*** No spoilers in what follows – promise! ***

I very much enjoyed Season 1 of Foundation, the adaption of Isaac Asimov’s classic trilogy (and later, a series) of novels when it aired on AppleTV in 2021. (It was the main reason I took out a subscription). I’m enjoying Season 2 as much, if not more, now that I feel truly at home in this re-imagined universe.

I came to it with some trepidation. However I learnt a long while ago that you’re kidding no one but yourself expecting a film or television adaptation of any novel to align with what you remember (and enjoyed) from reading the book. With very few notable exceptions, strictly faithful reinterpretations of a novel usually fall flat. That should come as no great surprise because the reading experience and the visual experience are two quite separate things.

I remember some years back hearing someone complain that the TV adaptation of Stephen King’s Under the Dome had altered the plot line, introduced different characters and generally messed around with some core elements in the much beloved novel. Stephen King replied saying it was great how much that reader/viewer cherished the book version and a shame they hadn’t got into the TV series. But the good news was: the novel was still there! The book could be read any time you liked – and he could guarantee that no one would ever mess with its plot or characters or structure.

And I think that’s the key. Foundation the TV series is very different to the novels. They share some concepts and perhaps a broadly similar story arc (time will tell!) and many of the character names are retained – but that’s as far as it goes. This has allowed the show runners to do a quite brilliant job in reimagining the story whilst still playing in that universe. (I particularly like the reimagining of Empire and I’ve found the storylines featuring those characters really compelling). It’s not what Asimov wrote but it is adjacent to it (and pays homage to the big ideas) – and the TV series is all the stronger for it.

With that in mind, I’ve recently gone back for a re-read of Isaac Asimov’s original trilogy. I’m finding I can enjoy both the novels and the TV series simultaneously, appreciating the similarities and the nuanced differences. I’ve dug out a very old three-in-one volume I stumbled across in a used bookshop some years ago. I’m not sure if this is a first edition of the combined trilogy but it might well be. The copyright date inside is 1951 but it seems to predate the publishing practice of printing a publication date or print run information. Either way, I love the feel of those thick, rough-cut pages and who doesn’t love the smell of an old book. Ah…!