New Line preparing to make "Foundation" movie.

[Murazor]

No, I'm not kidding.

To say that I have mixed feelings about this, considering the small disaster that was the Golden Compass is a major understatement. Let's hope that they don't screw this up.

Opinions?

[Darth Raptor]

I'm enthused. After all, it's their money. If it sucks I'll just disregard it like I, Robot: The Commercial.

[Omeganian]

I wonder how many movies it will take.

[Nyrath]

Most of the Foundation trilogy is talking heads. Not very exciting.

My fear is that we are going to be subjected to another "Starship Troopers" plot butchery.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Not that it couldn't work, but I agree that the odds of it turning out with Asimovian plotting intact are basically nonexistent.

Prequels be damned, incidentally.
However, would Foundation's Edge work? it's basically an interstellar chase story that ends half- way through. Between that and Foundation and Earth, we have a solid arc, moderately explicable story, some deep psychomathic wierdness with the Second Foundation to explain though, and discernable structure and plot points.

With some tweaking- mainly showing stuff the reader simply gets told about- run Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth together and do it as a trilogy of movies, and that could work.

What other of his stories would make good film, incidentally? Considering the size of the good Doctor's body of work, I doubt anyone can claim to know it all, but of the most obvious I would say the Elijah Baley stories- Caves of Steel, Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn.

[Darth Raptor]

Caves of Steel, maybe. A whodunit juxtaposed against a slightly updated version of New York would make a decent movie, I think. I'm not sure even I would want to sit through a movie set on Aurora or Solaria though, especially since I'd know how it ends.

[andrewgpaul]

Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth are fairly cinematic (and have the possibility of shagging, even if Pelorat is old and wrinkly). Not sure how you'd shoehorn in the original trilogy's backstory, though.

Just thinking, the "Priesthood of Anacreon" ("The Mayors") sequence would work OK - plenty of actual stuff happening there. It's been a while since I read Foundation; not sure if any of the oher sections would work.

[Uraniun235]

I doubt that a straight transcription from book to movie would make a good movie at all. I do think that Asimov crafted a very rich background which could be molded into the shape of a very good movie. It depends on the movie writers being competent, of course, but I think there's a lot of potential here.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Those books would probably exceed a single movie, unless they go to near 3 hours. There's way too much detail in some of those books to put each into a movie. That means cuts, and when you have cuts, the story flow may or may not be hampered.

[Ender]

Most of the Foundation trilogy is talking heads. Not very exciting.

My fear is that we are going to be subjected to another "Starship Troopers" plot butchery.

Well, Gattaca was talking heads and it was very good.

But yeah, probably gonna suck.

[Nyrath]

Well, Gattaca was talking heads and it was very good.

But yeah, probably gonna suck.

Agreed, Gattaca was very good. Alas, it was not a box office smash, which is what the movie bean counters are going to look at.

[Alferd Packer]

Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth are fairly cinematic (and have the possibility of shagging, even if Pelorat is old and wrinkly). Not sure how you'd shoehorn in the original trilogy's backstory, though.

Trevize boned his way across the Galaxy in F&E, too. The impact of F&E's ending, however, would be lost without a series of Robot movies...or at least one, anyway.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I found Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth to be terrible novels that ruined much of the enjoyment I got out of the original Foundation novels. The plot was stupid and overly padded, the sex scenes were written so poorly that I had trouble not imagining myself tiptoeing away from Creepy Old Man Muttonchops should I ever meet him, and the Galaxia twist was insulting in many ways, from its magical "superorganism ftl mindlink" to "even the rocks think" to "the correct choice for the human race to become the next drone for the cerebrate" all while shoehorning in R Daneel Olivaw into a universe that can't support him and SOD at the same time. It was an ending out of left field that retroactively destroyed the continuity of the original trilogy.

Oh, and the movie's gonna suck either way.

[The Kernel]

I'm enthused. After all, it's their money. If it sucks I'll just disregard it like I, Robot: The Commercial.

Bah, I actually liked I, Robot. Sure it was a big summer blockbuster with way too much product placement, but it was also true to the concept of what the robot stories were about. At their core, Asimov always loved both detective stories and stories about three laws paradoxes. I, Robot the movie had both, so I consider it not only a pretty faithful adaptation of Asimov's work but an entertaining movie to boot.

Foundation is a whole different kettle of fish though. The only way they could realistically do a Foundation movie would be to focus on one of the more character driven stories like Prelude to Foundation or perhaps the story of the Mule. You can't do the whole first book verbatim...the story wasn't even designed as a book but rather as a collection of shorts that shared a universe and the fact that they don't share consistent narrative nor characters is a problem for a film.

I'd say if you are going to make a Foundation movie, do it right and make a trilogy. There is just way too much material to condense into a standalone film.

[Zac Naloen]

No, I'm not kidding.

To say that I have mixed feelings about this, considering the small disaster that was the Golden Compass is a major understatement. Let's hope that they don't screw this up.

Opinions?

Golden Compass was only a disastor in the US.

It was well recieved globally and made quite a bit of money.

New Line however were stupid and sold the international rights for a quick buck

[Shroom Man 777]

I think Will Smith would make an excellent Salvor Hardin.

[Murazor]

Golden Compass was only a disastor in the US.

It was well recieved globally and made quite a bit of money.

New Line however were stupid and sold the international rights for a quick buck

I mean "small disaster" in regards to the high level of Adaptation Decay that I encountered in that movie, particularly considering the difference between the book ending and the film ending.

I don't particularly care for the box office. Just whether I enjoy what I see or not. Despite the gorgeous visual effects, I didn't particularly enjoy the Golden Compass.

This is, I reckon, a new attempt to find a series that they can turn into a new money-making machine, now that the Lord of the Rings cow is dry, and I very much fear that the best we can hope for is that whoever ends directing this actually bothers to read the novels.

[PainRack]

The Mule appears to be a doable story........ Its plot form is short, simple, has scifi elements found in other films... All it would require to make it into a conventional film would be epic space battles and a good movie soundtrack.


There's even the cliff-hanger at the end when the Mule is stopped from learning the location of the Second Foundation.