roxphox

As a huge fan of Asimov since I learned to read, I have been so excited for this series since I heard it was going to happen. I was almost ready to burst when the opening credits of the first episode ran... and then that quite quickly led to a huge disappointment. Fortunately I contained that disappointment long enough to watch more.

What did I expect? Well, an epic space opera based closely on the Asimov books. What did I get? Well, it is a huge space opera, but not based on the books with the exception of a few names and some vague references.

The CGI was extraordinary, the scenery was stunningly beautiful and the acting was amazing. The story was excellent and compelling and made me come back for more. However the story bore very little relation to the books. I didn't mind any gender swaps as Asimov himself stated he would write more female characters if he had felt comfortable doing so. The race of characters did not bother me as it was a subject that the great author rarely commented on in all his books with the exception of occasional mentions of hair or eye colour. The huge rewrites did bother me.

If you ignore the title this is an incredible show, but it is not Foundation.

Ok, is this as bad as Batman and Robin? No, but is it Oscar material? Very far from it.

For the most part the acting wasn't too bad, but several actors didn't fit the roles they were playing. Pattison wasn't right for Batman. Serkis just didn't sell Alfred, though he only had about 3 minutes of screen time to do so (which is a shame as I normally like Andy Serkis in anything). Kravitz was possibly the worst Catwoman I have ever seen (and I saw Halle Berry's attempt).

The plot dragged and dragged and just when you thought it was going to pick up it started to drag some more. I think this whole move could have been presented in a 30 minute TV episode after all of Batman's moping scenes were cut out.

The score seemed off, particularly with the running Ave Maria theme. It just didn't fit the scenes and I wish Danny Elfman would return.

Overall I found the movie to be mildly entertaining. Not quite a waste of my time, but not worth watching again.

I understand that these days a movie or TV show is rated by naughty words rather than graphic violence, so I thought that would be a good point to mention first.

Now as for the show? I didn't have high hopes for this. A rehash of an old movie series??? Wow, I was pleasantly surprised. There was plenty of nostalgia (flashbacks, sight gags, Easter eggs and the use of animatronics etc.), but there was also a huge pile of fresh material to keep things turning over.

I felt the acting was great, despite so many of the cast being so young and the story-line kept me coming back for more. There was a morbid humour throughout that tended to amuse without distracting too much from the horror.