To start with the positive, I really liked the storyline about the Cleons. That part is basically completely new - there are Cleons in the books (not in the Foundation trilogy, but in a prequel that was written decades later), but we never hear about them in the trilogy itself. Or maybe we do, but certainly not at this point, if so, they are relatively minor characters. This might have helped, the whole idea about a former Cleon creating a dynasty by clones of himself is pretty neat, and I enjoyed the exploration a lot. And while I had trouble with the interpretation of Demerzel, I understand it and get that this is mainly me not liking changes to the source material. Also, having her (plus Salvor and Gaal) being played by women instead of men was a very nice touch. I want to point this out, so it is clear that I don't dislike the rest of the show because it strays from the source material, but because it is problematic and boring.
I really liked this theme, the very extreme interpretation of a monarchy, where it isn't even hereditory, but just kept by the same person, more or less. I didn't like, how it is implied that the problem here is that they don't have MOTHERS or whatever. I get it, that's just part of the problem, but it stands for some deeper problems of the show.
The problems lie with the Foundation plotline itself. Everything with Hari Seldon, with Gaal and Salvor, with how the basic concept of the books is misinterpreted into the complete opposite, and also in a really bad way. Like, it starts out well enough, with the first episode being pretty close to the books.
And then, we go into wild, weird directions. Like, I hate that Gaal is Salvors mother. In the book, Gaal came to Trantor and was some kind of assistant to Hari. But if memory serves, he himself never reaches Terminus. Hari certainly did not, he simply died of old age, and with a broken heart, because everyone he loved and cared about had died. Including Roach, his adoptive son, who died in an accident. He, too, never got that far.
To be clear, I don't mind changes in general. But Salvor is a major character, who deals with one or maybe even two of the crisis (I honestly don't remember). But it's not because he is related to that special superperson, who was a direct assistant to the superawesome Hari Seldon. It was, because he was that one person that was there at the right moment, when History would spit out someone to deal with the crisis. If it hadn't been him, it would have been someone else. Maybe a bit later, maybe a bit earlier. It is not some hereditory nonsense, where two people are super important to the whole of society.
Also, Hari in the books is not some strange mastermind of manipulation. He does some manipulation, sure, and he is clever, setting up the Foundations. But he did not create a person that was essential to the plan. Setting up the Foundations was all he did, and they didn't hinge on him making sure that one specific person, chosen by him, was there to save everything. That was never the point, it's specifically the very opposite.
It is not about single, special people. It's about the movement of giant groups of people throughout History. Not about a special person pulling all kinds of strings, more stuff that will inevitably happen. And Hari only calculated how it would develop, and found the one point where he could reduce the Dark Times (creating the Foundations). Single people simply don't matter in the source material.
Yes, there is one exception in the books. But that exception destroys the plan, because it wasn't included. It, that specific person with a specific power, wasn't necessary to keep the plan going, it was a problem that nearly wrecked it. A very different thing.
To be clear, I'm not that much into the idea of "History will find a way, and single people don't matter" anymore. I mean, I do believe that societies move and develop in certain ways due to societal inertia, and that some things come and go, no matter if I am here now or not. But there simply are situations in History, were a single person did something monumental, and changed the course of the world. It's a mix of the two, so I'm not too much into the idea the book proposes. But it's way better, than this annoying "I am a special person, and therefore the one and only who can solve the problem of humanity". No, you are not, we have to work on our problems together, as the whole of humanity. Not as some clown, who thinks he is a hero, or whatever. I'm just really tired of stories always being about how one person, or maybe a small group of misfits, will solve the crisis of the year, or whatever. Show me something where the system is actually stable, where we are not depending on one special person saving us from doom.
Well, now that I'm done griping about that, I just found the whole Foundation part to be way too action heavy. I get it, the books are 90% talk, and while I disagree with the notion that you can't do that on TV (you can make dialogue super intriguing, if you do it right), I get it that people don't think like me here. And I wouldn't have minded changes. But at least go with the antology, to give us a sense of the scope of what Foundation actually is - not about one single incident. The books show us Future History, with single moments of importance as our only sticking points. And this here is just about one of these moments.
Also, no, a Seldon Crisis is not about someone having a super weapon and blowing up the Empire. The Empire is doomed. It's over, and it doesn't matter anymore what anyone does, because it has been rotting for centuries. It takes so long to go down, because it is gigantic. The point is not to save it - Terminus has to deal with its own problems, and it and the Empire have basically nothing to do with each other, at least for a couple of decades. In general, the Empire itself plays no role here. It's about how Terminus will survive, surrounded by local powers. And not with action, but with clever manouvering.
Again, changes, I get it, do them. But not like this.
Sorry, I know I started to ramble somewhere inbetween. But I love the books. Granted, I don't know how much of my critisizm is fair, and how much is just me complaining "but the books", so don't take my whining too seriously. But I think I have some good points here.