Raviprasad Cadambi

I couldn't stomach this series. It's simply a disgrace. It shouldn't be called Foundation. It's so loosely connected to the original Foundation trilogy Asimov wrote that it would have served it better to be called something else! Hari Seldon is reduced to an egoistical maniac with a gift of math but shown more as a modern Nostradamus! The main foundation protagonists - each one seems to have an innate supernatural blessing that gives them gift of super hero senses and human outlier abilities. And then this new sense of gender equality that has taken over Hollywood is used overwhelmingly ineffectively - if ever those two words made meaningful combination - Gaal Dornick, Salvor Hardin, Eto Demerzel all are women seriously?! Gaal and Eto ok thats fine, change them it doesnt matter the way these characters are projected here anyway. But Salvor? Whats the point of having a lead as a woman if all you want to show is her dressed as male all the time and doing every bit a male does? She carries a sniper that evidently is too heavy and unwieldy for her frame, she even has a haircut to look like male. Seriously that's Hollywood's way of projecting female power? Pure nonsense. Salvor as a character has been ruined in this series, reduced as she is to a super sensed hair brained brunette. The only saving grace, yes there is and it's remarkable.. The part Asimov wanted you to loathe in the books is the part you most identify and love. And that's the emperor. Asimov never made cloning a central piece of his narrative but here by using that as a way to extend a strong emperors reign forever it's a fantastic take that gives teeth to story of a decaying empire. Lee Pace is just extraordinary in his role - the daddy of Galactic Empire - and every scene that has him makes you root for him. In fact any part that has anything to do with empire connects you with the story intensely. Alas the same can't be said of Hari Seldon and his cronies. If only the guys with the pen had stuck to the original story with maybe the new take on Emperor sewed in, it sure would have been a masterpiece, but alas... mind you the visuals are spectacular on a scale very few sci fi series/movies can match. If only the arc of Hari Seldon was closer to source. A lost opportunity. I have read the Foundation trilogy and sequels and the Robots series n anything there is to read...so with all these pre-existing 'knowhow' n expectations my take is one of pure disappointment, but for someone who has no clue of the premise, well maybe it still might interest them, though I am not sure on that part, the extra sensory perceptions thats been added seems just too fantastical to be digested by anyone I guess and Hari Seldon/Gaal/Salvor arc is just not that well put together...but well I could be wrong! Happy viewing!