Everything about the Foundation, an adaptation of Isak Azimov’s novel series of the same name, screams for “standards”. Architecture, engines, even swimming pools; the way the show is filmed has something very dizzying.
Cinema constantly reminds audiences of the genre we’re investigating: space opera that is complex and slow-burning (actor David C. Goyer says he sees Foundation as a story that needs to be told for at least 80 hours). This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Especially in TV trials because it’s a catch that takes you dozens of hours back.
Therefore, the script manages the “big” aspects of the story from the start.
The first episode opens with a voiceover from Gaal Dornik Lou Lobel. Who grows as the series progresses, the character of every man. The math prodigy on his way to work with Harry Seldon (Jared Harris, confident as ever). The most famous and controversial mathematician. in the galaxy.
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“As a child at the end of the galaxy. I heard a story about a man who could predict the future. But my story remained unclear until many years later. Until that becomes my story. Until it becomes the only story. “
Part of predicting the future of history has to do with “psycho-history”. The science developed by Seldon that can give you the probability of events at the interplanetary level. Fundamentally, psycho-history increases with accuracy. As the number of people whose actions are judged increases.
Although it is not always helpful in discovering an individual’s future. The mathematics is very accurate in predicting the ups and downs of entire civilizations. As Seldon said sadly: “This is not a theory, but the future of mankind in terms of numbers.”
Seldon predicted that the 12,000-year-old Galactic Empire would perish in another 500 years.
As expected, the hypothesis faces fear, distrust and disbelief. Not least from the Emperor’s Day Brother (the great Lee Pace). Who reigns at the apex of his throne in the centre of the galaxy, in the capital city of Trantor. Seldon and his followers were exiled to the distant planet Terminus. Where they founded the Foundation.
Essentially this is the most important library project of all time. Only the most precious part of civilization is preserved for future generations. Those facing impending destruction, of the empire.
With an ambitious premise that’s far-reaching (Goyer presents the show as “1000 Years of Chess Between Harry Seldon and the Empire”). It’s sometimes easy to get caught up in the little things (how to use “cover up” technology). That Seldon’s rich actually, Harry’s alleged grandson?) and ignore the big picture.
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The Foundation, however, has been impressive in its dedication to the long game. Remember how The Wire deconstructed city-wide political and social systems by tackling them one by one?
That’s what I think the Foundation wants to do with space opera. And the cast of Clark Peters from The Wire (he plays the Foundation guy simulating with Gaal) feels like a hint in that direction.
There is an extensive sequence during the first two hours of the extended episode.
Brother Day, speaking to Seldon, reveals that the boy. And the older man on the Emperor’s side are genetic clones of the Emperor. Called Brother Dawn and Brother Twilight, for apparent reasons.
“Don’t you see the value of younger intelligences who share your interests?” Brother Day asked with a smile. Lee Pace is great in this scene. His sinister twist as Ronan Cree in the Marvel movie universe. And now feels like a minor entry compared to this show.
In a moving scene, we see a conversation about the collapse of civilization. It followed by Twilight’s older brother (Terence Mann), who is injured on the stairs. The frailty of all the human flesh and the fragility of a 12,000-year-old empire is captured in one record.
As with most science fiction stories, there are clear echoes of the current sociopolitical scenario. The empire that attacked Seldon and his psychohistorians.
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It may remind you how some of the world’s governments rejected the scale. And severity of the COVID-19 outbreak in the early months of 2020. Gaal Dornik lectures Foundation elders on the diversity of meaning in archives. Famous in 2021, both in government and in business.