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Foundation

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews

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62

USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 225 Ratings

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4.7

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4.7	Your Score
4.7	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 225 Ratings

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Foundation: Trailer 2

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Foundation

Series Details & Credits

Apple TV+ | Release Date: September 24, 2021

Summary: Dr. Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) and a small group of believers seek to preserve human knowledge and save civilization after he predicts the end of the Galactic Empire in this sci-fi series based on the novels by Isaac Asimov.

Genre(s): Drama, Science Fiction

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Stream On

Recent Episodes

tbd
S1:E10. The Leap
Air Date: November 19, 2021
tbd
S1:E9. The First Crisis
Air Date: November 12, 2021
tbd
S1:E8. The Missing Piece
Air Date: November 5, 2021

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

62

Positive:

10

Mixed:

15

Negative:

0

Critic Reviews

100

Newsday

Verne Gay

Sep 24, 2021

Season 1 Review: It's world-building without the world having already been built in countless other movies, TV series and comic novels. Watch and you have the feeling that you are at the outset of a momentous journey. ... Spectacular. Read full review

80

Empire James Dyer

Sep 24, 2021

Season 1 Review: Foundation’s debut season is a breathtakingly bold undertaking that will dazzle just as much as it confounds, and lays its own foundation for what may prove the most ambitious television yet. Read full review

70

RogerEbert.com Nick Allen

Sep 24, 2021

Season 1 Review: In spite of its sporadic shortcomings, the ambition of the series is exciting itself. If it finds the audience that it was made for, could very well become another landmark series for Apple TV+. Read full review

58

Entertainment Weekly

Chancellor Agard

Sep 24, 2021

Season 1 Review: This curious political unit raises interesting questions about individuality and if progress is possible without fundamental change, and it's the main source of fun in the show. ... Alas, the rest of the series lacks the spark of the royal court drama and often feels like a slog. While things get much more entertaining in the back half of the season, you may not want to trudge through Foundation's own dark period to get there. Read full review

50

New York Magazine (Vulture)

Kathryn VanArendonk

Sep 24, 2021

Season 1 Review: Not much about Foundation sticks, either emotionally or narratively. There are cause-and-effect relationships between one event and another, but they’re stretched across long-attenuated frames, spun out over distances that are short enough to roughly remember there was a relationship there, but too long for that relationship to retain any urgency or heft. Read full review

50

The New York Times

James Poniewozik

Sep 23, 2021

Season 1 Review: “Foundation” is more consistent than “Wolves,” but less magnetic because of its concessions to sci-fi expectations. It could have been better, if only, like Hari Seldon’s disciples, it had faith in the plan. Read full review

40

The Telegraph Benji Wilson

Sep 24, 2021

Season 1 Review: That nagging sense that the whole thing isn’t quite working builds to a more overarching complaint: it may be unfair to judge Foundation on its first couple of hours but at the moment it lacks a throughline. Read full review

SEE ALL 25 REVIEWS

Write a Review

4.7

User Reviews

10

felipecs

Sep 26, 2021

More relevant than ever, Foundation is a must to bring up debates about imperialism, post-capitalism, and also to analogize the negationism that has emerged in this pandemic period. I recommend it to everyone who is passionate about science fiction and about how this genre is more aboutMore relevant than ever, Foundation is a must to bring up debates about imperialism, post-capitalism, and also to analogize the negationism that has emerged in this pandemic period. I recommend it to everyone who is passionate about science fiction and about how this genre is more about looking at the present than the future itself.… Expand

11 of 44 users found this helpful1133

10

mshaley123456

Jul 5, 2022

Foundation is one of the best Sci-Fi that came out in years. It is as powerful as The Matrix or Lord of the Rings. Plus it follows the book fairly closely. I give it a 10

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

8

TrentKnuckles73

Oct 26, 2021

I'm really liking this show! First off, I'm not the kind of person who thinks a TV or movie adaptation of a novel or novels should necessarily be faithful. I read the first Foundation book a long time ago and don't really remember all of the details anyway. What I do remember is liking it,I'm really liking this show! First off, I'm not the kind of person who thinks a TV or movie adaptation of a novel or novels should necessarily be faithful. I read the first Foundation book a long time ago and don't really remember all of the details anyway. What I do remember is liking it, and I feel the same about this show. What we get to see on screen is cool and well edited. I think the actors are doing an amazing job. The story is intriguing and complex without being unapproachable. Looking forward to each new episode.… Expand

