Adaptation Carnage

I’m going to step back from movie reviews for a week to look at three adaptations of books to streamed series. Two were done marvelously well. The third, at least from one point of view, not so much.

I just got access to Apple TV+ recently and dove into some of the highly acclaimed series there. There are a lot of choices, and I chose three that were based on books I’ve read. Those are “Murderbot” based on “The Murderbot Diaries” novels by Martha Wells, “Slow Horses” from the novels by Mick Herron, and “Foundation” based on the novels by Isaac Asimov. All the books are wonderful, and I highly recommend them to you (reviews here: Murderbot and Slow Horses). But only two of the three were adapted to anything that vaguely resembles the source material. I feel a little guilty because I will likely give short shrift to “Murderbot” and Slow Horses,” but it can’t be helped.

I’ll explain in a moment. First, some praise at center stage for the other two.

The Murderbot stories center on a sentient cyborg built to provide security for various groups of humans. But this one has found a way around its behavior control module. It’s free to do as it pleases. Imagine a cross between a Terminator and a moody adolescent teen. He thinks people are stupid and wishes they would leave him alone. Murderbot (the name he chose for himself) knows if the company that made him finds out he’s gone rogue, they will shut him down permanently. He fills as much time as he can watching episodes of a cheesy sci-fi show (it makes “Galaxy Quest” look like high art), and reluctantly does what has to be done to keep the humans happy and alive. It’s dark, and funny, and poignant. The series draws nicely from the books and transforms a story that is told in first person into a more digestible-on-the- screen version. I’ve loved everything about it so far. Warning for some graphic violence and limited bad language.

Rating – **** Recommended.

Next up is “Slow Horses”, a modern spy story that feels like a le Carré story. Slough House is where MI5 agents go when they screw up big time. The hope is that the work will be so tedious and degrading that the “Slow Horses”, as Slough House’s denizens are known, will save the service the trouble of firing them and quit. At its head is Jackson Lamb, a slovenly, dissolute former field agent whose goal is to coast to retirement age. He’s insulting, neglectful, and has no respect for the people above or below him in the Service. Then a few talented but flawed agents end up under his command, and they insist on doing the jobs they used to do. From the point of view of their bosses, their success is the worst possible outcome. The dialogue is sharp; the mood is that dingy, half-light that John le Carré mastered and Mick Herron carries into the 21st Century. Another brilliant adaptation. The series has some graphic violence and lots of bad language.

Rating – **** Recommended.

Then you have “Foundation”.

Let me take a moment to discuss adapting books to any size screen. All the book never makes it onto the screen. Novels carry too much information. Putting it all on the screen would make the movie/show too long, and in all likelihood, too boring. You pick what goes in, filling in gaps here and there with new material to serve as a bridge, or condensing several scenes or storylines into one. It always disappoints the hardcore fans of the original material, but it is unavoidable. The two previous shows did an outstanding job of it.

“Foundation” decided it was all too much work.

Transparency Notice: I am a huge Asimov fan, and love the Foundation novels. He assembled a comprehensive ficton that included many of his core stories. I was excited when I realized that I now had the chance to see that wonderful and challenging story brought to the screen.

Imagine my disappointment.

The series gets off to an OK start. There are changes, but they fall into the expected and accepted category. Asimov didn’t write many strong female lead characters in his work. Neither did most of his contemporaries. Thus, I have no issue with changing the genders of Gaal Dornick, Salvor Hardin, or Eto Demerzel. Merging the conflicts of the Outer Kingdoms into one enormous challenge for the Foundation is not a favorite change, but it works, and I let it pass.

If only it had stopped there.

Let me say that if you love Asimov and the Foundation stories, you probably don’t want to watch this series. It’s an abomination that with each passing episode turns its back more and more to the source material. Half of the story focuses on the Emperors, Cleon XIII. Yes, plural. They are now cloned triplets in a kind of “first among equals” tribunal. Honestly, it feels like this version is not only absurdly unnecessary, but it diminishes Cleon’s role. It also robs the series of a story center. There are two parallel stories that have little to do with one another.

The reality is that if you’ve never read the books, you’ll probably like this series a lot. It’s well made, well acted, good action. It’s what I call a “Godfather III” movie. The third Godfather movie gets hammered because it’s not a brilliant, iconic masterpiece that the first two are. I’ve always maintained that if you stripped away all the “Godfather stuff” and made it into just a mob movie, it would rate in the second tier of the genre. Take away the Asimov stuff from this series and you’d have a pretty decent series.

But it’s based on the Asimov novels, as stated in the credits. It’s his universe, characters, situations, everything. And the producers simply ignore that at almost every turn. If you’re not an Asimov fan, this next bit won’t mean much to you. So, feel free to skip this paragraph. Beyond the pointless Emperor story arc, you have a robot in Asimov’s universe who kills humans with very little issue. At this point, people start shouting “Zeroth Law”, but even R. Daneel Olivaw acknowledged that the law was virtually impossible to implement. There is no Time Vault. The Vault is this weird, “where the hell did that come from?” thing waiting at Terminus for the arrival of the Foundation. Hari Seldon is a bit of a jerk, honestly. Psychohistory gets as little time as possible. Instead, there is a recurring mystical power that binds several characters together. The series repeatedly rips off “Dune”, right down to a personal force field that can only be defeated by attacking it veeeerrryyy slooooowly, and a version of both the Bene Gesserit, and Gom Jabbar trial for a “chosen one”. I could go on, but my blood pressure is rising again. I’ve watched all of the first season (and have no plans to watch the second), but what I’ve been told about Season Two tells me that the further elimination of all the core aspects of Asimov’s story will accelerate.

Thus, I have to give the series two ratings-One for the Asimov fan, and one for the newbie to the universe.

For the non-fan, my rating is a four. I’d recommend it.

For the fan, my rating is a two. Not Impressed.

I just wish they’d had the courage to make the series they wanted without stealing from the legacy of one of the most iconic science fiction writers of the 20th century.