her involvement in the assassination attempt. Sareth demands that Brother Day make the place safe for her and only agrees to marry her. Demerzel comforts Brother Day, reassured that there is no trail back to Brother Day that suggests he killed Sareth's family. Rue cherishes her old memories with Brother Dusk and learns that his memories reside in a Memorium. Sareth deduces that they can access the memories of someone who attended to Day after the assassination attempt. Markley retrieves the memory of a person who attended to Day after the assassination attempt. Meanwhile, Brother Dusk is concerned that Day has the authority to alter his, Dusk's, and Dawn's memories. Dawn and Dusk investigate, finding no proper answer from Cleon I's memory. Dusk wonders what is missing from their memories, as their cataphyls are low.

On Ignis, Salvor finds Hugo, who turns out to be an impersonator. Despite Hari's efforts, all three are caught and brought in front of Tellem Bond, the seventh bodily incarnation of Pa'a. In the fifth episode of Foundation, Queen Sareth and Brother Day are in Trantor, with a growing animosity between them. In the fifth episode, Hari Seldon, Gaal, and Salvor reach Ignis, where they are unsure of their purpose. Sareth is trying to find out how Brother Day survived after being attacked by blind angels. She disguises her intentions and lures him into his bedroom to gather evidence. Brother Day is surprised by Sareth's upfront offer and confides in Demerzel, who assures him he will do fine. However, things don't go as planned, and Sareth has a heated argument with Brother Day. She accuses him of murdering her entire family and reveals that he doesn't understand the perspectives of others. She also reveals that the entire genetic dynasty doesn't understand different opinions, which is something the entire genetic dynasty doesn't understand. Sareth realizes that she has done enough damage due to not being in control of her emotions. The episode will focus on Hari Seldon's findings on Ignis and whether Queen Sareth can achieve her set out goal. Rue and Sareth are investigating, while Brother Dawn and Brother Dusk realize Brother Day has unprecedented power. They feel like they are under Brother Day's rule, as they learned in Foundation episode 5 that he has taken away the power to edit memories. They find this authoritarian and no longer ask for their opinions. They access the interface to speak with Cleon I's memory, but Cleon 1 shuns them, telling them they are one person and that judging or envying one another is suspicious. Cleon 1 claims everything is accounted for, but Dusk and Dawn are disappointed and unsatisfied. They ask Keeper Yartell in the Memorium for data from the memory hoard. Dusk becomes suspicious when he finds Cleon 1's total cataphylls are exceptionally large compared to all others, indicating that his brother Day has tampered with it. In Foundation episode 5, Hari repeatedly warns Gaal about the impact of her vision on her actions. When she sees Salvor dead in her vision, Hari warns her to come out of it as they have no right to make wrong moves. Salvor finds Hugo Crast, her partner, alive at Terminus, and feels fulfilled. However, Hari Seldon realizes that the man with her is an imposter and that there is foul play happening. He asks Hugo for identification proof and is convinced that there is foul play. Salvor becomes agitated and asks Hari to open the door of the spaceship, but Hari is not ready. He asks Gaal to hide the prime radiant, which Gaal doesn't understand. This moment brings a fresh breeze and a lot of hope for Salvor.

I stop here

[pernix · 2/10 · 13 September 2023]

I tried to go on on watching this mess of a screenplay, hoping that it would get better. Actually it is going down to unbelievable levels of stupidity. They wanted to make it better than the book, but they did so bad. They finally reduced to ashes the most interesting character of science fiction literature, the mule. No mistery, no surprise, everything is exposure of boring facts. I don't care at all about any of these characters, simply because they are terribly fake and artificial. I hope this is the last season and all the incredible artists the contributed to the visuals, go working for something else, written with the proper respect for the audience.

It became bad

[gy-att · 5/10 · 11 August 2023]

Are the books the same lame as this TV Series? The TV Show is a huge cringe. Actors are mostly bad; I really can't stand Ella-Rae Smith's acting. Overconfident, overacting, with absolutely amateur performance. Even her walking is tremendously overthought. Way too much. Annoying. The story is okay, that is why I gave 5 stars, but the whole show is getting harder and harder to watch and much harder to enjoy. I am not sure why everything is such a low quality these days, but I really miss the 90's where everyone was experimenting and when absolutely masterpieces were born. These days everything feels like under the bare minimum.