7 of 15 users found this helpful78

3

StevenD

Nov 23, 2021

The strongest scenes are the ones with the Empire trinity. It's a new addition to the story and it fits in thematically with the concept of the current empire being stagnant.
Unfortunately the other 2/3 of the series is depressingly bad. Terminus and 2nd are both boring and uninterestingThe strongest scenes are the ones with the Empire trinity. It's a new addition to the story and it fits in thematically with the concept of the current empire being stagnant.
Unfortunately the other 2/3 of the series is depressingly bad. Terminus and 2nd are both boring and uninteresting filled with cliché storylines that shows there are more than a few people that really were out of ideas as to how to go about padding the runtime. While Terminus seems like pointless busywork the other one seems like dumb decisions stacking upon one another. Why make a character with genius level math skills, but waste one of the most interesting sherlock style scenes they have by sandwiching them between some pretty ham acting and some of the most shameful examples of incompetent decision making.
The showrunners got themselves in a bind. The best part of the current season is something they need to leave behind while the worst parts have the weakest actors tied to the only thing that can save the show which is progressing the timeline.… Expand

4 of 7 users found this helpful43

1

Leofiniarel

Sep 26, 2021

Waaaay too unfaithful and distant from the book, in every way, Feels like bad fanfiction. Very disappointed

26 of 38 users found this helpful2612

0

sunnrocks82

Jan 23, 2023

Disrespectful and meaningless nonsense. SciFi shows in general have become almost unwatchable under the the recent "we have to write what our marketing analyst told us" mania that has broken out within the studios, but this filth is beyond all dimensions.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

0

plount

Sep 24, 2021

This review, like almost all negative reviews, was deleted from imdb after being approved. It's not vulgar, personal or even politic. Let's see if it stays here:

The Anti-Foundation This movie doesn’t have much to do with Asimov’s book. Foundation is arguably one of the best, if not theThis review, like almost all negative reviews, was deleted from imdb after being approved. It's not vulgar, personal or even politic. Let's see if it stays here:

The Anti-Foundation

This movie doesn’t have much to do with Asimov’s book. Foundation is arguably one of the best, if not the best SF. It describes a science irrelevant now, psychohistory, while touching themes of sociology, psychology, epistemology etc. It’s as far as it can be from a teen melodrama. And complex philosophical stories can be presented in a TV Series. It was done in the first season of Westworld. So no excuse there.

I knew from the explosive trailer that it was going to be bad, but it was way beyond my expectations. The very first words uttered by the main character were idiotic (she wanted to know the name of millions of planets for no reason at all), while also telling us the screenwriters don’t care about the book (the Star’s End reference).

The main character of this series, Gaal Dornick, is just a plot device in the book. There are other characters in Asimov’s book, some interesting like Salvor Hardin, but ok. Still even the small background that Asimov gave to Gaal is changed in the series, by making her/him came from a backward planet, which is again absurd.

Two things to finish this text. One is the interesting concept proposed by this show of radical mathematics written between the lines. It made me puke a little in my mouth.

The second is about the dissolution of a specific civilization. Do you know the fictional movie “Ass” from “Idiocracy”? Yeah, we’re past that. This is worse.… Expand

29 of 39 users found this helpful2910

SEE ALL 109 REVIEWS

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Seasons & Episodes

62

Series Overview
Season 1

62
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: September 24, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E10. The Leap
  Air Date: November 19, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E9. The First Crisis
  Air Date: November 12, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E8. The Missing Piece
  Air Date: November 5, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E7. Mysteries and Martyrs
  Air Date: October 29, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E6. Death and the Maiden
  Air Date: October 22, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E5. Upon Awakening
  Air Date: October 15, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E4. Barbarians at the Gate
  Air Date: October 8, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E3. The Mathematician's Ghost
  Air Date: October 1, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E2. Preparing to Live
  Air Date: September 24, 2021
- tbd
  S1:E1. The Emperor's Peace
  Air Date: September 24, 2021