Nobody ever read Isaac Asimov for steamy sex scenes. His books were informed by
real science and written with a deliciously dry, mordant wit. Perhaps the ultimate
Asimov is his short story “The Billiard Ball,” wherein a scientist uses physics
to murder his rival, right in plain sight. Unfortunately, the first season of Foundation
never felt very Asimovian. Yes, there was Hari Seldon, the Foundation, and
psychohistory, but all the intrigue with lusty, naked emperor clones was more
like something out of the Dune series than Foundation. At the end
of season one, the digital copy of Seldon’s consciousness learned he might have
gotten something wrong—which is inconceivable. Nevertheless, history might be
slightly off-course in the season premiere of Foundation, which premieres
tomorrow on Apple TV+.
One
of the only original aspects of season one that stayed true to the spirit and ideas
of Asimov’s speculative fiction was the way it found clever ways to span
decades and eras. Much to the surprise of Salvor Hardin, the former warden of
the Foundation’s home planet of Terminus, Gaal Dornick (Seldon’s estranged protégé)
just introduced herself as her biological mother (after a loong slumber in
suspended animation). (Both characters were men in the books, but that is least
of showrunner David S. Goyer’s unfaithfulness). They start to get to know each
other in the season premiere, but it is still mostly awkward—and boring.
The
best scene is the attempted assassination of “Brother Day,” the primary governing
“Brother” of the cloned triumvirate of Emperor Cleon the First, who jointly
rule over the galactic empire. Frankly, the preening Brother Day is so out of
place in a universe ostensibly created by Asimov, it is a shame they fail.
Again, he is saved by Demerzel, who once again violates Asimov’s “Laws of Robotics.”
For Asimov readers, this is truly unforgivable. Briefly, Nimrat Kaur is introduced
as Seldon’s late wife, so hopefully she gets more interesting things to do in the
next episode.
Individuals have free will, so they can’t be predicted. However, the course of
societies and civilizations can be projected with astonishing mathematical
accuracy. Such is the contention of mathematician Hari Seldon, who pioneered
the study and application of Psychohistory in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels.
Seldon calculates the Galactic Empire will fall in roughly 500 years, but that
is not a message the authorities want to hear. However, his followers believe
they can drastically shorten the coming dark age if they implement his grand
plan in showrunner David S. Goyer’s first season of Foundation, which
premieres today on Apple TV+.
Young
genius Gaal Dornick journeys from a backwater planet to the seat of the Empire
on Trantor, at the invitation of the great Hari Seldon, unaware of his status as
a dissident pariah (she was a man in the book, but whatever). Much to her
surprise, Dornick is soon arrested along with Seldon, but the Imperial
inquisition will offer him a deal, just like he expected. The Psychohistorians
will be allowed to assemble their great encyclopedia of human knowledge, but
they must do so in exile, on the most remote planet of the known universe: Terminus.
This
tracks pretty closely with “The Psychohistorians,” the first part of the
original Foundation novel (you can hear William Shatner’s LP reading
here), but as soon as the Foundation settlers leave on their journey, Goyer and
co-writer Josh Freidman drastically depart from Asimov. In fact, it often feels
like they were trying to adapt Dune instead, even though they lacked the
rights.
Much
of Apple’s Foundation is devoted to the courtly intrigue surrounding the
genetic clones of Emperor Cleon the 1st. The Foundation books only had
two Cleons (appearing in the prequels) and the first was no great shakes, but
in this re-envisioning, the Empire is up to its 13th Cleon, known as
“Brother Day” who shares the throne with “Brother Dusk,” an older clone who can
offer the wisdom of his experience, and “Brother Dawn,” a younger clone that
will be groomed to succeed him. (These characters are original to the series,
but the succession of clones over centuries is sort of reminiscent of the Duncan
Idaho clones in God Emperor of Dune.)
Eventually,
Brother Day will be drawn into an intrigue involving a powerful religious order
that somewhat resembles the Bene Gesserit (without the overt powers). As they
rule over Trantor, the Genetic Emperor[s] will have the wise counsel of
Demerzel, who survived an ancient war against robots (sort of like Dune’s
Butlerian Jihad). Meanwhile, Salvor Hardin (also gender-switched) oversees the
security of Terminus. It is a role she is uniquely suited to, since she is
largely immune to the disorienting field that surrounds the mysterious “the
Vault,” a “big dumb object,” in the science fiction tradition of 2001’s
obelisk that never registered on any of their planetary surveys.
