Seems Apple is owning the quality Sci-Fi TV space now, "For All Mankind”, “Foundation”, “Severance”, “Silo” to name a few. Keeps my subscription intact for now.
There was no way to turn it into a television show without major rewrites.
However, Invasion is my call for the weakest scifi show they've done.
Do not watch.
No more slow burn mystery, with lots of character-based world-building, and protagonists out of their depth putting things together from a limited perspective (with the audience usually one step - but only one - ahead of them). The second season is action heavy, with characters reduced to tropes who seem to have had a knowledge download and all become "special".
I've seldom been more disappointed in a continuation of something I loved.
The book itself isn't character driven _at_all_, which makes it notoriously hard to adapt to any visual medium.
But the other shows, especially For All Mankind are really great.
If it were most other show, this particularly subplot would have made me quit but this show is so good otherwise that I still follow it despite this.
That theme is very much out of fashion, you even have people trying to argue that the Roman Empire never went into decline. Everything always gets better, because technology, the inevitability of progress, etc. Anybody who worries about decline is a reactionary, etc.
Personally I think it fell out of fashion because it makes Americans nervous. It's more comforting to think that we're at "the end of history" and American global hegemony will be forever. The Foundation is just too challenging for modern audiences.
I don't get this. The cycling of one empire ("Empire") to another ("Foundation") is ALL of the series. How can it drop it if that's what it's all about every single episode?
That's my short take, I could be more nuanced but I don't have the time for a blog post :(.
Reading this thread, it's interesting how divisive Apple's streaming lineup is. Sure, that's par for the course with any media, but opinions seem even more varied with Apple's.
If you're making something interesting, it's not going to be the beige thing that everyone feels "meh" (no more positive, no more negative) about.
See "See" as a good example to add to that list. Silo was incredible and I started working on the books because of that show.
And the show that I was looking forward too every week "lessons in chemistry". Was so good and very charmingly nerdy.
Some others like Prehistoric Planet, Hello Tomorrow (which wasnt great, but it had a certain charm too it), and whatever that D&D show was I can't remember the name of.
But the first book was great, and so is the show!