This show was very slow to get going. It took the first five episodes to hook me, plus listening to the podcast to hear the showrunner's reasoning for the changes he made. It's definitely not Asimov's Foundation, though Asimov made it clear before he died that he expected changes to any adaptations of his books.

But it's definitely gorgeous and many of the actors are exceptional. I especially like Lou Llobell as Gaal.

This series has a planned eight season story arc. Strap in for the long haul!

@HoberMallow

Yeah, he didn't have the best track record with women, even writing them, though at least with writing them he did get better. No, I don't find the the changes very annoying. I find them a bit jarring and a little disjointed from what I was expecting though and it takes me out of being immersed in the episode.

And hopefully not, but time will tell. That might put me off if they were changed lol.

Sometimes too many changes hurts as not enough.

What pained the most is replacing Daneel with a female version Android. The makers cannot have read all the robot stories by Asimov or they would NEVER do this.
That said: I love it! The clones, the warden, the feel of history being made... Brilliant artwork. Actors: no one jumps out but maybe that's for the best as this story should span centuries.

What I don't like is that there is no way to tell if time has passed between the different story threads. Are we already a generation further or are these still the first colonists? Because we will be seeing so many decades in a season it would have been nice to add a year counter somewhere.

@T.I. I agree with you on the overcompensation. I think it’s because Asimov supposedly behaved inappropriately with women at some of his public appearances. The gender-swapped versions of these characters don’t annoy me like Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy (yet), but I hope they don’t swap Hober Mallow or the Mule.

They have really over-compensated on the agenda and woke push for this in "re-writing and re-imaging it for the current era". I think that it ultimately hurts the show. It just takes me out that pretty much the REAL people in charge of everything important, are only women. Whose the power behind empire? the female android, who has all the math answers? the one girl. Who is the wildcard and key to everything? the girl warden. They have over-compensated for a book that really didn't have women in the beginning and definitely not in charge of everything by the end.

Still, there are some great scenes in he series and good special effects. I've not quite given up on it..yet

“Those in the know?” What are you talking about? You don’t think anyone pirating this can just fast forward? Even if you’re subscribing, it’s not like they charge you by the minute.

"title sequences are easily skippable"

...if you are foolish enough to pay for services.. I mean it's ALL free for those in the know.. ... and in that case title sequences are NOT skippable.

On the contrary, in today's streaming world, title sequences are easily skippable for those who don't care.

@LB : or, like me, people who have actually read and love the books, were overjoyed it was made into a TV series, saw this mess and thought "what a shame…"

s'okay... I like that it's complex, but complex + non-linear time can make it difficult to follow a bit.

My biggest complaint is that, like many series, it uses a 1.5-2 minute opening filled with names you either know or don't care about and offer NOTHING to the viewer. It's pure ego stroking for those involved in the show. All that's necessary is a 10-15 second title card. Not sure why producers don't understand that. In today's streaming world long, drawn out title sequences just annoying.

I think the haters of the series, or those who expected something else from it, are people who saw Isaac Asimov's name attached to this and thought they are going to see something like iRobot, but were disappointed when it was about a predictive math algorithm.

Too bad! I enjoyed this, and I am glad it was renewed for season 2. Its a bit of a slow burn, and that is a welcome change from the flash-bang pace of most series these days where everyone has ADHD, always in a hurry.