# The Foundation Trilogy, directed by Roland Emmerich
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 12, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707 "2010-02-12T14:49:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/1 "2010-02-12T14:49:34Z")
Because Asimov really wanted it to be an action film. In 3-D. :eek:
[Story here.](http://tinyurl.com/y8cyhyh)
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### Author:  [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/2 "2010-02-12T14:51:57Z")
[QUOTE=Roland Emmerich]
"The ‘Avatar’ technology applies to ‘Foundation,’ " Emmerich said. “It has to be done all CG because I would not know how to shoot this thing in real.”
[/QUOTE]
_aaaauuuuugghhhhh_
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/3 "2010-02-12T15:44:08Z")
_Foundation_ should have been televised during the '50s. I have always imagined it as Asimov wrote it, a series of short stories. Tightly framed interiors, few characters, not really much room for spectacle – somehow, I keep thinking of _12 Angry Men_.
This thing is going to be a disaster.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/4 "2010-02-12T16:35:21Z")
3D and CGI are just tools, it’s what he does with them that matters. I don’t exactly know what sort of action they have in mind though… ☹
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/5 "2010-02-12T16:38:03Z")
But New York doesn’t even appear in the trilogy! How can Emmerich destroy it?
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### Author:  [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/6 "2010-02-12T16:39:39Z")
Gods, that’s depressing. Please let it die in pre-production.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/7 "2010-02-12T16:46:09Z")
This is going to be a travesty. It’s too episodic, especially in the first book, to be a movie. It doesn’t even have the same characters from chapter to chapter. Like _I, Robot_, this is going to end up being some bullshit actioner with no relationship to the source material. It will probably even star Will Smith again, as an action hero fabricated entirely for the movie, fighting a space war that has nothing to do with the books.
I’ve always thought that _Foundation_ could only be done justice as a television mini-series – preferably a sunday night HBO series. In my perfect vision, Morgan Freeman would play Hari Seldon.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/8 "2010-02-12T16:52:03Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> I’ve always thought that _Foundation_ could only be done justice as a television mini-series – preferably a sunday night HBO series. In my perfect vision, Morgan Freeman would play Hari Seldon.
I think you’re right. However I’d pick Kevin Spacey.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/9 "2010-02-12T17:01:00Z")
It’s been a while since I’ve read it, but I don’t remember much in the way of “special effects” scenes from the book. Like most Asimov, it’s almost all talking!..TRM (who will nevertheless take a wait-and-see attitude)
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### Author:  [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/10 "2010-02-12T17:10:16Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#):
>
> It’s been a while since I’ve read it, but I don’t remember much in the way of “special effects” scenes from the book. Like most Asimov, it’s almost all talking!..TRM (who will nevertheless take a wait-and-see attitude)
Exactly. You could film a completely convincing Foundation trilogy with 1977 movie tech.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/11 "2010-02-12T17:14:13Z")
It’s not about action either. A lot of it is about politicking and maneuvering, and problem solving. The “Seldon crises” are seldom resolved by space battles, or anything approaching traditional sci-fi “action.” They’re resolved by cleverness and wits, and tactical manipulation (like presenting “atomic” technology as magic, and contriving religious trappings to sell it to more “primitive” planets).
That’s the kind of thing I fear will be lost. They’ll probably even have explosions in space.
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### Author:  [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/12 "2010-02-12T17:46:45Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> …
>
> That’s the kind of thing I fear will be lost. They’ll probably even have explosions in space.
And they will make loud booms. At which point dear Isaac will start turning over in his grave so fast, they’ll have to change the headstone to “Pinwheel Asimov.”
Seriously, I agree with the consensus here. This work just does not lend itself to being an action flick. I fear it will not go well.
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/13 "2010-02-12T17:49:36Z")
I think the dinamo in Asimov’s grave is providing energy to all the east coast since “I Robot”, perhaps they want to cover the west coast too?
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### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/14 "2010-02-12T17:51:52Z")
Maybe someone can convince Roland to switch to the Lensman Series? I always thought that would make a great space opera film series. Brendan Fraser could play Kimball Kinnison.
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### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/15 "2010-02-12T17:59:23Z")
If you’d asked me which director I’d least like to see try this adaptation only McG might have been lower on the list.
Let Nora Ephron do it, at least she’s ok with talking characters.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/16 "2010-02-12T18:00:33Z")
Seriously, David Mamet could handle the subtleties of the conversation, and maybe add in some refreshing sexual subtext along with the Machiavellian machinations.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/17 "2010-02-12T18:05:46Z")
I mentioned this on [SFF.net](http://SFF.net), where a lot of SF writers hang out, and they’re all appalled.
Asimov was one of the least action-oriented authors out there. He wrote about ideas, not action.
There are also big problems with turning it into a coherent narrative; it’s really just a collection of short stories based up the Foundation. No character from the first book is alive by the third (or even by the second, IIRC).
And Asimov started spinning with “The Bicentennial Man.”
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/18 "2010-02-12T18:18:12Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> And Asimov started spinning with “The Bicentennial Man.”
That was just the proof of concept.
I heard the Chinese are contacting Uwe Boll to adapt “The Ancient Art Of War” and thus end their dependence on foreign oil…
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/19 "2010-02-12T18:22:08Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#):
>
> Maybe someone can convince Roland to switch to the Lensman Series? I always thought that would make a great space opera film series. Brendan Fraser could play Kimball Kinnison.
That’s actually a good idea.
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### Author:  [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foundation-trilogy-directed-by-roland-emmerich/528707/20 "2010-02-12T18:23:00Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> It’s not about action either. A lot of it is about politicking and maneuvering, and problem solving. The “Seldon crises” are seldom resolved by space battles, or anything approaching traditional sci-fi “action.” They’re resolved by cleverness and wits, and tactical manipulation (like presenting “atomic” technology as magic, and contriving religious trappings to sell it to more “primitive” planets).
>
> That’s the kind of thing I fear will be lost. They’ll probably even have explosions in space.
That’s the way I remember it too, most of the “action” taking place mentally. It might be time to re-read the trilogy, how many books is it up to now?
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