Some have called the source material for this crazy expensive new streaming show “unadaptable”. It’s certainly ambitious – and very expensive.
Isaac Asimov’s Foundation stories have been branded as “unadaptable” and for the past 80 years, no one has been game enough to get very far.
Written between 1942 and 1986, Asimov’s Foundation stories and novels have been cited among the most influential works of the sci-fi genre.
If you’re coming to it for the first time, there are familiar tropes seen in hundreds of literary and screen works that followed, from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Dune to Aeon Flux and Futurama – only Asimov did it first.
But as epic as the Foundation series is, or maybe because of it, it’s also an incredibly dense and esoteric collection of stories. Which is probably why there has never before been a successful screen adaptation.
If not for the enormous commercial success of similarly high-concept genre titles such as Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings and Black Mirror – and even the more accessible Star Wars/The Mandalorian universe – Apple might not have had the confidence to back Foundation.
And back it they did. This 10-episode first season cost an absolute bundle to make, packed with expensive effects and impressive production details.
Co-creator David S. Goyer said just two episodes cost more than the budgets of some of the movies he’s been involved with – and Goyer has mostly been involved with superhero epics, so that should give you some insight.
That money is splashed all over the screen and it looks amazing. Its visual mastery extends from awe-inspiring throne rooms to the grimy dirt outpost at the edge of space.
There are also plenty of scenes each episode that you could pause and just frame on your wall. Then there are the special effects, the kind of jaw-dropping, detailed work that would withstand an IMAX screen, let alone your iPhone.
On a visual level, it is truly cinematic. Among its episodic directors are Rupert Sanders (Ghost in the Shell) and Alex Graves. The latter was a frequent director of The West Wing but has also lensed genre shows including Game of Thrones, Altered Carbon, Fringe and Terra Nova, so he is an experienced hand in this sandbox.
But for all its bold ambitions, there’s still something about Foundation that doesn’t cohere, that its various story strands, concepts and grave voiceover narration such as “Fate are swords forged in the fire of the infinite” make it feel impenetrable.
The story is set in a vast galaxy that is ruled from the core by an empire embodied within the clones of Cleon I. There are three of them at any time, of various ages, Brothers Dawn, Day and Dusk, with Lee Pace (Halt and Catch Fire, Pushing Daisies) the most prominent as Day.
Their word is law, and their foibles, curiosities and sometimes cruelty, reigns over trillions of citizens.
The empire has been intact for 12,000 years when the pre-eminent mathematician Hari Seldon (Jared Harris), using his models – “people lie, maths don’t” – predicts civilisation is destined to end within five centuries.
Seldon says it’s too late and there is no way to stop it, the only variable is if the interregnum between empires is 1000 years or 30,000 years of darkness.
To shorten the chaos, Seldon advocates for an outpost in the far reaches of space, to establish a new civilisation.
That’s all simple enough to follow, or at least it should be, but Foundation time jumps around and there’s also a mysterious floating obelisk (“the vault”) on Terminus, the outpost, that has a connection with one of the characters, Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey).
Meanwhile another character, a Seldon protégé named Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) has a significant role to play but the series benches her just when her story is ramping up.
Whether Foundation works for you is going to depend on your mileage for sci-fi. If you’re a dedicated junkie, already conversant in either Asimov’s writings or in the genre tropes, it’s likely a lot easier to digest.
But for mainstream viewers, Goyer (Batman Begins, Man of Steel) and Josh Friedman’s (Terminator: Dark Fate, Snowpiercer TV series) adaptation demands a lot, and for a lot of viewers, they’re not going to want to put that work in of trying to puzzle out how characters relate to each other or the main story or where on the timeline any moment is.
That doesn’t make it a lost cause, far from it. Game of Thrones’ first few episodes were equally opaque, and that became a TV sensation.
And Foundation has many aspects that work really well, including the tension and agendas of the genetic clones.
Foundation is as ambitious and declarative as it is frustrating and bewildering, a crucible that can coexist. But only if you’re game enough to stick it out.
Foundation is on Apple TV+ from Friday, September 24 at 5pm AEST
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2021-09-24 06:39:13Z
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