I am one part skeptical and worried and one part shiveringly ecstatic. I adore this book and franchise, and Asimov will always be one of my absolute favorite authors. But hard sci-fi of this nature is inherently difficult to turn into mass-consumable entertainment, considering the thing most audiences connect with in fiction is characters, while hard sci-fi puts characterization in a back seat to the universe in which the story is set.
We'll see.
My sentiments exactly. I think the Foundation series is the best sci-fi series ever written. Asimov is my favorite SF author. Only Asimov could have come up with the "surprise" at the end of the original trilogy. I always wanted some one to make this into a film series. I'm a little concerned about turning it into a "pedestrian" story for the masses.
There are many ways they can screw this up. One would be making it too PC. While others have noted, there is little gratuitous sex and violence in the series, especially in the original trilogy. However, the original trilogy, included men acting as manly men, something the current PC culture seems to hate. This could change the "feel" of some of the beginning sections if they emasculate some of the early protagonists (e.g. Hardin and Mallow) Now, Asimov does do himself a solid with having a female as one of the heroes (no spoilers).
Bottom line, I excited as hell for this!!