Hyperspace in Star Wars is ridiculously fast, true. The empire/republic is also huge because of this. We’re talking millions of worlds. Absurdly large.
It’s the same thing in Asimov’s Foundation (which everyone should watch, the second season is excellent) where the galactic empire spans the entire milky way. Population is 500 quadrillion apparently.
Ugh, has the second season gotten better? I watched the first two episodes of the second season and was really disappointed… enough that I stopped watching. I didn’t mind that they veered so far from the book the first season, because it was inevitable and they did a great job capturing the feeling.
But the second season is just bonkers and lots of sloppy writing so far. Totally unbelievable stunts for no reason other than suspense (that underwater scene and the mouth-to-mouth rebreathing, for example, was so stupid, and then they sit down and they’re like “phew, anyway”) and suddenly Hari is a split-consciousness main character and there’s forward time travel and no second foundation and two different types of non-psychohistory-developed psychic abilities and WE SEE THE IDENTITY OF THE MULE? Like, come on. In just two episodes they trashed some of the most compelling/thematic material and plot points of the original and turned it into a space-magic grab bag of action tropes.
I’m mostly just salty. Perfectly fine if you enjoy it personally. But maybe some of these points resonate with you and, knowing them, you can convince me to keep watching? Because I did really like the first season.
The Foundation series might be my favorite of all time, but the show is crap. First of all it misses the entire point of the books. Psychohistory is explicitly NOT magic, and not limited to a few special people. And it’s not a drama about the emperor.
It’s a larger scale that means more than an interpersonal drama. If you can’t do that on the screen (and maybe it can’t be done), then the series shouldn’t have been created.
Whatever this show is, it’s not Foundation. All it takes from the books is character names and jargon. It has effectively none of the plot or intent or meaning of the books.
It gets much better, IMHO. The first episodes were a bit annoying, agreed.
Without giving too many spoilers, I suspect some of the dreams are misleading and certain characters are already being manipulated. I also suspect the latest episodes already featured the Mule and he’s not like in the dream, but I’m not sure.
Also, I think certain characters simply don’t know things. For example, in that vision of the future, the Mule learns the location of the second foundation is Ignis, homeworld of the mentalics. But if you’ve read the books, you know that’s not the location of the second foundation at all. Neither is Helicon for that matter. In the books the true location of the second foundation is hidden from the first foundation.
Also, the whole Demerzel being Daneel thing, and how she’s been manipulating Empire, is interesting. Increasingly Game of Thrones like.
TLDR yes, it’s worth watching a few more episodes.
Caveat: it’s been years since I read the books, so I’m not that bothered about the show being its own thing.
Sorry to necro this thread, but I continued watching and although the show was interesting for a while, it then declined sharply and arguably went off the rails again. A lot of drama and stuff like that. Don’t think you’ll enjoy it if you’re a fan of the original books and read them recently.
I couldn’t watch The Expanse after one or two episodes because it strayed from the books, but somehow I stuck with Foundation. I think because it’s so ridiculously far from the books, I have an easier time just watching it as its own thing and have no expectations from it.
Hyperspace in Star Wars is ridiculously fast, true. The empire/republic is also huge because of this. We’re talking millions of worlds. Absurdly large.
It’s the same thing in Asimov’s Foundation (which everyone should watch, the second season is excellent) where the galactic empire spans the entire milky way. Population is 500 quadrillion apparently.
Ugh, has the second season gotten better? I watched the first two episodes of the second season and was really disappointed… enough that I stopped watching. I didn’t mind that they veered so far from the book the first season, because it was inevitable and they did a great job capturing the feeling.
But the second season is just bonkers and lots of sloppy writing so far. Totally unbelievable stunts for no reason other than suspense (that underwater scene and the mouth-to-mouth rebreathing, for example, was so stupid, and then they sit down and they’re like “phew, anyway”) and suddenly Hari is a split-consciousness main character and there’s forward time travel and no second foundation and two different types of non-psychohistory-developed psychic abilities and WE SEE THE IDENTITY OF THE MULE? Like, come on. In just two episodes they trashed some of the most compelling/thematic material and plot points of the original and turned it into a space-magic grab bag of action tropes.
I’m mostly just salty. Perfectly fine if you enjoy it personally. But maybe some of these points resonate with you and, knowing them, you can convince me to keep watching? Because I did really like the first season.
I also stopped around the same time.
The Foundation series might be my favorite of all time, but the show is crap. First of all it misses the entire point of the books. Psychohistory is explicitly NOT magic, and not limited to a few special people. And it’s not a drama about the emperor.
It’s a larger scale that means more than an interpersonal drama. If you can’t do that on the screen (and maybe it can’t be done), then the series shouldn’t have been created.
Whatever this show is, it’s not Foundation. All it takes from the books is character names and jargon. It has effectively none of the plot or intent or meaning of the books.
It gets much better, IMHO. The first episodes were a bit annoying, agreed.
Without giving too many spoilers, I suspect some of the dreams are misleading and certain characters are already being manipulated. I also suspect the latest episodes already featured the Mule and he’s not like in the dream, but I’m not sure.
Also, I think certain characters simply don’t know things. For example, in that vision of the future, the Mule learns the location of the second foundation is Ignis, homeworld of the mentalics. But if you’ve read the books, you know that’s not the location of the second foundation at all. Neither is Helicon for that matter. In the books the true location of the second foundation is hidden from the first foundation.
Also, the whole Demerzel being Daneel thing, and how she’s been manipulating Empire, is interesting. Increasingly Game of Thrones like.
TLDR yes, it’s worth watching a few more episodes.
Caveat: it’s been years since I read the books, so I’m not that bothered about the show being its own thing.
Okay, thanks for the explanation. Maybe I will keep watching, then. That gives me a little hope!
Sorry to necro this thread, but I continued watching and although the show was interesting for a while, it then declined sharply and arguably went off the rails again. A lot of drama and stuff like that. Don’t think you’ll enjoy it if you’re a fan of the original books and read them recently.
Hey, appreciate the update. That’s really too bad!
I couldn’t watch The Expanse after one or two episodes because it strayed from the books, but somehow I stuck with Foundation. I think because it’s so ridiculously far from the books, I have an easier time just watching it as its own thing and have no expectations from it.