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Emmerich Plans Foundation As a 3D Epic
spuke4000 writes "Roland Emmerich, the writer/director/producer behind Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012 is planning to adapt Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. The plans include using technology developed for Avatar including 3D and motion capture technology. When asked about using this technology Emmerich responded: 'It has to be done all CG because I would not know how to shoot this thing in real.'"
IIRC, Asimov was fundamentally opposed to the notion of "technology revolting against its 'owners' (i.e. humans)", particularly w.r.t. strong AI. He felt it was a cliché.
$ make available
Forgot to say:
It is possible to treat the Foundation series with respect. The BBC did it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Foundation_Trilogy_(BBC_Radio)
Truly excellent. Get it if you can find it.
That's all well and good except for the fact that the screenplay "Hardwired" was not written as an adaptation of Asimov's work. The title and three laws were just grafted on to pull in more ticket sales.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Except that Asimov never portrayed the zeroth law as a good thing - just an inevitable outcome of the three laws placed in robots with 20,000+ year lifespans and telepathy. The whole point of the Foundation series was to debate whether it's better for man to stagnate under the micromanaged control of the robots, or to start off on their own and face greater risks. In later books after the original trilogy, the decision is made explicitly against robot management of humanity, and for a galactic telepathic communal consciousness.
By the sounds of it, the original script would have made a nice little indy film. I want to watch that movie.
Not a typewriter
It was Roland Emmerich himself that said he had nothing to do with the Stargate TV series, and in fact was quite offended with the direction that it took. If you listen to the director's commentary on the Stargate movie DVD disc, his contempt for the TV series is nearly total. Since he himself ignored the TV series and wanted to distance himself from that series and its producers (including Richard Dean Anderson... who became an executive producer on the show)... I say that we do him the favor and not give Roland Emmerich any credit for that series either and certainly not the longevity of that series especially.
I certainly think the TV series was a major improvement over the original movie... something that doesn't usually happen in such a transition.